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On March 2, 2023, Solari0m posted an 'emergency YCH' for $50. Immediately, I jumped on it. I had admired their art for a while and was genuinely excited to work with them. I got into contact with them in DMs and we began to discuss details on the same day. I sent payment promptly, and she confirmed she received it. On May 12th, Solari0m posted a tweet with a piece of NSFW art and the caption "I'm almost done with the ych, please send me a DM if yours is still missing!" so I promptly did on May 15th. And then again on May 19th. This is where the communication issues started. While she did confirm she got my message, she never responded beyond that, and from there, seven months passed. On November 9th, I reached out once more, and they provided to me was a sketch over of the YCH. At this point, they decided to redo the piece, because they didn't like how it looked. I was fine with this, because this meant that my art was being worked on. I received another work in progress in April, another sketch, which I loved and vocalized to them. I got a WIP two months later from them, which I confirmed I liked. From there, I didn't receive word for another eight months. I requested contact methods through Bluesky and Whatsapp that ultimately went nowhere as a way of nudging them for the art. I was unable to get WhatsApp to work (this is my own fault), and no messages went through, but I did reach out to them on BlueSky, which led nowhere. On January 17th of 2025, I requested a definitive due date. They didn't give me one, but said that they would finish it by the end of the day. This didn't happen. I told them that I didn't want the piece rushed and that it was okay if it took a few days, and then they provided me with another WIP. On the 23rd, they told me that they weren't feeling well, but that they were feeling better - I assumed this meant that they would once more work on my commission. I waited two weeks before wishing them well, expecting that I would get another WIP or... something. On Monday February 24th, I requested a definitive due date again. They said they would have it done 'tonight (the 24th) or tomorrow (the 25th) at the latest'. This did not happen. On March 2nd, 2025, I finally reached out with my ultimatum. They provided a small sketch as apology. At this point, I just wanted the art to be done and approved whatever they sent. They said that they would send the drive link immediately and then didn't send it. When I asked them for it, they said that their computer had been updating for two hours. Today they sent me a link to the drive... which included all of the commissions they had done over the past two and a half months (some on the days that they had promised me they would get it done 'today, or at latest, tomorrow') at full resolution. This struck me as remarkably unprofessional. I was uncomfortable that they sent other clients files as well. All throughout the past six months, they have regularly been completing commissions on their vgen, while consistently forgetting about mine. This was not a good experience.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/958083.html WHO: Ignri on FA WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ignri/ WHAT: Digital art. $180 commission with alternate versions and additional background through my moving fundraiser. WHEN: June 14th (6/14/17), and ongoing EXPLAIN: User commissioned me for a commission through my moving fundraiser. After they approved the sketch, they decided to get a partial refund to buy a similar commission elsewhere to “save money.” After the conversation, I told them I would be giving them their refund in 2-3 business days after the money transferred back into my account from my bank, but they filed a dispute against the invoice and refused to let me properly refund them for the commission when the funds became available. The user approached me wanting to get a commission through my moving fundraiser with an alternate version and a background added to the piece. He sent in an order form with all of his information for the commission, and I reviewed it and quoted him the price of the commission on June 14. He agreed to the price and paid it same-day. FA note commission quote and agreement: https://www.dropbox.com/s/scda3kskug1yisl/AB_Ingri_01.png?dl=0 Paid invoice: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k7h6brggzw59aqw/AB_Ingri_003.jpg?dl=0 Commissioner notifying me of paid invoice: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1c3bv6ci9ofecy/AB_Ignri_02.png?dl=0 Because of a bigger log of commissions I’ve gotten through the fundraiser, I was able to get the sketches done for him to review the next week. The sketches were done and sent to the commissioner on June 20. He responded positively to the work, so I was confident to continue working on the commission to completion within the next couple days. Sketches completed and delivered: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ykdw77beap7zfy4/com_Weavile2_Ignri_v1.jpg?dl=0 - NSFW https://www.dropbox.com/s/ca3qq5pos1bdtvl/com_Weavile2_Ignri_v2.jpg?dl=0 - NSFW Positive response to receiving the sketches: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wg1cv7nae5tu3fx/AB_Ignri_03.png?dl=0 The next morning on June 21 I received another note from the commissioner stating that he wanted me to put a hold on his commission, as he was waiting to hear back from another artist that was doing a similar piece for him and he was considering requesting a partial refund from me to “save some money.” I responded explaining I couldn’t hold the commission, as the commissions through the fundraiser were meant for the fundraiser only (all fundraiser commissions had freebies for the fundraiser ONLY) and it was going to be ending at the end of the month. I asked him in the same response to let me know quickly whether or not he wanted the refund, as I would need to make time to transfer that money back into my PayPal from my bank immediately for him. His note: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8w5oe7r9w5cchtr/AB_Ignri_04.png?dl=0 My response with two of his questions: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nhgpv85hscs9bu8/Screen Shot 2017-06-22 at 3.07.48 PM.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/jb47h7vncmz73n8/AB_Ignri_05.png?dl=0 This led to a series of notes of him asking me questions regarding the commission, and me responding to those questions as concisely and clearly as possible while asking again if he wanted the refund. I explained to him that the partial refund total would be $140, where the original first version sketch would be $25, and the alternative second version would be $15, totalling $40. I also explained that I wouldn’t be able to continue the commission later, because on top of moving at the end of the month I’m starting a new full time job and having a backlog of commissions wouldn’t be timely or ideal for my schedule. I started becoming uncomfortable with the conversation, and thinking back to his original reason for the refund that I found to be rather skeevy, I decided to explain that I would be cancelling the commission and refunding him for his partial refund he told me he was already considering. FA note chain: 1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/lt3ikfpt6u51yxr/AB_Ignri_06.png?dl=0 2. https://www.dropbox.com/s/q0tb67fj7ek3r69/AB_Ignri_07.png?dl=0 3. https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7jo3thortzcjxg/AB_Ignri_08.png?dl=0 The refund being transferred to PayPal from my bank: https://www.dropbox.com/s/63j36vp3i0zi8vs/TRANSFERFROMBANK.png?dl=0 He responded in defense to having his commission cancelled and refunded (linked above as number 3 under the FA note chain). I responded to this by noting him the completed sketch files that were finished for his commission that his $40 expense paid for, and that I would note him as soon as the transfer for his refund completed and the money was sent back to him on PayPal. After some time, he responded to me in defense once again. His note: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfq407aao4qhizq/AB_Ignri_09.png?dl=0 I responded to his note clearing the air of why he was refunded and my stance on the situation, and that I no longer wished to continue this topic of conversation and the only notice he would get from me was when his refund was available and that I transferred the money back to him. My response: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rqk5a1ht5hqs1p4/AB_Ignri_10.png?dl=0 He had read it, but never responded to my note. On June 22nd, I came home to find over $100 in the red in my PayPal account and an unresolved dispute issued by the commissioner, stating it was a precaution for “just in case.” My girlfriend sent me money to get me out of the red. Dispute and bank transfer: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9pa0dywv1t25jpk/AB_INGRI_PAYPAL_02.png?dl=0 I contacted the commissioner on FA regarding the dispute. (At the time I referred to it as a chargeback, as I was mistaken. I realized after the fact this wasn’t a chargeback, but a filed dispute with the commissioner. I got confused since the funds had been taken out of my balance and assumed the taken funds = chargeback.) I explained that because he filed it, all the funds for the FULL amount of the commission ($180) were immediately taken from my account, and that wasn’t the agreed upon refund total of $140. I further explained that, because of the dispute, he would not be receiving his refund when it arrived from my bank because he wasn’t entitled to the full $180 amount. My note regarding the dispute: https://www.dropbox.com/s/crm79s1m8ynlo6u/AB_Ignri_11.png?dl=0 Instead of speaking to me directly, I found that the commissioner was using PayPal’s Resolution Center to relay information, so I chose to respond there. Eventually after a brief back-and-forth, he stopped using the Resolution Center and replied to my note on FA. First Resolution Center conversation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3gcregue1qj2x2r/AB_Ingri_PAYPAL_01.jpg?dl=0 I tried to work with him in resolving the case one-on-one, despite the nature of his replies. I had gotten the refund earlier than expected and explained that I was readily available to issue him his partial refund when the claim was canceled, as I couldn’t refund the agreed partial $140 amount through the invoice if the claim was still open. It was forcing me to refund the full $180 amount. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like he was willing to work with me. I couldn’t trust that the commissioner would return $40 to me if I gave him the full amount of $180. Conversation about the dispute (I mistakenly referred to it as a chargeback at the time): https://www.dropbox.com/s/edbs1jf05jrwyt1/chargebacknotes.jpg?dl=0 I updated the Resolution Center messages stating I was ready to refund the commissioner once the dispute was canceled. PayPal Resolution Center conversation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsagu2pumaqss2z/PayPalResolutionContinued.jpg?dl=0 (The website footer was blocking a portion of the messages, so I had to get snapshots of the comments from my phone and put them to the side of the covered messages.) He never read my last response, so I sent him one final note to give him a chance to comply in the morning (June 23): https://www.dropbox.com/s/hbpv3gmfyvz4tig/finalchargebacknote.jpg?dl=0 On the morning of June 23, the commissioner hadn’t read or responded to any of my notes, so I contacted PayPal over the phone about the matter to see what should be done. The commissioner didn’t seem to want to take the partial refund anymore and seemed to want a full refund (as suggested in this chain of notes https://www.dropbox.com/s/edbs1jf05jrwyt1/chargebacknotes.jpg?dl=0 ). The representative reviewed all of my evidence and information right then and there over the phone, and decided to escalate the dispute as a claim right away on my behalf due to the commissioner’s behavior after I explained the issue with the refund situation. Though I wish it didn’t have to come to that, I did what I was advised to do by the representative and submitted the same evidence to the claim regarding the payment - me canceling the invoice, me stating the agreed-to terms of the partial refund amount and when the refund would be delivered, me delivering the sketches/work done prior to canceling the commission, my notice that the refund was available to the commissioner and him not complying or allowing me to refund him. Basically, every single note exchanged between myself and the commissioner. The representative stated the commissioner could either cancel the claim to accept the $140 refund now, or continue the claim and have to wait up to 30 days for PayPal to review the claim and it would be out of my hands until the investigation was finished and the claim is closed by PayPal. I had hoped he would decide to cancel the claim so that he could receive his refund immediately. He later read my note, but never responded. I looked back at the dispute and found that he had decided to continue the claim for PayPal to review: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dzfciwch5ou0ka8/underreview.jpg?dl=0 I finally did get a response later in the evening, and I responded to let him know of the situation as it stands now: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wsgn3wuq93spy5/paypalclaimexplain.jpg?dl=0 In hindsight, I believe I was rather defensive myself in my response to his note explaining why I was refunding him. A similar (but much less severe) case happened with this same commissioner in early 2016, which guided my decisions to cancel his commission and my response. I also know now it would have been best to leave the funds in my PayPal account for just such a situation as this. I had been transferring all the funds received from commissions for the fundraiser as soon as the commissioners had approved their sketches, as I was completing these commissions within 1-2 days after the sketches were approved. My thinking on transferring the funds this way was to make sure they were there during the duration of the fundraiser and so that I could organize the funds in preparation for signing a lease and putting down the deposit and first month’s rent on a new home. I’m honestly not sure what to do at this point other than to just… wait? I ultimately only want to be able to give him his $140 partial refund as soon as possible. I’ve been wanting to block him, but I know it would be inappropriate to do so as he’s still - despite this situation - completely entitled to his refund, and I don’t want to cut him off entirely due to that reason. PROOF: Chain of FA notes in order from when the sketches were originally delivered before the commission cancellation to the final note sent to the commissioner regarding the reason for his refund: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fqnxuigtd39b69f/notechain.jpg?dl=0 Chain of FA notes in order regarding the dispute: https://www.dropbox.com/s/edbs1jf05jrwyt1/chargebacknotes.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wsgn3wuq93spy5/paypalclaimexplain.jpg?dl=0 Quote agreement and paid invoice: https://www.dropbox.com/s/scda3kskug1yisl/AB_Ingri_01.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/k7h6brggzw59aqw/AB_Ingri_003.jpg?dl=0 Artwork finished before the cancellation of the commission and delivered to the commissioner: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ykdw77beap7zfy4/com_Weavile2_Ignri_v1.jpg?dl=0 - NSFW https://www.dropbox.com/s/ca3qq5pos1bdtvl/com_Weavile2_Ignri_v2.jpg?dl=0 - NSFW Dispute with refund transfer and full Resolution Center conversation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9pa0dywv1t25jpk/AB_INGRI_PAYPAL_02.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsagu2pumaqss2z/PayPalResolutionContinued.jpg?dl=0 UPDATE: I had called PayPal and spoke to a representative about the case, and they told me there was nothing more I could do on my end until the claim was closed, or PayPal contacted me via e-mail if they needed any more information. This evening (June 28), I received this e-mail from PayPal: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pg8dwwonrc66xi6/claimemail.jpg?dl=0 I responded to the claim: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ug92hs7046qlhec/claimupdate.jpg?dl=0 I received this e-mail in response: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vedz5or60tbav1e/claimemail2.jpg?dl=0 Hopefully the refund is accepted, he can receive his refund and the claim can be closed. UPDATE 2: I received another e-mail response that the commissioner agreed to close the claim by accepting the partial refund of $140, so the claim was closed in my favor. I've since notified the commissioner that the refund was delivered to him and blocked him. E-mails: 1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/43o1q5fzf9428hu/closedclaimemail1.jpg?dl=0 2. https://www.dropbox.com/s/un6qlp07fc4b78o/closedclaimemail2.jpg?dl=0 FA Note: https://www.dropbox.com/s/efoq411k83k6ayz/closedclaimnote.jpg?dl=0 Hopefully this experience helps others who've experienced similar situations with commissioners, and can see how the process worked for me so it gives some insight on what to expect in case an event like this happens with someone else. PayPal was nothing but pleasant with me and had an absolute willingness to work with me on the matter.

