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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/897763.html WHO: Huskynugget WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/huskynugget/ WHAT: Physical Art Badge WHEN: Commissioned/Paid December 22nd, 2015 / Paypal Claim filed March 6th, 2015 PROOF: Screenshot of commission entry saying it would be shipped Dec 26th-30th/Start of Commission & proof of payment This message is from January 26th, over a month after when they said they would ship. They did send me this image, proving that the commission was finished. Still not shipped by Feb 6th. I sent them on email on Feb 5th after they failed to reply on FA despite adding favorites on their account. Still nothing and hadn't heard from them by Feb 16th. Didn't hear from that that Thursday, but finally on Feb 23rd, they said they shipped it out. After not recieving anything... EXPLAIN: I commissioned this user for a physical badge on December 22nd, which they said in their original post would be shipped out between December 26th-30th. They finally sent me a completed picture of the badge On January 26th - nearly a month after the projected ship date. Though waiting so long was annoying, I wasn't too concerned yet, especially considering they sent me a picture. However, after that, it took them another whole month to get it supposedly shipped out. I would normally be understanding even considering this, but the artist never once contacted me first regarding this commission - it was always me sending them messages, asking for updates after not being contacted, and I even sent them an email once after not being replied to on FA. Their reasoning for being slow on shipping was because of snow and not being able to make it to the post office, and I get it - the weather gets fierce over on the east coast. However, after not receiving anything for nearly two weeks, they said they couldn't provide proof of shipping because they had just "dropped it in the mailbox." ...Despite their previous excuses. On March 4th, I very nicely explained why I was unhappy with this entire transaction, and asked for a partial refund. I felt this was fair, considering a) how long it took them to complete and ship out, b) poor communication on their part, and c) no good reasoning for why it took so long. They became defensive and said they were not trying to scam me (which I never claimed they were), and just gave me more excuses. They did offer to make me a full body badge free of charge, but I must admit that I'm no longer interested in working with them after this whole thing - for how long the first one took, I don't really trust them to complete and ship another one in a timely manner. I replied to them and told them all this, and they didn't respond. It hasn't been too long since sending my last message, but despite this, I decided to file a paypal claim after getting some advice on the matter from others in the community. They also said it was just a letter, so it's safe to assume that this was sent first class mail. While I acknowledge that mail could just be delayed, I've never had a first class letter take this long and actually make it to me. I also don't even have a high quality digital version, since they sent me a photo and not a scan (though I have no interest in owning digital art anyway, and the physicality of the art was important to me). Even if the badge does show up - which I think is unlikely considering my experience with buying/selling with the mail system - I still feel it's necessary to make this post based on their poor service. UPDATE 3/14/16: So literally a day after I submitted this post, the artist said the badge was returned to them in the mail. Thankfully they were quick to send it out again, this time with a tracking number, and showed me proof of shipping on top of that. I'm glad that it worked out in the end. ;-; Cause in the past, this type of situation has not for me, aha.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/892163.html WHO: Jace Wallace / Wakkawa WHERE: http://jace-wallace.deviantart.com/ & http://wakkawa.tumblr.com/ WHAT: $150 digital painting commission WHEN: November 26th, 2014; sketch received and payment sent December 12th, 2014 PROOF: Initial order: http://i.imgur.com/8VBVvr0.png http://i.imgur.com/szyi0dE.png Proof of payment: http://i.imgur.com/QV4EzFw.png EXPLAIN: Well, it's finally time for the official A_B post. I asked for advice back in June, and since the situation is more or less "resolved", it's time for me to put it all together and post this as a warning to others. I commissioned Jace at the end of November in 2014, the same day he put his commission post up. He's an art idol of mine and I'd wanted art from him for ages, so I jumped on the opportunity. He always seemed very professional to me, so a $150 commission seemed like a good idea at the time. The original commission post said they would be finished by Christmas (2014), and he sent me the sketch WIP on December 12th. http://i.imgur.com/Jy4btWg.png The WIP at this time: http://i.imgur.com/Vs5UUDe.jpg At that time, he said his plan was to send out more WIPs that weekend and have them finished the next week. http://i.imgur.com/TpYsWTe.png After that message claiming that WIPS would be sent out that weekend, I didn't hear from him again. In fact, he seemingly disappeared from the Internet altogether. Not too strange, possibly, considering it was the holidays. However, he had made a firm promise of a deadline, and with the commission being $150, I was a bit more wary than I normally might have been. I let the Christmas deadline come and go, but on January 10th I noted him asking for updates: http://i.imgur.com/keQ7LmU.png As it is still, it went unread and unopened. I continued not to see any activity on DA, Tumblr, or anywhere else. I was getting worried, mostly due to the $150 amount and the fact that I have been burned before. Since I hadn't seen him open my note, I decided to email him in hopes of getting an answer that way, on January 24th 2015: http://i.imgur.com/rvEROmB.png And I never got a response to that either. On January 30th, I sent Jace an email and a note on deviantArt telling him that I would be opening a Paypal claim. http://i.imgur.com/dDiUr7J.png As I say in the message, it was mostly to get the money back in case he was unable to access the computer as I didn't want to let Paypal's claim window come and go. Even with Paypal's claim window having been increased to 180 days, I felt uncomfortable enough to do it at this time given his complete lack of responsiveness. Jace must have seen the claim, for he mysteriously reappeared just a few days after I opened the claim. I received the next WIP on February 2nd, 2015. I cancelled the Paypal claim at this time, despite the fact that he made absolutely no note of it or that he had even seen it. http://i.imgur.com/S3umDjv.png The WIP he sent at this time: http://i.imgur.com/ZTqd2N0.jpg It was quite off putting to me that he made no mention of the claim or the wait much at all. But, then again, I felt a bit bad for filing the claim in the first place -- especially with his reasoning of mental illness. I figured, since he had given me an updated WIP, he would have the piece done pretty quickly. My response to him is here: http://i.imgur.com/kiuiFpu.png which he never responded to either. More radio silence. I sent him a note on May 15th, 2015: http://i.imgur.com/8gJHWmT.png to which I got no response. (I do believe he opened/read this note.) The next time I heard from him was in June of 2015, strangely and conveniently after I sent him a note telling him that I would be contacting my bank about the money (given that Paypal's claim window had then passed for me, by a few days) and posting an Artists Beware post about the situation. http://i.imgur.com/RXa81Ov.png (He was still active on tumblr during this time.) His response, with a slightly updated WIP: http://i.imgur.com/fwz0yd0.png The WIP at this stage: http://i.imgur.com/UHguQJN.jpg This was when I posted asking for advice on A_B. I was mostly just pleased to actually have him RESPONDING to me again, and at this point I assumed that if I went ahead and posted the A_B on him right then, I would NEVER get the piece. So I tried to get him to agree to a deadline. He then agreed to have the piece finished by the end of July, 2015. http://i.imgur.com/aIMFmDP.png http://i.imgur.com/YVLH7OX.png So, another month and it would be done. Obviously, that came and went. Surprisingly, he took the initiative to note me on his own on August 1st, telling me that his tablet had broken. (I had already seen him post about it on his Tumblr, which he was continuing to update regularly with paintings and posts.) Again, pleased that he was CONTACTING me and not ignoring me, I accepted his claim that he would have it done the next week. http://i.imgur.com/1Nk8ri2.png http://i.imgur.com/A3sUxI3.png Aaaand that didn't happen, either. He did not contact me again past that point, AT ALL. (I send him another note on September 3rd, 2015: http://i.imgur.com/BbhcdiY.png ) In fact, the only way I got him to contact me again was rather direct and annoying. On top of updating his Tumblr regularly while ignoring my messages, he had gotten into the habit of streaming quite regularly on his Twitch account. Sometimes games, sometimes painting personal works. I subscribed to the channel, and was receiving emails whenever he started streaming. At first I was just happy to see him working on something, and didn't interact with him. However, when he continued to ignore/"not see" my messages, I decided to bite the bullet and reach out to him during a Twitch stream. On October 25th, 2015, I entered his Twitch stream and inquired after my commission. He had his mic on, so I don't have a record of his responses, but here's the chat: http://i.imgur.com/jOrPowU.jpg Basically, he reassured me and told me a very long story about how he had gotten locked out of his DeviantART account AND the email account associated with it, so he hadn't been able to log in at all. He promised to email me after the stream. He sent me an email that night and he attached another WIP and claimed it was pretty much done, just needed to be cleaned up and tweaked. (Note: this was quite a small screenshot that didn't allow me to see closer details.) http://i.imgur.com/d7KZdbe.png My response: http://i.imgur.com/vW59uJl.png The WIP he sent at this stage: http://i.imgur.com/3kNQwSj.jpg And, again, that was the last I heard from him. I actually let him be for a while after that email, mostly due to how incredibly fed up I was at this point. Plus, he said it was close to being done, so I figured it wouldn't be long. Again, wrong. I emailed him on January 12th (3-4 months later) asking if he had any updates on the piece or on his situation. http://i.imgur.com/Lr2bYa6.png I got no response. He continued to be active on Tumblr, quite regularly posting text posts and art. So, on January 27th, I emailed him. http://i.imgur.com/1uUNoke.png Of course, I do realize asking for a refund at this point may seem out of line to some, but like I say in the email I figured it would be the easiest way to resolve it. I didn't want to wait around forever to get the finished piece and would have been satisfied with the file as-is and a partial refund, even 10% of 25%, ANYTHING so that I could FINALLY take it off my list and forget about the heartache. On January 28th, 2016, he emailed me and claimed the piece he had sent in October was the finished piece, minus the rendering of one hand. He then claimed he would send me the finished file as soon as he smoothed out the hand. As well as a quite P.A. comment about the fact that if this had been for a freelancing company, it would have cost me $2000. http://i.imgur.com/V2OP8si.png Half an hour later, he sent me the .psd of the 'finished piece'. It is almost entirely unchanged from the screenshot from October. And, to my dismay, it's quite rough and not as refined as the sample piece he used for his commission post. There's a part in one of the character's irises that bleeds into the eyelashes, really badly. The ear is a block of unrendered, unfinished painting. The male figure is very rough and untouched compared to the female figure. Overall, the entire thing is quite sketchy, quite unrefined, and quite unfinished -- when compared to his sample. At the very least, it is not what I would hope for after over a year of waiting for a $150 commission that had a much more refined example. Here is the final file he sent me: http://i.imgur.com/91E4qbU.png Note that it's barely changed (if at all) from the WIP from October. Over 3 months for that lack of work done on the piece. Here are some closeups of a few of the problem areas I identified: http://i.imgur.com/ePJmE2v.png http://i.imgur.com/FRBDd1n.png Again, here is the image he used in his commission post: http://i.imgur.com/t0PaIRP.jpg As it is, this situation is "resolved". I'm NOT happy with the piece, but I sincerely doubt he will ever give me any partial refund (the piece is, after all, 'finished' according to him) and I don't care to see how long it would take him to refine the piece more (I'd prefer not to wait another full year, really). And while I feel the end result is not in line with what he was offering, my complaint is about his unprofessionalism rather than the art itself. Art is subjective, and though I may not be happy with the piece, it is "finished" in his eyes. My gripe is his refusal to keep in touch, the constant ignoring of my messages, and the continuously broken deadlines. In the end, this is a beware to all other artists and commissioners out there. Do not commission Jace Wallace. I have no clue if he plans to ever open commissions again, but if he does, it's not worth it. This is hands down the most frustrating experience I have ever had with an artist. It's not even the year+ wait that bothers me -- I've waited that long before, I'll wait that long again. But EVERY time I attempted to contact him, I was ignored, unless I had made a direct claim that I would be pursuing action against him, or I approached him directly IN PUBLIC. (There were a few times when I commented on his submissions on DA or profile on DA, but he has hidden the comments at this point.) He set deadlines, and then he broke them with nary a word. He made excuses, avoided contact, and continued to be active on Tumblr regardless of the owed work. At least with other artists I've had this problem with, they disappeared entirely. With Jace, he was still active on Tumblr almost this entire time, just deliberately ignoring my messages on DA, Tumblr (where he was active, WHILE HE WAS ACTIVE) and via email. In the end, I feel disrespected, insulted, and disappointed - and I don't want anyone else to go through the same situation. EDIT: The final email he sent to me, after I submitted this A_B post and informed him I would be doing so.