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  1. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1004177.html Who: AshleyZombie/AshleyZombieArts When: May 16, 2018 — July 11, 2018 Where: http://ashleyzombiearts.tumblr.com/ What: A finished digital painting for $100 This artist usually gets a positive reputation from her fans and community, so this might seem like a shock. No artist is perfect, and surely no artist is bulletproof. I hope any fans of hers will see reason, and not an intent to do harm. This is my story. About a week ago from writing this (July 1) AshleyZombie canceled my commission because of con booth prep and "personal issues." I asked her to not do this, that I was willing to wait until con season was over and she was ready. But she did not want to hear any of it. She then kept half of the money I gave her for the commission and sent me a terribly done rough draft of the image, which is not what I was paying her for nor do I think it's worth half of the amount she charges for a fully rendered painting with cleaned lines and refined color work [see example here]. I expressly told her I don't agree to these new terms for a half payment, and that because she is the one canceling our project, that she is breaking our contract. She then slapped me with a bunch of horrible terms from her ToS page, which we never discussed beforehand. I initially contacted her on Tumblr after seeing a post about her being open for commissions — which was back in May, so over a month ago — and we hashed out the beginnings of what I thought would be an amazing commission project. Not once did she mention her ToS, and furthermore that because she was the one breaking our contract that she has no right to enforce her ToS onto me. It's already bad enough that to be on her commission list you have to pay 100% upfront. But now that she's able to cancel any commission she chooses, and is able to keep half the money for doing very little work, is a VERY BAD business practice. If all you are going to do is open for commissions, then cancel the commissions you just took while barely working on them just to keep half of the payment, then maybe you shouldn't be doing commissions in the first place if you do not plan to complete them. I understand bad things happen in life. I am completely forthcoming about personal issues, and I am willing to bend over backwards to help you out if I can. But this is something I feel she is doing to take advantage of clients, who will mostly remain silent and let these things go. I did not feel this was fair for her to do, and I was more than happy to negotiate a new settlement for the work she has done. However based on separate terms unrelated to the canceled commission. If you start a commission for a digital painting, and the end result is a rough doodle, then I am willing to pay you for a rough doodle. Just to put prices into perspective here, she was offering commissions for half-body and full-body paintings, at $100 and $180 respectively. I am glad I only purchased the $100 slot, because if she considers what she gave me to be worth half of $180 I would legitimately lose it. Either way, the practice of canceling someone's commission and charging them half for very little work is most unbecoming of her reputation. I haven't even mentioned the communication timeframe, usually taking weeks before getting a response. For the most part I was quite unassuming. After the first day of making payment, on May 16, she told me she would be able to send periodic WIPs. About 8 days later, on May 24, she sends me a rough sketch of my character which I absolutely adored, and told her to continue on after making some small fixes on the character. Again, another 8 days of waiting for a response, and on June 1 she informs me that there are no updates and to check her commissions queue. That didn't help clarify what was her situation was, but I reassured her that if she needs time to just let me know what's going on and keep me in the loop. At this point I ask her to let me know when she thinks she will be able to resume or get back to me about my commission, but no response. Twelve days later, on June 12 she finally responds with an update asking me to confirm the color palette and eye color. I comply, and I confirm the things that are correct and things that aren't correct. However I expressed slight dismay at the fact that we never discussed the changes to the preliminary sketch that was first drafted almost four weeks ago, and that the changes needed were not reflected in the update. I even clearly stated the issues unaddressed at the end of the email, verbatim. She then reassures me that the corrections will be reflected in the final painting, but I was already having doubts — my trust in her to do what she says was really all I had left to rely on. I tried to press on a conversation about the initial changes to the first draft, however that was shut out with another 4 days of silence, and finally on June 17 I received a response comparing the first draft to the second with color. At this point I was somewhat troubled by the lack of progress on the commission. An entire month has gone by, we haven't discussed the details or how we should go about fixing said details, I am receiving updates arbitrarily which only address the artist's concerns and not mine, and I personally found myself frustrated and contemplative about the appearance of the initial draft. So I withdrew my responses for a time, as it seemed the artist was not interested in having a conversation about my commission. I had the intention of responding later, or looking forward to AZ keeping her word that she will make the changes I am asking for in the next update. That was not to be so, because a week later on June 23, she sends me an email. "Hi, i hate to be doing this but im send out refunds to clients that's waited over a month or so due to the fact that i have con prep to worry and i've been slowly burned out with work. I've got a lot going on irl too and I've been stressed about it I don't think im doing this character much justice and im not following the guild lines too well with whats shown on the page. This character's been sketched and colored already so i'll be giving you a partial refund. I Just need your paypal email and i'll send you the full image when i send the money back !" Basically she's decided to scrap the project for her own reasons, but also — by the way — she'll be keeping "part" of my funds as tribute for her efforts thus far. Under different conditions, as I stated before, I'd have been happy to compensate her for her efforts. But the way this was imposed upon me, with disregard for her own incompetence by not completing her end of the deal, seemed to have disingenuous intentions. I sit on this email for about a day, contemplating alternatives and then I arrive at a solution. I ask AshleyZombie to reconsider putting the project on hold until she is able to collect herself and is ready to continue, preferably after "con" season. I was open to a new timeframe, and expressed that I'd be happy to wait. She refused, twice, and it was basically a one-sided conversation. Actually, come to think of it, the entire conversation since day one was very one-sided. I'm not very aware of many one-sided business conversings, but they usually don't end well for the receiving party. A few more emails, and it seems she's actively pushing for me to just accept what she's saying. From her tone, I can tell she's frustrated with my noncompliance and pleading. And to be fair, I am just about as equally as frustrated with her unresponsiveness and authoritative diction. I grind our pleasantries to a halt and let her know my thoughts on what she is trying to do. Specifically that I do not agree at all with her new terms for a partial refund for an item I do not want in its current state, at a price of her choosing. I lay out the barebones of our contract and how she did not complete her end of the deal. As a result, I asked that she consider completing the piece at full price — or that I demand a full refund and that she keep her incomplete efforts. Perhaps to count it as practice work or something to stuff into a sketchbook. I tried my best to be reasonable and logical, also taking effort to acknowledge her "apparent" hardship. But even this was met with incompetence, as she accused me of trying to bully her into not paying. I told her I would consider paying, but under arguably different circumstances. Nonetheless, seeing as how negotiating with her has gone so far, I wasn't optimistic that she would agree to anything else. Then she slaps me with her ToS. Which states that if the client should ask for a refund, and if she is halfway finished with the piece, that her terms would apply as such and a partial refund of "half" of the original commission price. And that would make sense, if I were the one requesting the refund. I even told her if I initiated the refund, I would be okay with paying half. But that isn't the case by far, and the complete opposite is true. She has termination terms, but she's exempt from terminating herself? And because she's broken contract, I don't understand how her terms can still be enforced. That got cherry picked to mean what she wanted it to, and as such she says it doesn't matter who initiated the refund. That if the work itself is halfway done then she is entitled to half of the payment. No negotiations. Had she simply imposed a cancellation fee, she wouldn't be able to enforce it. Our situation wasn't any different. That out of the way, this argument continued for one additional response from her, basically telling me that I'm bullying her, that her ToS are to protect