I thought I got a steal.
3 Months ago I purchased two commissions from this artist at the same time. The transaction was paid for and done the same day in the same receipt.
I made multiple attempts to receive the work and never did. Was just led on time after time while watching their queues fill with more and more work they were somehow producing and still getting paid for by other people.
On month 3 I messaged for a refund and was told to search through the SCRAPS on their FA, link them to the two I want that AREN'T the originals I paid for, link them my reference again, and they would finish it in a week.
At this point I am making this because they flood FA with YCHs but have been finishing commissions of favorites firstly. Others like me go without ours for months even with reminders.
https://cdn.artistsbeware.info/monthly_2020_04/Screenshot_20200423-062625.png.d87535b97f84221e11158d2e3e8f14d5.png
05.03.20: No refund has come.
In April I made a twitter post about looking for an artist who had commissions open and LilDogMeat replied to my tweet. I decided to commission them because their art looked cute and was in my price range.
They originally said they would have a sketch for me by that Saturday and never had anything to show. In my experience with other artists I've always had to wait a bit but they always delivered so I didn't choose to message LilDogMeat about it until some time later.
They claimed issues with their laptop and I was fine with waiting. This was my mistake as the window for a refund through paypal has long passed. I have waited a year for this commission with LilDogMeat no longer being responsive (likely moved on to a new Twitter? They aren't active anymore).
On September 1st 2019. I commissioned ArtsyPosy on twitter to draw a badge of my soon to be suit, Wad the cat. They first contacted me on August 31st 2019, and we discussed the details of my badge. I sent payment via PayPal, and I sent them a screenshot of the receipt. They also confirmed my payment. I set no specific due date because they said they were busy, but they said it could be done around mid-late September.
The next day on September 2nd, I messaged them because the reference I sent them needed a small change. I decided to change the colour of his feet to black, so when fursuiting, his paws would not be dirty (originally white). I sent an updated reference, and they confirmed the changes, promising to even make a note on their monitor to not forget. They had not started my commission at this point.
I sent messages throughout the 17th of September. We chatted together about how my suit progress was going, and things seemed okay. They were saying they were working on other art, though and were busy doing other things. I didn’t care because it was only mid September.
They stopped messaging until the 27th.
They told me on September 27th that the commission would be done by October 19th 2019. It’s a little later than planned, but it wasn’t unreasonable. They then went silent again, and they posted they weren’t feeling the best. I felt bad, but I also wanted to keep contact, so I sent some wholesome dog memes to keep communication going. I sent messages in October and November.
On December 24th, 2019, they finally replied, but they still had no update for me. I was just relieved to hear from them, but I was suspecting something was amiss. They said they’d give me a work in progress photo, but none came. They also said that I hadn’t paid. I sent them the screenshot of the PayPal receipt I messaged to them the moment I first paid.
They then told me that they mistakenly had me on their waitlist still.
They then told me they’d just be starting my commission.
On January 3rd 2020, they messaged me asking what colour I’d like the background to be. I had specified white before, so I clarified that. They said I would have the piece the following Sunday. They verified this on January 7th 2020.
Then they cut off communication again.
On March 9th 2020, they finally messaged me again.
They said I’d have my art by at least that Thursday. They told me because of the wait, I’d receive a free sketch as well. I was excited, but I did not receive the art.
They did not message me until March 31st 2020.
They said their WiFi went out.
I told them I had waited quite a while, and I hoped to see the badge soon (this is digital by the way: they didn’t have to print/laminate/mail anything to me). They responded by saying the virus was stressing them out, and I understand that, but this was supposedly finished a while ago. They also said that my change (the clarified feet paw colour change from September 2nd 2019) and the sketch (given to me for waiting so long) was causing them to delay further.
At this point, I had enough and was very honest with them saying,
“I would much rather have the original art first… I hope this is understandable. We already clarified the change 3 months ago, and the change was made the day after I ordered the commission (September 1st changed September 2nd). I know this does make it trickier, and I do apologise, but this information was told a while ago. I’m nervous about waiting more months when the artwork is already completed for a sketch. I just want to be very open about how I feel about that.”
