Chris Howes' Sculptural Creations

[icruise]

Instead those comments are, potential homophobic bigotry aside, totally uncalled for against a married man (Chris), who has made no similarly infantile remarks about his critics here.

That's kind of an odd thing to say. But in any case, I agree that Chris hasn't made that kind of remark -- he hasn't made ANY kind of remark. That's kind of the problem.

 

[ProgMatinee]

And what, exactly (besides post my opinions on the matter), have I done to deserve these kind of personal attacks/borderline harassment?

Hmm. What would I rather have done to me, a little juvenile teasing or someone actually trying to insinuate Chris Howes' frequent broken promises, lies, skirting responsibility and flat out ignoring refund requests is somehow our own fault?

Which of those is the more insulting?

 

[Darklord Dave]

Regarding Tags, I'm particularly disappointed that a feature of the forum that could be of great use has been abused to point that I had to turn it off for everyone. Sorry about the search function, but something that would have helped with that has to be disabled because some people are infants.

Regarding Costumeball and Husker75 - they are offering to act as liaisons for the forum with Chris who has stated he won't be posting updates anymore. Instead of welcoming this chance at communication to resolve the issue - you all just attack both of them.

Yes, Mr. Howes business practices leave much to be desired - but it seems most people in this thread are doing everything they can to make the situation even more unstable and make it far more unlikely that his customers will see anything at all.

 

[ProgMatinee]

With respect, I thought costumeball's goal here was to try and make us all feel guilty for being upset over being taken for a ride. At least thats how I understood his attitude when saying stuff in effect of: "maybe you shouldn't have gave him money if you couldn't stand to lose it". And "he never set a date so he can keep your money as long as he wants" and "he never told you he wouldn't sell your items out from under you on ebay, so its completely alright".

I didn't find that to be helpful at all. He also never declared himself as one of those liasons, rather his attitude was "I'm still in contact with him, so he will be sending me my stuff, nanny nanny boo boo"

Just my take on his attitude. I still question his motives.

I do apologize for abusing the tags.

 

[icruise]

Yeah, I didn't get the impression that costumeball was "offering to serve as a liaison." He was basically just saying "Chris is in contact with me, so I don't see what you guys are getting so upset about."

And for the record, while there was some initial backlash against him, I think Husker's offer to liaise between the Chris and board is appreciated by most people, especially now that it's clear that he's experiencing much the same frustration that we are feeling (in contrast to costumeball, who was saying that we were making a mountain of a molehill). For the life of me I can't figure out why a liaison is necessary, though. Seriously, why?

 

[Darklord Dave]

For the life of me I can't figure out why a liaison is necessary, though. Seriously, why?

Agreed, it shouldn't be necessary. However putting myself in Mr. Howes shoes for a moment - why would I wish to visit a place that continually maligns me and calls for people to harass me?

Whatever set backs he's had they don't excuse the lack of communication, but I certainly can understand not wanting to be exposed to all this negative energy.

Heck, even I sometimes hate coming to this board, it can sometimes feel like swimming through a vat of month old cottage cheese.

 

[kl241]

Why do you continually defend this crook who has taken people's money?

 

[ProgMatinee]

the second someone reports they received a refund there will be a collective sigh of relief and half the pitchforks would be put away. For the life of me I cannot figure out why he hasn't refunded at least one person. Even if he has to refund 1 person a week for a year that would be a start to reperation.

Whoever is a "liason" please make that recommendation. Slow but steady refunds is something.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Why do you continually defend this crook who has taken people's money?

I'm not defending anyone. I'm attempting to keep the discourse on an even keel so there is a possibility of resolution. I can't allow the abuse and childish comments to continue.

 

[p!tu]

Agreed, it shouldn't be necessary. However putting myself in Mr. Howes shoes for a moment - why would I wish to visit a place that continually maligns me and calls for people to harass me?

Whatever set backs he's had they don't excuse the lack of communication, but I certainly can understand not wanting to be exposed to all this negative energy.

Heck, even I sometimes hate coming to this board, it can sometimes feel like swimming through a vat of month old cottage cheese.

Dave the reason this started was for his lack on being here and communicating simple Updates! i can clearly see this reading this thread. I mean SIMPLE UPDATES! " hey im breathing and still working" that simple! but nothing. People feel like nothing is getting done and they're money is gone. This is very unprofessional if you ask me.

 

[Mr Barlow]

Agreed, I also have money out for heads from Chris, but I choose to wait, and not jump in the flame war. I understand the frustration as I am a frequent commission artist myself and a purchaser of others work also . Updates would be the best route but over 1/2 of this thread has consisted of just slam posts w no info being shared.
Darklord Dave has consistently been trying to keep this on track as an information thread the way things have gone, and I think we need to try to keep it that way.

