FA+
Shop
Squeak will return.
5 years ago
Moving into 2020 Squeak Latex will be making its return.
I'll start by saying I appreciate all the love and support over the years. It broke my heart to have to close our doors so suddenly and I'm sure some of you may have questions.Whilst I have explained myself personally in the past here before, in short, the team that I had been using overseas were suddenly all let go when the bosses of the workshop went their separate ways and dissolved their company along with the contract we had created together. Those of you who where aware of the company we had our designs produced by have no doubt noticed their websites and such being abandoned around this time.This left a slew of unmet orders and myself very out of pocket. As much as I tried, I could not recover the money I had already paid them and it could not have come at a more inconvenient time for me personally. During a big move immigrating to another country and not being able to work for a year during that time.
So, I've spent the past two years looking at ways to make this right. I've refunded what I could over the years and have done my best to stay in contact with those effected. I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect and I'm aware communication certainly was an issue. I try not to get overwhelmed and try to avoid confrontation, but I'm only human and I was scared and stressed from all that happened. I am truly sorry to those I've wronged, and I assure you the intention was to simply bring something you've always wanted to life.
So where do we go from here? Luckily I did build up quite the rapport with my main builder over the years and have stayed in contact after the shutdown. We have all the CAD patterns to the Squeak designs I created and we have now started producing the suits in their own home workshop. So, it is now more one on one rather than through a supplier.As some of you have seen, these past few months we've produced some new items. This was a testing phase to see the time needed and cost of production.
It seems things are far more costly due to market changes and much slower being only myself and one other builder. We will only be able to produce at this stage around 12 full suits a year and perhaps some smaller items here and there. Possibly even less depending on what is being made in the list at the time. Whilst I would of loved to have been able to give Squeak Latex items to the world on a larger scale, making them accessible to all that have this interest. I don't want to see myself or my workshop getting overwhelmed with too many orders.
I will be basing the new structure on more that of a "fursuit builder" or artist. I will notify when we are open and how many slots are available and fill them on a first-come first-serve basis. We will not be producing custom designs at this stage. Whilst we can discuss markings, hair, etc. on already produced species and designs, at this stage we are not in the position to be able to dedicate the time to something completely new. Also, for those curious the ballpark rate for a full suit is going to be in the $1600-$2000+ USD range plus shipping.
It is also likely that we will simply produce popular items and list them up for auction ready made, ready to go, so there is no wait time. The profit from these will go into refunds and or the ability to pay for the production of outstanding orders.We will make it clear to those who do place orders with us may be waiting up to a year as we can only produce so fast. We are not a huge production line with a crew of 20.
In the end, I didn't want any of these issues hanging over me personally, nor did I want the dream to die. I wish I had the capital and funds to solve all this right away, but I can only chip away at it to the best of my ability. I love this community, I wanted to bring things I could only dream of to those like minded folks. There are a handful of those whom I know I could never change their mind about me or Squeak Latex, regardless of my effort and what the future will bring.
Let me be clear, the reason for bringing back Squeak is to fulfill outstanding orders and refunds, rather than simply giving up and walking away.
I'm trying my best to move forward and bring all these fun puffy and squeaky things back into the world.
It's still a long road ahead and things are far from recovered.
So here is to 2020 and the path to Squeaky things.
I'll start by saying I appreciate all the love and support over the years. It broke my heart to have to close our doors so suddenly and I'm sure some of you may have questions.Whilst I have explained myself personally in the past here before, in short, the team that I had been using overseas were suddenly all let go when the bosses of the workshop went their separate ways and dissolved their company along with the contract we had created together. Those of you who where aware of the company we had our designs produced by have no doubt noticed their websites and such being abandoned around this time.This left a slew of unmet orders and myself very out of pocket. As much as I tried, I could not recover the money I had already paid them and it could not have come at a more inconvenient time for me personally. During a big move immigrating to another country and not being able to work for a year during that time.
So, I've spent the past two years looking at ways to make this right. I've refunded what I could over the years and have done my best to stay in contact with those effected. I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect and I'm aware communication certainly was an issue. I try not to get overwhelmed and try to avoid confrontation, but I'm only human and I was scared and stressed from all that happened. I am truly sorry to those I've wronged, and I assure you the intention was to simply bring something you've always wanted to life.
