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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/829508.html It's really disheartening to have to come forward with this report, but after having patience and trying to negotiate with the artist, I have begun to feel like I had no choice on this matter, especially after many people have instructed me to come forward. I apologize for this post being very long; I wanted to make sure I included all the details I possibly could. Who/Where: Fursuit Maker: Frostcat-Studio / Ritz_Bitz / Ritz_Tweeting When I originally considered looking into getting my first fursuit, I had only heard of this maker through the recommendation of a mutual friend. From looking at their gallery, they seemed to have very nice work and I was given the impression that they could provide me with similar work. What: One Partial Fursuit ($1200) I had originally contacted Ritz for a fursuit in June of 2014 and on June 27th we agreed to a price of $1200 to make my partial, which included a large tail and also a set of wings. Here you can see Ritz had offered to add a magnetic feature to the wings so they could be worn under a shirt with a harness and I was charged and extra $170 for this addition. ->The email can be viewed here <- (Our conversation is very casual as we had been united through a mutual friend) On September 20th 2014, I confirmed my slot and placed my 50% down payment. -> Link for Proof <- (Ritz real name has been blanked) Then, on November 25th 2014 I paid my remaining $600. (The screen shot shows a total of an additional $1200 as I also paid off the remaining $600 on the mutual friend's balance to help them out. That amount is not related to my entry) -> Link for final Payment Proof <- Explain: At first, Ritz kept very good communication when working on my fursuit and seemed interested in making it "just right". She replied to my inquires often and kept reliable contact with me, even sending me work in progress images from time to time. While I would get pictures, I never really was sure what I was looking at in terms of what she had been doing; I was never given any explanation and was issued vague descriptions, which is possibly my fault for not speaking up on but I had never commissioned a suit before and felt I should place my trust in the maker to do their job. The first red flag that came to me was when she would inquire about my second payment and instead of contacting me directly, she would ask the mutual friend to remind me on her behalf. This really struck me as odd given the mutual friend was not working for Ritz and my contact information was established prior. I ended up ignoring my gut on this issue given the mutual friend was close to both of us and since this was a friendly transaction, I considered it to just be another casual aspect of the entire affair. Ritz proposed the completion date (By Further Confusion 2015) and said that having it complete by this time would be no issue, so I planned to attend this convention so I could have a good time fursuiting for the first time. Overall, the anticipation building for this costume was immense as I would be flying in from Florida to attend the convention in California just to have a chance to wear it for the first time. On January 4th (approximately 10 days before the convention), I was shown images of my completed fursuit via Twitter and Skype. The images were not close ups or anything, so from first appearances I was excited. While it wasn't the quality I had expected, I was still excited to have a costume regardless. I should take responsibility for my qualms with the quality as when browsing her gallery I had not noticed the suits that stood out to me were all built on headbases made by other fursuit makers when mine would be built from scratch; That being said my expectations for what I would receive were not completely accurate and it was my fault for not researching further. Regardless, I told her I was happy with it visually and was eager to wear a fursuit for the first time. Overtime, I ended up coming into a disagreement with the mutual friend who had connected Ritz and I for the commission and we began to grow apart. I didn't think it would effect my commission with Ritz in anyway, but later on I would find it was quite the opposite. (This is only important to note as it will become relevant later on.) Originally, the suit was going to be shipped to the mutual friend and delivered to me at the convention however due to (what I can only assume to be) rising tension, the mutual friend opted not to deliver the costume to me. Given I was flying in from across the country, I asked a friend from Southern California to have it shipped to them instead since they would be driving to the convention. The friends who ended up having the fursuit shipped to them did not open the box in any way until they found me at the convention and I opened it myself. January 15th When I made it to the convention, I met up with my friends from Southern California (I was also rooming with them) and they had my fursuit box in the hotel room waiting for me. At first glace, I was already very upset. The box was very poorly packaged and looked very ragged. I would have thought it could have been mangled by the postal service but it seemed the degrading box was actually taped up in areas where it was falling apart and that tape was laid beneath the original packing where the shipping information was. It was very clear that Ritz reused a battered and trashed box to ship my $1200 product and my concern began to grow before I had even seen the costume. Upon opening the box, the first thing that was staring at me was a foot paw that was falling apart. The box had just been opened and the suit was already damaged in quite visible ways. Thankfully, I had a room full of witnesses that helped me gather pictures of the unboxing. Here is a visual collection of the damages that we discovered. -> The footpaws were separating from the shoes (That I had to purchase myself and ship to her) before they were ever worn. -> The bottom Jaw and horns were crooked and the head was barely foamed so it would lose it's shape when not worn. -> The seam in the fur on the direct center of the muzzle was popped despite never having been worn yet. -> The balaclava was not attached with only a few tiny dabs of hot glue and separated from the foam and also has various holes in it. -> In fact, the Balaclava had MANY holes in it. -> The fur on the hand paws was poorly shaved and some of the claws were upside down. -> The shave job was uneven and jagged. -> And in some places, the fur was shaved all the way down to the backing. Now, as you can imagine, I was not very pleased to open the box and discover the suit was in such a mess after never being worn. Some of the mistakes I saw were very common from beginner suit makers however I was given the impression that Ritz was NOT a new maker and had enough experience to warrant the $1200 price tag (which could buy a partial from many makers who would not have made these mistakes). On top of all these issues, I discovered that the set of wings I had ordered for this costume did not feature any magnetic attachments at all. Instead, the wings were sewn directly into a harness made from elastic straps, making it impossible to wear them without having the harness worn on top of my clothes. This was also very upsetting given Ritz had offered to make this feature for me and charged me an additional $170 for it, yet never once mentioned to me during the construction process that they would no longer be doing the magnet idea. I immediately decided to contact Ritz as she was at the convention and perhaps she could do enough quick fixes so I could at least wear my fursuit; I did fly in from across the country just to wear it around afterall. I didn't mind waiting on fixing the other issues, but I at least wanted some help fixing the shoes. I decided to contact our mutual friend to get in touch with Ritz because I had no other way to reach her at the time. We met up and I explained what the problems were and she agreed to get the feet fixed. We went to Ritz's hotel room and she did a quick hot glue job on the paws with me standing there. It was not very thorough but it seemed like it was enough to keep them together for the time being. I also had the chance to ask about the missing magnets and she explained that there were no magnets strong enough to hold the wings in place (which isn't true since you can order some that can hold up to 75lbs!) so she opted to sew them to the harness without informing me to meet the tight deadline. After Ritz "fixed" the feet, I went back to my hotel room and decided to wear my suit as it was to try and enjoy the convention. The next morning, I went to participate in the fursuit parade and that was when the fur on my foot paws began to separate again; this time on both feet. Additionally, the buckram connected to the plastic to make the eyes began to separate and peel from the plastic. This was also when I noticed that the plastic has been hastily cut and there were strands of of debris going into the space where my actual eyes were. After the parade, I found Ritz again to show her what was happening with my brand new suit and she seemed very disinterested in my issues. When I brought attention to the issue with the eye popping out, both Ritz and the mutual friend (whom was with her the entire con) began to give me sass and snark about not being "too rough" with the costume then walked off without making any attempt to help me with the situation. I was pretty appalled at this reaction given I paid so much money for a costume to wear and was basically being told not to wear it if I didn't want it to fall apart. I had been just wearing the suit like any normal person would, I wasn't jabbing the eyes in with my finger or anything for goodness sake. It was at this point the mutual friend decided to get involved and began sending me text messages that said I was being rude and "mean" to Ritz for contacting her about these issues and the issues in question were not her fault. Why was the suit maker's friend getting involved and handling this situation? This had nothing to do with them so why were they acting as a messenger for Ritz? At this point, I was given the very strong impression that Ritz no longer wanted to provide me with any help for the costume, so in order to make it wearable I asked for the help of my friends (I was rooming with) to help me do minor repairs. I was forced to go out and buy a glue gun and ask a friend to cut time from her convention experience to keep the suit intact. During the time we spent fixing it, we also began to see even more issues with the craftsmanship. -> The zipper on the back of the head was glued to the fur instead of sewn and began to separate. -> The horns were discovered to have no foam to anchor them, explaining why they were crooked. I think the majority of my convention time was spent with a friend trying to repair this costume. We were absolutely sure not to modify anything, just attempt to repair the poor craftsmanship. After a certain point, my friend explained to me that we should stop repairing it all together because the state it was in just couldn't be saved at a convention. I attempted to contact Ritz once more via twitter DMs to try and show her the state of the suit before the end of the convention but she unfortunately decided to start ignoring me. I was polite and kind because I wasn't mad as much desperate to fix these issues. It was such a frustrating experience because I just wanted some resolution for this costume that I spent a large sum of money on and the person who sold it to me made me feel like they had zero concern for the situation now that the money was already in their hands. To make things worse, a few hours later Ritz began tweeting about me to try and detract from my issues, implying that I was picking on them because I had a disagreement with the mutual friend. This was just the end to my willingness to work with this fursuit maker anymore and I ended up sitting in tears while friends comforted me. One of my friends began discussing things with Ritz on twitter because it very strongly felt that she would not be dealing with me beyond this point and Ritz began stating that the problems with the costume were not actually there nor her fault and began to explain that the situation had very much been influenced by my falling out with the mutual friend. My friend then decided to take the conversation with her in private and they discussed the situation because Ritz still would not talk directly to me. During the private conversation with my friend, Ritz admitted to rushing my fursuit and stated that she could not afford to refund the costume but would work out a plan after the convention to make things right. She also stated that it was "shitty" or me to not want repairs at this point and called it unreasonable. I may be unreasonable for not wanting repairs, but I don't trust this individual with my money anyone given these problems would not exist if the care needed was put in to begin with not to mention the constant avoidance with my problems. I did not feel this person wanted to fix things