BeltedGirls.com

PLEASE REPOST AS YOU SEE FIT

The Europe trip was planned, but Walter at Carrara went silent. That messed up my plans and changed my priorities. I filled a gap by taking a chance on Fetish Ironworks.

I still believe that they are innovative in design and skilled in work. The centre piece of the chastity belt is innovative. It has its flaws, certainly, (one paperclip, one second and the belt is off) but it was an attempt at going forward. Fetish Ironworks corresponded quickly, in detail and were completely open to changing their product in order to move from the fetish market and in to the serious chastity market. They were completely open to what I was feeding back, and were also open to my design for the, "teardrop," which was aimed at stopping coccyx irritation, which was perhaps the worst of the various problems that I suffered with the Chinese belt.

What came was the Mk I. It worked and failed on a number of levels.

Firstly was my measuring mistake. I failed to measure my waist when it was in constricted form, so my measurements were off. FI had agreed to the front security shield (to prevent the ratchet safety from slipping) but they hadn't realised just how easy their main lock was to pick. I showed, in a video, how a paper clip could open their standard lock in one second. When they saw that, they realised that they had underestimated their design. Their faith in their product was too high. Also, the neoprene lining crumbled after a few days. There were welding marks/joint/spatter ...

In July, I received this...

"Hi Michelle, you've got all the reasons to be hangry, many modifies to the stock design, not much time and bad external collaborators have produced a disaster. The only way to solve the problems occurred is build a new belt, obviously without more money. I am sorry for this trouble, now I know that I had understimated the risk of a real "road test", but I was used work for people wanted simply original sex toys and nothing more. This is an hard but well learned lesson, very costly for me but...such is life. I have already started with the waistband building, I will add the rest of the belt totally new, new mechanism, new additional shield (now with side hinge and side padlock) and new engraving work. For the engraved artwork I have experimented last week the electric etching, more smooth and definited. In Italy the summer period is terrible if you need some metal works, many workshops are closed for holidays, so I can't say how many time will takes the new belt building. Best regards and sorry again"

Trust me, the lock was so damn easy to open that they panicked and asked me to hide the detail of how the lock was opened as it would hurt their business. I will probably re-instate the video which shows the lock being opened.

It is not all doom and gloom. The teardrop enabled me to get in to and out of the car with ease. I was stuck in the belt, driving, for four hours in heavy traffic and the worst I suffered was a little pinching from the wire between the legs ... but I knew I was wearing a version where I had replaced the lower wire myself because the original length was slightly wrong, and being transsexual, the shield was too wide for me and the top section of the shield dug in to my legs ... but I was safe and not in any danger behind the wheel. A good friend had altered the belt itself to the size that I needed. Even in this stage, with this amount of tinkering, it was infinitely preferable to be wearing the FI belt to the chinese belt.

The belt size was my mistake, so I sent more money to cover the cost of a new waist belt. As you read, Fetish Ironworks were also changing their techniques and improving their processes. I gave them time ... more time that I should have? Well, you can debate that ... but to give them this time was my choice. Good things, development, innovation, art, can not be rushed. On the 28th of September, FI confirmed that everything ese ready with the exception of the exact measurements for the new teardrop. I forwarded that on the 8th of October, shortly before going to Europe. I followed that up on the 20th of October, asking if all was OK. On the 30th of October, I asked simply, "Can you please let me know that you're alive please." and to that, I have had no response.

So here we are at the 21st of November 2014. I know that FI work in an area of Italy which is not well served by internet. I know that they have long-running computer troubles, but the last thing I heard was that things were running better. They have also been active on Facebook, so I know they're on the internet... And now ... silence.

Trust me ... I had hoped, so much, to bring you a review of an artistic, innovative belt which would hopefully mean better comfort and challenge existing designs in the market place.

It breaks my heart to be writing this ... but this is the only thing I can say ... stay away from Fetish Ironworks. Their product is way off being a 24/7 product, and even as a fetish product, one paperclip, one second ... and that's all you need.

They are a small company ... with skills and dreams. I believe in their skills and took a risk in funding those dreams ... and this time it didn't pay off. Such is life.

Video of locking mechanism in action...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8FJ5Z2_y0 - (temporarily hidden - may or may not be re-instated depending on Fetish Ironworks' actions in the coming weeks.)

