This is my first time using a site like this, I have done my best to censor out any sensitive topics or personal information I couldn't find publicly available (i.e. PayPal email, personal email, etc.)
On June 10th, 2021, I commissioned Gideon for $200 for a pic of my character I had adopted from him a few months earlier. (This adopt cost $800, which was delivered to me successfully.)
After having sent the payment over, I would attempt to contact him over the next few days with no answer.
I would eventually hear from him the next month on July 13th.
After some casual chatting that day, I would give him some more time to work without asking about it, messaging him the next month.
(Note: This screenshot was taken later, the original had failed to save.)
Some chatting in-between, I would ask him again about the commission.
After this, it would be a span of almost an entire year before I would hear from him again.
In-between my messages to him on Discord, I would attempt to contact him on FA again. This would go unread.
(Note: I was not able to get the date to show up while using the Snip tool. This note was sent on November 12th, 2021.)
On June 4th, 2022, I would voice my frustrations with the lack of communication between us. From here my interactions with Gideon would become much less polite. While I admit it might've been rude of me to respond to him in such a way, I had commissioned him for $200 right after auto-buying his adopt for $800, and had had mostly radio silence since then.
(Note: Gideon cited medical and personal issues for the reason the commission was further delayed. While he has brought up the medical issues in some of his Patreon posts, I have censored them here just in case.)
From here, I accepted his apology and continued to wait. At this time, I also asked him about another piece on his FA that looked similar to my adopt.
(Note: I asked about multiple pieces: This one, and a second which he later explained was a different adopt.)
I would not hear back from him for more than 3 months, with my patience once again waning.
On September 30th, 2022, I would offer him an ultimatum stating my intentions if he didn't respond back. Seeing as trying to contact him via Discord seemed unreliable, I would write out my message and send it to his other accounts to make sure he saw it. (Note: The Snip tool wouldn't pick up the timestamp for the FA note, so I had to take a picture of it with my phone.)
Gideon would respond shortly after on Discord, as well as addressing my question about the other piece I had asked about 3 months prior.
He would confirm that the piece would be included with the adoption of the character.
After some more discussion about another piece I asked him about (which he explained was a different adopt entirely), I asked when the WIP for my commission and the high-res for the additional piece would be ready.
About a week later, neither of these would be delivered.
A few days later, seeing as the commission had not yet even been started, I decided to change my idea for it.
Another month would go by without any answer from Gideon.
On November 16th, 2022, I would offer my ultimatum once again.
Gideon would answer almost 2 weeks later, setting a deadline for himself for December 17th to get something to me.
Finally, on December 16th, the day before this deadline, he would message me stating he wouldn't be able to meet it, citing a personal issue. The commission would be further delayed to the end of the month.
After this, I'd decide enough was enough and make this post.
So yeah, that's where I am currently. $200 in the hole, 2 pieces owed to me, over a year of shaky communication and radio silence, and absolutely nothing to show for it. Like I mentioned in a previous screencap, I would request a refund, but it's far too late for PayPal to get involved and I honestly don't trust Gideon to deliver even on that.
I should note that with my constant asking about my commission, I wasn't ever expecting it to be done quickly. I just wanted some confirmation that it was being worked on or that it was on the to-do list, but he couldn't even give me that response. After this long span of constant ghosting I decided that this should be known. Thank you.
On August 1, 2021, I reached out to Tori through google forms to apply for a 3D bust commission. It was on August 2, 2021 that I was contacted through Twitter DMs letting me know that my character had been selected for the slot. I replied on August 3, 2021 and was given a paypal invoice the same day. The cost of the 3D bust shot was $150.00 USD, which was something I had actively saved up to purchase. I had wanted a 3D bust of my character for awhile and it seemed that it had practically fallen into my lap. I was really excited to work with Tori and was hopeful things would go well, especially since they were incredibly active on social media and had done a pretty incredible ArtFight piece that really caught my eye.
Communication was great at first. I got pretty regular updates and when they couldn't provide one, I was usually always notified and they typically got in touch with me awhile after. This didn't bother me at first because I always ended up getting a WIP shot in the end. I get it, life gets in the way, most of us work day jobs or we're in school. It's fine. A little patience goes a long way and god knows we all need some patience with how the world has been.
Issues started up when I did not hear from Tori as regularly as before, which started up in September of 2021. They'd go a month or two without saying anything, but usually got back to me whenever I'd gently nudge them for updates. This really isn't an issue, but it was a lead up to a bigger problem. After January 9 of 2022, I did not hear from Tori for over six months. They posted about a move that had not gone well in late February, which I felt bad that they had to go through such a thing, so I didn't nudge them again until April, then June. It was only June 21 that I ended up hearing from them and this was after I posted a small beware. I got some WIP shots, which I was very happy with.
