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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1013574.html WHO: ToBeABird/Bird/Pheonix/Otternonsense/PB_Willow/@StrawberryJemma on twitter. Old known aliases include CynicalSergal on FA WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tobeabird where I initially contacted them and bought the commission. WHAT: 2 Sided Digital (Open Species) Bat Dragon Reference $40 WHEN: 5/6/16 May 6th 2016 to present day (ongoing) EXPLAIN: I specifically commissioned bird because they did the reference sheet of a character that I liked and I wanted something done of the same species. I had found the character through youtube, then found out they were purchased by someone, and actually stumbled on their FA page finally finding the artist behind the reference. I messaged them asking them to help me make a character of the same species. I asked for some basics for the character, it would wear a skull on its head, neck fluff like a bat, a long tail like a dragon, and big ears like a bat. They told me they didn't feel comfortable doing that because it would be copying their friend's character. Whatever I understand that though it is quite disappointing when generally most bat characters have all these characteristics. I was just thankful someone was actually going to be able to help make me a character from scratch with no images at all. I gave them some artistic freedom but generally its a bat dragon, it needs to look as such. The agreement (https://imgur.com/byYQg1X ) and the proof of payment. (https://imgur.com/b95ZIn9 ) Bird said in the messages the estimated time for the completion of the reference sheet would be finished in 7-25 days. So it should have been finished between May 13th 2016 and the very end of may, and if I'm being generous, end of June of 2016. Messages took place on May 6th 2016. The dates came and went, and I sat wondering what happened. I don’t feel like dragging their personal life through the mud, or trying to locate every single journal they posted about art delays, needing money or any other kind of inconvenience because there are many. I remained understanding and considerate during this time because it is the human thing to do. I am aware things can be delayed and people have home life and personal issues to deal with and it's fine because at the time the art was only a month late. Sometime in June or July of 2016 they did a stream on picarto and I saw the line art for the character they would be making for me. I saw them open the file of the old bat dragon reference they made for their friend, and they just edited the lines, as in directly opened the line art file for an older commission, and shorted the ears, changed the tail, the nose, the mouth, everything. The character didn’t look like a bat at that point, it just looked like a dog with wings. I do not have a copy of the line art because their queue/trello is no longer available. I didn’t feel like fighting them so I said the lines were fine but I really felt cheated. June came and went, July came and went, August was coming to an end so I decided to message Bird about the commission mostly to get an update if they finished or if I was able to get some things changed (https://imgur.com/A89OtmH ) this was mostly a message to remind them they had a commission due to me. Months go by with no update to their trello (which was available at the time,) I at one point in time they whispered me on picarto in October 2016 saying they hadn’t forgotten about the commission and they’ll work on it soon. Another time they said they would start working on owed reference sheets during a stream, and ended the stream earlier never touching any art. I sadly have no proof of these things because I never saved the messages and it was all on picarto so there's no actual saved evidence. I was never contacted again, nor did I contact them until they messaged me on my twitter in July of 2017 accusing me of sending my friends after them. (For the lazy, I don’t know who this person was, I never sent anyone after Bird, I solve problems on my own.) Bird's first message accusing me to of sending "my friends" after them https://imgur.com/ftj67RR the continuing messages https://imgur.com/ThYfcFM (obligatory "I know you've been waiting a long time," it was over a year at that point). Bird also asking me to find this person (despite me not knowing them) to get them to stop "harassing" him https://imgur.com/C5F0mHD . At this point I had started to scroll through the main feed of my twitter and saw Bird had tweeted these out https://imgur.com/SM68woa and https://imgur.com/Gp15wux . Whether or not they were actually about me I still made the notion to call them out for it since they previously accused me of sending people to harass them. Probably unprofessional on my side, but I also found it unprofessional to come after someone and accuse something they did not do. Also in the proof 4 they mentioned that my commission was 85% finished. https://imgur.com/sPv6Uzj and finally https://imgur.com/6m78KTM . Since the final message I had not received any kind of update about my commission being "85%" finished. I never received the line art and there were no updates to a queue, a trello or message to me. All updates from Bird of any kind seem to be journals about their personal financial issues. Their journals seem like a general place for them to ask for them to ask for money for overdue bills and vet trips or uber money. I had quit following their FA over a year ago because I was tired of seeing them open for emergency commissions and in stream commissions every other day but never actually show up with anything completed. If you just delve into their journals on FA you can see how chaotic and ridiculous it has been as a commissioner trying to get any kind of information from them. They have constantly locked, unlocked and deleted their twitter and since these previous messages from @pb_willow, they made a new one. I had to actually find their twitter from their fursuit business account in order to get ahold of them a year after they said the art would be completed in a week. I contacted them on twitter JULY 13TH 2018 The First Message https://imgur.com/PrvCE6Z My first message to them asking for a refund because I have been waiting over two years for this piece. The Second Message https://imgur.com/xTfAVy0 : Bird mentioning that on their FA journals (I stopped following them over a year ago) that their computer has died and they have debts to a cable company equalling over $500? They also mentioned to not contact them through this twitter and contact their art manager. The third message https://imgur.com/9ELAJAi They’re now saying they owe $900?) They said I need to wait Saturday to find someone to give them the time to use their friends’ laptop to plug their external hard drive into. I don’t know how long their computer has been broke, but why they didn’t get this done this as soon as they could makes me really skeptical of everything they’ve told me. If I delved deeper I feel like I would have been met with a ton of excuses. I told them I want either the art or the money whichever comes first, which sounds really rude, but it has been over two years. I do not trust this person to get me either the art or the refund. Every promise they had made to me has never been achieved. I feel like I have been lied to several times about this commission, and any time I have ever asked about seeing a work in progress I never see it, I am given a bunch of excuses among other things. I said I was going to message them saturday (July 14th 2018) but I gave them some time and messaged their manager (since they told me to) July 16th I messaged their manager https://imgur.com/vaPwZbF and never received a response. (JULY 23RD 2018) https://imgur.com/30j8Ww2 I messaged bird on FA asking for an update because their manager never messaged me back. I get a short message stating they sent me an update via twitter, which i can assure anyone, even if I could provide proof, I NEVER GOT AN UPDATE on twitter. Nothing else was in the FA message. Not even an update. Even if they did message me an update via twitter then they could have provided the update in the same message in FA as well to be professional. Instead I get a short and snappy message replying to me me asking about a commission that is TWO YEARS overdue. Message on July 23rd 2018 https://imgur.com/30j8Ww2 July 24th 2018 https://imgur.com/0Dctzas my patience has gotten very thin. I’ve not been given a real update, thus me lashing out. I’m tired of dealing with this individual. This is completely out of hand, two years waiting on a commission and I’m getting treated like I’m the one inconveniencing them. That Night July 24th 2018 https://imgur.com/6Vy6882 They asked me for my paypal email so they could send me the refund that night, later changed to when they wake up https://imgur.com/zmMAZLI to no one's surprise the refund never came. I gave them 5 days. (July 29th 2019) I messaged them to tell them I never received the refund https://imgur.com/UZixicK gave me some excuse about it being "summer in the south," (it's also summer in my state?) They have also seemed to forgotten that THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE GOING TO REFUND ME that same night several weeks ago because they no longer wanted to deal with me. But in this message they are accusing me of "not wanting to wait for the art." (Again it has been WELL OVER two years, I think we have gone above and beyond wanting to wait for this art.) It is now September 4th 2018, I still have not received the refund, only tons of excuses which is apparently the only thing I seemed to have paid for(?) I've checked their FA there's no indication that they've made an attempt to reach out to people to give them refunds or the art they're owed. I don't know how long it takes them or their friend to build a computer but over a month seems a little ridiculous (I know people work at different paces, but it took me four hours to build my computer and it was my first build.) Remember in previous messages they said they owe 14 people art that are stuck on their hard drive. I'm assuming since I messaged bird they have made zero attempt to try and retrieve these pieces for myself or for people by either a completed computer or by visiting a friend to use their computer. I have not been contacted to be paid back, this all started May of 2016, it is now September of 2018. Will Update As Necessary (September 9/4/2018) Most recent update (September 9/14/2018) Most recent update (September 9/16/2018) Sept 14th https://imgur.com/essiCtS (outgoing message) Sept 14th https://imgur.com/sTXgJvc bird’s message to me. I’m sort of dumbfounded and have zero idea of how to go about replying to this mess. This is where I get tilted and I’m sorry for that, this has been an emotional rollercoaster of all this back and forth nonsense. To recap: they had told me they “finished” the art (whenever that was) and I was never once notified before their computer happened to die. All this is riding on the fact we would not be having issues if they had either given me the art or refunded me when I asked a year ago. Several weeks ago they just told me they bought a computer (messages in the beware, but also here:https://www.furaffinity.net/journals/tobeabird/ in their journal where they also talk about going to IFC) So no money to refund people, but money to buy a new computer and go to conventions? JANUARY 4TH 2019 They sent me a PM in FA asking for my paypal and wanted to search through our notes to find how much they owe me, which I told them straight off the bat (eheh ) because i had a feeling they'd be searching for several months. In any case they finally sent me my refund today. So not exactly three years but close enough. Tired of ads? Upgrade to account with Professional package of service and never see ads again!

