Beware: Tale/ Plum

Oct. 25th, 2012 at 11:35 AM

namelessimp

I read all the rules and got things together as best I could. This is my first (and hopefully only) time posting to livejournal. I blocked out names, and tried to clip and give dates where necessary, please let me know if I need to fix anything else!

WHO: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/plum/ and http://tale.deviantart.com/

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/plum/ through notes from this journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3669416/

WHAT: I ordered four $5 icons from this person back on August 15th, they confirmed payment on August 17th

WHEN: The payment for those four icons of $20 was sent on August 17th. As an artist, I know sometimes it takes awhile to get artwork done. I left them alone for awhile, but on August 30th I posted a shout on their wall asking them (since I saw they had been unactive on Furaffinity, and had not even read my note right after they confirmed payment) on deviantart how my art was coming along.


PROOF:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof1.png - ordering art
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof2.png - order confirmed


http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof2A.png - paypal confirmation
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proofnoanswer.png - noticed unchecked note
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof3.png - left a shout on Deviantart just asking, since they hadn't looked at my note
-Got a response note from Tale/Plum a few days later saying it would be done in two weeks. I'm not familiar with deviantart, so I accidentally deleted it-
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof5no4.png - sent another note after no word
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof6.png - no answer, left another note, and shout which remain unread and unanswered
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof7.png - no response, but saw activity - Her favorites activity. She has been active after my unsent, unread notes and shouts. So I can only assume she is ignoring me or doesn't care.



EXPLAIN: Ordered and paid for art on the 17th of August, it's now the 25th of October and still no progress pictures, and now I have lost contact with the artist.



I saw some really cool pixelated icons from Plum on furaffinity and thought they looked really cool! I saw she had done and finished a lot of commissions, so I thought she seemed trustworthy. I checked her deviantart since she has a link in her profile, and everyone seemed pleased with her work time and ethic, so I thought everything would work okay. So I sent her a shout asking if she was open for commissions, and she made that journal. I sent her a note about it(Aug 15), and she responded very quickly (Aug 17) and the payment was sent the same day. I waited for awhile because I know it takes time to get art done since I'm an artist as well. After waiting awhile, and realizing they hadn't been active on furaffinity or even read my last note saying thank you, I decided just to leave a shout on her deviantart page on an account I don't really use, to get her to read my note on FA(Aug 30) but we resumed talking on deviantart. Tale sent me a note a few days later (probably around Sep 1st or 3rd) apologizing and she had two sketched out. I apologize for not having the screenshot, because I clicked delete thinking it was like the "mark as read" feature on Furaffinity, but she said she'd get it done soon. I thanked her for it. I waited and waited, and finally I sent her another note about it since she had not contacted me, showed me the sketches, or updated me. (Sept 25). She replied a few hours later, and promised it in a week. I thanked her, and said I understood. At this point is when I really started to get wary and thought I should just ask for a refund now. But she seemed sweet and apologetic, and had many previous commissioners so I thought to just give her some more time. Two weeks after our agreed week deadline, I sent her another note (Oct 8th). She didn't reply but I saw she was actively favoriting things on deviantart. They were not just pictures, either, but rather lengthy comics that took some time to read. I figure if she had time to read through and favorite long comics that she had time and an obligation to answer a note about a business transaction. So I sent her another note on Oct 16th and also left a shout on her page.

By this time, it was too late (past 45 days) to open a dispute on paypal. I sent paypal an email today, asking if I was still able to dispute the transaction and explained what was going on. At this point, I'm just disappointed. I know it's not a large sum of money, but I was going to give those icons as gifts to my friends, and the artist has blown me off. I just don't want anyone else to deal with this. If anyone else has a way to contact her, or to talk to her, please let me know. I see she has many satisfied customers and stuff in real life to deal with, but I don't want to be slanted and taken advantage of for it.

It takes a few seconds to send a note explaining, which she has if she's favoriting long comics, or to refund me. I have bought dozens of commissions, and have had very few problems. I'm sad that it had to come to this. But I feel at this point I'm being ripped off and won't get my icons done or my money back.


Edit: I received all my money back from paypal. I find it kind of strange she just happened to only have time to respond after the refund (within ten hours of paypal sending me the refund), but things have worked out. I got my refund and I hold no grudge against the artist! She offered to compensate with an icon, which was very nice of her, but I'd rather this whole thing just be behind us.
Here are the final notes:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof9.png
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof10.png
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x227/kuraikozo/proof11.png