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/885613.html WHO: Ninjakato http://ninjakato.deviantart.com/ ScarlingRagdoll666 http://www.furaffinity.net/user/scarlingragdoll666/ WHERE: They're mostly active on dA than FA WHAT: A long overdue trade with them that took place on FA. Communications eventually took place on dA through notes WHEN: A trade was agreed upon April 9th 2011. My half was finished relatively quickly, but their half is still unfinished. More info under cute PROOF: First initial trade contact was made on April 9th, 2011 https://www.dropbox.com/s/pluqssxagsbbnyu/proof%201.jpg?dl=0 (my FA here is Charu) My half of the trade was completed May 4th, 2011 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5691889 Communications on FA were made. Unfortunately my notes on FA have been cleared out since then. They mostly contained information about what I'd like Ninjakato to draw for their half. Eventually I started to note her on dA as it appeared she was becoming less active on FA. Note pointing out I finished my half https://www.dropbox.com/s/wb27h1reywz2gyl/Proof%202.jpg?dl=0 There was a point she posted a journal asking her watchers if she had missed anything owed. However, I cannot find the journal anymore, but I did note her on dA https://www.dropbox.com/s/40volnp6m2yy3l0/proof 3.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/wu3kgjknydfs3cd/proof 4.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ya85gjdo9qaamg3/proof 5.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ckrzqijrjo2k7ky/proof 6.jpg?dl=0 After this communication had stopped until 2014 came around. I had stopped asking as Ninjakato seemed pretty busy in real life and I didn't want to be a bother. https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6cslbr0dkabp4m/proof 7.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/a3ax54y49okn5zq/proof 8.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5ynncfmdjut8iw/proof 9.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/9onvgxjz5fqg6h6/proof 10.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/at93e8bo9flkknj/proof 11.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/k30co67uueaqqo9/proof 12.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/roal3atboh43vj4/proof 13.jpg?dl=0 August 20, 2014 she had made a journal calling out to the person she owed a trade to (which was me). My ref links did not work so I had noted with fixed links. http://ninjakato.deviantart.com/journal/One-art-trade-477049101#comments https://www.dropbox.com/s/5nrarciibugpru9/proof 14.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8i4mljt8dawynv/proof 16.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/mauwqzmx0qii5vo/proof 17.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/woqc5v73w388obn/proof 18.jpg?dl=0 More time passed and I saw no sign of my half of the trade. I gave her another nudge about it. https://www.dropbox.com/s/b7uyt58myn7lyzi/proof 19.jpg?dl=0 I gave one more nudge just recently. The note had been opened but went unresponded. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ge7uwcew3o6r5y/proof 20.jpg?dl=0 EXPLAIN: In the start of this NinjaKato was opening up for trades on FA. I was one of the ones picked to trade with her. Excited I began to work on my trade and posted to FA in a timely manner. Eagerly, but patiently, I waited for for mine to be finished. I knew very well NinjaKato was really busy with her real life and commissions, so I was in no rush to have it completed. As time passed and weeks turned to months. Months turned into years. We've had some communication throughout the time span, yet I was still mindful not to rush her. She was still posting art on dA of finished commissions and personal art. 2011 had turned to 2014 and I admit I should of poked her more often between those few years. But I was nervous to do so as she was posting frequent journals about difficulties in her life. As a artist I know very well commissions always take priority over trades, thus I didn't pressure her. Eventually I did poke her and communications had picked up once again. I had hope she'd finish it after I did remind her about it. A time of silence started again. NinjaKato was still posting personal art, newly finished YCHs and sometimes trades from others. I had given her one final poke on Nov 11th, 2015 and the note had been read. No response back. She continued to upload new art of personal sketches, redraws, YCHs, and adoptables. At this point I am not expecting to see my half and have accepted it. Primarily posting this beware to give a heads up that this artist may not always finish pieces they promise to do. EDIT: NinjaKato finished their half. This AB can be marked as resolved

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/879013.html I feel like this is a rather unusual beware, but here it is, anyways. All information is under the cut! WHO: Paxerle @ deviantART WHERE: http://www.paxerle.deviantart.com WHAT: Contest Prizes ($8 USD, 1 Chibi, 2 Pixel Icons, 1 Custom Design) - Only the chibi was ever completed and sent to me. WHEN: Paxerle noted me on June 23, 2015 and requested that I enter her contest. The journal with the information has long since been deleted, as well as the results journal, but I believe I was announced the winner on August 2, 2015, as that's when my note to her about prizes is dated. This is still ongoing. PROOF: Screenshots will be linked below. As said above, the original journals with the contest information and results have been deleted, so this proof is based off of what has been said in notes and I hope it's sufficient. EXPLAIN: June 23, 2015: Paxerle contacts me about her contest, the theme of which is to design a character for one of her MYO Sushi Dog Slots. Sushi Dogs are a closed species belonging to another user, which is important because it means she had to have the design approved by the species owner and I can no longer revoke it from her without backlash from the species community. She did pay the species owner for the slot, but, as explained below, she never compensated me, the designer, for the design, which was the original agreement. (I apologize for the confusion of this; I know this is an unorthodox situation that might require additional explanation.) August 2, 2015: I decided to enter because I had no workload at the time and I liked her art, which was also offered as prizes. On August 2nd, the results were posted and I was announced the winner, but this journal, like the one with the contest information, has been deleted. I also provided her with my email address for the small monetary prize. August 21, 2015: Paxerle sends me one of the completed art prizes. I'm including this because I believe it shows that she's acknowledging owing me something, and I don't have much evidence of that, unfortunately. September 10, 2015: I sent a note about the monetary prize because I never received it and, as mentioned in the screenshot, other artists often send payments to me to the wrong email address. (My dA username is Bottled-Rottweiler; my email address has no hyphen.) She claims to have sent it and I let her know that I never received anything. As of this posting, this is the last I ever heard from her. She could have easily responded with a screenshot of the transaction if she actually did send me the money, so I believe she never did and doesn't intend to. Here, she also acknowledges that I'm the designer of the character to the closed species owner, who approves it. This is why I cannot revoke the design from her; it would be viewed as poor etiquette in the community and I could consequently be banned. I was hesitant to post this due to the complexity of the situation, but the general idea of this is, I entered Paxerle's contest and designed her a character, under the belief that I would receive art and monetary prizes in exchange. I never received them, so she now owns a design from me that I was, in a sense, not paid for. I hope I'm not overreacting to this, but the idea that she scammed a free design out of me has left a bad taste in my mouth. Additionally, she has paid people for adoptables and completed personal artwork in this time. EDIT (11/11/25: I want to place emphasis on the fact that this is an issue with an individual artist who failed to compensate me for a character design, not an issue with the closed species community. At the advice of the comments below, I did contact the moderators of the community for assistance, but this is a conflict between two individuals. I have no issues with this community and have always felt welcome there. 🙂

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/865907.html I'm going to go ahead and post this beware because Echoen has given every indication that he refuses to resolve the issue. Post contains suggestive nudity, but nothing too explicit. WHO: Echoen http://www.furaffinity.net/user/echoen https://echoen.sofurry.com/ https://inkbunny.net/Echoen https://www.weasyl.com/~echoen https://www.patreon.com/Echoen WHERE: My specific issue is with his Patreon. WHAT: Digital commission which he used for commercial purposes without my knowing, much less my approval, despite the fact he agreed to my TOS when he commissioned me. My TOS has always stated that I reserve all rights to my work, conform the law for freelance creatives as opposed to, for example, work for hire. It should be mentioned that this was a €5,- commission and it cannot be reasonably assumed that the cost also covers any rights in addition to the custom artwork, much less commercial rights, nor was there any indication that the work would be used commercially when he commissioned it. WHEN: August 2014 until Juli 2015, which is when I confronted him. EXPLAIN: September 2012 I had a sale on "Itty Bitty Commissions" which is what I call a small, digital, flat-colour, 1 character commission (example). They were so-called "wing-it" commissions, where I would receive payment and a character description and draw it and the customer would receive the finished drawing. Echoen contacted me and told me he needed a badge for a convention. It was rather last minute, but turn around was fast (a few hours to a day usually) and I moved him to the head of the queue to make sure he had it in time, just to be nice. I also gave him several options (1, 2, 3, 4), all at no extra cost. Again, I was just trying to be nice and a good artist and give good customer service. And Echoen seemed really happy with the work, which he uploaded a week later.) I thought that was going to be that; customer was happy, I was happy, end of story. Right? Juli 2015 I find out he's using it as a header for his Patreon, which is receiving almost $300 a month. Now I have a Patreon, and I know I thought carefully about which image to put up as a header to hopefully draw folks in and support me financially. This is definitely commercial use, as it's effectively advertisement, and Pixsy (a site that helps you local potential abuse of your work, they work with legal partners) agrees with me, filing it under commercial matches. I contacted Echoen, telling him I'd license him the image if he wanted to continue the image for his Patreon. He responded by taking it down and.. Nothing. No "oops, sorry!" or anything. That said, he'd still used the image commercially for 11 months, even though he had agreed not to. I told him I still needed to be compensated for that use, and sent him an invoice for a $110, which is entirely fair considering how much he's getting every month. After this is pretty much devolves into him stomping his feet, making up nonsense reasons as to why he shouldn't have to pay and suggesting he received "legal counsel" which agreed with this point of view. The screenshots. Him. Me. Him. Me. I asked him to have his lawyer (typically, legal advisors are lawyers.) contact me instead and then he went silent. Artists beware, Echoen has no respect for you or your rights at all. He'd comment on my work the entire time he had my art up on his Patreon (with my name effectively cropped out of the art!) and we chatted on FA; he had every opportunity to ask me about the work or mention the fact he was using it on his Patreon and never did. He's pleasant to your face, but when confronted with the consequences of his own voluntarily actions he becomes patronizing and will attempt to intimidate you into relenting. To this day he still hasn't even apologized a single time for abusing my work. He takes no responsibility for his own actions at all but instead goes to extreme lengths to avoid it. I ignored some warnings about him and this exact kind of behavior in 2012 after I finished the Itty Bitty Commission, and now I wish I'd heeded them, refunded his 5 bucks and had the work removed. Please don't make the same mistake I made, avoid him. Useful link: List of common but invalid excuses to copyright infringement as written by an attorney.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/858039.html Hi! This is my first time posting here, so sorry if anything's confusing! I also didn't really want to post this because it felt a bit meager--but this has been eating away at me for the past few months. ;-; WHO: MamaGizzy http://mamagizzy.deviantart.com/ WHERE: http://mamagizzy.deviantart.com/ WHAT: PNG to an Adoptable WHEN: February 17th 2015 - Current Day PROOF: http://i.imgur.com/gJC4CFY.png http://i.imgur.com/p4a9uGx.png http://i.imgur.com/g3q9tJ1.png EXPLAIN: So I have experience when it comes to buying (and selling) adoptables. Usually after the purchase; it's always good to give the buyer the PNG for their purchase. But, sadly, this was not the case. I paid $10 for the adoptable and when I was told I would get the PNG late, I didn't think too much of it. I thought it'd be like a "you'll get it within a week because I am busy" sort of thing but to my dismay this did not happen. I waited three months before I contacted MamaGizzy again. http://i.imgur.com/6eyLqel.png 18 days later she replies, saying she didn't realize I didn't get my adopt. I got a little eager that I would finally get the PNG and I sent her a link to the adoptable page... Only to be ignored again. I had also anxious sent that "Hello" message in case she forgot again but I was still greeted with silence. And, as the screencaps suggest, she has read each of the last two notes but has not replied. I got to admit I'm pretty bummed over this. 😞 EDIT: I was able to receive the PNG. So this issue was resolved! ❤️