her, etc, and that she will be enforcing her terms regardless of how wrong she was for breaking our deal. So far, I am taking this up an echelon with PayPal. Hopefully they will be able to resolve this issue where I cannot. And if they can go no further, I'll take it to civil court if I have to. It's the principle that's going to cause more harm in the long run, in my opinion. And not just from AshleyZombie, but from other similar-minded people as well. This is what I expected to get. [link] And this is what I got. [link] Still, the issue isn't about worth. It's that the original deal was not honored. We agreed on $100 for a finished digital painting. But instead of that, a new deal was shoehorned into this one, involuntarily, for a partially completed work for half the cost of the original price. Which I never agreed to. However it will be difficult for her prove what constitutes as a "half work," and what justifies "half payment" based on her ToS. Had this been a normal cancellation fee, I'd gladly pay it but... wouldn't you know it, I didn't cancel? Please beware of this artist, and others like her! Proof: Emergency Commissions Post | The original was deleted, saved on archive.org Payment | on PayPal Email conversation [PDF][NSFW?] PayPal case is ongoing! UPDATE (July 11) PayPal has ruled in my favor. The case is now closed! Proof of decision (July 10) I also discovered that AshleyZombie reopened commissions not even a few days after canceling my commission! This means she lied about her reasons for needing to cancel, in stating that she needed time to de-stress, etc, yet just hours later she reopens extra fresh on Twitter. In other words, AshleyZombie is accepting commission slots, only to later cancel any commissions she doesn't want to do while keeping half of the money given to her by clients. Do take note she leaves that part out, as if a full refund was offered. This is beyond reprehensible. Please be VERY aware of this before commissioning her. I'd offer to help revise her refund policy, but for someone to scam their clients like this I cannot bring myself to want to help. My perspectives on AshleyZombie have definitely changed after this discovery, and not for the better. Archive.is link: [Reopened Commissions] Rant on Twitter: [Rant]
  2. WHO: Kannos / Kannosart / KannosWD WHERE: https://inkbunny.net/Kannos (IB - consider NSFW) https://inkbunny.net/Kannosart (IB - consider NSFW) https://twitter.com/KannosArt https://kannos.sofurry.com/ https://www.weasyl.com/profile/kannos WHAT: Two Character Realism Auction (IB - consider NSFW) - Total Value $876.39USD (750USD+126.39USD to cover all Paypal processing) - Bid won by Baybea whom was bidding for TheSnowedOne PLUS Full Color Character Reference Sheet for Baybea - Total Value $320.94USD (275USD+45.94USD to cover all Paypal processing) Commissioners involved: Baybea - https://inkbunny.net/Baybea (IB - consider NSFW) PLUS TheSnowedOne - https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thesnowedone/ WHEN: Baybea's Full Color Character Reference Sheet paid for on the 4th November 2013. TheSnowedOne's Two Character Realism Piece paid for on the 13th November 2013 - Bidding Agent Baybea PROOF: IB Journals Birthday.. - IB direct link is HERE - 8th Nov 2013, 6:36pm Thanks. -IB direct link is HERE - posted 9th Nov 2013, 9:30am 2 Character Realism Auction - ANYTHING GOES (Emergency)- IB direct link is HERE - posted 10th Nov 2013, 9:57am Paypal Payments Payment for Full Color Character Reference Sheet Payment for TheSnowedOne's Two Character Realism Piece IB Private Message Logs 16th Aug 2014, 8:38pm - 19th Feb 2015, 9:37am - IB - Private Message Conversation from OLD account Kannos 21st Feb 2015, 6:51pm - present - IB - Private Message Conversation from NEW account Kannosart EXPLAIN: Baybea (a person friend) had been dealing with Kannos over a number of months with positive results. Service was friendly; the artist was approachable and seemed to be trying to endevouring to turn service around. A number of smaller commission (3 in total) were made to Kannos by Baybea previously. These commissions had a good turn around with no issues on the result and payment was requested only after the final image was ready. Due to having no credit card; Baybea uses my paypal account to make payments. Based on this positive experience Baybea then commissioned the Full Color Character Reference Commission. This was agreed on over Skype approximately October 2013; (No logs available - Baybea's Skype logs only go back about 6 months due to a laptop rebuild). Either during this commission request discussion or around the same time on Skype Kannos made mention of financial issues. Baybea responded by paying for the commission up front instead of only after image completion. Payment was accepted by Kannos (proof above). Starting the 8th of November; Kannos over two journals linked about ("Birthday.." and "Thanks." describes some financial distress which including a charge back from Paypal of around ~1200USD; leaving their paypal account in the negative by ~900USD. To alleviate this issue a day later on the 10th of November Kannos starts a 2 Character Realism Auction - ANYTHING GOES as an emergency commission. It is noted payment is required before the 18tth of November to cover car payments. Encouraged by Baybea (due to her positive experiences with Kannos and what seemed a friendly rapport) I request Baybea to bid on the auction for myself; bidding up to the minimum required for full body pieces. Over email I note I need time to get the required information together for this commission however to make sure the car payment is not missed I would pay up front. This transaction is completed on the 13th November (see above). Unfortunately at this point I have both a combination of health and work issues that prevent me from returning to Kannos with all the required information to complete this information until approximately April 2014. During this time Baybea keeps in contact with Kannos over updates to her full character commission every couple of months. More issues affect Kannos life which are reported on IB via journals. However Kannos would regularly promise sketches of the initial reference sheet normally within the next week (usually after the following weekend). None of these promises were fulfilled. Progress is apparently being made on Baybea's Character Reference but either due to location or other personal issues Kannos is not able to show any updates to Baybea. This continues after I have given Kannos all the information for my requests via email. Requests for updates now include my commission as well; again with promises of sketches in a week or so time. Requests for updates by Baybea start to not get responded to on both Skype and IB. After over a month of no response at the end of May 2014 I request contact by Kannos with 72 hours or I would consider Kannos to have no intention of fulfilling the commission. As the 72 hour deadline hit I finally managed to get Kannos on Skype on the 2nd of June 2014 (once again unfortunately my Skype logs are unavailable due to computer rebuild about 8 months ago). I note I am unsatisfied by the lack of responses and also the multiple promises of sketches. During this conversation I note I am an administrator for a number of Furry websites and communities (by this point I know they have already been banned from FA). Kannos responds by explaining they are currently under a large amount of stress due to personal issues; they promise to catch up on the outstanding sketches. I agree to not proceed with any further action at this point. Kannos then Skypes with Baybea noting that I upset them and they are uncomfortable with dealing with me further as they are worried I will "do" something to them. It is agreed that Baybea will act as the point of contact from this point forward so long as Kannos keeps with regular updates. 16th Aug 2014, 8:38pm - 19th Feb 2015, 9:37am - IB - Private Message Conversation from OLD account Kannos The above IB private message log pick up at this point. Over the remaining months Kannos continues to make promises of updates after exceedingly long gaps of no communication despite update requests. 21st Feb 2015, 6:51pm - present - IB - Private Message Conversation from NEW account Kannosart On the 21st of February Kannos contacts Baybea on a new IB account "Kannosart". The reason given by Kannos is that they are having problems logging into their other account "Kannos". Baybea responds by noting that and requesting an update on everything with a note that she is having pressure placed on her to see some of the promised sketches. After nearly a month of no response on the 19th of March Kannos responds with: "Sorry I don't have time for commissions anymore with work, I'm going to have to cancel it." Baybea acquiesces Kannos' cancellation request and proceeds to note the amounts needed to refund both Baybea and myself with the Paypal account used (mine in both cases). Kannos after 10 days responds on Saturday 28th March with: "I don't have the money to refund. I'm barely able to afford rent 😕 rant about me to A_B all you want I don't care anymore." Baybea then notes Kannos response; notes that she would have been happy to work out a payment scheme but will do as Kannos requests and also look into legal options. She then also notes she would advise myself of the response. It is therefore with some disappointment that we arrive here. UPDATE - 2015-04-11: The account "Kannosart" on IB has been determined by IB staff to be an impostor. Baybea has responded to a journal post by the original "Kannos" account to contact via email and is following up.
  3. 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.
