On January 5th, I had entered into an agreement for a custom texture/skin commission usable in Second Life for the amount of 19k L$ (Approx $75). This was to include a full body texture for both the male and female version of my silver fox character, of which references were provided. Additionally, this project was to include textures for two heads (Canis and Doggo), ears, legs, and implied related typical components. The estimated wait time that was given was 2 weeks.
The artist replied via discord on Jan 8th to mention various family-related problems and other issues that was pose a delay, but then contacted me on Jan 10th to tell me the project was "almost done." No WIPs were provided prior to this statement, and I'd seen no work whatsoever. WIPs were explicitly mentioned when we first discussed the project.
I was eventually provided some images while out on mobile where I tried to direct concerns about missing or erroneous markings and details. At no point through the process of edits did I approve a final version, as she had also indicated that the "blending" and fur "texture" would be added layer. Regardless, she delivered a "final product" while I was not available to comment or reply, and when asked about it, verified that she felt the project was complete.
Inspection of the delivered items showed no inclusion of the male version of the skin. Further, no applier was included for the Canis or Doggo heads. This is especially problematic as the Canis requires one unless a user can somehow manually apply the texture to every single possible animated state of the head one state at a time; simply dragging and dropping the texture on the head only applies it to the specific state it is. This makes the texture for the head largely unusable on its own. The colors of the delivered skin did not match expectations or references, nor did the markings and patterns, especially on the head (at least visible in the single, static 'frame' shown when the head is dropped on the ground). No textures for ears were included, nor were any for 3rd party legs or tail (nor did she even ask which of any of these I wanted to use). Genitals were crudely painted on the female body skin, which are entirely not necessary (and conflict) with the 3rd party body that I had stated I use; this was not a detail that was requested, nor were they shown on the few WIP images I did receive.
When confronted and asked whether this was supposed to be the final version, they replied with "yup" and a laughing face, then took insult when I attempted to express my dissatisfaction with the result or pointed out missing components, including making a statement of "I don't cater to customers who insult my work." They claimed several times through the resulting conversation that I "approved" her work, but after repeatedly disagreeing with her on that, she went the route of implying that my lack of immediate response or not telling her to stop was considered by her as approval. The notion that a customer can be busy at work, driving their car, or otherwise being physically unavailable to comment and have that used as a substitute for explicit approval should be cause for alarm for any potential customer.
A refund was requested, even partial, to which the artist immediately stated "in my tos it states once a product is done I don't offer refunds." This notion is in dispute as I did not accept or approve of a finished state of the project, nor did we ever agree to any "terms of service" anywhere in our conversation. The user has blocked my communications with them on SL, Discord, and Twitter, refusing any possibility for further contact.
I have deleted the items from my inventory, as well as any items they were applied to as part of my own agreement regarding this issue. A fraud report has been filed with Linden Labs.
Screenshots:
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