Originally inquired about a commission for dakimakura designs, agreed to the price and splitting it into 2 orders and 2 payments. She never showed me any Terms of Service, I have tried to locate them on her dropbox or FA page but have found nothing. All conversation was in polish, the screenshots contain my translations and the original messages, the dates are in MM/DD/YYYY. The first order was put in on 10th of December 2020, the second was on 2nd January 2021, she did not contact me even once between putting in the first order and the second order. She did not contact me even once between the first and the second order. (admin note, this was the ref the OP supplied the artist with, the reference has since changed but it needs to be added to the post.) After putting in the second order she did not contact me with any updates FOR ALMOST A YEAR, her trello had barely any progress happen on it, she did not make any announcements about any delaying events affecting the commissions. After a brief talk about personal life in December (a year after the order) there was a 4 day silence, she said she will start my order before the year was over however that did not happen. After another week of silence I sent my new ref sheet to her and received the first WiP. After asking for a small change on the sketch she starts arguing to not do it and ignores my input on it. After pointing out a few areas that I wanted a few more spots on (cheetahs have spots) she gave a sarcastic rude response. After another few months of no progress updates I ask for one and get none. After another 5 months I receive a another WiP with minimal progress. It has been 3 months and I have received no further communication or updates, the second order has not even been started by her. She is active and draws but never any commissions from her trello. At this point I have given up on these orders, I know she will never finish them, I have accepted this financial loss. It has been almost 2 years so PayPal wont help me about this.

10/30/23: I initially purchased a custom fursuit collar from RegallyWild, in-person, in the dealer's den of Furpocalypse 2023. I was out of fursuit while looking at the collars in the den. The vendor overheard me say to my partner that, while I really liked one of the collars, I didn't think it would fit on me when I was in suit. They suggested I purchase it, take it back to my room, try it on, and return it if the fit was not correct. I did this and found, as suspected, the collar did not fit, so I returned to the vendor's table. When I arrived for my refund, the vendor suggested that, rather than refund me, they'd prefer to custom make me a new collar - same pattern and materials - and ship it to me after the convention was over, with the shipping being at their expense. I thought this was very generous and agreed. I provided my name, address, and contact details, which they wrote down in front of me, and I handed them back the too-small collar while they kept my money via credit card transaction. 11/11/23: About two weeks later, I had not heard from them, so I decided to reach out via email. They responded almost immediately, verifying my recollection of events, and letting me know they'd been sick and promising the order would "be heading out next week." Since a specific timeline had been provided, I was looking for follow-up in the next week. That didn't happen. 12/02/23: Three weeks later, I reached out again. I was concerned because I knew I'd be out of the country for a few weeks and may have had to arrange for someone to receive my mail if a package was going to be delivered. This email received no response at all. 12/18/23: Two weeks later, despite being out of the country and in a vastly different time zone, I tried reaching out again. This time, they replied the next day, saying that spikes for the collar were out of stock - odd, since they were supposedly ready to send it one month prior. Strangely, they also offered to send "the rest of the order" before the collar. The collar was the only thing I had purchased, so this was confusing. Since there were no other items to be sent, I told them I was fine to wait for the collar to be completed, because I saw no other option. Also confusing was that one of the emails referenced providing a phone number, but there was no phone number in the message at all. This would be the last time the RegallyWild ever spoke to me. 01/26/2024: Around five weeks later, I was back in the states and had not heard anything. I reached out again, and additionally requested the phone number they had previously offered to provide. This email received no response. 02/01/2024: Due to the complete lack of contact, I followed up more quickly, one week later, requesting a status update. This email also received no response. 02/06/2024: Five business days later, I reached out again. As it had now been nearly two months since they had responded to anything, I felt my only course of action was to request a refund or initiate a chargeback. I know chargebacks can be hard on small businesses, so I felt I owed them a chance to correct the issue before contacting my credit card issuer. This email was not responded to. Unfortunately, I was unable to initiate a chargeback because I had provided them with too much leeway. My issuer would not dispute the charge because it was older than 90 days and neither would Square, RegallyWild's payment processor. 02/15/2024: About two weeks later, I noticed they had posted new work on Twitter. In desperation, I looked to try that avenue to contact them, but they had their DMs closed. I tried replying to the post, which went unanswered. At this point, I presumed maybe something had happened to them or they had gone out of business. 05/24/2024: Nearly six months after their last contact, I noticed RegallyWild running banner ads on FurAffinity. I followed the ads to their website and learned they were still taking orders. This prompted me to reach out again one last time. This, of course, also went unanswered. 10/24/2024: It has now been just shy of one year - fifty-one weeks - since RegallyWild took my money and gave me a year-long headache. Recently, I've had another burned customer of theirs reach out to me via Twitter DM asking if I'd had any luck getting in touch with RegallyWild. Their experience was, unfortunately, much the same as mine. I've since learned RegallyWild will be vending at Furpocalypse - my local, home con - again this year. So, I feel it's important to get a warning out about possible issues with this maker in advance, in the hopes that no more customers will have the same issues that I have.

I began a commission process of a two page a comic from ectoflorist/kettucutie on Februrary 16th 2024. The artist seemed nice and welcoming at first. The total for the commission was $70, although I was given the option to put a down payment of $20 first and pay the rest at a later date and agreed. After sending the $20 down payment for the commission, the artist sent a rough sketch of the first page of the comic. On March 17th 2024, I then had the rest of the payment, which was $50, and sent it to them as well. Both transactions were made via CashApp. I've waited until April 23rd and April 28th 2024 to as for an update on the commission. But was greeted with a bit of a hostile reply. After apologizing, I waited for a response, unfortunately, the artist became unresponsive. I waited for months sending check up messages while trying to be respective of the artist's space as much as possible. However, the artist did not respond at all. Strangely, as I made the transaction and contacted the artist on Discord, they still seem to be active on there. Unfortunately, the artist's Furaffinity page has been inactive for months, and there's no other place to reach them other than Discord. On January 22nd I tried contacting the artist through private message on their Tumblr. However, they have blocked me and had not sent a reply. The artist is currently still posting on their tumblr, reblogging posts from others even though they've not sent a response.

On august 2019 i commission kitamonplush for two plush on her facebook page and payment was sent via paypal and i not ask for update because of covid happen in 2020 and i ask for 0ne on 5/30/20 she did give me a update the next time i ask for a update it was 2/25/21 she give me the some update it almost does. at the point i now some was wrong . so i look some of her other accounts now like her etsy page you can tell she make plush for her store and some people neve get it too the two plush was for my brother he die from covid i was did i get scam so i talk to her about it and we change the plush the next time i ask for it was 1/26/22 still no update and still not have be read so i make a new account and send her a message she did read it say have be read so i have mark it and now i have be block on my account bye her so i cant message her

I reached out to WetVenom in late October 2023 inquiring about his rates and terms. After talking for a bit about his rates and the character being drawn, we settled on $150 for a two panel, comic-style commission. I sent the first payment on November 1st, but we ran into a small problem. Because I paid through PayPal with a checking account, PayPal turned the payment into an eCheck. Since Venom is from outside of the US, it took almost a week for the transaction to even register, and by that time I didn't have the funds in my account. PayPal automatically retries the transaction after a few days though, and ultimately the eCheck cleared on the 16th of November. After receiving email confirmation that it cleared, I followed up with Venom and he confirms that he received the payment and will be starting on the commission. A little over a week later he reaches out again to reconfirm the details, and I verify the details of the commission once more. From this point however, communication starts to taper off. The next communication is two months later on January 17 2024, where I reach out to ask how the commission is coming. He responds a few days later asking to once more confirm the details of my commission, and stating that he's fed up with impatient customers. After confirming who I was and clearing up the misunderstanding, he then says that the commission may already be finished and that he needs to double check. I ask him to let me know if that's the case, and then I wait another ~2 weeks before checking back in. This time he responds the same day, confirming that he is still working on the commission. I wait another month, March 7th, before checking back in on his progress. This email goes unanswered. I wait another month, April 4th, to inquire about his status. He responds the next day citing family issues are what caused him delay. I empathize with his situation, and let him know that if he wants to cancel the commission all he has to do is let me know. This goes without response, and I reach back out a week later. After reconfirming privacy details and format, I wait a bit longer, thinking that his last email was an implication that the commission was nearly done. I reach out again on the 29th of April to confirm, and he responds shortly after saying he's sending the commission later that night: stating that an error within the commission gave him some delay. A few more days pass and I send another email on May 3rd to verify if the error was still giving him problems. After telling him that I didn't need another commission and that I only wanted to confirm where he was on this commission, I receive nothing back but silence. I send another email on the 24th of June to ask what the status of the commission is, to no response. About a week later I send a separate, Ultimatum email. This too went unanswered, and ultimately nothing came of the PayPal dispute since 180 days had already passed since the transaction date. As of 9/27/2024, I've reached out to both of wetvenom's public emails to confirm their intent on completing the commission.