correctly. After Ritz had conversation with my friend, it was decided that after the convention she would absolutely talk to me about the problems with the costume and find a resolution. (I can provide screen shots of this entire conversation if necessary, however I opted to leave them out initially as so my friend would not be dragged into the issue. I firmly believe this should have stayed between Ritz and myself and the constant involvement from third parties has really caused more drama than needed.) January 20th (2015) Two days after the convention, Ritz contacts me on Skype and begins trying to work out a situation from the suit. She begins by offering me two options; One is to send the suit back for repairs or I can send the suit to be stripped and turned into a different character that she can sell. She tells me that I can not be refunded 30% of the fursuit cost as the cost of the materials can not be returned. Despite finding that option to be very unfair (given I would be returning the suit to her so she could recoup her losses and the reason for refund was not a cancellation but rather the product was broken and the fault was hers), I agreed and stated that after all that had happened and the personal involvement of her friend causing tension I did not want it refurbished; I just wanted a refund. She also explains to me that she -can not refund me at all- until I return the suit and she resells it, thus leaving my money weighing on the uncertainty of weather or not the suit sells and if it does, would it sell for the $800 she says I am owed? She insists she will not refund money until I send the suit back, however that was understandable and we agreed. She also mentions at the same time that she will send $200 refund in "good faith" (that I have never since seen). I am kind and understanding with her and even apologetic for the situation that unfolded despite being at no fault myself. I wanted to make things right and I felt bad that she had spent the last few days tweeting about never wanting to make suits again. I felt guilty for the distress I put her through so I even said I would think about letting her repair the suit after she pushed that option on me constantly (despite saying I did not want it). She additionally admits to her friend's presence having effected her business with me and even the way she treated me as a customer, which sent even more red flags to me, but she genuinely seemed like she wanted to make things right so I did my best to return it. Her main concern throughout the entire conversation was her name and reputation, which seemed very off-putting given I felt her main concern should have been to fix the situation with my costume. -> Conversation can be found here <- January 30th (2015) About ten days after our conversation, I gave Ritz my final decision. I took note to how stressed she was over the decision and gave her time to come down from the ordeal. I politely explained to her that I did not feel comfortable sending her the suit and waiting for her to resell it before I would receive any money. I stated that I would gladly return the suit after I was refunded and left it at that. -> Link to Conversation <- The Next day, Ritz replies to me stating that she can not refund me for the amount I am owed until I return the suit in parts for her to resell and asks for a week to figure something out. She explains that she will use her tax refund to pay me the money I am owed and I reassure her that I can wait for a refund as long as it needs to be. My main concern is still that I do not want to return the goods until I am compensated for them. This is when her contact slows to a grinding halt. She openly begins to dodge my communication and puts me on the back burner and does not contact me in any way unless I put an effort into contacting her. February 12th I end up contacting her as it has been nearly two weeks since her last contact with me. Again, I am civil and I calmly ask what the game plan is for the situation. On February 14th I get a reply in which she states that her tax refund was small and she would not be able to refund me from that money. She also goes back on her word in stating that she would refund me and takes an aggressive tone, calling our agreed upon solution to be "unfair" and says that my failure to trust her is preventing me from getting my money back. Now, I'm going to throw some personal opinion in here but...how am I being unfair? She agreed to refund me and suddenly is changing her tune and even going as far as to insinuate that this situation is my fault for "not trusting her". The problem is, I already trusted her with $1200 to deliver a product to me in functioning order. She not only failed to do that, but she also insulted me, ignored me and went as far as to try and claim her faulty craftsmanship (which she admitted to) was -my- fault. Yes, I do not trust her with giving me my money back and I will not relinquish the costume until I am given a refund. I am not asking for both the suit and a refund, I am asking to be compensated -before- I give up the costume. The artist's financial issues are not my concern, what is my concern is the money that she had taken from me and will not return. -> This reply can be viewed here <- She has dodged contact with me and has put me in a situation where I am not sure if I am going to have this situation resolved. On February 17th, I contacted her asking for her to talk to me when I was online as I didn't enjoy playing message tag when the subject was so important. I tried once more on the 18th to reach out and beg for conversation on the topic and reaffirmed my stance about her taking back the product to resell. I even went as far as to offer my phone number to try and resolve the issue but she had left me in the dark, all while spending time on twitter and talking to other people on skype. I am fully aware I am being ignored and it's gotten to the point where I am getting ready to file a charge back on paypal if this doesn't get resolved soon. -> Proof of contact attempts <- (screen shots were taken on 2/18/2015) 2/21 - Ritz contacted me in response to my final message in which I explained that I felt that I didn't believe it was fair to charge me for materials when I would be returning the suit for her to recoup that loss and because the issue with the costume was not due to cancellation or error on my end. I admit that I did change my mind in terms of the refund I was willing to accept though the advice of many friends and other artists swayed my mind. I did agree that taking a partial refund for having zero product on an issue that was no fault of my own felt very wrong, but I may be out of line for having brought that up and changing my stance I take responsibility for that. She responded aggressively, again cursing at me and using profanity. I was given a "final option" in which I was told I will wait until she gets her tax refund after I return the broken merchandise she had given me before I will receive any financial compensation. I don't feel that this is ever a way an artist or suit maker should ever talk to or treat a client, but maybe I am bitter and misinterpreted her reply as more rude than it actually was. I politely asked her to calm down because her abrasive reply felt very flustered and asked her to give me a phone call so we can figure things out. She explains that she can't handle phone calls due to anxiety so despite it being a difficult work around for me (my work generally keeps me very busy) I understand her position and tell her I can easily wait for her to finish helping a friend move out. She asks me if I would "actually want to resolve this civilly" which struck me as rude given I don't feel I have been anything but? - > Conversation <- As of now, it is 2/27/15 and we have not resolved the issue at all. I feel like I am constantly being fed excuses, ignored and just treated very poorly in general and as a customer that paid $1200 for a costume that is barely wearable, I feel like this shouldn't be the case? I just feel like I'm stuck in a run around and I can't help but think I'm not doing the wrong thing? This is the first time I've ever commissioned a fursuit so perhaps my inexperience is what keeps this situation from being resolved? I'd be happy to take fault if I knew what I was doing wrong! I'm hoping that in posting this entry, I can warn people about this maker's shady business practices, lack of professionalism and lack of concern for their customers. I'm also hoping this may be the final nudge needed to get Ritz to acknowledge me and resolve the situation before I file for a charge back on Paypal. $1200 is quite a sum of money to be over drafted and I would absolutely prefer not to financially break this artist. I just want resolution, I want her to give me a game plan and show concern for the situation and give me a refund for the broken product she gave me. EDIT: 3/4/2015 On the day this entry had been posted, Ritz returned from attending an Anime convention and contacted me. She has posted the caps herself below, however just to be sure, here is the gist of what was said: -> Conversation <- While yes, she did offer to refund me $800, she also went on to bring up unexpected bills she mentioned on twitter and debts which made me feel extremely guilty in accepting any money from her when her personal life needed the money so much more. As I have said countless times, I am not out to be a bully in any way; I just want a refund for the broken costume I was given. Later in the day while I was at work, Ritz confronts me on skype with this: I wasn't even aware the entry had been posted at that point as I was on patrol at work (I am a police officer) and she begins getting aggressive on me, stating that she thought this was resolved and saying she was insulted. For one thing, this post was made days prior when I had not yet received any contact, secondly I would never consider this issue to be revolved until the money is in my hands and the fursuit was in hers. At this point, she offers me a NDA Contract because she no longer "trusts" me for having made this entry. Ritz is well aware that I have now requested a full $1200 for my refund because as others have mentioned here, I should not take a material cost loss when the issues with the transaction were not my own. The contract is incredibly damaging for me in which is states that I am unable to speak of the event in public or to third parties and states that Ritz may deduct from my refund if she is unable to sell the broken suit she crafted. I have screen capped the contract issued to me (I had to censor our names) and would like AB's input. -> The NDA/Contract I was offered <- (Ritz is the first party where as I am the second) I do not feel comfortable having to sign a contract to have the money I am owed returned to me; I feel like this is a form of blackmail in order to try and silence me if I want the money I am owed back, furthermore the amount offered is not what I am requesting. I want a full refund and that is what I am standing firm on, especially if Ritz is going to refurbish and sell the broken merchandise I was sold. I do not feel fit signing a binding legal agreement that states I am unable to make "any other online postings about the other party" I am additionally saddened by Ritz response here in the community claiming I have falsified any documentation in this entry and went as far as to accuse me of Libel and Slander within the proposed contract. I have not fabricated any of the content within this journal nor would I have had to should I received a functioning product to begin with. I also asked a few friends to review the contract that was presented to me, to which Ritz stated I should never do unless I approach a lawyer. I am in disbelief I was scolded for asking for input before signing a binding legal contract and that made me feel like Ritz knowingly attempted to shaft me. Additionally, while discussing the public image Ritz has gained from this entryI was suddenly confronted with Ritz's fiance (who could not bother to spell my name correctly). I expressed to him that I have no interest in talking to him about the transaction and want Ritz to be present. She returns and demands I resolve this tonight -> Conversation <- At this phase, I am done playing games with Ritz. I am tired of being treated like a bully or a bad guy when I have done all I can to be agreeable and helpful with this situation. My job requires a very taxing amount of my time and I can't be bothered to jump through hoops anymore. I have issues Ritz a final statement and that is where I am leaving it. I will not be accepting any amount under the original $1200 I have paid and if a resolution is not reached within the week, I will be filing a charge back OR if that fails I will be taking legal action. Ritz has proven to me that her reputation takes precedence above her clients and that is why I can not be bothered to be involved in her personal financial matters or give leniency anymore. -> My final statement to her about the matter <- At this point, this issue is not resolved despite Ritz claiming it to be so on social media. Edit 2: Ritz has now hidden her twitter from public view due to her initiating issues