You know what they say - fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, Shame on me. Well, shame on me.
Readers of Artists beware may know that I had a spat with Knuxlight back in 2013-2014, in which he took a commission he had no intention of completing and then proceeded to go silent on me after missing his hard date. I had posted on Artists beware, and after informing him of the post and said "What do you intend to do about this?", refunded me.
Now allow me to explain why I gave him the time of day again.
Well, after being tricked into thinking he reformed over the course of 2016-2017, he has reverted to his old ways. That one is on me - because he had been seen completing commissions in a timely manner, I had thought maybe we got through to him. In fact, several of my friends [who shall remain nameless aside from letters.] had commissioned him and got completed commissions. During this, I commissioned him twice and he followed through.
So, now that I have explained why I was willing to give this person another chance, let's get into what happened, and why you should never commission this person - regardless of how well he has finished your icon over the last year. This behaviour is just unacceptable.
So. May 2018. He offers discounts on his commissions because of Biggest Little FurCon (BLFC). Well. That should be alright enough, right? So I send my info and pay.
However, disaster strikes - Knuxlight loses all of his saved work, which he stored on a thumb drive. (Yes. You read this correctly.) Looks like he might be learning, right? I mean crap happens.
Well, around July, I request an ETA. His response comes off as rude, but well, I am a very forgiving person. From what I gathered, he was kind of just posting on his timeline in hopes all of us would see it. Around October, I ask for advice. Some people gave me response saying that I should give him a warning that I would be filing a dispute with Paypal - just to give him a little bit of a chance. Fair enough. I decide to give him a warning - Art by November 3rd, 2018, or I file a dispute with Paypal.
Silence.
In the meanwhile, he is taking icons that are made by editing templates - which seem to have a quick turnaround. He even manages to do several pieces piece of personal artwork in this time. Personal artwork. He has the time to draw a ref sheet for his boyfriend and draw a piece of personal artwork for himself and his boyfriend. Yet he could not seem to take the time to check his DMs or even provide a WIP.
Another player, 4D, contacts knuxlight. Then out of nowhere, suddenly Knuxlight says he may have something for me. Well. I don't file the chargeback... which is my bad, and to date I still regret it. The week passes, so now I cannot file the dispute, and Knuxlight literally has gone silent on me. The only time I catch him is when he is streaming "PWYW" commissions. I don't put him on the spot, I simply DM him and ask if he has a WIP or has made any progress. He simply tells me "This really is not a good time, dude." Before I had spoken to him on the stream, I had even sent him a message on FA like he requested me to do... and it goes unread. Thank you antiquated FurAffinity web design that lets you know when someone is ghosting you.
Finally, 4D loses it. In the meanwhile, Knuxlight starts taking Christmas icons - and he's gotten more creative with them. Out of nowhere, I find $90 sent to my paypal account from him. No word from him. It just... comes out of nowhere. So I'm legitimately shocked, but also surprised.
However, I'm told from somebody else (the person he listened to) that he claimed he didn't know my Twitter handle.
Wow. Seriously. Don't conduct business through twitter - because according to him, DMs are anonymous. That's some VERY poor design there.
Oh wait.
DMs are NOT anonymous. He was hiding from me and we caught him.
I got my money back, but suffice to say, there will not be a third time. I gave a warning about him years ago, and have warned others who are asking for updates on their commissions. I gave him another chance, and he still thought it would be a good idea to take the money and run.
In the meanwhile, I have spotted several people who are on his FA page asking for an update on their icons, and informed them "Buddy, you're not getting your art - he has no interest in it. File a chargeback if you can."
