Back in late September 2019 I saw Fur Fancy advertise on their twitter they were taking commissions for 3D sculpted and printed custom bases ( you use these to cast foam fursuit heads from). They advertised each slot at $300 USD + shipping, which for the sculpt and actual printing I thought was a great price, so I proceeded to message them about ordering two custom bases.
As you can see they were very prompt about answering my questions and sending me a PayPal invoice
It took me a few days to get the example sketches commissioned from another artist, but by Oct 5th I had sent them the rough ideas for how I wanted the bases to look.
After that I did proceed to ask them about upgrades to the bases such as eyeblacks but decided against them at the time.
Come Nov 20th 2019 I saw them post again about taking on another custom sculpted/printed base. I had a bit of extra funds and thought I'd add to my existing order. At this time I had not received any updates about my previous bases, but wasn't worried as not much time had passed.
Paid the same day I inquired and sent along the 3rd example sketch I commissioned for them to work off of
On December 17th 2019 I was sent a picture of this first feline base rendered in the 3D sculpting program.
Come January 10th 2020 I had received no updates so I thought I would start inquiring about the status of the commission. I was still waiting to hear when the first sculpt I was shown would print as well as see the other two 3D rendered as well as an ETA on the printing time. I heard nothing and messaged again on January 16th and 21st. I did not receive a reply until January 22 2020 , which at that point the lack of communication was starting to bother me. At this time I did follow their twitter and saw them make very frequent posts ( every couple days or so)
This was the first to my knowledge about the 3D printers needing repairs. I honestly know nothing about 3D printers so did not think it was a huge deal. I just wanted to make sure the PayPal window would not close before I received everything ( 6 months is the timeframe for PayPal).
I received an update come February 11th 2020 that one of the printers was back to working order. I assumed this meant that my first 3D sculpt would be printed soon. I still had yet to see the other two as digital sculpts. That was the only update I received in february, the rest of my messages on the 19th of February and 2nd of March were ignored. At this point due to the lack of communication I did bring up opening a PayPal dispute as it had nearly been 6 months since my original PayPal transaction in September 2019. That claim window would close on March 26th.
Come March 7th 2020 I did receive screenshots of the other bases being sculpted in the 3D program
That was all I had heard though. I inquired for an ETA on the printing come March 16th and reminded them that my first PayPal window closes soon on March 20th. To the last message I did not receive a response until March 23rd, only days before my first PayPal dispute window would close. At this point I did proceed to Paypal and opened the dispute, I did not notify FurFancy of it which is why I think they started messaging me more. Though they only would communicate with me on twitter, they would never message through PayPal .
At this point I have only received the 3D sculpted screenshots, no ETA of when they should print or even ship out. I was more than willing to take a partial refund of the 3D sculpted files, but I would not close the PayPal dispute until they had been provided to me as I did not trust FurFancy to take my money and give me nothing in the end. With the dispute FurFancy did bring her family issues into play, I assume to try and guilt me into closing the PayPal dispute. Personally this left a bad taste in my mouth.
FurFancy then proceeds to name drop another fursuit builder whom they are also sculpting bases for that is apparently ahead of my in her queue. At this point in time I had never had any ETAS given, seen a queue or even a TOS. The only form of contact I have for FurFancy is their twitter, though apparently they dont use it that often ( yet I see them post periodically selling misc parts and showing off suit wips)
At this point I honestly feel like I am just running around in circles with FurFancy. I ended up finding their TOS on my own, which as a client, even if not for normal suit work, I feel should have been sent to me. If twitter isn't an ideal way to communicate give me an email or telegram I can contact instead. For the last few messages I did have a friend help type up the response to outline why I am keeping the dispute on PayPal open and reinterate that I am willing to pay for the 3D rendered files.
So that is my last interaction with FurFancy on twitter. I submitted all this information to PayPal and they ended up siding in my favour as FurFancy never responded to the dispute by the looks of it.
In the end I did receive a full refund thanks to PayPal, but the entire transaction was a learning experience. I assumed that because of FurFancy's status as a larger builder commissioning would be professional and easy. I didn't loose anything but my time luckily
TL:DR
Commissioned FurFancy for 3 3D sculpted and 3D printed head bases, ended up not receiving them and opened a PayPal dispute to receive a full refund.