They responded with saying they acknowledged my delays, but they said they’d send my art with the chibi anyway that next Thursday. They said they couldn’t send updates or the final piece because their rabbit had chewed their charging cord.
It’s been another 2 weeks and they have not emailed/messaged me the images. It is now April 15th 2020, and it was supposed to be done before October.
At this point, my opinion cannot be swayed even if I ever end up receiving the art. Their management and customer service is poor, providing dozens of deadlines and providing many excuses. I am beyond tired, and I advise that potential clients exercise caution when ordering art from ArtsyPosy.
I will try to see if I can ever get my art to post and update this experience
Last year in October I contacted this artist for a two-character commission with scenery, and since then, I have not received any works-in-progress or anything. I've occasionally noted her to ask for updates regarding my piece, and this was the last reply I received from her:
I did not receive an update January 11, and while I have sent additional Notes since then asking for updates, she read my notes, but didn't reply to them:
However, she constantly posts YCHs and is very active on FurAffinity:
I just don't like the feeling I'm being ignored, and I'm not being rude, or anything.
I commissioned Glowner back in 2019 for some NSFW commission art and haven't been getting the promised product at all.
Sadly a lot of chat history is not available anymore since the Discord Server this was originally on has been deleted and I saw no need saving anything as I had no reason to distrust the artist, as I was still fairly new to commissioning and not knowing that taking safety proof would be a good idea. I did not contact them for a long time until I saw them posting some art or generally talking on Twitter, which continued after I contacted them on Discord for my refund.
I contacted them somewhat regularly to avoid a block due to being too pushy, but still am waiting on any update. Instead they continued posting elsewhere, as on Discord and Twitter.
I frankly feel like I am being ghosted/neglected and I feel I will not be repaid. I am still being owed 200 bucks.
I ordered 4 commissions from Artararam before where the commissions were drawn semi professionally without any major problems and everything that I complained in pre-release versions were fixed in the final version of the art pieces. Everything quite normal for a NFSW artist like her. Artararam was never the fastest artist when it comes to draw commissions, the progress was slow, but steady. I usually give artists a period of 1 month before I contact them and ask for updates as this is a reasonable period where a change could be done with the artwork without putting too much stress on the artists.
I commissioned Artararam with 2 NSFW art commissions:
July, 28th 2019, 1 character (for 40 USD), payment sent July, 29th 2019 to her PayPal address
August, 14th 2019, 2 characters (for 90 USD), payment sent the same day to her PayPal address
Total: 130 USD
I received 2 WIP snapshots of the 1st commission from Artararam as requested at September, 27th and September, 28th. The lineart of commission 1 is done, with a few adjustments and a sketch from me showing what looks wrong because the Artararam is not very good in English.
I send her a note at FA at November, 1st 2019 asking if she was able to continue to draw my commissions and I noticed that my note at FA was unread for a long time. Artararam posted a journal at her FA account a few days later (November, 6th 2019). My faith in this artist is a little bit lost.
I waited 3 months and contacted them at their Telegram account at January, 19th and January, 20th 2020 and got a very generic answer that "I'll send you all the process I have today or tomorrow morning!". Nothing happened after this date, she didn't answered over Telegram for nearly 3 months from now.
I would accept the following solutions:
Fully completed, delivered artwork for both commissions
Partial or full refund for commission 1 and full refund for commission 2
PS: I struggled a lot before I decided to post here, after I've spoken with other guys that commissioned her. I think her journal sounds reasonable. I'm aware that she is treated by the law of Russia as a homosexual artist, I understand why she escaped from Russia to Ukraine. I can't understand why she wasn't able to get the Ukrainian citizenship before she left Russia and why she doesn't stopped to accept commissions and finish the accepted commissions first. I don't want to destroy her NSFW artist career, but she shows a very unprofessional behavior that I can't really tolerate.
