In april, I hired DemonLordDante to do a picture of one of my OC. We came to an agreement. I would pay 80$ upfront and he would start working on it in June.
June came and went and nothing was produced. I sent a message in July and he said he'd work on it soon. I asked how progress was going in August and he sent me a rough sketch, that I approved. In september I contacted him again and was told he'd get on it soon. At the end of september, I sent him an ultimatum: Finish my picture by the 14 october or give me a refund. Once again I was told it would be done. On the 14th, I filed a claim with paypal. A day later he refunded the money.
Shortly after he took my order, he stopped taking OC commission. It would be fanart only unless you subscribe to his patreon. Also, every few days, he would post an ad to advertise his services, which I found really annoying considering his backlog.
This ended peacefully in my favor, but I'm convinced he would have continued to string me along for months if I didn't ask for a refund on paypal. This is why I wrote this caution.
I had worked with this person in the past (like, last few years) on occasional commissions/in stream slots, and had a friendship with them. In march shortly after my birthday they had an emergency chibi sale due to some life issues they were having, so I got a chibi slot. On the journal (which unfortunately was deleted after the fact so I cannot go back to screenshot directly) it was stated that the chibis would be done pretty quickly, if i remember correctly it had either same day or within a week I think?
It was not mentioned that it was part of a larger queue. Never got any updates or the art piece so after 2 months I asked the first time for an update. Didn't get one and was told they were moving so there was no update.
So I waited until June... In a Picarto stream i pmed/wisped them directly and asked if they would be working on mine in the stream, they told me they were working on their Trello backlog...I checked out their Trello and my art was nowhere to be found. Mentioned this and they finally added it.
Waited another 2 months (so August), watching their Trello board, seeing them add new things all the time, and do work on the newly added things, but never any update on mine.
During this time they were doing in streams constantly, and also trying to advertise to me to buy from them again.
Confronted them in August that i was uncomfortable with the lack of communication, with things being bumped ahead in the trello que, and that as there had clearly been no update (as I hadn't ever gotten one, and the Trello still had it marked as not started) that I'd like a refund.
They flipped out, claimed there was actually a sketch done (no proof of one was ever given)
I asked them to either finish the piece, or refund me as I had been waiting a long time, had been super patient and not pestering for updates.
They said they would rather refund, and it would take up to a month and that they would turn the supposed sketch into a YCH. Still never showed it to me. I agreed to wait the month.
I gave them almost 2 months, still nothing but them asking me to wait so they could get their nephew a birthday gift.
I offered again for them to do a cheaper art piece. this occurred in one of their Picarto streams in a wisp chat so unfortunately I dont have screenshots of this as at that point I wasn't thinking I would have to do a beware, but had offered if it would be easier they could do an in stream sketch instead of the refund as I didn't want to cause financial hardship for them, again they refused. Just to note, the chibi was 20 and the in streams were 16, so i would have been fine accepting lower cost art in place of a refund if it would have been easier for them!
I confronted her about it last night as I have been super patient, not badgering for updates, and actively trying to work with her on this. As can be seen in the screenshots they flipped out, then had her bf message on her account to insult and be rude AF, and finally she agreed to actually refund me.
This morning I got an email showing that I was partially refunded because of claiming she started a sketch which honestly, there was never any proof of if and only mentioned after I expressed wanting a refund, so I'm almost entirely certain it was a lie to try to keep the money as on their trello it was clearly marked as not started, had zero updates and even now ive never seen the supposed sketch.
I attempted to contact her again, expressing that a partial refund was not acceptable, and she had blocked me on Discord so I had to leave a shout on her FA.
This was a complete disaster of a situation and I wouldnt wish it on anyone. I am still waiting for the other half of my refund but I am skeptical on if they will ever send it.
I left a shout on their FA, expecting that they finish refunding me. They removed the shout, screenshots to show the new shouts that were posted as well as email I sent after they blocked me.
After contacting them via email and making it clear I was not just going to drop it and provided the sketch. The sketch provided however, is very clearly NOT my character as it is a generic feline with a small mouth, and long tail. The character requested to have draw is a saber cat, with a nub tail. Sketch is included below to show it is clearly not the character shown in the ref
On the 9th October I talked to quick about commissioning a gift for my friend and we set on a price and date.