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/855169.html WHO: mixideer, mixipony, miss-mixi, mixisweets WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/mixideer WHAT: Art trade: wing-it piece of my character for a custom furset of their character made on IMVU WHEN: initial conversation: March 29th, Finished my half April 13th PROOF: Album of images, some contain NSFW: http://imgur.com/a/TiJmI individual images will be linked in the story below EXPLAIN: Mixi approached me at the end of March asking about a custom furset made on IMVU. I proposed a trade over my normal currency of IMVU credits since I had already been watching her and liked her art. She said she could totally do that and requested I add her on skype. (http://i.imgur.com/UXN2FCS.png) On skype we confirmed an art trade (http://i.imgur.com/CfSy82F.png) I told her which character I would like drawn and gave her the first WIP (http://i.imgur.com/csLWyQb.png) I always give many WIPs as I work because I want to make sure everything is perfect. I had a slight delay in working because I had another commission that was paid in full, whereas I had not gotten the art for this one. I message her letting her know why I had been delayed and gave her more WIPs (http://i.imgur.com/uloGY9j.png) She says it's amazing and I gift it to her account (http://i.imgur.com/rKcoN5Q.png) Proof that I sent the skin over (http://i.imgur.com/8MB4HEZ.png) I can provide proof for each individual piece of the set but I am not sure that's necessary. Note: the price is high because I change the price from 0 personal profit to a high number after gifting it. This helps me keep track of what I have delivered and prevents anyone from accidentally buying it when I unhide it in the shop to be visible as an example of my work. Ten days after I have given her the furset I notice that I am not on her to-do list and message her on skype asking if I will be added to it. She says she is sorry for not having me there and adds me to it. May comes and goes and on June 11th I message her asking if she has worked on the art she owes me. She apologizes and said she is behind on work (http://i.imgur.com/TcXTXgc.png) Since me asking for an update she has posted a few gift art pieces and even did a freebie stream. She has also been posting a lot of YCHs. She has also posted journals for more commissions. I am a little anxious and message her again on the 23rd, expressing that it has been two months and would like an estimate on when the piece will at least be started (http://i.imgur.com/SKMQWfO.png) She was online when I messaged her but I did not get a response. I went to bed and woke up and still did not have a response. The morning after I messaged asking for information on our trade she was streaming. In the stream it was clear that she was on skype. As she checked messages when streaming (http://i.imgur.com/AHlRFWx.png) I decided to follow up my message since I knew she was online and on skype (http://i.imgur.com/ti9Dh1n.png) I understand not wanting to talk business during a stream and waited patiently for the stream to be over, figuring she would message me once people were no longer watching. The stream finished with her saying she was going to bed and I did not get any message back from her. Not even a simple "hey, I am sorry, I will have to message you tomorrow since it's late" After my messages had still not been responded to she makes a journal claiming to be on holiday and to have been gone over the weekend (http://i.imgur.com/hJA79Fs.png). This does not explain why my art has not been finished as I messaged her before the weekend she claims to have been gone during and she has been working on art both before and after this journal was posted. Her to-do list says "(I REPEAT, I DO NOT DRAW THESE IN ORDER, I DRAW THEM IN ORDER TO HOW I'M FEELING) Up to a few weeks wait or a few days of ordering, finished at least within the month." but it has been over two months since I completed my half and even longer since the trade was decided on. I am upset because I just wanted something, anything, drawn of my character. It was a wing-it piece so she could have easily used one of the YCH poses for it. She said she was behind on work but was actively taking and completing commissions and YCHs. I had to request to be added to her to-do list and now I have been actually ignored. Uploading products to IMVU is not free. I had to pay to submit those products and then pay to gift them to her. I have spent actual currency on this. This is not something I can get back. The only thing I can do is edit the products I have sent her with textures that are solid black with "Payment not recieved" in white across it. This will make the products useless to her but will still not get me my money back Update 1 - July 1st: Mixi has messaged me after seeing this beware (http://i.imgur.com/nwP355B.png) And I have responded (http://i.imgur.com/W2FEqzS.png) I also told her an amount and my paypal but the screencap cuts out and I figured it would be best to leave out since I would have to censor the information regardless. Update 2 - July 5th: I have not heard from Mixi after giving her the information she asked for in order to give me payment for the set. So I sent her a message asking for a response, (http://i.imgur.com/R1seooI.png) she has been online and has posted a new journal on FA in which she has removed me from her To-Do list, but still has not responded to me. Update 3 - July 8th: Still waiting on a response from Mixi despite her being active on FA, I message her again (http://i.imgur.com/Ja7rxvz.png) I am starting to question if she will ever get back to me. Update 4 - July 13th: I do not message people this often when waiting on art, but now this has become me waiting on payment for an already delivered good and I have not gotten a response from her in nearly two weeks while she has still been posting on FA. I send her another message (http://i.imgur.com/UQf8p4t.png) Update 5 - July 14th: After having been contacted by a concerned 3rd party, Mixi has sent me my payment. (http://i.imgur.com/ev3GZ4y.png) She has not actually said anything to me at all since the message she sent to me on the 1st. I have received my payment and so this can be tagged as resolved.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/854962.html WHO: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vov (NSFW Content) Unsure if there are anymore.. WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vov (NSFW Content) WHAT: Digital Pin-Up WHEN: 2/18/15 Initial contact was made. The entire transaction seemed shady… PROOF: Details and Transaction Notes: 2/18 http://i60.tinypic.com/2lmvxxh.jpg Paypal Receipt: http://i60.tinypic.com/5fhnjl.jpg Follow-Up Strange Question: 2/19 http://i58.tinypic.com/2r5evj4.jpg Update? 3/25 http://gyazo.com/a6b0248bce418ed5ddd388a8cc2c372d My Follow-Up 4/9 - http://gyazo.com/1d9f15879e59b0cbec604a1e7f30eb13 Was in hopes of having it completed for my birthday. – No response received from artist. 4/18 Questioning if it is too late to cancel since I had not heard back: http://i.gyazo.com/ac6e89d1b852c0587499d2dc4a3e9156.png EXPLAIN: The whole entire transaction had seemed shady from the start, however a few people I know on FA had commissioned this artist as well, so I jumped on board myself. The notes explain the reason for my discomfort with the artist. I very rarely follow-up with trusted artists, and even when I do it’s 60-90 days out.. I always feel like I am a bother asking for an update. In any event – I hadn’t heard any responses back from this artist at all, only one person had their commission completed out of the batch of 4. Recently, today, the initial thread was deleted and the artist posted another commission opening. http://i57.tinypic.com/whjm1e.png (NSFW) This same submission was reposted multiple times. I aimed to question if the prior batch would be completed and found that I was blocked. (PROOF) http://i57.tinypic.com/2uynau1.png To date I have received no sketch, update, response, or anything from the artist.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/851017.html This is something very difficult for me to do, but it needs to be done. This happened over the span of a couple years, so much is undocumented up until issues arose as I did not think it would be a problem. However, I feel there is more than enough after the fact. After much advice, I’ve decided to come forward and make a post here about this, mostly to warn people. I took my time writing this as I know there is no action I can take at this point and am very busy. WHO: Ritz_Bitz / Frostcat-Studio (and FA) / Ritz_Tweeting WHERE: Online, texts, emails, twitter, and at Further Confusion 2015 WHAT: One full fursuit (~$950) WHEN: Discussions starting in 2012, first purchase of materials March 4th, 2013, payment from a sponsor on November 25th, 2014, agreement of $200 of payment finalized with attendance at Further Confusion where the suit was delivered, and serious troubles starting shortly after. PROOF: Many images linked throughout explanation. EXPLAIN: This originally started as one of my best friends offering to build me a fursuit for a “friend” price. I had worn one of her suits once and got hooked on the fun it was. Over the years the details swapped around and much was discussed in person when I had lived nearby. Nothing was really set in stone for a long time and it was purely talk. March 4th, 2013 I purchased an order of fur and fleece for the project at Ritz’s request and had it shipped to her. I can't remember what happened, but she had to backburner the project. The fur sat around for almost 2 years before the project could finally be worked on, so there is a large time gap. (At some point I had also sent her DTDs of my feet for sockpaws, a pair of thick, long socks for the sockpaws, a tracing of my hand for the gloves, and extra fleece I had from a previous project based around my character.) June 2014 After attending Califur 2014 with my good friend (who I will refer to as Bob for this,) he started talking about how much he had wanted a fursuit after trying one of his friends’ suits on at the convention. He was hoping to purchase a fursuit and get it by Further Confusion that next year, and I referred him to Ritz as she was also doing my fursuit. When he found out my suit was on backburner, he offered to sponsor some of the cost for the project so it could be put into her paid queue so we could suit at Further Confusion together. I spoke to Ritz and she agreed to reserve space for Bob’s suit as well as mine and a guarantee for completion by the convention in January. I was happy to be helping her get some bills paid and to be helping Bob get a quality suit. Ritz had always told me steps she took to ensure her suits were durable and of high quality craftsmanship, so I had much trust in her work. June 27th, 2014 Bob contacted Ritz about a quote for his suit, also mentioning to her his intentions to sponsor a portion of my suit’s cost. Everything seemed pretty cut and dry at this point and Ritz waited for the payment so she could start the process of constructing the suit. Ritz confirmed that she can complete the suit by Further Confusion and states she planned to start work on my suit in August. September 20th, 2014 Bob placed a down payment to secure the slots. November 4th, 2014 I text Ritz asking when she will be needing my DTD. She answers asking it be sent the start of December. November 15th, 2014 Ritz has started constructing the head. She sends me a text asking about the eye color and shows me an early WIP of the foam sculpting, followed by more complete WIPs of the sculpt and what she planned for it. I was surprised she got the snout acceptably shaped in her style off the bat as it’s the most often misinterpreted part of my character. I praised her for this and asked one small request to the brow which she said wasn’t difficult to add, and informs me of things most people worry about in case I start to worry about similar things. November 16th, 2014 I receive an image of the progress she made as well as the change to the brow that I had requested. I was very pleased with the shape and happy it worked out so quickly with only that one minor change needed. November 20th, 2014 Ritz texts me asking that I bug Bob about making the second payment. It was weird that it was my job to ask him, but I overlooked this as this was a friendly transaction I had helped to arrange. We discussed the confusion, making jokingly grumbling about it as was custom of us when we spoke. We continued on to negotiate $200 of the suit payment to be taken out of what she would owe me for room and dealer’s table costs at Further Confusion. November 21st, 2014 Ritz texts me asking about the ears for the suit. It’s a little difficult to communicate, but I was happy with the shape and aware she only had two hands so just curious about the final curvature at the top. I jotted on the notepad what I meant and it was understood and she says it’s not hard. (This was laden with a very inappropriate joke and I have censored it out.) She also reminds me to send my DTD within the next two weeks. November 25th, 2014 Ritz contacts me asking about more details for the head. At the end I tell her she has my trust in recreating the mouth due to color limitations of fleece. November 29th, 2014 Ritz contacts me while at the store purchasing fleece for the mouth. We figure it out and even settle