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  • Artist Beware: Chesta


    1337Scaly
    • Who: Chesta (FA), ChestaTheHusky (DA)
      Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/chesta/
      https://www.deviantart.com/chestathehusky
      When: 12/19/2017
      What: Commission

      Resolved

    Christmas was coming around and due to financial troubles, Chesta wanted to take emergency commissions to earn a  bit of cash to spend on her three children.

    Proof of commission:
    https://sta.sh/024qbp1cjo2s
    Proof of purchase: https://sta.sh/011ldghfgpgk
    https://sta.sh/01wplj8ap2b3

    She did have a lot on her plate, so I didn't worry about it. However, she has a Trello and didn’t update it often, so if anything, I was a bit nervous that she forgot about me. But a simple reminder should do.

    I noted her in April 2018 (forgot the original day, sorry) and asked if I could get my name on the Trello and was giving her a gentle poke in that direction. Sadly, no reply. I tried again, copy paste the original note on June 2018. Still no reply.

    Getting a little nervous, I wrote out another note on July 12th 2018, asking about my commission and expressing my understanding of the hardships she’s facing. However, I did mention, since it has been 6 months since the original commission was paid for, I was debating to get a refund. I was practically begging for her to reply to my notes. She did...telling me that I wasn’t forgotten and she doesn’t update her Trello enough to be reliable.

    Proof of unopened notes:
    https://sta.sh/0rx20svjd58
    Proof of reply: https://sta.sh/0cqypc2a1f6

    It wasn’t until November 2018 where I was knuckling down on this. I want my art and she’s not delivering. Not even WIPs or personal updates to me. Her situation is getting worse and she’s constantly taking on more and more work.

    I gave her another note, trying to get her to be honest with me. I wanted to help her. I was trying to be good and understanding because of my own experiences. I was giving her the benefit of the doubt.


    Proof of conversation:
    https://sta.sh/0urchox90qe (1)
    https://sta.sh/0x1byin29n2 (2)

    5 days after this conversation (11/13), she wrote a PSA about explaining her actions (please note the comments are disabled). Sadly, she only refunded a handful of people (questionable) because she “is already working on the other commissions”. I was not refunded, because she claimed that she was working on my commission...but still no WIPs to defend herself.

    [Cut by mods.  The journal is really personal.  It should be noted that very personal information is being shared to clients who have been waiting for commissions.]

    The end of November, she gave out her email to everyone because she disabled her notes since they got too overwhelming.

    Proof of journal:
    https://sta.sh/0d2xvgeg56f

    I emailed her, laying down the line because I was losing my patience. More or less, I said, “Art or refund.” She pleaded with me to wait a week because she would finish my commission within that time frame. Allowing her one last chance, I agreed. It was November 30th 2018. The completed time would be December 7th 2018.

    Proof of email:
    https://sta.sh/013d1a9hxz8s (1)
    https://sta.sh/01954getkwvv (2)
    https://sta.sh/01yutosn7v2e (3)

    It’s been one month since that email.

    It’s now the New Year and I emailed her one last time, demanding the art or I will inform Paypal of fraud. She is telling me that she has it...but must wait until she gets home.

    Not since she got her internet back up (which was apparently on the 7th of January), she’s been radio silent on my commission. Yesterday, she posted only one commission; a more recent commission that she took on a month or so ago. I’ve had enough of this waiting game and pulled out the big guns.

    I filed a dispute with my bank on January, 9th 2019. Hopefully, I’ll get good news.



    Proof of email:
    https://sta.sh/02fzg9vaz8ds (1)
    https://sta.sh/0100d5wwgzxl (2)

    Proof of bank dispute message:
    https://sta.sh/01foihsglonb

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    It’s been a month since I’ve heard back from the bank, still left in the dark. So far, nothing.

    Chesta finally got some motivation to do some commission work and is actually posting again. She then did note me, asking for “certain” details on my OCs

    Proof of notes (NSFW!!):
    https://sta.sh/0cr9d1o5n36

    However, despite this, I’m still posting this Artist Beware. If I FINALLY obtain the commission, I will update this Beware and say, “It is finished” and call it resolved.


    Edit update by Celestina:  Chesta's response.

    https://sta.sh/0e408suwx31

     

    Edit 2 update by Celestina:

    My bank got back to me two days ago, unable to help without "contacting the merchant".  After today's journal, I know she will not take kindly to any pressuring for either commissions or money.