~Ashnu
Attachments:
Proof commission 1:
Proof commission 2:
Notes from Artararam for commission 1:
FA Journal:
Telegram conversation:
TankDragon ran a YCH (Link here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/30306472/ ) over a year ago, in which I won a slot for 85$. It was called his Final Winter YCH, or also his 6th YCH.
The censoring in the following picture removes my name address, and monetary information.
He also also charged the person who came in after the YCHs close for the same slot that he charged me for.
Since this time, he has repeatedly said I would get a WIP soon as I checked in every few months. However, the friend who bid after close showed me he had gotten a WIP with him in my slot instead (far left predator slot). My character is not a dragon.
I have not been able to get a WIP of the YCH from the artist, and believe he has now just ran off with the money as it is now well past Paypals 180 day return period.
He does still respond, but it is always with the same line of: It will be soon.
Now, at a loss for other options, I submit this beware so others may not lose money to this artist.
Note:: I am both Paintdog and Drawindonkey. I switched names roughly a year ago.
I originally found them on a game called Furcadia as user Cou though I've moved PCs since then thus do not have logs of that in particular. We discussed a commission involving a sketch page of my character. Discussion went well, info was sent, I paid, done and done.
Four months pass with no word from them, despite regularly checking on Furcadia for response - I then finally checked FurAffinity and sent a message, getting this response (2). Admittedly I cannot prove it, but they never actually contacted me on Furcadia.
Four months later, I messaged them again, asking for a refund (3), which they promised they were working on gathering the funds for.
One month later (4), I messaged them again, asking status. More excuses. I was told of 'initial sketches' being done, I was never actually given these. This is the last time I got a direct response from them.
Six months later (5), they posted a public journal asking anyone they owe something to to message them. I posted reminding them of the fact that they owe me 95.00$ from a commission that never got completed.
The shouts have been deleted since then by [removed] who is their significant other, but after a long period of time had passed ( roughly a year and a half ), I noticed Cou had favorited something quite recently in their gallery, so I posted a shout on their page asking anyone who knew of the whereabouts of this artist to send me a note if they know how I can get in contact. Three people contacted me. They aren't relevant to this case but apparently have similar experiences. I won't be disclosing their names, but one of them recommended me check with [removed], who again is Cou's significant other.
So, I messaged [removed] (6) who replied very quickly but then ceased replying as soon as I mentioned Cou refusing to respond to me. (7)
Again, all shouts were deleted, but after not getting a response, I posted a shout on both Cou and their partner's pages warning about Cou and that perhaps [removed] is in league with their theft. I was then blocked on both accounts ( [Removed] apparently has access to Cou's account themself ).
Afterwards, and the reason I'm kinda-sorta including [removed] in this beware, they added a disclaimer on their profile page (8) not to contact them about Cou. Though I think I'm not the only one who had done so. The line "They are no longer doing art at this time. Respect their decision as I have." is the main reason I include this. [Removed] does not seem too bothered that Cou has actively stolen from myself and others.
From one of my aforementioned sources, I was referred to their instagram page. I made a new account to try messaging them there (9) but they've shown no signs of activity so it might just be something they don't check often, if I'm giving them benefit of the doubt.
I was then referred to their facebook (10) where I sent more messages -
They are much more active on facebook than instagram or furaffinity judging by what I could see on their public profile, and in fact reblogged someone else's post a couple days after I send those messages. (11)
Cou has wronged not just me, but others who I hope will also post bewares, as Cou is not a first time offender. They've been known to change alias in the past to hide from customers as well ( this didn't happen with me except I do notice the spelling of their name is different from the paypal address from four years ago, and their facebook name today ). Beware. Do not commission this artist. You will get excuse after excuse about why they cannot work on your product or refund you, and then you'll get nothing at all, not even a response.
As for the "What": Several month's worth of physical Patreon rewards. I marked the "When" as when she stopped providing what I was paying for.
As I recall, the Con*Tact company is run by two people, but Maly is the most particularly active/public and does a lot of sales under the name, as well as tie her Patreon to the company, so I felt that was relevant to connect.
I had been supporting Maly's Patreon since October 2017 under the most basic receive physical reward tier.