I am currently waiting on a fursuit that was first discussed at MFF 2017 and commissioned February 2018. I paid off the suit in installments with the last payment being sent on August 2018. The suit is of my Thylacine character. I was told that the head would have to be sculpted, molded, and cast as it was a custom character with no bases for the head of the Thylacine. This was fine with me because at first I didn’t mind waiting. As stated in below it was discussed at MFF 2017 that work would be started once it was half paid off around the beginning of Summer 2018. Now I do understand I definitely wasn’t first on the list which again is fine. Fast forward to early 2020 pre-pandemic. It was discussed the suit would started after FWA 2020 and be done in time for Megaplex 2020. Drakonicknight stated they lost a year due to carpal tunnel at the beginning of 2018 (unsure if they met 2019) and lasted until the end of 2019. I understood that, I know carpal tunnel isn’t fun to deal with. This was in February 2020. In July I messaged them again asking for updates. Now with Covid a thing, all cons, including Megaplex, were canceled. So I figured that the suit would not be done in time for when Megplex was supposed to happen (August 2020) Now in-between all of this in 2019 DrakonicKnight did work on pre-made partials. While to me this is fine but I feel that your actual paying customers should come first. I understand emergency situations come up and you need money, it happens to the best of us. January 2021. I messaged DrakonicKnight again asking for updates and to discuss a new deadline for the suit to be done. As seen in the caps below I asked about it, twice, both of which seem to have been ignored as the conversation jumps from February 9th 2021 to May 6th 2021 with no new completion date discussed. I tried contacting on twitter saying that I didn’t hear from them on Telegram and asked for an update. In April I was informed that they were scheduling a day for helpers to come out and help get things done. August 2021 I message again saying I tried contacting on twitter and didn’t get a response so went to Telegram at that time only the head needed to be sculpted/completed and that was the last point of contact. I am not looking for a refund on the suit. I would love for it to be completed while receiving the same quality that all past clients have received. However if it does come to it, I will ask for a refund, I don't want it to come to that since I would feel a bit uncomfortable seeing what was once to be my character on someone else. Pictured (I hope I can fit them all if not I’ll post the more important ones)are the conversations I’ve had with them. I also ordered a shirt from them (which is seen discussed in the pictures as well) but that also HAS NOT been delivered.

I have commissioned Wulfchow at the Artist Alley @ AnthroCon 2024. The commission is for a digital drawing with a scene commission, which was verbally explained in person at the booth to be a fullbody with a background. Scene commissions are shown to be offered on their social media, but the price is not shown as it was sold out at the time of posting on July 6, 2024. Payment was done through Square, so there is no use of PayPal. Instead, the only proof is my bank statement, showing that I had ordered from Wulfchow on July 5, before the scene commissions were sold out. On July 5th, we had exchanged Telegram messages to establish contact. Afterwards, I attempted to reach out for updates, where the screenshots include specifically my mention of a scene commission. The Trello link is all of their currently owed work from AnthroCon 2024, including the scene commission they agreed to do: https://trello.com/b/6FFKY0ug/post-anthrocon-24-queue There has been no indication of a response since my check in on November 16, 2024. The artist instead updated on their Twitter that they will correspond by email instead, despite claiming to respond to all outstanding DMs. I have reached out to them on the email they publicly supplied and am still waiting for a response.

I began the commission process with p0pr0ck on August 23, 2022, for a 3/4 suit including head, paws, tail, feet, legs, and additional armsleeves for $1600. I paid in two consecutive installments of $800 through Paypal on August 24 and August 25 2022. Naively, I did not ask to pay goods and services, and paid through friends and family as requested by the maker (this was my mistake). The maker had a public trello linked in their bio, so I was aware she had a few projects ahead of me, and knew it would be some time before my suit was started so I waited a few months before reaching out. However, per the screenshots provided, I had to borderline beg for communication, deadlines, and updates. I'd send multiple messages over the course of weeks that would go unanswered for long periods of time. I was hopeful when p0pr0ck began to send frequent updates around mid-late April 2023, as she was working on the head of the suit. Once the tail, head, and paws were finished, we mutually agreed p0pr0ck should send the mini partial out, however it took nearly a month after completion for her to send out the suit and for me to recieve it. With the absolute battle that communication was, and some of the messages p0pr0ck had been sending me about her personal life, I opted to settle for the mini partial and get a partial refund for the parts I did not recieve (feet, legs, arms). She had since updated her pricing ladder, however, so I had to manually calculate the cost between a mini partial vs a 3/4 suit in her old prices vs her new ones to find what the refund cost should be. I calculated it should be about $673. This number was agreed on by p0pr0ck. It then took another few months to hear back from her on my question about ETAs on the refund. The first $100 of the refund was recieved on September 6, 2023, with a message from p0pr0ck detailing she had sent it. The second installment came in September 20th, 2023, but this time with NO alert message from p0pr0ck. There was them more periods of radio silence before the 3rd installment was sent on April 3rd, 2024, again with no messages sent from p0pr0ck indicating she had sent it. Finally, around August of this year, p0pr0ck posted to her story for commissioners to message her on telegram, citing DM troubles with Instagram. I recieved one reply from her on August 9th, 2024, and have heard nothing back since. Given that the refund was agreed to on June 17, 2023, I have now been trying to get my partial refund for a total of 15 months, nearly 16 months, at the time of writing this beware.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/900218.html WHO: Peridotkitty http://www.furaffinity.net/user/peridotkitty WHERE: Furaffinity.net and Skype WHAT: 42 page comic with a Cover ( $1500/$3150 paid ) WHEN: June2015- Present(March 2016) PROOF: All payments First payment (Jun 14 2015) Second payment (Jun 28 2015) Third Payment (Aug 13 2015) fourth payment(Sep 29 2015) Incomplete cover work(From Peridotkitty's Trello): [COVER] NSFW Incomplete comic work(From Peridotkitty's Trello) [COMIC WORK][COMIC WORK 2] EXPLAIN: I work on an anthology comic project with my fiance which is set to be published. Both of us work on comics for this as well as hire other artists. Artist hired receive a retainer fee( I pay this) to start them off before moving forward. With hiring artist we also gather funders to be a part of the comic. There were three funders for Peridotkitty's comic (names are hidden at mods' request) Funders were invoiced through my paypal (I work under LLC) and funds were sent to the artist.Payments for hired artist were sent monthly until the full project amount was paid unless the artist failed to produce enough progress in a timely matter at the funders discretion, that progress being a minimum of 2 completed pages per month. Now if certain uncontrollable life situations occured, we are understanding and funders are notified of what's going on to give the artist appropriate time to recoup and catch up. If the required progression does not occur, then a refund is requested. Bi-weekly check ups were also required in order to make sure proper progress had been made and to keep the funders happy. Help to the artist for anything was always offered and provided if needed including editing, storyboarding, and scripting. The Beginning---------------- May 2015-June 2015 Discussion was made with Peridotkitty about the comic and how it would work out through furaffinity and eventually moving to skype.( Sadly,my notes will not appear past 1350 notes but logs are available [1][2])The agreed price was $75 per comic page(total of 42 pages) and a cover for $3150. During this process the idea of funders came about. Three were found and the retainer was sent on June 14th and a second payment on June 28th [SKYPE LOG 1][CASTING JOURNAL]NSFW More discussion was made about the comic and the script completion [SKYPE LOG 2] [SKYPE LOG 3] Sent another payment on Jun 28 [SKYPE LOG 4] July 2015-August 2015 References of the cast were provided in Peridotkitty's shared dropbox folder for the comic during this time. Conversations were friendly but quiet for July as my fiance and I were prepping for Anthrocon. Peridotkitty was contacted a bit about the dropbox progress folder set up for the funders which we shared with them to see the project progression. [SKYPE LOG 5] Anthrocon came and went and there was little communication regarding the comic until August 6 [SKYPE LOG 6] [SKYPE LOG 7] Correspondence during this month became harder and I believe this is due to Peridotkitty's Patreon and her owing a lot more work due to it. I was understanding of this and explained this to the funders.Another monthly payment was sent to her. [SKYPE LOG 8] [SKYPE LOG 9] No major progress was made to her sketches. September 2015-October 2015 At this point we became worried. I started to inquire about whether she needed any assistance with her pages.Attempted contact was made and became more difficult.No progress other than the sketches for the first couple of pages were done and Peridotkitty suggested that her public trello should be linked to the funders to keep their minds at ease. [SKYPE LOG 10][SKYPE LOG 11] [SKYPE LOG 12] [ SKYPE LOG 13] On September 25th, project structure was being changed where the freelancers were to sign a contract. Peridotkitty read the contact and found it to be fair. There was a tiny error in the contract (Wrong comic title) but was edited. (Contract will not be linked unless requested).Terms of the contract required a minimum of 2 completed comic pages monthly, withholding of monthly funds if progress was unacceptable yet gave the artist a chance to catch up in a timely manner before being fired and requested a FULL refund. PeridotKitty was set to fax the form...but she was told to wait until further notice due to the high cost of collecting faxes from kinkos. [SKYPE LOG 14][SKYPE LOG 15][SKYPE LOG 16] There was little to no response from Peridotkitty during October regarding the project and the funders were starting to get more agitated .On October 15th, she sent me a message that she had gotten a job which would take away more of her time [SKYPE LOG 17] November 2015-December2015 During November I hired my assistant Carmel in helping with correspndence with the freelancers. Communication became more sparce and Peridotkitty was spending most of her time doing other commission work and streaming. [SKYPE LOG 18] On November 15th, I dictated a note to Carmel to send to Peridotkitty seeing as contact with her through skype was becoming a major issue. In the note it was discussed the worry of the funders for the lack of progress and that monthly payments would be withheld until proper progress was made.