I understand that you are disappointed msknight.
Annoying that they can not respond to your email and shameful money you paid, not be returned!

I knew I was taking a risk with FI. Sometimes, that's what you've got to do in order to move forward.

The worst thing is not knowing what the heck happened.

Someone did mention on FetLife that Walter is back ... I wasn't even aware that he went away, just that he stopped corresponding. If I had known what the heck was going on, I'd have potentially held on to the money and gone with him instead of FI.

You know ... I just wish people would f***ing communicate. It is SO frustrating.

I can understand your frustration!
But thank you for the very informative post. Hopefully it will stop other folks making a costly mistake.
I think that is one problem with chastity belts. Good quality ones are very expensive. It's a huge outlay for something that firstly, may not fit and secondly, the partners involved may decide that they don't even enjoy the belt.
I did have high hopes for the cheaper more adjustable Chinese belts. But the replacement Spiceforlove belt, which was supposed to be an EXACT replica of my first, was of v poor quality. The wire wasn't even sealed. So I'm afraid that I can't really even recommend folks buy those ones.

You might be able to fix that lock so it will not come off so easy.
You could drill a small hole in the face and tap a small set screw
into it, holding the ratchet arm fast as so it could not slide down
as shown in the video.
You would want a screw with an Allen head, so a simple screw driver
would not be able to remove the locking screw.
Rader

Well,

The only belt I have got is the Mk 1, and the waist belt had to be altered because it was the wrong size. Also, the "teardrop" needed a design change. The Mk2 hasn't reached me and will likely never happen; that is the belt I've been waiting for.

The Mk 1 lining is crumbling with regular use. Because the belt was shortened, the radius is wrong which means that the long ratchet sections don't go in smoothly and are an arse to get out again. When I sat on a bench, the shield bent and resulted in rubbing. The shield itself is too wide for my body and thus digs in to my legs. At the back, there is a pointed section which could potentially dig straight in to the centre of the back if I bent dramatically in the wrong way ... goodbye spine ... so actually, the lock is the least of my worries.

You poor girl, it sounds like you need a complete redo of your belt.
I wish I lived closer to you, I bet I could fix your belt; given the time and
proper measurements, and fittings.
Rader

UPDATE

OK, A few e-mails have been exchanged now.

There is no denying that Fetish Ironworks should have been better with their customer communication than this.

I can understand what they did, and why they did it, but there are always ways around things and what happened could have been handled better.

Some suppliers in the chastity arena are not good at customer communication; but this episode took it to new levels.

My intention at the moment, is that if FetishIronworks live up to their promise and deliver a belt this month, then I am of a mind to ask Admin to delete this thread, and provide a review of the belt that arrives. At this point, I think that FI have learned a lesson and so has any other supplier that has been tuned in to what has been happening.

Does anyone else have an opinion on my intentions please?

I don't get it ... I just don't get it.

You know ... I'd like to think I'm a reasonable person. I'm a realist. I can negotiate. I know when the impossible is, impossible, and an alternative tack has to be taken.

But this is the 21st century. Automatic translation systems. Mobile phones. And on top of all this, if you knew that you weren't going to be working on a customers order for two months, you'd have thought you'd have let them know before you walked out the door! There's just no excuse in my mind, for what Fetish Ironworks has done here ... and to cap it all, they've done it again!!!

Last e-mail received 4th Dec. I've sent mail on the 7th Jan and also last Friday; two days ago. So that's another ... just over six weeks AGAIN without correspondence; on top of the previous 8 weeks of silence. I've got no bloody clue what is going on.

It's not as if they've chosen the right person to mess around, either. For a start, I'm public so I wouldn't even blink about dragging them through a court. Not only that, they know I've got friends in Munchen, and I will, if I'm so minded, knock on their door, in person.

I mean, I can understand an unscrupulous trader who decides to take advantage of someone who they think isn't going to say boo to a goose. But to piss off someone like me ... and twice in the same manner ... that doesn't make sense. There IS only one way to undo the damage that has been done ... and that's to produce the belt and keep their promises. The scene is too small for them to simply change their name and start trading again ... it wouldn't be long before someone spotted them and the gaff would be blown again.

But they've got first hand experience of negotiating with me ... and they know that if they hit a problem, all they've got to do is COMMUNICATE with me. I mean, if I know what's going on, then I know what's going on ... but silence is just ... well ... I really don't know what to say.