  4. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/975454.html WHO: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/-deymos-/ their tumblr: https://darkhumorist.tumblr.com/ ( NSFW WARNING ) it's pretty much inactive as well WHERE: on fa @ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/-deymos-/ WHAT: fullbody commission w color for 18 euros WHEN: March 29th, 2017 EXPLAIN: I commissioned deymos for a doodle commission ( a fullbody w color ) back on March 29th of one of my oc's. https://i.imgur.com/dveGtDs.png I sent her the little form that she had on her submission post that advertised her commissions and sent it through notes. https://i.imgur.com/dXGQ8hl.png I sent her the payment through paypal: https://i.imgur.com/wYIrdLX.png?1 I censored out something in the screenshot since it shows their real name. Two months pass by and I decide to send them a note asking about an update on my art which I sent on May 23rd. I normally don't try and bug artists too much when it comes to commissions but I figured it would be alright to ask since some time had passed. The note in question: https://i.imgur.com/iNnzPhR.png and https://i.imgur.com/q3kkCuC.png They replied to me a day later with this: https://i.imgur.com/4395WBc.png in the note they stated that I would see my art within the week which I was super excited about. I thanked them for responding and then I left them alone after that. By the time I realize it, three more months have passed by. I send them another note around July 5th asking for another update. https://i.imgur.com/KvdPWA4.png Currently as of now, the note has still not been read. By now I'm already starting to get concerned and worried about the lack of responses. I sent them one last and final note asking for an update: https://i.imgur.com/JufRJCI.png which was on Sept 12 which has not been read either. I kind of effed myself over, which I know is my own fault. There is no way I can do a chargeback or get my money back at this point since I waited too long to do so. I decided to leave them a shout on their fa in the hopes that they would see it if they ever got on their fa. https://i.imgur.com/dbkH3TI.png At this point, I'm unsure of what else to do on how to resolve this. They have no other social media that I know of besides Tumblr which I found out to be just as inactive as their furaffinity account. I tried sending an email through their PP email but got no response back. Other than that, I would highly advise against commissioning this artist. Any help would be appreciated! I also apologize if there are any mistakes here or the format looks awkward. I've never posted to AB before and it's my first time. I just hope I'm doing this right. Feel free to let me know if I need to add more on to this! PROOF: Notes: https://i.imgur.com/dveGtDs.png and https://i.imgur.com/dXGQ8hl.png Proof of payment: https://i.imgur.com/wYIrdLX.png?1 May 23rd commission update: https://i.imgur.com/iNnzPhR.png and https://i.imgur.com/q3kkCuC.png Artist response: https://i.imgur.com/4395WBc.png July 5th commission update | Unread: https://i.imgur.com/KvdPWA4.png sept 12 commission update | Unread: https://i.imgur.com/JufRJCI.png FA shout: https://i.imgur.com/dbkH3TI.png
  5. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/933659.html WHO: Greycat Rademenes WHERE: http://greycat-rademenes.deviantart.com/ (DA), https://www.furaffinity.net/user/greycatr (FA) -> Both NSFW WHAT: A 2 character color picture for $90 WHEN: 12/11/2015 (payment) -> 3/16/2016 (last contact) -> Present Day PROOF: (Identifiers and explicit adult details have been redacted to the best of my abilities) Details of my Commission: http://sta.sh/013r1r3pado7 Payment of Commission: https://sta.sh/01tcxdl753ud Last Contact: http://sta.sh/04oyr12l9g5 EXPLAIN: On 12/11/2015, I paid for a 2 character color commission from Greycat Rademenes. I patiently waited for the picture to be completed, so I send him a DA note on 3/16/2016 asking about the status of my commission. He responded in a timely manner, but then a while later, he never responded when I asked him about my commission. I tried his Yahoo! E-mail, G-mail, FA notes, DA notes and some DA shouts, but he never responded to them. I don't want to believe he's ignoring me, but he hasn't given me anything to suggest otherwise. I've had no problems with him in the past, but this is something I've never encountered with him before. I really hope that he did not get too bogged down with his other non-art commitments (work, school, other people's commissions). Again, he hasn't given me anything to suggest otherwise. I only want my picture to be completed. I'm only posting this because of the total lack of communication on his part. All I need is a simple, one sentence response about my commission from him. I only ask reasonable requests like that to be done. UPDATE 1 (11/21/2016): After a few DeviantArt notes, I finally got a response from Greycat. He did not forget about my picture, but it would've been nice if I could see it firsthand to confirm the claim that he did work on my picture I commissioned nearly a year ago. Partly, but not yet fully resolved. Greycat's response: https://sta.sh/01rs8uyx2kii UPDATE 2 (11/22/2016): After 2 Tolstoy-length DA notes, Greycat is currently working on my commission mentioned above. My commission is NSFW, so it cannot be shown here. A bit more resolved than last time, but still not yet fully resolved. Greycat working on my pic: http://sta.sh/01cwjziz8i0 UPDATE 3 (11/27/2016): After another note, he has finished my picture and sent a copy of it to my email. Again, NSFW commission, so it cannot be shown here. I can consider this issue fully resolved, but I wish Greycat would keep in touch more often so a fiasco like this won't happen again.
  6. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/924736.html WHO: CavitySam, aka IsabellaPrice WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/isabellaprice/ ( old account), http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cavitysam, http://www.instagram.com/cavitysam WHAT: Two head sketches of my original characters; uncolored. WHEN: May 8th was when the commission order was placed; about August 3rd was when things hit the fan. PROOF Initial Commission Post: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19914747/ FA Note #1: http://imgur.com/VZJG6XB PayPal Payment Proof: http://imgur.com/kn7zIv8 Instagram Post opening for "emergency commissions" on August 3rd: http://imgur.com/7K8kQK4 My reminder of mine + Artist saying they deleted all past notes: http://imgur.com/ICiBnUX Resend of the FA Note on August 3rd: http://imgur.com/uaPDUu7 Instagram DM from September 3rd: http://imgur.com/cjujD9c + http://imgur.com/fbYJvLX EXPLAIN: Back in May of this year, I decided to commission CavitySam/IsabellaPrice. I liked their art for a while, and I had a few extra coins when she opened up commissions at that time. I told her that I didn't mind waiting past the window she had promised they would be done. Several weeks had passed, and about in mid-July, I began to wonder where my sketches were, so I decided to follow Sam on Instagram to see if maybe she posted them there first, before posting on FA. In early August, she posted on IG about how she was taking on more commissions (before the ones she had taken in May were even done and posted), and I took that opportunity to remind her about mine. She apologized, and said she had cleared all her messages and asked me to resend them. I resent the note on FA (since I have trouble with mobile and you can't do IG DMs on the desktop website) and waited for a response. A month later and no reply or acknowledgement, I sent her a DM on September 3rd, asking if she was still capable of finishing the commission, and if not, then maybe a refund could be worked out. She told me they were finished and some needed color (I did not ask for color on mine) and that she would send me mine "in a little bit". It's been over 24 hours since that DM, and there is still no pictures in my e-mail box, on IG or FA. Please bear in mind I don't consider myself a confrontational person. I hate having to do this, especially since Sam does seem like a very nice person (frankly, I think she takes on way more than she can handle, which isn't uncommon to see) and I know she's been having financial trouble, so me asking for a refund at this time makes me feel uneasy. Still, I do feel like she should be held accountable for not delivering within a reasonable timeframe, hence why I am coming forward with this here. If you do decide to commission CavitySam for art... please be aware that you probably will not see it within any time frame that might be promised. UPDATE #1: I spoke with Sam today on Instagram, and she said she'd be sending the sketches along today (they apparently hadn't been scanned in yet. Okay then). I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and consider the matter closed, but if I don't see/hear anything in the next 72 hours, I'll update this accordingly. None the less, my warning about things not being done within the promised time (or even in a grace period) still stands. UPDATE #2: I've received the commissions from Sam. Now I can safely say it's fully resolved!
  7. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/888964.html Where: Her abandoned Deviantart, Her current Deviantart, her Furaffinity, Her Inkbunny. What: An idea of color palette on my original character When: Around September 2015 Proof: I ask my friend to use my money to send to her. Explain: I commish to her based from this journal (in case of hide/ delete her evidence, check here), it was suppose to be full color commish, but then this conversation coming, not only block me at Deviantart, and block me at Skype afterward. I use PayPal reminder, but she keeps rejecting it. EDIT 1: When I saw this, I knew that she have enough money to refund to me, but no, she reject at PayPal. EDIT 2: Though it was unsatisfied, she's refund 20 USD along with the lineart to me. At this point this situation is resolved.
  8. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/798520.html WHO: Jailbird WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jailbird/ WHAT: A single character flat color SFW art WHEN: about two and half months ago PROOF: Comment on journal http://i.imgur.com/7lEaE1X.png Later a note asking if it was ok to move from sketch to flat color http://i.imgur.com/6CZPXwy.png And payment sent http://i.imgur.com/RweU93m.png EXPLAIN: After the payment was sent. I could never get them to answer anything! Noted them about a month after I ordered the picture cause I wasn't on any updated lists http://i.imgur.com/Tacgs40.png Also publicly commented hoping they'd answer http://i.imgur.com/KkmhHhg.png never got it. After a week or so of no contact what so ever I noted them once more http://i.imgur.com/kJr3hz0.png making them aware if I didn't hear back I'd be taking it up with paypal. So when I got no please still I did just that. After no reply I noticed I was on their refund list? http://i.imgur.com/bylRZEz.png and I also commented publicly about that as well http://i.imgur.com/guolLxW.png They never got back to, no reply to notes after they got payment. I don't mind waiting for art, but you need to keep updated. When you keep taking slots it makes people worry and you really should reply back! I did get my money back http://i.imgur.com/c2LcETd.png without them replying once to that even. I was very happy when I was able to get a slot, cause I've wanted art from Jailbird for a while now. After this I have unfollowed them and never want to deal with them, because they don't seem to care to reply to comments or notes to people that have paid them for work.