on the wings ahead of time to just be white due to the lack of proper shades available. I inform her I’ll be making my DTD the next day and shipping it out soon. November 30th, 2014 I ask her if she needs me to retape the dummy before sending it and inform her the lines were cut a little weird. (They were slightly wobbly in a few areas, but I had no issue matching it all back up for retaping.) December 1st, 2014 After seeing Ritz tweet pictures of the finished head, I contact her to question if it’s too late to add the fur tuft my character always has. I was a little upset that she didn’t offer a solution, but it was just a fur tuft. I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. It still looked good, which I made sure to communicate to her. I also inform her I’m sending the DTD the next day. December 8th/ 9th, 2014 I ask if she received the DTD in the mail yet. The next day she responds that she has. December 14th, 2014 Ritz texts me during conversation about how big the tail for another suit is, using my head and DTD as comparison. My DTD appears to be partially stuffed and looks fine. December 16th, 2014 Ritz texts me informing my my DTD split at the seams during the stuffing process. She claims every seam that was cut split apart because I didn’t use long enough strips of tape. I felt bad because I knew it would be annoying to retape. She says it can be repaired (it’s just taping seams back together) and she was working on it. This is very important for an issue later, as she tells me she’s going to stuff and pattern one half and mirror the pattern. December 20th, 2014 Ritz texts me asking if I want the feet separate or attached. We’d discussed it previously, but it was so long before I understood many things were forgotten. January 1st, 2015 After seeing tweets of the completed sockpaws, I text her in private to ask her if it’s too late to add larger claws. Again, this is something we’d discussed many times in person down to the shape and how she planned construction, but I understand forgetting. She’s clearly upset at the mere question of the possibility, so I immediately try to reassure her I’m just curious and not trying to upset her. I was very concerned as a friend that my question may have been upsetting to her, but from a client’s standpoint I knew it was very wrong and I began to worry about voicing my opinion on anything being wrong with this very expensive product. January 12th, 2015 After seeing only one WIP of the wings being completed on her twitter since the sockpaws were complete, I am now texted with the completed suit only a few days before the promised deadline. She first informs me that the magnetic wings wouldn’t work and that she had to sew them into the bodysuit. Not a big deal. However, I instantly noticed the padding on the legs looked… odd and lumpy. I also became worried that the bodysuit fit her as I’m a very small person. From the backview you can also tell the ears were not evenly shaven and have bumps in the structure already. It was days before the convention and I knew bringing up the issues would cause a very tense upset, so I kept quiet and informed her I was happy with the suit and we began talking about the fun we’d have at the convention that weekend. January 15th, 2015 The first day of Further Confusion for us, as soon as we set up in the dealer’s den, we went up to the room eager to suit up and go have fun. Ritz begins to help me put the suit on for the first time and issues already arise. The bodysuit is extremely baggy on me, which was odd considering I’d gained a lot of holiday weight since I had made the DTD. When it came time to put the sockpaws on, I noticed there was a hole in the inner sock, but shrugged it off considering it was difficult to get my feet into the paws. I had provided her with DTDs of my feet, so this was also confusing. We discussed it and since she only patterned the right foot and flipped it, it being my smaller foot caused the sizing issue for my left foot. The worst problem came when I tried to put the gloves on. They couldn’t fit past my second knuckles. She immediately became upset and, again, I took the blame upon myself and said it wasn’t her fault and that I probably traced my hand wrong. She gladly accepted this and it became the new “fact” of what went wrong. When putting the head on, I noticed a part of the zipper was separated from the fur of the head. An easy fix. We quickly discussed the issues. She explained she was extremely busy with personal suit projects she wanted to get done for Denver Comic Con and didn’t have the time to do these repairs and make new gloves. I felt bad and said I could probably handle it with the small amount of sewing experience I have. This seemed to clear things up and we went out suiting. I tried not to pay attention to the flaws and just enjoy the con. January 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 2015 We only suited up once more after that, and I wore the suit as a partial a third time out with her because the padding in the thighs of the suit were unsecured and chafed me to no end when I walked. Nothing stayed in place how it was intended because the suit was so baggy. Meanwhile, tensions rose during the con due to Bob’s suit having issues. Ritz was extremely upset by this so I absolutely couldn’t bring myself to say anything negative about my suit. In fact, I rushed to defend her despite having my own issues with my suit. Sunday night when we were going to suit a final time, tensions blew up, drama happened, and we cancelled our plans and stayed in the room. The con ended and I took my entire suit home with me with plans to try to repair it myself and save Ritz the time. January 21st, 2015 After coming home and getting unpacked, I finally had time to look over the suit and prepare myself for the work I had to do. I realized there was far more than I could handle and I was not experienced enough to fix most of it. A list of the issues in full is provided after my next piece of information. February 14th, 2015 The issues in my fursuit worried me. I wasn’t sure what was normal and what wasn’t. I attended the local furmeet this day and brought the head and paws (having issues easier to see in person) and asked some friends with more experience on the issues as well as asking advice on how to handle this delicate situation between my friend and myself. I briefly wore these to demonstrate some of the issues and interact with two young children. I got the advice I needed and confirmation that the flaws in my suit were not acceptable and not my responsibility to fix as she was paid to produce a suit in working condition that I could wear and enjoy. Many told me how clear it was that she rushed it and took shortcuts, which is no surprise given the circumstances. I needed to approach her on the issue and hope for the best. I couldn’t keep pretending it was okay, and I started preparing myself to for this rather difficult step. The Problems - The excess amount of fabric on the bodysuit is around 10-14 inches on the midsection. This can only mean when she patterned the half of the DTD and flipped it, she overshot the middle point. Even overshooting this by a few inches can cause excess (2-4x the length of the overshoot) and wouldn’t have been an issue had she taken the time to fully retape the DTD. The thighs have an excess as well, though not as bad. - I discovered the zipper on the head was glued on instead of sewn. This is why part of it was already separated when I received it. - The shaving on the head was very choppy. I had actually taken time to hand trim the face to smooth it out, but there was little I could do for the ears. - The ears were glued directly to the balaclava with no foam to anchor them or keep them stable. This causes them to flop around pretty badly. - Instead of being sewn to the rest of the fur of the head, the ears were poorly glued on. There are small open gaps at the side of each ear on both sides, as well as at the front of the ears near the fleece. - There are crinkles in the fleece on the ears where it was glued to the inside material. - The ears are anchored off-center. - The balaclava was spottily glued to the inside of the head and was already pulling off bits of foam. It is glued in such a way that it overlaps a portion of the buckram from the inside, unnecessarily limiting the vision further. - The gloves do not fit past the second knuckle of my hand. They’re also not hemmed at the edges so the fleece was left raw cut. - On top of the sizing issues, the sockpaws had a hole in the inner sock when I received them from being cut sloppily. - The sockpaws weren’t hemmed. In fact, the fleece was glued to the sock at the top. It began to fall apart with the small amount of wear they saw at the con. - The magnets she’d promised me and stated she could not get to work were left in the wings and sealed over with giant globs of glue. You can still see them and the gluey mess is left uncovered to get at the wearer’s back. - The wings were glued together and you can see the wire in some spots by peeking into the open spaces in the glue seams. (Originally we were planning on realistic wings with wiring, feathers, and vinyl. I told her “Just do simple plush wings like Telephone’s since it’s easier” later on. While the wings she made are cute and a creative middle-point, they’re going to fall apart because glue doesn’t last very long.) - The elastic loops on the tail were not sewn very securely for such a large, heavy tail and had begun to fall apart at the convention along with a small hole. February 15th, 2015 I have a short, rather comical discussion with another previous client of Ritz’s who also discloses that many parts of their suit are glued together. I feel this is necessary to disclose to help support my discontent with the quality of my suit prior to the next events as I am accused of "retaliation" later on. March 2nd, 2015 Unfortunately, I’d been very busy with life, so I had not yet been able to approach Ritz before this point. I don’t like to bring drama into this discussion of business, but this severely complicated the smooth resolution of things. We had not been speaking much as Ritz had blamed me for the drama at the convention and I was giving her breathing space. On this day, she reacted negatively to a tweet I had made on Twitter (she brings it up later) and the resulting misunderstanding caused her to remove me on social media. I contacted her concerned about her and trying to resolve the issue, only to be ignored. (I can provide screenshots, but would rather not as this is just drama.) In a panic, I discussed parting out the suit as a last resort as I was certain I would now not be given the repairs I deserved. It did not help when I saw photos proving similar quality work on other suits, leaving me more upset at what had been given to me. After speaking to many people and getting advice on this new situation, I removed the comments out of courtesy (despite never once mentioning her specifically) and went forward with their suggestions to attempt getting a rightful refurbish. March 6th, 2015 At the advice of many, I contacted Ritz with my intentions. I tweeted at her asking for an email to discuss repairs with her, being clear it shouldn’t be my responsibility. She replied with the preferred email. At that point I began to write a thorough email to her. This took me about a week to get finished up. March 13th, 2015 I finally sent my email. I noted not only the issues with her craftsmanship, but also with the customer service she gave me that led to increasing problems in the work that had upset me and led me to be quiet for so long. I leave the option open to negotiate a refurbish or simply work out a refund as it seems like it would be easier with her busy schedule that caused the burden of refurbishing to be placed on me in the first place. March 14th, 2015 I woke up to a rather hostile email back from Ritz. She immediately accused me of retaliation, being unreasonable, and picky. Our correspondence is plain to see and everyone I’ve asked said I was very kind. She accuses me of getting a suit “for free” even though she received a $600 payment from Bob, a $200 traded payment from me, as well as my purchasing $160 of materials. She then blames me for all the problems she possibly can, while ignoring half the issues that she can’t try to blame me for. She blamed the bagginess on my DTD, which she now attacks me for. I spoke to numerous suitmakers and they said 10-14 inches is definitely not due to retaping seams. (Also note the 2 day gap between the lightly stuffed DTD image and her telling me it split apart as vs. her story now.) The fact she still continued and even brought up personal drama with other clients as well as further wild accusations that, even if true, have nothing to do with the quality of my suit, is baffling. I’m not sure if she was trying to guilt trip me or try to scare me out of pressing the issue to resolution, but it was absolutely uncalled for. She even accuses me of being the reason someone was bringing up issues on another suit she worked on. The fact she finished it up with blatantly insulting me was the icing on the cake. I was also a little disturbed that, despite our cessation of contact on social media, she had still been checking my accounts. I immediately wrote her a response, on my phone, to address this unbelievable reply she had sent me. Admittedly blunt, but necessary, and deciding at this point I cannot handle a refurbishing process due to her hostility and request a refund. As she showed aggression about Bob having paid in a portion, I made it clear I could contact him to work things out how she’d like. March 17th, 2015 As I’ve yet to receive a response, I sent Ritz an email to remind her and request she handle the situation civilly. I make note that Bob is aware of the situation and we all just want to resolve this. March 29th, 2015 I had to duck out to handle life for a bit and figured giving her time to cool off was good. Sadly, I saw signal boosts that she was selling her leftover furs. I saw some of the very same fur used on my suit and contacted her immediately. It seemed like the 6 yards she told me to purchase was a lot and it was likely some of it was mine. At this point