[CARMEL NOTE 1] November 18th, Peridotkitty got back to me about withholding funds. During this discussion she also talked about making turnarounds for the characters. (Please note that this is not part of the project but her own doing). She even mentions that she was still refining the first page of the comic after months. [SKYPE LOG 19] November 20th, Peridotkitty was contacted again about the contract and the possibility of mailing it.Peridotkitty never provided the needed information. Afterwards the skype conversation fell silent. Rook dictated to Tia more notes to her on November 27th and two in December. [SKYPE LOG 20][CARMEL NOTE 2][CARMEL NOTE 3][CARMEL NOTE 4] January 2016-February 2016 Funders were pretty much unhappy with the major lack of progress and were ready to ask for a full refund. Contact was attempted again on January 4th with no response. Another note was dictated for Carmel to send to Peridotkitty stating that this is the ultimatum to keep her job. She was to complete the first 3 pages of the comic by the end of January and the next 3 by the end of February. Peridotkitty got back to me on January 11th and requested color armor references for one of the character as not having that stopped her progress. [CARMEL NOTE 5][SKYPE LOG 20] January was a rough month for us due to personal matters and getting the colors took longer than we expected. They were added to the dropbox folder on [January 28th] and because of this she was given more time to work. She had to finish the first 3 pages by the end of Febrauary.But it must be said that during the month of January, all of her sketches for the first 3 pages were not refined as seen in her progress folder and in her trello. Not even inked. Flats were added to the cover but it still wasn't done. Peridotkitty gave more excuses which we tried explaining to the funders...but their patience was pretty much over. [SKYPE LOG 21][SKYPE LOG 22][TRELLO 1: COVER]NSFW[TRELLO 2: COMIC1][TRELLO 3:COMIC 2] The pressure was on during February and I desperatly tried to get in contact with Peridotkitty. [SKYPE LOG 23] March 2016 In this time frame of 9 months she added flats to the cover and did incomplete sketches for the first 3 pages. Not a single page was completed. We decided to terminate Peridotkitty on March 20th and asked for a refend. During this correspondence Peridotkitty kept making excuses that not all of this was her fault and that blame should also be placed on me . I was patient, I was understanding, and I defended her when talking to the funders and kept them informed of her life situations but the lack of major progress after months was enough.She had the resources to do what she needed to do but didn't. She mocked me for paying in advance, for not having a signed contract and my overall position.The question of a refund was not responded to. What ensued was the following conversation: [Firing note 1] Initial termination note [Firing note 2]Peri's response. She takes little responsibility for not doing the work and adds the blame on me. [Firing note 3] [Firing note 4] [Firing note 5][Firing note 6](Question about refund. Peridotkitty did not address this) [Firing note 7][Firing note 8] [Firing note 9]Peridotkitty's attitude quickly shifted [Firing note 10] [Firing note 11] Her last response in regards to a journal I made which has nothing to do with this transaction. [Firing note 12] My last note to her where I cut off communication. I honestly had to step away. All correspondence has since ceased. On March 21st I filed a claim with paypal. Sadly only $700 of the money could be disputed. The claim was [closed on March 23rd] as Peridotkitty told paypal that ALL work was completed up til March and that I was just being an unsatisfied customer.This was through a phone call and we are requesting an email of what she said to post here. Paypal did not contact us to hear our side when making their decision so I filed an appeal. March 24th, our appeal was also closed and none of the money will be sent back. I am not fully blameless and there are things that should have been handled better. I dont think there's much of a legal standing in regards to the new contract...but that doesn't justify keeping money for work not completed from 3 people.A partial refund would be fine but after her insulting responses towards me I felt that I wouldn't be able to get a decent conversation out of her. Funders were notified of the loss and have been understanding and I am more than thankful for this. This is a huge lesson learned.I accept any critisim on my part to help me in my dealings in the future. [EDIT]------------ March 23, 2015 I forgot to add the final note she sent me in response to Firing Note 12 [Firing note 13] March 25,2016 edit Firing note 3 above has the wrong link. Correct link is below. [Firing note 3] March 26, 2016 update---- Peridotkitty has posted her side of this situation here and on her FA . Apparently her fiance was the one who sent the malicious notes against me (Firing note 9 and onward). Whether I believe it or not is another thing.I have discussed with my fiance the possibility of a repayment plan and she has left a message to her. "Rook was unwilling to deal with you at all... seeing as how an apology about how you or 'your fiancee' acted at the end; I'm sure everyone here can understand why. I wonder why you didn't put those up there so your fans can have context on why he stopped communicating with you all together. But if you are serious, it isn't about paying him back, it's about taking care of the 3 funders. He is willing to let you set up a payment plan of a reasonable monthly amount to the 3 funders. You can contact me for their information. He says you can pay back one their 575 and the other their 600 for a total of 1175. And that he will settle up the remaining balance with the 3rd funder himself writing off that amount as service rendered. It's more than you've done but he's going to make a show of faith as well as responsibility. He would like you to publically keep track of the repayment to those two funders, he also wants them to get the full 600 and 575, so you would be on the hook for the transaction fee amount as well." March 26, 2016 update 2---- Terms have been agreed to and Peridotkitty has been given the funder' pages to get their paypal information.Monthy payments are being scheduled. Although these terms have been agreed upon, I will not mark this post as resolved until both funders are completely refunded. I will be handling the 3rd funder's refund myself.

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.

Who: Holomouse Where: https://x.com/MouseHolo When: Apr 1st, 2021 & April 9th 2021 What: 2 digital art commissions This has dragged on for almost 3 years due to a combination of life happenings, and the fact that I was on my way out of things I had been involved with for almost a decade, and it sat on the back of my mind for a long time because of that. No WIPS were ever shown to me after multiple claims that they would be done. Initially this was for a 2 character NSFW MLP commission, but subsequent offers were made that I accepted (regretfully). Much of the details of things are blacked out to maintain my privacy as best I can. My first commission inquiry was in March 2021, and I initially made contact on Discord to ask if they could provide with quotes so I could get the money to pay them with later: After that exchange, they provided a quote of $135 for a two fullbody character piece, and I told them that I would get back to them after my next paycheck: On April 1st 2021, I paid for the first commission: Proof of payment: On April 5th, Holomouse messaged me on Discord asking me for $20 and said they would pay me back in a few days. They cited personal matters stressing them out and needing some help. This is unrelated to the art I paid for, but I did end up giving them $20 as a gesture of kindness. This also started the trend of Holomouse coming to me in private begging for handouts and money, and this happened multiple times: On April 9th 2021, Holomouse messaged me on Discord and begged for money, but this came with the offer of another 2 character art piece at a discounted rate of $110. I accepted this offer and sent the payment to them on CashApp. Told them I would give them the commission prompt after they completed the first commission: Proof of 2nd payment: On April 16th, 2021, the first commission had no progress, but I gave them the prompt for the second commission: April 20th, 2021, Holomouse begged me for another $50, and I declined. On April 28th, 2021, I poked Holomouse on Discord to try and see if any progress was made on the commissions. They sent back with an excuse: May 7th 2021, Holomouse came to me and said that they would be starting work on my commissions soon, but also begged for $25 at the same time: The next day on May 8th, they sent me a big message with a screenshot of a note that mentioned paying me back and other personal matters that they needed to tend to: Another 20 days pass, and there is no progress to show. Holomouse messages me and begs for money again, and shares an image of their bank account being in the negative as an attempt to manipulate me into sending them money. I declined: Another week passes, and Holomouse comes to me wanting to reconfirm the details of the commissions. I told them to scrap the details of the 1st commission and that I would give them a new prompt. Also told them to take the prompt of the 2nd commission and work on that one first. I would give them details for the 2nd after the first one was completed: On June 17th 2021, I poked them and gave them details of the prompt for the commission idea that was scrapped. It took them another 2 weeks to respond to this message: Now we jump to December 27th 2021. I poke them on Discord for an update and did not get a reply for another week. Things started to get very chaotic after this point, so my attempts at keeping up with this matter become much more delayed going forward: On February 11th, 2022 I messaged them and asked when they would be able to start working on the commissions. I got a response, but it was another fake out: Another 3 months passed, and on May 26th 2022 I poked them to try and get an update. This went nowhere: We get to September 21st 2022 and I poked them yet again. Took them 3 days to respond, and also went nowhere: More time passes and this sits for months with no updates. On February 12th 2023, Holomouse sends to me and says that they will be starting soon, and also wanted me to reconfirm what I had wanted. Blacked out section was a Discord screenshot of previous exchanges between the two of us: I changed the prompts for the art I wanted from Holo, and gave them references so they could start working. The references and details of these prompts are blacked out to maintain my privacy: Several months pass after this, and after confronting them on twitter I was mad because they had taken commissions and completed them several times in the times that I was waiting for the art that I paid them to do. They had deleted Twitter posts of their offerings, and also posts of them begging for money to the public. This is a screenshot of me responding to a deleted post of them offering new commissions to their followers. Note the username that it is a reply to: I had already contacted their other customers and clients that Holo had completed work for, and also clients that had waited for months for Holo to do art for them. There were several others affected, but this post is about my experience with Holomouse and not theirs. Needless to say, it was a big problem. After confronting on Twitter, this moved to Discord in private. They try to tell me that they will be starting to work on the art soon, and I was having none of that. This all went down on September 14th 2023. At the same time, I was trying to be merciful and set up a way for them to work with me and make it easier on themselves. They could pay me back partially with some art, pay fully in art, or pay me back fully. In their replies they mention that they owed back $2000 to other customers... We set up a payment plan to pay me back $300, and Holo also took an extra step and said they would fulfill the art while paying back the money they owed me: The next day, I gave them a prompt for art they said they would do as repayment: 3 days later they message and ask for a few clarifying details, and I provide those: September 23rd 2023, I message them asking if they will be sending the first $50 as a part of the payment plan, and I received an excuse: I message again after another jump in time, and get a delayed response: On November 16th 2023, I finally get the first $50 back: After this, I continue to get ghosted, and so I gave them an ultimatum after discovering from one of their other customers that they refunded them $95. The whole time I was coordinating with other clients of theirs to try and pressure them at the same time as one another, but this did not work out. Holomouse had already started to pay me back, and then decided to tell me that they are prioritizing other clients money before mine. I informed them that I would be making a beware post to this site, and they acknowledged this. As of now, they still owe me back $250, and they have scrubbed their Twitter account of recent examples of begging and some posts of commission offers. There are screenshots of many of these posts, but they have a fuzzy time format so they do not hold much merit. Holomouse has started to become active again on Twitter and has also started to stream on Twitch. I still want my money back and it will hopefully make its way back to me eventually. Holomouse is still likely going to continue to beg for money on Twitter, Twitch, and in private, but I hope this makes it clear how irresponsible and manipulative they are.