  9. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1011083.html WHO: Rayd / Hytyle / Aprilycan WHERE: fur affinity WHAT: reference sheet WHEN: July 21 to yesterday morning EXPLAIN: user posted to FA forums in search of an artist for making a reference sheet. we agreed that I would be paid 60 during the process and remaining 40 upon completion. since being around 60% of the way through, I have been asking for partial payment; user has in response, acted like a victim by me asking for payment, suddenly reversing the affirming that my style works for them, that they like what I'm making, and claiming they hate it and therefore don't need to pay me. they have even said i'm witch hunting them, which is hilarious! since I've given up being paid the rent money i still need and have moved on to simply wanting to warn other people that this person is insincere and dishonest in their dealings. at first it seemed like a good fit. I gave them a choice of pose and got started. I asked them for feedback about the quality of linework and style. I started in on color and texture, adjusting when they had feedback, but the word "perfect" was thrown around a lot. Created multiple versions for comparison and customer design choice. Started in on the extra offers I included - poses with his outfit, offers to illustrate him using magic. Things people usually don't include in one reference sheet package. Around this time I started asking for payment and realized they most likely weren't planning on paying me. making a personal post to vent about what happened, they comment to harass me, while blocking me, meaning I technically can't reply to their weird victim posing. all said, I think some people are just best avoided at times. I don't know what's going on with this person, but I'd glad a platform exists to warn fellow artists. am I sad? yes. can I pay the rent without this income? not yet. am I going to waste my time harassing this person like they're harassing me? definitely not. but now I know I can check for names here if someone I'm working for seems fishy, and hope everyone stays safe out there.
  10. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1001723.html Who: Codeine Where: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/codeine/ When: January 2018 — Present What: In January of 2018, on the recommendation of several friends, I joined one of Codeine's streams in an effort to get one of her commissions. Day one of the stream, I paid $75 to her for a full color commission and was told she would start it in that stream. However, the stream went late and she asked to work on it the day after. I agreed and tuned in for that stream and the same situation repeated again. So, in an effort to make things easier on her, I approached her and told her I would be okay with her working on it out of stream since I assumed there was a large number that wanted to watch her work on their commissions. About a month went by and I popped into another stream to ask about it and was told she had a draft done but couldn't stop her stream to show me. I said it was okay. Another two months went by after this and I had popped into streams and was ignored when I messaged her. Fast forward to the end of May, I went into a stream and told her I would like to see my commission, she said she hadn't even started it but would gladly stream it just for me on the following Saturday. I reluctantly agreed and Saturday came around with no stream. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my stream correspondences. It was then I promptly opened a PayPal claim and sent her an email asking for her discord so that I could have an ability to directly speak with her. Proof of our conversation in Discord will be below. But to sum it up, I approached her and told her that I'd rather have the art than have the PayPal claim give me my money back and I worked out with her a 7 piece sketch page that would be equivalent in cost but at a lower amount of work for Codeine. After 8 days out of the 10 that would have resulted in an instant decision, I approached her and she said she had not worked on it and tried to convince me to drop the claim before giving up and saying to let it go and I will have my money back on the date of expiration. I'm VERY disappointed with the outcome of this and I feel her professionalism was horrible and unfitting of someone who wants to be a member of the community. Proof: https://imgur.com/a/3o20yfK I have censored out any NSFW images and conversation but the correspondence is there.
  11. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/992520.html Time: 2018-04-21 08:47 Subject: Buyer beware: lemonbrat Text: Time: 2018-03-31 05:44 Subject: Buyer beware : lemonbrat Text: Where:Lemonbrat.com What:digital ref sheet When: 2/2/18- 3/30/18 I commissioned lemonbrat to make a ref sheet of a character that was supposed to only take two weeks max. Original contact was a little slow as expected, but he was friendly, and we exchanged several emails with me detailing what i wanted, and him giving me the price, and his paypal. Once i payed him i never heard from hom again about its progress, even after i sent 4 different emails, from two email accounts he never responded. I waited a full month, twice the agreed apon dead line before i went to paypal issuing a charge back, with an paypal message directly too him urging a response. Between the ten day deadline paypal gave him, i finally got a response on my email, with no mention of the chargeback issued, and him giving a baseline ref sheet that looked like a scrap character with minor changes, and was still nothing like what i asked. It was three completely different colors, had horns, and spikes I didn’t ask for, and the color pattern i wanted was nonexistent. I replied saying as much, and never hear from him again, not even after the paypal deadline was up, and i was refunded the money by paypal not him. http://imgur.com/a/iykouR8
  12. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/979026.html WHO: GreyScarborough, Grey-Scarborough, Grey_Scarborough WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/greyscarborough/ https://grey-scarborough.sofurry.com/ https://grey-scarborough.sofurry.com/ https://www.weasyl.com/~greyscarborough WHAT: NSFW Digital Flat Color Commission, for 25$ WHEN: Jul 19th: First contact Jul 20th: Commission details explained and paid Aug 18th: First time asking about the state of the commission (It was said to be completed within 2 weeks, instead 4 weeks have passed) (Artist responded). Sep 15th: Second time asking about the state of the commission (Artist did not respond). Sep 23rd: Asking for their response (Artist responded). Nov 3rd: Third time asking about the state of the commission (Artist did not respond). Nov 16th: Forth time asking about the state of the commission (Artist did respond, saying he "will dig it up today"). Nov 24th: Fifth time asking about the state of the commission and first time seeing a sketch. The sketch was not what I asked for, artist knew about it. Nov 25th: I complain about his inability to work with me properly and demand him to finally start working with me constuctively, or to refund me by the 10th of December. Nov 26th: His reponse: "Ok we'll eat shit and take a refund on the 10th you pompous fuck." He just kept insulting me, while I tried to work constructively with him. Nov 27th: He finally explains himself, yet keeps being insulting and blocks me. No further contact from then on. Dec 11th: Yesterday was the last day I demanded him to refund me. It didn't happen. Money is officially stolen by this date. EXPLAIN: On the 19th of July I decided to commission Grey_Scarborough for an adult piece of art. He was quick to respond, we exchanged details about the commission and I paid him the next day. He claimed it would take him 2 weeks to finish the piece. I am "free to request a WIP whenever" and contact him at any of his messengers. Sounds good to me. I didn't hear anything of him for 4 weeks, so I sent him a note on the 18th of August, asking if he forgot about me. Again, he was quick to respond, told me he was busy moving, admitted he was behind schedule. No problem to me. I responded with some kind of smalltalk, to which I didn't receive a response. Also, not a problem at all. September the 15th, another 4 weeks have passed. I'm asking for updates. Telling him I'm not intending to rush, telling him to take his time. Though I was giving an emphasis on the fact that 9 weeks have already passed. I asked about his queue, where I am placed at. I didn't receive a response. One week later I sent him another note, asking if he is going to answer me eventually. Slowly losing my patience. He responded the day after, saying he thought he responded to me already. He told me he "hit a pretty bad road bump, but we should be pretty square now." I should "keep an eye out", he'll "bump me an update soon". I responded ecstatically, telling him not to rush it. But I wished we would have a more active base of communication. Told him about a story of a previous bad experience with another artist (though resolved). He didn't respond to this. November the 3rd, another 6 weeks later, I ask him if he could start anytime soon. I didn't receive a response. I noticed he uploaded another artworks and YCHs especially. Apparently, he needed to make more money, while he couldn't finish anything else of his queue. November the 16th, another 2 weeks later, I told him he didn't respond to my note, and asked about the status of my commission. He responded the same day, saying he'll "dig it up today" and send me the "current version" of it. November the 24th, another week later, I asked about his progress. He responded the same day, saying he "found the work" (!?) and he "had done the dang pose wrong", telling me he was sorry about that. He included a link to a sketch, which didn't represent what I was asking for at all. I responded the next day, losing my patience, criticizing his work ethic, yet staying constructive and not being insulting (Even though I admitted, that "I am pissed right now"). I was in disbelief that it took him 4 months to work on my commission, while not even doing what I paid for. I told him about the times he didn't care to respond to me, how I expected him to come forward to me, instead of me having to poke and ask every few weeks, how I paid for this commission alredy, how he makes me belief he might have stolen my money. I questioned him about the other artworks and YCHs he kept posting, while he apparently could