[sbeamers]

I contacted AnimationStudios.org on Friday March 16, 2007 for the creation of a website logo. AnimationStudios.org offers 4 different logo design services. I chose the “GOOD” service which was being offered for $185. I completed a form where my name, address, and VISA charge card information was collected. After completing my order, I contacted the company to confirm that they received my order and I was told that a logo designer would contact me.

I never received a phone call from a logo designer but instead I was sent a very cheaply written email requesting information about the logo I would like to have designed. (Item A) . I completed this email and received a reply the following day confirming that they had received it. (Item B). In that email I received a confirmation that I would receive initial designs in 7 business days.

I did not hear or receive any emails from AnimationStudios.org until I contacted them on March 28th. This was 8 business days and yet I had not spoken to a logo designer as they promised and I did not receive anything from the company. When I called their 800 number on the website (1-866-573-2364) I was told to contact their ‘backup support’ at 213-341-1868. I called the number and left a message on a voicemail machine. I called their 800 number back and also left a message with a person requesting that they contact me about the logo design. An hour and a half later I received a phone call from a lady claiming her name to be “Charlotte Brooks”. She had an extremely broken accent and communication with her was very difficult. She asked me to wait one more day for the design. Having no choice, I agreed to wait another day.

Late in the day on March 29th I contacted the company again. Again I did not receive an email or phone call with the status or location of the logos I have paid for. Again I got the run around from this company – called and left a message and an hour later received a phone call from “Charlotte Brooks”. Again, she had requested that I wait one more day. At this point I questioned if I was going to receive the logos they promised and I had asked “Charlotte” to send me a confirmation that my work was nearly completed and that I would receive it the next day. No confirmation was made and nothing was received.

I called them late in the day on March 30th and again I got the run around. I gave up and this is what prompted me to call Bank of America regarding the fact that AnimationStudios did not deliver the logos to dispute the charge and hopefully receive my money back.

ANIMATIONSTUDIOS.org will RIP YOU OFF. AVOID THEM. SCAMMERS.

[Keithe]

My name is Jasmine Lewis and I am working for Animation Studio as a Senior Customer Support.

After the client signed up we will send them a questionnaire. They need to answer that so we could have an idea what kind of design that he want. If the designer needs more information they will contact the client. With regards to his concern we have Project Managers that the client may contact for their update. The 800 number is one of our sales line and we have direct line for each department

If the client would allow us again to finished his project we will be very glad and I will attend to it personally for him to receive it on time.

I would like to apologize for the delay. We need our clients to call us from time to time because we deal with a lot of clients and most of them are a rush project so we have to attend to them first.

If you could please contact us so we could finished what we have just started and I assure you that I can produce the design in just a couple of days. Please leave me an email attention to me at [email protected] so I can attend to it promptly.

[sbeamers]

Dear Jasmine Lewis,

I have filed a dispute with VISA regarding this charge. I am fully willing to allow you to finish the work and will therefore retract the dispute if WORK IS DELIVERED. Perhaps the biggest problem was that your email confirmed that we would receive the logos within 7 business days. I agree that it may be a fast turn around, however, you should be careful with business clients who build their expectations based on your statements.

At no time was I offered an 800 number for customer support. Each time I called your 866 number after more than 7 business days (10 days time) I was told to call a (213) area code number.

I truly WANT you to finish the logos for our business, however, I will NOT stop the dispute until something is delivered. Your business is important to you and mine is important to me - could you please promptly deliver?

Our business is rxglobaltrader.com. Thanks.

If you are able to deliver the logos I will post comments on this forum regarding the completeness in the design, the attention to detail and the total value and stop VISA from completing the dispute.

[sbeamers]

After posting this evening, I received a phone call at 10:10pm Eastern Time. A lady was on the line and asked if there was a problem with the logos I received. Since I never received any designs, I wonder why she was calling me.

I'm very concerned now that I have received a phone call from this business late at night and that their business is clearly in Los Angeles (213 area code) yet the user Keithe who responded claims to be from Brooklyn, NY.

Can anyone make any sense of this?

[ScottGem]

Its not that unusual for Internet companies to use people from different areas. So I wouldn't be concerned about the possible discrepancy between LA and Bklyn.

However, I would be concerned that you recevived a call that late and that the caller was not aware of the account status.

This is not the first time that we have had someone claiming to represent the company offer help that was not followed through on.

However lets see if Ms Lewis follows through.

[Keithe]

We are finishing the logo now and we will be sending you the concept in one or two days.

[sbeamers]

Ok, I have received 3 logos. They are decent quality. This took longer than the original promise, and a lot more communication was welcomed, but finally they are here. Thanks for completing the initial designs.