    She did make a new journal today...but more or less, it's another copy/paste job of pity, saying far more personal stuff and how she's sorry that she's slow and disappeared and "should be coming back soon."

    https://sta.sh/01icefwqiixy




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    • Administrator
    8 minutes ago, Chesta said:

    Hello, I do not see how me posting updates is unprofessional at all. I am trying to keep everyone up to date as to what is going on.~ 

    While I haven't seen the update: overly personal information as you've posted to this client is obscenely unprofessional as it guilt trips clients into not trying to follow up what they are rightfully owed. This is a business client transaction. You can convey delays without guilting people with the nitty gritty details of current events. 

    Edit: okay yea I read a bit and stopped reading. There is absolutely no reason to share that kind of information to your clients. And quite frankly your child deserves their dignity respected and not aired out to a bunch of strangers.

    Please note that if you attempt to bring that here it simply won't be approved for being inappropriate. 

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    I have tried before to say I am behind and people want to know why because I was just told that I was making excuses so I started giving reasons to why I was behind. No wrong doing intended by briefly explaining what was going on, didn't see harm in it.

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    I am here to resolve this issue at hand, I am not here to cause drama, I will be posting WIPS here to show the commissioner it's been started. So I have my proof is all. 

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    The issue is that you're contacting someone who has nothing to do with this business transaction simply because they've been commenting on the beware.

    image.png.7a41656aaea06e4c10d3cbbfc5e541eb.png

    Again, it's unprofessional behavior.

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    Yes you absolutely correct it is not professional of me to contact you or anybody else regarding this beware and is to why I apologized for writing you. I wasn't upset for you or anybody else commenting on the journal. I was simply explaining myself, it won't happen anymore. We are all human at the end of the day and we all make mistakes~

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    Ok, BIG update!

    Chesta reached out to me and she brokered a deal: complete one, refund the other two. I agreed to this deal, knowing this is better for both of us. She asked for my PayPal for the refund (which is NOT included in the screenshot for obvious reasons), which I gave.

    Proof of note: https://sta.sh/02j1vrss527

    This is a great step forward. I'm looking forward to this. 

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    Glad we could come to a agreement on the matter! I look forward to solving the issue at hand. Thank you for your swift responses and understanding. 

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    Again I sincerely apologize for the terrible 1st experience with dealing with me. I hope in the future when I get back on track that I can better serve you. 

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    This is going to be a blunt post.  It's not a personal attack, okay?

    I hope you can resolve this beware and I'd like to see you succeed with your art.

    As others have said, it is unprofessional to give personal details.  

    1: It can come across as guilty trippy and make clients feel extremely uncomfortable. 

    2: It can discourage potential customers from giving you their business. If you need clients, you don't want to risk scaring them away. 

    3: In some of your journals you mention other people.  I don't think it's really fair to them to share confidential details about them.  I would be afraid that if I hired you and the transaction went bad, my personal details might not be respected.

    In the future, I would suggest trying to write responses differently when there are delays.

    Example of a good response:

    "Hey.  I'm dealing with a personal family situation right now.  I won't be able to work on commissions for the next two weeks.  I'll keep everyone updated. Note me if you are concerned."

    Example of a bad response:

    "I'm sorry.  I can't work on commissions right now.  My life is falling apart. I don't have enough money for rent or groceries and my daughter crashed the car so now I can't go anywhere. I am crying uncontrollably. Please don't note me.  I can't take any angry notes.  I'm this close to breaking.  Don't push me over the edge."

    I also think you should update your terms of service.

    Keep your queue short, like you mentioned you are going to try to do in the future.

    And if you don't have a lot of time for art, bases, YCHS and quick sketches might be a good idea.

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    17 hours ago, Kei said:

    The issue is that you're contacting someone who has nothing to do with this business transaction simply because they've been commenting on the beware.

    image.png.7a41656aaea06e4c10d3cbbfc5e541eb.png

    Again, it's unprofessional behavior.

    I respect artist trying to get better and fix their mistakes, but honestly? This is probably the biggest thing that needs to be fixed. Right here. This is very unprofessional, as well as the constant stream of journals always including the "I am a single parent with no time" excuses. 

