Beware: Pirate-Cashoo

MOD NOTE: This artist has completed all their outstanding commissions.

Originally posted on May. 19th, 2013 by revalie

Mod note 2: The screenshots were missing from the post at time of archiving.

WHO: Pirate-Cashoo
WHERE: FurAffinity - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/pirate-cashoo/
WHAT: Colored bust - $40. !!AND SHE'S STILL TAKING COMMISSIONS!!
WHEN: October 2012
PROOF:

Original order in October, 2012

Proof of payment

I confirmed that I did indeed want a colored bust, and she confirmed that all of the details were fine as well. I have not received any further communication from her at this point.

EXPLAIN:
I ordered this bust from Cashoo in October, the same post a few other people fell victim to. I was fairly excited to be commissioning her because I HAVE RECEIVED WORK FROM HER IN THE PAST - shocking, right? This was in the summer of '09, and I actually also received a kiriban piece from her in January 2011, so I was fairly certain that I would be getting work done on this piece. It was only a short while after I placed my order that I became aware of her first A_Bs being posted. I figured I would give her the benefit of the doubt and wait to see what would happen.

Months passed with absolutely no attempt at communication from Cashoo. I left a few shouts on her pages to no avail. I have still not heard anything from her about my commission - and I didn't see any hint of it in the sketchdump she posted on her twitter recently, either.

As the ABs continued to pour in, I decided I'd had enough and that I was going to try and get a refund. I sent her a note on FA this past Monday and explained that I was done, that I wanted a refund, and that I needed her to answer me by Friday or else I would go about getting it on my own. Well, I hadn't checked to notice she was suspended from FA - on Friday, I called Paypal and let them know of my situation. They opened a claim, but it looks like they closed it just as quickly, so I'll likely need to call in again. The woman on the phone insisted that they would find a way to get my money back as they investigated and if there were a lot of other claims open against this person, they'd take action. They also advised I call my bank, which I'll be doing this week. I'm not holding out for my money at this point, but Cashoo needs as many marks against her as is possible.

That's not the real gem here. The real prize is that I sent Pirate-Cashoo an email from one of my spare email accounts inquiring about new commissions. She responded VERY QUICKLY. I wanted to see what her response would be when faced with the possibility of more work and consequently, more money.

Well, here it is, everyone. She's still taking commissions.

For reference, I emailed her only yesterday evening - she responded very quickly to this email. I have since set her another email from my normal email account detailing the same information in my note to her on FurAffinity, but at this point I really don't care much for what she has to say. If she's done any work on my piece, it's minimal, and I would honestly rather have my money back so that the people who have commissioned her years ago have a higher chance of getting their piece.

But still - she's STILL TAKING COMMISSIONS, and now she's switched to WESTERN UNION, of all places. Seriously - beware. I am so disappointed in this artist's downward spiral that it's almost painful.

If anyone has any tips on how I can get my money back, incidentally, that would be helpful.