with people discussing this entry and claiming she was harassed. I do not support anyone causing her trouble on social media and I have not encouraged any of that behavior. Edit 3: Approximately one hour after I had amended this entry with the NDA they proposed to me, Ritz contacted me again and negotiated a refund. Her reply was as unprofessional as the rest and was of course not without an attempted guilt trip. She assumed my commentary about conventions and ski trips were about money when in reality it was about her lack of contact with me (in the cases where I was told she was too busy to negotiate with me). After accusing me of harassment and reminding me about her tax refund, I was asked to give her my paypal and complied. Despite constantly being told that she could not afford to refund me in full, I was suddenly sent the full amount of $1200. This left me a bit unsettled, however I wasn't going to ask any more when I got what I had requested. I have informed her that I would alter the entry and mark the situation as resolved. I will also be shipping the fursuit back to her this week and will edit the entry one last time to prove I have made good on my end of the bargain. I want to thank the Artist's Beware community for it's insight and help on dealing with this situation. This community is a valuable resource and I am glad to have been able to use it. As far as this entry goes, while it is now resolved I would still consider it a more than valid beware. I think the entry speaks for itself and down to the very end this maker could not handle a professional attitude. I also want to note that this suit will be refurbished and relisted for sale, so buyer beware in the future. I am very disappointed that things between this maker and I had to come to this. I was very polite and willing to work with them to accommodate their own situations if they would help me with mine and that refusal just made it impossible. Ultimately, it was not the desire to right a wrong that got me my refund, it was the desire to salvage their reputation that finally made a nearly two month long ordeal come to a close. If the maker had just shown the same concern for me as a client as they did for their reputation, this post wouldn't have had to be made. EDIT: 3/6/2015: The fursuit has been shipped to Ritz. I can provide a tracking number to the entry if needed and also visual documentation was taken to provide proof the suit was shipped in the most protective way possible, including the individual parts being bagged to prevent weather damage to eliminate any claims proper care was not taken.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/995064.html Where: OneFurAll Studios - www.onefurall.com What: A full fursuit commission including head, bodysuit, paws and additional set of feetpaws. In addition, a design sketch for the fursuit. When: Payment in May 2014 — issues ongoing Explain: The issues I have experienced with OneFurAll (OFA) are twofold: an inability to manage expectations and meet contractual obligations, and lack of communication. April 2014 saw conversations with OFA regarding a commission, with estimate of an “18-24+ month queue” given. In May, I indicated my willingness to commission, and asked for confirmation of the wait time; I was told that there would be a more concrete “18-24 month wait. Our wait times shift minimally…” (see email 1); this was the final estimate given prior to payment, and with the qualifier of minimal shift, suggested that I could reasonably expect the fursuit to be completed at, or close to, 18-24 months. No further communication was made at this stage regarding the fursuit, only payment. Paid in-full via an invoice from OneFurAll in May 2014 (see Paypal Invoice). On 24th June 2015, in reply to an email from me, OFA restated the timeline to build to be "around the 24 month mark from your deposit" (see email 2). In September 2016, replying to another email from me, they stated it would be "a few more months" before work started, but that it was a good time to take measurements, which I supplied; while the time estimate had run-over, I expected work to start soon so chose not to raise a dispute. In June 2017, following my enquiry as to the expected timeframe, OFA said it would be "later this year when we'd be able to fit your character in" (see email 3). My reply to this stated that I would consider the end of the year to be an “agreement between us that this deadline will be met; if further events beyond your control mean the ‘suit won’t be finished by this estimate, please can you inform me as soon as you become aware of this?” I wished to make clear that I considered the end of 2017 a hard deadline. In January 2018, in reply to my chase email, they stated they still had not reached my position in the queue (see email 4). I therefore began the process of cancelling my commission. I requested a full refund, due to the unreasonable and excessive degree by which the build estimate had been missed (almost 2 years), and the poor communication received. I cited a clause I was sent in their Terms of Service during my preliminary discussions, which stated 30% of the commission price would be forfeit except in “extreme cases” (see TOS). I considered my case “extreme” due to time the process had overshot by, the exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances the studio had claimed to be going through which slowed production, and my communication issues. In response, OFA outlined that they would not offer me a full refund and said that the entire fursuit building industry has adopted a firm non-refundable clause, and also apologized for the communication issues I had experienced. They offered the opportunity to keep my fursuit in the queue (see email 5), with a promise to improve communication, which I refused. When they replied in February, they stated that their policy has “always been that we never contractually promise a start date” and that “we are still technically at 24+ months” (see email 6). They went on to say that their non-refundable clause was "firm" and they would not refund me in full; they said the “extreme circumstances” condition was intended to allow them to be sympathetic to someone who found themselves “in a genuine state of need...” citing customers who had encountered “…dire life circumstances and we helped as we could”. They found it “problematic” that I was referring to this term, and they felt that I had attempted to “reinterpret that outdated phrase against us” (see email 6 cont.). They went on to say in their February email that they would "no longer offer waiving that clause for any reason", and offered to refund my payment beyond the 30% refund penalty in 3 instalments (see email 6 cont.). I did not take this offer as I felt it unjust that they should retain the 30% penalty, and because I paid the entire commission price up-front and would feel more confident receiving a refund as one payment. They also restated that non-refundable percentages are a prevalent feature across the fursuit building industry and cited the TOS of 7 well-known makers (see email 6 cont.). Email discussion continued over refund amount, with little progress. Given the log-jam on both sides, I emailed OFA on 7th February 2018 offering a compromise: OFA get 10% retention on the full commission price (see email 7). Apart from acknowledging receipt of this on 5th March, I have yet to receive a substantial response despite regular chase emails. It now appears the process has broken down, and I am unlikely to receive any refund soon due to our lack of ability to agree over this dispute and the lack of response from OFA. As resolution to this issue, I would like OFA to issue a full refund. I do not believe they have upheld their contractual obligations to me, nor do I feel they have provided the level of service one would expect from a company I have paid almost $3000 to. I feel that attempting to withhold a 30% penalty constitutes an unfair term of contract given they have not indicated that they have spent anything on or worked towards my commission, and are likely to make up the entire amount very quickly in new commissions. In addition, I feel the application of a ‘no full refunds’ policy should have common-sense boundaries with protections for the customer laid out explicitly on the face of the contract. I can understand a refund penalty if a commissioner pulls-out within the given timeframe and simply does not wish to continue the process. However, taking $2950 up-front, providing a timeframe estimate and then missing this by two years should surely warrant the return of the full amount paid, especially when the customer is told that their wait will be 18-24 months with a “minimal” shift of wait times. I do not claim to know how other makers apply their no-refunds clauses, though if it is an industry-wide practice to do this, I feel it’s a sad reflection on how we are doing business with eachother. I regret that it has come to a point where I have needed to post this; as I have outlined to OFA, I sympathise with their position, the studio having been through many unexpected events of some gravity over the past few years. However, I cannot recommend the studio based on my experience, having been left disappointed with ephemeral time estimates and difficult communication on many occasions. Proof: Email 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3a6y8rjuhyjqrjk/Email 1.png?dl=0 Email 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ffjtmxn8jxwsymf/Email 2.png?dl=0 Email 3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a54gyehmgmzyopy/Email 3.png?dl=0 Email 4: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejoyfwq6mmiom08/Email 4.png?dl=0 Email 5: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tgifcsay9ookqo0/Email 5.png?dl=0 Email 6: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jc377vs6b0giksh/Email 6.png?dl=0 Email 6 cont.: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2infyun44507g3t/Email 6 cont..png?dl=0 Email 7: https://www.dropbox.com/s/feokqxqveekxabb/Email 7.png?dl=0 (I typo’d the dates here, writing 2013 instead of 2014) Paypal Invoice: https://www.dropbox.com/s/irjcj3ycagq4hcq/Paypal Invoice.png?dl=0 TOS: https://www.dropbox.com/s/48gmljcjmui210g/TOS.png?dl=0 Tired of ads? Upgrade to account with Professional

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/870015.html EDIT: solved, I received a full refund. WHO: RaikaDeLaNoche / RawrCreations / AlmaAurora on FA, WHAT: A fursuit mask I didn't receive. WHEN: Contacted her and paid on march. Still waiting on a full refund. PROOF + EXPLAIN: [Note: The RawrCreations fursuit studio is handled by two people; Raika and someone else, but because this was entirely handled by Raika, I've decided not to include the other person.] RawrCreations opened for new projects in march, so I messaged them asking for a quote. [Proof] We agreed to the transaction, I sent $250 and I was supposed to send the rest of the payment next month. Their website (listed on the RawrCreations profile page) is now down, but when it was online, it showed some fursuit examples and a ToS that specified that, if paying in increments, they would send an invoice next month, and it was expected for the buyer to pay when it was due (April, in my case). [Proof] It's after I sent the first payment that communication completely stopped. April passed and I didn't get any updates or the invoice. I tried to be patient so I waited until May to contact them again, but my message was ignored. I messaged them again through on June asking for a reply, again, no answer. [Proof] On July 23 I was now tired of waiting and sent Raika a message on FA, asking for a refund. The message was read, but I got no reply, and her favourites kept being updated, showing that she was indeed ignoring me. (I also sent a message to the other fursuit studio maker, the messages are still unread.) She finally replied to me on July 30, the reason cited for the lack of updates was personal reasons/not wanting to talk, but assured me I'd get photo updates in about a week. I was excited about getting the item again and understood that life sometime gets in the way, so I told her it was completely okay and to take her time, only thing I asked for was updates. [Proof for both messages] Yet August was passing again without not even once being contacted by Raika, so I left a shout on her profile asking for a refund, completely fed up with waiting. [Proof] I was silently 'refunded' a week later. The thing is, because Raika sent this as Payment instead of Gift or Refund, I only received $236 from the $250 I originally paid her. I understand not all countries can send as Gift (mine can't), and it was past the wait period to send as Refund, but I would have expected her to cover the fees so I would have received a full refund. [Proof] I left a shout on her profile asking for the full amount on September 1st, which is still being ignored, even though her account shows activity. There are also other people on her shouts asking for refunds and updates, so I know I'm not the only one. [Proof] So, in short, I paid for a fursuit head, was ignored for six months (and still am), then not refunded in fully, even though I didn't receive anything.