Shutting down this thread will accomplish nothing but if there are people who have been in contact then lets accept whatever info they have to pass on and not turn on each other. Especially when we are all fans here, and from time to time have waited through and have come to understand peoples lives getting in the way of our collections.

Sorry, but I just feel that this has gotten to the " venomous " stage, and we should not be at each others throats like we seem to be, as we all have so much in common (money out w no return yet and general love for the hobby) .


Russ

 

[ProgMatinee]

lets imagine the flames died down for 3 or 4 months and progress remains nil? do we fan the flames again? if everyone else calls a cease fire, I'll abide, but I'm wondering if this is a neccessary theorapy session that eventually will be over and done with, if we call a halt and wait it out won't it just be necessary down the road?

 

[Mr Barlow]

Im not saying that it should go away, just that we stop attacking each other !!

 

[The Drizzle]

This whole situation would be calmed if Chris would give real updates instead of bizarre excuses meant to take attention away from his screw-ups and poor choices. I feel like easily 95% of us have good sense, and decent honesty would go a long way to repairing this situation. As it is, I think people get a little "stir crazy" because they hear pretty much nothing, and next to no one (barring ebay buyers) is getting anything. It's kind of like "if we don't laugh about it we'll all start crying"...

 

[Toast]

It seems like all the dude does really is log on once in a great while, and play victim (Russian Spammers, Forum members trying to screw me, I'm being harassed) I mean that sucks if that stuff is really happening to him but those things should not prohibit him from getting his heads out. He should get a new email, If there is a member that does "has an ax to grind" and is trying to ruin his reputation the only way to reverse that is for him to show his customers he's a decent person and not trying to scam and he is not doing that well, and a way for him to stopped being harassed is actually let people know what is going on with there merchandise that they paid for and stop ignoring people. I don't know what he's going through but from what I have seen in this thread he is NOT coming across as a good guy in a bad situation like he wants everyone to believe.

I'm glad I never got anything from him and for the people that did I hope everything works out

 

[nash]

Agreed, it shouldn't be necessary. However putting myself in Mr. Howes shoes for a moment - why would I wish to visit a place that continually maligns me and calls for people to harass me?

Yes, exactly...WHY would you Dave, when you have $11,000+ of people's money already in your pocket?

 

[Husker75]

the second someone reports they received a refund there will be a collective sigh of relief and half the pitchforks would be put away. For the life of me I cannot figure out why he hasn't refunded at least one person. Even if he has to refund 1 person a week for a year that would be a start to reperation.

Whoever is a "liason" please make that recommendation. Slow but steady refunds is something.

This is just a chunk of the e-mail i sent him 2 days ago. I hope he will respond.

They also deserve an answer to the refund question. And i know this is a sore subject, but they all feel ripped off, and they all want to start a mob and take action against you. And rightfully so, in my opinion. But there is an easy way to at least calm things. First. Do you have money to refund? if you do, that is one thing. But if you don't, which is my guess, then we can take a different path. If you don't have the funds to do refunds, you need to let them know. Just a simple, "listen, i know you are all mad.. and i know i made a mistake.. but i don't have the funds to refund you at this time. I'm making and sending out all the sculpts i can, and i hope to have your items to you as soon as possible" (which would be a lot more comforting now that product is starting to show up to members like myself!) "but if you truly still want a refund and do not wish to wait, please contact.." and at that point, i would create a seperate e-mail.. i can send you a g-mail invite if you wish.. JUST for refunds.. like chowesrefund@gmail or something.. you know? That way everyone who still wants one can e-mail you, and leave you their info for what they paid, etc. THEN, just refund as you can. Tell them "As funds become available, i will refund you your purchase price. Please try to be understanding that i know i have made a mistake, and i know you want your money back now, but i don't have it at this time. I promise to send refunds as soon as i have the money on a case by case basis." And to prove this, i'd issue at least two refunds to members of the board who contact you on that addy. At least two, even if they are only 35 bucks or so. ANYTHING to show that you will honor your word would help you SO much, and seriously start the healing process. I promise you though, if you don't do something similar to this, it is just gonna keep getting worse. People are so angry at the lack of communication, and there is only so much i can do with my good words and good will to stop them. And if you don't take action, i will flat out refuse to stop them. They deserve an answer, and a refund if they want one. PLEASE help me help you, and help your customers. I know we can turn things around if we try. And you don't have to have your rep get ruined either. You can fix it. It will take time, but you can totally fix it.

And yes.. i know.. he can't really "fix" things.. not for most of you. But it was meant in the broader sense, that he could put things right.

So hopefully, as you can see from that little excerpt.. i AM trying my best to get him to make good on these things. Refunds was only one issue i covered though. So i'm really hoping he comes through with a response and action.

 

[costumeball]

Just a few general comments before I respond to some posts specifically, and my apologies in advance for the long post.