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/828121.html WHO: VCR-Wolfe / Bird Bones WHERE: deviantArt: http://vcr-wolfe.deviantart.com/ Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~vcrwolfe NSFW Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~birdbones Furaffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vcr-wolfe , http://www.furaffinity.net/user/raichul/ (old account) NSFW Furaffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/birdbones Tumblr: http://vcr-wolfe.Tumblr.com/ NSFW Tumblr: http://bird-boners.Tumblr.com/ WHAT: Trade, two pieces of digital art in exchange for an item I have edited out discussion of the nature of the item in question and why VCR-Wolfe was seeking it as I feel it is a personal matter. I will provide unedited screenshots to the mods if required. Journal inquiring about trade: http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrcommissionbbjournal.png https://www.weasyl.com/journal/56812/uh-question-maybe Notes establishing trade: http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrnotes1.jpg Emails: Note that D is me and R is VCR-Wolfe http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcremails.jpg WHEN: June 28, 2014 to Present PROOF: PayPal receipt: http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrpaypal.jpg One commission complete: http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrnotes2.jpg Checking status: http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrnotes3.jpg Checking status again: http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrnotes4.jpg Checking status yet again: NSFW http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss8/Crysanthemimus/vcrnotes5.jpg EXPLAIN: I initially commissioned VCR Wolfe on June 28, 2014 on their alternate Weasyl account when they posted a journal asking for an item in exchange for art. I had commissioned them back in May and received my art in four days, so I thought this trade would also be as smooth. We discussed the details of the trade through notes before moving on to email. Since the item was rather expensive,we agreed on two pieces of art in exchange, a mini and a flat colored sketch. I received the mini on August 15. Shortly afterwards they opened up for more commissions. (screenshot) A little over a month later, they posted a journal (screenshot) in which they explained they were very busy with school. I was sympathetic and was willing to wait. In mid-November, I saw a post on their public art Tumblr offering to trade art for a plushie. This was just days after they posted a journal (screenshot) about how they once again were very busy with school. I was upset because they still owed me art from our trade and noted them with my concerns. They explained that they realized how heavy their workload was and had already deleted the post. I was again willing to wait, and in December they posted promising to work on commissions over winter break. (screenshot) However, in mid-January they again posted a journal (screenshot) about how they had no time to work on commissions over their break. They posted on their public art Tumblr about how they just could not work over their break and how awful they felt about it. Despite how busy they supposedly were with school and life, VCR Wolfe has posted new personal art work on a near daily basis. Between their two Weasyl accounts, they have posted over 130 submissions in the 8 months since I commissioned them. They have set up at least three separate blogs (NSFW), including one with drawn ask responses although that one seems to have been inactive since December. Their main art Tumblr is the most active. Although it is mostly sketches, they have also (NSFW) posted several polished pieces of art since I have commissioned them. (screenshots newest to oldest: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NSFW 9) All of this while telling commissioners they have no time for art. I have been able to see progress on my second commission by noting them on Weasyl. NSFW At this point, however, I am just tired of the poor work ethic this artist has. As of February 23, I still have not received the finished second piece of art. Edit: While this was in the queue, VCR Wolfe and I settled the matter with them issuing a partial refund. I consider this resolved

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/937553.html WHO: xbeansrepublicx, Bean, king beano beano, _Selshocktattoo_, beanscraftsforever WHERE: https://www.instagram.com/xbeansrepublicx/ WHAT: 1 Full colour single character commission WHEN: Commissioned artist on Sept 20th 2016. After a lot of back and forth, asked for a refund on Dec. 7th 2016. Opened a Paypal Claim Dec 22 2016. Refunded by Paypal on Jan 2 2017. PROOF: WARNING FOR CRUDE LANGUAGE BY ARTIST http://imgur.com/ek3mvk7 http://imgur.com/KHztYU7 Here are the DMs about the commission's beginning and leading up to my requesting a refund. http://imgur.com/MT2bgUA http://imgur.com/2jYQQG5 While I was waiting for my commission, they posted these two rants, which made me nervous. http://imgur.com/t8fty7t "No Refunds" When I commissioned them, they didn't link me to a TOS (or have one posted), then they posted this and alarm bells went off. http://imgur.com/IEG3Zje "Packages Damaged" Artist says packages were damaged, doesn't answer if one was mine or provide photos. While I understand things can go wrong in the mail, I'm skeptical of this circumstance, as she never provided proof even when I asked. http://imgur.com/wn0jvbG The rest is pretty much summed up in this email. http://imgur.com/LtJTaH5 "No more commissions ever" After agreeing to refund me, they post this. http://imgur.com/1jx5yCL http://imgur.com/6xwZeMS I message them through paypal directly, and when they don't respond I escalate to a claim. I am issued a refund by Paypal, not the artist. EXPLAIN: Mostly covered in the "proof" section. I commissioned Beano, they started the piece, but never showed me the finished version. I asked for a scan and tracking number, they didn't provide either. They said they received the packages back to their address damaged. I asked for photos and they did not provide them. I never saw the commission completed. I asked for a refund, they agreed but did not issue it. I had to open a dispute with paypal in order to get my money back. It's concerning because Instagram is so easy to switch usernames and dodge customers. They don't appear to use any other site so it would be easy to change their handle, but there's nothing I can do but post about this one. 😕

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/999397.html WHO: undeadromance, cosmic paw creations WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/undeadromance WHAT: Digital Art WHEN: Ych was bought August 29, 2017. A request for info was sent February 6, 2018. No reply was gotten. EXPLAIN: End of August 2017 I got myself the YCH. Everything went well at first, the artist seemed to like my character and couldn't wait to get to drawing him. In the middle of December I asked on the original YCH submission (see proof) for an update, 2 months later I sent a request in a note. I never got a reply. Three days after it a journal was made with many excuses, but the note remained without reply to this day. PROOF: Original YCH submission (Screengrab) (Older screengrab that lacks the newest comment but includes the price) (NSFW) Paypal: Note: "Cosmic Paw Creations" is not stated directly on the userpage, but each journal has a footer with it. Latest note that was never answered and never read:

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/978069.html WHO: FruitSuit Creations / ClemFox WHERE: https://twitter.com/FruitSuits (Business account) https://twitter.com/ClemFox_ (Creator account) WHAT: Fullsuit Fursuit commission ($3,605.00) WHEN: March 2017 - Initial communication April 2017 - Contract signed, project paid in full June 2017 - First notice project was running behind June 2017 - Notice commission would not be completed on time July - November 2017 - Further notice of commission delay EXPLAIN: In early 2017, I saw the first piece of this artist's work and was very impressed. After a few short conversations, we agreed on an expedited commission at a greatly increased price. Several close friends had vouched for her work by this point and many conversations and assurances were given that the expected completion time of Anthrocon 2017 would be totally doable. [Contract w/ completion date: https://i.imgur.com/ViRLy6Q.png https://i.imgur.com/jGIIjQW.png For some context, a previous Beware I had written led to the rushed circumstance. This is a suit I've been trying to have made since 2014. The original artist has since completely given up responsibility for the project. Explaining this situation, plus the premium price, is part of why the deal was agreed upon with such a deadline. My first concern came by way of being told she incurs a 5% convenience fee for using PayPal, something I had believed was against ToS. Given the sum of money already being spent here (again, 3600 dollars) I thought charging anything else was a little excessive. Needless to say, I went along with it and completely paid off that balance. After that time, I actually received regular updates, she streamed and showcased the work to me frequently, I actually believed I might really be getting this done! [Convenience fee: https://i.imgur.com/QPyzgyK.png [WIP: https://i.imgur.com/XxVDjoM.jpg [WIP: https://i.imgur.com/KfAhsyZ.jpg In early June I received the first communication that things would be suffering a delay. She complained of issues with drug interactions, stating her mood was too poor to be able to work. From this point onward, I only got one more follow up progress report on the suit. She continued to tell me about her diminished mental state and how she was unable to perform even basic, everyday functions. Come Anthrocon, I'm informed the suit would not be completed on time, but she would work tirelessly to get it done as quickly as can be. After July, she runs into a family health issue that takes several more months away from her projects, leading to the most recent updates in November where she has informed me she's suffered a shoulder injury and is, again, unable to perform even simple, daily tasks. [First issues: https://i.imgur.com/pLMAq9P.jpg [Second issues: https://i.imgur.com/BUgF7I8.jpg [Third issues: https://i.imgur.com/foAO9pU.jpg [Forth issues: https://i.imgur.com/8x7IlQb.jpg PROOF: Payment in full: https://i.imgur.com/rfZG0a1.jpg Contract Agreement: https://i.imgur.com/ViRLy6Q.png This has been a difficult thing to do. Given the issues with health and family she has communicated to me, I gave every bit of leniency I could before writing this and even still feed bad doing so--I even offered to waive the money I was to be refunded for not completing it in a timely manner. But excuse after excuse, something this artist seems to have a history with, has once more led me to believe this is another project I should not expect to see completed and certainly not for the added expense. EDIT: Original post updated to include a screen of the second page of the contract ( https://i.imgur.com/jGIIjQW.png ). The refund outlined here was indirectly referenced in the "First issue" link under explain, leading to its accidental omission.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/844349.html WHO: Squeedge/SqueedgeMonster FURAFFINITY TWITTER MAIN TUMBLR & ART TUMBLR WHAT: A pre-order of her "Tyrant King" shirt. WHEN: The shirt was ordered in December of 2013 with an estimated delivery date of January 2014. PAYMENT: Here. EXPLAIN (&PROOF): Back in early December 2013, I saw that SqueedgeMonster opened up pre-orders for her Tyrant King t-shirts through Twitter. It was supposed to be a "last printing" of the design and I couldn't pass up the opportunity because I really liked the design and I didn't want to miss my chance. I understood that the shirts wouldn't arrive until after Christmas. They were scheduled to be shipped in early January. I still haven't received mine and communication, directly or indirectly, has been practically non-existent since payment was sent. During the pre-order, over 100 shirts were purchased. I lost the proof for this when this was sent back to me for revisions, and when searching for it again I discovered that all of her tweets prior to June 2014 seemed to have disappeared. In early January, she made a post on Twitter about the shirts being sent out to her from the printer and her receiving them. In late January, Squeedge made an update about the shipment of her shirts on Tumblr. Apparently a lot of them were stolen before being scanned at her local post office. My shirt was a large, so it was not in the first box of shipped shirts. I waited it out. After the post office fiasco, I didn't contact Squeedge for several months as she was going through personal issues at the time and didn't think it would be appropriate. After things seemed to simmer down, I tossed her a message on Tumblr sometime in April (which I don't have proof of thanks to Tumblr's lack of outbox function). A few days passed and this was posted. That was the last time I heard anything pertaining to the shirts. In June I was looking through my Twitter feed when a re-tweet from Squeedge appeared; it was someone wearing their Tyrant King shirt. It looked as though the shirts had finally been shipped out. I dug a little bit to see when they were sent so I could know when to expect mine, only to discover that she'd put what was supposed to be a "final run" design, which she'd emphasized plenty of times in her advertisements back in December (seen here), up in her DesignByHumans shop. This admittedly upset me. In early September, I made my Twitter public (usually private to keep spam accounts at bay) and tried to initiate contact. It was met with no response. I attempt contact again later in the month, to which she actually replies saying she'll e-mail me later that night. She never did. I finally decided to shoot her an e-mail myself (found on one of her Tumblrs). She responded a few weeks later with this. I never responded to it because, well, I really didn't know how. In the meantime she opened a Patreon which seems to be turning a decent profit, designed several new shirts and put them up for sale in her online shop (and continues to do so), gone to conventions and taken on numerous commissions -- but she hasn't been in contact since the e-mail above. I put this off for as long as I could in hopes that the situation would work itself out, but I've reached my breaking point. I just want this resolved so I can enjoy her work again.

PLEASE NOTE: In any screen cap dated after April 4th 2019 I had moved and there is now a 5 hour time zone difference between she and I. (this means that it may seem like I am messaging very early, but for her it is 5 hours ahead of my time stamp.) I was directed to Tamsin (Tammy) via a friend from whom I was purchasing a fursuit head. I had wanted to commission matching hands/tail/arm sleeves in time for Confuzzled. Tammy and I discussed prices and materials and I agreed to pay once I got paid. (The total was 130 GBP which is about $160 USD). I paid promptly upon getting my pay check: After I sent the payment there was apparently a hold up in paypal where they wouldn't release the money to her until I marked the item as shipped with no tracking needed. I was concerned but did as she asked since I had no reason not to trust her. She specifically stated that she needed the money released so she could order the materials quicker. I had some issues come up and ended up not being able to go to CFZ (Confuzzled). Due to this I expressed that I did not need them finished by the con deadline. I was still under the impression that she had already ordered the materials because that was why she needed me to promptly release the funds into her account. After the con passed I didn't hear from her, so contacted her in order to set up a deadline. She expressed that it was a bit hard to do the deadline I suggested because of work/school. I tried to compromise and just prioritize the most important parts first. By June 14th I was starting to feel a bit ignored, as I would see them online and they would check my messages and not respond. The friend who had originally sent me to them (Cas as mentioned in screen shots) mentioned that there were some issues between the two of them at CFZ, and I became afraid that she wasn't communicating with me because of my friendship with Cas, as I had been told that she was answering other messages. I admit that my behavior was a bit pushy in these screen shots, but I have been burnt several times by fursuit builders and was feeling anxious. We agree here on a Halloween deadline and I express that I will make a new ref with the updates I had previously discussed. I make sure to mention that I absolutely must see some sort of work started in July, since they said they would probably start mid July, due to my paypal protection window. I am still fine with the Halloween completion deadline, but just need to see some sort of progress, or materials to show the project is in the works. They express they are stressed due to personal issues. Concerned that this commission is adding onto their stress, I offer to just take a refund in parts if they are no longer interested or have the motivation/time to work on the parts. At this point she starts to seem a bit aggressive, so I inquire as to her having purchased the materials in case we need to work out her shipping them to me and subtracting the cost of shipping/materials from a refund. I was told by our mutual friend that she didn't actually buy the materials, and so I requested pictures from her in order to just prove that she had bought the items needed, as that was the whole reason she asked me to release the funds, so that she could more swiftly buy the materials. At this point she makes excuses one after another on why she can't provide pictures. I give her a deadline on when I must see materials. I agree to a Wednesday deadline to see the materials that week and reiterate that she said she needed the funds to order materials promptly. At this point SHE offers the refund and expresses when her paydays are. I feel this was done because she had never bought the materials and knew she couldn't provide proof in the time frame requested. At this point I feel I am being scammed and lied to, so I agree to the refund and offer her the option of half and half payments on the 27th of each month. I leave her alone for the rest of the month until the 27th where I then message her and remind her of my email. I see her active all day and get no answer while our mutual friend confirms that she's been answering their messages. They finally respond and claim they were working and then go silent again. I get a bit snippy and let them know that I will just file a dispute if I don't get the half payment on the promised day. She finally makes time to attempt to pay me and then gets upset about paypal fees based on currency differences. I try to remedy this by adding GBP to my paypal options, but it still charges a fee, which I tell her I will cover. She sends the first half of the refund, I confirm I got it and then leave her alone until July 25th, where I just send a reminder of the email for the refund. After contacting on the 25th of July 2019, Tamsin expresses that she needs a bit of an extension on the payment time because she is at a con. I thank her for letting me know and leave her alone until the day that SHE set as the new payment day for the final half of the refund. I decided to send an invoice for the remainder to see if that would keep her from having to pay a fee on her end. She claims she can't pay and cancels the invoice. I express that I am not really wanting to wait longer, as I already extended the deadline to Monday (which was the day SHE asked for). I give in and ask her to give me a definite deadline on when she can pay. She ignores me and I wait till the next day (July 30th ) to message her again asking for a definite deadline again. She says she couldn't pay because she had bills. I express that I am unwilling to wait another month because I feel at this point she is jerking me around. (Our mutual has expressed that she' had been spending money on frivolous things, so I felt I was being jerked around and scammed.) She makes a snippy comment about "not relying on her as a source of income" and it really rubbed me the wrong way. I got extremely upset and rather argumentative, as I felt that her statement was in direct contrast to her own behavior, (taking my money and spending it at an event while not even purchasing my materials). Our conversation deteriorated quickly. She continues to claim she bought fur but cannot provide any proof (pictures, receipts, tracking on shipments, etc), and completely twists the situation to paint herself in a better light. (Claiming I wanted a refund because I was broke, when she was the one who chose a refund over just providing proof of the materials that she swears she has bought.) At this point I feel that I am being jerked around and that she has no intention of paying me at all, so I decide to take things to Paypal and open a dispute. I know due to me changing email addresses between payment to refund, that it will dispute for the full amount paid. My intention was to simply send her back the half she had refunded previously once Paypal handled the transaction if she was unwilling to work something out. She proceeds to completely go ballistic once the claim puts a hold on her account. She claims she was going to pay me aft 8 because she was waiting on our mutual friend to pay her for something. This is information that she NEVER once brought up until I filed a claim. She in fact explicitly stated that she didn't know when she'd be able to pay. I initially refuse to cancel the claim because I don't trust her at this point and know that she is a liar. I attempt to make arrangements for the mutual friend to just pay me directly but he can't, as he is doing a bank transfer to her instead of paypal. They claim they will send the money as soon as I cancel the claim and their account comes out of the negative. I make the mistake of trusting them because I am not out to hurt someone, just want what is owed me. Big mistake. I cancel the claim and she ghosts me completely. I send a couple of reminders and get nothing. Cas (the mutual) confirms later in the week that they already paid her, and I still am getting nothing from her, either messages or money. I decide to try to be nice and just leave her alone except to send a reminder on the 16th asking if I will get pair, then left her alone for the rest of August until the 27th and message her again to see if I can get this finished. As of now she has read the messages and still refuses to respond. She has been active on her Instagram (selling adopts primarily), but has failed to answer or send the money. In summary, she is a liar, a scammer, and a thief and I hope that no one else ever has to deal with her or falls for her lies. The below screen caps show her publicly available information / social media accounts so that hopefully others can avoid her.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/930964.html WHO: Buttbear/Yuristorm http://yuristorm.deviantart.com/ https://twitter.com/Blazefire_Saber http://toyhou.se/yuristorm http://yuristorm.tumblr.com/ WHERE: http://yuristorm.deviantart.com/ WHAT: Purchase of an character by Yuristorm, with the addition of edits to the design. (The artist allowed the customer to pay extra for edits to be done) WHEN: November 25, 2013 PROOF: http://imgur.com/a/Jvg6Y Contains everything related to this, but I will be linking to some of them in the explanation post. EXPLAIN: Yuristorm (at the time of purchase, known as Buttbear) hosted a journal selling and trading a variety of character designs. I took interest in a centaur and bird gijinka and discussed payment with the artist, along with asking if edits could be done to the centaur to better suit my tastes. (http://imgur.com/vvdd6bP) Payment was sent and the edits were agreed to, with Yuristorm promising to start on the centaur soon. [Read More] In Summary: -In November 2013, I discussed with Yuristorm the purchase of a centaur with additional edits to its design. -Communication was sparse in 2014 due to my respecting Yuristorm's health problems and letting the ball slip on my end concerning dutiful communication with the artist. In the time since then, I have become a more experienced commissioner and hope to do my best in being an excellent customer. -Communication picked up in 2015, with me often having to bump a note every few months to get a reply from Yuristorm, often around the time when the artist grew active on DA again. -Deadlines were broken what felt like many times: + August 2015 - Claimed that the art would be finished by summer's end, and thus the next few months. + November 2015 - Technically speaking this was not a true "claim," the artist only said it would be done soon, but since it took all the way to September 2016 for it to be done, I feel it is perhaps worth mentioning. + May 2016 - I attempted to set a rough deadline of one month beginning May 14th. It was not kept. + June 2016 - Again, claiming to get the art done "soon," while posting a good deal of other art, concerning some commissions and gifts, on Twitter. + July 2016 - Claimed at the end of July to be done within the next few days. + August 2016 - Claimed at the end of August to be done within the weekend. -Artist claimed multiple times to be done soon and would put up deadlines that would get pushed back. -Communication was inconsistent and poor. I will readily admit in 2014 I could have performed better but in 2015 and 2016 I did my best to keep in constant communication with what felt like poor response from the artist's end. -While I appreciate that the extras promised after this long span of time turned out to be a "beefed" up design and two reference busts, turning a beautiful design even more gorgeous, I am unhappy with the lack of communication on what the extras would be. This is a small matter overall of course, however with the additional troubles experienced when communicating with this artist, it adds up, and hence why I felt it may need to be pointed out as further evidence. -I understand the artist suffers from hand and health issues and I feel I have been patient concerning the matter, to the excess of nearly three years. However, they have been rather active with art and frequently post monthly art dumps onto DA. It is true that the art drawn is often sketchy and rough, but when there is such a large, monthly quantity of it while wondering where one's art is and seemingly having to tweet every time to get some sort of update...it does not shed positive light on the artist. I would like to stress that Yuristorm as a person appears to be sweet and nice. In the notes and tweets, the artist is friendly. However, the business side is lacking. There was a long length of time spent waiting for the design, along with what appeared to be poor work ethic (the broken deadlines and claims as an example) and communication. As such, while the matter is finally resolved at last, I am posting this beware to inform people of the artist's behavior with work and timeliness. Essentially, the issue is with the customer service and length of time spent on the matter. Thank you for your time, everyone.

