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On customer service
9 years ago
I hear a lot of people complaining about how poor the overall level of client services are among fursuit makers(Things like, "I only got 6 WIPs" or "It took them almost a week to repond to my email, etc". I think this is purely based on dealings with ONLY fursuit makers and heresay, because having just concluded a custom job with an FX house(I commissioned THEM for a custom piece)- let me tell you just how great fursuit customer service is. This isn't the first time I've gotten work done from an FX house, nor will it be the last I suspect. I paid them 100% up front(~a grand) as it typical(Sometimes you owe more than agreed at the end, depending on time allotted), pointed to the model I wanted and said "This one, but with X, Y, Z alterations, in this colour scheme(Which I provided)". I contacted them on 5 seperate occasions begging to spend my money to buy this thing- I finally CALL and they respond to my email. They estimated a 4-8 week turnaround. So now it is about 10 weeks later, I haven't seen ANY work in progress photos, I have had NO contact with the studio, they haven't answered any emails. Saturday I got a curt email saying 'it is done, here is your tracking #'.
This is about the usual level of customer service for professional FX houses. So anyone telling you that 'furry customer service won't fly in the REAL world' has no clue whatsoever. I have dropped more money on myself than I have probably spent altogether in my whole life for something I've wanted for several years now- I have no idea what the modifications look like, no idea if the paint job is right. No idea if it will even LOOK good. And I am still excited as FUCK.
Compare this with typical fursuit customer service-
-Regular Email contact
-WIPS regularly, or on request
-Streams(Sometimes, depends on the artist!)
-Alterations done to your taste
And yet we charge under half of what the professionals do. From here, it seems like compared to the 'real world' fursuit customer service is above and beyond even WETA(One of the best FX houses in the world).
Just wanted to jot down my comparison before all the details fade from my mind! This isn't slamming anyone or anything, its just one of those things furries like to generically bitch about, and coming out of this real world experience with a costume studio, it seems like furries just really want other furries to be happy, and do their best damned job at servicing them(Insert gross joke here)!
This is about the usual level of customer service for professional FX houses. So anyone telling you that 'furry customer service won't fly in the REAL world' has no clue whatsoever. I have dropped more money on myself than I have probably spent altogether in my whole life for something I've wanted for several years now- I have no idea what the modifications look like, no idea if the paint job is right. No idea if it will even LOOK good. And I am still excited as FUCK.
Compare this with typical fursuit customer service-
-Regular Email contact
-WIPS regularly, or on request
-Streams(Sometimes, depends on the artist!)
-Alterations done to your taste
And yet we charge under half of what the professionals do. From here, it seems like compared to the 'real world' fursuit customer service is above and beyond even WETA(One of the best FX houses in the world).
Just wanted to jot down my comparison before all the details fade from my mind! This isn't slamming anyone or anything, its just one of those things furries like to generically bitch about, and coming out of this real world experience with a costume studio, it seems like furries just really want other furries to be happy, and do their best damned job at servicing them(Insert gross joke here)!
You really got something from WETA?!
May I ask what you're getting?! Or do we all have to wait patiently, like a surprise. :3
edit: And unrelated, what's your avatar from? I've always wondered.
Its from elder scrolls online one of their trailers. It was just so coincidentally on point with my monster I had to use it XD
Some people do complain way too much to their makers for constant images and updates though, no one should pester a maker like that ack..
I feel like people expect A+ customer service with makers because it is something that is typically 100% customized and personal. While buying something from a studio can be personal to someone as well, fursuits (from what Iv seen) usually are even more so and thats why so many customers ask for WIPs and frequent updates which I find understandable.. Especially when you compare the maker reviews that dont give many updates to their customers (usually dont fit the customer, or the design is wrong, ect ect) to the reviews where people did get good updates (usually few mistakes and correct design). In a fandom where everything is typically very personal and custom to the point where every suit made even by the same maker can have slight differences I can see why constant contact is important. I know I as a maker give at least weekly updates even if I dont have images but thats just me :>
I don't pay a lot of heed to fursuit reviews because a lot of the bad ones are pretty obviously written angrily, so their commentary on how often they were updated can be skewed. (I had someone once say "i never send them updates", when I have over 100 pictures in our back-and-forth and 11 streams recorded of their project).
My point is that we do keep constant contact and make these alterations, and a lot of people don't understand that sort of regularity is NOT 'average' customer service- it is already above and beyond good customer service. Our 'baseline' level of service in the community would be percieved as A++ in the public sector :P
Oh yea for sure, most fursuit makers already have really good customer service.. some people just will ask too much of them at times. There needs to be a "day in the life of" for fursuit makers somewhere for people to read haha!
i normally get yelled at by friends (i dont take on many random buyers) if i dont update them every week and have SOMETHING done >.>i work full time AND im making your suit in MY free time
please notice i will make progress, but nothing to really send anything to you about. Like maybe some shaving or i crafted a toe. Do you really need to know about a toe?
I've given up on fursuit making as all the suits i made went to to kinda mean people (other than 2) and they all do....hmm....bad things, in them if you know what i mean.
It doesnt make me really happy that they know i was cheap and wanted BCFC or FStorm6 level crafting for dirt pricing and constant updates via txt message. (Im not taht good but they made me feel like they expected it)
Also i gave out free basic repairs for life like open stitches or re-gluing for example
I had to get rid of that too as people would just drop stuff on me and make me fix it NOW because THEY HAVE SHIT TO DO and i apparently dont.
So
no
i will fix it when i feel like it because you never asked first. Just because its free, doesnt mean its 24/7 service >.>
I wasnt the best maker but ugh >.> people expected so much from some one who did this in their free time and even warned them. The suit will get done a min of 8-12months.
4months later. Wheres mah shit? you said you had the tail done a week ago you should be done~!
Remember, people, that while this is the bestest thing you've ever done with your money and your every waking moment hinges on WIP pics or status updates, that it's probably just Saturday to the maker. You are vacationing in the space that they live; cut them some slack and give them some space.
I guess where the difference is for me between the FX people and a fursuit builder is that the FX people aren't making your character, who you've drawn or had drawn a hundred times, wrote up a backstory for, and hold closer to your heart than your family, come to life. Updates, WIP, sketches, etc come down to efficiency in a lot of cases, though where having to re-work bits of it because an important detail was missed or miscommunicated could be time consuming. Perhaps the FX world could learn a thing or two from the furry one.
But then again, I think pretty much everything in the movie business is a crapshoot. I went to film school and started PA'ing for some shoots, mostly commercials, and the whole industry is ridiculous. I decided it wasn't for me and got out very quickly. Too many Type A's.