Things seemed to get better for a bit until they decided to ghost me again. The last I heard from Tori was August 24 and this was after I became incredibly frustrated. My messages were being read, but I was not being communicated to. At this point, I just wanted my files. I have had people reach out to me who are more than willing to finish what Tori will not. They have not read any of my messages since August 24 of this year. I'm at the end of my rope and beyond frustrated by this entire ordeal. I know I have a semi-finished product, but it is not being given to me by an artist who has horrid communication skills and even worse business practices. The last thing I want to do is damage someone's career but this is entirely unfair on me.
I do not advise anyone to commission Tori if they ever return to social media. I am deeply upset with myself for not issuing a chargeback when I still could, as $150.00 USD is not a small amount of money. All DMs are organized 1 - 19, please read them in numerical order.
I'm choosing to submit a beware on this artist in case they pop up again, I don't know if it's because of everything going on with Russia that they've disappeared, but I feel I've given them more than enough time to make things right.
On 16th August 2021 I saw their YCH of some cake ponies that I found super adorable so I decided to buy two slots that were sold together, I was told the files had gone missing so the YCH would take a little more time, which I'm fine with. I generally don't mind waiting for art. I paid for the YCH + tip and waited. Below is the YCH post, the comment chain and payment.
I didn't really contact the artist after this, figuring they needed a while. Eventually it slipped my mind with everything going on in the world, and I'll admit I could have pestered the artist for updates but as I mentioned, I don't mind waiting for art. I've learned from this though and try to keep up to date with artists nowadays. On May 5th 2022 I get a message on DeviantART from the artist, apologizing for being gone and promising to finish the art + extras. I replied with my refs as requested and waited. In June I followed up and again in July without any further reply from the artist. I gave the ultimatum in September that I'd be posting a beware, and I feel like I've given them enough time now to get back to me.
I don't think I'll ever get a refund or the art at this point, the last finished YCH is from Oct 2021.
So with this artist I previous commissioned them in the past. Originally I had 3 plus 2 new commissions that I paid for that I waited for. On several occasions I asked about progress on them but claimed he didn't like the idea even though he agreed to it. At first I offered to change the ideas on multiple occasions but everytime I brought it up he would seem to get mad saying it was months ago. At one point in November I asked him for the last time and asked if I could get a refund if he didn't like the idea. When I asked them about it they went off on a rant and saying they wasn't going to give me a refund or a commission and that's when they blocked me the first time. At that point I assumed they ran off with the money I paid for so I had to do a claim on PayPal for the comm. After I submitted the claim they messaged me again but this time going off on me for no reason and claiming I purposely scammed them out of money despite the fact that you claimed you wasn't doing them or giving a refund. After him going off on me he posted on his paged that I scammed him out of money without giving full proper context of the situation. I then had to make a video tweet that showed full context as a way to defend myself. After I posted my proof to defend myself I assumed he wanted nothing to do with backlash so he deleted most of the tweets and asked me to delete them too. After which he made a tweet video claiming procrastinating and not liking the idea.
Couple weeks later I tried to patch things up with him and offered to comm him again but this time something he's comfortable with so nothing in the past happened again. That's when he claimed that I was playing victim, still claimed I purposely scammed him outta money, and that I was the reason he wasn't doing commissions anymore. That's when he blocked me for the last time. After which I had to do chargeback for the last 2 other comms he didn't do which was a whisper animated gif and cartoon dog regular comm.
https://youtu.be/eP1bKBZSKbw
https://youtu.be/jnUMFoqDzEA
I first commissioned Nonsiito May 5th, 2022. He did my first 5 emotes, and finished them on May 19th.
On June 5th, he dmed me unprompted, trying to get more commissions, to which I declined, but I know he dmed other people in that time as well, as I discovered later on. This made me almost not commission him again, but I had a good experience, right?
I commissioned Non for a second set of 5 emotes on July 14th. This time his wait time was 1-2 months. That was fine, at least he was being honest. He quoted $70, but I paid $100 to be nice, as he was using comms to pay for college.
I didn't hear anything from him again until August 23rd, when I dmed him asking about the emotes. He claimed he was starting work, and that was that.
From then I waited until September 6th, and messaged him again. Nothing. I dmed him on twitter on the 8th, he responded that he "hasn't checked discord in awhile." Ok whatever. He said he was struggling on his twitter so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him an extra month. That was my mistake.