not bother to work on my commission. I told him his work ethic was insulting to me. I also told him that I'm sad it went this way. I had hoped it would've been better for us. "I sincerly hope you do understand." I made some demands to have him work with me more proactively and constructively. I gave him my contact data for Discord and Steam. I promised him to work professionally as possible with him. I would focus on the progress of the commission and I wouldn't complain to him about his work ethic any further, if he agreed. I told him the picture has to be finished within the next 2 weeks, as he originally promised, or I'll demand a refund. Which was due yesterday, which I didn't receive. His response was, I quote: "Ok we'll eat shit and take a refund on the 10th you pompous fuck." I was shocked at his response, to say the least. Yet I didn't respond back in any insulting manner. Again, I showed him how the situation was and how he tore my patience apart with that last piece. I criticized his work ethic again and told him I was appalled in which insulting manner he responed to me, a customer. His response: "No. Fuck you. I really don't care about you, or your views, or suffering to be polite to you. You do t deserve it. Fuck you." This only became more childish the more we went on. I told him he was taking my critique way too personal. Yet again, I criticized him. Especially pointing out, how he claims to be "overly social" with his customers and how he is "always seeking to improve", as it's stated on his profile page. I reinforced my previous statement, saying I never attacked him in person. I asked him to keep his dignity. I told him he can refund me at anytime, 10th of December being the deadline. He, again, responded with a lot of vulgarity. Later notes went a bit back and forth, so I won't explain the exact details of them here, yet I will post it in the screenshots below. It's interesting nontheless. - I warned him about carrying this issue towards artist beware, to which he said he didn't give a fuck, he would refund me eventually. He was still very abusive in his choice of words. - He claimed what he did could be done in a "quick edit", yet comparing the sketch to my instructions, it's obvious that it needs a complete redo. I wouldn't have complained if it was just a small error. - Admittedly, I lost a bit of my temper in between, though I didn't attack him personally. - He called me a liar and claimed he did respond to every single one of my notes. He prompted me to read his TOS (explained in the paragraph below). - I proofed him wrong and criticized his TOS. To which he "dares" me to make the Artist Beware post. - I asked him what his deal is. - He told me his personal opinion of me. - I responded and criticized him again. I told him that IF I personally insulted him in any way, I am sorry. - He told me I am delusional. Something about "stead pay"!? - After the last note he send me, to which I tried to respond, he blocked me. I wasn't able to contact him any further. It came to my attention that he claims in his TOS that he "will cancel the commission with no refund if you're abusive." And I believe he makes use of his own rule here, despite me not attacking him in person once. Besides, TOS rule or not, stealing money is stealing money. You can't make it legal by writing up a rule of your own, saying it is legal. Well then, the next 2 weeks until yesterday, I waited for my refund. He didn't do it, so now we're here. PROOF: Proof of Payment: https://i.imgur.com/D1oukQ9.png (as much as this proof goes, anyway...) Full conversation from start to finish and pictures (NSFW): https://imgur.com/a/xfXpl
  13. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/977067.html Who: Mithacal Creatures - Alaska business license 1052001 Twitter: @Mithacal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mithacalcreatures/ Website: https://www.mithacal.com/ FurBuy username: MithacalCreatures FurAffinity:http://www.furaffinity.net/user/Mitha/ Where: Furbid Auction - https://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1092553.html What: Fursuit head commission, won at auction. The auction was won for $575, and the agreed-upon price after enhancements, modifications, and shipping was $905. Custom features were to include custom eye cuts for better vision, whiskers, and a silicone nose. When: The auction was won on February 14, 2017, and lists a completion time of 5 weeks after full payment is received. Full payment was made on February 17, 2017, after some initial communication difficulties. Delivery of the head was delayed repeatedly. On July 12, after a disagreement about what features were included in the increased price, Mitha offered a full refund, then asked for a legal agreement to be signed as a pre-requisite for the refund. On July 13, Mitha refused to honor that offer, and said that only a 50% refund would be available. On July 17, after I had requested several days to decide what to do (which was also over a weekend), Mitha stated that she would be giving me a 50% refund in 14 days whether I wanted it or not. At that point, I filed a credit card dispute, which was resolved in my favor in September. Explanation & Evidence: The commission got off to a rough start when Mitha didn’t get my emails, but that’s on me. Eventually we made contact via Twitter, which is where we would do all of our subsequent communication. I sent Mitha a long explanation, including a web page with references and desired features. Screenshot 1 Mitha agreed to this, saying that she could “do everything I wanted” on my reference page. Screenshot 2 The features added $280 to the price of the head, which made the total with shipping $905. Screenshot 3 Payment was made immediately via credit card on her website, http://www.mithacal.com. Screenshot 4 Some additional discussion about fur kinds and colors followed, since I wanted to try making a body suit for the head and wanted to coordinate on the fur we were using. At the end of the discussion, I mentioned her move, something that she had been talking about on Twitter. No mention was made of it impacting the deadline. Screenshot 5 One month later, I check in. No progress, and we talk about fur choices, but don’t exit the conversation with an unambiguous decision. Screenshot 6 Another month goes by with no communication. It’s now April 23rd, with no WIPs. I check in again. Apparently Mitha thought that she was still waiting on fur choices, and after getting the go-ahead to use whatever she wanted, says that she’ll finish up the mask and will have updates in a week. Screenshot 7 At the time, she also asks me what color eyes I want. LED eyes weren’t part of my request list, but I had thought they were just something standard she did. Her last message says she needs to wait for them, but had said just before that she’d report progress in a week. Screenshot 7_1 Another month goes by, and it’s now May 30th. I have not yet heard anything from Mitha without me prompting her. She says she’s still waiting on the eyes from DVC. Screenshot 8 Amazingly, the eyes come in the same day! Or so she says. She also now says it will be another few weeks before there’s any progress to see. Screenshot 9 Screenshot 10 June 13th, and I finally get a communication from her asking me to choose eye backgrounds, and to say that the head is still a couple of weeks away from completion. Screenshot 11 June 21st , and I message her again for a status update, and to let her know that I was going to be out of town from July 1 – 10. She indicates that she’ll have the head shipped so that it arrives around July 10th. Screenshot 12 Screenshot 13 July 11th, and I haven’t heard anything from her, so I ping her again. Apparently there’s been a delay due to her wedding and honeymoon, which she didn’t mention anything about. I congratulate her, and ask for some WIPs, especially of the tear duct modifications. This is where things start to go very wrong. Screenshot 14 Mitha claims she never agreed to the modifications. I ask where she said that, because the last message I got from her about it, before I paid, was that it wouldn’t be a problem. She says she sent something saying she wasn’t capable of that kind of modification, and offers a refund if that’s a problem. I ask again to just point me where she said that, and after 24 hours of no response, I’m pretty fed up with the whole deal and agree to the refund. Screenshot 15 Mitha goes off, but agrees to the full refund. Fine, I just want to be done with this; I’ve seen scant evidence that my commission was even being worked on (nothing other than the eye backgrounds), and we’re now 5 months into what was promised in 5 weeks. Screenshot 16 And now things get really weird. Mitha wants me to sign some kind of contract – I was guessing a non-disparagement agreement – as part of the refund. But, instead of sending me something to sign and review, she sends me a contract that she signed, between herself and her dog breeder, over some dispute that they had. Real names redacted below, but they weren't in what she sent me: Screenshot 17 One, sending me this unredacted was probably a violation of her agreement with her breeder. Two, it’s really odd to send somebody a legal agreement that isn’t actually ready to be signed, and is in fact between her and another party, with all of those details. Because I've had some experience with contracts and NDAs, I’m going to get a lawyer to look at any contract I’m being asked to sign. I’m not trying to be aggressive here, and in most business environments when you say you need a lawyer to look at a legal document, that’s a sign of being sane and prudent, not that you're making a legal threat. Screenshot 18 The whole thing has taken a turn for the strange, and I’m asking her for options. I feel she’s had a really poor record of communicating with me, so I’m trying to be proactive about communication and expectations. Asking for a mailing address for legal communications is pretty standard business practice, and signing a non-disparagement clause is a lot different than a regular commercial transaction. As a registered business in the state of Alaska, she has to have a publicly-available mailing address, and it can be found very easily online at the Alaska Chamber of Commerce website (https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/cbp/main), so I'm not sure why it would be a problem. Screenshot 19 And then Mitha changes her mind, says she won’t be giving me a full refund, that only a 50% refund is on the table, and accuses