I commissioned the ref sheet back in november 2016, when he posted a journal saying that he needed the money and that he had time (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7931120/), so I went ahead and paid immediately after contacting him via note
In the note it was discussed that it was going to be a simple back and front reference with a feral form added to the side, as well as some text to go with it. They initially worked on it a bit, to the point of having it sketched and the feral form colored. The progress on this was shown intermittently until around february, when I stopped seeing updates on it all together and he started taking more commissions while shafting older commissioners in the process. After this he sadly mostly disappeared for a long while, only showing up with journals with what now seem to be excuses, and never communicating directly with his customers, even after asking several times. On the Nycket FA page there is a journal they posted asking people who were owed art (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8284232/), I do not know the current condition, but many others from around the same time have been owed something up to today (2020, 3-4 years later).
He recently reappeared with the new account (Kanthii https://www.furaffinity.net/user/kanthii/) and claimed they were contacting people that were owed art for either art, or a refund. I was not approached, but rather advised by someone. I contacted him through Twitter on the 5th of February, initially being really empathetic and trying to figure out what had happened
Initially I was hopeful that this would be it and he seemed to be communicative enough, knowing how many things were owed I knew there might be delays but as long as communication was good and I saw progress, even on what was owed to others, things would be okay. On the 17th of February 2020 I was approached through Telegram and asked about what I would like to have. That same day I received a very early sketch, but once more, it has not been worked on, nor have I been approached about it again, or with any updates on it. Unfortunately he has gone under the radar once more and their only activity has been a tweet saying what has been said over and over for the past years on the 24th of June.
Sadly it is back to the same old song and dance; 0 communication, I have seen 0 work owed to me or others, and he seems to have gone offline again, at this rate, it will keep happening, and truthfully, while I do not expect anything at this point, maybe others can know how difficult it is to work with this artist.
oCe opened a big Beach Bonfire YCH in 2015 (See here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17220132/ and here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17219741/ and the actual auction for my spots here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17364640/) and I grabbed several spots in it for a friend and myself. The auctions for the spots in the big YCH stretched down to December, because she was auctioning them by groups.
Payment was done on Sept 22nd, 2015.
The first updates were journals on February 2016, though she did posted other journals taking commissions in the meantime, and would keep doing it until she more or less vanished from the face of the internet altogether around late 2017:
One in the 15th: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7381550/
And one on the 29th: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7411940/
I sent a couple emails that went unanswered in July and September 2016:
Then she sent an email to everyone in the YCH with the first WIP in October 2016:
The WIP looked good, so I didn't try to contact her until January 2017, and again in March since my previous email had gone unanswered:
Then she posted a journal on July hinting that we would receive some WIPs (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8307192/):
And one in October 2017 explaining that stuff happened but we would finally get a WIP soon (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8456845/):
I never received the WIP this I sent her an email in November 2017 asking about it, but never got any answer:
Then in March 2018 and April 2018 I sent mails again, trying to get some news, with no answer at all again:
At this time, I turned to the A_B Community and sent a Lost Contact notice (https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/998856.html) which caused a reaction and I received a mail from her not too long after. Though that reaction would prove to be short-lived as shown by the email conversation below which is mostly me talking with little answers and long delays again between each answer:
Having ran out of patience, I've decided to make this beware. Obviously, it's way too late to dispute anything on Paypal, so I'm 300$ out of luck, and I have been given little in return for it.
If this manages to reach oCe, while I'd love to see the finished product, as I still do love her art style, I've lost all confidence that it will ever get done and any trust I could have in her due to the utter lack of communication, despite her telling commissioners to contact her via email and that she would reply promptly. Thus why I'd like to get a full refund of the 300$, and get done with this
Hi all! Oh boy I've been wondering if I should even make a post or not. My experience with this artist is a little different but the outcome is the same; didn't receive anything back.
This was my FIRST time commissioning Luna as someone showed me her work and I thought "wow that's cute!!". Maybe I should preface by saying I've commissioned a handful of people before and usually I don't ask for updates, as you'll see in the screenshots below with why I'm mentioning this part. I've always been fairly patient but then again.. I've gotten the artwork back in a timely matter in my opinion. This is 2 years in the works. This was also before I saw her massive queue. Again, I've been that artist, too, with the line up.. Alright, moving on..