May 20, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/767609.html Original Entry: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/667674.html Who: Ravinghachi/Neotoxin Wolf/Skittles/hellishballoffur/Rainbow Paw Creations Website: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/hellishballoffur/ Where: Saboten Convention 2012 What: Trade-RavingHachi was to supply two conbadges as payment for a premade fursuit tail. When: September 2012 Proof: Screenshots will be Provided below Details: Skittles and I agreed to a trade at Saboten2012: my $60 tail for two conbadges by her. After being given specific instructions, she did one of the badges,and while it was cute, it wasn't what I had asked for and she had agreed to do. When I mentioned to her that it wasn't quite was I was hoping for, she flipped out. She blocked me, deleted my comments, and told people 'it was settled and she had paid me'. This wasn't true: she still had the tail, and I wasn't compensated. Recently I again contacted her again about a refund on FA (screenshot). As before, she deleted my comments on her page (screenshot), but this time sent me an email. After a lengthy conversation where I was called a 'bully' multiple times for insisting she pay me fore the item she took, I was issued a refund. I feel I was terse, but my intent was not to 'bully' her. (It brings to mind calling the police bullies when they arrest you for shoplifting.) Although this is resolved, I'm posting the conversations. I'm not doing this out of malice, I'm sharing them so artists can make informed decisions before they conduct business with her. https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/mottenfest/8089253/10582/10582_original.jpg