I was notably frazzled by this ordeal. She surprisingly responded, again accusing me of things I am not guilty of and bringing other clients and drama into dealings about a fursuit she did not make properly. She seems to even agree with the fact that the quality is bad and that I should be fine that I only spent $200 on it. Her logic in thinking because I only paid $200 along with $160 in materials means she doesn’t have to give anything back, despite that she took the $600 from Bob, and that is what he would get back, not me, in a refund. She claims it was wrong to take Bob’s money, yet she seems fine keeping it despite not doing her job properly for it. All she has done is avoided owning up and fixing mistakes she made on an expensive product while hiding behind excuses that drama somehow nullifies her responsibility in business. I made a final response to her as well, and that was where it ended between us. Currently: I have been refused repairs or a refund on a suit that was paid for and delivered in poor quality. It’s very clear Ritz has done a good job to avoid everything wrong with the suit she made for me and justify not fixing the issue and attacking me. She blames me for all that she can and resorts to bringing up drama instead of addressing why half my suit is glued together. I feel she has been trying to take advantage of the fact Bob sponsored part of the suit cost and her sudden grudge against me to avoid dealing with resolving the matter. She took a large sum of money for a product of a certain quality and did not deliver, and I’m honestly upset with how she’s treated me in this ordeal. The suit needs entirely new hands and feet, major tailoring of the bodysuit that includes redoing the legs entirely, redoing the tail's backing and elastic loops, completely redoing the ears and refurring the head with a new balaclava. Most suitmakers have told me it's not "refurbishing" so much as making an entirely new suit with some scraps. I basically don't know what to do aside from hope nobody else runs into the same troubles as I have with this suitmaker, but any advice would be welcome if anything can possibly be done at this point. June 16, 2015 Update I just took the head out of the storage box for the first time since photographing everything months ago. I've been getting advice on how to salvage as much as I can from the head to go towards making a new one, so I was needing to take a closer look at some things. A small clatter and objects falling out confused me, until I realized that the teeth have started to fall out with even this small amount of age and absolutely no use. The teeth are sculpey, I believe, and left unfinished. Some bases of the silver molars were unpainted, the rest of the teeth are just straight sculpey or whatever they are made of, no paint, and are all starting to separate from the beds of hot glue. This just adds to the poor quality product I was given and the work I am left to cover out of my pocket to fix. I honestly don't have anymore words to describe how I feel right now. February 2016 Update This disheartens me to have to even add to so long after the fact of this all happening, but I would like to update this to add a further warning to Ritz's poor business behavior if you happen to get on her bad side as I have with this ordeal. I placed an advertisement up on Furaffinity, in which I used a commission she had gotten from me as it was in my top 10 favorited pieces in my gallery and a great example. My Terms of Service states that I am allowed to use the work I create for people for portfolio and other purposes, and thus I had the legal right to use the image in an advertisement as it's a form of portfolio. I assumed this would not be an issue as I have personally gotten over the drama and moved on past this all quite a while ago, and had assumed she had done the same. She, however, saw this as an opportunity to attack me by approaching the advertisement organizer stating that her character was in my advertisement without her permission, essentially wanting it removed. This was orchestrated with a friend of hers whom also had commission work in my advertisement, also demanding the removal of their commission despite them having both agreed to and being bound by my Terms of Service. This alone was a nuisance, but in having to handle the issue, I saw that she had been publicly trash talking me, clearly stating her intention to try to cause a problem for me for the sake of causing a problem. At this point she obviously holds a grudge against me and I am being bullied for having spoken out about her practices, showing also that she has absolutely no respect to my Terms of Service that was agreed to. I am attempting to resolve the issue with the advertising organizer, but will be forced to avoid exercising my legal rights to display the artwork I created involving her characters in the future all because I want to avoid her malicious acts to attempt revenge for speaking up. August 19, 2016 Update After being urged by friends and seeking advice from the community on if I should add further updates, I'm sadly here again. While I'm relatively wary to share due to more fear of retaliation, I don't believe this will ever stop regardless of anything I do. I am urged to warn people the extent of the poor behavior that I have been subjected to for over a year since posting. Occasionally third parties will inform me of things that have been said and I honestly ignore 90% of things, but I had the displeasure seeing one instance myself. I have been ruthlessly slandered since the posting, and at this point been brought aware of possible threats of either legal action against me or potential harm to my person. (If it escalates any further I will contact law enforcement, but at current there is not enough to hold up considering the distance involved.) I have had absolutely ZERO contact with Ritz since the last email shown in the original posting here. Even during her attack on my advertisement, I did not say a word to her, only spoke to the advertising department at FA. I am going to point out ahead of time, it is EXTREMELY easy to figure out who is being spoken about (me) in all of these instances even if names aren't attached cause a simple google search nets you all the info you need. I already know I'm mentioned frequently by name otherwise anyhow. Onto the point, what I saw for myself... Was on Wednesday, June 22 in a Facebook group for Fursuiters and Fursuit Makers. A notification popped up onto my phone for a sale posting that was receiving many comments. I'm going to be 100% honest I was wildly curious as I'd heard she quit suitmaking (I'm only human), and I saw this exchange brewing that had apparently been what sparked it into popularity. I avoided the desire to jump in and say something cause NOPE I have zero desire to speak to her. I just screencapped away cause I couldn't believe what I was reading and figured it'd be taken down, which it was. Color guide for censoring (cause identifying photos/names): Black = Not involved or moderator names Ritz commented to alert Blue = Ritz Red = Some fursuiter who spoke up Yellow = Ritz's IRL friend https://www.dropbox.com/s/7nixak1x72bdqmb/Group1.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/j3j2m8mw22mswoo/2.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/oeibrn7q6amudni/3.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/b189gvqz44ge3r5/4.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/y3527bkjzuev7qx/5.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/voe431whjd9eul3/6.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/feofjf0gk1tkdqy/7.jpg?dl=0 I don't even need to make commentary on how messed up this was. You all can think for yourselves. I avoided updating with it at the time despite people telling me to. I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't think it was that bad. Now here's what broke me on trying to ignore things. I was shown these earlier this week. Despite being from May, it opened my eyes to how serious things really were this whole time as I attempted to ignore it all. This is only HALF of a conversation someone had with Ritz's locked twitter, but it's very clear what's going on. I was shown this for obvious reasons. This was shortly before BLFC, which we both happened to be attending (I avoided her at all costs, and was apparently wise to do so.) Censoring: Blue = Ritz's locked twitter handle, Purple = Ritz's friend (Remember to read bottom to top in each for chronological order cause it's twitter.) https://www.dropbox.com/s/v36ao3uyd8d10r4/21.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/accjt9cl35ieovk/22.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/yf7mwvzbbwgyhc1/23.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/n8hq2cioflujxoz/24.png?dl=0 Let me point this out there. Whatever is being said on the other side of this conversation, her friend thinks I should be scared of her. This is NOT okay, and relatively alarming considering things I know about her that are not for me to share publicly. The suggestion of a restraining order despite that I have not had ANY contact with her whatsoever even despite her attempted harassment, is outlandish. Furthermore, the clear discussion of potential legal action because I caused her loss of income due to this beware posting is even more unsettling. This is bonkers. I don't even care about the disgusting and immature names they casually call me when this other stuff is going on. People are right, they need to know what she's doing because this is, and has been, crazy. Exercise caution when doing business with her, because you never know when you'll end up like me.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/847883.html WHO: Rach Verity, rachykins WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rachverity/ trello with an insane backlog: https://trello.com/b/kDddOtiK/commissions-list WHAT: Digital art WHEN: First discussion on June 20th 2014, agreement and payment on june 25th 2014. Still waiting on art or refund. PROOF: Initial agreement on a journal post: https://archive.is/7XgP4 Relevant bit: http://i.imgur.com/be3gpyl.png Confirming through note: http://i.imgur.com/8us9VDu.png Payment: http://i.imgur.com/VtHrbzD.png (I actually gave $75 because I got a deal on the regular price of $100 and felt bad about it) EXPLAIN: Well, it all began a while ago. I needed a char sheet for a new character and since I commissioned her before and didn't have any problems with her, save for a single commission who was a bit late, but ot critically yet, I decided on rachVerity. Since I still had some details to work out, I started by just asking for her price, not yet a commission: http://i.imgur.com/hXPk5p5.png She answered that it would be about $100: http://i.imgur.com/NaTAO36.png Shortly after that, she made a journal about how she'd do "anything including ref sheets" for $60. I got a spot for that: https://archive.is/7XgP4 Relevant bit: http://i.imgur.com/be3gpyl.png which she confirmed through a note: http://i.imgur.com/8us9VDu.png Payment: http://i.imgur.com/VtHrbzD.png After some problems due to FA losing notes, I sent her the full description on June 25th: http://i.imgur.com/ll2uYbq.png which she confirmed: http://i.imgur.com/npdmUu3.png Just a couple of days later I sent her a note about how I'd like that ref sheet before another (pending at the time) commission, which she ignored, the other commission was posted a few days later: http://i.imgur.com/Ob04dxb.png I didn't care too much at the time because it was great and only a couple days later, I just felt like I should mention that. About 4 months later with no update, no word, no anything, I decided to inquire. I was kinda pissed at the time because while keeping me (and others from what I could see) waiting, she gave away one commission/YCH after the other and constantly made journals about how commissioners would surely get their stuff, which never happened. (During the whole time waiting, there hardly were a week without a commission journal going up, which still do, just go check her journals). Since I actually wanted that ref sheet as soon as possible and it was obviously not happening, I decided on cancelling the commission and getting a refund. Nice as I was, I offered to wait a bit for it because she posted in journals about getting a new place to stay and I know that this eats up money faster than garfield eats up lasagna. http://i.imgur.com/QGu9qK9.png She confirmed at the time that she would refund it: http://i.imgur.com/W8WkOD4.png She even offered to make it up with a free piece of art: http://i.imgur.com/dc11llr.png (I declined that one as it felt not right accepting that to which she said that I'd get at least a 50% discount on future commissions. I somehow don't think that's gonna happen) Another 3 months later I just asked what was up. I offered to convert it to a wing-it if that was easier (note that a wing-it is obviously less work than the char sheet it should have been): http://i.imgur.com/vIUrkSP.png She said that would probably be faster and that she rather saves for her birthday instead of paying her debt: http://i.imgur.com/BHqTNoS.png (didn't mind so much back then but I gotta say that's pretty shitty) I answered that it was up to her, refund or wing-it. 18 days later she actually sent me a message herself asking if she didn't owe me money: http://i.imgur.com/dXVkjQl.png I answered that we actually just discussed that and that she wanted to do a wingit instead. I again gave her the option to choose either. Even though $60 would be $15 less than I paid, at least it would be something.. She answered yet again that she'd rather do a wingit: http://i.imgur.com/iaAfkTD.png Now, I thought I sent a reply to that, but checking my outbox a bit later and nothing was there, so I confirmed that about a month later, which she in turn confirmed: http://i.imgur.com/kYgO4yY.png After yet another month with no update, art or refund, I just decided on a little reminder: http://i.imgur.com/kJpeSak.png Which she initially confirmed, while acting like I should feel bad for the reminder: http://i.imgur.com/xD3z8jr.png This kinda set me off, after 10 months of being really patient and obliging (in my opinion), offering to take a wing-it instead of the money, or even $15 less. I decided to answer in the same way: http://i.imgur.com/zLUex8R.png Her answer to that, "well, I'm in a bad mood so I won't say sorry", was the last straw: http://i.imgur.com/CFMaTgZ.png I don't think I'll ever get my money (or alternatively an image that is not half-assed). And I'm actually quite sad for it, I commissioned her plenty of times before and was always happy with the result, but somewhere has to be a stop or I'd still beg her for the money in 2 years. By the way, I found she had an entry here already: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/829923.html Just thought I'd put that in a new one because of the time difference TL;DR: Asked for a character sheet to be done as fast as possible. Did nt get it. Cancelled it after quite some time because I wanted that char sheet and went to a different artist. After waiting for the refund for a while, I offered her to do a wing-it instead if that was easier. Got neither refund nor wing-it. EDIT June 1st: Got a wing-it, I think this can be considered resolved