She's promoted her commissions on FA as open as well as posting completed pieces. Seeing as she had many options to choose from I was stuck debating what exactly.. Found out she did pixels ($30 at this time) that's where I got interested. Cute, figured my character would look nice in her pixel style! Soooo left a comment, got a reply, shot a note, got a response and paid that invoice!
Cool, awesome, sit back and just wait. Again, I didn't know about her Trello page and I thought she was actively posting new content during this time. Which, she was sure, but it was varied pieces.. Discovering her Trello I was for sure on the queue!.. Little shocked over the size, too, can't lie.
Then a year passes, I noticed I was moved to her refund list. HUH.. but for whatever reason it took me some time to confront her about it. I was (now I consider it) foolishly waiting for her to contact me about the refund. Then I see she's promoting pixels again and that's when I decided to DM her. My first message didn't reach her immediately...
Dang, nevermind. I wish I kept the screenshot I took of her Trello where I found out I was put on the Refund List, along with many others. As of now I am not on that list. I wasn't happy being put on a refund list under assumption I didn't want anything anymore. Felt that was a little unprofessional, especially since I wasn't informed. (Maybe I too am at blame for not contacting for an update?) Regardless. . . I think no matter the time frame of something you should notify your clients about it. As a fellow artist I am understanding when it comes to mental health as I'm that person, too.. But the radio silence was definitely bugging me at this point. This was January 2020, now..
No response. Patient, but a busy person time slipped me as well.. Eagerly waiting any response.
Again, no response. I sent this email a month after I saw her post on Twitter about personal problems.
I just find it odd timing that around this time (March email) she vanished off all her social medias. Only to resurface with a screenshot from not even HERSELF but another Twitter user saying how she's taken time away from all socials, again, due to personal issues. I'm just big bummed! Oh well. More waiting.
I bought this bust from her back in February, I thought nothing of the pose until recently I found she had been caught tracing art.
From this artist on da https://t.co/wlZjSNImBs?amp=1
Now she's refusing to refund me for a ych I bought that she never started. She never started the piece anx in her TOS if something isn't started I get full refund.
I have already filed a charge back to get my money back fir the icon I will not get that she hasn't started.
Hello, I had commissioned fasttrack for two NSFW pieces in March 2018. Both comissions are NSFW with two character full background
The Artist accept the Comission and send me a payment request.
After i pay i still wait on a comission process after a while i contact him months later in 2018 he reply to the note and that was the last contact to him.
I send him Notes and a Email he didn't receive a response
I see that he was online in Furaffinity favorite some Images and Post Journals, i contact him ther too without response.
Hello all.
This is a bit of a tale so apologies if I end up typing way too much. I will try to explain every detail that is pertinent and submit as much proof as I can along with it. Additionally, this commission was for a NSFW story. However, I have made sure not to include any details of said desired story in this post. I could have screencapped even more of our conversations but I am only including the pertinent ones for this report.
To start with, I posted a SoFurry post in the Market looking for someone to create a story. Ayrrenth replied to this posting via message on SoFurry on August 3rd, 2017. After some discussion on the story details, we agreed on a price of $60 for a 7000 word story. The price was agreed upon on August 4th going into August 5th, 2017. I submitted my payment on PayPal according to my records on August 4th, 2017. (All private data has been blurred. If unedited screenshots are needed for proof, I can provide them.)
What then followed was messages of me checking up once in a while and the author telling me that they were working on it. And then Irma happened. They said they had to evacuate and that their house was destroyed along with their computer. Of course, I empathized. I was patient and awaited a message from them once things were better. They said things were semi-normal and they were trying to complete commissions. They said they would have my story done by Friday. And then they just disappeared. No further communication.
