Sovereign Studios

[die]

Most of us here are familiar with Sovereign Studios & alot of us have purchased items from Sovereign Studios over the years, so I figured this would be much needed info for the customizers here.

OSW has issued a bad dealer/trader alert for Sovereign Studios due to the number of complaints and reports of questionable practices. The reviews have been pretty much "mixed" on Sovereign Studios for a while now. Some people have had great success in dealing with the guy & for some it has been a total nightmare. I've dealt with him twice, one time was great, the other time was completely horrible.

There's been a number of complaints ranging from awful customer service all the way up to just completely ripping somebody off. Just a heads up, I'd hate to see anybody else on here go through the heartbreak, especially since the pieces look so nice & tempting.

 

[Customikey]

I hate to hear that. I prize my Indiana Jones. He was just amazing about the things I asked him to do, i.e. altering the costume to fit the longer Sideshow body. A true artist. I hope he manages to get all this cleared up, as I hate to see a bright talent dimmed by bad press or practices.

 

[the vampire with soul]

ALL I got to say is he's still top's in my book.

 

[BDboystoys]

I've heard that too. When I dealt with Shawn about a year or so ago it was tops Hate to hear about that though.

 

[xenoviper]

Ive bought from him before. If you are impatient dont deal with him, cos you'd have to put up with waits and also sometimes you'd have to email him a numerous times to get a reply.

 

[MisterToyNYC]

That's sad to hear. Shawn is definitely a talent. I own his Batman and Jack Sparrow. They are truely museum pieces. I hope he can clear things up before the damage is done.

Eric

 

[Mookeylama]

yeah, he's still tops w/ me too. i think the main problem is some impatient people expecting him to give customer service like a retail store would and to me that's a bit of an unrealistic expectation when dealing w/ 1 guy doing the kind of quality work that he does. i do agree that he should respond to emails more readily. has anyone alerted him to the thread at OSW?

 

[metaphorge]

Maybe he needs to retain someone to do customer relations for him? I'm sure that someone could be incited to do it as a trade.

His work is amazing and I don't want to see him screwed down the line for the rough spots now.

 

[creecher]

I've been waiting nearly a year for one of his pirates. Things happen, his comp died, my comp died, he went away and his wife neglected the correspondence at one time. We lost contact.

I regard him as a craftsman and an artist. You do get a better job when it is handled with time, love, and care. As a perfectionist he has redone my figure three times, adding improvements. I just hope he gets it finalized before the third movie comes out and he starts improving it again. Yes I want my figure, but I will like it more with all the improvements for sure.

I knew ahead of time it would be a drawn out process, but I still get anxious, especially reading the initial post in this thread. Which states bad customer service to ripping people off. From what I read at OSW there were three complaints, and they are just putting out an alert, not a warning.

I would take this to mean; Find out, before you request Shawn to make you a figure, how long it might take, and how often correspondence will take place. He says he will keep you informed, but invariably gets tied down to working, and he doesn't seem to have an affinity with the computer or email, so it's up to you to badger a response from him. I prefer to keep my distance and wait, just so I don't upset him and it has an adverse affect on my figure. I think that's what half the problem is. People are expecting, because of habit, because it's what they are used to, production line stuff. It doesn't work like that. He has to source materials, which aren't always a matter of slipping down to the haberdashery and buying stuff off the shelf. Maybe they are unaware of this scenario and badger him to the point where he clams up on them. Don't anyone upset Shawn until after he has done my pirate, alright? Okay.

In any event, I'm not so concerned about the customer service, as I went in with my eyes open. The ripping off, however, is of concern. I'd have to hear the other side of the story on that subject. It could be a long wait.

 

[die]

I feel I should point a few things out in the interest of those who have had issues with this guy. The people who have responded with complaints are not "noobs" to the figure scene, they've been around for years & know that custom figures take time to make.

In my case, I asked about a specific figure that he sold on Ebay. He mailed me right back & said he had another completed and ready to ship. I paid through Paypal & still waited 6 months. After those six months, a package arrived & it had the wrong figure in it, stank of cigars (had to go out in the garage to air out) and had some quality issues due to being thrown together. I had bought a figure from him off of ebay before & the figure & transaction was perfect, which I guess had something to do with the feedback system and all. During those 6 months of waiting, the whole time he would say the figure is "going out Monday" or "the beginning of next month", etc.

The guy has some serious talent & some great custom figures, nobody is arguing that at all. I just don't think that his talent should allow him to be painted as the victim though. There's poor customer service and then there's pure dishonesty. Maybe he has gotten himself in too deep with orders and requests, maybe he he's a party animal & slacks off, but I'd prefer an email that says there's a 6 month wait in advance over a "I've got one in stock now, packed up & ready to ship out!!!" email.