me of threatening legal action, apparently because I uttered the word ‘lawyer’, after she asked me to sign a legally-binding document. Screenshot 20 I want to take some time to think about this, because none of my options here are good: I can lose $450, or I can maybe get a head that doesn’t have the features that I wanted, from a maker that I no longer trust. Since this is already months late, I didn’t think a few extra days would be an issue, especially over a weekend. July 14 was a Friday, July 17 is a Monday. Mitha feels differently, and by Monday evening is saying that she will give me a 50% refund whether I like it or not. Screenshot 21 I’m still not clear on what’s going on – do I still have to sign a document of some kind, even for the 50% refund? I’m not sure, and I don’t want to make a decision until we can hash this out. Mitha doesn’t want to wait though, and just after midnight on Monday she decides she’s going to keep half the money and not send me anything, no matter what I want. After 5 months of me waiting for her, she’s definitely not going to wait for me. Screenshot 22 To me, and to the lawyer that I had review all of this, this is a breach of contract on her part. What she’s saying here, as evidenced by all the previous tweets, is mostly false. She offered the refund first, I just took her up on it. She asked me to sign a legal document, I just wanted to do it safely by having a lawyer look at the contract. At this point, I’m pretty upset. Screenshot 23 Screenshot 24 After her message on July 18th, and blocking me on Twitter, I filed a dispute with the credit card company to get my money back. I’d received nothing, no WIPs beyond the eye backdrop photos, no proof of work done, and no product, and was only going to get half of a refund after waiting 5 months for something that Mitha agreed to do but later decided she couldn't, or wouldn't. Finally, on July 30th, Mitha unblocked me long enough to tell me that she was going to sue me in small claims court. To date, Mitha hasn’t served me with anything for a lawsuit, and the credit card company finalized the chargeback in September, so I have 100% of my money back. As things go, this could have been worse, but I think Mitha is somebody to avoid doing business with.
  14. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/976743.html WHO: Meesabeast (Aliases: Meesasbeasts, GhettoImmortal, and Bangarang360) WHERE: Commissioned at BLFC 2017 Telegram communications: @Bangarang360 FurAffinity: GhettoImmortal WHAT: Traditional Art ATC WHEN: BLFC 2017 (June 3/4, 2017) up until current (November 15th, 2017) EXPLAIN: I commissioned Meesa at BLFC for an inked ATC. Paid in cash. It was like $15 or something of that sort. In person, she had told me she would have it done at con, which was part of why I had commissioned her (I have issues with the post so it’s easier that way.) She was very polite and had me send her my references on Telegram. The next day (June 4th) I came to her table sometime and she told me she hadn’t been able to work on it yet. I told her I understood since I’ve been a dealer many times before and got that things can pile up and you’re busy speaking with people all day. She said she would try to have it done by the end of the day. I told her I could be in den after hours and such on telegram, attempting to be accommodating for her. I stopped by a final time at the end of the day and she had no progress. She told me she would have it done within in a couple weeks after the con and ship it out right after. Note: Everything past this point is recorded and posted in the proof section, I am merely giving my side on things in summary here now. You may skip this and go to the proof section to read everything yourself there. June 10th. She asked me for my address. I assumed that meant she was getting to it soon and it’d be sent out soon as well. (Proof here.) Over a month passed, so I checked in on things. (July 25th) She replied days later, suddenly with the finished product, then offering to color it for free. I know sometimes artists will offer extra work to make up for things when they know they messed up on service somehow and I wanted her to have that chance to either a) feel like she was making things right, or b) enjoy the art more if that was the only actual reason. I was very clear I have worries about the post and needed communication to make sure that I didn’t miss the piece in the mail. She said she’d let me know, and even promised it would have tracking. (Proof here.) I contact her again. It’s now September 9th. No response. (Proof here.) September 17th she suddenly produces the colored image and explains her laptop issues and that she’d have things sorted next week. I complimented the artwork, thanked her, had small chitchat. She asked for my address again so she could send it after scanning it. (Proof here.) Another month passes. I’ve heard nothing. The post had just damaged an expensive item so I was extremely worried at this point. I contacted her with my concerns offering to pay tracking and all that stuff. I had forgotten she had promised this to me. This was on October 20th. I received no response. (Proof here.) In my worries, I had to go find her other contacts as I had only been given her telegram. I rarely check FA, but find her FA via a shout on my page with the link to the scanned upload. Went to find her other information. Saw on her twitters she had been making fursuits while ignoring me, which was very disheartening. My anxiety levels peaked, so I had to breathe and wait on things. After being ignored for over a month now, I’d resolved to put my foot down about things. This was on November 10th. (Proof here.) I was extremely firm now, because I knew this was unacceptable behavior and something had to be said. November 11th. She happens to suddenly be able to reply in a timely manner, mere hours after my message, and is just rude and unprofessional. I responded, calling her out on her poor behavior and business ethics. (Proof here.) On November 15th, she sends me an image of a standard envelope that the artwork is in. She states that it’s out of her hands, throws a “have a nice life” and states if I respond she likely won’t even read it. There is no tracking, as she promised originally, and as I requested multiple times. She makes it clear she has no concern if it gets to me unscathed, or at all. (Proof here.) I responded back to notify her I would be setting up a warning about her due to her final nasty message, informing her I was blocking her, and was no longer concerned about the art. I honestly doubt I’ll see it. (Proof here.) I set up a small Twitter beware post, because I did not feel a full A_B posting was worth it at the time. Sure, she was unpleasant and rude, but not enough to push me into this ordeal. I’ve had to write A_B posts before and it’s stressing. I don’t like it. Most people never say anything, but I know these are important and it’s important to call people out on their poor ethics. Then I changed my mind when I was alerted to some tweets she made about the situation, which you can read below. (I was shown these by people who went to pre-block her to avoid business with her.) Cause uhm. Wow. Wow is all I can say. Tweet 1 / Tweet2 / Tweet 3 The fact she went off the rails so badly is super not-okay as a businessperson, especially when you’re criticized for giving poor service. I have been told she’s still been on about me, so I don’t see any hope in resolutions due to her aggressive and childish behavior. PROOF: All telegram correspondence between June 3rd and November 15th are in these two images: https://imgur.com/PWXSFDK https://imgur.com/3YE6lKM My Twitter beware post: https://twitter.com/TeskyArt/status/930775105642274816 Her responses on Twitter to the situation: https://imgur.com/yRLlbkd https://imgur.com/xtM91IM https://imgur.com/tLVG75k
  15. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/974050.html WHO: Customer- Levi (Telegram: @Leviathan95 ) EDIT: Telegram username keeps changing every so often. WHERE: Telegram WHAT: Digital Ref(refunded $20) WHEN: Between Sept 7th-October 19th EXPLAIN: I had Levi commission for a fursuit ref on september 7th. He was 7th in line when he commissioned me with a lineart project in 1st and 5 small projects inbetween. Sadly I got sick with an infection the entire month of September and could not work on his reference sheet. In October I had stopped working on a big lineart piece that was first in line to focus on his ref for the entire week of October 16th-19th. I had completed the linework of the ref and was going to color it on the 20th since I had a family emergency on the 19th but he tells me he is getting another artist to make his ref because I'm not working fast enough and I was working on other stuff that isn't his. (Unfinished ref: https://imgur.com/hHKooX4 ) 1. He was 7th in line on September 7th 2. As any normal artist working on smaller projects like icons, badges, etc is a way to take a break from big projects like lineart and refs so you can feel refreshed to come back to the big project. 3. Someone paid for a deadline for 1 week and I finished it in a day It was stated in my Telegram art channel that he was in and was able to read other messages like for example how I had halted work when I was sick. (Proof of alerts what was posted on Art Channel: https://imgur.com/tSxpnee ) 4. He was 2nd in line and I stopped working on the 1st commissioners lineart for him. 5. In the beginning of our conversations he had stated numerous times that he was in no rush for his ref to be completed. (Moments where he said it was no rush: https://imgur.com/tqgLmQD ) So he decides to lie to the fursuit maker that he was getting said fursuit from saying I pushed him to 12th in line when that wasn't even true, The maker informed me of his concerns and I had approached him with his problems. My ToS states I only give partial refunds but I had no choice but to give him a full refund. Due to fearing he would spread rumors that I didn't give him a refund at all. (my ToS: https://goo.gl/forms/New1kFb0HQwYtOzS2) PROOF: Here is the entire conversation https://imgur.com/a/tjpFK UPDATE: I had got in contact with the artist who had made his new reference sheet and they can confirm about his behavior that made them worried that Levi would attempt to get a refund if they did not work fast enough. https://imgur.com/meBYbmu
