Beware: Sickboy

May 22, 2014

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/768650.html

WHO: Sickboy, Pales, horrorprince.deviantart.com, http://whorrorprince.tumblr.com/

WHERE: deviantart.com, virtualpetlist.com, and furry-paws.com

WHAT: All digital art. The absolute best I can do for screenshot proof is provide the forum post where I discovered him on virtualpetlist.com (see: http://www.virtualpetlist.com/threads/sim-artist-looking-for-work-again.15631/) and on another forum that is now defunct. I recognized him because he went by his alternative name Pales on the defunct forum and I addressed him as Pales which prompted him to message me. I do have those messages but they're text based since they were backed up from the forum software. I never thought I'd have to use them as evidence. Eventually we switched to IM and screenshots will reflect that.

WHEN: I’m copy and pasting what I wrote on another forum as I’ve tried to reword this several times and it’s just too hard for me emotionally. So I hope this suffices. Sorry if it’s too long..

I paid in advance for items in June with a deadline of July. Sickboy didn't meet the deadlines, however, he did give excuses which I was empathetic of. We extended deadlines several times. I often had to ask him for progress. Here is a conversation we exchanged over IM where I asked him about my items and how he addressed my questions.

Although that conversation is dated October, I did ask him two to three times before October, once in July and a separate time in September. The week of September is the time he delivered 7 items and said he would complete the rest that week. I trusted he would, and again paid in advance that week for more items. He has not completed any items since September or that payment.

I again asked him in January to which I received similar responses to the first conversation. Nearly a week later, I discovered that Sickboy had been anonymously mentioning my commission to others, complaining about how I had asked him about my commission, which urged me to cease working with Sickboy altogether. Sickboy explained recently that his tablet broke, that he was depressed over the passing of a friend's cat, etc. I am understanding, but I had been waiting for my commission for almost more than six months before these events transpired. Sickboy has told me an item takes him twenty to thirty minutes to complete.

We originally agreed that he would complete the art, but circumstances changed, I requested that I be refunded, to which he agreed. This correspondence was through DeviantART. He told me he would refund me sometime in the future and when he had the money he'd message me through VPL. I was okay with this. I asked him how he was, just a general "how are you" and he blocked me from DeviantART. There is absolutely no reason why I was blocked, which leads me to believe I won't be receiving my money back, nor will I be hearing from Sickboy again.


PROOF:
Agreement: the first one: http://i.imgur.com/wm4eA49.png (6/27) & the second: http://i.imgur.com/Do0MtgY.png (9/8)
Proof of payment: http://i.imgur.com/iFHOzfs.png & http://i.imgur.com/6NMJOaI.png
Proof of him agreeing to finish the overdue art on 9/8: http://i.imgur.com/4k3hUdo.png (he did not finish them that night)
Evidence of him cursing at me: http://pastebin.com/qpc2EEv4
Due to him accusing me of editing this pastebin, I am posting a screenshot of how it appears in my logs: http://i.imgur.com/7NK29Jv.png - I am sorry that it's formatted in a block of text. My logs apparently bugged out and I don't want to edit it to prove the point that they weren't touched.

EXPLAIN: I’ve done everything I could to ask for my money back. Despite his promises to do so (as seen in his responses on my forum thread) he is now lying to others saying he doesn’t owe me any money http://comments.deviantart.com/1/449033043/3447744659

I’ve tried everything. I don’t know what else to do. I was scammed out of a lot of money. So much money that I’m not comfortable even saying it. That is why I’ve blacked it out. It’s embarrassing.

Another thing I’d like to advise to potential buyers is that this person has a Terms of Service that isn’t very airtight and very contradictory. This has led me to the realization that the art he did do I will need to replace. So on top of the money I was scammed out of, I will also need to replace all the art he actually did to. I came to this realization based on his terms: http://sickboyart.co.nf/tos.php I did not have these terms laid out in front of me when I was commissioning the seller. I don’t feel comfortable that I’m required to credit him to use the art he did for me because it may lead to others commissioning him and rendering a similar experience. http://i.imgur.com/sRPGvEc.png To me, his terms are also very confusing and legally unfriendly. All efforts to sign over his work to me have went ignored.

Edit: Please read: The problem with the Artist's TOS is NOT solely the credit but instead the legal loopholes and problems that may be faced with the rights of the work and refund policy. I was advised to get the work replaced because of the confusing terms. I do not have a problem with crediting artists so long my order is completed. The reason why the TOS is being mentioned is so that people are aware of all his terms before ordering. I was not

I have personally made the decision to get the art he did do replaced because I disagree with these terms. Again I provide them here so potential consumers are aware. These terms didn't exist when I made my order.