For the next few years, she posted updates and sent out rewards just fine -- she was super kind, she always replied to messages, and I had no issues. It wasn't until months ago she stopped posting updates, as well as sending out the promised rewards.
(Notice the most "recent" update was from June, 10th 2019.)
I had gotten so used to getting the packages in the mail without an issue that I didn't really notice I wasn't getting them, but checking my records confirms that the last reward she'd ever sent me was in April of last year.
Yet the whole time, she continued to charge for rewards, as if everything was carrying on normally.
(Whenever Maly would mail out Patreon rewards, she'd send out a Paypal email like any of her normal Con*Tact orders including the tracking, my last one was from April, 3rd 2019.)
Upon realizing this, I tried to send her a Patreon message to ask about it, which was met with no response. I checked her twitter, noticing she was frequently active on it, and tried to DM her. The first message was ignored, but the second time, I got a response. She herself confirms she had not been sending out rewards, and promised to send out large packages to make up for everything she's missed. I'm a fairly understanding and patient person, and I'm happy she finally addresses the issue and promise to try to better things. I give her time, and wait it out to see if I get anything.
Time passes, and nothing comes. I don't get the rewards I was promised, and I also never get any sort of verbal follow-up. I try to poke her again... and again... and again. And am met by being ignored and left on read each time. Trying to give her the benefit of the doubt and ample time to get things together, I finally caved and gave an ultimatum after finally withdrawing my Patreon pledge. Perhaps something I should have done far earlier, my mistake.
(This was the last time I had money taken from me. Though I will note that she did NOT charge for one month back in January, which had made me believe she was being genuine about wanting to make things right. She however went back to charging the month right after.)
As far as I'm aware, you cannot dispute undelivered Patreon rewards/updates -- and I'd honestly rather not get a refund. I've been a huge fan of Con*Tact and their products for years, and more than anything I want this solved so I can go back to supporting them. But with this refusal to even speak to me, I'm at a loss for what to do.
Started simple. She added me on Steam curious about getting a commission from me. I asked her if she'd be fine with $20 for a full color and she agreed. Normally, I'm polite about things and only ask for payment upon completing the artwork so I send the finished work over, she responds positively. I then give her my paypal address and await payment. 3 days go by. I politely remind her but do not hear back. I then ask if something had happened I was unaware of that's preventing her from paying so I ask about it on her public Discord she invited me to. Despite not hearing from her via DMs, she soon posts in her discord, implying that she is online and HAD read my messages, but chose to ignore them. She later messages me (after I inquire via DM again) saying she's waiting for her paycheck. I find it odd she'd ask for a commission without having money for it but I decide to be nice and let her wait till then without charging a late fee.
Come her paycheck day, I expect a payment but nothing doing. I then inquire again and ask her to get back to me as soon as she can. She does get back to me... saying "I will." Naturally I find this very odd. Along with this, she changes her public Discord status to imply a "waiting game" (screenshot provided) which could be inferred as her possibly toying with me.
By that time, having not received payment due for almost 2 weeks now, I finally decide to let her know that I will have to raise the price by the 25th should she not pay by then. Due to her lack of response from me sooner, I again politely asked about her situation over her public discord. No uproar was caused, as I simply asked a quick question. Later I find she's booted me from the server and messages me in all caps in a confusingly rude manner (screenshots provided).
I then explain to her the situation she's in to ensure that there can be no confusion or miscommunication on her part. She then tries to make an excuse that she was "joking" about paying initially. I provide her with a screenshot of the conversation from 2 weeks back to ensure her that she at no point communicated that. At this point I've lost patience but am still willing to be more polite than necessary and allow her to simply pay the $4 cancellation fee (the completed drawing seen in the screenshots had previously been removed to avoid the possibility of her using it for anything).
On March 24th she agreed to pay the $4 cancellation fee. I never received that payment either. My patience ran out, thus I'm submitting this report now. She's a Twithc streamer, it seems so I don't want her potentially cheating other artists out on doing art for her without receiving due payment.
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