Beware: brideake/orangekissess/greycakechii

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/923623.html

All information is below.

DO NOT HARASS THIS USER! This violates community rules and I don't condone ill will directed at them. You will be reported to a moderator if you're caught doing this.

WHO: brideake/orangekissess/greycakechii

WHERE: http://www.brideake.tumblr.com (Main Tumblr), http://www.orangekissess.tumblr.com (NSFW Tumblr), http://www.furaffinity.net/user/greycakechii (NSFW FA), https://www.patreon.com/orangekissess (NSFW Patreon)

WHAT: Sketch Commission ($21 USD) [PayPal Receipt]

PROOF & EXPLAIN: I've been a follower and admirer of brideake/orangekissess for awhile now, so I pounced on the chance to commission them when they opened in February 2016. I'll confess that my idolization of them has made this entire situation much, much more difficult because I didn't want to upset them, but I feel that this situation more than warrants a beware by now.

Posts about commission openings were posted on both of their Tumblrs with a contact email address, where I contacted them and received a same-day response. Once I received their prices and options, I responded with what I wanted. There was a slight issue here because my Gmail account was currently failing to send and receive messages properly, so I had to resend the email. After I resent, I received a response quickly, the commission details were confirmed, and I paid. This was the last time I ever heard from them about the commission. [Email Transcripts: 1, 2, 3]

brideake has no public queue, so there was no way for me to know how many commissions they accepted or where I stood on their to-do list. So, I waited patiently for awhile, under the assumption that they were busy and mine would be done in due time. However, the first red flags came when I noticed that brideake was taking requests nearly weekly, often in streams. Still, I said nothing, until I attended one of their streams and saw them accepting new commissions. (All I have from this is this screenshot of a link to the stream. I have no screenshots from the stream itself. [link])

When I saw this, I thought it was time to request an update, believing my commission might have been forgotten or overlooked. Mistakes happen, after all. On April 29th, I sent them an email, requesting an update, but never received a response. [link]

No responses or updates come. Sometime later, an anonymous user sends brideake this ask, wanting to know if it's alright for commissioners to request updates on their commissions. Please note that this wasn't me, which means at least one other customer wanted updates, but I took it as a chance to request an update again. [link] (Sometime before this, I also sent them an ask, but I don't have record of it because Tumblr doesn't save outbox messages at all. I believe it was sent around the same time as, or even the same day of, the first email, because I was afraid the email would be eaten. This screenshot shows Tumblr's new instant messaging system, which is much, much more reliable than both emails and asks.)

On July 26th, I requested an update via email once more, after the above instant message was also ignored. [link]

Again, there has been no response to this email. I can believe that the first email and the ask were eaten, but it's extremely unlikely that both of them and the two latest messages have all magically vanished, so I know I'm being actively ignored, unfortunately.

This appeared on their NSFW Tumblr sometime after I sent the email, which I believe might be a passive response to my message. Supposedly, brideake has two commissions remaining, but, without a public to-do list, it's hard to tell if I'm even included in that number anymore.

I was offline for several days and missed the deadline to dispute this through PayPal, so I have no choice but to wait patiently, it seems. I love brideake's art and I would much rather have the completed commission than a refund, even now, but I find their work ethic and customer service inexcusable.

While this post was in the moderation queue, brideake also had time to create a Patreon account, as linked above, rather than complete preexisting commissions. This was very upsetting for me because it shows how little of a priority I am as a customer. I feel it is relevant to mention because additional commissions are being rewarded to patrons, as seen here. This is not to mention the many, many pieces of personal artwork, fanart, and free requests that brideake has had time to complete since I commissioned them. Overall, a very poor experience.

EDIT [09/02/16]: brideake is opening for more commissions and accepting more free requests on Tumblr. I don't know how relevant this is, but it's discouraging to again have a commission I paid for half a year ago put on the back burner for new commissions or free art.

