Its with a heavy heart I write this post, but I felt that you deserved a warning about this business before you spend any of your hard earned dollars and got caught in a circumstance similar to my own and several other ladies. As you know several months ago - around August I discovered a new Brazilian indie brand called Universe Polish or UP run by Tatiana. As usual I was thrilled and raved about her plates and fresh designs. Myself along with 30 other girls based here in the U.S. set up a group buy with her. In addition, she offered to sell us 5 other special release plates that she would be releasing soon to her store. She offered us competitive pricing and seemed eager to proceed. Everything sounded great! Initially she was very responsive to messages and answered any questions we had about our order. Then we paid her; close to $2000 USD for plates and products via paypal. I should mention during this time there was an issue with the total and the seller asked for more money to cover the paypal fee. We agreed and paid this extra amount. This was August of 2014 and the very beginning of our nightmare....
The great thing about this group buy is that we weren't supposed to wait for manufacturing as all the plates were supposed to be in stock. If you've never participated in a group buy before you should know that's rare. Usually you have to wait for the plate maker to manufacture the plates; in short its a pre-order of sorts. By September 2014 we were beginning to wonder why the plates hadn't shipped out since it wasn't supposed to be a preorder. We were informed the Apipila products (Tatiana is a reseller for her and offered those as well) were causing a delay and we would have to await manufacturing for those. Fast forward to the first of October 2014. The plates have arrived!!! Yay!!! Everyone is excited; a 2 month turnaround and we have our plates. Only there's a few problems. She shipped out our plates but did not ship out the 6 special plates that were pre-releases that many of us ordered citing manufacturer problems. She also didn't tell this information to the group buy organizer until AFTER she shipped the parcel.
Fast forward to February 2015. Several ladies start leaving messages on her business page asking why she isn't responding to our messages. One member of our stamping group is Brazilian and she translates our messages so that we can send them to Tatiana in her native Portuguese. Finally I get a response saying she cannot refund us because there is a problem with the bank in paypal. She cannot process a refund or send money or so she claims. By this point it's also too late for us to file a Paypal claim. She has our money and we have no plates. We ask her if we can just get other plates that she sells instead of the preorder special editions since she can't refund us and the plates still have not been manufactured. She says yes and says she can ship out the February 19th, 2015. Today is March 17th, 2015. Still no plates and no communication from the seller. I finally leave a message on her personal page. She claims we have slandered her, several other ladies left messages on her business page as well but she deleted them, and that she will sue us. She has now blocked many of us on Facebook, myself included, and we still have no plates and no explanation for her behavior.
Squished and blurry blobby etched snowflakes and swirls :/ This plate is a disaster. This was the only one I tried swatching out and I was hugely disappointed. I would feel guilty even selling these off to another person.
Distorted over-enlarged minions that will not fit on a single nail. And you ladies know how long my nails are. This is the plate I was the most excited for and turned out to be the biggest let down.
Stretched warped pattern that was obviously enlarged and used to fill up the plate. Look as how distorted the image looks on the plate and the image is also lopsided on my plate.
Back of plates.
Of course I have all my screenshots from Facebook between myself, the organizer, and Tatiana to prove all of this. However out of respect for the privacy of everyone I will not post them here. If you are in any of the stamping groups on Facebook they will be made available to you via various participants in this GB that also got scammed along with myself. So here's where I urge you....
Be wary of this seller and her business. The quality of the plates are not as they are represented and you may not even get the plates you ordered. If you try to communicate with this seller sensibly she will either ignore you or block you. I have since been blocked after asking too many questions and exposing the truth on her page. However since I pointed out this brand to you in the first place its also my responsibility to warn my followers. Beware and I'm sorry I had to report such a negative thing here on this space. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post.
Sometimes I wonder how some people can live with themselves. Seriously - I was shocked reading this especially since it will put a lot of distrust in small indie businesses that are really trying their best.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad :(.
ReplyDeleteI bought two UP plates ( the minion and love 2, I think it was ) from someone selling in the stamping plate swap group around December/January and can't even use them :(. The minions are so big, they don't even for on one of those glass stones to make a necklace/ ring out of and the love one doesn't stamp very well. I can not believe someone could do this to others and live with themselves!! It's disgusting!!! Thank you for posting this so others don't get scammed as well!!