  16. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/971939.html WHO: Gideon furaffinity.net/user/gideon twitter.com/gideonscorral gideonscorral.com (gated) WHERE: Initially email, later Telegram. WHAT: Digital artpiece (single character, full color) for $100 WHEN: Early May 2017 up to current. EXPLAIN: Mid April 2017: I contacted Gideon by email after he advertised digital versions of his art CDs on his twitter account. He was quick to reply and send the links after I paid through Paypal. May 1 2017: I was rather fond of one design in particular and I asked him if he took commissions. He agreed for a $100 single character piece. Seeing as he was quite responsive in his previous emails, that he's been active in the fandom since the early 2000s and the fact that I've seen his commissioned work occasionally on FA, I figured he would have plenty of experience in that regard and that getting a commission from him would be a safe bet. Though, at the time, I wasn't aware of this very site. So I pitched my idea to him and he expressed a similar fondness towards it, even noting that he could "easily do that". (I'm not sure why the font of this message is so small, but it's still legible.) I paid through Paypal and notified him, assuming he would send me a sketch within the next few weeks. (Email conversation, read from bottom to top. Partially redacted for NSFW content.) https://i.imgur.com/2FXOWQo.png Proof of payment: https://i.imgur.com/faywzgk.png "You have transferred 100 USD to" May 25 2017: Gideon didn't get back to me nor replied to another email I sent him, so I tried to contact him through a comment on his paysite, which I was already subscribed to anyway. He contacted me again through another email account, so I suppose he had forgotten about our initial email exchange. I inquired about the commission status after which he told me had to slow down (he had some health issues at the time) and that he would write me another email the next day (though that didn't happen). https://i.imgur.com/7xRb5RR.png June 9 2017: I inquired about another update as he hadn't contacted me at this point. He apologized, said he would get to the commission that week and suggested to use Telegram to keep contact. (Portion of reply redacted for privacy reasons.) https://i.imgur.com/tWRBVn0.png June 18 2017: After trying to contact him several times through Telegram he said that "life got a bit hectic" and that he had "a few guests over". I didn't want to come off as pushy so I let it be for a few weeks. https://i.imgur.com/ysSRgvi.png July 25 2017: Once again, I hadn't heard anything from him and as he didn't reply to the Telegram messages I contacted him be email again and I stated my displeasure at the delays and the lack of communication. He apologized again and said that he would normally only take payment after a sketch is shown. Also that he would give a sketch the following weekend. https://i.imgur.com/8TgYPZd.png https://i.imgur.com/7sWkBhF.png August 14 2017: Multiple weekends had passed since that message and I had received nothing at that point. I contacted him again, he apologized and said he'd send me a sketch that same night (I think you'll start to see the pattern here), while also asking if I could send the reference/specifics again as well as other details. That struck me as rather odd, because if one takes commissions isn't noting down the references the first thing you'd do ? https://i.imgur.com/JhFO7Rz.png https://i.imgur.com/FpYE5GS.png September 12 2017: At this point I was rather annoyed with the endeavour this whole situation had become as I had tried to contact him through email and Telegram, multiple times even, with no replies whatsoever. https://i.imgur.com/I7iX8Vw.png He was still quite active on Twitter throughout all of this however. It was only when I threatened to make this public and take legal action that he got back to me. He said I would see the sketch next weekend - it was tuesday then - while, for some reason, also going on about something unrelated to the commission. https://i.imgur.com/jFI8p85.png September 24 2017: The weekend had passed and I'd still seen nothing. My latest message to him is still marked as unread even though his status is "Last seen recently", which according to Telegrams FAQ means having logged in within the last 3 days. All in all, from a customer point of view I find this entire situation to be unacceptable. As I stated to him as well, I'd have no qualms with some delays on their own as long as you stay in contact and keep me updated. But when there is a consistent pattern with excuses and empty promises, as well as an overall lack of communication I'm rather skeptical on whether I'll ever see that sketch, let alone a finished piece.
  17. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/957343.html Text: WHO: HeavyPanda, WerewolfConfess, Henry(As posted on their DA) WHERE: Stream Commissions, Initial interest was in an FA note. WHAT: Digital art. $75 Flat color commission with a $15 discount, and a freebie thrown in as a gesture of good faith. WHEN: Yesterday afternoon-ish. 6/10/2017 EXPLAIN: He came to me on FA expressing interest for a commission. I politely told him to hit me up in my stream if he'd like a commission, which he did. He gave me the info he wanted, I gave him the price, and he agreed to it. I did the artwork, and sent him a freebie as part of my promotion for yesterday's stream commissions and he thanked me. Later on, I find an e-mail from paypal saying that a chargeback has been issued, and I can't fight back with it because it's a digital good, and it was a nsfw picture. I do not have the conversation of our transaction cause it was in stream and I had turned off my computer a while after I was done to take a nap. I tried contacting him through FA, only to find out that his FA account (HeavyPanda) has been disabled. I tried contacting him through DA (WerewolfConfess), only to find out that he's blocked me. I tried contacting him through e-mail; never received a response. I've been trying to earn money all week to help pay for my medication for my eyes, and to help my husband cover the costs for a busted pipe that needs to be replaced in our house, and our sink replaced. So getting swindled out of my labor has majorly stressed me out. PROOF: Artwork: https://www.dropbox.com/s/of2vx1do9p6lt7h/heavypanda.png?dl=0 - NSFW WARNING https://www.dropbox.com/s/5x8qrvu9tqzzobm/heavyfreebie.png?dl=0 Invoice: https://www.dropbox.com/s/56ms0ykqokcleq7/Invoice.png?dl=0 FA Conversation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zfv256tr5zb6yo9/User_control_panel_--_Fur_Affinity_[dot]_net_-_2017-06-11_01.49.47.png?dl=0 Disabled Account: https://www.dropbox.com/s/68t53qnro0nxb34/Account_disabled._--_Fur_Affinity_[dot]_net_-_2017-06-11_02.12.11.png?dl=0 DA Block (Note the quip on the bottom right where it says I can't comment on his page) https://www.dropbox.com/s/csjzw95q34hs47v/WerewolfConfess_(Henry)_DeviantArt_-_2017-06-11_05.21.03.png?dl=0 Chargeback: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lnqix6r4xrbdyb2/chargeback.png?dl=0 Me trying to contact him through e-mail: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ybggoqiqdqv8ow/email.png?dl=0 Update: I just got this in my inbox O_o https://www.dropbox.com/s/5la9145iqilq4cc/refund.png?dl=0
  18. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/935156.html WHO: 0cean/Loreisle WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/0cean/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/loreisle/ WHAT: 5 colored digital pictures. WHEN: Aug. 17th PROOF: Proof of payment. Proof of agreement to her terms. EXPLAIN: So originally I bought a sketchbook commission slot from the artist for $100 back in October of 2015. After paying for the sketchbook I had given her a list of my characters I wanted in the book and choosing a book we both like I made sure to keep a somewhat constant communication with her. Eventually the artist went through a huge rough patch that including moving and a few more personal things. This delayed my commission severely, but I was more that understanding. I did check in with her every so often and was kept up to date. (1, 2, 3, and 4.) Eventually I did receive my sketchbook, but since it wasn’t everything promised in the original agreement that artist offered me 5 digital color pictures and I accepted. I gave my first four back in August of this year and later gave the fifth a little while later. Since giving my ideas I’ve kept in contact and check the status once in a while. (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.) For the last few months the artist has been doing multiple ych’s and getting them done in a few weeks. One of which I myself bought and had before any of the five pictures. (12) I try to be patience and not rush artists when I commission them, but it just upsets me to see others get their art a few days later where as I’ve been waiting months. Honestly a beware on this artist is really the last thing I wanted to do. She was one of the first I ever commissioned and has always been pleasant to work with whenever I do. Not even sure if this will even count as a beware. As of now I have one out of the five and have been told the others have been sketched out. (13 and 14) Current Mood: pointless UPDATE 12/2/2016: Artist has uploaded second picture of the list. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21886371/ UPDATE 12/28/2016: Okay so I doubt anyone will see this update. I submitted an update post to the mods and am waiting for approval, but in the meantime I have something new that came after I submitted said update. I finally managed to a reply from 0cean and this is what I get. Firstly I want to say this may just be me, but the whole note came off as entirely rude. I also want add that this reply came after I had to track her down on a DA account she did have listed anywhere. She did even respond to the pm there, but to one I sent a week ago on FA. So after not hearing anything for almost a month I get a rude note. If that isn't bad enough I found she was very active on this new account doing free art stream, adopts, art trades, and personal art. Funny thing is that nowhere on any of her account do it mention lost programs in fact her accounts haven't been active in almost 4 weeks. Clearly if she was active there she could have done some kind of update. I get everyone has a life, but clearly she had the means of updating people. [Misunderstanding] In response to my last edit about the Journal it seems it wasn't about me. She just happened to have posted it about people from an art stream shortly after I asked for and update. Huge mistake on my part there.