An artist who traced another artist's work, and when I asked for a redo, I was given low-effort art that does not match her portfolio. December 14th, 2022 I commissioned Arts Studio after she contacted me in my Discord DMs asking for emergency medical aid. I paid her $90 ($120 CAD) for a full-body drawing. I was already commissioning an artist to do my main fursona, but I still wanted to help. I didn't have another OC on hand, so I asked her to turn a spare Roblox shark avatar I had into a character. I knew sharks generally have the same body type, followed by simple tattoo patterns. So, the request was to draw a generic grey shark body that wore the accessories and clothing of the avatar, which included a black tank top, shorts, and a red bag. Because I thought she was in a tight situation, I wanted to be less of a burden and reframed from giving her too many specifics so she could focus on styles and poses she was familiar with. I learned shortly after that she was unfamiliar with shark furries, but she was willing to do it. I explained to her that they generally have the same body type, and I showed her a few examples from other artists so she could get some inspiration and an idea of what they are. January 16, 2023 She sent me the rough sketch and awaited approval. The PNG she sent was intentionally small, blurry, and watermarked, so I couldn't recognize anything wrong with it. I approved it. She then guilt-tripped me into paying another $41.46 ($58 CAD) for a background, as I thought she needed the financial help. January 20, 2023 Arts Studio sent me a larger PNG, and I realized it was a traced copy of art by @notglacier (from Twitter). The art by @notglacier was one of the many examples I showed her, but I never told her to make a copy of it. It was to show her what shark bodies looked like in the fandom. I had already told her before that I just wanted the body type. At that time, I was still new to commissioning artists, and I assumed they had a code of conduct against copying. So, I didn't think I needed to tell her anything explicitly. I thought she knew selling copied art was shameful, and the final copy would be completely different. For now, I only gave her subtle hints: But then she ghosts me from that day until Feb 23rd. February 22, 2023 - February 27, 2023 I tracked down her email and contacted her on Feb 22nd. She responded on the 23rd and agreed to finish it. On Feb 27th, she sent me the "completed" version, but it was the same one from Jan 20th, just bigger and without the watermark. You can see the traced resemblance to @notglacier's but mirrored. It had been clear she had not been working on it since she sent me the approval sketch. overlay March 1, 2023 I emailed her. I told her (very explicitly this time) that the point of those references told was to give her an idea of what shark body types look like and that I wanted her to implement it with my avatar. I asked if she could make a redo with a different pose and style so it isn't a copy. I didn't provide any further instructions after that because, again, I wanted her to have artistic freedom, and it had already been three months. The pose or style didn't matter as long as it wasn't copied. She agreed to make a redo. March 29, 2023 Art Studio submits the redo. She created a random character with none of the attributes I explained from the start. I told her I thought she would draw the same Roblox character, just with a different pose and style. I had never asked for those clothes, glasses or four arms. The quality was also bad, so I showed her an image of her previous work and asked why this one was so low. She acted clueless and ignored my questions. I expressed my frustration, telling her that I gave her $130 (CAD $178) for something I did not want and was not worth the quality. I ask the same question again because she ignored it the first time. She ignored this one as well. This was the expected quality March 31, 2023 - April 3, 2023 I start a new email thread. She abruptly sent me an unwatermarked version of the redo, but I told her I wanted to talk. Here, I'm desperately trying to get an answer as to why the quality is so poor, but she keeps ignoring the question. Here, she is being oblivious and asks me to repeat what I asked in the previous email because she had apparently forgotten. I do just that, and she tells me she "forgot" (again) and never gave me an answer to my question. She thanks me and leaves. But I wasn't done. I stopped holding back my feelings and lay out all the reasons why I was frustrated. She said she started a new job and won't do another redo unless I pay her. Then, I asked for a refund because the redo took no effort and was in no way worth $130. I only asked for 50% to be generous, but she declines. At this point, I knew I've been scammed, but I still wanted to know the questions I asked earlier, along with why she couldn't give me a refund. Again, she ignores. The takeaway is that she traced another artist's work and submitted art that didn't match her portfolio. It gives me reason to believe that the art she posts on Twitter doesn't belong to her.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/956264.html WHO: Remix Angel Dragon / Nightwolf Costumes WHERE: Facebook –business page apparently deleted; tags/links to business page are broken, did most business through personal page FurAffinity - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/nightwolfcostumes (business, has been cleared out and no submissions are in gallery) Furry Network https://beta.furrynetwork.com/nightwolf/ Twitter https://twitter.com/remix_dragon WHAT: Full digitigrade fursuit valued at over $1800 USD , fleece hat valued at $25 WHEN: Dec. 2014 (when first payment was sent) to present (suit was paid in full May 2015) Read below the cut EXPLAIN: I first commissioned Remix for a fleece hat of my Dutch Angel Dragon character back in September 2014. In December that same year she opened for fullsuit commissions so once again, after seeing her previous work decided to commission her. It was agreed upon that the fleece hat I had previously ordered would be sent along with the suit once it was done (however, I had never seen any shots of a WIP or even a finished hat). We agreed on a payment plan of 25% each month until the suit was paid off. January 2015 I sent her a payment of $450 USD(via Friends and Family to avoid the conversion fee, I was told -strike one on me) then mailed a DTD, a pair of shoes and a hand tracing. As soon as the next month rolled around I was messaged for the next round of payments, but I had to adult (to put it simply) and told her they may have to wait, in which I was then told if I didn’t pay I’d lose my commission spot but that she also wasn’t going to do that. I was able to pay her toward the end of February when things ironed out. Paid her again April 2015 and asked about a possible completion date of Anthrocon 2015. Was told she would start working in May after the last payment was sent. The last payment was sent in May 2015, and work began. We talked back and forth about furs and measurements. It was revealed that the suit would not be completed for AC ’15 but I told her I was fine waiting. September rolls around and we’re still waiting on fur. No other WIPs, such as foam work, were shown. She also asked to keep our conversations between her business page and myself instead of her personal one, but this transition never happened and we continued talking for another year on her personal page. Communication stopped Nov. 2015. After that I’d heard nothing from her again until April 2016. In the meantime she was posting other suit work and finished costumes, as well as sharing excitement over having a character of hers made by a popular maker. April 26 I am finally shown my first WIP picture: the handpaws. In May 2016 I received another WIP photo of the tail. After that I was told she couldn’t finish the bodysuit because my DTD had somehow fallen apart and was full of holes, thus requiring me to send and make another one. I didn’t hear anything for a couple months while the artist went to Eurofurence, despite seeing her post a redo of her own personal suit as well as more work. I messaged them August 20th to ask for updates and was told they were still settling in from the con and wanted another week. I reconfirmed sending a new DTD and was promised extras because of the wait. September 2016 I am notified that they received the DTD, but still no new WIPs. Finally, in October 2016 they send me an invite link to a telegram chat they had created to keep all their customers informed. This is the last time we spoke over Facebook messenger. After the move to Telegram I no longer received any updates regarding my suit, but the artist continued to show off work on other suits, her own suit being made by a popular maker and mention things going on in her home life. She mentions she will have four more hands in the studio to help her with suit work. November she posts another finished head and mentions she will change my sculpt to match that one- keep in mind I have yet to even see any WIP shots of a head at this point. Halfway through November she posts more suit updates but no mention of mine, just alludes that everything they have been working on will be shipped out. There's talk of having everything shipped in time for Christmas, yet still no mention of my commission. Updates in January are sporadic, she's posting that she's sick and disappears for days at a time or even a week. January 23rd she tells us things have gotten worse since she worked instead of bedrest so she's stopping for a while. February she lets us know more about her health, and because of this she is stopping all work, and no refunds are going to be given to anyone. She calls in another person to speak on her behalf and again states there will be no refunds, and to sympathize with her as it is a very difficult time for her, we have options, take them or leave them. I stated my case to this new person, first in the chat then in PM, explaining that while I understand the severity of the situation I can’t just walk away from that kind of money, especially where no other WIPs had been sent since May so I couldn’t even be sure the suit was that close to being finished. I even offered a partials refund of $1200 to cover the material costs and labor already put in and her “spokesperson” stated no, no refunds at all, and “this is the risk you take when commissioning”. They finally do agree on a $1200 refund, as a payment plan, and that they would ship me the parts finished and the remaining fur that I could then take to another maker. I was told I would get a track and trace (tracking number) when it shipped, and the first refund payment was due to start in April 2017. Towards the end of February I reached out to this person again for an update and was told they'd get back to me. I haven't heard from them since. It is now nearing May 2017, and I haven’t received a tracking number, my package, or even a cent of a refund payment. Inquiries to Remix herself are met with “I don’t have the money to refund you, I am ill,” and when asked about the package I am told her father shipped it and she would get it from him as soon as she could. I never have, and my messages are now going on ignored. The Telegram group for her business is now shut down and any business pages relating to Nightwolf Costumes are now wiped clean. Meanwhile, Remix posts actively on Twitter about her upcoming fursuit from a large maker, which as of this writing has been finished and is being shipped to her. She is also very active in a telegram chat for Dutch Angel Dragons, that I am also part of. I warned her about writing an artist’s beware if I wasn’t given the tracking number, and I have yet to get a response from her other than “I’m ill”, so here we go. I know I have a slim to none chance of ever seeing my full refund back, or even the fur. I know I shouldn’t have sent the money without an invoice, or without ticking Goods and Services. I learned the hard way, and I’m hoping others don’t make the same mistake I did. I'm posting this to not only warn people about what happens when invoices and paper trails aren't made, but to also stay away from this person, even if they get back in the business. PROOF: All aforementioned and linked screenshots. ADDING: At the beginning of May Remix reached out to me and asked for my email and phone number – she was referring me to a third party to get this resolved as soon as possible. As of this writing I have heard nothing from her or this third party. I reached out to her May 14th asking if she’d heard anything from that third party and I have heard nothing since. 5/26/2017-ADDING MORE: A rather lengthy response from the maker: here here here here here here here here here here here here I've also been called out on Twitter by Skypro herself, my name isn't used but it's passive agressive enough that I can figure out it;s about me. Note that not once in this entire beware have I ever said I'm insisting Remix finish building my suit. All I've asked for is my refund and the supplies to take my commission to a different maker. Proof is here. 5/27/2017 Woke up this morning to a messge from Remix, with photo proof she has shipped two boxes to me, and a refund via Paypal of $1,080 ($120 was witheld to pay for shipping). I had tried to be reasonable and suggest a payment plan again to make it easier on her but she refunded the full amount. I'd consider this mostly resolved, once I get the boxes in the mail and find what she sent is as she described (all the work she was able to finish, plus the remainder of the materials) I'd say this could be completely resolved. 6/8/17 I came home from work to find that two boxes had been delivered, but they required a signature to be turned over to me (they had been delivered at 9 am, I didn't get home till 6 and I live alone). I was away all weekend so I was only able to pick them up today. Frankly, I'm disappointed. I was told I would be getting handpaws, a tail, feetpaws, and a half sewn bodysuit, plus my fleece hat and materials to finish the suit. Instead I got no hat, handpaws that barely fit my hands despite the hand tracing I sent her, a pair of foamed feetpaws with only one showing the carving process, a tail that isn't even backed and closed up (basically unwearable), and a barely even sewn bodysuit, many pieces still have pins holding them together. I also received both DTDs back (one was cut up to make the fur patterns) and almost all the fur used to make her (I don't have the brown or the green used in the tail). I'm disappointed, largely because I was led to believe more work had been done than this when I agreed to a partial refund but also because any quotes to try to get this finished are going to be through the roof, there's still so much work to do.