October 3rd, this is when issues begin. I message him, he reads the messages, doesn't respond. Instead, puts a due date on my work for the 31st, and leaves me on read. I call him out and he responds saying he forgot to reply.
On the 14th, he then proceeds to advertise a wiggle chibi profile picture, to which I decline again, as I'm still waiting for my emotes.
November 4th, I dm him asking him about progress, as the work is long past the 1-2 month wait, plus past the due date of October 31st. He replies on the 6th with some rough sketches, to which I ask him to fix, he does once, then I ask him to fix another thing, and then get no response. He hasn't responded to me since the 6th now.
On the 14th I notice he's active, I message him on twitter and instagram, no response, still on sent. He's been active on instagram as well. On the 20th he marks my emotes as finished. I still have not received them. At this point he's ghosted me for 2 weeks. I proceed to email him, and dm him on twitter, instagram, and discord periodically, trying to get a response, or at least a read. Nothing. No response since the 6th of November.
Now I'm here. December 5th. I've heard nothing back from him since. I wanted to make people aware of his poor behavior, and his ghosting. That is all.
A commission turned abusive.
I was originally approached unsolicited via note on FA by this user (when they were not suspended) offering to make artwork for my characters that they 'adored' (see the FA note screenshot attached below).
After some back and forth I agreed to commisison them. The linework they did got back to me very quickly within 3 days of originally being approached. However on September 8th they said they'd begin coloring and I did not hear back from them until I reached out again on October 11th. I did recieve my finished work from them, but my correspondence with them felt overall abusive.
However they were very keen to get a second commission from me for another character of mine. I wasn't sure that I really wanted to get a second full detailed picture and instead asked if they did sketches for helping me concept a new design.
They said they didn't and I decided then that I wasn't going to get a second commission. This is when the abusive behavior was very apparent.
Below is my full correspondence on discord with this user.
I came across SpiritOfStars's YCH through someone else I Watch on DA and have commissioned before, I had a bit of extra money and it looked like a nice style so I commented on the YCH letting them know I'd be sending a note.
I sent the note that day, 20th of August 2021, and things progressed quickly after that. Note: All communication was via deviantart Notes, and the reading order is from bottom to top.
I was also added to her queue on the original post.
Things started off well; I received and paid the invoice on the 23rd/24th of August 2021 and at the same time I received a lined WIP.
A few months later, in December, I was organising my folders of commissioned art and realised I only had this WIP, I had it in my head that this was already finished so I went looking through my notes for the link, and upon finding none I sent a note asking after it. Spirit replied pretty quickly with an update on the progress. I apologised for my mistake and was happy with this update.
A bit over a month later on the 30th of January 2022, I decided to check in again. Once again I got a fast response, though this time I was advised that she had injured her finger, which had/would cause delays.
While I wish she had reached out about this herself rather than me having to ask, I wasn't too bothered and was happy to wait as so far she was really responsive whenever I reached out (something I mentioned to her). I requested a pic of the updated WIP though, as I had just discovered this site and thought it best to make sure I wasn't being fobbed off.
A couple days later I hadn't heard back yet so I sent another message just in case she had forgotten. A few days later I got a response with the new WIP.
I was really happy to get this response and this WIP, little did I know this was to be the last message I ever received from her. I sent my response thanking her for the update, but to this day it remains unread.
In March I sent a message checking in, but it was not responded to, though it shows as Read.
I followed up again in April, this note was Read as well, asking if she preferred a different contact method, since I figured maybe she just wasn't logging in to dA much anymore (I had not noticed that the Notes were Read until prepping for this Beware).
I didn't send another Note until this month (September 2022), but in the mean time I continued to see artists I follow posting Patreon rewards for SpiritOfStars, meaning she was clearly active online in some capacity, which made me feel ignored and was very frustrating. (I am not including screenshots because these artist's do not deserve their names associated with a Beware in any way).
My next Note I decided to send a more harsh message conveying my frustration and requesting a response. This of course remains Unread.
With no communication and it being over a year since the original commission, I sent one last message an hour ago (1/10/2022) letting them know I was making this Beware, and then set to work on it.
I'm really sad that I had to do this, as again since it wasn't THAT expensive (even if I do always get fucked by the conversion rate to USD) I don't mind waiting if someone is having trouble, but all I ask is for is to be TOLD about delays and have my messages responded to.
Quick note: The early parts are my fault as I forgot about the comm for a little while and so did not follow up for some time, and thus missed the PayPal chargeback window. That said I probably wouldn't have used it or threatened it as I don't want to cause that kind of harm to the artist. I even held off on this beware for a long time because I really wanted to resolve things, as this artist is clearly a Patreon of a lot of artists I know and I didn't want to make things awkward with them. That said, enough is enough.