Amtrask reached out to me and requested I make them a plush on Nov 14th 2023. We went back and forth a bit discussing this. They wanted a plush that looked like their OC, a human named Max. I said I would do this for $250. They agreed. However they said they had issues with their bank card. I said this was fine and we agreed on split payments. Here's the story of our transaction. Amtrask commissioned a custom doll from me and has received it. They were pleased with the plush and said quote "Max finally arrived today, which was amazing and such a relief! He's gorgeous!". They also received the fabric they requested. The only request I received was to send them more of the fabric from my sewing supplies, which I never agreed to. I explained there was a misunderstanding and that I sent them fabric for their clothes. Amtrask was unable to accept this and demanded I send them more of my fabric. While making the plush, there were various stages that went through personal approval with the customer. Each step before I continued I would reach out to Amtrask and they would accept the work before I moved on. This was a long and lengthy process. I finished the body of the plush and it was approved by the customer. Then I moved onto the process of making clothes. The customer requested the clothes be made as removable so that they could play with them. Since these are handmade items, the plushies I make can definitely be cuddled and played with but they aren't suitable for rough play since they do not have safety labels or certifications. I suggested that the clothes be sewn on. They insisted I leave the clothes as is. The customer then asked if I could send the leftover material fabric so they could use it for their own personal sewing. Since we are at the stage of discussing the clothes, I thought this would be fine since the clothes did not meet their expectations, that way they could make their own clothes. I gave them a quote for the fabric and they agreed to buy it from me. It was sent and received with the plush they bought. Everything they paid for is accounted for. The only reason a claim was filed was because I did not send them more of my personal fabric, which I explained that I never agreed to do. Their next message again demanded I send them the minky fabric I used for the body. They claimed it was something I promised. Again I explained there had been a misunderstanding. This time I decided to block them as our business had been concluded. They were happy with what they received and only asked for more fabric from me where I was not going to be sending them additional fabrics. In retaliation this customer went on Etsy and began sending me aggressive messages. They begin demands for 1/3 of the payment for the plush be returned to them and the fabric they paid for to be refunded. I respond to them refusing the refund since they received the plush happily. The only problems you will see arise after I refuse to send them the remainder of my sewing supplies. I also make a request for them to stop contacting me. In retaliation for refusing the fabric and blocking them, the Paypal claim is then filed at this point. They file two separate claims against me. The first is for the fabric ($15.33) fraudulently stating that it never arrived. The second is for roughly 1/3 of the plush ($83.00) now claiming it was not as described. After I responded to the Paypal claims Amtrask sent me messages on Etsy attacking my character, questioning my character for responding to their Paypal claims. After not getting their way, Amtrask begins to refer to me by my legal name instead of my artist name. This is a tactic (in my opinion) to intimidate me. I do not go by my legal name online, I go by Starful on every platform. The only reason they have my legal name is because on Paypal it is required. I also believe Amtrask attempted to gaslight me, making me feel as though these events did not happen as I perceived them to. Except I have proof that they were satisfied and thankful during the process of creating their plush. I will also explain after I accepted the order and after Amtrask sent me several messages with revised references, they went on my Etsy store and purchased two small plushies from me. I will include those as well. This is why they decided to move to Etsy to begin harassing me after I blocked them. We had no previous communication on Etsy. This smaller order was in November. Unfortunately if you block someone on Etsy they can still continue to send you abusive messages as much as they'd like. Some additional details about our transaction. These weren't necessarily blacklist worthy to me, they just caused me a lot of unnecessary grief during the process of completing their plush order. After I accepted the commission, I explained that it would take me some time to fill. I wasn't exactly sure how long, but I explained I had other orders and that I would fill their order last. I gave an estimate but still explained I wasn't sure how long it would take. This is not the type of order I usually take after all. While I worked on other orders Amtrask began sending me their reference over and over. The pictures had very little difference between them, if at all. They would also delete their previous photo that they sent me so it was hard for me to compare. I did not save any of the reference photos to prevent myself from being confused, I have the first image they sent me as well as the final reference photo. You can decide for yourself if there are clear differences between the first and last image to warrant the amount of pings I received to my inbox. This plush was sent internationally. Amtrask requested that I upgrade the post, but it had slipped my mind at the time. After the plush was sent, there was a period where the tracking did not update for 4 days. Amtrask began to send me many messages concerned their package was taking a while and that it was lost. I reassured them to wait and apologized for not upgrading their post. I gave them the estimated date I had been given. In their response they projected their feelings onto me and were unreasonable. I tried to reassure them after this. I reached out to Etsy two days in a row on the phone calling to see if I could get information for them to comfort them. Even after the tracking was updated they expressed worry that the package would not be delivered. [removed cap was here] - admin

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/910500.html Included are links to screenshots of the journals etc in case of deletion. WHO: soaru@dA (old account) / hatchimi@dA (new account/formerly Dollrot) WHERE: http://soaru.deviantart.com/ http://hatchimi.deviantart.com/ WHAT: Digital art - Pixel icons x4 - $40 total (+paypal fees) (92 total icons owed to others on her to do list) WHEN: Soaru had claimed to have been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in early May 2014. We were all very understanding of her situation and that there would be delays with her commissions. ( https://i.gyazo.com/2d18a1584409cebc7fd6d15f3f87241e.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Carpal-Tunnel-Diagnosis-453965909 ) and then another notice to commissioners: ( https://i.gyazo.com/cda7fca79f835063a19bd737fd96fc10.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Attention-commissioners-454227201 ) I first noted soaru about the icon commissions on July 17th, 2014, then the agreement was made and I sent the payment the same day. (see screenshots in ‘proof’) Soaru had then made a journal on July 26th 2014 to state that she had unlimited pixel slots open for the summer ( https://i.gyazo.com/ff5ccf459452bb685191edc39e486352.png Journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/work-work-work-470968786 ) Unlimited slots never being a promising sign, but I am a patient person, and didn’t think much of it at the time. A few more updates regarding soaru’s recovery and commission progress were posted between August 2014 until August 2015 (I will get into these in my explanation below). The final update on August 25th 2015 was about her recovery and any updates for commissioners, and since then the account has been dead. PROOF: commission note paypal transaction EXPLAIN: As stated above, soaru had been diagnosed with Carpal tunnel syndrome. She posted a journal about it on May 14th, 2014 and continued updates on her situation. When soaru had opened commissions, I sent her a note expressing my interest, and the agreement was made on July 17th. I sent the payment the same day. On July 26th 2014, soaru posted a new journal stating that she had unlimited pixel slots open for the summer, ( https://i.gyazo.com/ff5ccf459452bb685191edc39e486352.png Journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/work-work-work-470968786 ). I didn’t think much of this at the time. On August 20th 2014, Soaru posted a commission update ( https://i.gyazo.com/1b08df12e524cd8658c41b2a8160a8c6.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Commission-update-476955835 ), stating that she was working very hard on completing her commissions right now. She asks for our patience due to work and having to take breaks because of her carpal tunnel. I was in no rush for my commissions and only wished for her recovery, as I really couldn’t imagine how awful it must be to suffer from carpal tunnel as an artist.. She adds “I did not forget about your commission, don’t worry.” The next update was on October 6th 2014. Soaru states that commissions are now closed for a good year or so. She tells us that she is very busy with work, so commission progress is moving very slowly, and apologises for the wait. I can appreciate that she is going through hard times, so a few months isn’t much to wait given her situation. “I will not update you on how your commission if coming along because there are too many of you to note. I assure you I WILL complete the commission as soon as possible. So please be patient with me. You will receive your commission when you get it.” And no, I have no idea as to when you will receive it, and for that I'd like to apologize. I also won't be providing any refunds. You will get what you paid for.” I’m a patient person and I could appreciate that taking unlimited slots as there would be a lot of people on her to do list, but looking back now, not receiving any kind of progress report on how your commission is coming along is a pretty bad sign as well as stating that you have “no idea when a commissioner will receive their commission.” But again I was willing to wait and a few months wasn’t anything to complain about given her life situation. (https://i.gyazo.com/83b4d48b277187c21701d02963b5f5f7.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Commissioners-PLEASE-READ-486724217 ) Between October 2014 and February 2015, there was no real update on soaru’s commission progress or her condition. Apart from posting a journal in December asking if her commissioners would mind if she used her new base for their commissions or not. (I requested to stick to the original base I had ordered as it fit my characters better). ( https://i.gyazo.com/934a152cd6297a6082aef184dc9e00f3.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Question-for-people-who-have-commissioned-me-498366584 ), though you could hardly call this an update. Finally on February 10th, 2015, soaru posts her public to-do list and an apology for the delay with her commissions. (https://i.gyazo.com/67931c13a0edf8575e38623994e9681c.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/TO-DO-LIST-UPDATED-PLEASE-READ-THIS-OMG-512941211 ) On this list there are a total of 96 commissions yet to be completed. At the time, I simply thought she’s stated many times she is working hard to get these done so over the course of months hopefully her list will get shorter and shorter, and she will get through these and can look past this tough time in her life. The next and major life update was posted on July 13th 2015: ( https://i.gyazo.com/8e096687c3b8c8bc92baef371ba68a41.png https://i.gyazo.com/7e8bc4738ff1ea001597797b8e525eec.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Life-Update-ADDED-546016180 [screenshot & link to updates journal linked at the bottom: https://i.gyazo.com/12e87e334c506d2f8477ef92f83e50d7.