BondelReviews of bondel.co

Poor communication from the first order I placed. I was getting emails saying my order was still in my cart. Thinking I forgot to order it I went to my cart and finished the order. I received a duplicate order within days of receiving my first order. I'm waiting for them to respond to voicemails and emails. Great product, poor service.

I'll try to be fair and balanced here. Everything with Bondel went really smoothly until the final products arrived (very responsive, easy to communicate with Andrew and Sandra, they even went out of their way to ship in time for my mother's birthday). Customer service was great but candor is zero, bordering on shady/bait and switch. The website is littered with terms like "hand drawn" and "portraits". Buyer beware: what you will receive is NOT a painting (what I thought I had ordered), and it's very questionable if a human is involved in any step of the process post-order besides stapling the plastic-like canvas to a frame and shipping. Bondel's responses to less than positive reviews constantly defend that they don't use AI, it's all human and not computer generated. I call BS--the two very large PAINTINGS I ordered are very obviously laser printed from a computer generated image. I cant return it so I hung it in a room nobody in my house uses for now (I assume my mother will do the same for hers) and I sometimes go look at it to remind myself to read all fine print and do my diligence before ordering from any ads on Instagram. If what I received was a bona fide painting, this review would be 5 stars. Bondel really needs to make it explicitly clear to prospective customers--especially when you've exchanged a dozen emails back and forth on proofs, etc!--that what they will receive is the same thing a child with a photoshop license and a local CVS to laser print could produce for a fraction of the cost. They had every opportunity to be transparent about what and how they produce but clearly their business model is not that. I paid over $500 for two larger sized items. My wife has printed several similar sized images through Google Images, CVS, etc. for about $75 each. I personally don't want to hang AI, laser printed trash in my home; I want to employ actual artists, not mass produced junk. Ive already researched a proper artist (check out "Works of Arf") to commission actual paintings of our dogs at which point I'll have a very expensive Bondel bonfire and then share that video instead of the onboxing video they asked me to send them.

Know this before you order.... First thing to know is that they're not actually creating an original image based off the pic you send in. They're running your photo through a computer program, and what you get will be exactly what you send in, only made to look like an original painting. Why they ask for additional photos of your pet to assist in their creation process is beyond us, as none were used for anything. We went through four revisions with 'Andrew' and eventually got something we were satisfied with. Some of the original instructions were ignored, and others weren't really done like we had intended. For example, when we didn't like how the original version looked with the button/latch on our dog's collar, we asked for that to be removed and just have the collar extended all the way around. They deleted the button/latch but didn't extend the collar, so there was just a gap where her collar stopped in the middle of her neck. Also, there were aspects, like a reflection from a light fixture in our dog's eyes that we would've expected to either not be brought into the first version or then removed when they noticed it was that were still there until we asked for it to be removed. Same with a glare around her lip that they actually made look like another row of teeth. Also, a slight glare on her black nose was made to look like there was a dark gray smudge there. Lots of suggestions needed to be provided to 'make her eyes brown', 'give her tongue some pink color', etc. There were also often many days between communication and then versions, so a present intended to be a June birthday/Father's Day present wasn't actually approved and received until early July. Overall, I guess we're satisfied with the final product, because for the price, it was much more reasonable than other options. And honestly, the back and forth got to be so tiring, and you have to pay in advance, so we really just wanted to be done with the process. We also knew going in what others had said...black dogs just don't look as good in this kind of art as there's less definition in their faces. And we tend to agree. Also, the glare on the canvas isn't great, so if you put it anywhere near where you'll have direct light, prepare for there to be quite a glare. Would we do it again for this price? Maybe...but we probably would've checked even more options first and/or looked at someone on Etsy to make a truly original image of our dog even if it were more expensive. **Adding on after seeing the reply from Victor...I'm sorry, but comparing the original photo to the four proofs, you can't convince me this is an original work of art. Sure, perhaps the 'artist' is outlining or drawing over the photo, but side by side, it's the same thing. And if it is an actual original, there's no way flaws from the photo should be carried over into a proof that's sent to a customer. That's just sloppy and unprofessional.**