Chris Howes' Sculptural Creations

[icruise]

By the way, I sent an email to Chris (my first) telling him how bad the situation is getting here and strongly encouraging him to post some kind of update and apology. I think I was very polite, considering. If he doesn't do that or respond in any way, I'll have to assume that he never intends to come through.

 

[Gruff Old Bear]

I think that Chris made clear from the start that his custom offerings would be done between commercial assignments. Perhaps he agreed to all these projects during a slow time, and then things picked up. I don't know, but my experience with three other customizers on this board and a fourth who does not post on SSF is that a year's wait for custom work is typical, not unusual.

I am frankly skeptical of the suggestion that complaining to authorities will get them to become involved. There was never a deadline or due date on any of these projects, so the complaints will seem subjective. Chris hasn't disappeared -- he posted on this board just a month ago, and while that may seem a long time to those of us who visit the board daily, it's hardly going to get the authorities up in arms. He's delivered some heads, but not others. To an outsider, it's going to seem like there's not much here except some frustrated collectors.

I have a concern that urging others to contact authorities may amount to encouraging harassment, and I think those who are joining this cruise ought to dive a little deeper here. There's an awful lot of heat coming off captdan. You haven't offended me, captdan. I just find it curious.

 

[The Craw]

the problem isn't the long wait. it's the fact that Chris has said that heads have shipped yet nobody here has gotten any. plus he won;t acknowledege any refund requests even though he stated that he has no problems with refunds.

 

[captdan]

I think that Chris made clear from the start that his custom offerings would be done between commercial assignments. Perhaps he agreed to all these projects during a slow time, and then things picked up. I don't know, but my experience with three other customizers on this board and a fourth who does not post on SSF is that a year's wait for custom work is typical, not unusual.

I am frankly skeptical of the suggestion that complaining to authorities will get them to become involved. There was never a deadline or due date on any of these projects, so the complaints will seem subjective. Chris hasn't disappeared -- he posted on this board just a month ago, and while that may seem a long time to those of us who visit the board daily, it's hardly going to get the authorities up in arms. He's delivered some heads, but not others. To an outsider, it's going to seem like there's not much here except some frustrated collectors.

I have a concern that urging others to contact authorities may amount to encouraging harassment, and I think those who are joining this cruise ought to dive a little deeper here. There's an awful lot of heat coming off captdan. You haven't offended me, captdan. I just find it curious.

No offense taken and yes there is a lot of heat coming off of me. When I made my order with Chris he told me in an email that the 3 statues that were already sculpted would be cast and shipped in 4-6 weeks and here it is almost 15 months later and I still do not have them. I am not the only one that ordered and paid for these statues in the same time frame and no one has received them yet.

There are also a couple of people that have contacted me and let me know that they commissioned him to do a personal sculpt as far back as Aug 08 and to date they have not received any pictures or updates as promised.

I am tired of his lies and excuses and it was never about the wait it was about the lies, as I have stated before he told me on 3 separate occasions that they were shipped only to have them "get lost in the mail". I along with everyone else have given him more than enough leeway to set things straight....

 

[Voorhees27]

I think that Chris made clear from the start that his custom offerings would be done between commercial assignments. Perhaps he agreed to all these projects during a slow time, and then things picked up. I don't know, but my experience with three other customizers on this board and a fourth who does not post on SSF is that a year's wait for custom work is typical, not unusual.

I am frankly skeptical of the suggestion that complaining to authorities will get them to become involved. There was never a deadline or due date on any of these projects, so the complaints will seem subjective. Chris hasn't disappeared -- he posted on this board just a month ago, and while that may seem a long time to those of us who visit the board daily, it's hardly going to get the authorities up in arms. He's delivered some heads, but not others. To an outsider, it's going to seem like there's not much here except some frustrated collectors.

I have a concern that urging others to contact authorities may amount to encouraging harassment, and I think those who are joining this cruise ought to dive a little deeper here. There's an awful lot of heat coming off captdan. You haven't offended me, captdan. I just find it curious.

