*WARNING - Artesania Romera PSA - WARNING*

It's actually on loan to a friend but before I got the individual knot Gustavo sent to me as a Manchurian (which it turned out not to be) wet I had it set in the Beehive. Unfortunately the knot Gustavo sent did in no way match the handle made for it by Alfredo Hernandez in terms of quality. It wasn't one of his Manchurians, scratchy and sparse on use. I may re knot it at some point.

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Agreed, this post should be around to warn others of buying from Artesania Romera and I wouldn't like it to turn into a DFS v TSN debate.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with the Artesania Romera brush. Thank you very much for the heads-up, by the way. Most useful information. Do you have a link for Alfredo Hernandez's web page, assuming he has one?

You are right, it is not a DFS vs TSN issue by any means, it is a heavily censored forum vs open, honest forum thing. That applies to any forums on any subject, not only wetshaving. What you have posted about your experiences goes to show that heavy-handed censorship, especially when motivated by conflicts of interest, devalues both the content and usefulness of a forum. Allowing well-mannered, well-reasoned, sincere dialogue, on the other hand, greatly enhances a forum and the level of confidence that can be placed in its contents. It is about finding and sticking with trustworthy sources of information, not A vs. B.

It is human nature to seek social redress for a wrong in public complaint. But there is a point when the best revenge is exiling the offending parties to the twilight of anonymity and
impotence. Live well in revenge and don't let them maintain a grip on your soul.

Truly a very unfortunate situation. If there is something we all can learn here, it is to communicate early and often, and absolutely complain through Paypal at the first sign that something fishy is happening before the time runs out. We also should make sure we objectively and simply record negative vendor outcomes to the forums' rating feature to warn others.

Agreed, this post should be around to warn others of buying from Artesania Romera and I wouldn't like it to turn into a DFS v TSN debate.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with the Artesania Romera brush. Thank you very much for the heads-up, by the way. Most useful information. Do you have a link for Alfredo Hernandez's web page, assuming he has one?

You are right, it is not a DFS vs TSN issue by any means, it is a heavily censored forum vs open, honest forum thing. That applies to any forums on any subject, not only wetshaving. What you have posted about your experiences goes to show that heavy-handed censorship, especially when motivated by conflicts of interest, devalues both the content and usefulness of a forum. Allowing well-mannered, well-reasoned, sincere dialogue, on the other hand, greatly enhances a forum and the level of confidence that can be placed in its contents. It is about finding and sticking with trustworthy sources of information, not A vs. B.

Thanks for the reading of my situation for exactly what it is, I feel I've been badly wronged by a vendor and simply felt it fair to allow other like minded people who could potentially fall into the same trap the luxury I didn't have. As for TSN and Gustavo, it's no great lose to me. I see no aspect of being banned being negative to me anymore simply by the very nature of my expulsion. I emailed Gustavo with my final thoughts of him after I posted my experience and told him I felt privileged to never have to contact him again.
Alfredo came to my attention via someone on Instagram from Spain posting a brush. He is visible on Spanish shaving forums but I obtained his email as he does not have a website. I will PM you his email address. Thanks

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It is human nature to seek social redress for a wrong in public complaint. But there is a point when the best revenge is exiling the offending parties to the twilight of anonymity and
impotence. Live well in revenge and don't let them maintain a grip on your soul.

Apart from continuing to keep this post in peoples minds when considering buying a brush from Artesania Romera I no longer give him any consideration or expend any effort thinking about him or my experience. He really is not worthy of that, thanks for the understanding and comments.

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Truly a very unfortunate situation. If there is something we all can learn here, it is to communicate early and often, and absolutely complain through Paypal at the first sign that something fishy is happening before the time runs out. We also should make sure we objectively and simply record negative vendor outcomes to the forums' rating feature to warn others.

Absolutely and I have been contacted by about half a dozen members of this forum and others who have read my Romera story and see striking similarities. Fortunately they are within the 6 month period and have heard enough to go ahead and instruct a PayPal claim and get their money back before he gets a chance to keep the cash and never reply to an email again. It's shocking the way he thinks he can take peoples money and deliver such a poor service or any service at all.

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I would just sell any remaining brushes you have of his (assuming you have any) and move on with life.

I do not say this as someone remotely interested in the brushes.

I would just sell any remaining brushes you have of his (assuming you have any) and move on with life.

I do not say this as someone remotely interested in the brushes.

I only have the brush in question and I intend to keep it as I sanded all the finish off it and finished it myself with 3 coats of a 50/50 yacht varnish white spirit mix. The process took 3 days to complete as I allowed 24 hours drying of each coat. When Gustavo had the brush to repair the first time it took more than a month to get it back from him and when I used it the finish disintegrated within 3 uses. If a complete amateur like me can resolve the problem within 72 hours, it begs the question ; what was Gustavo doing with it for a month for it then to come back no better than when it went after 3 uses? I don't see it as one of his brushes anymore, it's as much mine as it was his. If I were to leave it as he said and keep using it until he sent a replacement (9 months ago now ) then it would have crumbled away to nothing.

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There are ways to rebalance the universe I dare not mention here. At UCB a prof moved in on a girl I was dating. He began getting postcards delivered to the university mail room from a crossdressing society in Montreal with invitations to their quarterly dress balls and multiple catalogs from high end fashion houses and a seamstress offering to make his backless, red sequined dress with thigh high split. Next he was on an argentine mailing list of a German right wing organization founded by some old SS officer in 1945. Finally, a working girl from West Mac BLVD in Oakland knocked on his door and told his wife he got her knocked up.
He resigned and went back to teaching high school history in Nebraska.