Due to the rushed commission I asked him if he could send me the invoice before the sketches. He did so and I paid quick.
The next day I woke up i get the sketches and one emote being finished.
later on I also got the last 2 emotes
I wasn't able to notice that the smug emote was traced but someone else did and proved it here.
I approached Voegel in February of 2016 for a chibi style commission, they promptly replied and we discussed prices. I immediately sent payment, and waited patiently for a response.
June 3rd, i gently poked for an update and pretty much insisted that i wasn't in a rush. Being a full-time artist myself, i understand and know that it takes time. I never recieved a WIP, either.
I then poked again on November 13th, i sent my final set of notes before I lost contact. Saying that i understand that things happen, and that i understand it taking a while. I did not want a rushed product, or to stress them out. So i unfortunately did not put my foot down after 9 months of waiting without a single WIP and sparse communication.
Someone else had taken over their account and Trello (queue) to do small updates for customers. Fortunately i still see my name on this trello, but the links are broken and it hasnt been updated since 2017.
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7748095/ (trello)
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8187732/ (Google docs refund form)
Time passes, and an artist i follow posts a finished commission on twitter and i recognize the character, so i very politely message them and ask if i can get the handle to the owner. They give me the new handle of Voegel and im able to message them once more. If not for this one random occurrence i would have never found them again.
This last set of screenshots is our very short conversation about how to deal with this situation, that i never got a response to. I left the conversation open ended to get their feedback because at the time they were offering a refund AND the art, and i really didnt feel like that was necessary. I was okay with either, but i wouldnt feel right with taking both. I said i needed to make a new reference for my character and that if they wanted to do the art, that was fine. And i never got a response.
Its coming back around to that same time of year in a few months, and i honestly think ive waited long enough without any contact. Like i said, im a full-time artist and have been for many years. I know things slip through the cracks, illness and self doubts/anxiety get in the way, and it takes time to put out work. Its hard. And i would have been okay with the wait if they would have kept contact with me, which they did not do. Account hopping without trying to get in contact with your commissioners is also not okay.
I had to hunt this artist down to have them leave without a word AGAIN, and its become unacceptable. I just want to make it aware that this person may resurface again and that they still owe people work that they have not done.
Last year I commissioned the artist Seoir for an image of one of my OCs. They were offering $25 bust commissions, which was a bit steep for me at the time, but I really liked their art style.
So, I send them their money and all is fine. I wait a couple months, because I know how long art can take, and go to message them to see what's happening and where they are at. Turns out that they have deactivated their account, and I have no other way to get in contact with them.
So, in conclusion, this is somewhat of an undelivered commission story and definitely a beware story.
Hopefully the attachments work. Here are some guides to understand what is happening:
png 1-4: My back and forth with Seoir about getting a commission from them.
$25 Bust Commission Sheet: One of the pieces that Seoir was using to advertise their commissions. (Sorry I didn't include their name, this was found on Google Images after the fact.)
I’ve asked Seiruii, for a commission that I never received from a year ago. I went to a Anime con, they were super busy but my friend’s back was hurting her so I had to leave. They finished my commission and promised to send it...I gave them my address so I can get my commission and...flash forward a year later tada! I got nothing...FREAKING NOTHING! They were busy with work but I didn’t receive my commission. I gave them my hardworking cash from my job that I got had to quit from. they only texted back three times. They claimed that it was sent and also said that they will look in their room and do another one but I haven’t gotten anything. I’m doing this beware because as a reminder and a anime con tip.
make sure you get your commission at a anime con, if a artist says that their busy or it will be in a week. Don’t buy from them.
I can’t trust Deviant Art Ych/Commissions and Artists in the artist galleries anymore. Because I got ripped off too many times in my life.
Never agree to commissions outside of written proof guys. As I don't have the first half the proof will start from the second point onward where they try to resolve the matter. Years ago I made a commission deal on skype to a partial friend (silly me) which was still a professional commission however. They were unresponsive for a while and I inquired about the commission to which I got no response. I since deleted Skype since I don't use it anymore and simply put them on an "owed" list on FA for quite a while.