I suggest reading deeper into the entire situation at hand, you imo do not have all of the details. I understand where you are coming from but you are giving a general opinion on a far more complex situation.

Nobody has complained about how long things have taken, this goes WAY beyond that. So for the record, it has absolutely nothing to do with being impatient and yes we were given deadlines on projects.

Read Craws post for examples.

 

[Doom Saber]

I think that Chris made clear from the start that his custom offerings would be done between commercial assignments. Perhaps he agreed to all these projects during a slow time, and then things picked up. I don't know, but my experience with three other customizers on this board and a fourth who does not post on SSF is that a year's wait for custom work is typical, not unusual.

I am frankly skeptical of the suggestion that complaining to authorities will get them to become involved. There was never a deadline or due date on any of these projects, so the complaints will seem subjective. Chris hasn't disappeared -- he posted on this board just a month ago, and while that may seem a long time to those of us who visit the board daily, it's hardly going to get the authorities up in arms. He's delivered some heads, but not others. To an outsider, it's going to seem like there's not much here except some frustrated collectors.

I have a concern that urging others to contact authorities may amount to encouraging harassment, and I think those who are joining this cruise ought to dive a little deeper here. There's an awful lot of heat coming off captdan. You haven't offended me, captdan. I just find it curious.

The issue was that when Howes started to take on commissions, he mentioned that he was goin to do them as a job. What probably have occured since might be him gettin another job since

People are pissed since Howes lied about sending the heads(he said the house hs were sent though on collector49, the person who made the original thread,] got the head. Howes also claimed not to set foot in the board because ofa few people complaining.

If you said this a month ago, ppl would agree with you

 

[Big Ape]

I'd like to suggest we merge everything under two separate threads, one for actual updates (receipt of items, e-mail updates from Chris) and one where people can continue to air their grievances as much as they want. This way, if you want to get an update, you can do so without wading through all the rants. If you want to rant, you can go to the grievance section and have at it

Is there some sort of thread for refund requests? Kind of like the various product "waiting rooms"? Maybe a chart showing who has asked for their money back. Just an idea.

 

[Big Ape]

Chris hasn't disappeared -- he posted on this board just a month ago, and while that may seem a long time to those of us who visit the board daily, it's hardly going to get the authorities up in arms.

While that may be true, how hard is it to stop by once a week or something? He didn't have to respond to every post. Just some honest updates. He probably had a lot on his plate. Taking time to do the work isn't the problem. The fact that paying customers haven't had ANY contact with him is a problem. It's like he disappeared in the middle of the night or something.

 

[Anzik]

I'm not prepared to file charges. I believe I'll get my heads...eventually. If I pass another birthday without receiving what I paid for, I might change my mind.
What bothers me is that he has lied on more than one occasion. I saw the pics of the finished heads and have seen pics of cast versions of them. I don't know if he doesn't have time to cast them, but thats not my problem. If he doesn't have time, he should contract out the casting to someone else and start mailing them.
This isn't rocket science. I've purchased heads from Spenser, Binky and a few others. The all have full time jobs as well but still manage to deliver.

 

[Deckard]

I'm not prepared to file charges. I believe I'll get my heads...eventually. If I pass another birthday without receiving what I paid for, I might change my mind.
What bothers me is that he has lied on more than one occasion. I saw the pics of the finished heads and have seen pics of cast versions of them. I don't know if he doesn't have time to cast them, but thats not my problem. If he doesn't have time, he should contract out the casting to someone else and start mailing them.
This isn't rocket science. I've purchased heads from Spenser, Binky and a few others. The all have full time jobs as well but still manage to deliver.

Well in another year you probably won't be able to do anything, they have statutes of limitations on legal action like this. Btw where in South Jersey are you, I'm in Voorhees.

 

[Ironman1188]

Btw where in South Jersey are you, I'm in Voorhees.

Rally the Jersians and light the torches!!

 

[icruise]

Chris hasn't disappeared -- he posted on this board just a month ago, and while that may seem a long time to those of us who visit the board daily, it's hardly going to get the authorities up in arms. He's delivered some heads, but not others. To an outsider, it's going to seem like there's not much here except some frustrated collectors.