The artist messaged me on Twitter after I made a post looking for paws and a tail to commission. I explained to the artist it was going to be a complicated build but they didn't seem concerned. We talked about details and agreed to a price. They said they could get started right away. I asked for a TOS and photos of previous work. They sent a TOS vis Google docs and pictures of other suits. They asked I send payment via PayPal friends and family (i didnt know the difference and thought i was helping as it reduced fees). As I am new to this I didn't know the signs of what to look for so I sent over payment. The next day I decided I also wanted feet paws. So we discussed that as well. So I sent over a second payment for them. I am now in the hole $1020. They do not have a website, a trello, or any other legitimate business profile, they are using a stolen profile picture and the pictures of the suits they have sent were bogus and not their creations. They have changed their Twitter handle from HD suitz to rldhh. They have since stopped communicating. BEWARE.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/983469.html who: Tobeabird/Cynical Sergal/Wayward Fox/Otter Nonsense Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/tobeabird/ and https://www.furaffinity.net/user/otter.nonsense What: Feline Foam Cut headbase mounted on a balaclava ($120) and One Fullbody commission ($30) When: I commissioned the base on Sept. 12, 2015 and the art on July 25, 2017 Explain: I initially commissioned Tobeabird when they needed help and opened for fursuit foam base commissions. The journal is long since gone, but we agreed to one of their foam feline head bases, cut and mounted on a balaclava. This was $120 and was paid immediately (they were wayward Fox creations/Cynical Sergal at this point) (1). The transaction was completed on Sept. 12, 2015 I was told multiple times (2)(3) that my base was going to be shipped on within the week of the message. The first time (screenshot 2) I was told I’d have a tracking number, and then wasn’t contacted again about it. The second time (that I could find searching through years of FA notes anyway) I was told that they had contracted a fever and wasn’t able to ship it (4). They even forgot what I was owed, this happened multiple times (5). I eventually stopped pressing them, a mistake on my part, but I believed I was helping a friend and this friend constantly posted journals about how they were financially in a bind or losing their home or in need of medication. I didn’t want to add to their troubles with bothering them over my product. I was too nice and it backfired. FWA 2016 (March 31-April 3, 2016) came around and I roomed with them. They had a bunch of foam bases, including the feline ones, casted for their dealers den table for the convention that year. I asked if one of the bases was for my commission, and they told me that they hadn’t cut any of them and that none of them were for me. This irritated me because these people had paid long after I did, but were going to receive their product first. They couldn’t have cut one before casting the rest considering I was a paying commissioner who had yet to receive a product promised to be to him within the week? There was one point where I asked them if they would rather just refund me instead of casting the base since it seemed like they couldn’t get to the post to ship and they had a bunch of other problems they were posting about. They agreed, but then this was later rescinded due to their financial troubles and me asking if it’d be easier for them to just go ahead and cast it. They agreed. There was plans to attend Megaplex 2017 together that ended up falling through. They had planned on getting me the base (as per their claims) but as we both ended up not being able to attend, that didn’t happen. (6) On July 24, Tobeabird was having a bit of financial issues and was hoping to be commissioned so I took them up on that offer. I asked for a fullbody anthro work of my character Riot and gave them a ref sheet (7). I then paid after a day as I was having some issues with my paypal and they received full payment on July 25, 2017 (8)(9). On October 27, 2017 I asked about an update for my art commission and was told there was an update on FA. There was another delay in getting art posted on a journal (10). November 11, 2017 I get a message on Telegram from Tobeabird asking if I’d like a refund for the art and the base. I agreed and was told I would be put on the refund list (11)(12)(13) (the last one is cut that way because the conversation was asking about personal issues) January 15, I wrote a series of tweets on my vent account stating that I felt taken advantage of and felt that I was no longer going to commission friends due to being treated poorly by a couple who didn’t handle the transaction properly. Tobeabird contacted me on Telegram to ask if the messages were about them. I told them that they fit into the messages but I was talking about a couple people. They proceeded to get bent about the fact I said they’d taken advantage of me and then guilt tripped me for even speaking about it. They kept saying that they’d hoped I’d be a patient friend, and at that point, I was pretty much done with the whole thing. I told them I’d be expecting a reasonable amount of time with the refund. Eventually the argument got to a point where I was irritated with them acting like I was the bad guy for being upset and ending the conversations because they couldn’t handle that. I was then told that Telegram was for friendly chat and to stop contacting them there and only through email. I agreed to this and when I posted another tweet, they found it necessary to then contact me arguing more about the fact I believe they took advantage. I told them to leave it to email and they claimed they didn't’ have it. I told them to wait for my message but then ended up getting them emailing me anyway and then attempting to contact me on twitter as well backing up the email. They have sent me $30 ( 2/7/18) and claim it’s for the base (when they could just clear off the art). They are treating this whole thing as two separate occurrences. The base from otter nonsense, and the art from them. But as they are the owner of the otter nonsense account and since their business practices aren’t different between the two entities, I am treating this as ONE refund from ONE person rather than a person and their business. I’m still receiving the money from Tobeabird in both instances so I’m not sure what the deal is with that. (14) Update: 2/8/18 They have sent another couple refunds totalling $60 (15) for a total of $90 refunded (16) meaning the art commission has been taken care of and the base is halfway refunded at this point. Update 2: 2/8/18 Final amount ($60) has been sent. This matter is resolved. (17) Proof: 1. Fursuit Head Base Payment - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PAyeUxV7OKno9lrGn5PsowR3zvSbxT2j 2. First Shipping Schedule missed - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v1rOEfW-f9x8O6-CR5fBo1EIrgOgyjcP 3. Second shipping schedule missed - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g1yy39RIiC3KTmgF7KzWRQi9c2FleU37 4. Why second shipping was missed - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ce5ftTikpFl2HKHOAd4z87-KKnCNublU 5. Forgot what I ordered- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K27Bb0dpYW5_ejHCgxqfsR7b5DeIPFQr 6. Asking about base, told will give at Megaplex - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UDt0KXfm4I99nLkIdFOLa1Fv47V_AaHk 7. Art price confirmation- https://drive.google.com/open?id=15p67cZd9rUGdopdiW9iNs4PPtaj3WG8J 8. Art commission confirmation - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xvY1A-yAlifupm0zBJiXHsJxTcY1KcWA 9. Paypal transaction for Art - https://drive.google.com/open?id=106GTmQl201cFcy3qwos9_gAMHSJRXzZa 10. Asking about the status of my art commission - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zq0DSUComUq837BX8YH8UTdg1dHglab6 11. Tobeabird offering refunds - https://drive.google.com/open?id=13gKxL3y00vJhBJkYCzCD27t7B9cW-LlB 12. Tobeabird offering refunds (cont.) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_BO4O92yiFxm1y-1oAjgL_kWX4X3vCf3 13. Tobeabird offering refunds (cont) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QddXT8Kj_5D79MH-qjMsCneyxY5ra9jR 14. 1st Refund recieved ($30) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HZUFjLXJ8OoDddJ28tfPrxrfwYufUDG7 15. 2nd Refund Recieved ($60) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yugLwOi3pXOANflx6nAj7w6msvd20uL2 16. Proof of $90 sent - https://drive.google.com/open?id=19epo7KtVff2L1RYhWHwQqitGETSaQTpO 17. Rest of the refund sent- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Yyoslh2eR7gRfeqHoMtMCkbtrFS-yooE </lj-cut>

I met Finley at AnthroCon while they were running a booth in the Dealer's Den. There were suiters attending the con in suits that Finley had made, and the tails they had on display were of good quality. We talked for a while about pricing a fullsuit, how long delivery dates were, how deep the queue was. At that point, I decided to commission a Full Digitigrade suit from them for $1600. Communication was great until December, at which basically all communication ceased. The only reason that Finley responded here was because I had 2 emails: I am open to marking this Beware as "resolved" if and when the refund has been processed on PayPal. New information as of 7/1/2019. I was promised a refund (partial in June, the rest in July). Finley has not been in contact since those promises were made. I've attached the email conversation below, and you can see comments for more info. At this point I'm forced to raise this to Beware status from it's current Caution status.

I paid 40% upfront for a commission May 18th of 2021. The commission was originally agreed upon to be completed before MFF in November. Maker ran into some issues with creating so we pushed the date back to December. December comes along, still no head and very little progress. SCC informs me they are unable to work within my time frame and offers a partial refund + to send what they did have back to me. This sounded like a best case scenario so I accepted the offer. Here we are, 2 months later, in January, and still no base. I did receive the partial refund. However, now SCC is reaching back out to demand more money than we originally agreed upon for the head claiming they miscalculated costs. This is not at the fault of the customer. They took on a commission you could not handle. Could not maintain a professional timeframe. Could not keep up their end of the refund agreement. And now want more money from me. I have been friendly, understanding, and respectful this entire time. The time frame to submit a paypal dispute is LONG gone so I am just out $100 and the City Mutt Fursuits base I paid for covered in the quote. Please see screenshots for confirmation of everything here, I have captured every word. Do not do business here! This maker will string you along. TLDR: Maker took on commission they couldn't handle, did not hold up their end of the partial refund agreement, and returns to my DMs to request more money after stringing me along for 8 months.

Zeska Roo/Daze Otterson had made a post on his account saying he needed money, so he discounted his fursuit prices (post was deleted, so I do not have a screenshot of that). I was wanting some indoor paws because I really enjoy the aesthetics of them. I commented on the post and we took it to PMs. Here we are hashing out details of what I wanted. He states that they don't do invoices. It off set me since I just comissioned someone who did do invoices, but I know each artist is different, so I didn't pay any attention to it. Proof of payment I ask if he has a queue of any sort, he claims he is working on a trello. After a month and some days, he gives me a -sorta- deadline, so I don't bother him for a while. November 6th, he asks if anyone is wanting to get a fursuit. I contact him on November 26th, I message and get no reply or even left on read, so I ask for a refund. He sends his friend [redacted] to speak to me (screenshots ahead has his face blocked out because he's not guilty in this and I feel uncomfortable with having his face in this) So I go to telegram to talk to Zeska/Daze (last 4 of number is blocked out) He has posted again on FB saying he's no longer on post block as seen in the screenshot below (but I didn't see it till some days after since I had unfollowed him) So after radio silence, I messaged on Telegram (seen in screenshot 9) and after a little more silence, I messaged on Facebook (screenshot 6) Here, he is seen still posting on Facebook after my message on Telegram. And here he is seen still posting after my message on FB. I have since forced a refund as seen in the screenshot below. I don't know if others have had this issue, so that is why this is under Artist Caution.