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

Explanation: Commissioned a fursuit tail, commission completed but never shipped??? Lack of contact/lying from maker. Proof of deadline agreement: Proof of payment: Commission was completed 12/03/2020: Communication starts to wane: I never received the tracking number or any proof of postage. Most of the responses from here on out were very short and lacked explanation of any kind. At this point I was starting to get a bit nervous and proposed a refund. They used my tail in another commission opening post on twitter and Instagram. When I looked into their Instagram I found a few comments from commissioners complaining about not receiving their commissions. (I cannot make any statements on these peoples behalf's and have no proof of their transactions. These screenshots are only provided to explain my motivation for filing a Paypal dispute.) [Proxy removed by staff. Submissions may only mention your transaction, and not others] I eventually decided to go through with the chargeback which closed in my favor on Jan 31st 2020. Was a really hard decision for me this time since they had actually completed the tail. I did say that I would be willing to send the money straight back to them if I received a tracking number or proof of postage. But unfortunately I haven't received any messages since.

On Feb 26th, 2019 I submitted an application to OFA (Onefurall) for a full suit of my character. I got a response a few days later (Feb 28th, 2019) stating the ETA (24+ months or 2 years) and approval for the slot. I paid the deposit and was placed in the queue As time went on, I reached out about changing my character, questions about the queue, and making more payments towards the suit. I gave another payment of $500 in this timeframe as well. After some scattered back and forth over the months, I started getting curious about the inability to get a solid answer about the queue or the fact that there is no public queue in the first place. Email response from OFA was starting to take much more time as well. The response I was given did not address the queue length or an updated timeframe for my project. There was still time before my position in the queue. However, my concern and curiosity were sparked even harder by finding old beware posts on this maker. At this time, the correspondence manager on telegram was stepping down and being replaced by a new one. I was also given a new second ETA (Dec 2022) since my first one was past due. I reached out to the new manager, Cowenn, and communication continued in telegram. In April, my friend (Who had also commissioned OFA) transferred full ownership of her slot to me. I had high hopes for OFA and took ownership of the slot and her part of the payment ($1702.50). After a few months of slow response from OFA, my friend's slot was rolled onto mine for one character. The official email I made for this change. The rollover of the slot was confirmed by Onefurall ($1702.50 added to my $2225) from my friend giving her partially paid slot to me. At this point in time, the total spent for the project is $3,927.50 and the first ETA for the suit (March of 2021) had been passed by 19 months. The second ETA for Dec 2022 was coming up soon. The communication was lacking at best and I was not being given updated information about the project or where it sat. After attempting to reach out in December I am finally able to get a response. I submitted my measurements and waited, thinking that my project must be ready to start by now. Months pass with no response, so I have to reach out via email to the studio to get contact. (Some information is covered to protect sensitive personal information) Communication stops again. The response does not have a timeframe or any solid assurance that the suit is ready to start. At this point I am disappointed and my trust in the company has dropped to near zero. The bewares I had read in the past all reflected the same behavior from this company and I no longer wish to do business with OFA. I contacted them for a full refund for the two slots that I have full ownership over. I have sent two more emails (see below) stating my intentions and I had hoped to quietly part ways with them. To the day of writing this beware (6/15/2023) OFA has not been in contact about the refund, and I feel like making this beware is well warranted. I will keep this updated as time goes on. I would like OFA to make this right by giving me a full refund ($3927.50, the total of both slots rolled into one that I have ownership of) or the full refund minus the cost of the furs purchased for the project plus shipping and sending the purchased furs to me.

I contacted Shiro and asked about commissioning a refsheet for one of my characters, we discussed and agreed to payment, he stated that the commish would take about 2 weeks, I'm usually pretty lax with this kind of stuff but i did ask him if there was something after 3 weeks or so. no replies at all for about 2 months. He then returned and explained something about the government and military service. understandable so i didn't look further into it and even commished him a few more time, sketches and the like. bad move. what soon followed was him completely ghosting me despite still being quite active, i gave the benefit of the doubt perhaps he didn't check the messages so i commented on a post telling him to check his messages, he saw it but didn't reply, he was replying to other people, and even saw others were dealing with this as well. While checking other twitter post he even stated that he was clear of coms, despite me having nothing from him. Then the kicker, another person form the Thai furry community talked to me and informed me he is in a way their problem child, he was banned from any events in Thailand for his behavior and its common for him to pull this kind of stuff and keep people waiting a year or more. so in other words a ghosting artist who doesnt fulfill their end of the bargain and is very rude and unprofessional, I've filed a dispute with paypal and am currently waiting on that. but this is more of a warning for others, if you see this artist Avoid him and save yourself the annoyance of trying to deal with him.

Client was terminated from an Artistic Liberty quote before payment was made since the changes requested by them on the concept provided during the first contact were not interesting for the studio production at the time and the unpaid design created during quote was kept by the studio, as described on the TOS agreed by said client during the application process. Link to our TOS Client tried to continue the application process but we already sent the email terminating it and we didn't felt it was necessary to proceed contact, since no invoices were sent and no further agreements were made - at that stage we already let the client know that the design created for that commission would stay under the studio property. Weeks after said client decided to public harass our studio on our own posts on Instagram and after being blocked on multiple accounts for doing so, started to spread misinformation about our TOS, the commission process and also decided to claim the unpaid design as their own under claims that goes against the TOS agreed on before the design was sent to them. We sent a private message to the third account and by that time it felt like the situation was under control. The harassment continued the next day with another account claiming the studio stole the client OC, tagging other clients and spreading more half truths and accusations. The studio posted a public note via Instagram stories to spread awareness on the information and also decided to share on beware groups what happened. One of our followers let us know the client still insists on spreading false information and we decided to enlighten the situation public posting everything here. These are the accounts that continued harassing us and our clients/followers: @wetsnobblobb < has posted the stories spreading misinformation @foolish.adopts < has harassed us on posts @beesandcubs < first account to start online harassment [Moderator Note: A 4th IG that was harassing OP exists, but the account is held by someone underaged so we have censored it out.] That user is claiming that the art is stolen and that our character sheet bases are also stolen fro] third party, which is a blatant lie since our lead artist has all the files and recipes to prove that all the art was created by us and belong to Alecrim Carmim brand. To clarify any half truths shared by the accounts listed before: - Our art is 100% designed by our lead artist. We have all the files and proof of the authenticity of our creations, designs and production; - We never ghost any client; in that specific case, we simply terminate the commission and sent an email informing the client on said termination and reason (the project was not interesting for production at that time); - No designs were stolen from the client; in fact, our design is being claimed without payment by said client under accusations that "since the mood board and directions were given, the character belongs to them”; said claim goes straight against our TOS (that was agreed on BEFORE the commission process even began by the client); - No invoices were sent to the client before the commission termination. Not the 30% from the commission process nor any amount of money was received from the client by Alecrim Carmim. Preparing / being ready to pay does not mean actually making a payment. We always ask for future clients multiple times to read AND agree with our TOS before moving forward with the commission process. For our sake and for the sake of our current clients and followers, we’re deleting that design made for that specific commission from our social media and premade library. We do not stand for harassment and we do not want to associate with the illegal usage of our intellectual property, no matter the claims. We're a positive brand that try our best to avoid that kind of drama, but sadly some of that might hit our way once or twice in our studio development. For that reason, we decided to expose the situation and upload a client beware so our fellow makers have some feedback on said client for future reference. All the relevant screencaps are attached to this message. The art itself is being used without credit and the Client is claiming the design to be their character. In addition, the Client attempted to sell the design, using the full original, unpaid artwork in the advertisement on May 9th

I commissioned Fen for a Vtuber bust model with Live2D rigging and 4 "emotions." I was originally quoted for $350, but I tipped enough to make it $500 because they'd just raised their prices after my initial sketch and I was impressed. After I paid the $100 deposit, it took more than the one week promised to get a sketch back, but progress was coming along in a relatively timely manner. Fen was initially good at getting back to me on Discord with WIPs and letting me know they were working on my model. The turnaround from sketch to full-color was surprisingly quick, but I was extremely happy with how everything was looking. My commission was essentially ready for Live2D rigging by the end of May, so I figured the whole thing could be ready at some point later that summer. Unfortunately, that quick pace did not carry over to the rest of the commission. After that May 31st WIP, I didn't get a single update for nearly 5 months. I knew they took commissions on other types of art and streaming assets, so I didn't mind at first. Eventually though, things just didn't seem right. I'd check their Trello regularly to see if gears were turning in the commission queue, and while there'd be new sketched here and there, the Finished Rigs list went stagnant through this whole time. The next update I got from Fen was at the end of October. I was afraid to ask for updates through Discord because their status was always Do Not Disturb, but I decided it had been more than long enough and I sucked it up. About a week and a half after I sent my message, I got WIPs back of the expressions I asked for. I actually hadn't noticed that the expression designs hadn't been done yet, but I was still pleased to get an update and know that my commission was still on the table. After that, it was back to radio silence for a month. By then, it had been 6 months since I paid off my invoice and I was still in "Ready to Rig" status. Especially being a Twitch streamer trying to plan overlays et al to fit with the model, I was growing even more impatient. I consulted a few friends on the matter and decided to ask for an estimated completion date. I was told December 15th at the latest. That didn't happen. In the meantime, it was apparent that Fen was doing Live2D work, just on other "quick completion" commissions that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. What added insult to injury was that they were promoting these simpler rigs with very little wait while I was still actively waiting for what I paid off in June. Then, when December 15th rolled around, they tweeted out that they were finishing a rig in just 24 hours. The next day, they were showing off a brand new rig for their partner. I lost my patience and asked to just take their PSD/CSP file so I could get someone else to rig it. No response. What happened after was a sticky situation. On December 21st, Fen's cat suddenly got sick and they had to take him to the emergency vet. The bill was steep and they said they couldn't afford it, so they needed donations and emergency commissions to cover the necessary treatments. Between this and the holidays, I knew I was in no position to ask for a refund, full or partial, even if I was still out $500 with nothing to show on my end. I again offered to just take my file as it was and go, eating my extra cost, but still no reply. Around New Year's, while all this was going on, Fen suddenly announced on Twitter that they'd finished two standard rigs that had been in the queue behind me. If it wasn't already, the writing was on the wall that I was being ghosted, so I gave them an ultimatum. As much as I didn't want to be the villain, if I couldn't get at least a basic reply, I threatened to file a chargeback. Within hours that same day, I finally got the CSP file with a lengthy apology. I thanked them and that was the last contact we've had with each other. I've since been in contact with a different artist who does Live2D rigging and I commissioned them to finish the model. They've been able to work the the Clip Studio file just fine. While I'm still happy with the design Fen was able to make for me, but between the uneven progress, lack of communication, confusing management of the commission queue, broken promises, and uncertainty that I'd get what I paid for, I certainly won't be working with them again and I can't recommend them to another streamer in good faith.