Like a few members here, I am in e-mail contact with Howes. And although he has not given me a specific timeframe for the projects I have him working on, or hasn't as of yet offered any new progress pics of other projects, I do get the impression that he is working on stuff as often as he can.

Maybe I am being naive with all of this (I can accept that), but at the end of the day, worst case scenario I'd rather be proven wrong while erring on the side of being empathetic than be proven wrong while thinking the absolute worst of someone, seemingly getting my kicks from seeing someone's reputation being harmed. Just as many of you think Howes has ruined his credibility beyond repair, IMO once you call someone out as a scammer, you can't really go back on that either, so if Howes does eventually make good on his responsibilities, how will that make you look?

I would hate to lose out on the money (and especially my orders which will be gifts which I hope will be very meaningful) but I don't see what good comes out of thinking so negatively.

And I realize they were largely intended to be jokes, but to be absolutely clear on the matter: my only relationship with Howes is that of a customer, period. One who signed up for the House custom head, and sent him two Ada heads to paint up as well. Nothing more, nothing less. We're not friends, and have no previous ties otherwise.

Lastly, if I have offended anyone, it really wasn't my intent, and I apologize if so. I'm not at all interested in picking fights on these forums, and as a relative newcomer I really have nothing personal (be it positive OR negative) with anyone here.

Hope to participate in more FUN threads in the future!

You haven't done any thing to deserve their comments.

Thanks SP, that's nice of you.

With respect, I thought costumeball's goal here was to try and make us all feel guilty for being upset over being taken for a ride. At least thats how I understood his attitude when saying stuff in effect of: "maybe you shouldn't have gave him money if you couldn't stand to lose it". And "he never set a date so he can keep your money as long as he wants" and "he never told you he wouldn't sell your items out from under you on ebay, so its completely alright".

I think you're twisting my words a little. I've already said I don't think selling on eBay was a good move. Only that given how little he was charging for these commissions, it makes sense that he would want to spread out the cost of sculpting/casting/etc as much as possible. Providing a possible explanation isn't an endorsement.

I don't think we'll ever get an answer as to why some eBay buyers are getting their heads before the commission customers that will be "satisfactory" for the angry mob here, and aside from wanting to bring in extra income the only other thing I can think of is maybe he has so much stuff piled up that he doesn't have things organized well enough to know who's first in line.

Who knows? Regardless, I do think an apology on that matter isn't uncalled for. But I still stand by the notion that there are clearly some people who had unrealistic expectations going in that has colored their view of the situation.

Yeah, I didn't get the impression that costumeball was "offering to serve as a liaison." He was basically just saying "Chris is in contact with me, so I don't see what you guys are getting so upset about."

Never said that some people didn't have the right to be upset. What I take issue with is authorities/lawsuit threats, harassment, name-calling, and gleeful piling-on from people who have nothing to do with any of the Howes commissions. Can't I express the opinion that people are taking things too far?

But it is looking like I might indeed be doing some "liason" type stuff, and not for any personal gain on my part, but purely out of an interest in resolving these matters as peacefully as possible, hopefully without any more threats, false accusations, or melodrama.

Once again, I have orders from Howes that are personally very important to me, so I wish nothing more for all of this to have a happy ending. Those who don't have anything to do with this except for being rubbernecking car wreck gawkers, I can't say their motives are as well-intentioned. I understand that people have a lot of friends here, and it sucks to see your friends being taken advantage of, but I just don't believe that's what's happening here.

Whoever is a "liason" please make that recommendation. Slow but steady refunds is something.

I have inquired about refunds, and in fact he didn't put me on his "ignore" list for it. I hope to have something to "report" soon. But that said, I am glad to see that some people (X-Files thread for example) are willing to wait it out a little more and wait for the heads to come around. I mean, isn't that the point of these commissions in the first place? Not to get refunds, but to get cool unique additions to our collections, right?

As I said, I truly believe it's just a matter of a little more patience at this point, and in no way do I have any inkling that Howes is trying to rip anyone off.

And again, sorry for the loooooong post.

P.S. Thought I'd add this. To anyone who hasn't been able to contact Chris via e-mail, if you have any GENERAL concerns you'd like me to raise, feel free to PM me about it. Please refrain from highly specific stuff (ie. "Did my order for ____ ship?") since no offense but I don't want to involve myself so personally/specifically, but I'll do what I can where it can help!

 

[ProgMatinee]

i appreciate anyone's effort in communicating on our behalf. I hope it helps to see some results.

 

[Anzik]

Its unfortunate that things have gotten to this point and while I don't agree with the personal attacks (thief, scammer, *********) Chris has brought this on himself. He has had the River/Cameron heads and House heads done for months now and the customers have had every right to wonder why.
I've sent Chris one very respectful email and received no response. I'll try again today.

One more thing: Capt Dan/Diver4, you're a *********. People like you are the reason most artists don't want to do this kind of work. Its just a shame that people use your services at all.