This commission was initiated via Toyhouse, as such, some screenshots may need to be read from bottom to top with the way the PM system works with this site.
In mid-September 2021, I reached out to DaziKidoT to create a reference sheet for a Final Fantasy XIV character of mine.
After discussing the additions required for my piece, I provided their form and they took payment after presenting base sketches for the character's pose.
After agreeing to one of the poses, they sent me an invoice and it was paid the same day.
I received my first drafts of potential design concepts 10 days later, I selected the concept I preferred the most and confirmed that I was fine with giving them artistic liberties when it came down to the overall color scheme/design work of the clothing.
This is the sketch draft I approved to move forward.
I did not hear from them until October, where they informed of personal matters that cropped up.
This was not a bother at all, up to this point DaziKidoT had been very commutative with me, and it's only been a month since we initiated the process.
After this, I did not hear from them until November, another personal matter happened, but they delivered colored concepts for the design up to this point.
I selected which elements I wished to move forward with, and later that day I received a WIP with the final draft of the design elements I wanted to keep.
All work that has been shown has been of the front-facing portion of the reference, I had not received a WIP of the back-view, nor the unclothed reference which was to show my character's body scars, etc.
A few days later, I received bad news regarding the commission overall. Everything was lost due to hardware issues.
Admittedly, this was gutting to hear, because of how well things had gone up to this point. However, DaziKidoT was still being transparent and communicative with me that I genuinely was willing to wait things out for them to complete the work.
At this point, I had no reason to believe we would run into communication issues, so I declined the offer of the partial refund.
I did not hear from them until January. There was no additional progress to show, but I inquired on January 11th if it was possible to make modifications to the original concept, as things needed to restart from square one regardless.
We did come to an agreement for the design updates for when they were able to resume working.
Another month passed and I had heard nothing from them. I was starting to get mildly concerned about their ability to remain in contact, especially as I was nearing my window for a claim via Paypal. Toyhouse experienced site-wide outage some time before I reached out to them in February, and wanted to have another way to contact them in the event the site went down.
We agreed to swap discord handles. However, I did not hear from them after we mutually added each other, I reached out to them in April to see if there were any updates, and I was informed of another personal matter, and due to limitations with accessing the site, I was willing to try and help them with at least getting the word out regarding the delay as I was not the only individual waiting for work from Dazi.
This is what I posted in their thread, I have since revised my message as I have not had contact with the artist since April.
On April 10th, I received a WIP of the anatomical revisions I was requesting.
We agreed to little details and April 11th was the last time I ever heard from Dazi.
I reached out to them in May to check in, but I received no response.
At this point, I am far beyond my window with claims via Paypal, and I have no options left for recourse.
I provided them an ultimatum, and later delivered the same message to them on Toyhouse in August, it has gone unread.
Only this time being firmer in stating that I do not wish to continue if they do end up returning.
A follow-up was sent in October to be transparent about my side of things, there has still been no response.
As of September 2022, I have reached a full year of waiting for this piece, and I have not heard from them in nearly six months.
In hindsight, I should have taken the partial refund offer when I initially received it.
Started on the 21st of July 2021 when I claimed an YCH from the artist.
Delay for the completion was two months at max, with the artist promising a sketch in-between
One month after, no sketch was provided and I sent the artist a message on FA that remained unread
Waited more months until contacting the artist through their e-mail adress ; Received an answer clarifying supposed health problems and a Discord handle.
Artist was added but never accepted friend request, then did not answer to another mail sent a month later, then deactivated their FurAffinity account.
My communication with Skellri began on the 17th of August 2021. I commissioned her for three headshots.
I sent them my paypal address and then tipped them, as I thought that 30$ for a single headshot at her skill level was too low.
Some days went past and I realised that I hadn't asked for an estimate on when the commissions would be done, so I approached the artist.
However, I did not hear from her at the time they had stated, and then had to approach them twice before they replied. I got a new date for an estimate delivery on the commissions.
I did not hear from them on the 9th of October, and waited until December to contact them again. They answered over a month later in January 2022.
The next day, they did post wips of the three headshots I had requested.
I've not received a message from them since. I approached them again in March, then months later now, in September, eventually telling them that I would have to take some action due to the lack of communication and delivered goods.
She has been promoting her commissions as recently as yesterday (19th of Sep 2022) on their Twitter profile, proving that she is active on Twitter.
Obviously it's far too late for me to get the money refunded through Paypal, and so it stands to this day that I've not received anything but mere WIPs for the 60$ + 20$ tip. I hope that by doing this other people will not go through the same.
update - 10/24/2022