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/updates-447349674]). Soaru talks about how she realizes how unhappy a lot of her commissioners are with her services, her surgery and the date being under negotiation, and that she has been going through recovery. “I'd like to assure ALL MY COMMISSIONERS that I am not running away with your money. I WOULD LOVE to provide refunds to all of you, I cannot stress that enough. But I simply do not have the funds to do so. I know I've already asked you all to be very patient with me, and some of you have and I'm very grateful for that. I do not expect everyone to be understanding of my situation financially/mentally/physically, but you WILL receive your commission.” Her last update and sign of any activity on her account was on August 25th 2015. ( https://i.gyazo.com/0153602488fb599d70ff0bb7bad6a9fa.png journal link: http://soaru.deviantart.com/journal/Recovery-Update-556158826 ) A promising recovery update stating that soaru’s wounds are healing well, she still experiences some pain but it should disappear soon. She says she should be able to start commissions mid-September. She says she’ll be sure to post a journal update, as well as join.me streams of commission work, and finally that “You will also be provided with WIP's of your pixel so you know I'm actually doing your commission.” I cannot speak for everyone on her list but I have not received any kind of work in progress shots from soaru. Since then, soaru had provided no updates about surgery dates, delays, or any kind of work in progress to assure people that she was indeed trying to work on these commissions as she had been stating for the last year. Many of the comments on her page and in her journals talk about the lack of any kind of update given the situation and the wait for all of her commissioners. Soaru is even ignoring notes and comments from her clients. Many of the comments urged her to think about trying to refund even just a few commissioners to lessen her workload and to just resolve the situation as quickly as possible. Soaru also states that once her recovery is over she will be working her hardest to finish all of her commissions in response to another comment. I tried to note her back in January: ( https://i.gyazo.com/cf393ed24d2d8fe08285099283e79359.png ) to ask about changing characters since it has been so long that I had forgotten who I had even requested, but there has been no response. However, in my sent notes it is marked as read. Around late February, a friend and I (who is also on soaru’s to do list) came across a deviantart account named dollrot, but recently changed to hatchimi. At the time there was no evidence that hatchimi and soaru are the same individual, however we did find her art style to bear very close similarities to soaru’s. For some time we just kept an eye out since there wasn’t much posted to hatchimi’s gallery at the time and it could just be a similar style. Here is a comparison we compiled of all the similarities we found (style wise) : http://orig03.deviantart.net/d537/f/2016/154/f/1/comparisons_by_theangelofmemories-da4ubbh.png Over the course of the last few months we’ve tried to gather as much evidence as we can that links hatchimi and soaru as the same person. A few things we noticed: Her icon style is in the same style as her old one (they’re not made from the same base, but the way the eyes are pixeled have the same technique done on them, plus they almost overlap in terms of head placement over body) She still uses bases extremely frequently and they all have their toes pointing inwards with their hands by their sides with closed fingers. A similar technique with the way she shades her noses, and the highlights in the character’s eyes Handwriting comparison http://orig02.deviantart.net/06b4/f/2016/166/2/f/handwritting_by_royal_jelliefish-da6ck3m.png The first semi-concrete proof comes in the form of a work in progress shot from soaru, and something I noticed when I popped in to one of hatchimi’s picarto streams a few weeks ago. This is Soaru's wip screenshot with her file location atop the SAI window. notice the "C:/users/mew/desktop/file/cootiewootie.psd" Now, look at the location on this screenshot taken from Hatchimi's picarto stream. Same user name and location as to where the file is saved. "C:/users/mew/desktop/file/BASEA.psd" Along with the similarities of their style, noticing that they share the same user name and have the habit to save on the desktop is too much of a coincidence. Now, the evidence we have found that positively links soaru and hatchimi as the same person was something I noticed when hatchimi posted her artvsartist meme. She has since taken it down but you can still view it via google cache here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://hatchimi.deviantart.com/art/artvsartiste-611370644 screenshot: https://i.gyazo.com/ad467bb0d3af2f1e4794c2464916a57f.jpg A while back soaru had posted a self portrait to her deviantart, and looking at the two images it’s hard to think they’re two different people. Please note the same piercings and gauge in her ear as well as the facial similarity. http://fav.me/d8hcuq8 screenshot: https://i.gyazo.com/090fdf9f9535898df2d0febda19d16d6.png A friend had found soaru’s old paypal/email address through the icon commission transaction. Hatchimi’s current paypal does not contain personal information linking her to soaru, but with some digging with the ‘soaru’ email address, we have discovered it is used for her instagram account that has been up since 2012 and is still active: https://i.gyazo.com/b536e315ee2473202d9842807a0a1561.png When lined up side by side from the image from the artvsartist meme: https://i.gyazo.com/09f0a7f2270ec47712465a1e29420878.png The name that appears in the transaction for the payment to soaru from 2 years ago also matches the name on the instagram account if there is still any doubt that they are the same person. The evidence collected in this case was through a group effort from her dissatisfied customers I have reached out to. **Edit : 17/06/2016 We have posted jorunals on deviantart revealing our findings and to spread the word. my friends (who has been in contact with hatchimi to send her the beware post and to see if the situation could still be privately resolved) : http://royal-jelliefish.deviantart.com/journal/ARTIST-BEWARE-Soaru-Hatchimi-615658826 Hatchimi has also posted a journal with her defenses and some evidence of a conversation between herself and soaru through email, as well as a note she sent inquiring about commissions to soaru. http://hatchimi.deviantart.com/journal/Harassment-soaru-drama-615813488 Someone picked up that there is a tab open in this screenshot for 'msn canada' it isn't by any means concrete but it could confirm her location, and this could be another piece of evidence that links another similarity between them. http://orig06.deviantart.net/ce3f/f/2016/165/e/a/ccb568bad3054274b7fe6f00b4a87a34_by_hatchimi-da6aqen.png anoher edit: a user found a page in the waybackmachine that has her country listed as canada: http://web.archive.org/web/20151024030234/http://dollrot.deviantart.com/ So we can prove that she and soaru share the same location. A big question for me in all of this is that why now of all times would she choose to reveal this screenshot of her noting soaru about asking about commissions? Surely its a strong piece of evidence to support that the two are different people, so why wouldn't she send it to us sooner rather than this much later? http://img10.deviantart.net/289a/i/2016/168/6/a/proof1_by_hatchimi-da6mxv6.png (screenshot in case of deletion: https://i.gyazo.com/f95a0191f17fd6a7aa8e13112f34e47b.png ) At first it looks fairly normal, but someone commenting on the beware journal checked their old notes from before they changed their username, ane the previous username shows up in older notes, not the new on since hatchimi was formerly Dollrot until earlier this year, why does it say "Hatchimi said the following" and not "Dollrot said the following"..? Another commenter then claimed that it is possible to run a test on images which will tell you if the image has been edited, and the screenshot came up as edited in photoshop, so this tells us that the note screenshot is fake. Here are the websites one can use to detect a doctored image: http://fotoforensics.com/ http://imageedited.com/ Hatchimi is still denying that she and soaru are the same person, despite all of these new revelations, I will continue to update as more light is shed.

Back in May 2023, Aslley had finished a YCH I had a slot for. It was very late. It was a valentine's couples YCH that I had originally requested and paid for 9th Feb 2023. I have had late commissions before so I didn't think much about it. When I finally got the finished YCH in 5th May 2023, they also said that they were doing a promotion for a half body commission. I did like the work of the YCH so I was happy to think about a scenario and discuss. A final amount and scenario was agreed upon with payment settled on the 10th of May 2023. But afterwards there were no updates, so I reach out on the 3rd of June for updates and was told that they were busy with Pride YCHs and so unable to work on my commission and also tried to sell me a Pride YCH which I declined or knew anyone that would want one. Again no updates. So I reach out in September 8th, September the 30th and October the 8th. All of which had no replies. With Paypal's 180 days buyer protection coming up. I then started the chargeback process on the 18th of October 2023. Later that day I got a refund and an update by Aslley later that day. Saying that the Twitter DMs were empty and could only see my messages on PC. Said that they have ADHD, a spreadsheet to keep track of all open commissions and family issues in the last month. But said they would still be interested in working with me. To which I replied if you an start working on it ASAP, within the week then sure. I'll go ahead with the commission again. So I paid via Paypal again on 16th of November. I also added them on Telegram has they said it was a better way to get in touch with them. They also tried to sell me a Halloween YCH as well which I declined. For this new cycle, got a message the 16th that the next steps was the sketch. On the 17th November, got a message asking if I was interested in a Christmas YCH. But I said let's work on one commission at a time. Knowing they struggle with ADHD, the last thing I would want to give is multiple commissions and would rather let the work on one commission at a time. This conversation around the Christmas YCH keeps going onto the 23rd of November. Being keen to keep this commission quick and aware that it's now been more than a week getting any sketch. Reached out on the 28th & 30th of November and 65th of December 2023. Got a reply on the 6th of November saying that they were busy with family. But would be able to show a updates the day after. Nothing appeared the day after and I reached out the 14th, 16th and 19th and got a response on the 20th of December. But again no sketch or any updates just 'what are the next steps with approving a sketch'. With Christmas now in fully swing I held off until the 2nd of Jan 2024 to ask for an update as in the screenshot before. Again on the 6th and 21st of Jan will no response until asking on the 1st of Feb. And got a response. Said they were in hospital was finally got a light sketch. Just outlines, no expressions or anything to make it identifiable as my fursona. Had some back and fourth about amendments. And I gave the go ahead ono the March the 4th. Reached out on the 4th, 12th and 19, of March and no responses. But this time they weren't delivered. Only sent. At this point, life got a bit hectic and busy so I forgot about it. I also usually have a calendar reminder about the Paypal 180 days buyer protection, like for the last one. But this time, I accidently put it a month later than I should've. I remember about the commission and asked on May the 20th for any updates on the screenshot above. And no responses. Unfortunately but this time, the 180 days was out by 4 days so I was unable to claim a refunded anymore. I've also reached out on Twitter on the 20th of May but no reply either. I have also sent an email in early June 2024 but with no reply. If you think about the full picture, I've requested a commission and paid for the 10th of May 2023. A year on, there is a sketch that only has an outline. No expressions or identifiers of my fursona. A lack of updates and communications. But would heavily promoting other YCHs even though not completing the current commission. Tried reaching out on Twitter, Telegram and email and got no responses. But there are still active on Twitter, making posts and retweeting and 'last seen within a month' on Telegram.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1004177.html Who: AshleyZombie/AshleyZombieArts When: May 16, 2018 — July 11, 2018 Where: http://ashleyzombiearts.tumblr.com/ What: A finished digital painting for $100 This artist usually gets a positive reputation from her fans and community, so this might seem like a shock. No artist is perfect, and surely no artist is bulletproof. I hope any fans of hers will see reason, and not an intent to do harm. This is my story. About a week ago from writing this (July 1) AshleyZombie canceled my commission because of con booth prep and "personal issues." I asked her to not do this, that I was willing to wait until con season was over and she was ready. But she did not want to hear any of it. She then kept half of the money I gave her for the commission and sent me a terribly done rough draft of the image, which is not what I was paying her for nor do I think it's worth half of the amount she charges for a fully rendered painting with cleaned lines and refined color work [see example here]. I expressly told her I don't agree to these new terms for a half payment, and that because she is the one canceling our project, that she is breaking our contract. She then slapped me with a bunch of horrible terms from her ToS page, which we never discussed beforehand. I initially contacted her on Tumblr after seeing a post about her being open for commissions — which was back in May, so over a month ago — and we hashed out the beginnings of what I thought would be an amazing commission project. Not once did she mention her ToS, and furthermore that because she was the one breaking our contract that she has no right to enforce her ToS onto me. It's already bad enough that to be on her commission list you have to pay 100% upfront. But now that she's able to cancel any commission she chooses, and is able to keep half the money for doing very little work, is a VERY BAD business practice. If all you are going to do is open for commissions, then cancel the commissions you just took while barely working on them just to keep half of the payment, then maybe you shouldn't be doing commissions in the first place if you do not plan to complete them. I understand bad things happen in life. I am completely forthcoming about personal issues, and I am willing to bend over backwards to help you out if I can. But this is something I feel she is doing to take advantage of clients, who will mostly remain silent and let these things go. I did not feel this was fair for her to do, and I was more than happy to negotiate a new settlement for the work she has done. However based on separate terms unrelated to the canceled commission. If you start a commission for a digital painting, and the end result is a rough doodle, then I am willing to pay you for a rough doodle. Just to put prices into perspective here, she was offering commissions for half-body and full-body paintings, at $100 and $180 respectively. I am glad I only purchased the $100 slot, because if she considers what she gave me to be worth half of $180 I would legitimately lose it. Either way, the practice of canceling someone's commission and charging them half for very little work is most unbecoming of her reputation. I haven't even mentioned the communication timeframe, usually