[Keithe]

I am glad that you are happy with the logo we've sent you.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with, I will personally make sure that from now on you get the best service possible.

Animation Studio is NOT a scam. We work very hard to deliver our customer the lowest price possible but because we offer unlimited concepts until you are satisfied, sometimes we are a litlle behind scheule. Most of the time we stay extra hours and even work on weekends just to finish the project on time. Quality logo takes time to deliver because everything is customize especially when we offer unlimited concepts and unlimited revisions at prices lower than anyone else.

We have hired a lot more people to accommodate our customers. Although once in a while we are a little behind schedule, quality has never been an issue. Every single logo on our website are created by us.


If there are any other customers that need my help please let me know and I will personally attend to them.

[ScottGem]

If there are any other customers that need my help please let me know and i will personally attend to them.

Ms Lewis,

Thank YOU for dropping in here and helping. I'm going to request that the notes from sbeamer be moved to a different thread to divorce it from the subject of this thread.

[RickJ]

Indeed. We see lots of business complaints here... It's always nice to see things getting worked out.

[saradan]

Armorroof, did you ever get your situation resolved. I recently paid animationstudio.org for website design and logo design aprox. 2 weeks ago and did not do a proper search of the company.

[saradan]

Any clients that have an issue if there are any problems with Animation Studio please direct them there and I will personally help anyone of them.

Also please delete the post done by Terry claiming that Animation Studio is a scam. We work very hard to keep every customer happy. He was a client that paid for our service but after reading your forum he says we are a scam. He stop responding to our messages to deliver his work. He cancelled after 3 days. He never gave us the chance to deliver the project and he is not responding to any of our messages.

Please remove his post from your forum because he is saying that Animation studio is a scam and we are not. If he has any problem with his project he can contact me directly and I can personally help him.

Keithe, I recently paid animationstudio.org to develop an ecommerce site and logo design package and failed to do a search on the company after speaking to Mark anderson about the custom programing they could provide for the shopping cart. I am very concerned after reading all of these complaints and have called my credit card company after bad communication with animationstudio.org.

[kphipps]

I've also run into issues with animation studios. On 3/14, I purchased the best program ($1500) to have my website designed using an e-commerce solution and programming. It has been over a month now and after poor communication and their lack in following up, I have a home page design only. It has been over a month now and I'm beginning to do further research regarding this company. The other postings sound very similar to my current situation.

I am unable to find any contact information to further escalate this issue. I noticed someone posted a response, defending animation studio but I have little evidence that disqualifies this company from being a fraud.

Kristi

[RickJ]

Kristi, see the post(s) by Keithe - who is a representative of A.S.

[Keithe]

Saradan, most of the complaints of our other clients have been resolved already. With regards to communication, all of the sales and support people deals with a lot of clients almost everday that is why I decided to post a message here stating that if you have any problems you can email me directly and I will solve your problems with the best of my ability. We are not a scam if that is what you think because we are not be able to attend your call. If you can give us another chance I will personally look into your project and if you want updates just give me an email or a call and I will get it for you.

[Keithe]

Hi Khristi,

Doing the first page for a website is very difficult. As stated in our website we do webdesign that is according to our clients perfection. We want the webdesign to speak for itself and would really catch everybodys' attention. After the clients approved their first page the remaining page will be faster to do because they are only links from the first page.
To make the project be finished faster we need the clients cooperation. If the client respond late or not respond at all after several emails and voicemails and if the clients give poor instructions to the designers its very impossible to finish it on time.

What our support do is after they emailed the draft to the client they gave them a call to ask if they already received their draft and that if they have any revisions email it to the respective Project Manager so they can make the changes right away.

With regards to your project we have to finish your design first before we could do the programming. We are just waiting for you to approved the first page so we could move forward to the remaining pages. Please respond to webdesign@animationstudio and put Jasmine Lewis as your subject so it would go directly to my email. I will personally put you on our priority list to finish your project sooner.

[saradan]

After paying Animation studio.org 2875.00 for an ecommerce website and logo design. We are now into our 7th week and the home page is'nt finished with several so called revisions they can't even get simple instructions or even simple spelling correct. Some revisions were sent back with no changes at all. We have many more pages to go and the shopping cart is not typical and will require special programming. There is no way we will be able to communicate effectively to understand the workings of this site. I have tried for 3 weeks to get some simple spelling corrected. I have hade enough and have instructed my credit card company to charge back the full amount. I understand companies sometimes gets overwhelmed with business and may not have enough employees at the time things like this happens , but there is no excuse for the incompetent behavior and unable to communicate effectively. I paid for a service and I have to get on the phone or email and spell for these guys and they still can't get it right. I have started looking for a new company to handle this project.

