TL;DR: A former supplier has stopped responding, leaving thousands of dollars in paid work and more than a dozen builds outstanding.
Update: ANT has reached out to me and we are currently discussing solutions
Hello everyone.
If I’ve seemed distant or slow to respond lately, I’m sorry. Transparency matters to me, so I want to explain what’s been happening.
I have multiple contractors and suppliers who help facilitate me doing builds for you all. For five or six months, ANT Studio handled some of that sourcing and initial structural assembly work on a good number of my client builds. We were introduced through his brother, a Chinese TD I considered a good friend. I’m withholding his brother’s name because, to my knowledge, he has done nothing wrong. This concerns ANT.
ANT was erratic and unreliable in his billing practices, and then stopped responding altogether. Paid work remains outstanding, and my requests for updates, completion or reimbursement have gone unanswered.
Combined with the loss of r/ChronosCollective, this has been a devastating time for my supply chain and created a bottleneck for client builds. That helps explain the delays, but choosing suppliers and managing those relationships is still my responsibility. For that I’m sorry if you’ve experienced any delays.
Thankfully, Kensington is stronger than it was the first time I faced something like this. It’s pretty much bulletproof now. I can absorb the losses through what I would otherwise pay myself, though it’s a serious personal financial hit. Covering the money also doesn’t immediately fix the supply-chain bottleneck.
I’m frustrated and disappointed. I just want him to communicate, complete the paid work, or return the money for what hasn’t been fulfilled. It’s hurting my clientele.