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/834579.html WHO: Skylar Young on Facebook; I don't know of Furaffinity or any other place she offers her services. WHERE: https://www.facebook.com/para.dox.7758 WHAT: A fursuit costume piece; four-colored goat tail. There was no set completion time but it was said that the product would be started as soon as money went through, as seen in the screencap. WHEN: Payment sent December 22, 2014, when it was promised it would be started in four days, when the payment went through. Still relevant now ( March 14th, 2015, at time of posting ). PROOF: Discussion of transaction, and me trying to contact them at all. I am Taxi Pony, any mention of her name is blocked out per community rules:: http://i.imgur.com/q4CgoDs.png Paypal proof of payment:: http://i.imgur.com/gr1W0Re.png Evidence of her continual activity since commissioning the tail can be seen just by visiting her facebook. EXPLAIN: I contacted them on December 22nd as they had made a recent post about being in financial troubles, and knowing they were a local suit maker, I decided to commission them for a tail for one of my suits. The above log shows me commissioning them. All was good and it was a fine, active conversation for a little bit, then I sent the money and we discussed possible future business ( I was wondering about getting hands and feet for the costume as well ) and then we went our merry ways. From then on, there was literally no conversation. I sent multiple messages just asking for a response at all, and preferably a picture of the WIP tail ( which, according to her promise, should have been started already ), and despite Facebook confirming that my messages were looked at, there was never any replies. Meanwhile she was posting just as regularly as always on her Facebook, reblogging, so on. I even got a little desperate a few times just to at least be ACKNOWLEDGED and commented on a couple of her posts. I only started getting aggressive once I realized these comments on her posts got deleted afterwards, even those not related to the business. As of right now there has still been no contact and I have started a paypal claim to get my money back as if she doesn't find her customers important enough to even say hello to then I doubt she finds them important enough to give paid-for product to. I'll admit I did a bad thing that isn't at all relevant to our business transaction, but I feel like the lack of contact and deleting posts may be related to it -- her boyfriend made an unsavory post that made me really mad and I called him out on it. I've learned since that Skylar is very protective of her boyfriend and anyone who says anything bad about them instantly gets on her naughty list. Again, nothing to do with the business transaction, but it's just further evidence of the lack of professionalism with this maker. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND COMMISSIONING THIS MAKER. She refuses contact with her clients and prefers to work on personal things over commissioned pieces. I know of someone else who posted a beware on her recently as well, so red flags all around. The lack of professionalism should be enough to keep future clients away.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/819893.html WHO: Vejiicakes WHERE: DA Account/Tumblr WHAT: $50 for two sketch fanwork pieces WHEN: The artist solicited sketch commissions in exchange for donations to hurricane relief in the Phillipines in late November 2013, with delivery promised within 1 - 3 weeks. I made a donation and my commission was accepted on 11/24/13. PROOF: Original post date (original post at artist's DA) Pricing and estimated delivery Proof of payment Acceptance (1, 2, 3, 4) Update requests and responses (1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5 (between the two emails in the previous cap), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) Reimbursement request EXPLAIN: After my commission was accepted, I made my first update inquiry 1/2/14. I got a quick response regarding my place in line and hopes that commissions would go faster after the holidays. I requested updates twice more over the next two months with no response. The next update was a group email sent by the artist in March 2014 saying commissions would take longer than anticiapted. Since then, the only sign I've seen that my commission has been worked on was a WIP in August 2014. I requested one minor change on each piece, and there's been no progress since. Save for the group email, I've had to initiate contact every time to get an update, the artist will go weeks or months without responding, and there's always a fresh excuse for the lack of progress. She relegated the donation commissions to a "fandom" email she admitted she doesn't check often, has missed multiple self-imposed deadlines, and as time has passed, I've had to resort to alerting her on Tumblr and DA weeks after sending emails to get a response. My last request for an update was 1/4/2014, which she's opted to ignore (I've seen her active on Tumblr, so I know she's had internet access and seen the alerts I've sent letting her know she has mail). On 1/21/2015, I finally sent a request for either a realistic ETA or reimbursement, alerted her on her Tumblr the same day. I alerted her on her DA a week later, but there's been no response. I've been a fan of Vejii's "Authority" fanwork for a while, so this has just been a disappointing experience all around, from her initial delivery date (unrealistic given the amount of work she later admitted she took on), to her increasingly poor time management as this has progressed. Even taking the time spent in queue off the table, 5 - 6 months is lousy turn-around time for a couple of sketches, and having to practically hammer down an artist's door to get updates is never acceptable. ETA: Issue resolved. Artist reestablished contact on 2/1/15 to finish artwork and offer a partial refund for the wait.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/818643.html WHO: Swizzlestix WHERE: Inkbunny: https://inkbunny.net/Swizzlestix (banned) And Furaffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/swizzlestix/ WHAT: I ordered a colored, cell shaded commission with three characters and no background. Cost me $110 http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/blackenedtoastedtoast/media/paypalpayment_zpsld1wabua.jpg.html WHEN: I ordered the commission in august, 2014. While I have had him be slow on commissions before, he always got them done. This time seemed longer than before and when Inkbunny went out of their way to email everyone that were owed by swizzlestix, then I knew something bad was happening. http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii535/blackenedtoastedtoast/inkbunnywarning_zpsdxiltibm.jpg http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/blackenedtoastedtoast/media/inkbunnywarning_zpsdxiltibm.jpg.html PROOF: http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii535/blackenedtoastedtoast/inkbunnyorder_zps7xwhx4v1.jpg http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/blackenedtoastedtoast/media/inkbunnyorder_zps7xwhx4v1.jpg.html EXPLAIN: He has put a journal up when he got booted off of IB. http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/blackenedtoastedtoast/media/furaffinitywarning_zpsut9d0vjn.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2 But that was over a month ago and I have emailed him twice and put a FA note up. The note has not been read and the email never got any replies. http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii535/blackenedtoastedtoast/emailwarning_zpshvmgtfyb.jpg http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/blackenedtoastedtoast/media/emailwarning_zpshvmgtfyb.jpg.html http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii535/blackenedtoastedtoast/furaffinitynotewarning_zpsfvihgbgv.jpg http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/blackenedtoastedtoast/media/furaffinitynotewarning_zpsfvihgbgv.jpg.html I hate to put someone up on here but he has several months to even get a wip ready. As of today, I know of one person that has received their commission since the journal been in place. I would already have put up a chargeback if it wasn't for the fact paypal has a 45 day limit, which is long since expired. (Added some links due to small jpeg sizes. Hope they help. )

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/811861.html WHO: Nayel-ie, Nayelfox WHERE: FA: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/nayel-ie/ Due to Nayel-ie requesting to the mods that all other links should be removed, I have removed them. You can still find her on DA, Weasyl, FB, Tumblr, Instagram, and with her TOS Homepage on Wordpress. You should be able to guess her username 😃 WHAT: Digital Drawing of my OC, later changed to Digital Drawing of Krystal from Star Fox WHEN: Initial contact was on December, 31st 2013. Payment was completed on the same day. Contacted her about the commission at 23.01.2014, 03.02.2014, 21.03.2014, 07-12.05.2014, 14-20.11.2014, 21.11.2014, 08.12.2014 EXPLAIN: Commissioned a digital drawing of my OC on Dec, 31st 2013 when she told during her stream that she needed quick money for some medical bills. I later changed that commission, with her consent, to "draw whatever you like" since she posted that she never had time to draw stuff she likes, because she is always occupied with commissions. She then started drawing Krystal from Star Fox during one of her streams crediting it to me. She never finished that drawing and when I asked about it she always told me that it would be continued shortly. In my latest inquiry I only get very short, unprofessional and quite rough answers that she will do it when she has done the newly-accepted commissions. She, however, has no problem with accepting discounted commissions with the promise of "tonight completion". I had commissioned her before and got time image completed in a very timely manner (if I remember correctly it was below a week, which is very fast), hence I didn't think that it would take THIS long... PROOF: Since I'm not a huge fan of posting several images, I will post you the links with a small explanation. All images are SFW! 31.12.2013: First contact. I wrote her the note after I had watched her stream and saw that she needed money. I would have donated it at this point, but since I don't like the concept of a donation very much I asked for a commission. This includes the PayPal address (censored) and payment details. http://imageshack.com/a/img540/6291/ErXrK4.jpg (Censored) PayPal payment details for the transaction: http://imageshack.com/a/img540/6007/QlPlw3.jpg 23.01.2014: Second contact. I wrote this note after I had read in one of her journals that she had very little time to draw for herself, since she was always occupied with commissions. So I offered that she could use the time she would take for my commission to draw something that she enjoyed. She asked me what I wanted but I thought that would defeat the purpose of the idea. http://imageshack.com/a/img674/8775/er8scm.jpg 03.02.2014: Third contact. This time she wrote me a note when she had an idea that she could draw Krystal from Star Fox. Of course I agreed, and thus the change of my commission was official. http://imageshack.com/a/img673/683/pXwRe9.jpg 21.03.2014: Fourth contact. I wrote her a mail (during this time, her preferred way of contact) after she wrote a journal about all the commissions she still owed. If we didn't see our name on that list we should write her a mail, which i promptly did. http://imageshack.com/a/img912/5250/2AiLOr.jpg 07.05.2014: She then did a journal (again) asking for everyone who she owed commissions to, to write her a mail - she needed this for sorting. A screenshot of said journal is included below: http://imageshack.com/a/img746/5023/opGVke.jpg 07-12.05.2014: Fifth contact. My mail answering her call to the journal above. During this mail I offered to take a different form of compensation for my money (Sketches, Lineart), because I was learning to draw and would have used those as study objects. She refused and reassured me that she was still doing the Krystal picture. http://imageshack.com/a/img908/9935/spVJNi.jpg 14.11.2014: She created two journals selling discounted commissions. One with a promised "tonight completion" turnaround. She even said that she would stream those commissions on her Livestream. http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5365/vUF9c9.jpg 14-20.11.2014: Sixth contact: I noted her about my commission and this time I didn't get a single friendly reply like in the last notes or mails. She seemed very short tempered and busy and didn't answer any of my questions in a manner that I would expect from a professional artist. In between I even asked for some better communication, but this request was simply ignored. http://imageshack.com/a/img673/3372/lwW0Lr.jpg 21.11.2014: Seventh contact: I sent her a note after I spoke with my lawyer about possible legal steps. I've set a deadline to give her enough time to either finish the image, refund me or find a suitable solution. The deadline got extended, since she wasn't at home until 2 weeks later. http://imageshack.com/a/img538/1575/RCT3Ov.jpg 08.12.2014: Eighth contact: I sent her a reminder since she should have already been back from her trip. http://imageshack.com/a/img901/1170/O7lI6S.jpg Well I haven't heard anything after that. Now I think about suing her for fraud, which would be a felony. Sure, it would cost me a lot of money beforehand (would have to hire a lawyer in Canada .. from Germany) but since I can throw all those charges at her I am not very worried about it, especially since I have a legal insurance which would cover those things as well. reading the comments on the other A_B posts about her (http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/807348.html and http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/802050.html) she seems to owe art for multiple thousands of dollars.. however she doesn't have a problem scamming those customers and accepting new commissions or even do free art streams: http://imageshack.com/a/img540/7766/1U0E19.