Oh, I'm so sorry this has happened to all of you. I feel that you are entitled to give an accurate account of your experience with this seller. It's NOT your fault that it just happens to be a bad one it's HERS!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it will Conny. Truly I held my silence for as long as I could praying that some miracle would occur and that she would honor her word and practice integrity. I didn't want to harm her business and in truth I know that the words I post on this blog have a lot of power. But finally today after she blocked me for asking questions and claimed she would sue me I'd had enough. And I knew as surely as I had been ripped off others would fall victim to this seller. In addition her plates are so poorly etched and distorted that the truth of that needs to be told as well. There has to be accountability and a limit to how far people can go in addition to how much a victim will tolerate.
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea she'd done the same thing to others. I'm shocked you received your plates as well since she pretty much has held our hostage and walked off into parts unknown. And yes after all that waiting when I saw the quality of the plates I was stunned. It was like adding salt to an already painful and exposed wound :( I'm sorry you were also a victim of her horrible business practices.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I was also surprised we received our second shipment (the plates missing from the first shipment), but there were also plates missing from that delivery. We were told so many different dates as to when these plates were supposedly shipped (varying from last year, to Feb this year), and when we'd ask for tracking info, she would vanish. The one plate that I did open, the etching is so rough, you can easily cut your fingers by gently running them across the image. Like others have said, the images are all distorted, squished up, and just poor quality across the board. An extremely disappointing experience.
ReplyDeleteWow! I honestly had not idea your plates were so terrible. I will be honest and say I only tried 3 of them though. I was so disappointed I just put them to the side to collect dust. It definitely feels like I wasted a lot of my money and energy dealing with this seller and her plates. All the things you are describing are also all the things she did to us and I'm not at all surprised to hear she didn't give you all the plates you ordered. Tatiana is truly an unprofessional seller and a disgrace to this small community. Lying stealing and cheating her way through GBs one by one. I wish we could have warned each other but it seems we both timed our GBs around the same period.
ReplyDeleteOh I know it's not my fault. I place blame squarely on the shoulders of this seller. What makes me upset is that I have to post such a horrible review and shed light on a brand that I was initially enthusiastic about. Further I worry about the damage this seller will do to the stamping community which is truly not that large. I've learned many lessons from this experience though. If I never get my plates I know that at least I warned others about her company before they become victims of her horrible practices.
ReplyDeleteEXTREMAMENTE RIDÍCULO ESSA SUA PUBLICAÇÃO.
ReplyDeleteCOMO ESTA FALANDO COISAS MENTIROSAS DE LOJA E MARCA, ESTAREMOS TOMANDO AS PROVIDENCIAS CABÍVEIS CONTRA SEU BLOG.
CALUNIA E DIFAMAÇÃO É CRIME.
I truly thank you for sharing your experience. Like you said the stamping community is not that big, and we don't want one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch.
ReplyDeleteNossaa....conheço os produtos e amo, da baile em muitos importados. Tatiana sempre muito atenciosa e prestativa. Produto de qualidade....pelo q li vc defamou mesmo a empresa. Cuidado!!! Pense antes de reclamar algo...todos temos o direito de expor nossas opiniões, positivas ou negativas, sobre produtos, pessoas...enfim, mas até nessa hora temos q ser humildes e educados. Mais educação na sua próxima manifestação! Abraços.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe if you weren't a thief and a liar she wouldn't have to post this. She is well known and trusted and I believe her and not your lies. Maybe you should have some respect and give them their money back.
ReplyDeleteBem, talvez se você não fosse um ladrão e um mentiroso ela não teria que postar isso . Ela é bem conhecida e confiável e eu acredito nela e não suas mentiras . Talvez você deve ter um pouco de respeito e dar-lhes o seu dinheiro de volta.
It's not slander when it's true. You wouldn't have a leg to stand on legally because everything written here is true and documented. And the evidence speaks for itself as your plates are a disaster.
ReplyDeleteHow about you honor your commitments and either refund people or deliver the plates you said you were going to?
Oh, by the way, I have informed Australian nail art lovers to avoid your company also.
Eu não tenho que devolver dinheiro Jules, pois todo o pedido já foi enviado.
