Beware: Wyebird

Dec. 20th, 2012 at 4:06 PM

WHO: Wyebird

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/wyebird/

WHAT: Wyebird posted a journal on FurAffinity where she offered spots in orgy commissions: 1 all-male, 1 all-female, 2 mixed. There were 5 open spots per image available at a cost of $5.00 per spot. The initial post was simply to reserve places for later call for payment. That same day I reserved 1 spot in the all-female orgy for my character Sh'sthress. (initial journal, my booking)WHEN:October 17th, 2011 - initial offering of orgy picture spotsOctober 24th, 2011 - call for payment; payment made via Paypal

November 4th, 2011 - first piece started

November 20th, 2011 - asked about remaining orgies

December 9th, 2011 - first two (all male, first mixed) posted on FurAffinity

March 15th, 2012 - Ask for progress on remaining pictures in Wyebird's 'to do' list journal

March 17th, 2012 - Wyebird says they'll be done soonMay 7th, 2012 - Wyebird will be starting all-female orgy tomorrow

June 20th, 2012 - Wyebird asks for reminders of art owedJune 29th, 2012 - Wyebird posts an updated "to do" list; 2 orgies are on list

August 17th, 2012 - Note sent to Wyebird asking for roughly when all-female orgy pic will be finished

August 21st, 2012 - Wyebird posts to say auction and crotch shots are next to be done, then older stuff, and to please not send her notes

August 21st, 22nd, 23rd - exchange of emails between us in which I ask if she can commit to having this done by the end of September or October and she implies agreement to that.

December 20th, 2012 - still no art, so sent another email expressing my unhappiness.

UPDATE - April 9th, 2013January 7th, 2013 - emailed again to ask for a response to my email of Dec 20th

January 10th, 2013 - Wyebird replies; offers refund

January 11th, 2013 - Wybird posts journal offering refund, and a second journal opening for more commissionsJanuary 24th, 27th 2013 - Wyebird posts two journals indicating any refunds will be delayed

February 26th, 2013 - Wyebird announces she is disabling FA notes and anyone with art owed to them should email her at her commissions address; I do so.

March 26th, 2013 - I send a follow-up email to my email of the 26thApril 9th, 2013 - I comment on a journal post to ask Wyebird if she received my previous two emails.PROOF:

• October 24th, 2011: Wyebird asked everyone to pay for the spots they've booked. As they do, the journal is updated to show payment status. Payment via Paypal to go to wyebird[underscore]2004[at]hotmail[dot]com (addressed munged to evade bots). I sent payment the same day. (journal 1 of 2, journal 2 of 2, Paypal record)
• November 4th, 2011: Wyebird says she will begin with the all-male orgy, as she's still waiting on payment from some people in the other ones. (journal)
• November 20th, 2011: I commented in the payment journal of October 24th to ask for any info on progress; Wyebird replies she still needs to send notes to the delinquents who haven't paid yet. (comment)
• November 25th, 2011: Wyebird says she has received all payments and she'll try to get them done "real soon". (journal)
• December 9th, 2011: Wyebird posts the first two completed pictures; the all-male orgy and the first of the mixed orgies (NSFW! all-male orgy pic, NSFW! first mixed orgy pic)
• March 15-17, 2012: Having not seen anything in a while about these, I looked through Wyebird's journals and galleries in case I'd missed it, and found a "to-do" list journal, so I commented there to ask if there was any progress on the remaining orgies. Wyebird responds to say she's having a struggle with it but hopes to have something done soon. (comment)
• May 7th, 2012: Wyebird says she'll be starting the all-female orgy tomorrow (i.e., May 8th), she has an idea what to draw and all the references to hand. (journal)
• June 20th, 2012: Wyebird asks people to remind her if she owes them art, so I comment to remind her of the all-female orgy pic. (journal, my comment)
• June 29th, 2012: Wyebird posts an updated 'to do' list; the orgies are in the 'planning' stage, though from her post in May, I had the impression they were further along than that. (journal 1 of 2, journal 2 of 2)
• August 17th-18th, 2012: I noted Wyebird to ask for some idea when the orgy will be completed. Wyebird noted me back the next day to say she hopes to have something "soon". I replied to ask for something more specific than that. (note on 17th, wyebird's reply, my reply to wyebird)
• August 21st, 2012: Wyebird posts a journal about delays in work, that crotch shots and auction will be done, then older pieces. She also wrote that she doesn't want people to send notes but to comment in her "to do list" journal. (journal)
• About 2 hours later (going by the time stamps) I read the journal and checked my outgoing notes box; at that time, Wyebird had still not read my note. (unread note dated the 18th)
• So I told her I would comment in her "to do journal"... (comment in response to most recent journal)
• ... and I did; repeating the text of my last and as-yet unread note to her, including typographical errors, and adding that I have sent notes to the other people who were part of this commission. If the A_B community deems it relevant, I can screencap and post my notes to them, but I'll need their permission to post their replies. (comment in to-do list journal)
• I sent her an email to ask for a more definite commitment - end of September, end of October - and her response sort of indicated that she agreed with the proposed times. (contact email, reply)
• In November - about a month after I thought I would receive this, I noted the other participants via FA to ask if (a) they'd heard anything and (b) would I give them permission to mention them in any potential beware? Chakattailswisher gave me permission; one of the other parties did not, but said they'd been in contact with Wyebird and she was having an art block on the picture, and the third party hasn't answered, so I can only infer they've forgotten about it (FA notes)
• December 20th, 2012 - As I have still not received the artwork, and it's now been almost 14 months, I emailed Wyebird again to ask for a firm date by which the picture will be done. (my email to her as of today, December 20th)