taking weeks before getting a response. For the most part I was quite unassuming. After the first day of making payment, on May 16, she told me she would be able to send periodic WIPs. About 8 days later, on May 24, she sends me a rough sketch of my character which I absolutely adored, and told her to continue on after making some small fixes on the character. Again, another 8 days of waiting for a response, and on June 1 she informs me that there are no updates and to check her commissions queue. That didn't help clarify what was her situation was, but I reassured her that if she needs time to just let me know what's going on and keep me in the loop. At this point I ask her to let me know when she thinks she will be able to resume or get back to me about my commission, but no response. Twelve days later, on June 12 she finally responds with an update asking me to confirm the color palette and eye color. I comply, and I confirm the things that are correct and things that aren't correct. However I expressed slight dismay at the fact that we never discussed the changes to the preliminary sketch that was first drafted almost four weeks ago, and that the changes needed were not reflected in the update. I even clearly stated the issues unaddressed at the end of the email, verbatim. She then reassures me that the corrections will be reflected in the final painting, but I was already having doubts — my trust in her to do what she says was really all I had left to rely on. I tried to press on a conversation about the initial changes to the first draft, however that was shut out with another 4 days of silence, and finally on June 17 I received a response comparing the first draft to the second with color. At this point I was somewhat troubled by the lack of progress on the commission. An entire month has gone by, we haven't discussed the details or how we should go about fixing said details, I am receiving updates arbitrarily which only address the artist's concerns and not mine, and I personally found myself frustrated and contemplative about the appearance of the initial draft. So I withdrew my responses for a time, as it seemed the artist was not interested in having a conversation about my commission. I had the intention of responding later, or looking forward to AZ keeping her word that she will make the changes I am asking for in the next update. That was not to be so, because a week later on June 23, she sends me an email. "Hi, i hate to be doing this but im send out refunds to clients that's waited over a month or so due to the fact that i have con prep to worry and i've been slowly burned out with work. I've got a lot going on irl too and I've been stressed about it I don't think im doing this character much justice and im not following the guild lines too well with whats shown on the page. This character's been sketched and colored already so i'll be giving you a partial refund. I Just need your paypal email and i'll send you the full image when i send the money back !" Basically she's decided to scrap the project for her own reasons, but also — by the way — she'll be keeping "part" of my funds as tribute for her efforts thus far. Under different conditions, as I stated before, I'd have been happy to compensate her for her efforts. But the way this was imposed upon me, with disregard for her own incompetence by not completing her end of the deal, seemed to have disingenuous intentions. I sit on this email for about a day, contemplating alternatives and then I arrive at a solution. I ask AshleyZombie to reconsider putting the project on hold until she is able to collect herself and is ready to continue, preferably after "con" season. I was open to a new timeframe, and expressed that I'd be happy to wait. She refused, twice, and it was basically a one-sided conversation. Actually, come to think of it, the entire conversation since day one was very one-sided. I'm not very aware of many one-sided business conversings, but they usually don't end well for the receiving party. A few more emails, and it seems she's actively pushing for me to just accept what she's saying. From her tone, I can tell she's frustrated with my noncompliance and pleading. And to be fair, I am just about as equally as frustrated with her unresponsiveness and authoritative diction. I grind our pleasantries to a halt and let her know my thoughts on what she is trying to do. Specifically that I do not agree at all with her new terms for a partial refund for an item I do not want in its current state, at a price of her choosing. I lay out the barebones of our contract and how she did not complete her end of the deal. As a result, I asked that she consider completing the piece at full price — or that I demand a full refund and that she keep her incomplete efforts. Perhaps to count it as practice work or something to stuff into a sketchbook. I tried my best to be reasonable and logical, also taking effort to acknowledge her "apparent" hardship. But even this was met with incompetence, as she accused me of trying to bully her into not paying. I told her I would consider paying, but under arguably different circumstances. Nonetheless, seeing as how negotiating with her has gone so far, I wasn't optimistic that she would agree to anything else. Then she slaps me with her ToS. Which states that if the client should ask for a refund, and if she is halfway finished with the piece, that her terms would apply as such and a partial refund of "half" of the original commission price. And that would make sense, if I were the one requesting the refund. I even told her if I initiated the refund, I would be okay with paying half. But that isn't the case by far, and the complete opposite is true. She has termination terms, but she's exempt from terminating herself? And because she's broken contract, I don't understand how her terms can still be enforced. That got cherry picked to mean what she wanted it to, and as such she says it doesn't matter who initiated the refund. That if the work itself is halfway done then she is entitled to half of the payment. No negotiations. Had she simply imposed a cancellation fee, she wouldn't be able to enforce it. Our situation wasn't any different. That out of the way, this argument continued for one additional response from her, basically telling me that I'm bullying her, that her ToS are to protect her, etc, and that she will be enforcing her terms regardless of how wrong she was for breaking our deal. So far, I am taking this up an echelon with PayPal. Hopefully they will be able to resolve this issue where I cannot. And if they can go no further, I'll take it to civil court if I have to. It's the principle that's going to cause more harm in the long run, in my opinion. And not just from AshleyZombie, but from other similar-minded people as well. This is what I expected to get. [link] And this is what I got. [link] Still, the issue isn't about worth. It's that the original deal was not honored. We agreed on $100 for a finished digital painting. But instead of that, a new deal was shoehorned into this one, involuntarily, for a partially completed work for half the cost of the original price. Which I never agreed to. However it will be difficult for her prove what constitutes as a "half work," and what justifies "half payment" based on her ToS. Had this been a normal cancellation fee, I'd gladly pay it but... wouldn't you know it, I didn't cancel? Please beware of this artist, and others like her! Proof: Emergency Commissions Post | The original was deleted, saved on archive.org Payment | on PayPal Email conversation [PDF][NSFW?] PayPal case is ongoing! UPDATE (July 11) PayPal has ruled in my favor. The case is now closed! Proof of decision (July 10) I also discovered that AshleyZombie reopened commissions not even a few days after canceling my commission! This means she lied about her reasons for needing to cancel, in stating that she needed time to de-stress, etc, yet just hours later she reopens extra fresh on Twitter. In other words, AshleyZombie is accepting commission slots, only to later cancel any commissions she doesn't want to do while keeping half of the money given to her by clients. Do take note she leaves that part out, as if a full refund was offered. This is beyond reprehensible. Please be VERY aware of this before commissioning her. I'd offer to help revise her refund policy, but for someone to scam their clients like this I cannot bring myself to want to help. My perspectives on AshleyZombie have definitely changed after this discovery, and not for the better. Archive.is link: [Reopened Commissions] Rant on Twitter: [Rant]

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/968610.html WHO: Eltalite/Elty/Demu/Rhey WHERE: FurAffinity (x3) - https://www.furaffinity.net/user/elty https://www.furaffinity.net/user/demu/ https://www.furaffinity.net/user/rhey/ Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~demu DeviantART (x3) - https://eltalite.deviantart.com/ https://inkydemu.deviantart.com/ https://demu.deviantart.com/ DeviantART Group - https://whitevale.deviantart.com/ Tumblr - http://eltalite.tumblr.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/eltalite Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/eltalite (There may be others I am unaware of. I apologize for this.) WHAT: An Original Species Adopt Found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/18744417/ was sold to me for $250 and has since been reclaimed. I was not given a refund for it, and the individuals that are aids to the seller as well as the seller in question all refuse to even speak to me. WHEN: I bought the design on January 10th 2016. A dispute between me and the artist occurred sometime in October 2016 that got me blocked by them everywhere, including emails after an email exchange with the artist. The adopt was "reclaimed" on August 24th 2017 and after a brief attempt at an email exchange I was dismissed, and ignored. (Please note that I live in the UK which will cause time zone differences between me and the artist as they don't live in the UK) EXPLAIN & PROOF: On January 10th 2016 me and the artist entered an exchange via notes that displays my interest in buying the adopt in question. The artist accepted and I sent them the payment without delay within the space of an hour. (Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhBESqCaxDiUDFVS3EydDlvSGs/view?usp=sharing, PayPal: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiQUJHNFdFWi0yVjA) On October 2nd 2016 Demu posted a journal concerning the his original species Ferrin, stating that female Ferrin no-longer had breasts as they lay eggs instead of producing live young, negating the need for the females to produce milk. I posted some comments on this journal and Demu took offence with them and blocked me, on every platform they knew or could discover I was on. Now when I purchased the adopt they make it a requirement that we adhere to an agreement called the Ferrin Adopt Agreement. this agreement is updated regularly and I can not provide the version that I initially agreed to or the version of it that was enforced at the time I was blocked. The current version is here: http://whitevalestudio.com/athenaeum/doku.php?id=documentation:adopt_agreement . The reason this is relevant is because it was last updated on November 2016, after October 2nd 2016 when this incident be tween us took place. The oldest version I can find is here: https://sta.sh/0kw73r0l6sq which was updated October 2015 Now after being blocked initially I felt terrible and disgusted with myself to the point it had a negative consequence on my mental condition, so I panicked somewhat and emailed them to apologize (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhBESqCaxDiaGR3RUxRT0FqVGs/view?usp=sharing) . This didn't go down well. But being in the panicked mood that I was and the overly emotional state that comes with my depression, I kept talking (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhBESqCaxDiMnFveHFWY3pkem8/view?usp=sharing) because that's how I am. It's how I've been forged and is a sad factor of how I work no matter what. This I can explain, for those that wish to know. That also did not go down well (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhBESqCaxDiU1NQaXl1T2FTSEU/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhBESqCaxDicVlVVTNGVmt2QkE/view?usp=sharing), they blocked my email and I could not reach them (not sure how you "block" an email) so anything I sent to them after a certain point would not be seen by Demu, or anyone else with access to the email. The reason this is important is because in the version of the Adopt Agreement I was bound to it stated that if I wanted to sell an adopt I needed to inform Demu of it first, with me being blocked, I could not do so in any way shape or form. So this for me potentially dissolved our agreement as that can happen when one makes it impossible for one party makes it impossible for the other party to fulfil their part of said agreement. So by blocking me everywhere, Demu essentially nullified the Adopt Agreement between us meaning it did not apply to me any longer or the Ferrin I adopted. But the opposite could also be true as the full legal depth of it is rather tricky as it's essentially impossible to copyright a species based on a design and words alone, because of how copyright law works. So for me I was left in a sort of limbo, and wasn't exactly sure how to progress. So I settled on a compromise. I would bind myself to the majority of the Agreement as it was written on the date of me being blocked from contacting them via email, I would check Demu's account once a month to see if I'd been unblocked to establish that the Adopt Agreement would then be reestablished between us as the original issue was resolved, and in 1 year (October 2nd 2017) if I was not unblocked, I would check the new Agreement and decide if I wished to follow it, if not I would ask a friend to contact Demu and notify them of this and state I wish to sell the design to not cause a conflict of interest. i tried to illustate this ion the ferrin I adopted with the Artists Comment box that comes with everythign one uploads to FA