Beware: Marcus Jones/Rudy Rosenblum/Levi-Roe/Mintkit/Levi Blackmore/Redpandaboy.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/804794.html

Who: Marcus Jones also known as Rudy Rosenblum, previously, Levi-Roe Mintkit, Levi Blackmore and Redpandaboy.

Where: Through a furry group on facebook, can be found on FA, here: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/mintkit was previously using http://www.furaffinity.net/user/redpandaboy/ Their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mintkit-Illustrations/551024728331391?ref=ts&fref=ts

What: A group picture offered to the members of a facebook group. Cost of inclusion for the image was £10 per character.

When: He offered the group picture sometime around May 2014. A month later on the 22nd of June 2014 I sent him payment for inclusion in the group picture. After a two month wait, with no update, I asked to be refunded. It is now November the 5th 2014, there's no progress on the picture and still no sign of refund.

Proof:
Discussing payment: http://i.imgur.com/1HJaOkv.png
Proof of payment sent: http://i.imgur.com/JTk1E2n.png
Claim of progress and denial of showing the image, through a friend: http://i.imgur.com/IEvbrlI.png (Using the excuse if it wanting to be a surprise.)
Messages I received after asking for a refund: http://i.imgur.com/ykyboSi.png http://i.imgur.com/irJp603.png (It's now been far longer than a few weeks.)

Explain: A group picture was offered to furries in an online community in a facebook group sometime in May. I cannot recall the exact date as this person's facebook profile was taken down many times through facebook's new "false names policy", thus ending up with many original posts, that I would have liked to screen shot, being lost. A month later on the 22nd of June I sent out payment to this individual for inclusion in the group picture, costing me £10.
Two months went by without a single mention as to how this group commission was progressing, by now he'd already produced many personal pieces, spending time on them instead of commissions he owed. I had a friend of mine ask if he could see the progress of the image. The artist refused to show a progress image claiming he wished for it to be "a surprise" Having been asked by my friend, the artist then made a post to the group, expressing how he'd completed the sketch for the group and the image was progressing well. On this post, I commented stating my annoyance of having no update in a two month time period and asked if my character could be excluded and if I could receive a refund, this is when he messaged me. Through these messages he claimed that the personal pieces were to improve his work for commissions, he also revealed that he owed many people money, not just myself at this point, and that he had already spent the money received for the commission, despite not having delivered what he was paid for.

It has been 3 months since I asked for a refund and I've still yet to receive it. I've asked many times and even sent a payment request through paypal, which he has ignored.
In these three months, he's continued to work on personal art as well as having spent money on unnecessary items and on train tickets, traveling to see friends. He's even had others spend money on him at expensive restaurants since he "couldn't afford" to pay for himself.

This issue is still ongoing and I thought that, by this point, it would have been resolved, but sadly it as not and so I thought I should make a post here to warn others about this individual. I am very frustrated and disappointed by this stage and would certainly suggest that, if you would like art delivered in a timely fashion, you should seek out another artist.