 

[Customikey]

I'm of the "leave the guy to work" fraternity. I know I don't enjoy being hounded. (By the way, I SWEAR I'll get back to my painting table soon, guys! This mess with my dog being paralyzed has turned my life upside down!)

I will say that my Indiana did need to be aired out as well! But that's not a big deal to me. He was no stinkier than Jabba!

 

[die]

I'm guessing it's not going to matter what I post, he's still going to somehow get painted as a victim. I could probably post the months of BS emails or pics of the defects on the figure & I'd probably still get the "custom figures take time" response. I had absolutely no problem overlooking a few of the issues, but come on...

_____________________________________________________________
-You say you have another figure & it's ready to ship? cool I'll take one!

-After you get paypal payment, you say it should be ready by next week? huh? well, ok then, that's still cool.

-You say the same exact thing for months? well ok...I can wait, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

-I check ebay & see that the people who buy the SAME EXACT figure are getting theirs before me, even though I paid for mine months ago? That's not very fair, but I can forgive that if the figure looks like the ebay pics of it!

-You say you lost my address? The figure has been boxed and ready for months, but you need my address again? Well, ok, here it is again. wtf

-You couldn't go ahead and send it out because your PC died? it happens

-You say the figure should be ready to ship out next week? WTF.

-There's a package on my doorstep!? Awesome! Everything will be fine!

-Oh...it's not the figure I ordered? It's Batman Returns rather than '89 Batman.

-What's that smell?

-Why is there a cigar burn on the cape & ashes all over the figure?

-Why are the rubberized parts splitting on the gauntlets?

-Why is there a big hole between the ensignia & the armor?

-Why are there huge pock marks on the mask that nobody filled before rubberizing them?

-Oh..I've missed the deadline for any Paypal dispute since I paid so many months ago?
______________________________________________________________

I can't believe that people will rant & rave all day long about the recasters out there , but completely excuse such a dishonest customizer.

 

[Double Dare]

I sent Shawn Kutchara full payment for one Indiana Jones figure two years ago. Still nothing. No updates. Numerous emails from me are left unanswered. I don't care how talented a person is -if he agrees to a civilized transaction then he is expected to fulfill his end of the deal. Talented or not, a thief is a thief. I highly doubt if he will ever prove me wrong.

Nick Ramos

 

[customizerwannabe]

He sucks. Plain and simple. Had to do a paypal fraud alert to get my advance money on a Spawn. If customizers don't like being hounded to provide a product that has been paid for, then don't accept money until it is done. This guy never communicates delays. You have to hound him. I very rarely pay a customizer upfront for something not yet completed. You almost never get what you order when you are supposed to.

 

[drjedisith]

wow! im shocked..i have an indy and a batman over the last few yrs ..never a problem! hmmmm

 

[Customikey]

That's a shame. sad to hear a good artist has gone rogue.

As to payment, I never start work until I've been paid. I'm not going to do all this work and then be stuck with a figure/head, etc because the buyer changed their mind. But in all honesty, I have a good rep u t ation here, and no one has ever voiced a problem with my work, even when some projects have taken far too long.

(the spaces in rep u t ation are because apparently you can't write the word that makes up the third through sixth letters in the word.)

 

[El Roranous]

That's a shame. sad to hear a good artist has gone rogue.

As to payment, I never start work until I've been paid. I'm not going to do all this work and then be stuck with a figure/head, etc because the buyer changed their mind. But in all honesty, I have a good rep u t ation here, and no one has ever voiced a problem with my work, even when some projects have taken far too long.

(the spaces in rep u t ation are because apparently you can't write the word that makes up the third through sixth letters in the word.)

What, PUT A

 

[DarkArtist81]

What, PUT A

Indeed.

I know I can be a little quiet sometimes... in regards to headpaints... I often get so booked up that I find it hard to keep updating people. But if someone ever asks me what the deal is... I do my best to answer and give them progress photos of the work.

It's sad to hear that things have gotten this way with him. His work is good, but you have to earn a rep with your clients or you will not survive.

 

[Mookeylama]

He sucks. Plain and simple. Had to do a paypal fraud alert to get my advance money on a Spawn. If customizers don't like being hounded to provide a product that has been paid for, then don't accept money until it is done. This guy never communicates delays. You have to hound him. I very rarely pay a customizer upfront for something not yet completed. You almost never get what you order when you are supposed to.

man that sucks. sorry to hear bout that. i came close to ordering onea his Spawns too. glad i stuck w/ Medi. wish the eyes lit up tho heh.

 

[Xander]

what's his ebay handle?