    I'm sure transparency is appreciated by your clients, Chesta, but I'm fairly certain they have all heard this song and dance hundreds of times now. When providing updates, all that should be given is an update on the client's particular commission. No one needs to know what's going on in your personal life. If something gets in the way, "I got tied up, I'm sorry. I'll get your work done [insert timeframes here]" should be all that's necessary. (And actually stick to that timeframe on top)

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    Yes you are correct at the time I didn’t see any harm in posting updates the way I did. Thanks for everyone’s input I’ll take all of it into consideration of how I will post future journals from now on. I did not mean to come off as throwing a guilt trip or seem to do any such of thing. That is not what I am about, I’m a very open person in rl and I tend to always share a little tmi. I will work on that and better myself for future commissions and how I communicate. I don’t see it as an attack it’s an honest opinion. Thank you for sharing ?

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    And yes that’s is also a great idea as I’ve already laid out plans for how I’ll handle newer commissions in the future. I will only be accepting 1 at a time, nothing else will be accepted until the 1st one is complete. And I’ll be doing a lot more YCHS and bases/adopts until I feel mentally better working again on a regular basis. So I can start a good new routine starting off slow. 

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    • Administrator
    10 minutes ago, Chesta said:

    And yes that’s is also a great idea as I’ve already laid out plans for how I’ll handle newer commissions in the future. I will only be accepting 1 at a time, nothing else will be accepted until the 1st one is complete. And I’ll be doing a lot more YCHS and bases/adopts until I feel mentally better working again on a regular basis. So I can start a good new routine starting off slow. 

    Howdy! We approved the two comments but hid the others for proxy. ? let's keep it focused on the OP here!

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    • Administrator

    Alright y'all! We think Chesta understands how to communicate better. From here on out comments continuing to bring it up may remain hidden unless there's a major update.

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    • Administrator

    A comment was not approved for proxy. Individuals who have had issues with an artist are welcome to share their experiences, but third parties are asked to refrain from doing so.

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    I was going to fill up a form too, but seeing how many complains there is already. It comes as no surprise now that it's been an entire year since with poor communication and false promises. Of an owed piece that never seen the light while their trello is basically a mess with the same forgotten commissions she got away with the money.

    Going for a second year without my promised refund now.

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    Overdue update: Sadly, nothing has come to pass yet. Promises of refunds appeared in a journal 2 months ago, and I wanted one. I can't wait anymore, I've done enough waiting. While my name is still not on the brand new Trello she made (I noted her all of the info she needed, but nothing came from it, still on "unread"), I grew rather embittered when she started doing refunds for much bigger projects AND more or less begging for money because of a very expensive event that happened earlier in the month. Nothing but begs and cries about how she can't afford X, despite the fact she had half a year to plan.

    The fact she decided to have this event within the same year as the news of said event is mind-boggling to me. One can wait for such a huge event, especially when one has horrid money troubles and a lot of upset customers. Or go to the cheap option by going to a certain building and signing a sheet of paper and BOOM! Done! Do the fancy, money-draining things later when you actually have it.

    She seems to be making a lot of her money on adopts, which is fine, but when they got for 3-digit numbers and STILL doesn't have enough money to refund some of the smaller commissions (ie mine, under 3 digits), I can't help but feel irritated and I will continue to pull teeth until there's nothing left but gums. She is back from the post-event, so she is still sending out bases to the people that donated money to her, but just the mere fact that people donated without a second thought infuriates me.

    Since she's back, I will have to hammer her hard. This is out of hand and I just want this resolved. She is trying...but frankly, it's not enough. If one actual commission a month-ish with 3 adopts to surround it while streaming every 4 months is trying...well, try harder.

    TL;DR Chesta has left all my notes on "unread", went away to a very expensive event, is now back, time to knuckle down.

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    Update: This sudden activity seems to happen every time I make an update, so I think it's best to keep this thread going with what little news I've got.

    My most recent (two days ago) note finally got her attention enough to reply (and ignore all of the unread notes I still have, but that requires work, so...). She basically asked for the commission info...again. After about 3-4 times asking for it. Not once did she mention me getting refunded like I wanted and asked for "NSFW" details on my commission. STILL not on the Trello. That's a crap-shoot by now, I should never expect to be on it...

    Proof of note(s): https://sta.sh/01ncdswr9eys
    https://sta.sh/0uj5f09q2x3
    https://sta.sh/0zk13rjptzu

    I will keep my word and note her every week until its done or I'm refunded. I have had enough.

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    Very quick update: I'm finally on the Trello! But not under refunds. It's under Pinups/Full Body Commissions. Huh, especially after I asked to be refunded (but again, she didn't open my notes, so...but even then I mentioned in the info that I can be refunded), but again, weekly notes and updates. I hope I'm in the home stretch here.

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