Undelivered Commission I do realize I have been waiting for 6 and a half years for this suit. I have been trying to be understanding and patient with Clementine about this commission. However, after this long of a time period, her lack of communication, her every changing replies, and numerous excuses I have decided to move forward with this post. Below is a timeline of the communication between myself and Clementine and also her boyfriend the CFO. Back in November 2013 Clementine was having a black Friday (artistic freedom with limits) sale and I decided to buy it. (I believe the original post was on furbuy, but not 100% sure) The commission was for a full suit for $1280, with a deposit of $576 I sent the deposit to her with a money order within a few days (because if i pay with PayPal I need to add 5% according to her TOS....which is a violation of PayPal, however that's not what I'm concerned about) I was under the impression from her ad on furbuy that I would pay the rest once it was completed, so I waited. April 22 2014, I receive an email asking about the rest of the payment, and I replied that I thought I was supposed to pay when it was done and before it shipped. September 13 2014 (yes 5 months later) I receive another email telling me she does not work on anything until the payment is in full. This is when the excuses start, her first reason is work is super slow until they sell their house. We go back and forth for a little bit about paying and I send her money orders in early October for the balance ($704) All during October 2014 she sketches up some designs and sends them over to me and we decide on one Mid October she tells me she hasn't received the money orders and I end up having to call and get them stopped and reversed which took quite a while. During November 2014 I had a huge expense (over $5500) and told her I had to hold off paying the rest until it got sorted out. We went back and forth on emails for a little bit and that's the time she started getting disrespectful to me saying how she has bills that are way past due. She ends up getting angry with me and tells me she may cancel my commission and it is on hold "indefinitely" she also tells me that she has used my whole deposit to buy materials. I ask for a refund at this point, and she tells me that there is no refunds and the deposit is non refundable ( I also would like to point out she has not asked me to sign any contract at this point) She ends up blocking me on facebook in December, so I am no longer able to message her. She instead has her boyfriend (the CFO of her company) emails me and says he will conduct business with me from this point forward. December 24th The CFO tells me that I need to make the remaining checks payable to him personally, and I refuse. I told him that my business is not with him it is with Clementine and i will make the checks payable to either her or make them out to fruitsuit creations. He then tells me I can make them payable to Clementine. December 29th 2014 I sign a contract for the remaining balance Since the contract was signed I mailed the payments as follows Jan 15th 2015 mailed $200 ($100 plus $100 credit) - it was received on Jan 21st -- see below for paid in full email Feb 23rd 2015 mailed $100 - it was received on Feb 28th -- see below for paid in full email March I had a few extra bills and had to use the $100 credit from Jan -- see below for paid in full email April 14th 2015 mailed $200 - received on April 19th -- see below for paid in full email May 1st 2015 mailed $204 (the balance) - received on May 8th 2015 (paid in full) and was told I was moved to the "working queue" Clementine sends a newsletter out 4 months later with her working queue and I am not on it, on the list is 2 heads, one partial, 3 on hold (with the commission names). She tells me there was some confusion and she will update it. She does not. October 14 2016 (yes a year later) She tells me she is finishing up 2 heads and I'm a few spots down the line. Jan 13 2017 she tells me there are six in front of me, 2 of which are just heads **April 2017 more excuses that she has several breakdowns a week and it's hard to concentrate and work on commissions. April of 2017 is when something odd happens.....there is another person commissioning her for a rush suit, I'm not sure if I can mention names, so I won't but there is another artist beware about Clementine from this person. The odd thing is that they paid for this nearly 2 years after mine was paid off, but she was sending WIP pics to this person and I have yet to even be told my true place in line. April 2017 she tells me my place is "one less then last time I told you" **July 2017 more excuses of bad side effects from medication, mobile and cognitive Impairment, horribly depressed , separation anxiety, hysterical crying spells 3-5 times a day [Verified by staff. Lots of medical information.] July 8th 2017 she tells me "i believe there are 3 or 4 in front of you" **September 2017 more excuses of her injuring her shoulder September 2017 She gets mad at me for asking where I am in line saying that I've been waiting for a long time, she tells me that there are people waiting longer, and I signed a contract that has no completion dates. Dec 11th 2018 (another year later) she tells me "trying to get this done so I can move on" **January 2019 more excuses of her cat being sick, and not having a place to live with her workshop May 29th 2019 after 100 excuses from her I am told "Thank you so much for your incredible patience! I do wholeheartedly promise that I will make your wait worth it!" **August 2019 more excuses of her Mom being sick (not posting conversation due to her privacy on her mothers health issues) Dec 15th 2019 after more excuses I am told "I really can't thank you enough for your patience.. and I promise I will go above and beyond to make it up to you, and everyone else I've let down.." May 16th 2020 After asking about my place in line yet again, I am told "i believe you are 6th in line."....I then send her screenshots from 3 years prior of her telling me that there are 3 or 4 in front of me. she tells me she must be looking at the wrong copy and will get back to me. _________________________________________________________________ I feel that I have been beyond patient with her, I can be sympathetic to what people are going through, or if they have things happen in their life that they need to just stop for a little bit (which she did have a few which I did not include in here due to the privacy of her family) However, with whatever you are going though mentally or physically and still traveling to many conventions and fursuiting while injured instead of working on your obligations, or even keeping me informed about anything that is going on in 6 and a half years, doesn't seem like a good way to conduct business. Waiting 6.5 YEARS from ordering or 5 years from it being paid in full with her story ever changing about where I am in her line, and excuse after excuse, (which I found another post with the same issues) has gotten me to this point of frustration where I feel I need to let others know. Especially since she has taken other commissions AFTER mine and has worked on them before mine. Clementine has shown me that she doesn't seem interested in working on my suit by not letting me know anything about it, and the things she has told me she contradicts herself many times. For example, about what she has bought for my suit (she tells me she didn't buy anything, then she tells me she has the fur from a previous project, then she tells me she used all my deposit for supplies) another example is my place in line. I'm not quite sure if there is any bookkeeping in where she works on things, but she doesn't seem organized at all about what she is working on. There should be an exact answer to that question, I am not sure why I can't get a straight answer from her on that. She has not posted any updates on her working queue or anything of that sort in a few years, so I am not even sure she has one. I had asked a few times early on for a refund which was refused, I even had said if she is unable to work on it at all that's fine, I can just get a refund and either do it myself or get it elsewhere, I have asked for a transfer to another person and that was refused, she seems to be banking on the contract saying is does not have any completion dates, however that doesn't give anyone the right to take money and not deliver a product ever, and I think 6 and a half years is way beyond the time limit to wait for something like this. I feel that I have been very lenient with her and tried to compromise but her excuse after excuse has led me to make this post. Along with her lack of communication in her work order. In the 6.5 years there has been a ton of emails and messages so I couldn't put them all so forgive me for such a long post. Please think twice before commissioning anyone, and feel free to reach out to those who have commissioned a person in the past to ask about their experiences. I was willing in the past to work with her in the past on this problem asking her what she needs from me in order to get her working on projects, (I even sent her a link to an industrial sewing machine for a good price because she was complaining about her needing a new one), but her lack of communication and concern about this commission has led me to believe that she does not intend to provide me with a product. I am however still willing to accept a refund and turn this post to resolved, if she is willing to refund my payments.

- Original agreement + Proof Casual conversation about the Salt Queen ideas. We started Feb 23rd. They ended up sketching her out extensively. - Proof of payment I asked for a paypal invoice, so that I could keep track of the transaction. They confirmed payment. I received the gif immediately and was extremely pleased with it. I used it on my commission website as well as my curious.cat. - Any relevant correspondence Spine Breaker was friends with my partner first. I met them through their work on my partner's persona, Salt King. Often described as Spine Breaker's muse, Salt King was a design they made based on my partner's likeness, rights to the character was always Spine Breakers. My partner has never claimed to own the design or want it. Salt King art was only used as discord profile pictures and steam profile pictures. Spine Breaker would send me random sketches or finished pieces of Salt King, and other finished works, but no Salt Queen progress. March 19th is the last I saw any related work of any kind on Salt Queen. I liked their art so much.. I wouldn't have spent 300$ on their work if I didn't like it. I'd always message them about their newest Salt King works that they would send my partner! - Refund Request Half a year of random conversations later, I asked for a refund on Sept 21st. I had started to doubt their desire to finish the commission long before this, but wanted to wait it out for as long as possible.. I was honestly so excited to see Salt Queen design finished by them. October 12th was our final correspondence. Below is a message they sent to my partner the same day as my refund request. My partner felt like he could do something about the situation and inquired on his own. Receiving this excuse below as the reason why they didn't work on my commission this year. The fact that Spine Breaker tried to say I didn't like their work still baffles me. This whole thing was an insult... A slap to the face. I said nothing and waited on the refund. Yes, I too am an artist, my income is 100% made from freelance artwork. But I commissioned THEM for the Salt Queen because of their amazing work! (Work I believe far surpasses my talents.) I didn't design Salt Queen myself because I wanted them to.. I'm still very confused by this logic... Or why this wasn't brought up to me long before we reached this point. I waited until November 1st for the 100$ refund, nothing was received, not even a message. With no communication at this point, things started to feel personal. I removed the artist from my socials November 1st. Below is the inflammatory message they sent my partner a day later on November 2nd. Absolutely none of this can be explained by me. I was always honest with the artist, always excited to see their work, and honestly felt lucky to be so closely associated with them through my partner. If they ever had any sort of ill feelings towards me, it was never brought up with me. And with 200$ spent, I wasn't really sure how to act around them. After sending the message above to my partner, they blocked him, making this a very odd personal attack. I was never refunded anything. And he lost a good friend in his attempt to mediate. Beware this artist.

