I am having a frustrating experience with a pioneer of the WAM community. I ordered a custom on July 20 and was told they would get it to me in no more than 3 weeks. I paid immediately.
On August 12 I contacted the producer. No response.
August 15, sent another email. No response.
Contacted producer on here on August 18. They responded that "we are still planning on doing it this month." Apparently my emails went to their SPAM folder.

A week later, shoot is postponed a week due to the hurricane (understandable).
I follow up a on August 31. Producer tells me the shoots have been pushed to September and I will get my custom in EARLY September. We are entering the third week of September and I haven't heard anything.

I follow up AGAIN. Now I'm told the model won't be coming until last week of the month.

Is this common practice for customs? The producer readily took my money and has essentially ghosted me unless I repeatedly attempt to contact them. I am so frustrated and disappointed. The producers has been active on here multiple times a day and has released at least a dozen videos. I understand some delays are inevitable, but how about telling me instead of not communicating anything.

What would you do in this situation?

I've done customs with numerous producers, so I have some experience with this.
Private message me with who this is and I can suggest a specific remedy. I would encourage sticking with it because it's most likely that they will deliver eventually but are bad at explaining stuff.

With the exception of Slymsford, many of the producers have very poor communication skills. They tend to promise earlier delivery dates than they can actually meet. If you are used to "Date X means date X" then it can be a bit jarring at first. To them, three week is more "I would like this to happen in three weeks but have no control over model availability" than "I can deliver this in three weeks"

Many of them are also bad at managing expectations and giving bad news, so if the model you wanted isn't around unexpectedly, they just ghost you rather than telling you beforehand.

You kind of have to get used to how a particular producer communicates and then adapt to it.

All of them so far have ended up delivering something in the end.

The exception to this is Slymsford, who I've found has great communication skills, and is very good at managing expectations. https://reverend-slymsfords-splosher.umd.net/about
Many other producers have given me great customs, but if it was very important to have something delivered on time and matching a script, I would go here first.

This is one reason why I dont take money from customers until i know for sure I can film it. I had an issue with one of my models almost backing out after the customer paid. Thankfully she pulled through. Most the time, I accept funds either the same day or at most 1 week out. Life does happen which is one of the main reason me as a producer, I wait. I know not all producers are like that, and from what I have seen and worked with, most are fairly upfront on the times and how long it should take. Me personally if its going to be a month or 2 before I can shoot I wont take payment. I have a few customers now looking for customs, but I can't film right this moment myself, so I have told them to hold off on sending any money till I know for sure when I can film.

Our standard timescale for customs is that we guarentee to do them within three months of the 50% deposit being paid, else it gets refunded. Model availability is the real killer esp if someone wants a specific model and she only visits these parts once or twice a year. We take a 50% deposit in advance and the balance to be paid once the scene is shot and edited and we've provided still images as proof it's been done. We'll also communicate if there are any issues or problems with a planned shoot.

I'd always advise against paying 100% up front. Producers have to protect themselves from people who order elaborate and expensive customs and then vanish as soon as payment is due, but customers also need to protect themselves from scammers who promise elaborate customs, poket the money, and vanish themselves. So 50% in advance, 50% on completion seems a fair way to do it.

I have done hundreds of customs and sadly this does happen.

I hate the spam folder excuse, I have gotten that one many times.
More than likely you will just have to ride it out and hope for a good custom at least.

I used to work with Lenny Sorge (RIP) and models do cancel, change schedules so stuff happens. For me I just learned to wait it out.
If I got a really good custom I would still use them again for the fact that I would rather wait an extra month for a great custom, than have a crappy custom in a week.

Hope it works out and you get a great custom.
Best course of action is to post an honest review if unhappy after.

You're right to be frustrated. That is an unreasonably lengthy delay. I would ask for a refund at this point.

I've done several WAM customs lately with models outside of the WAM community and they've all been completed within 3 weeks. Industry standard seems to be 3-4 weeks.

I'm always upfront with all of the specifics that could lead to delays (letting them know they'll need buckets, a ladder, an extra person or two, etc.) and even then there hasn't been any delay like you described. But being that clear right from the start seems to prevent additional delays. Plenty of times the model says they aren't interested or don't have the space to film a good sliming, or an extra person, or whatever, and that's totally fine. But at least I knew that right away before even thinking about paying.