and such sites (This screen shots were sent to me by Demu's staff as their evidence against me https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzhBESqCaxDiUFhKQVg0M1RmN3hHNVZUcEhnNllseHJzWkpN/view?usp=sharing)That was the plan anyway. But on August 24th 2017, a member of staff working for Demu contacted me and stated that they were reclaiming the mentioned adopt (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDibkJNRW14SlpMUnM). One reason for this is because of the above linked part of my Artists Comment box, where I say I will not follow it after the point of being blocked, and the others were because I keep a public list of the people that have blocked me (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8003830/, Print Screen provided by Demu's aid in case it gets deleted: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDicGlMbkJwelhFdnpqUmJUSUpjdFlYWXNWcHQ4) on an Announcement Board style Journal, this is to ensure anyone that follows me is aware that those artists shouldn't be recommend ed to me since I'm blocked, I can't communicate with them. trying to would defeat the purpose of suggesting them, the other is because I have a journal entry entirely dedicated as an apology towards Demu (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7838301/, Print Screen provided by Demu's aid in case it gets deleted: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiX0JCdi1WMzdEdUZFcl8tMGRZTUtURmM3LVV3). These are notices and a public apology which is in of itself an acknowledgement of wrongdoing. The apology itself was posted in September 2016 and in my previous emails to Demu I informed them about them, and yet are only now bringing it up as an apparent issue. So I responded, again panicking as that's just in my nature and as such it's not going to be very...elegant (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiWGNvMUlCaEI0SU0). After that my mind started to swirl with the idea I'd been robbed blind and so I looked up about how PayPal deals with the issue. too late as it has a 180 general limit after the original exchange. This lead me to worry, but then a friend calmed me down and said that it might be best to file a dispute anyway so you have a filed objection but make it so Demu gets a chance to respond. So I did, but the options of what was "wrong" didn't fit the description of what was actually wrong so, i just picked one at random, and filed my complaint with some of my argument included as well as my suggestions on ways to resolve this (Link 1: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiNzJobktUOWh6cHc, Link 2: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiTUNlNlF0aTRQYkU). This didn't go down well as I then received another email, that not only dismissed everything I've said but also made many accusations towards me as an individual (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiYjl0LXpmOHFTcVE). So to this I responded, with my friend keeping me calm throughout the exchange so that I could put things more elegantly as shown here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiNnJFSloxM3ItQzA. This email has been ignored and will likely continue to be ignored. Throughout the exchange since being blocked Demu and their associate has made personal attacks against me as an individual, which for me adds insult to the injury of being left $250 worse off. So for me they have established themselves as a scam artist. I once had further evidence that would support this claim entirely, but I have lost it since my laptop broke and my bookmarks did not import entirely when I used a temporary one. Anything else would be conjecture at this point and I'd rather we all deal with facts. I as an individual know my faults in this and can learn and grow from it, I can explain some of the issues Demu and his aid have with me but again that would be conjecture. If Artist Beware staff permit I will elaborate in response to any comments that inquire about it. UPDATE 1: The artist RamTheDragon has offered to do their own version of the design for me so I'm not using Elty's art anylonger. For free. The finished image of said piece can be found here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiVXJZMy1xd04zTUU) and here (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24790880/). They have expressed a willingness to be named, for their kind gesture. Also in my upload of the image here (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24790880/) which i have also Print Screen here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiMWpJZ3Zla0JJTVE). I have also sent an email, shown here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiY3FpbDdaVmR5Rkk), to Elty/Demu, to express my intent on keeping the character. UPDATE 2: The artist (Elty) of said Character has contancted me via email here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiWlN2dm9mMHp5SzA) and here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzhBESqCaxDiSkZ6YUtfTnVuT0U). The artist has commented below. Any future conversations between the artisst and I share in private will either be expalined or shared here, to help anyone that see's this Beware in future be as aware of what has transpired as transparent as possible. UPDATE 3: The artist Elty, has been entire appologetic about what has happened. It seems that a friend they trusted to help them manage their emails abused their position of power. This is presumed to be because of issues in their personal life which has nothign to do with either I or Elty. Their original act of reclaiming the character was not a power they were granted by Elty and as such the official statement by Elty the Whitevale team is that it never should have been taken and that the act was more or less a type of theft on their part, caused by a singular member of the team (who has now lost their position). So the issue is resolved.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/995528.html This imgur album may be easier to follow, but I will copy the relevant information in the proper template as well. https://imgur.com/a/vqw5xcR WHO: The artist is named Fr0stbit3 on Furaffinity. WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/fr0stbit3/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26222681/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/27231252/ WHAT: Digital art, solo character NSFW commission, offered by the artist in pre-posed slots. WHEN: Initial contact was February 3rd, 2018 when the commission was accepted. Payment details were provided on February 4th, and payment was also sent on February 4th. On March 19th, email communication began inquiring about the commission, and then a month's deadline for a refund was communicated and accepted. On April 20th, I opened a PayPal dispute to reinitiate contact. The refund was refused, and the dispute was elevated to a claim. On April 24th, the claim was resolved in the Buyer's (mine) favor. On May 1st, the Seller/Artist, Fr0stbit3, reopened the claim to appeal to PayPal. On May 4th, the appeal was denied by PayPal. Fr0stbit3 proceeded to post an unauthorized image of my character, using the title and description to insult and defame me. I decided to create an Artists Beware entry. EXPLAIN: This began when I asked for a pre-posed commission slot Fr0stbit3 was opening in February. The idea was a line of dragon characters in pre-made poses would be completed individually for the buyers and then posted in a group pic at the conclusion. https://imgur.com/m6Yru9V This is my initial comment on the submission page inquiring for a slot. Page is still available as of 5/4/2018. I inquired after a slot for the "Dragon Wall", pre-posed pictures for dragon characters to be lined up in a group picture. [NSFW link] https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26222681/ https://imgur.com/cm67HUZ Here is the note after the comment. I provided references and my paypal information, he replied with the price and his PayPal information. https://imgur.com/Qst1p6l As you can see by the date I paid the same day (with tip!). The payment has since been refunded after I filed a dispute, which the following screenshots will show. https://imgur.com/8Kje8Iz About a month and a half later, I checked Fr0stbit3's Furaffinity page to see if he'd made any progress on the Dragon Wall. When I tried to navigate to the page from my note inbox, I got the error "user has voluntarily disabled access to their userpage", which was a big red flag for me. He has since reactivated his page. Worried that an artist had taken my money and run, I tried using his paypal address to email him, and to my relief he responded the next day. He assured me he would be providing a refund as soon as he could, but couldn't due to issues in his personal life. https://imgur.com/LHNOaEr I expressed my sympathy and asked for a deadline for a refund, and he said it could be up to a month, but he'd try to get it to me earlier. After this, I had no contact with him for a month. https://imgur.com/fF6AtiY This image is read from bottom to top. After a month of no contact and no refund, I reinitiated contact via Paypal by opening a dispute. Paypal's first step of the dispute process is simply the Buyer (me) contacting the Seller (Fr0stbit3). I explained what had already happened and informed him I had opened a dispute for this reason. He responded with "I told you to be patient with me" while simultaneously denying he had received any previous email from me. After that I realized that he was not going to be willingly provide any refund to me, was providing no revised deadlines, so I escalated the dispute to a Claim in order to have the transaction refunded. https://imgur.com/qkgo9uV He proceeded to send me several messages on FA, urging me to check my email. I did, and saw nothing, until I thought to check the email address I use as my Paypal. He also seemed to be confusing me for someone else named "Matt". https://imgur.com/YKjhrvO I checked my alternate email and found this from him, finding out that he'd gone back on his promise of a refund and went ahead and completed the image. I found this surprising, as he'd never even mentioned the possibility of him actually completing the commission, he'd only spoken about refunds. I also found it surprising that rather than actually send me the completed image to complete the commission, he'd chosen to hold it hostage instead. https://imgur.com/yBjpVIW For organization and clarity's sake, I forwarded the email he sent to my own email address, that I'd used to initially contact him, forwarded it again to him and then reopened our email thread, so that he could easily see my prior messages and stop having me confused for whoever Matt is. https://imgur.com/gK4yCmt I used slightly sterner language in response to his decision to hold the image hostage rather than fulfill his end of the transaction. I made it clear that he had communicated to me that the image was not going to be completed, and that I had been waiting for a refund. At this point, I had no interest in the completed image, as this commission had proved to be an extremely frustrating experience. However, I was very much looking forward for this experience to be over, so I made it clear that if he wanted the dispute to be resolved, he could just send me the image and I'd call it even. He responded as you can see above, with a pixelated/censored version, insisted that he could not trust me, and that he would only send me the file after I dropped the dispute, reiterating it with two emails in a row, making sure to mention in both that I could not be trusted. I was honestly surprised to see that he had done the image, but he still had not sent it to me, only a blurred version, so his part of the transaction was still incomplete. https://imgur.com/WnHAltB I did my best to clarify my position and made it clear that the Paypal claim existed because he had failed to provide what I had paid for, and that if he fulfilled the transaction, the claim would be dropped. But he doubled down, refusing to provide the image, and also claiming he never provided refunds. https://imgur.com/qqWOPKn Despite my better judgement, I tried to make the situation crystal clear about how the ball was in his court, and that he could either let PayPal settle the dispute or provide the full image to satisfy the claim. I did not have much hope for the results, and I was tired of arguing, and made it clear that it was my final communication. https://imgur.com/GTO96pO He then proceeded to be far more public, filling my shoutbox with messages. I provided a shout back asking him not to contact me unless it was with the image or a refund, via Paypal or email. I then blocked his Furaffinity account. https://imgur.com/KwZcvIF PayPal resolved the dispute in my favor, and they forced the refund. I was content to drop this particularly frustrating experience and move on, but I then received another email from Fr0stbit3 informing me that he would be appealing the claim and providing screenshots to PayPal, and also threatened to write a Buyer Beware against me. I was not overly concerned, as the screenshots demonstrate several times that he refused to provide the image he was paid for. https://imgur.com/7AfpLsB A few days passed and the PayPal dispute was closed, again, in my favor. Fr0stbit3 responded by posting the image to his FA scrap gallery, which includes a depiction of my character and my character's name, with the title "Scumbag Wall", claiming I had cheated him. I reported him on FA for harassment. At this point, the situation has concluded. I have received my refund and am happy to leave it at that, though I hope the submission he posted is taken down after my ticket is reviewed on FA. I hope this Artist Beware entry will help provide context for this transaction and help warn other commissioners from attempting to do business with this individual. PROOF: All screencaptures are in the following Imgur album, as shown above: https://imgur.com/a/vqw5xcR Update: At this time the submission he was using to defame me has been taken down and his FA has been suspended, along with another user who was posting death threats to my shout page. Their suspensions lasted about two days.