Sep. 8th, 2011 at 8:06 PM thaily I hate writing these things, but I hate people using artists are doormats even more and even though this guy is local to me, he has internet so no-one's safe. It all started with a retweeted message that someone was looking for an artist in the area to design a mascot for a site and create 12 illustrations of said mascot for said site. The tweet came from the guy's intern but she's not the problem here so I won't mention her by name; I want to keep her out of this entirely, I've accidentally interned for people with how do I put this politely diminished moral judgment. I don't blame her, I only hope she doesn't pick up on his sordid (and I use the following word in the most liberal sense) business practices. But I digress, the company in question is called Tenno Media, Peter Bierhuizen is the person this post is about. He appears to be the owner and sole employee, save for the aforementioned unfortunate intern who has since left. The site the designs would be used for is fitness-ferdie.nl Because this happened locally, i.e. in the Netherlands, I will provide translations of our correspondence as well as screenshots for any Dutch speaking person to verify that the translations are accurate. I invited the tweeting intern to look at my site and mail me if she liked my work. First e-mail. "Sending you an e-mail following your tweet. I design websites as a side job and my boss has asked me to design a character. Simply: a frog in an orange shirt with FF on it. A reference to Fitness Ferdi, a web shop where people can buy fitness appliances and goods. Of Ferdi, the frog, he thinks he'll need 12 drawings (illustrations) that will be used in various ways (websites, flyers). I don't know what kind of budget is available. This would kind of depend on the amount of time the designs will take to make. Vaguely said, but if you think you can create Ferdi I would like to receive a message. Kind regards, X" First reply, I explain my process, how many hours I will need and how much I charge; minimum wage is about €9,20 for my age bracket. This will be relevant later. "Hello X, I can definitely design a fitness frog. My hourly wages are €10,- ex. taxes First I will make a few sketches to your specifications, about 6 sketches will take 2 hours, so you can decide what kind of design you'd like or if you'd like to see more sketches. As soon as you pick a design I will customize it until you're satisfied, how that long will take depends on you (plural). From a sketch to a coloured vector (which can be resized to any size) takes about 4 hours x 12. With the cost are also commercial rights, I only retain the right to include the illustrations in my portfolio. - Kind regards, E. Palli (my real name, I use my real and artist name interchangeably)" Second e-mail, with this sketch attached. I sized it down. I told them I can do 6 sketches in 2 hours, they ask for 10 in 3, I comply. "Hello X, Hey E. I've discussed it with my boss and we'd like to get about 10 sketches (3 hours of work) of different kinds of frogs. One illustration we can picture is a frog in a circle, met a happy smile. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt which reads "FF" across his chest in white letters. The plan was that I was going to do the sketches myself, but I think this will cost me too much time, which is why I went looking for an illustrator. I've included the first sketches, so you know what direction we want to take. Once we've received the 10 sketches, we'll see how it goes. We'll have to think of the poses we want. Kind regards, X" I send them these sketches a week later to help them nail down the design they want. "Without shirt, it will be added later. Small: [link] Large: [link] Did you have an address I can bill? Kind regards, Thaily" Get an e-mail a week later, but there's been no mention of a deadline or anything, so I'm not too bothered. "Hey Thaily, I only work Tuesdays at Tenno Media at the moment (the company you drew for). My boss is going to look at the sketches one of these days and as soon as I hear back about it I'll contact you again. You can send your bill to Tenno Media. [blanked address] I really like your sketches, nice style! Greetings, X" Listen to me smalltalk, yap yap. "Hey X, Thank you, I hope your noss (typo) likes them too :P - Kind regards, Thaily" While I asked for a billing address, I hadn't billed them for the first batch of sketches yet. Keep in mind; 10 sketches, 3 hours of work, €10,- an hour = €30,- so far. "Hey Thaily, We had a little meeting and we'd like to see another ten sketches. Some comments: The head can be fairly human, like the middle frog (touching his upper arm). The body can be broader and more muscular. This will be another 3 hours of work. Furthermore we'd like to see sketches of Ferdie: 1 holding weights. 2 spinning on a bike. 3 running on a treadmill 4 flexing his muscles 5 holding a sign 6 pointing left or right 7 in a round logo, like in my sample sketch. Because of my internship I stop working at Tenno Media after next week. You can mail the sketches to my boss at [email protected] en/or [email protected]. The contact will be via Peter. He is my boss. Ferdie will be the mascot of FitnessFerdie.nl. The web shop for it is being perfected and is temporarily placed at this url: [obsolete link]. Maybe the site's lay-out will help you with your sketches. Have a nice and greetings, X" I take a little over a week to respond this time because I suddenly got slammed with unexpected work; friend told me at the last minute he had gotten me an art panel at a convention, so I suddenly had 3 days to prepare for an art show. Augh. "Hey Thaily, How's the frog coming? :) Greetings, X" I managed my art show, then did the second batch of sketches and sent them to both the intern and Peter, the intern's boss whom was now my contact. I explain, for a second time (first being in my first e-mail to them) that they need to settle on a design before I can start on the final illustrations. I've even made it easier for them by putting all the sketches on the same sheet and lettering and numbering the heads and bodies so they can just tell me which body and head they like best so we can combine them and move things along. "Hey X and Peter, Sorry for the delay, I was told at the very last moment that there was an art panel reserved for me at an art show. Here's the second batch of 10 sketches; I added numbers and letters so you can easily indicate which combination of heads&bodies you like, as soon as we decide on a design I can start on the sketches for the illustrations. Small: [link] Large: [link] - Kind regards, Thaily" At this point I decide I'd like to get paid before we go any further, so I send Peter the bill for 20 sketches; 6 hours of work is €60,-, plus taxes the total came to €70,80. Again I remind people this is essentially minimum wage, this will be hilariously relevant in a moment. "Dear Mr Bierhuizen, Here is my bill for the 20 sketches. - Kind regards, Thaily [I attached the 2 specified bills as PDFs, they are from Gear-IT.nl which is my husband's company, because it was easier at the time]" Here's where it took a sudden and sharp turn downhill; the intern gone I was left to deal with Peter who (perhaps after being faced with a bill and the realization that yes, I expect to be paid for my time) suddenly felt all my work was unsatisfactory and unusable. He says he's looking for a specific type of frog, but despite being prompted to tell me which design comes closest to what he wants, he decides he wants to back out of the deal without paying me for the work he has already commissioned and has already been provided. "Dear Thaily, I have looked at the sketches and I'm missing that which X asked for. X gave a whole list with situations and positions that we wanted to see sketches. However I don't see any of these positions. So I can't do anything with your sketches. To be honest I couldn't do anything with the first batch of sketches because I asked for (at least X) what I wanted. So I'm not very happy because you're sending me 2 bills for things I can essentially do nothing with. I'm looking for a particular type frog (see the list of X further down in the mail (was the same list translated further up)) depicted in a number of fitness related poses but I have received none of this. So I'm going to stop because I'm not sure this collaboration is going to be successful. I hope to have informed you sufficiently. Kind regards, P. Bierhuizen Tenno Media]" Assuming the best, that he is merely confused, I explain for a third time that he has to pick a design before I can do the illustrations from the list. I don't wanna do 12 sketches only to have him change his mind about the design before I can finalize. Plus it would cost more, I'm trying to save him money. "Dear Mr Bierhuizen, The sketches are to determine the design of the character, once the design is to your liking (the customer picks a design they like or a combination of designs they like) I will finish the sketches; the 12 sketches of the character on a bicycle/with weights etc. so all the illustrations will be to your liking and consistent. I have only billed you for the 20 sketches at the price we agreed upon beforehand. - Kind regards, Thaily" TL:DR, Peter still fails to understand simple things. 2 notes about that. 1. I was completely bewildered by his failure to understand this simple procedure. First you decide what the mascot looks like before I draw the mascot doing various things. It's not rocket science. And I know it's not me because I've designed numerous characters for various people, if anything people are excited when given choices and the chance to customize the character to suit their personal tastes. I've never had problems with anyone in this matter. 2. He says that if he makes me do the sketches he'll have a spent a fortune before he has anything that looks anything like something he can use; in addition to the procedure I gave him my time estimates and hourly rates beforehand. This only became a problem the moment he actually had to pay for completed work. Allow me to iterate; a fortune. Literally, he uses those words; "Een vermogen". Minimum wage. Aw yeah, I be ballin' with my €10 an hour! "It clearly describes what X wanted to see. I'm sorry but I think your work method is kind of too vague. If I let you make the sketches I'll lose a fortune before I see anything that looks anything like what I want. I don't think that can be the plan. If you included what I wanted to see a la, but this isn't the intention." As a side note I should indicate that he dropped all civilized pretense, as well as his ability to capitalize, punctuate and spell (I'm fixing this in the translation for legibility's sake), giving the impression he can't be bothered with it anymore. I know how he feels, so I give him an ultimatum, pay or lose any claim to the work. "We can do 2 things: - You pay me and you can use the sketches and designs, if anything to give to another designer to finalize the work. - You don't pay and I will sell the designs to a third part to compensate for my financial damages and you cannot use the sketches; so you can't pass them on to another designer without infringing on my copyright." He takes a few days to respond. "go ahead and sell them. i can't use them and will never use them" So, he had all my info ahead of time, knew what he was getting into and is not backing out of payment for work he commissioned and has already been completed; breach of contract. I inform him I will be letting my colleagues (hi guys!) know about him since you know.. Whether or not I manage to mitigate my financial damage, he's still breaking his contract and likely to do it to the next person as well. "Okay, I'll my colleagues know that you break your contracts. Good luck (with your future endeavors)!" This, perhaps predictably, leads to further deterioration in his ability to communicate like a professional. "My god, you are such a vengeful type. I'll tell your colleagues that you (read Gear IT) simply don't deliver what is asked for and that YOU are really (and easily provable) not delivering on your obligations. THAT my dear is actually the real problem. I ask A but get B. Think about that and stop (zeiken, crude Dutch for taking a piss; bitching, moaning, whining, carrying on etc.) pissing on about it, toddler" I iterate, Gear IT is my husband's IT company, we just sent the bill under that name because it was more convenient at the time; I didn't have a PDF and was too busy to make one, but the bill was specified and obviously from me, this is was not in dispute (just that he had to pay it). I correct him since well, Hiryu doesn't do illustration and design, he does hosting (sites, Minecraft servers etc.), security, domain registration and so forth. So if he wants to complain about the right person (i.e. probably lie his pants off) he should complain about Spirit Link Studio. "- Not Gear IT, Spirit Link Studio. - Be sure to present all your "evidence", k? :D" Further breakdown in communication and him not understanding simple things. "So why do you send bills with Gear IT on it. I added it just in case you forgot. Fucking (fokkin = Dutch white trash way of saying "fucking") vague as far as I'm concerned. Read your mails there's enough evidence that you don't deliver on your promises. I've had enough of this stupid pissing on. I'm going to stop replying." I explain simple things with small words. "Because it was easier at the time. Good luck (with your future endeavors)! :D" True to his word, he has yet to reply. But it's only been a day or two and sometimes he takes a week to respond, so there might be more swindling man-child rage to update with later. So uh, in short; don't work for this guy. He only likes your designs until the first bill shows up, then things quickly deteriorate into ignorance, lies and cussing. In a related note, if anyone wants to buy a frog adoptable, I have some available here ? Edit: Thanks for the input guys! Yeah there might have been a miscommunication, the "customer" was vague and told me to draw another 10 sketches "kinda like X". Had he gone "Oh that's not what I meant, I meant Y." the miscommunication could have been dealt with in a civil and mature manner. It wouldn't have been a problem. Unfortunately he immediately broke the contract by pulling out without paying, not to mention the condescending attitude and crass language. I managed to stay civil even after he said he wasn't going to pay for my time, so I don't understand his outbursts at all. In years of doing commissions, he is only the second unhappy customer I've ever had, and it's due to his own lack of patience, understanding and basic manners. I'll probably stay away from similar contracts for the time being, because they cost more time and aggravation than they're worth (especially when you're not being paid) and if I do take a design contract, I'll make them pay part up front like with normal commissions. Lesson learned, I'm moving on to my paying customers ?