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4571/cT7WqP.jpg PS: As for everyone that she owes commissions to, I can only give the advice to REPORT her to PayPal. You won't get your money back (unless you have purchased physical goods from her), but the more people report fraudulent transactions with her account the more likely it is that they will investigate and/or stop her from using PayPal which would slow her shenanigans down by a huge amount, at least for future commissioners. -> and no, if she would like to issue a refund with PayPal they would gladly allow those transactions, even if they banned her from using it! UPDATE: I had to remove all links to her profiles, except her FA page. Nayel-ie requested this from the mods and I complied. Here are a screencap of her old TOS, since she changed her since. http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4160/YVbr3S.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img538/5366/a0a8pW.jpg Also I received a reply to one of my last notes and she said that she would complete the image in the following days. http://imageshack.com/a/img913/9884/BjG2FC.jpg 2 days later (the day she wanted to give me the image) I watched one of her Livestreams and she showed me (and the other viewers) a progress shot. The image was 80% completed at that time, thus I gave her 2 additional days. Since I didn't hear anything from her after that I sent another note. http://imageshack.com/a/img910/6646/h96zQF.jpg On December, 21st I received a note with a link to the final image (FA Version shown below) which brings this annoying journey to an end. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/15279262/ It's sad that you have to threaten an artist with legal action for their own incompetence to stick to a contract. It's also sad that Nayel-ie never apologized for the delay or her attitude. It looks to me like she thinks she's done everything right and has nothing to fear. Well from a legal standpoint that might be correct at least with this case. I just hope that her other customers are just as "lucky" to get their work done as well.. there are far to many out there who have to wait for their art; Art they already have paid for.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/796376.html WHO: SUGARFACTORY WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sugarfactory WHAT: A box with fursuit accesoires, which was included in our deal about buying a second-hand partial. WHEN: I started contact around April 2013. It's now been 17 months since I didn't get the box she promised she will send. PROOF: Where to start 😉 These are screenshots from skype. She said she would include the extra if I would fo with the buyout deal ($1100) http://i.imgur.com/QtCV0nw.png . 8th May 2013, promising more stuff: http://i.imgur.com/XUg5km9.png & http://i.imgur.com/UtPbn1i.png 19th May 2013: My box arrived but not everything was included (the extra's). Checking with her http://i.imgur.com/xIsrPXo.png 25 June 2013: Promising her a box in return: http://i.imgur.com/uSDOOl7.png 27 June 2013: She wanted to include in the box a set of extra handpaws since the ones I got in the buyout deal weren't in good condition. http://i.imgur.com/rJqIAot.png 11 November 2013: http://i.imgur.com/H4zkB2V.png Telling her to skip the handpaws if must because I really would love my stuff at some point. 13 January 2014: She keeps stating she will send the box and is working on it... http://i.imgur.com/qlbJykT.png 15 March 2014: I've send her my box, with worth over 120$ of stuff. http://i.imgur.com/vpXY2ev.png Also she promises me a tracking even without sending anything. 21 March 2014: She lost the tracking it seems.. http://i.imgur.com/RQF0RGV.png 25 March 2014: Yes she lost it http://i.imgur.com/rMwlRp6.png And I never received the package since. but wait a minute? the fursuitaccesoires weren't included? 9 May 2014: http://i.imgur.com/9ThsE7g.png An excuse for not sending the box. 21 May 2014: http://i.imgur.com/N0XGVzF.png Saying to stop putting anything in the box extra and just send it to me. May 2014: Ignoring me http://i.imgur.com/T7cBgaL.png 5 June 2014: I wrote a message to her that I was despressed with not getting anything http://i.imgur.com/Ohuuz54.png . also http://i61.tinypic.com/1zdma9u.png saying that I would love to pay to get it here 24 July 2014: She's sending a box soon, because she's selling another suit, asking her if she will send mine too.. http://i.imgur.com/aF9XYi5.png 29 August 2014: Her fursuit she sold, has arrived at the new owner. Mine again... not send. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14401597/ Today (27 September): https://twitter.com/sugarypuppy/status/515870207848374272 First time I ever EVER see a picture of stuff that would been send my way. But where's the bandana's? Jail-Plushie? Only recognizable thing is the tail. I can give you a lot more screenshots if you like. EXPLAIN: Sugarfactory sold her fursuitpartial "Jail" from OneEyedDoe in April 2013. She said if I would get the buyoutdeal instead of bidding, I would get extra's. As you can see in the links, she later promised more and more stuff. I was so exciting and I thought we were really friends. THANK GOD I've received the most important part: the partial. The fursuit is with me and I'm suiting with it over 1,5 years now, I'm really thankful for that. It surprised me that she didn't send everything that was in our deal in that first fursuit box (19th may). Also later suddently, in a second box that never arrived, she said that the fursuitstuff weren't included (25th of March.) One thing that made the package take long was that she commissioned extra handpaws because mine were a bit old now, at Autumnfallings. But they took so long that I said to her to get her money back, leave them out of our deal, and just send me the box. I also though that sending a box back, would help our friendship. I did send a box with Dutch treats and candy and toys, but never got a box from her back. Lost? Never been send? I'm not sure. The problem since the beginning was: - She said she will send it <..insert day here..> - She said it failed <..insert excuse here..>. Really, she gave every excuse possible. No money, sick, floodings, postal office closed, adress lost, busy, ow and when she had no money I offered to pay the shipping, but she refused. I even have PROOF that she send out other boxes and stuff as well.. but why not MINE? (The second fursuit she sells 29 August) The only thing I said over the last YEAR was "Please when will the box be send?" and than the above steps took place. She stated later that, this box she owes me are all GIFTS and she can take the time she needs Update (29-9-2014): Sugarfactory promised to send out the box this Monday. The content is discussed. I will update when I received a working Track&Trace. Update (6-10-2014) Package send 1 oct. Tracking works and it's on its way to Europe About the critique in the comments below: Yes, I used some inmature language and was angry. I read the termes about keeping it polite on this forum but I didn't always keep that in mind and I'm sorry for this.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/773561.html This complaint follows a client who has not paid for a commission. The pictures below are a few examples of the ongoing attempts at getting at least some of the pay. What happened: About four months ago I was doing a number of commissions for users online, through Furaffinity, Furry4Life and Deviantart. I was asked to do a commission of a full body fursona for £18.00 which at the time equated to $30.00. I had seen this username Dragonf94, sometimes called Draco, online and they knew others I had already done work for, so I agreed. I work by sending the picture in low res to get approval at various stages of completion and then usually ask for half before finishing the picture. In this case I was a little more foolish and offered to do the whole piece, as the price was quite low for my work. Early on, Dragonf94 claimed others had refused them work and it had hurt their feelings. I didn't ask and did the picture regardless. I did a few reiterations and the picture was done after about three weeks due to a waiting list. The client was happy. I sent them a very low res and they still seemed happy. I then awaited payment in order to send the full res. Evidence: I messaged them through the site, through email and skype as requested. No payment came. I consistently asked them if there was a problem, and at first they didn't seem to reply. After a while, I threatened to name and shame them as I noticed them using the incredibly low res picture as their icon. They then began the excuses, ranging from mental illness, to homelessness, to insomnia, to all kinds of problems. Sometimes it was because the paypal information was wrong, so I sent it again to all of his emails, but I know he has received the information as I use paypal very often. Then, his mother was no longer his guardian, he had been adopted, all manner of problems arose. The client was never rude, but the excuses were all I ever heard and they kept getting more severe, so I offered to leave it for a short while so they could sort out what was happening. It began in March and I heard nothing until around April, and then mid-May, each time prompted by myself, not by him. Not sure if these very sudden stories were true, I enquired about them. I kept putting back the time again, asking them for some evidence - by this point the client said he needed paperwork from a therapist and then could get a job because he was homeless. Until then, he could pay me nothing. I was unable to prove that they were lying, though it seemed strange that it all happened only after the picture was finished, and that a homeless man was able to email me at all (let alone had neglected to mention any of it beforehand). I asked if they would prefer paying in five dollar instalments over the course of months to help them. I received no reply to this offer, though I mentioned it several times. After investigating (and waiting for many, many weeks for updates on the situation) I doubted the excuses and began to realise he had no intention of paying me. Whenever I stopped emailing, it all went very quiet. However I was eventually informed he had gotten a job. I asked again. Again, I got no reply, despite consistently enquiring about what was happening and if and when he would pay. I asked him if he wanted the picture or not, but his answer was always: I will pay eventually. Four months or so down the line, now in June, I have given up. I did the work as he was happy and I feel I have been taken as a joke. No contact comes unless I instigate it, no answer to the questions about how I can help him pay, just excuses ignoring my suggestions to sort the problem out. Had I not told him to remove the low res I doubt it ever would have happened and he didn't seem to understand why it bothered me. I am tired of waiting. Now I know why no one does work for this person. Dragonf94 or Draco, who gets commissions through FA, F4l and Second Life, will never pay you in my experience - so don't waste your time like I did. The picture remains on my hard drive until future notice. I have yet to hear any further from him at all. Edit: I have also become aware that he operates on Deviantart looking for commissions, but due to the large number of hidden comments, I am inclined to believe he has experienced other problems with either commissions or other artists on there. This is also under the name Dragonf94, but he may have multiple accounts.

They commissioned me a piece with 2 characters, NSFW edit plus quite a complex BG. I’ve lost original description at this point, but they were completely fine with my initial sketch as you can see here. Price wasn’t an issue either. Instead all I got is 3 payments, ~50 usd each. Then they proceeded to tell me that they had “issues with payment”, which I suspect to be completely made up as no other customer since then had them. Also they were able to pay it partially, so they obviously had no problems. My bad for being naive and working without properly committing to the part where I have to get full prepayment after the sketch, but that’s just how I used to roll with it. And then I decided to reach out to Boosty staff. They said I had absolutely no issues on my side and… When I said I’m putting it on a hold till they fix it, they just blocked me. Everywhere. Without ANY explanation. They also don’t answer my Emails So far I’m simply blocked by them on all platforms. And I’ve seen their character being drawn by other artists so… They just took advantage of me and left. Small notes: I slightly cropped out DMs due to them being just filled with Troubleshooting Boosty, I can send full convo, but it’s just bloated with useless for the case information. Also, I got to the colouring stage when they blocked me, I sincerely want to attach the file, but site freaks out. It’s kinda irrelevant anyways. Also, I accept payments via Boosty and have a no-refund policy not because I want to, but due to me being simply having literally no other choice. I always make sure Customers are getting what they deserve, don’t wait for years and are fully informed about all these factors.

