Splendid Absurdity

Andreona initially had great customer service and made me feel really secure in my purchase. I paid $300 for 1 hour of caricatures and 1 hour of face painting. She told me ahead of time she throws in free balloon tying but in my case she was substituting it for henna, glitter tattoos, and color spray for hair. She suggested face painting as a second service instead of two hours of caricatures. I took her advice and trusted her opinion on what would be best for the birthday party.

I’m extremely disappointed in the quality of work for the caricatures and henna. The henna was free so whatever. But the caricatures were done by a teenager and looked awful. A few days after the party I contacted her to express my disappointment and she told me she could only “afford” to give me a $50 refund because she just had bought groceries. She also claimed my dog bit her and AHCCCS wouldn’t pay for the exam. I’ve had AHCCCS for years as well girl that’s a lie. They pay 100% of everything. This seemed opportunistic to me because I witnessed a dog nip the kids during a water balloon fight commotion but was put away after that until the commotion was over and nothing else happened. Seemed like deflection and more guilt tripping for reasons why she couldn’t refund me and why I should feel bad for her situation. She cited cost of supplies and gas but as a customer, none of that is my concern. You threw in free supplies — that’s your business expense, not my problem when I feel unsatisfied with the service. She mentioned how she doesn’t get booked in the summer and how if she refunds me $50 her profit would be $0 because she brought in a second person. Again, not my business how you operate or who you pay. I didn’t ask for that. She told me she brought a teenager to meet my budget. I never discussed wanting a cheap artist with her or a budget. She said if she brought an adult it would’ve cost at least $100-250 more per hour. Then why not quote me that ? I didn’t ask for your worst artist for cheap. I asked for caricatures. If you couldn’t provide it just say that. She brought up that she had 6 kids and only $75 in her bank account. It was all so bizarre I couldn’t believe everything she was telling it it just all seemed like a way to not refund for such poor caricatures.

Again, initially she was really kind and professional. She had a great personality during the party. The quality of the caricatures and her responses to me after are the reason for this review. 2 stars instead of 1 because she made the party enjoyable and the face painting was great.

I was really put off by all the excuses and denial of poor quality she gave me afterwards. I really feel like I shouldn’t pay $300 for how bad everything looked. Face paint went great, I told her I’d pay full price for that. I wish I could post pictures. More...

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Reply from Splendid Absurdity

This review greatly surprised me as she complimented us non-stop throughout the entire party... also in her Venmo receipt, which I wish I could show a photo of here, she says "Thank you for an awesome party excellent work" Her dog did bite me at the party..But since she said she was babysitting it for a friend, I didn't want to cause her grief with her homeowners insurance and I let it go. Her dog also bit at least 6 of the children,and drew blood on multiple ones. I'm sure I can get witnesses for that if need be. Also I have photos of all the work that we provided for her, And we gave her well over three hundred dollars worth of extra activities at no additional charge. She received 2 performers, for the price of one since my character artist is sixteen and doesn't drive. Day of she contacted me to say that she wasn't sure the kids would be that interested in face painting and balloons.So I offered to add henna and glitter tattoos and also hair spray and hair braiding for free. As we were working outside in over a 100° heat and my caricature artist is very sensitive to heat, I'll admit she didn't do her best work.But it was certainly very nice and it was highly complimented. Also, she was not happy with some of the quality of the henna, but since most people were very sweaty and had just finished a water balloon fight and a lot of them washed it off within 15 to 30 minutes, rather than the 2 hours I recommended and there were 3 dogs running around underneath the table trying to get whatever shade they could and we were being jostled constantly it was very hard to do our best work. I offered her $50 back even though we were already pretty much upside down on the party after all the freebies we gave her. I had no intention of even bringing up the dog bite and let it go until she began demanding the full amount of the party back and then after some discussion half of the party back even though we'd already spent well more than that on her party and did not net much profit. I'm actually flabbergasted that she would post this review.After I gave her fifty dollars back and agreed not to prosecute for the dog bite. I didn't even mention it during the party.Because I didn't want to cause any more uproar.Since some of the parents were already horrified that the children were being bitten by a dog. I'm guessing she got complaints about the party from parents.... but they were definitely about bloody kids and ruined clothes. Not our caricatures or henna