fenrirs_child Mar. 1st, 2011 02:05 pm (local) sugarpoultry 1. sugarpoultry 2. http://sugarpoultry.deviantart.com/ 3. feb 10 4. i had previously got a sketch from her iron artist thingie, and she opened for regular commissions on the 10th. i payed her promptly at midnight, and she was very helpful considering i didn't have the best ref for color... i woke up the next day and she was already done with my art! and it's simply a steal at her prices, she's amazing ^^ best birthday present ever ^^ and i believe she's still open right now! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5240304/ teahound Mar. 1st, 2011 03:41 pm (local) Cappuccino 1. Cappuccino 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cappuccino/ 3. February, end of the month 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5321990/ Very nice, very prompt and worked well with the ref sheets given. A+ for sure! teahound Mar. 1st, 2011 03:43 pm (local) WFA 1. WFA 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/WFA/ 3. Hmm... I want to say January? Not sure. 4. (Image shown in icon) I just love everything about it! ducttapeninja Mar. 1st, 2011 04:08 pm (local) Snowcat 1. Snowcat 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/snowcat 3. Mid/late December 4. I'd posted over on ArtCommissions about looking for someone to commission for a two-character piece of me and my boyfriends' two naga characters. She messaged me on Furcadia a short while after showing interest in doing the lineart for $25. Looking through her gallery and loving her art, I agreed to commission her. Communication was constant, and in just a few days she'd shown me a rough sketch for approval and was working on inking. She was an absolute pleasure to work with, and even offered to fix a detail for free that I'd forgotten to mention in one of the characters' descriptions. Now once I have the money to spend, I'm absolutely going back to her when her commissions are open again to have her color the linework, too. :3 I'd absolutely recommend her to anyone! Finished piece. <3 shukivengeanceawesome Mar. 1st, 2011 04:28 pm (local) Demona69 http://www.furaffinity.net/user/demona69/ January It was a pre-posed lineart commission, which I requested permission to colour myself. After sending her payment she had the sketch modified as my character within a few hours, when I approved it she had the finished lineart done and emailed to me within 2 days. She was a real pleasure to work with, very polite and friendly. feather_dancer Mar. 1st, 2011 05:27 pm (local) Bunglebearz / Joicebear 1. bunglebearz 2. DA | FA 3. Early Feburary 4. Very fast and narfing adorable for both Notalope and Mahu! Also really appreciate the links back to mine. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5246407 Edited at 2011-03-01 05:35 pm (local) feather_dancer Mar. 1st, 2011 05:36 pm (local) Chazthechemist / Samyena 1. chazthechemist 2. FA 3. Early Feburary 4. Very happy to compromise and give a couple pic without the couple to a very cute result, abusing the description to the full. Also appreciate the link back ? http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5252360 bunglebearz Mar. 1st, 2011 05:59 pm (local) Trashedbat 1. Trashedbat 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/trashedbat 3. Early February and two days ago 4. Very quick with getting my commission done, awesome attitude, and makes the most adorable bug-eyed icons! In general, Trashedbat is a pleasure to work with and I will definitely commission her again in the future. ? http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5322809/ http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/trashed_dragon/joicebear3.jpg frostfoot Mar. 1st, 2011 08:50 pm (local) 1. Trashedbat 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/trashedbat 3. Last Summer, unsure of exactly what time period because I am derp. 4. Was pleasant to work with! ? Watched them stream part of the commission and they constantly used refs so I was sure she was doing her best to get my little characters right and actually CARED about the commission and not just think "oh, glance at the ref for a second and doodle something up." They took a simple idea and setting I suggested and turned it into a really cute drawing. ? I plan on doing business with TB again soon. :3 And link to the picture they drew: http://oi52.tinypic.com/vyab7l.jpg brownspotz Mar. 1st, 2011 09:00 pm (local) 1 Luthien_Nightwolf 2 http://www.furaffinity.net/user/luthiennightwolf/ 3 a few weeks ago 4 just really awesome to work with,very creative and very polite. link to one of the pieces she has done for me: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5315332 pan_h_shiroi Mar. 2nd, 2011 05:25 am (local) Bagheera 1. Bagheera "Lorien" Silmaril 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bagheera/ 3. February 2011 4. He purchased one of my originals in February. Communication and payment were very, very fast. He was polite and friendly - just awesome to work with. ? poizenkat Mar. 2nd, 2011 10:47 am (local) 1. Sweettalk 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sweettalk/ http://www.meowingpenis.deviantart.com/ 3. around the middle of december till the end of last month 4. She may have took a bit longer then i wouldve liked, but she kept me well updated with WIP pictures and had top notch communication ^^ she also did an amazing job on my fursonas reference sheet which you can see here; http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5328638 poizenkat Mar. 2nd, 2011 10:58 am (local) 1. strawberryneko 2. https://www.furaffinity.net/user/strawberryneko https://www.furaffinity.net/user/nekocomissions/ 3. about two-three weeks ago 4. she was very fast and i just LOVE the icon i got ^^ i also got a free sketch!! https://www.furaffinity.net/view/5300663/ poizenkat Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:43 pm (local) 1. Firost97/darkpidgeot10 2. http://darkpidgeot10.deviantart.com/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/firost97/ 3. about a month ago or two? lol cant remember, sorry! 4. Amazing to work with. it came out much better then i imagined and i even got an extra picture as a gift! Its always a pleasure to work with Chris. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5300538/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5229766/ poizenkat Mar. 2nd, 2011 03:59 pm (local) 1. Wingy_dingbat 2. http://wingy-dingbat.livejournal.com/ 3. some time in december 4. http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj29/Twilmer/024-6.jpg two beautiful plush ❤️ i just adore how cute they are and how well made they are! i even got a little freebie (the zorua) uberangus Mar. 2nd, 2011 04:44 pm (local) Mfb 1. Mfb/Gryph 2. http://mfb.tv/ 3. A month ago and a few days ago 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5297390/ (first) http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5333768 (second, slightly nsfw) Amaaazing art! They set a deadline each time and offered to lower the price if they didn't meet it. Work was done fast and both were shipped to me, something I'm not used to artists offering. A+ would commission again. punkbawkchicken Mar. 2nd, 2011 05:20 pm (local) Brokowski 1. Brokowski 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/brokowski 3. February 15th to February 18th 4. I gave Brokowski a short description of what I wanted (mock-up band poster for 'Domestic violence'; pig chick kicking ass) and he literally blew my expectations away! He works lighting-fast and ships even faster. I paid approximately 440 for this 8-1/2" X 11" piece: http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt86/punkbawkchicken/DV1111jpg.jpg (not adult per-say, but pretty violent!) alex_dachshund Mar. 2nd, 2011 06:09 pm (local) FlinTinTin / FlannMoriath 1. FlinTinTin on FurAffinity, also known as FlannMoriath on deviantArt. 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/flintintin and http://flannmoriath.deviantart.com/ 3. February 25th 4. Flann is a well-known "Ginga" (Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, Ginga Densetsu Weed) on deviantArt and I absolutely love and adore her style. She started offering these seasonal icons (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5280879/) and I immediately I knew I had to get a Spring icon of my dachsie 'sona, Alex! Typically she charges $3 for the icons but charged an additional $3 for me since I wanted her to edit her template a little bit. I didn't mind that at all! She was very easy to talk to and work with, and after about two days, she finished my icon! Here is the finished picture (the pictures is uploaded in my giftart account, not hers as she didn't upload it: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5330998 alex_dachshund Mar. 2nd, 2011 06:15 pm (local) LunaDarkGoddess 1. LunaDarkGoddess 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lunadarkgoddess 3. February 26 4. Luna opened icon commissions and I decided to get one. She was very prompt in noting me her commission form to fill out, and when she got to mine in the queue, she noted me a preview sketch, and after I told her nothing really needed to be changed, she finished the icon after a few hours so it took basically less than two days for her to do my icon. She didn't upload it on her account for some reason. I wish she did so I could favorite it, but meh oh well. Here's the finished icon (uploaded on my giftart account): http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5331002 alex_dachshund Mar. 2nd, 2011 06:20 pm (local) Psychobat 1. Psychobat 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/psychobat/ 3. Some time in the middle of February 4. When Psychobat opened commissions, I immediately jumped at it. The commission itself took a week or two to finish (mainly because she was having trouble with poses and such), but I don't mind! She was extremely good with sending WIP shots and was very nice to work with. Finished commission: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5318693/ alex_dachshund Mar. 2nd, 2011 06:24 pm (local) CatInYourCloset 1. CatInYourCloset 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/catinyourcloset/ 3. Several times 4. Very friendly and good-natured. When I commissioned her, it would only take her a few days to complete my commissions. She sends WIP sketches out so that is a plus and somtimes she offers "buy one, get one free" deals! Finished commissions: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4900840/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4905722/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5216758/ felonykat Mar. 2nd, 2011 08:04 pm (local) thumbclawz 1. thumbclawz 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thumbclawz/ 3. January 1st, 2011 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5168575/ (Mine is the one on the upper left, a file was emailed with just her seperately. ^_^) Good communication and the commission was completed in slightly under a month's time. This was my first commissioning of anyone ever and thumbclawz made it a very pleasant one. felonykat Mar. 2nd, 2011 08:12 pm (local) CookieHana 1. CookieHana 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cookiehana/ 3. February 9th, 2011 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5242736/ Communication was great and the commission was completed in the couple days that it was said it would be. ^_^ Edited at 2011-03-02 08:28 pm (local) felonykat Mar. 2nd, 2011 08:16 pm (local) Hawaiian Rain/Soyo Kaze Studio 1. Hawaiian Rain/Soyo Kaze Studio 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/hawaiianrain/ 3. February 28th, 2011 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5338013/ Communication was great, made sure I would get this how I liked by double checking a detail, commission completed very quickly within a couple of days. ^_^ Edited at 2011-03-02 08:29 pm (local) houndofloki Mar. 2nd, 2011 10:54 pm (local) 1. Fetalstar 2. www.furaffinity.net/user/fetalstar 3. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5260953 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5082698/ Awesome quality, fair prices, frequent in-progress updates, and quick turnaround. Plus she's very friendly and comes up with really interesting picture concepts ? houndofloki Mar. 2nd, 2011 10:55 pm (local) 1. Bonez 2. www.furaffinity.net/user/bonez 3. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5318059 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5284809 AWESOME quality and a very unique style, quick turnaround and very easy to work with ? houndofloki Mar. 2nd, 2011 10:57 pm (local) 1. Mystiqe 2. www.furaffinity.net/user/mystiqe 3. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5344109 She has a REALLY cute style, was very easy to work with, and livestreamed most of my commission which was a lot of fun to watch ? poizenkat Mar. 3rd, 2011 12:03 am (local) 1. Slushie-Nyappy-Paws 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/slushie-nyappy-paws/ http://inu-ashi.deviantart.com/ 3. just today!! 4.http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5344472 did such an amazing job and even fixed the small mistakes in just a few minutes! this was finished within hours of payment and i just adore how it came out ^^ uberangus Mar. 3rd, 2011 03:02 pm (local) Mystiqe 1. Mystiqe/Mad-cheshire 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/mystiqe 3. For a few years now, most recently 2 weeks ago 4. Most recently: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5268211 and http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5283156 Awesome style, and streams a lot of her commissions so you get to watch it ? phineus Mar. 4th, 2011 10:43 pm (local) Bunglebearz 1. Joice Murphy / bunglebearz 2. Deviantart / Furaffinity 3. Commissioned her at the beginning of February, received end of Feb. 4. She was offering an awesome deal for $10 coloured full-body images, +$3 for each character; I got one with my partner, best friend and my fursonas. Despite character interaction being way out of her comfort zone, she turned out a great picture! She was extremely communicative, with frequent e-mails and updates on Twitter/Tumblr, and was just great to deal with. I think she went above and beyond a $16 commission! here's the pic! Edited at 2011-03-04 10:44 pm (local) ukthewhitewolf Mar. 7th, 2011 08:24 am (local) FlinTinTin / FlannMoriath 1: FlannMoriath, also known as FlinTinTin 2: DeviantART / FurAffinity 3: August 2010 4: She offered some sketch commissions to do while she was on a plane journey at a discounted price, I just had to snap one up. I was expecting it may take a while but within a week she'd sent me sketch page! Beautifully drawn and since she'd gone on her vacation to the same country as me, making shipping much cheaper, she did me another sketch. ? Here's the awesome page of sketches. ukthewhitewolf Mar. 7th, 2011 08:32 am (local) Ellastasia 1: Ellastasia 2: DeviantART 3: October 2010 4: I contacted Ellastasia wanting 2 commissions as presents for my mother, both I needed before December. 1 was a pretty normal looking pegasus but the other was of a real horse my mum used to own - and I had no photos of this horse. She did absolutely brilliantly at bringing her to life perfectly from my explanations and vague colouring of a lineart as a reference to the point my mum instantly recognized it as her horse. She got them both done for Mid-November and I am so happy with how they came out (as is my mum). First piece and second piece

On December 31, 2018, I commissioned Bree Drake for a full body badge while we were both vending at NYFB. I have screenshot proof of this transaction, despite the fact that it was a verbal, at-con, cash transaction, because I sent them a digital copy of my ref sheet via telegram:, at which time they asked me to confirm the type of commission I had purchased from them. On January 10th, I was contacted via telegram with an update as to the status of my badge, at which time Bree informed me they would be starting work on my badge soon after having some personal issues. Two months later, on March 18th, 2019, I attempted contact on Telegram for an update. My message was read, but not responded to, meaning that Bree elected to actively ignore my message there. She has not been active on telegram since July. Shortly thereafter, on March 21st, I sent her Facebook Page for her studio a message, asking the same question. At this point I was concerned because I was not listed anywhere on her Trello and had not even received the promised WIP. As you can see, some point after this exchange Bree deleted her business page, leaving me unable to contact her here either. As of September 6, 2019, I have not received a badge, a WIP, any further contact (nor can I contact her, as all her accounts seem to have gone dark as of March 2019), or any attempt at a refund.

Had commissioned this artist back in July of 2018; the piece was a 3 character Studio Ghibli themed pic of my character as well as two of my friends. Here are screen caps of payment: At first I was super ecstatic about getting this piece because I really adored this artist and at the time, they were seeking funds to help them out via a journal (which they conveniently deleted before I could take screenshots of it). After payment was sent, I noted them asking if they had gotten the funds in which they replied yes and a WIP would be sent shortly (1 to 2 weeks). I figured at the time all was good: Some time goes by so I send them a reminder note and they state that, yet again, they will have a WIP for me soon: More time goes by and still no WIP and no reply from the artist. I get a little worried but don't think too much on it because, as an artist myself, I know how commissions can sometimes take a bit more time and personal life can throw some unexpected loops. I send another reminder note, this time letting them know that this is a shared piece and others did pay for it as well and if things are going to be too much for them to handle, they can just cancel the piece and we'd be fine with a refund: They quickly reply that they will get it done by Dec. or so: ... and yet I wait more: Still did not get a reply. My note is ignored and I figure, they are busy yet again. I myself get a bit distracted with my own commissions and personal life. When I catch back up on things, I still haven't received a reply from the artist but I do seem them uploading art. At this point, it's already well past 6 months and so I tell my friend that we may never get the piece and should each note them letting the artist know that we would like to get a refund. Soon after my friend notes them, I get this note from Yajuuu: I was shocked at this reply, especially since my friend told me that the artist told them how they were going through medical issues and such at the time and etc. (which they not once mentioned to me this whole time mind you). My reply to they're outlash: I was actually hoping that things would be different and give them another chance, but after being informed and seeing another artist post a beware on them, a few weeks before I had put in a commission with them, I changed my mind. I told them I would like a full refund on the $110 but as you can see, they tried to talk me out of it: I replied again: After this, they then agree to refund me but I have to wait another 3 months before they can send the payment. They also pretty much black list me then and there from commissioning them ever again: I acknowledge this and also take note of the date. Soon after this note was sent. They leave FA and later block me on their twitter account; I wasn't talking to them there. I managed to screen cap this before the block: So irritating that they make it sound as if they left because people were being "mean to them" and not the fact that they failed to keep their commissioners up to date, failed to give updates on works and pretty much played around with others money. Yajuuu even went as far as to also block anyone who was in association with me after informing them of a negative outcome with them (wanting to push for a refund). If they were watching me or I watching them on the site, they were automatically blocked. Now I'm afraid that I may never get my money back for there is no way for me to contact them when the date comes and there may be a possibility of them not keep their prommis of them refunding me at this specific date. Edit: Additional screencaps added on behalf of the OP by moderation staff.

Since watching Dirt-chomp on FA I've purchased 6 busts for $10 each prior to this debacle and everything has been great. The quality of the work and timely manner had me coming back to purchase a YCH and a discount couples bust in July 2013. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10891605/ http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4868235/#cid:34960083 Month by month passed and I didn't bother reminding her until march 14th the next year. No reply. Tried her DA account at the same time. No reply. Tumblr account. No reply. At this point I simply gave up until I found her twitter and twitch handle. Joined a stream and at the mention of my name she shut the stream down. Someone sent me a link to her tumblr account and once again, no reply. At this point I gave up until I found their twitter and twitch handle. Found her streaming in twitch and tried talking to her there but the moment I mentioned my name she shut the stream down. I also messaged her on twitch. I found her on Instagram and posted on her latest submission that I've been trying to get in contact with her and at this point, I was pretty darn frustrated being 5 years and $105 usd out of pocket so I threatened to take it to artist beware. Needless to say she deleted my comments. While waiting for my art she has been actively taking in commissions from other people and doing works for them as you can see on twitter and Instagram as well as tumblr for some older stuff. As a last ditch effort I also contacted the studio where she works at. PROOF: Commission Information - https://sta.sh/010z0b33vpqp Commission Paid - https://sta.sh/0yeocs0c87w Inquiries - https://sta.sh/0a8iwa1kj4c Found Her! - https://sta.sh/0141luzy1qdw (The video has since been taken down) More Inquiries - https://sta.sh/0bigzy2kcm3 https://sta.sh/016efysynm8w (Tumblr stuff has been wiped)