charliessd (charliessd) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2019-01-15 12:09 Solomon King Thompson WHO : his nickname is Solomon King Thompson / siwell16 aka Nigel Porter, etc you name it. In this case, the commissioner / client has committed a theft. He has a lot of different names. He contacted me by this email [email protected] [email protected] (his paypal) WHERE : https://www.freelancer.com/u/siwell16 https://plus.google.com/u/0/117527282677078313904?prsrc=4 WHAT : Digital art for business purpose (t-shirt design for mass produce) WHEN : September 18th, 2018 EXPLAIN : hello, i have been scammed by a client recently. I thought i want to share it with the others artist to warn them.He first approached me via 3rd party work website & then contacted my email called [email protected] / Solomon King Thompson . He was looking for artist with anime style to design his t-shirt, he saw my portfolio & interested in working with me. I replied him that i can work with him if agreed with my ToS. I gave him the link to my price list & ToS in it (which stated that the client has to pay right away after i showed them the first draft) He used a trick where he paid for the first work and then he said he's very satisfied with my work & asking for more commission, pretending wanted to work with me for a long term. The first commission went pretty smoothly (even though he's bit late for the payment). After the first commission was completed, he asked for the second one. I quote him $XX+ for the work & he agreed and said will do the payment soon. For the second commission i gave him the work first because he need the work to be completed asap (next week) and promised to pay on Friday (2 Oct 2018) & i thought he can be trusted since it's his second commission , yet on the due date there’s no news came from him. He didn't reply after i gave him the work & asking for payment. He replied in between 8 Oct when i asked if he wanted to cancel the commission after that, he didn't bother to open & reply my email from 12 Oct - 29 Oct 2019. He only replied after i warned him that if he doesn't reply my message shortly after 24hr I will make this public. I've been really generous to extend his payment due more than 10 weeks. What makes it worse, recently he open a dispute/report to his previous payment that make my account got locked for some reason & i can't access my paypal, despite i have sent the high-resolution file & he said he satisfied with my work. He chooses to run away from his problem & didn’t even try to resolve it until now thus i decided to make this public so you can watch out for him if he's approaching you. if any of you were commissioned him by any chance. It'll be safer to just reject him. Don't fall for his trick pretending to be a good client. He only “paid” for the first work just to make us trust him (also his paypal email look way too fishy [email protected]) . He might be still out there looking an artist to draw him 2B, bowsette & another lewd female character ..for his T-shirt design .. *edit 2019 : I saw an upwork post stating looking for lewd anime style character for t-shirt here https://www.upwork.com/jobs/_~014e58b8f2f291e674/. Please be warry. From what i know according to the conversation we had he need 4 design for his t-shirt. I have completed one and a half of the design. So there are 2-3 design left needed. If any of you see this image used around for merchandise please let me know https://imgur.com/M8lzaEb https://imgur.com/BOEQU0i PROOF : https://i.imgur.com/XKkUeAu.jpg https://i.imgur.com/dhIOZxR.png https://i.imgur.com/DKXE6ro.png https://i.imgur.com/uNzneHW.png https://i.imgur.com/PPnbApE.jpg https://i.imgur.com/4Qf0L4X.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RvMLYzg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/pHb4C3S.jpg https://i.imgur.com/D8pvVKz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/xteyNOo.jpg https://i.imgur.com/UVPcb9B.png https://i.imgur.com/8zJcJQS.jpg https://i.imgur.com/eSu4T5H.jpg https://i.imgur.com/LfZ07SE.jpg https://i.imgur.com/kVfGzPo.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Wfj7rPI.jpg

Original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/646177.html WHO: Otterman89, Bradley WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/otterman89/ WHAT: Digital art, comic. WHEN: November 2nd 2012 - ongoing PROOF & EXPLAIN: In the LJ cut! I had hoped not to have to post here... but here we go! Otterman89 posted a thread on FAF looking for an artist to do a comic series for him. It appears that out of the people that posted their prices, mine were cheapest so I got a note from him on the mainsite even though I asked him to email. (I prefer email because Gmail keeps it threaded and I can open the entire convo at once.) His note, asking a few questions about what I will do, confirming price and asking if he can do it in spurts of a few pages at a time (while still getting the lower rate) since he doesn't like to spend a lot of money at once. ... At 20 pages, the project would be $200. My return note, answering said questions and showing him my comic process. He then sent me his already scripted out (very clearly and easy to follow) comic. It was indeed 20 pages and didn't have any content that was too weird for me. I give him a little more information and confirm that he wants me to do it. He chooses for a Saturday release when he gets pages. This wouldn't be EVERY Saturday I understood, but only when he gave me the go-ahead for more pages. I asked how many pages to do and he said a cover page and the first two pages. I asked again for his email address and said I would send the sketches of all three pages by Friday (Nov 9th) for his approval. He never did send me his email address, so on Nov 8th I send him a note containing a link to the sketches and ask a couple of questions as to the title of the comic and if he wants handwritten text or computer text. He appears happy so far, so I go ahead. We have a little back and forth about when he should post the comics on his gallery. I like to space it a little so that it can possibly increase the amount of people viewing it. Here I should have waited until he actually paid me before finishing the pages, but since I wanted to make good on my promised release date, I went ahead with them. I email him on the agreed date to let him know that the pages are ready and I will send them once I am paid. I still haven't heard from him by the next day so I send him a note with links to the finished pages. Shortly after I get a note saying that he can't pay me for a week because suddenly this other artist he wanted a commission from had an auction going and he decided to bid on it. Nevermind that the work he wanted from me was ready to go. In the interest of keeping peace, I just thanked him for letting me know and said I will be looking forward to next weekend. I did not post the finished pages or give him the pages. He only got to see low res, watermarked copies. Two hours later he mentions a change that he hadn't during the sketch stage. That the characters are actually supposed to be the same height. It hadn't occured to me to ask this, but I had gone through his gallery looking at other drawings of these two and they seemed to be of different heights so that is what I did. It was my mistake though. We agreed to change it for later pages, as in these ones it was only thee panels that showed the difference and not such a big deal. Two days later he changes his mind and asks me to fix it. I get it done. (not pictured in the screen shot is the note from me on Nov14 saying okay and his on the same day saying thanks.) I sent him a money request on the 17th. I didn't hear from him so on the 18th I sent a reminder note and on the 19th I resent a money request using the 'invoice' tab. On the 20th he responds and says he hasn't seen it. reminder, invoice screenie He pays the invoice on the 20th and apologises for the wait. Also says that he will be looking forward to this weekends pages. Emailed the sketches two days later as he indicated on the 20th he wanted more pages for the 24th. I don't seem to have his approval of the sketches saved, but I know he did. I didn't hear from him that weekend, so on the 26th I sent him a note with links to the low res watermarked files to prove they were ready. And an invoice which I dated for the 14th just in case. My mistake was probably saying "They are ready for you whenever you are ready to pay," as this is when the real trouble for me starts. As I was completely ignored until 4 days later when he sent me this note about how the game expansion he wants is on sale so he wants to buy it while he still can. I am miffed at this point, but send back an understanding note saying that my sister is into that game so I understand that he wants it and to keep me in the loop about what he is up to. He sends a note saying "Kk :)" then the next day tries to placate me (I guess) with this note. So the weekend of the 8th goes by and I get nothing from him. No update notes or payment or anything. In the time from when I sent him the invoice on the 26th up until the due date on the 14th, I sent him two reminders.. I am not sure of the days since I don't know if PayPal keeps a record of that. I was very annoyed at this point, so I sent him a note about it. He tries to tell me that he wasn't ignoring me (though he was) and gives me a tale about how he is addicted to art and everyone offers such great deals at this time of the year that he can't help himself. Also about how he should be getting more hours at work but isn't. Excuses... but then says twice that his goal is to pay everyone by Jan 1st 2013. ... Okay I will not get mad at him, because I would like to see this money. I reply and leave it at that. [Archiving Mod Note: Please note that we would not permit information such as this currently.] While all this time of him not paying me is going on, I see him on the FA forums making threads about getting more commissions so it is ticking me off that he has me and apparently a bunch of other artists to pay still and is STILL commissioning more art. Wanting a ref pic... Wanting some kind of fanart... Wanting a WoW pic... Wanting a Lion King pic... Wanting a 2ft plushie made... I restrained myself from posting in any of those threads. Keeping myself professional and not calling him out. On the 17th I got another note with another excuse as to why he couldn't pay me. This time I ignored him because I couldn't trust myself to stay polite. I decided to just wait and see if he would pay me by Jan 1st as his goal stated. Meanwhile, I check his FA page a little and see he is uploading an awful lot of art, although if any are gifts/freebies, I don't know. Forty-eight pictures between the day he commissioned me and today (Jan 2nd). None of them being the pages from me that he did pay for. However, one is a LK picture (he posted looking for one on Dec15th and this was uploaded Dec22nd) which makes me wonder why he could pay that artist who was commissioned after me but not me. Some of the other pictures may have been those other artists from December that he owed, but I have no way of knowing. So on Jan 2nd I sent him another note asking how the payment was coming along and he now promises by this weekend. I really shouldn't have let it drag out this long (although it is not nearly as long as most of the stories here), but I was afraid that if I rocked the boat, I wouldn't see anything at all... but that is what I am seeing now. I sure hope I see that money on the weekend. In either case, I decided several weeks ago that I will not be working with him further on this project but wanted to wait until he paid for the current batch of pages before telling him. I also wanted to hold off on the A_B post until he at least paid me, but I am afraid I won't so I chose to go forward with this post. Beware of Otterman89. Do not do anything (he typically only asks for two types of drawings... tongues tied together or private parts locked together) until he pays you... which I mean, that should go without saying already. Live and learn I suppose. ______ Update- While waiting for this entry to get approved the following has happened... I waited over the weekend and heard nothing from him. In the afternoon on Monday the 7th I sent him a note telling him that I can not work on his project any longer. This is what I already intended to tell him, even if he had paid me. He sends a note back one minute later saying that he was just about to send the money. Personally, I don't believe him, but I am firm about not working with him any longer... though I would still like to get the money. caps of that exchange After that, he asked for my PP address again and FINALLY paid me. So, I guess this is resolved. Now I just have to convince him that I won't do any more pages... at least that I won't do anything until the batch is paid for in advance. No sketches or anything.