[lyndadel]

Dear Jasmine Lewis,
I also have some issues with Animation Studio, I paid for a logo in January, I sent them the form and some reference sites so they could see the business I was in, and sent them a Letter "B" from an old dutch engraving with two young girl almost hidden behind the B, that I liked because the company name started with B and it was a fatal mistake, I got cartoons for logos. After hounding the AS with emails and phone calls I was told that there was problems with some designers and Janet Brooks would make sure I was all set. I was so foolish as to think, all is well now, so I purchased a web site on March 6. I wanted sophisticated, got more cartoons March 7, said for get the two girl thing it's confusing you, go for business sophisticated, I have been calling and staying on the line for hours because they won't call back, and they won't email back and I now need a status on a logo and a web site - May 11, after waiting 1 1/2 weeks for Janet Brooks to call me I called she told me to call back in an hour & when I did I was told she was gone for the day I held on the phone until they could get someone else to talk to me & I heard Janet Brooks tell some one else on the phone her name and she would take care of them just call on her private line. I sent an email to support while I was still holding on and told her I can hear you, a few minutes later the original team leader came on the phone and told me she would take care of me.

So on May 11, they sent me more cartoons and so I responded to the email by telling them to forget the logos, and just get me a web site, and to please confirm they received the questionnaire attached again (for the 3rd time) and understood exactly what I wanted. NO response. I called back yesterday to confirm they received the email, with again asked if there was any questions on what I need. I was told web sites take a long time and they would let me know when they have a draft after months of promising me they would work on it while the logos were being worked on. So no draft for a web site paid for March 6 - is this normal turn around?

At this point I just need to get my business running, and I think the real problem here is no one I have spoken to speaks English, and once I decided I didn't like the first logo that was it - I was in the 'bit bucket'.

Do I think it's a scam, no, do I think they are well run - NO! Do I believe a word they say - NO!

Of course all is well that ends well, but right now I am just thinking about all the flyers and post cards with the URL for a web site that is still to be developed and the money I invested. - again I was told they will let me know when they have something - after months of promising me they would work on it while the logos were being worked on. So from March 6 until now there is nothing, and by the way for content, I sent them the URL to a cookie cutter web site that has the content and functions I need, told them what I liked about the web sites in your example sites, and sent them URLs to other web sites I would compete with,

I just don't were to go at this point, I asked for my money back so I could go some where and get this work completed and was told there was a policy again it.

I am very upset with your company, and I am sure they hate when I call because I will only let them tell me they will call me back twice, the third time I hang on and I have been on hold for hours - but I do now they mute the phone so I can't hear Janet in the background.

So your mission if you should care to take it and see what you can do to get me a web site because this is a nightmare for you and especially for me.

-lyndadel

[Keithe]

Saradan,

I would like to apologize for these matter. Doing the first page is the hardest and took a long time to finish because you should have a good impression with your customers but after you approved the first page the remaining pages are easy to do. The shopping cart takes only a few hours to install and custom programming usually takes a week to do because we already have the design done. After you approve the design we can install the shopping cart in a few hours and we can finish the programming portion of it in about a week and a half.

Also, because of your complaint we are programming a control panel for all customers to be able to work directly with the programmers to rush projects. This will be finished in a week and a half. With this, all the clients will be able to communicate directly with programmers so all instructions given to them will be recorded to make sure all instructions you provide are followed.

If its possible I want to handle your case personally. I will handle your case and I will do my best to give you satisfaction with the purchase you order from us. I will put you on my priority list to finish your project on time. Just send me an email through [email address] and put Jasmine Lewis as your subject so it would go directly to my email. Tell me everything that you want and attach all the text content for each pages and also the pictures that you need to be put in your website.



Hoping for your prompt reply so I could start your project.




Jasmine Lewis
Senior Customer Support
Animation Studio

[Keithe]

Lynda DeLellis,

According to the report, you still have not finalized your mind with regards to the logo design that you want thet is why you want to concentrate first in the webdesign and the logo will be done later.

I may suggest that if you are losing money because of the delay of the webdesign after you approved the first draft we will put UNDER CONSTRUCTION in your site so that your clients will be aware that your business is existing and that it will be finished soon. Or if you have any design in mind that you want us to put for the meantime in your website to put Coming Soon or Under Construction.

Please do send me an email and put my name as your subject and inform me all the details that I will be needing to produce the design that you want.

I will be attending for your project personally and make sure that you will be in one of my Priority List.







Jasmine Lewis
Senior Customer Support
Animation Studio