TULSA -- Tensions are rising between a local tattoo artist and his customers after they claim he'd make them pay in full, but never followed through and finished the tattoo leaving them with half of a tattoo.
“You told me you were going to do this so I expected you to stand by your word," customer Danny Putnam said.
An outline of the constitution is left unfinished on Danny Putnam's right arm.
“I paid Kody $500 and then another person $300, so a tattoo that should have cost me $500, cost me $800," he said.
The tattoo artist in question used to work at Mi Familia Tattoo Studio.
“We got maybe half of it done, then a gentleman walks inside to pick up booth rent and Kody didn’t have the money," Putnam said.
That was Saturday night and Putnam claims he left with half of a tattoo. He claims Wright was supposed to finish it Sunday but canceled over text.
“Kody was supposed to do more work than just this one," he said.
A similar situation happened to Miranda Simmons.
“I had talked to him about what I wanted as a coverup," she said.
Simmons had plans to cover this tattoo on her left arm and scheduled her first appointment at the end of February.
"He told me that if you paid it all up front you got a full hour," she said.
The tattoo shop says you should never pay in full. Simmons agrees.
“I figured it was a deal the tattoo shop was making," she said.
Simmons says Wright outlined the tattoo but canceled her next appointment the day of.
"He had responded saying he didn’t have the needles for the appointment and that he couldn't do it," Simmons said.
2 Works for You confronted Wright at the tattoo shop where he was packing his truck. He declined an interview. But he showed us his contract. It says rent is $500 a week. The Company, Big Ceeze, sent 2 Works for You a statement claiming Wright has a history of not paying rent on time and that they became aware of complaints against him on April 17. Wright was evicted by management Saturday night.
Now, the company is looking to fix matters by scheduling those who already paid a deposit.
"I understand I paid Kody and he just kept the money and it’s not their money to give," Putnam said.
Some clients are hoping Wright will reimburse them for work that never got finished. Management wants to make it clear this is not how they do business.
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