Pupito Helstein of Chapter Four, Ionic and Lost&Found – What Kind of Game are you playing with Designers?

Considering we have so many events running non stop in Second Life, some of the owners of these events are taking advantage of the designers which is sad considering without the designers must of these event wont happen. We get that fact that most events owners also wants originality but from what was whispered about Pupito Helstein of Chapter Four, Ionic and Lost&Found, he seem to be handling his events wrongly as more designers are complaining of his attitude toward them. Below is a detailed story about such occurrences 

Normally this is not my style, to put someone on blast. However, I feel strongly that this person’s response and reaction to our conversation was grossly overdramatic and uncalled for, and even further stole 3,000 L$ from me. First off, I will admit that I made the mistake of gambling 3k by not fully investigating into this event or understanding how it was run. Secondly, when I RECEIVED an invite from Pupito Helstein, owner of The Chapter Four, *Ionic* and Lost & Found, I made the bad presumption that as an event owner and semi prominent business person in SL, he/she/they would choose designers that they have actually looked into, and designers that do work that accommodate to what they seek for their event. With that being said, I DID look over the rules of the event- which are written in very poor and unclear English. I decided to apply, excited to be invited to a big event. The fee was 3,000 L$ and I was nervous to pay such a heavy fee, but I decided to make the gamble.

Fast to today, set-up day. I messaged the owner, Pupito, asking if we can include an old release with the new ones we put out. He said no, it must be all new and *original mesh*. Mind you here, is the verbage from the rules notecard I received:

LOST & FOUND is a Themed EVENT –Imagine Lost & Found as a vintage look Flea Market, where every designer spot can become a mini “yard-sale” market. But ofc all the items must be new release and original.

At Lost & Found everything can be sold, its just like a retro market. From antiquities to vintage.

We let the designers be free to choose what to sell.”

Now to me,it says “all items must be new release and original” <=== My presumption here was that it must be your original work, (IE: Don’t be trying to resell a crappy recolor of a template, design, or someone else’s work, etc.) It does NOT say original mesh in this notecard. Check out the screenshot:

With that being said, when he said to me in IMs “original mesh”, me being the HONEST person I am, I clarified with him and said, “okay well I am sorry that I missed that, if you would prefer for me to withdraw I can pick up what I set out if you can refund my entry fee?”. His immediate response was to tell me he would not refund me, because it was in the rules, and I agreed to the rules, and I quote “u are the wrong one”. I asked him why he would invite a store without seeing if they qualified for his event, and his response was to eject me from the groups and kick me off the sim as I stood there trying to sort out what was happening. I’ve included what I said at the end of the conversation, but his only response was to send me a screenshot of a small part of the invite where it notes original mesh, but again, as I stated, the RULE notecard doesn’t show this.

So to recap, I made an error in judgement. I spoke to the owner, politely, and calmly to try to work out the error. In less than five minutes, he shut me down and made it clear he was going to walk off with my 3k, ejected me from the sim and event and all he had to offer was a screenshot of one notecard, making no note to the conflicts between his other notecards.

If you are going to run an event, you should not invite designers that do not me your criteria. I understand if they APPLY on their own and there is an issue, but I was INVITED by him. Also, if someone comes to you and is honest and polite, to shut them down and eject them instantly is just clear proof you are desperate to make it out with whatever linden you can. This is unprofessional, and tactless. If anything, he could’ve offered a partial refund or at least spoke to me a little longer that 2 minutes about it and given me a chance to pick up my display and leave peacefully. I made no disrespectful remarks, I did not pose a threat. This reaction was over dramatic and uncalled for.

On an end note, I do not recommend doing business with Pupito Helstein or any of his/her/their affiliations. It is clear he/she/they doesn’t have any business skill, or people skill for that matter. I hope others do not experience this sort of behavior as I did, and it sucks that I am at a financial loss because of it (it may not seem like much but right now any penny spent is cringe worthy for me). Please take my mistake as a lesson and avoid getting yourself scammed and used by this person.

[17:30] abιgaιℓ cℓare ωıℓѕση-нaηηᴜ ღ (ophelia.viper): Why would you invite a store without checking how they do their products then?

[17:31] Pupito Helstein: You have been ejected from ‘**The Chapter Four** Designers’ by Pupito Helstein.

[17:31] abιgaιℓ cℓare ωıℓѕση-нaηηᴜ ღ (ophelia.viper): No offense sir, but your rules are not clearly written, I am not sure if english isn’t your first language. I apologize for confusion on my part, but I’m confused as to why you’d send an invite without checking?

[17:31] abιgaιℓ cℓare ωıℓѕση-нaηηᴜ ღ (ophelia.viper): and now you’re going to rip me off 3k?

[17:31] Pupito Helstein: You have been ejected from ‘LOST & FOUND Designers’ by Pupito Helstein.

[17:32] abιgaιℓ cℓare ωıℓѕση-нaηηᴜ ღ (ophelia.viper): Okay well thank you for handling that very rudely, I will be sure to let my friends know how you run your events and business. Have a wonderful day.

[17:40] abιgaιℓ cℓare ωıℓѕση-нaηηᴜ ღ (ophelia.viper): What you just did was very unprofessional and poor tact. Your rules have many grammatical errors, and maybe english is not your first language, and that is okay. But I came to you, polite over a clear misunderstanding. There was no need to be rude, and as a business person you should’ve offered a refund, or at least partial. Even further, to kick me out as I was standing on sim was uncalled for. I was in no way disrespectful, rude, or threatening. I was honest and polite with you, and would expect the same back. Since you cannot be professional, I will be letting my friends and everyone know of this poor interaction. You are now blocked.

Also sad is the fact that we also got whispered that apparently there were a few others kicked out while there are some designers such as posemakers using fullperm propers that were allowed to stay in and have been at the event for months even though they do not create their own mesh.Example is the store “Come Soon” which uses templates off MP but is still a reoccurring designer. So the big question is does it seems like they picks and chooses who them want or they don’t want to be confronted or they simply cannot read their own rules???