Waffling on submitting a beware

[Rault]

Hello all,

I had originally thought to write this off as a lesson to choose artists more carefully, especially when dealing with Patreon, but I was hoping to get some feedback to see if it was worth submitting a formal beware or not, considering the artist's latest response to me. At time of writing this, they have a total of 9 patrons. I was one of the first three, I believe. Not donating at the highest tier, but enough to receive a monthly sketch per their tier rewards. 

Here is their TOS:

In April, I messaged them regarding missing March, and this was their response:

They paused their Patreon for a few months after that, and when it resumed, I had missed a couple months there as well (Covid, work from home, etc.). I finally decided to cancel, as they were simply taking the money and not providing anything in return, so I sent them a message on Patreon to explain:

It's the "I have respect and follow my own deadlines" part that bothers me, honestly. And while outside the scope and rules of the site, their stated reasoning for having the Patreon in the first place is pretty polar opposite from their admonishment that "Art is a luxury".

Just looking for feedback on whether this warrants a beware for being poor customer service (no communication, not providing purchased rewards), or if this is just a case of caveat emptor and pay attention to the TOS.

 

Appreciate y'alls time and consideration. 

[Eden]

Hello. The community at large is not capable of answering that for you. We've found in the past that posts like this have people saying "yes beware them!", but when they actually submit they are disappointed if the mod team doesn't agree when full context is put before us.

Thus, the only people equipped to tell you if something is bewareable is the queue team when they have full context via a post in the queue. If you feel a situation is something you want us to take a look at feel free to submit it.

[Rault]

Ah, yes, that makes sense. Apologies for the inconvenience. Will organize everything and submit it after I have a bit more time to reflect. 

[Bornes]

I don't have access nor input to the queue so just take my opinion as a normal layman.

I don't agree with the artist's response, but the TOS is quite clear that you need to have your requests to them within the first 7 days of each month. I (personally) don't see it as the artist's job to come after you every month. It's like any other subscription: you pay for it and sometimes you'll use it, sometimes you won't.

Last month I decided to back an artist over patron who does a monthly personalized reward like this.  They don't contact me for it and I don't expect them to. The reward is a courtesy for your donations to them. That is purely my personal opinion, though.

Now if they never delivered your april sketch that next month, that's something else, but your post was a little vague about that to me. It seemed like you were wanting the artist to contact you every month to make sure you handed in your idea.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Bornes
added 2 sentences

[baja]

I've supported artists via similar tiers in the past, and for the most part, they make a courtesy post before the next cycle to inform them of your subject for your sketch for the very reasons outlined by the artist you've noted above.

I'm of the same mindset of Bornes that if you don't use it, you lose it and tbh? It is not a dealbreaker/beware-worthy that an artist did not deliver on a promised reward because it was on *me* to provide them a character reference for the art reward.

Some months I'd plumb forget that I was part of that tier and I would just request sporadically, I was just keen on supporting the artist's works and not my own personal satisfaction, if that makes sense?

If you're concerned about getting your rewards on time, it should be on you, the patron, to abide by the guidelines set by the artist you've backed. If its too much to keep track of, then opt out for a tier that does not offer a personalized reward, or just let it go.

Ultimately, this is up to the mods on whether or not its beware-worthy, but this is something I'd take as a lesson learned and move on.