Last year they come to me out of the blue and post this where they do admit to everything.
They put the blame on me and then proceed to dock me for a sketch done years ago. At this point a normal person would just demand their money back right? Well I decided to be curt and professional but still give them a chance.
They respond to this in a way that even makes me feel embarrassed where they state that they are going to make it faster, messier, and sketchier... but still get their usual quality??? I was confused because it almost seemed like an insult to themself and was also annoyed because they should have made up for not responding for so long.
I was again short with them but still polite and gave them a small amount of information to get through the commissions. They say they'll note me by next friday at the latest.
The 4th of May, 2018 was a Friday so that meant the 11th which was the next Friday.
They get back to me May 26th or more than 3 Fridays later to just apologize and make an excuse again. (Some blurred out as per guideline rules.)
I haven't heard from her since and it's now September of 2019. On her profile it says she is even accepting commissions at the moment.
As you can tell I have a lot of patience and have literally given them several years to do this. At this point I just want my money back. I didn't really want to have to put someone up on here in the end.
Okay so back on the very first of May I commission Hunter for a 3 character colored halfbody piece that was suppose to be an in stream commission. After first it went well. The sketch was done in the stream the next day, but it was cut short for reasons I don't know, but wasn't really a problem. fast forward three months to mid July and I ask for an update. She replies saying she got busy with work. Again no big problem we all have at one point.
Jump another month to mid August and I again ask for an update. She proceeds to show me the sketch from the stream back in May. She once again says that life had gotten in the way and such. Now I'm a little annoyed because it seems like I'm just getting the same excuse. While I understand life happens in all that it's hard to overlook the fact that nothing had been done in almost 4 months at this point. On top of that she had been streaming an at least twice a week doing personal art and even once a birthday stream for her friend.
I didn't wait as long last time as I had asked for an update on the 7th of this month and all I received as a reply is "Slowly, but surely". That tells me nothing and just lead me to believe that nothing further had been done at all. At this point I was frustrated and decided to take some time and ask others what I should do. They all advised I be direct and confront her about it which I did. At first I was trying to be calm and civil about it all, but I was met with the same excuse as well as a few new ones. All of which summed up to mean that is almost 5 months she hasn't done anything from that first stream. She calmed she was too busy with life, but could stream personal art twice a week and had even taken a commission this month and finished it in 2 days. But that wasn't the end apparently. She also decided to go to her server and basically badmouth me to everyone there thinking I wouldn't see it I guess and again using all the same excuses as before.
Mod Note: The caps from the discord chat were removed as we couldn't verify how public this chat is. We did see that Scourge was named directly, not vented about anonymously.
I had commissioned Nexy way back in the summer of 2016, because I saw through a mutual friend that he was taking commissions to raise enough funds to attend Megaplex that year. I bought two badges in the style displayed in the attachments (character pictured is one he owned at the time; not sure if he still does!). Sadly, I no longer have access to the account I initially commissioned him from, but what I have left is a screenshot from that account proving that I tried contacting him for updates and, consequently, a refund, because of his lack of response and lack of WIPs. I later tried contacting him in 2018 via my personal account, providing that screenshot, as well as the original paypal transaction to prove it was me, and got ignored (and blocked from messaging him ever again).
I never had him added or followed anywhere, so I am unaware of any situations he may have gotten into (and his twitter currently appears to be locked at the time of writing), however, he still has a responsibility to keep in touch and communicate about what's going on to his clients. Granted, it's partially my fault for sending the money via friends and family, so I have no way of filing a chargeback (and it's also my fault for waiting this long), but obviously, since then, I've long since learned from that mistake.
As of now, I still have not heard back from him at all regarding where I stand as far as getting a refund.
(His FB name has been blocked out as it contains his real name, however, you can see his profile pic to note that it's actually him.)
Artist riajoi took my commission (worth 250USD). The agreement was some art of a character. Received updates until a few months ago when my (Discord) messages went unreplied for over 2 months. Noted their account requesting a refund and filed a paypal dispute, received a reply about a week later accepting a full refund and they replied to the dispute allowing the refund. Dispute closes, refund bounces and is cancelled. Unable to get money or open new dispute. Filling out small claims court dispute now.