On November 24th 2019 at 11:33 pm EST I messaged Moki on Furry Amino, asking if they were willing to trade a Protogen Head (later head and Hand paws) for my Mini Partial Monster Dog suit (now referred to as Pound Cake). At 11:53 pm EST Moki responded and asked for pictures, very quickly declaring they “really love him” and accepted the trade. This sparked a quick succession of messages, us both gathering addresses, proof of ownership, and further information on each other’s suits. While I told them of my worry of having suits stolen, as I had problems with Pound Cake when I traded for him, Moki quelled my fears and we agreed to send both suits out at the same time the next day on November 25th 2019. We continued to chat, an open friendly conversation about different suits and the tracking numbers were exchanged. They found a problem with the tracking number I sent and I very quickly fixed it, it was a simple type-o on my end, but when I started raising concerns about the number they sent me, I was ghosted for many days. The suit was due to arrive on Dec. 6th, it of course never came. They once again calmed me down by reminding me it was around the holidays so packages get a bit wonky. Around this time Pound Cake arrived at their Customs. It was supposedly around 100 Usd to get it out of customs. They claimed to not have the money, then suddenly came into the money when their dad lent them some, and then suddenly was unable to afford it again. At the time I didn’t connect the dots but now I am fully aware this is the point where they stole my suit. At this point it was December 12th and the Protogen I traded for was still sitting in the post office because they “wouldn’t accept my address” After many days of back and forths they went on Vacation, promising to send it when they get back. In the messages below I contacted them On Dec. 23rd, a Monday, and then waited until the 28th to contact again. Through this whole time I was ghosted. They finally contacted me in early January (I have lost those screenshots) and asked to stop the trade. I agreed, thinking that Pound Cake was still in Customs. They told me that the suit would be sent back before the first week of February when no one picked it up. It is currently March when I am writing this beware. During the time of trying to get in touch with Moki, also known as HTT Creations on other sites like facebook, instagram, DA, FA, and patreon, I posted Warnings on their Furry Amino, and wonone got back with me. They gave me Moki’s insta, where they proclaimed to not know me, never traded suits with me, and then blocked me. I then messaged them on every site I could find them on, all listed above, to no avail. I even got in touch with Pound Cakes maker, and had them help me. During this time of trying to talk with them for the first time in months, I found out that they had already traded the Protogen suit, I am unsure if this was before or after our trade agreement but it it appears to have be either During or before our agreement since the suit they traded for has been on their social medias for a while. Leading me to believe they started the trade with me without having the suit. Below is the conversation between me and Moki on Furry Amino, ranging from November 24th, to February 24th when I finally stopped messaging them since they ghosted me for so long. That was the last I heard from them on Furry Amino. On March 3rd I got a message from someone (who wishes to remain unknown) and they gave me Moki”s Instagram. Below are the screenshots of the Instagram messaged between Myself and Moki/ HTT Creations on Instagram. Things may get a bit confusing since these messages were happening at the same time as I talked with Unknown. After clarifying who I was I was promptly Blocked. I continued to try and get in touch with them through all their social media to no avail, even contacting Pound Cake’s maker who also helped me message them, SourAppleSuits on Instagram was left on read and ignored. TLDR: Moki Coyoti/ HTT Creations agreed to trade their protogen suit with my Monster Dog suit named Pound Cake on Nov.24th 2019. They cut all contact after 3 months and I was told they would send him back. I never got my suit. March 3rd rolled around and I was contacted by Unknown with their instagram (known as htt_creations) and when I tried to message them they blocked me. I also found out they have already traded the Protogen suit for another suit before/during our ongoing trade. I am still blocked and have gotten no response. Thank you so much for reading, below is the last pictures I have of Pound Cake. He is currently somewhere in Ontario Canada. If seen, Report it as stolen to the local police and contact me On Twitter @Buttercream243, or by email [email protected]. A reward of an Artistic Liberty mini partial will be given to whoever finds and returns the suit.

Please do not harass this person if you come across them! I am writing this beware as my interactions with them make me worry they will continue to life to artist (and possibly scam them out off money as will be seen later), and continue to steal art and characters. I was contacted by BitchDrift (will call her BD for short) regarding a client of hers commissioning art from her using a character and art stolen from me. My character and art in question: FlowerMimikyu's edit: After informing me about this I was invited into a group chat with BD, FlowerMimikyu, and one of BD's friends who had notified BD the character was stolen. Below is what happened as I confronted FlowerMimikyu. I go by (the very professional username) "King Rastakhan Simp" in these screenshots. I thought that would be it and I'd just have to move on from the situations, but some time later the same night FlowerMimikyu sent me a friend request, which I accepted. This is what happened next: Seeing as we were going nowhere with this I blocked them. At this point I had already made several friends aware of the situation, as well some public posts on my deviantart and twitter, but it was this final chat, as well as what BD showed me afterwards, that pushed me to write this beware. Permission from BD to use her proof:

As of December 1st, 2017 I came across an advertisement listed on Furaffinity's home page for a fursuit head sold by blueraccoon23 for a flat price of 400 dollars plus shipping. I promptly messaged her about it and showed immediate interest to her and a payment arrangement was quickly made within a couple days. The conversation continued and we agreed to a payment plan of 50/50 through paypal. The first paypal request was on December 6th, 2017 (Sent from her through goods and services) for the amount of 215 dollars. (200 for half the commission and 15 for shipping through USPS) And was paid by me on the date below (December 8th, 2017) After the first payment, commission details were discussed. Including possible additional pricing for other items on the fursuit head. Originally the extra price was going to be included in the second paypal request. But she had the materials on hand to do it a different way so it wasn't in the second payment of 200 dollars through paypal goods and services. She requested the money through a Furaffinity note message on March 17th 2018 for the amount of 200 dollars. And I denied it at the time. In retrospect this should have been the first indication that something was wrong when she was asking me for money out of the blue, when there was no date set for either transaction and she made multiple mentions that there was no problem with the delay of transaction. The above date is when the invoice was sent on April 3rd, 2018. And it was paid by me to the amount of 200 dollars on May 9th, 2018. During the entire month of May, a string of messages from me went unanswered by her for over a month. Ending with her last communication via furaffinity note message on June 2nd, 2018. (The length of the screen captures show text from previous messages to keep consistency between posts) Inbox messages, showing the long gap between her responses. Outbox messages, showing the unanswered messages from me to her. I sent one more note on July 31st, 2020 that went unanswered. No more communications between us occurred on furaffinity. By October 3rd, 2018 I messaged her on her business email account. Found on her Instagram, website, and also through paypal. From that date until October 16th, 2020, she only replied once and 7 messages went without reply. (Again, screen captures are kept long to keep consistency. These are gmail messages in PDF printer format. Bottom of the page indicates 1/1 pages on all screen captures to show no replies are missing or falsified) During all of these emails, on May 23rd, 2019 I found her telegram account by using the same name, Blueraccoon23 and messaged her, she replied in roughly 1 hour. Over the course of 17 minutes she sends 5 messages and then never responds again through Telegram. The email attempts continue on September 15th, with only one message sent in the thread. Finally I ask for a refund on October 16th, 2020 with the details of the transaction included. She mentioned in her one email response to check her Trello account, because that's where she updates her commission queue. She never added my name, and the names that are in her queue currently have been on there for well over a year. Her Trello can be found here: https://trello.com/b/H0ZXIlhr/bluecoons-creations Her last update was May 10th, 2019) Her Instagram is: https://www.instagram.com/blueraccoon23/ and at the time of this post, the website listed on her Instagram is no longer a valid web domain: www.bluecoonscreations.com and that was the only place that I know of where her Trello account was even listed in the first place. [removed by staff for proxy: Remember, posts should only talk about your issues with an artist. Not other people.] So in short, if you ever see blueraccon23 (Jasper on Instagram) Don't commission her. There is a high likely-hood that you will never see your name on the queue, that she won't ever respond to you, with possible lost money and lost time.

On the 8th of April this year I asked xBlueAshesx about a Lion King YCH. She then accepted, I gave her my PayPal info and paid. Unfortunately I don't have the acceptance PM anymore, but here's a screenshot of the PayPal payment as proof. On the 13th of July, it'd been almost 3 months and I hadn't received anything back from xBlueAshesx yet, not even a WIP picture. I suggested a refund if she hadn't started on the art piece yet. This PM was read, but never replied to. After 6 days with no acknowledgement, it was then that I decided to request a chargeback. xBlueAshesx finally replied and offered to finish the piece. I refused, feeling like it would be rushed. Her final PM said I would receive a refund and also how I should "read an artist's TOS in the future", which I actually did do before placing the commission. I would've been happy to wait 3 months, I've actually waited that long for commissions in the past, but like I said, I was expecting to see a WIP pic at this point at least. Sadly, nothing. I'm now blocked by her on Furaffinity and no longer able to contact her. She continues to take on new commissions.