Need Advice: Artists suddenly inactive & long waitlist too long?

[HaruTotetsu]

So I need advice about two issues with two different artists I'm currently having.

First, an artist I've commissioned has suddenly stopped posting and thus stopped responding to my DM's asking for an update on my commission since 29th October. I still fall within the the Buyers Protection window of pushing a chargeback through PayPal, but I've never had to do one before and am nervous. I have tried contacting them everywhere I can but they've not responded. The only option left would be to use the email address they used for PayPal. So should I try doing that? And if they ignore me again how long should I wait before giving them an ultimatum before issuing a chargeback?

The second issue is I've been on an artist waitlist for well over a year. The artist states on their waitlist it should take between 6-12 months for them to reach someone on their list. I have reached out to check that everything is okay to make sure the artist in question is still okay with doing my commission, and have been ignored for over 4 months, now. At one point I was even checking if an account on another website using their username was theirs and they ignored me on that front too. The artist is actively posting and engaging, as well as running multiple multi-slot YCH options while I've seen very little to no posts containing commissions. After being ignored for so long, and generally feeling disrespected by the artist I'm wondering if I should just cut my losses with them and ask to be removed from the waitlist, and if so should I do so via DM's or post something more public since they have so far ignored every message I've sent (I know this because when I sent a note via FurAffinity the message is still marked as unread)?

Thank you for any and all advice on these matters.

[baja]

Its up to you if you want to follow through with it.

If you are still in the window and you have actively been ignored after trying everything (including that paypal email) to contact them? I would go through with a claim.

Without getting into super specific details on your particular situation. My personal threshold without seeing any progress and having 0 communication from an artist I've commissioned is 3 months before I escalate. I always deliver an ultimatum for a response with a set date, within my protection window, to allow them to respond or refund of their own volition.

If you are simply being waitlisted and THAT is the window for them to get to your commission, and they expect it to be prepaid? To me, that is a red flag.

I simply cannot put that level of trust in someone unless I have a years-long history of working with them on past commissions. No matter how popular they are, if the wait is that extensive and there's no communication, it's simply too risky for me to take that kind of gamble.

[HaruTotetsu]

Thanks for the advice baja. I've sent the artist an ultimatum and given them a set date to finish it if they don't contact me and a slightly longer date if they do. Both fitting within the chargeback period of PayPal.

 

As for the waitlist issue. The artist in that case fortunately only takes payment after they reached you on their waitlist so I'm not down any money on that. If I didn't make that clear in my initial post that's on me. Sorry about that.
What bothered me about them isn't just the fact they've gone past the advertised waitlist time, but that they've ignored multiple communication attempts on my part, taken multiple YCH things, and have recently talked about going to a convention without so much as a message back. 
I recently found the artists Telegram and will be asking them to remove me from the waitlist due to feeling disrespected. I will wait for 2 days since they came back from an event today, and I'm okay with letting them get a day of rest in, but will issue the request soon.

Overall your 3 months time limit feels very sound. I'll be following that from now on, unless it falls outside the chargeback window of PayPal. Thanks again for the advice.