UPDATE - April 9th, 2013

• January 7th, 2013: Having not heard anything, I emailed Wyebird again at her commission email address, asking her to respond to my email of the 20th. (follow-up email)
• January 10th, 2013: Wyebird responds to my email, apologizing for having had to open for yet more commissions, but does not give me a firm date. She does, however, offer me the option of a refund. (Wyebird's reply)
• January 11th, 2013: Two journals from Wyebird; the first is an offer of refunds to commissioners with outstanding commissions owed to them. (journal)

She then opens for more commissions: (journal)

January 24th & 27th, 2013: Two journals, three days apart, in which she indicates she will issue refunds to people next month (i.e., February), and message them to let them know. (journal)February 26th, 2013: Wyebird asks everyone who is waiting for art to email her, and announces that she has disabled notes (journal). I emailed her with the details of my commission. (email)March 26th, 2013: Having not heard anything about my commission for another month, I emailed her again, asking her to commit to a specific date by which it will be completed. (email)April 9th, 2013: Another two weeks having gone by without any response, I commented on a journal to ask her if she had received my emails (comment)

EXPLANATION/DISCUSSION:I really feel quite silly posting this, because in financial terms I'm potentially out of pocket only $5.00. I had lost track of this until March, in fact, when for other reasons I was going through my PayPal history. However I didn't really start getting concerned until late June when she asked for people to remind her about work she owed. However, she then updated her to-do list a week later, so I thought I'd just keep an eye on things. However, I did start reading some of her back journals and so on, and I noticed a distinct trend. Depression, arm injury, needing money. In May she started offering freebie art, 10 spots per month to start in June. I haven't screen-capped all these journals mainly because they have nothing to do with me other than to demonstrate that she has an incredible workload outstanding, but I have a representative selection I will post at the end, and for any who wish to, they are (as of August 18th) all still present in her FurAffinity account.Briefly, though she still owes considerable art, between the end of June and now she's taken on multiple batches of "crotch shot" commissions, 2-character specials, pin-up commissions and an auction.

July 4th specifically, she posted that she was sorry about taking on more commissions when she still owed so many, but she needs to raise money to move, because her current living quarters are stiflingly hot during the day. She is still suffering from art block as well.I hope I don't come across as unreasonable or unsympathetic, but it's been 14 months which strikes me as a little ridiculous. I knew at the time I reserved a spot that these would be simple art - lines and flat colours - and at the per-spot price she wanted, quite appropriate; but by the same token, they shouldn't take all that long to do. I also feel as if by submitting this beware post I'm going to make it just that much harder for her to get out from under. At this point, if she were to tell me she simply can't do it, I'd be just as likely to say "Don't worry about it" and not ask for my money back. However, there are other people involved in this commission as well and I can't speak for them. I have heard back from two of them and they, too, are curious about where this piece is and have asked me to keep them informed.

Examples of her taking on further work:June 30th - taking crotch shot commissions

July 1st, 4th - taking more crotch shot commissions, apology for taking more commissionsJuly 11th - taking 2-character specials

August 1st - taking pin-up commissionsAugust 12th - taking more crotch shot commissions

August 14th - auction commissionI do wish to say in closing that Wyebird has been consistently polite and good-natured in our communications back and forth about this commission. However, it has been 14 months since these pieces were offered and paid for; my concern is that this has dragged on for considerably longer than it really ought to have. I would like to think I'm not unreasonable in asking for a rough delivery date - a month, two months - instead of "soon". I hope that she can get her living situation sorted out and her commission backlog reduced, and that she will overcome this challenge and have a successful business as an artist.

UPDATE April 9th, 2013At this point I have the feeling I will not receive the art. Moderators, please mark this "abandoned". I do not consider it resolved, but I don't see that I can do much else. Thank you.

UPDATE April 30th, 2013I was wrong; the art was delivered April 28th! I consider the matter satisfactorily resolved, and wish Wyebird every future success.