So where do we go from here? Luckily I did build up quite the rapport with my main builder over the years and have stayed in contact after the shutdown. We have all the CAD patterns to the Squeak designs I created and we have now started producing the suits in their own home workshop. So, it is now more one on one rather than through a supplier.As some of you have seen, these past few months we've produced some new items. This was a testing phase to see the time needed and cost of production.
It seems things are far more costly due to market changes and much slower being only myself and one other builder. We will only be able to produce at this stage around 12 full suits a year and perhaps some smaller items here and there. Possibly even less depending on what is being made in the list at the time. Whilst I would of loved to have been able to give Squeak Latex items to the world on a larger scale, making them accessible to all that have this interest. I don't want to see myself or my workshop getting overwhelmed with too many orders.
I will be basing the new structure on more that of a "fursuit builder" or artist. I will notify when we are open and how many slots are available and fill them on a first-come first-serve basis. We will not be producing custom designs at this stage. Whilst we can discuss markings, hair, etc. on already produced species and designs, at this stage we are not in the position to be able to dedicate the time to something completely new. Also, for those curious the ballpark rate for a full suit is going to be in the $1600-$2000+ USD range plus shipping.
It is also likely that we will simply produce popular items and list them up for auction ready made, ready to go, so there is no wait time. The profit from these will go into refunds and or the ability to pay for the production of outstanding orders.We will make it clear to those who do place orders with us may be waiting up to a year as we can only produce so fast. We are not a huge production line with a crew of 20.
In the end, I didn't want any of these issues hanging over me personally, nor did I want the dream to die. I wish I had the capital and funds to solve all this right away, but I can only chip away at it to the best of my ability. I love this community, I wanted to bring things I could only dream of to those like minded folks. There are a handful of those whom I know I could never change their mind about me or Squeak Latex, regardless of my effort and what the future will bring.
Let me be clear, the reason for bringing back Squeak is to fulfill outstanding orders and refunds, rather than simply giving up and walking away.
I'm trying my best to move forward and bring all these fun puffy and squeaky things back into the world.
It's still a long road ahead and things are far from recovered.
So here is to 2020 and the path to Squeaky things.
The world doesn't have enough quality inflatable rubber fursuits. May fortune smile upon you in the coming year!
Here's hoping for a awesome squeaking decade!
Heck, now I'm considering maybe even eventually joining SqueakLatex to help out with orders and all if it's still around in the future!
Best of luck to y'all come 2020~!!!! X3333
Recently, SqueakLatex has started up operations again, run by the same person that scammed a lot of people.
They blocked me for exposing their business practices when I was ripped off.
Read this article for the full story:
https://telegra.ph/Squeak-Latex-Buyer-Beware-12-25
I know you were very happy with the previous suit we made for you, know that I really did want to get you in a second suit.
The transparency of why the business suddenly came to a halt has been explained time and time again.
Those small numbers effected by it were notified and have been offered a refund or their outstanding order.
NO ONE has ever been scammed, nor has any customer ever not gotten either a suit or a refund.
This includes you.
I've personally been working non stop to find a solution to bring back these products so those in our community can enjoy these types of costumes.
Whilst I appreciate that you are trying to look out for others in the community, understand that whilst I haven't handled the situation perfectly, SCAM is a very strong word to throw around.
Regarding your interaction with me and your refund, it is unfortunate that your order was juggled around during a difficult time for me personally. If I could go back and handle the situation better, I would. But, I can only learn from it and move forward.
It seems that I may still owe you money, i'm not sure how I missed that and I am happy to refund you the amount lost in PayPal fees.
I wasn't lying when I said your suit was in production. I pass on the information given to me by my manufacturer at the time and that is what I was told.
I had planned on selling the company and the rights to all the patterns (CAD files), but in the end I decided that wasn't the best option given that it seemed the company I was working with were having issues.
As for being made in China, yes this isn't a secret.
However, I am not a middle man.
These designs are created by me and by us. We work with a company in China to put together the designs and patterns that are developed. They are not sold anywhere else and we have an exclusive contract with the workshop.
Literately nearly every company works this way. People think it is some how wrong for me to get paid for the work I do, that going direct is "fair" but, it only screws over a member of this community creating these designs for those in the community. These designs would not exist without Squeak Latex, without me developing them in the first place.