Back in January 2022, I contacted scaretactik via email to inquire about a commission. I originally came across their art via twitter and at the time and still since then, their display name has always read as their commissions being open; they have taken more comms & emergency comms since. I did read in the artist's carrd beforehand that they can be slow with completing comms, but I admittedly still didn't expect to be waiting over a year later– this and the lack of communication and other surrounding details has me unsure of whether the art will be completed, hence why I am submitting this beware. Here's the initial email from January of 2022 and a receipt for the PayPal payment: Before sending the payment, I instead DM'd scaretactik on twitter since they stated it as being preferable, and that's where we would continue to communicate up until October of 2022: After January 2022, the next time I heard from scaretactik was when I reached out 6 months later in July to ask if an update was available. Scaretactik got back to me and brought up being agreeable to a deadline, so I asked if a month following this would be alright but that I would also just be happy to receive a WIP rather than the full finished piece. I did not receive an answer to my response/I did not hear back from scaretactik further at this time: The next time I spoke with scaretactik was when I reached out a second time in September of 2022, another 2 months later. I was told that I could expect to receive a WIP shortly and that they were appreciative of my patience; I did understand that they had some things going on so I was still content to wait at this point: However, I did not receive a WIP/any further messages from scaretactik at this time until I reached out again in October. These are the last DMs we exchanged before moving over to discord: Scaretactik soon after messaged me via discord with a WIP on the 18th. It was very barebones, but I was happy to finally receive something and stated being okay with the idea they were going for: The next time I heard from scaretactik was on November 4th then the 7th when I received another update, though the sketch/idea had been changed. I liked how it was looking so I didn't mind the alteration and also gave it my okay: After this, I received another update on November 10th, but the sketch for my piece had once again been changed. I didn't mind the revision so I gave it my okay as well: This is where the periods of silence started up again. I reached out a month later on December 11th to inquire about any possible updates and to ask if scaretactik had a trello or queue tracker. I did receive another picture of my piece, but there didn't seem to be any progress made and again, it had been revised without my knowledge. This time, I was unhappy with the direction of the unexpected revision, so I wasn't entirely sure how to respond & initially forgot to and didn't get back to scaretactik until the 14th when I voiced my concern: This is the last time (December 14th of 2022) I have heard from scaretactik. I've reached out again on February 19 of this year and more recently on March 15th, but neither of my messages have been replied to. I don't know at this point if I will receive my comm or if the quality will be what I paid for/if more unexpected changes will be made since it's now going on 5 more months of silence, so I'm submitting this beware: I don't mind waiting as long as needed but do feel forgotten about and am just disappointed with how communications & updates have been handled. I would be glad to still receive my comm but dislike pushing for updates and am already exhausted with this situation; I'm open to hearing from scaretactik and working something out, I harbor no ill will towards them.

September 11, 2022 I reached out to the artist inquiring about a commission to be done by the end of September (biceptember theme). We eventually agreed to a 2 character, shaded, full body commission for $105. September 12-14 At the time, I was working nights so spent most of the daytime sleeping but noticed that the artist started to become pushy for the details. I ended up getting the details to them on the morning of Sep 14 after work. I noticed the price was increased to $120 but let it go thinking maybe the descriptions made it more intricate. I sent in the payment at this time and they confirmed receipt. At this point I let the artist be to focus on their work. September 30, 2022 I reached out to the artist to inquire about the status of the commission as September was almost over. I got no reply until October 18 and was taken aback that they apparently didn't realize I had a commission with them. I corrected them that I had already paid, and noted this as a major red flag, especially the note about needing money. December 18, 2022 I reached out again, growing frustrated that this artist was making no effort to update me on status. I received additional excuses. While I am lenient on extenuating circumstances, the artist never took the initiative to notify me. It was always me reaching out because of long periods of silence. January 26, 2023 The straw that broke the camel's back was when I saw the artist open slots for YCH, which they apparently filled out. I immediately messaged them, wondering what was going on with my commission. At this point I was alerted to this artist being a scammer from mutuals and fellow commissioners and I immediately requested a refund. February 4, 2023 Receiving no reply, I issued my ultimatum. Unfortunately, at this point I realized I sent the money on PayPal using thr "friends and family" feature on accident, rendering unable to charge back. It is now March 12 and I have gotten zero replies back. The artist posts occasionally on their Twitter, completely ignoring my DMs. I may have to chalk this up to a loss of the almost $130 total. Again, I am very lenient when it comes to extenuating circumstances but I expect the artist to keep me updated. This is a business transaction, and one that has already been paid. I have had other artists in similar situations and they kept me up to date and even issued full refunds when they couldn't finish the piece. In this case I have not received even a WIP, and only excuses. I urge any potential commissioners to avoid this artist.

This started on discord where I ask if I can get a 2 piece commission from 1 of there post in a artist community discord. (their original post on discord has been deleted) * I post my 2 Character REFs in-between theses * Paypal transactions: Screencap taken on 7/28/2022 of my commission on their Trello: -Kev0855: Paid / Sketch in progress I ask for there Trello to keep up to date with there progress without bugging them too much. (I tend to bug people/Artist with questions a lot) We talk about some IRL things between these 2 caps of our DMS* This was my 1 and only draft of the commission that I've got so far and this is about 3-4 months into this commission 4/28/21-7/28/21 I'm very patient with people and I knew they had commissions ahead of me from there Trello but I don't hear from them till 7/28/22 ( 1 year later ) during this year gap, I went through IRL issues so I wasn't always online. So I didn't reach out during this time till I got settled down and was able to check-in on things. Never got any updates or messages from them either during this gap year. At this point I started to ask around to friends and other artist in the community about this delay and lack of communication from this artist without saying who they were just incase they were going Real IRL Issues. Most people said I should say something to the discord Higher-ups(Admins/Mods) about this ongoing issues. On 7/28/22 I try to press on what's happening and why it was taking so long. I try to give them a out by offering to just drop the whole 2 piece commission and just doing a refund so that its 1 less commission to have to deal with. I figured that they might have taken on more commissions then what they could handle at this point and I was trying to lessen there load. They reverse the choice back to me and letting me know of a IRL issues. I figured that with the IRL issues and that it didn't seem to be that much of issue doing my 2 piece commission that i would ask how long would they think they need to finish. They said that they hope to have ALL the YCHs done in 2 weeks time starting from that next Sunday (7/31/22) 2 weeks later being Sunday (8/14/22). This is being the 1st IRL issues delay. I wait 2 weeks and poke them again to see what's happening. On 8/14/22, They let me know that they plan on finishing all their YCHs by the end of August and that my commission was next in queue. They offer a apologue on the delay and a choice between a refund or again offering a extra small piece added to the commission. I didn't want to put more work on there plate and I just wanted to have the art finished and 1 more thing of there plate. This is being the 2nd IRL issues delay. For a month I gave a little *poke* here and there to see how things are going and to see if they have any updates on what's happening since there Trello hasn't been update since July 8th 2022. On 9/4/22 they update me after me asking that 1st piece needs the shading done and starting colors on the 2nd piece. They reminded me that I got 2 commissions, At the time I was taken back by that statement but I ignore it cause I just wanted by 2 Piece commission that I've been waiting for over a year now done. On 9/26/22 they let me know about another IRL Issue that delayed them from reaching out to me about what's happening and from any progress on any commissions. They claim to have called out of work to go home and finish my Commission that night. They Again Apologies for the delay/issues. My DM on 10/22/22 was made to let them know that I knew that they went to TwitchCon cause they had it as their Discord Status before and during TwitchCon. This last cap is the last of the DMs at this time 12/19/22 8am. There are 4 months worth of DMs in 1 screencap and more IRL issues.

On August 1, 2021, I reached out to Tori through google forms to apply for a 3D bust commission. It was on August 2, 2021 that I was contacted through Twitter DMs letting me know that my character had been selected for the slot. I replied on August 3, 2021 and was given a paypal invoice the same day. The cost of the 3D bust shot was $150.00 USD, which was something I had actively saved up to purchase. I had wanted a 3D bust of my character for awhile and it seemed that it had practically fallen into my lap. I was really excited to work with Tori and was hopeful things would go well, especially since they were incredibly active on social media and had done a pretty incredible ArtFight piece that really caught my eye. Communication was great at first. I got pretty regular updates and when they couldn't provide one, I was usually always notified and they typically got in touch with me awhile after. This didn't bother me at first because I always ended up getting a WIP shot in the end. I get it, life gets in the way, most of us work day jobs or we're in school. It's fine. A little patience goes a long way and god knows we all need some patience with how the world has been. Issues started up when I did not hear from Tori as regularly as before, which started up in September of 2021. They'd go a month or two without saying anything, but usually got back to me whenever I'd gently nudge them for updates. This really isn't an issue, but it was a lead up to a bigger problem. After January 9 of 2022, I did not hear from Tori for over six months. They posted about a move that had not gone well in late February, which I felt bad that they had to go through such a thing, so I didn't nudge them again until April, then June. It was only June 21 that I ended up hearing from them and this was after I posted a small beware. I got some WIP shots, which I was very happy with. Things seemed to get better for a bit until they decided to ghost me again. The last I heard from Tori was August 24 and this was after I became incredibly frustrated. My messages were being read, but I was not being communicated to. At this point, I just wanted my files. I have had people reach out to me who are more than willing to finish what Tori will not. They have not read any of my messages since August 24 of this year. I'm at the end of my rope and beyond frustrated by this entire ordeal. I know I have a semi-finished product, but it is not being given to me by an artist who has horrid communication skills and even worse business practices. The last thing I want to do is damage someone's career but this is entirely unfair on me. I do not advise anyone to commission Tori if they ever return to social media. I am deeply upset with myself for not issuing a chargeback when I still could, as $150.00 USD is not a small amount of money. All DMs are organized 1 - 19, please read them in numerical order.

I came across SpiritOfStars's YCH through someone else I Watch on DA and have commissioned before, I had a bit of extra money and it looked like a nice style so I commented on the YCH letting them know I'd be sending a note. I sent the note that day, 20th of August 2021, and things progressed quickly after that. Note: All communication was via deviantart Notes, and the reading order is from bottom to top. I was also added to her queue on the original post. Things started off well; I received and paid the invoice on the 23rd/24th of August 2021 and at the same time I received a lined WIP. A few months later, in December, I was organising my folders of commissioned art and realised I only had this WIP, I had it in my head that this was already finished so I went looking through my notes for the link, and upon finding none I sent a note asking after it. Spirit replied pretty quickly with an update on the progress. I apologised for my mistake and was happy with this update. A bit over a month later on the 30th of January 2022, I decided to check in again. Once again I got a fast response, though this time I was advised that she had injured her finger, which had/would cause delays. While I wish she had reached out about this herself rather than me having to ask, I wasn't too bothered and was happy to wait as so far she was really responsive whenever I reached out (something I mentioned to her). I requested a pic of the updated WIP though, as I had just discovered this site and thought it best to make sure I wasn't being fobbed off. A couple days later I hadn't heard back yet so I sent another message just in case she had forgotten. A few days later I got a response with the new WIP. I was really happy to get this response and this WIP, little did I know this was to be the last message I ever received from her. I sent my response thanking her for the update, but to this day it remains unread. In March I sent a message checking in, but it was not responded to, though it shows as Read. I followed up again in April, this note was Read as well, asking if she preferred a different contact method, since I figured maybe she just wasn't logging in to dA much anymore (I had not noticed that the Notes were Read until prepping for this Beware). I didn't send another Note until this month (September 2022), but in the mean time I continued to see artists I follow posting Patreon rewards for SpiritOfStars, meaning she was clearly active online in some capacity, which made me feel ignored and was very frustrating. (I am not including screenshots because these artist's do not deserve their names associated with a Beware in any way). My next Note I decided to send a more harsh message conveying my frustration and requesting a response. This of course remains Unread. With no communication and it being over a year since the original commission, I sent one last message an hour ago (1/10/2022) letting them know I was making this Beware, and then set to work on it. I'm really sad that I had to do this, as again since it wasn't THAT expensive (even if I do always get fucked by the conversion rate to USD) I don't mind waiting if someone is having trouble, but all I ask is for is to be TOLD about delays and have my messages responded to. Quick note: The early parts are my fault as I forgot about the comm for a little while and so did not follow up for some time, and thus missed the PayPal chargeback window. That said I probably wouldn't have used it or threatened it as I don't want to cause that kind of harm to the artist. I even held off on this beware for a long time because I really wanted to resolve things, as this artist is clearly a Patreon of a lot of artists I know and I didn't want to make things awkward with them. That said, enough is enough.