And then 9 months ago, I had finally kind of got to a place to stand up for myself. But that's a more personal thing I won't really get into here. I decided to reach out to this author on SoFurry and try to find out what happened to my story. I figured I wouldn't get a response so I ended up looking elsewhere for this person. There was someone on FurAffinity with a dragon that looked like them. So I reached out on September 9th, 2019 and, surprisingly, finally got an answer on August 24th, 2019. They offered a refund or to write the story. I stupidly continued on with wanting them to write the story. On September 11th, 2019, they said they had some of the intro done. This would be the last I heard from them. On September 26th, 2019, I reached out to check on the story and they left the message on read.
I believe at that point, I decided to just give up and not bother reporting them and figured I'd take the loss. But recently, I kind of started to find my own voice and confidence. So here I am. Over 2 years later. Reporting someone I should have reported a long time ago. Tired of being walked all over and just letting people rip me off.
Out of curiosity, I looked at their journals and found one that mentioned "previous bad customers". I am not sure if this author is referring to me or others, but I felt like I was pretty nice in my messages. Not to mention patient. Just wanted to throw that tidbit of irony out there. Anyway, I've reached out to this author on FurAffinity and SoFurry today to try to get a refund or my story. Based off my last message, I have a feeling it will be left on read and ignored. So here I am.
Hope this helps someone else. Especially anyone that is trying to get a joint commission with them or any artist that they are currently trying to commission.
Stay safe out there.
(If any further screenshots are needed, I can provide them. Or if any of the screenshots need further censoring, that can be done as well.)
Commissioned this artist in May of 2019 and didn't receive a response until I commented on one of their commissions posts.
After DMing and emailing with no response and seeing them continuing to open up commission slots I got a bad feeling so I commented on one of their posts directly. Immediately they messaged me, updating me and asking me to take my tweet down. They seemed extremely forthcoming/nice in the DMs and I thought things would be solved so I deleted my comment and told them to take their time (they offered free art in compensation for my time which I declined). At this point I didn't know how large their commission queue truly was (i thought they were just overwhelmed a bit) and it had only been a few months of waiting with them actively posting on their twitter.
Here are my invoices totaling $115 dollars. I have yet to receive a sketch or an update and as of March 12 2020 LunaofWater has been inactive on their accounts and has not contacted me back when I've DM'd them.
I had initially commissioned the artist with high hopes, due to previous commissions being finished within a rate of a couple weeks to a couple of months. When I had commissioned, there were no official terms of service, but as far I was concerned, I would able to refund with no issues if I ran into problems. However, since the terms have updated, the artist claims I am ineligible for a refund despite me waiting a year for my art with no signs of progress. This is how the chat/commission started out.
The artist shows examples to me. The character shown in the screenshot is her own. In addition, she has shown me more examples. So far, so good.
Seems very charismatic to begin with! I was very excited about my commission. More about this charisma later.
Still maintains charisma, even states she feels bad about the delay. I am a very forgiving person, so I had decided to continue waiting a bit longer. I was not in too big of a hurry for the commission to be completed.
Here I notice there wasn't as much of a friendly vibe as I had gotten with the artist before which made me a little concerned, like as if the artist was stressed. In addition, hasn't been as responsive to me.
I figured it was appropriate to file a dispute at this point because friends have been suggesting it to me. I tried to be understanding, and I waited 24 hours for a response on whether or not the artist was going to follow through with my commission. Read but no response, so I just decided to listen to my friends and file the claim. Unfortunately, PayPal has a strict 180 day rule so I was ineligible for a refund, yet the artist was still notified and blew up on me. I tried to explain as professionally as I could for my actions and why I think my dispute was reasonable.
Shown is the queue posted before the Terms of Service, in which I am listed. Also shown is the Terms of Service that were created after I had purchased my commission. In the second screenshot, you can see the update states "It will apply to all future commissions." This makes my commission exempt, in theory. And shown in the third screenshot above are the terms the artist created in terms of refunds. Although it is stated that refunds are not given after payments are made, that if a commission has not been started a refund could be discussed. My commission was never started and yet, my request for one was rejected right away.
I showed the artist the terms they had created and the artist had decided I will not receive my commission, I will be black listed, and I will not receive a refund. I am not the only one who has been waiting on a commission from this artist, but I have decided that these business practices were sketchy.
I went to commission a 40 dollar flat art piece from TankDragon and I waited 7 months for them to get back to me or at least update me on the commission but they never responded to me and never showed me any artwork even started.
