Long wait with nothing to show + little communication

[pikpik]

Hi!

I've been having some trouble keeping in touch with an artist and have not been able to get any updates out of them ever since I sent them their payment. Most of my attempts to reach out to them appear to be overlooked, and as time goes on I'm becoming increasingly concerned about whether I'll be getting my piece anytime soon. :/ A couple of red flags have cropped up in their behavior and sent warning bells going off in my head, namely:

 

1. They are currently posting new YCHs and even completing these more recently offered ones before my own. Meanwhile, I've been waiting a little over a month and have yet to see even a single sketch yet.
2.  In spite of how active they are on a daily basis, the notes I have sent this artist are still left unread in my outbox - sitting as is for sometimes for a week.
3.  Promises of "I'll show you some work today/in a second/etc." are left unfulfilled. I've tried nudging them on Discord (that's the only other form of contact they've left me besides their FA). They said they would show me a sketch in "just a sec", but then they idled out after that and never came through with anything.

What should I do in this particular situation?

[Bornes]

Send them an ultimatum.

 

[pikpik]

UPDATE: They finally sent me an image on July 23rd over Discord. I wasn't sent a first draft sketch or anything of the sort to actually approve of beforehand, yet what they handed to me already colored and appeared to be a little over halfway done. Several more updates were sent to me in rapid succession while I was away from the computer (I was working at the time), before I was given a "final" version that had next to none of the details I had asked for. Their English is limited and communication was admittedly a tad tricky. I let them know very clearly that I wasn't happy at all and wanted a refund.

Well...

They mentioned they were "sick" and needed the money for their medicine. I decided to let them have another go at it because of that, which they gladly accepted. The artist was then supplied with the references of the smaller background characters I had originally wanted to be featured. They didn't even bother drawing these characters themselves - they actually traced them directly from the source art in an incredibly rushed and sloppy manner. I was hoping these were just... placeholders or something that they were planning on fleshing out into their own style, but no. Nothing was changed except for their color job and they were left to "float" in the BG. That was probably the most disappointing part of this whole fiasco; I almost felt insulted by the lack of effort they were putting into it. The background they made was garish and I asked them to tone down the colors a bit, which they did to a small extent.

I again asked for a refund, utterly fed up by this point. This time their tone took a complete 180 and became almost confrontational. Now they're refusing to give even a partial amount of my money back and seem to be planning a callout journal of some kind on me, under the guise of asking the public for "advice" on what to do? I repeatedly asked them not to and have this remain a private affair, but they will not hear it. WTF have I gotten myself into?

[Bornes]

2 minutes ago, pikpik said:

WTF have I gotten myself into?

A situation where you should probably post a beware on them?

[pikpik]

17 hours ago, Bornes said:

A situation where you should probably post a beware on them?

It seems to be turning out that way, unfortunately. They just wrote out a callout journal today on their FA (which is against TOS) explicitly naming me and painting me as the villain who will leave them in debt if they refund me. Should I even respond to it and would it be viable to link it here?

Edited August 5, 2019 by pikpik
question

[Bornes]

@pikpik No. Forum topics must remain anonymous. But you schould screenshot it and include it in the beware if you submit one.