That's like saying you should go direct to the factory for your phone, electronics, cars etc. Because who cares about the company that spends hours designing it, developing the business and manufacturing relationship and then made it happen in the first place right?
I'm proud of the work and relationship I have built with my team in China. It is a shame that some people feel people in China are somehow incapable of developing a quality product. Made in China is thrown around like a dirty word sometimes and that is truly disappointing.
I noticed an email at the bottom of the page you linked talks about Catfish. (Nice to see fellow members of the community hacking private emails) Back in 2011 when we where first trying to make this happen for the community, Catfish was chosen as a manufacture of our designs. Unfortunately, they broke contract and started selling the designs publicly through their own website. We stopped using them immediately.
They continue to sell some of these early designs we developed with them to this day.
Since then we improved our patterns and went elsewhere.
The Chinese company we used for many years unfortunately suddenly went away due to a disagreement between the owners.
I now work direct with the builders who used to work for that company.
So, as I said, I'm moving forward and trying to make this right.
You're upset, you're angry, and I know things didn't pan out the way either of us wanted.
I'm responding to you in public in the hope you see I really don't have anything to hide. Hopefully I can mend the broken bridge between us, I'll be contacting you via email to confirm covering the fees you lost during the refund.
In the end, I didn't scam you, I didn't run away with your money, you were refunded.
I did handle your situation poorly and for that I am sorry.
I am not a faceless company, there is a person behind this whom becomes stressed, upset, and angry about the situation and how people treat me. Reacting poorly to that happens and I am only human.
This doesn't excuse this sort of behavior and I have to live with the repercussions.
In the end, I just want to create products that like minded folks in the community can enjoy. It's all I've ever wanted to do. It absolutely breaks me heart that I've let some people down. It also breaks my heart that there are those out there that make it their mission to bring me down. Even if they're simply basing their opinion on hearsay or even after they still get their suit, still get their refund and I try to make it right. I can't seem to change their minds, they want to be angry.
But, I'll keep going and in time I do hope to win over some people such as yourself. As I said, I know you enjoyed the first suit we produced for you.Now is the time to take what I've learned from the past and apply it to the new business model for the future.
If you have any questions or want to talk more. Please feel free to reach out.
To be clear, I was fully aware that you were not the manufacturer of the suits when I commissioned you. I have no problem with you getting paid for your part in designing the suits. However, as the owner of the business and single point of contact with customers, you weren't even able to reply to emails and keep the customer informed.
The first suit you made for me was fraught with problems. It was not well made and required me to have a local company modify and repair the design flaws several times. Despite that, I still thought I'd give you another try.
I just want to make sure anyone who commissions you in the future, knows what to expect.
(For the record, the email included was provided to me by a former customer of yours and was forwarded to them by you - no 'hacking' took place.)
You were happy with the first suit and never indicated to me that there were any issues ever. I find it strange that if there were so many issues with the first suit you purchased from us that you'd "give it another try". Apologies if the first suit wasn't to your liking, you were more than welcome to state these feelings when you first received the suit many years ago and we could have dealt with it an appropriate manner.
But, I digress.
I feel at this stage I've done all I can to aid you in this situation and there is truly no way to make you feel any better about what has taken place in the past.
I'd like to make it clear to others reading this, that I did offer to cover the PayPal fees AV lost during the refund process and he declined.
Your article and warning is welcome to stay up.
In the end, I was at fault for remaining quiet during a stressful time but you did receive a full refund and there was no SCAM as you put it. Just poor communication management.
Once again, should you want to discuss anything you are more than welcome to reach out and the communication is there.
I'm sorry I couldn't make this right for you. But, I will continue to strive towards being a better option for latex products for those in our community.
For the record, it is not a good idea to tell your customers what their feelings are. "You were happy" -- this is not for you to decide. The "Scam" part came from you telling me the suit was in production when it wasn't, and you telling me it would be delivered in a timely manner, when it wasn't. I remind you that the only reason I got a refund is because I filed a grievance with PayPal, not because of your generosity or business acumen.
Yes, my article is staying up. I will not be paid off. I urge anyone who has read this far to read it carefully and think very, very hard before giving Squeak Latex their money.
I understand your concern and I hope we can produce something for you in the future.
At this time however, we are focusing on current orders. You're welcome to follow or twitter where will announce open slots or links to auctions of ready to go items.