ReplyDeleteQuem administrou este grupo chama-se Yvette Perez e tudo foi negociado com ela.
Qualquer duvida, pode perguntar a ela.
Eu devolvo dinheiro, se devolverem os produtos.
Não trabalho todos os dias para dar produtos de graça.
I bought the Snow 01 plate on a swap page. The images are a shade wonky, but on the whole it stamped great. I wouldn't have a problem buying another plate from this maker, but I would look at the picture of the plate very carefully. You can see some of the images are off just by the plate pic.
ReplyDeleteEverything posted here is the truth. I was in a group buy going on around the same time, on the other side of the world, and we had the exact same experience- endless waiting, excuses, missing plates, contradictory information followed by no communication, ending in plates that are of such poor quality, they cannot be used. Any reasonable seller who cared about their products and customers, would offer to refund if buyers were not satisfied with their product, or at least work with them to find a suitable solution, not start calling them liars and threatening to sue them for slander. I do not go around saying negative things about a company or their product for the fun of it, and neither does the writer of this blog.
ReplyDeleteI own the UP04. It was one of the first plates & bought as a resale from a girl in a FaceBook Group. I knew NOTHING about stamping plates & didn't realize that I was supposed to swatch it to see if it was etched properly. I've never used it & it still sits in a binder with the rest of my other plates. Only since I've seen this pic today, do I realize that mine also is smeared & tilted to the left... Looks like I've learned a valuable lesson today...NEVER buy from Universal Polish!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to let me know and I'm glad to see some have had a positive experience with one of her plates. And I'm glad you told everyone here as well. I will however point out that you purchased that plate from a re-seller/swapper stateside and not directly from the seller herself. So our experiences are very different since I have been dealing with the seller directly :/
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear that. It's my personal policy to always swatch out new plates that hit my doorstep. You just never know what the quality my be and many companies have a limited window that they will allow returns etc if you aren't pleased with you product. I don't even have any constructive advice to give you about the plate because I have the same problem with mine and there is nothing I can do. I would suggest contacting the seller to see if you could get a replacement, but given my experiences with her I'm not sure how that will turn out. However it couldn't hurt to ask.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand the revamped comment. If people had product there would not be issue but I guess she isn't ready for that truth. Continue on being amazing in your blog!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to bother contacting the seller... I will just mark it off to Lesson Learned!!!
ReplyDeleteI also purchased the snowflake and minion plates in this group buy. I felt the minion plate was extremely disappointing. Images way too large and a couple stretched to widely. The snowflake plate was worse as half the images were almost unrecognizable because the lines were jumbled or the images too small to be anything other than a blob on the nail. I have a video review of them on my YouTube channel. Just search for my name.
ReplyDeleteOther than that all I can say is although I did not send money for these pre-order plates I can vouch for the fact that I have seen updates, comments and posts from the girls who did in our group. The chatter was consistent with all the events Tamira's laid out above.
I understand your point about the seller - that's why I specifically mentioned I bought mine from a swap page. I was addressing plate quality only. Your post said you wanted information 'on the plate as a whole'.
ReplyDeleteThank you I appreciate your post and feeback hun. The reason I underscored that you got it through a member in a swap is that I wanted it to be very clear about the source of the plate since you said you would purchase again that the initial purchase wasn't through the seller directly. People tend to skim which is why I often end up repeating myself in posts and in comments. Again thanks for giving that feedback!
ReplyDeleteTatiana- si ella tiene prueba de lo que ha pasado no creo que puedas demandar. Aun parese que atemptaron de comunicar contigo y fallaron. Si tu tienes pruebas de tus repuestas a esos mensajes, enseñalos. No pierdes nada en defenderte. Pero si no tienes esas pruebas, hay que arreglase con ella bien para que cambie de opiñon.
ReplyDeleteTamira thank you for the full rundown of what has happened. Hopefully she will rectify the situation and maybe attempt to earn your trust back.
Really this was beyond disappointing worse still is this sellers continued asserts that I am a liar and misrepresenting the facts. I don't do that as my blog can and will attest to. All I wanted is urge caution to my followers because I have lost not only money but time and energy trying to attain something I already paid for and then suffered further disappointment when the product turned out to be nothing like expected :/
ReplyDeleteHold on... think before you complain about something? She did, she spent 7 months considering before posting about her experiences. And then you go to say that everyone is entitled to their opinion... I guess only if it complies with your viewpoint. And that's not cool at all.