I agree with you that convincing the authorities that a crime has been committed may be more difficult than some people seem to think, and in fact I'm not really in favor of that course of action. But on the other hand, from my point of view things are looking very suspicious.

Assume for a moment that Chris is just very laid back, and isn't great about providing updates or doing things in a timely manner. That's believable. But he's been told about what's going on here, and he's seen some of it himself. I told him in my recent email that some people (not me) were talking about lawsuits and contacting the police. If it was me, I would hightail it over here to try and calm things down. I told Chris that it would probably only take an hour of his time to come here and give some progress reports on the projects, but so far there's been nothing. It's baffling.

 

[Anzik]

Well in another year you probably won't be able to do anything, they have statutes of limitations on legal action like this. Btw where in South Jersey are you, I'm in Voorhees.

I'm in Westville, just north of Deptford.

 

[Studio49]

I talked to Chris yesterday via email. It was a rather long email he sent, and the whole message was still the same. He said he was swamped in commercial work which just ended. He said he was working on Maximus and River sculpts this weekend. He couldn't, or wouldn't, show me any photos of the Maximus project items I asked for. And he blamed the whole mess on recasters, again!

I mailed the paperwork to initiate my lawsuit. I don't believe he has made any progress on Maximus, which he lied about several times even saying the whole thing was nearly done. If he had showed me photos of what he had worked on for Maximus, I would have delayed the lawsuit. This is not, and never was about the wait. It was about his crappy communication, over-promise of delivery times, and his flat out lies regarding what he was accomplishing. The lying about sending out the House heads was the true and most blatant indicator something is seriously wrong with his business practices. He lied to everyone who ordered one of those heads.

 

[Something Sexy]

I talked to Chris yesterday via email. It was a rather long email he sent, and the whole message was still the same. He said he was swamped in commercial work which just ended. He said he was working on Maximus and River sculpts this weekend. He couldn't, or wouldn't, show me any photos of the Maximus project items I asked for. And he blamed the whole mess on recasters, again!

I mailed the paperwork to initiate my lawsuit. I don't believe he has made any progress on Maximus, which he lied about several times even saying the whole thing was nearly done. If he had showed me photos of what he had worked on for Maximus, I would have delayed the lawsuit. This is not, and never was about the wait. It was about his crappy communication, over-promise of delivery times, and his flat out lies regarding what he was accomplishing. The lying about sending out the House heads was the true and most blatant indicator something is seriously wrong with his business practices. He lied to everyone who ordered one of those heads.

That is rough but at least you got some communication.

 

[mosaicsquare]

thats why i wanted to know right from the beginning how big his list of first wave House Heads were.... who would have thought 1st wave was just one single head sent to you.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

He couldn't, or wouldn't, show me any photos of the Maximus project items I asked for. And he blamed the whole mess on recasters, again!

Chris is an awesome guy.

 

[yruh8n]

I had a chance to speak with Tom Snyder of Joy and Tom Studios about this. They were the freelance sculptors who did most of the heads for Andgor. He said he felt bad for Chris because they know what it's like to be in that position. In Tom's opinion Chris is doing himself a world of hurt by not refunding those who are asking. This show of good faith would ease a lot of peoples minds, and give him a chance to get caught up for those who don't mind waiting. As it is he probably isn't aware of the long term affect this will have in the 1/6th community. The Snyders reached out to several people who were complaining on line about being ripped off by Andgor and tried to solve their issues. When asked to provide a receipt as prove of payment several admitted that they hadn't actually ordered anything they were just spreading the word. The same will happen to Howes. His name will be mud for a long time to come. I don't see this situation as harming the 1/6th community as a whole. It will hopefully cause others to police their actions and not get caught in the same mess. Hopefully everyone can learn something from this.

 

[yodasan]

Paypal has refunded the money I sent to Howes for the Star Trek heads, so I'm done with this person.

 

[icruise]

Did you contact them or did they just do it?