EDIT [09/10/16]: On September 7th, brideake emailed me and I responded within the hour. The emails are heavily censored because brideake included details that were explicitly personal and I feel are highly inappropriate to advertise here, so I have blocked them out accordingly with only the comments that I feel are relevant to this beware uncensored. Personal comments I made in my response are also censored. The most important thing here is, brideake offered me a refund. I agreed to either accept the refund (and provided my PayPal address) or continue with the commission if the money wasn't available. I haven't received a response since and, seeing as it's been three days, I thought it was worth adding here. [Emails]

EDIT [09/17/16]: This situation has hit the ceiling because it has, as I feared, come to Tumblr, where I actively tried to remain silent on the matter because I didn't want to be at odds with someone with over six thousand protective followers. As I'm writing this, I'm very upset.

brideake sent me an email, reassuring me that I would be refunded as soon as they had the money, to which I replied that there was no rush. [link]

This email came rather out of the blue, so I checked out their blog to see if something was amiss and, as suspected, an anon violated the rules of this community and sent brideake this lovely message. Whoever sent this was completely out of line, and I don't condone the sending of hate mail or negativity to anyone, no matter how wrongly you feel they've behaved. [link]

brideake responds publicly with details that were previously shared with me in an email (seen above). This is where I feel the most wronged of all, because it's as if I was supposed to know what was happening in the artist's personal life. I had no idea. brideake was a complete stranger to me before this situation unfolded. Although brideake opted to share the details publicly, where anyone can freely see them, I have censored them in this screenshot because I still believe it's inappropriate to share details like this here when it's none of my business. What bothers me the most about this is the comment of, "Sorry I have to post this information publicly..." because there was no need to out oneself like this, or even answer this ask. Until this, I hadn't even seen mention of this beware on Tumblr, so I doubt brideake's followers even knew about it and, if they did, didn't care.

brideake's followers don't even read the beware, but proceed to defend them in reblogs, calling me all manner of names. Here are two in particular that have really gotten to me. [link] [link]

So, now, I'm an "entitled jerk" who doesn't understand that artists are real people and went on a "witch hunt" for someone when I tried repeatedly to contact them with zero response. Writing bewares is a last resort for me, and this situation is ending exactly how I feared it would.

Edited one more time on the same date as above to add that I sent brideake an email, apologizing for the anon sending them hate mail. I found this to be absurdly unacceptable on the anon's behalf and felt like I should apologize for causing it. [link]

EDIT [09/17/16]: This should be the last edit to this beware. I have received an ungodly amount of hate mail over this beware, so allow me to reiterate that harassing people who are posted here violates the community's rules and will cause needless problems for both parties.

It isn't pretty, it's caused an enormous mess, and it could have been so easily avoided if my emails were simply answered over the past few months, but this situation is now resolved. I have received a refund in full and, while it's disappointing to not receive the commission after all this time, I'll take it. [Proof of Refund]

EDIT [09/25/16]: It's been a week. I'm editing this a final time to correct a few grammar errors and add closing thoughts. Sorry again to the mods for the number of edits here!

Because of the anon ask brideake received and their public response to it, people who I assume to be their fans and followers came here, saw the beware, and connected it to my dA account (linked on my profile) and my Tumblr blog (via my icon). The resulting anon hate would last for four days, when it finally ceased. I was away from my computer for much of the first day, but, when I returned, I had 68 inbox messages on Tumblr, only six of which were things I would normally have. I don't know how many others came in total, because I didn't read them, simply deleted them as soon as I saw them. I estimate it to be between seventy and eighty messages total. (I have no screenshots of this, but I believe it wouldn't prove anything, because it's as easy to send yourself anon hate on Tumblr as it is for others to do so.) I don't know why brideake responded to the ask publicly; it drew attention to this beware, caused trouble for us both, and ultimately solved nothing. I'm relieved the messages have stopped now. It was hard to consider this truly "resolved" while this was still happening.

The other things I wanted to add, as closing thoughts, were that, on September 17th, brideake tried to convince me to delete this beware in our final email conversation. I found it noteworthy because their concerns were with their reputation than with me as a customer. [link]

Finally, brideake tweeted this on September 18th, after I was refunded, and has had it as their pinned tweet all week. I don't hate them. I don't think customers ever hate an artist over commission issues. [link]

In conclusion, I can't recommend this artist at all. The fact remains that their customer service was exceptionally poor. All the unnecessary drama that ensued on Tumblr could have been prevented altogether if brideake had simply answered my emails months ago.