ReplyDeleteIf I could make a pun even though this situation is far from funny; let us both consider it a Lesson Lockdown of the wrong kind lololololol!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience too Bridget. Honestly I really was freaking excited for my minion plate. I just knew my nails were going to be on point :) Then I also like you realized they were stretched and far to big. My snowflake plate is even more flawed than your's from what I can see in the video review on your Youtube. Of course plate lover that I am I did order these special plates and so I've been shoved into a corner now along with the others that ordered them. Missing plates and money spent. So why on earth would I bother to lie about it? I have nothing to gain in doing so since my money is already gone and I still don't have my plates.
ReplyDeleteFor those interested here is Bridget's review on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeHN9xi2uPE
Rita isn't interested in reading the facts. She came to give report of her experience with the seller and claim that I have been rude and thoughtless in my expounding the various inappropriate and unprofessional behavior of this seller. I'm very firmly addressed her response and I do believe she's entitled to her opinion. It's just our opinions don't meet and I'm going to redact my statements no how many people claim I've defamed this company. Not one word I posted here is a lie. It's obvious that Tatiana cannot even provide proof that she has been an upright seller because she would have done so by now. Any one would who had these accusations lodged against them. At this point I really wish she would either give us our plates or money so that we can all move on. She has a lot of work to do if she's going to continue to run her business. Yesterday she took down all her photos from her personal profile and deleted the post she put up claiming I was lying when her followers began to ask her some interesting questions. "Is this true", "Why don't you provide proof", et
ReplyDeleteI'm aware of the seller who re-sold these plates from UP. I was told by that person directly that not one person complained about the plates she sold and she had a very positive experience with UP. It's amusing to me because you are the 3rd person who purchased from that seller who has posted here noting problems with these plates. Honestly some people are so dishonest with both themselves and the world. It's sad. That jewelry for stamping is huge and the fact not even it could fit these images speaks for itself. It's a testament to the fact that this seller didn't actually quality check and test her plates properly. Then later she claims anyone could have asked for replacement plates for flawed plates during this GB. How so when she rarely responds to communications and now has blocked several members of the GB for asking questions and posting on her business page. Honestly what a disappointment. I really felt I had no other choice than to warn other members of the stamping community to be wary of this seller as well. And thank you for your support.
ReplyDeleteThank you my dear. It's really sad it had to come down to this. I just want our interaction with this seller to conclude so we can all move on. However I doubt we will ever see our products or money ever again.
ReplyDeleteOh wow. Thanks for the warning!
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I would feel terrible for anyone else who had to go through an ordeal like this :/ Really its just safer to avoid the hassle and the frustration altogether.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. As far as I can see she still hasn't gotten in contact with the GB seller and the tracking she provided still doesn't register as an active or real parcel. The reason she isn't providing evidence in her defense is because she can't. The assertions I have made are 100% based in fact. She has no screenshots or other evidence to refute them hence why she has backed down from the threats of lawsuit for defamation and such. It's really sad to see a seller behave in this manner, and as far as I'm concerned no matter what she does at this juncture she will never reengage my trust in her as a seller. Had she attempted an apology or explained her irrational and unprofessional behavior that would be something different. However not once has she tried to apologize or explain why we have had to endure such a long period of time with our money spent without a product in hand to show for such an expenditure.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad! Good that you are warning us 👍
ReplyDeleteNot a surprise for me. I'm really sorry to know that you went through this horrible situation.
ReplyDeleteYes it is, but hopefully now other members won't get into similar scams or issues with this buyer in the future. Its really disturbing that someone would act this way and also how little power we have to fix it :/
ReplyDeleteKatia you are the second Brazilian platemaker to say this to me and frankly I was so shocked. I've worked with many sellers before they have always been so honest and forthcoming with great products. Its easy to work with them and nothing like this before. Later I found out so many bad things about Tatiana I wish I knew before so we would never have started this GB. I learned my lesson and thank you. For what its worth I still really believe in independent platemakers but this one is on my permanent ban list. She is not a seller I will trust ever again :(
ReplyDelete