About three months ago [[late November/early December) someone on here shared a link to a fellow who would custom-make coasters, you know as in drink coasters. Some samples were shown that featured some of our favorite Motown artists.

Well I thought this was a wonderful idea, so I set the wheels in motion to order some for a friend, hoping that they would arrive in time to be used as a Christmas gift. Well, today is the first of March, and I have yet to receive them, so I am reaching out to you guys almost as a last resort to see if anyone has any suggestions or can possibly help.

[[WARNING: THIS WILL BE A LONG STORY SO SKIP IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC.)

I knew the gentleman was in England and I am in the US, so that has of course been part of the problem. But in most of our e-mail exchanges, which is the ONLY means of contact I have with him, he has seemed quite pleasant and sincere, but yet no product has been received.

On December 6th, I e-mailed him a description of what I wanted, he said he could make them, so I sent payment through Paypal. It had to go through as a "Paypal gift" as opposed to the traditional merchant credit card payment.

Well I received a response from Paypal indicating that the payment had been sent, but that the funds would not be "available until January 6th." I assumed the reason for that had to be either the international nature of the transaction or the fact that I had a very inactive, almost dormant, Paypal account, or perhaps a combination. Whatever the case, I received acknowledgement of the payment and in one of the early e-mails he sent me, he indicated that he received the payment notice as well.

At that point, I e-mailed back and asked him if he would have to wait until after the payment cleared before he could send the coasters. I told him I would understand if that was the case, but I just wanted to find out if Christmas delivery was still perhaps a possibility. He did not reply to that particular e-mail.

I waited patiently until January 6th, the supposed clearance date, and I got back in touch with him to ask when I might expect shipment. He sent back a one-sentence answer indicating that he had been out of town and that he would check in to it.

I have e-mailed several more times, usually waiting 10 days to two weeks between them, and he has replied two or three more times. He told me point blank in one e-mail that he had made them in December and that he would check down at "the unit", whatever that means, and see why they had not been shipped.

Then in the most promising e-mail I have gotten yet from him, he told me about three weeks ago "I found your coasters and they will ship this week." But here I am today, and still no coasters. I e-mailed him again about 3 days ago and so far no answer.

My purpose for bringing this up on here is to find out if anyone has ever received any coasters from him or if anyone else is experiencing anything similar to what I am. Also, since I know that we have a large number of British members on here, maybe it is possible that some of you even know this guy personally or know of his company and maybe I can get some help that way.

Since it will soon be three months since my initial contact with him, I think I have been very patient. Any information or suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.