  19. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/926645.html WHERE: BLFC 2016 WHAT: $100 'Full Color' Piece WHEN: May 13, 2016 PROOF: http://imgur.com/a/V9Ed8 EXPLAIN: I commissioned Onnanoko, in person, at BLFC in May of 2016. Since then she has not reached out at all. I have emailed four times with no reply. The payment was made using my debit card, in person, not PayPal. The reason for the two purchases is because, at first, she did not charge me for the right type of commission ($80). We then ran another $20 transaction to meet the proper $100 amount.
  20. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/908926.html WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bakasnowbunny/ and https://mobile.twitter.com/BakaSnowBunny WHAT: Partial fursuit commission, later refunded. WHEN: February 22nd; payment was held until March 14th. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736210837000.jpg Refund issued on May 20th. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736230758000.jpg PROOF: PayPal transactions are above. Unfortunately my Gmail isn't letting me retrieve the emails sent from February to March. I updated them weekly as I was working on other commissions for clients whose payments were received before hers. I'll explain what went down in those emails below. Initial reference sheet given: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682757348300.jpg Colors change from pink to purple (were pink on the reference sheet, later change to purple when the design changes) http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682780450500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682799660500.png She asks about the color again 2 days after ordering the fur, which she had approved then. The new reference comes up a few days after this but I can't seem to find that e-mail. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682770468700.png Having the nose moved: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682757572500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682773362000.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682799789500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682743573300.png (in reference to where the nose was first) Her asking about the dots above the eyes when I mention the ones UNDER the eyes (so maybe there's another dot not on the reference sheet?): http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682743277600.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682713249500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682759983300.png Me refunding her, starting with the tail issues: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736274181200.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736210648100.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736214488700.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736215937600.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736241789200.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736254110500.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736269066900.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736260942300.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736269846400.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736220547700.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736285150000.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736288180900.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736249328300.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736264931200.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736286129200.jpg Twitter posts: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736274107100.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736299628000.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736297296300.jpg Her boyfriend sent me notes on FA, again blaming me for her depression: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736275769200.jpg FurAffinity journal about me: http://www.ezimba.com/work/160525C/ezimba13736275402700.jpg EXPLAIN: In late March I started working on my clients fursuit. I should have refunded them then, because despite saying that she was patient she would ask for changes (the nose, for instance, was moved 4 times), questioned how I did things compared to others (not as a compliment, as if I was doing it wrong) and she gave me odd measurements (I have it recorded that her hip to heel measurement is 44" and the head size changed three times). I was sent two different reference sheets, which changed in late March again. I was incredibly patient until we got to the tail, in which the furs she picked out herself were apparently not long enough, and she questioned how I made it. At this point I put my foot down and decided to refund her. She threw a fit at work, blamed me for her depression, sent her boyfriend after me, posted about me on Twitter and then later made a journal after the supplies arrived. She would not give me her PayPal address or shipping address so I had to find them through PayPal myself; she switched off receiving payments while I looked too (as there was a period of time where she wouldn't answer my emails). She was taking PWYW commissions during this time so that's how I know she switched it off on me. I sent her everything I had involving the commission: fabric, the base, feet, tail, claws, patterns, etc. I was more than halfway done with the commission when it was refunded which is why this situation is difficult. A week after canceling her father decided to contact me on behalf of the commission. He sends me very threatening e-mails and demands a larger refund than what I had given her. He even gives me his phone number and asks me to call him (which I don't do; the phone number was sent in a side e-mail that I did not include because it solely contained the number alone). http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682752279400.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682791641300.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682783556000.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682771676200.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682776155700.png He also forwards me the first set of measurements I was sent which I have left some notes on. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682757783500.png There is an error somewhere where I mention her shoe size is US women's 8 instead of 10 1/2. I have it marked that I got her 10 1/2 shoes. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682740583600.jpg http://www.ezimba.com/work/160531C/ezimba12682788472100.png (The purchase through eBay) Do not work with this individual. It's unfortunately one of those situations where you just can't please someone, no matter how hard you try. EDIT June 1st 4:30PM: More tweets about me. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160602C/ezimba12682785868100.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160602C/ezimba12682749512500.png http://www.ezimba.com/work/160602C/ezimba12682723872100.png EDIT June 4th 6:45PM: Found this in my spam as I was looking for an e-mail from another artist that accidentally went there. My parents are fully aware of the matter and will not be contacting him as they helped me with the number crunching with the refund and relaying of e-mails with him. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160605C/ezimba12682792641600.png EDIT June 9th 7:00PM: Came home to see that the client (or her father) issued a chargeback on my account. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160610C/ezimba12682772759100.png EDIT July 27: A second chargeback has been issued by the father. http://www.ezimba.com/work/160728C/ezimba19677183466200.png
  21. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/906872.html WHO: Eulerami WHERE: Eulerami.tumblr.com / the-sword-saint.tumblr.com WHAT: Digital art (apologies for some lack of screenshots, an unreliable method of messaging was used (tumblr fan mail) and some chunks on my end are missing) I requested a painting of one of my original Thief fancharacters (a series she was familiar with, which led to our mutual following), in an appropriate forested setting. ** A misunderstanding occurred and she drew a completely different character in a completely different setting than I had requested, and I had not caught the error the first time it came up (I did not make the connection that the image she sent me was part of the commission because it was so radically different than the reference image and setting). WHEN: Contact was initiated in Early May (the original tumblr post appears to be gone) discussing emergency commissions. I messaged them and sent them the upfront payment of $25 on May 21, 2015. Because I used an unreliable messaging system, they never received my reference images and began to draw the wrong character. I mistakenly did not recognize the problem until 26 days later on June 16, 2015. At this point, I corrected the issue and emailed them with the appropriate references. An additional 27 days passed with no mention about the progress of the commission, and around July 13, 2015 is when I began to grow very concerned about the state of the commission. A general statement was made July 27, 2015 stating she was no longer working on commissions. I heard no word back about my commission until she opened up commissions again May 5, 2016 and initiated contact. PROOF: 1 - Original correspondance of the agreement to the commission 2 - Eulerami asking me what I'd like to have completed and agreeing to the transaction 15 - Proof of payment ** Note: reference image of character was sent, however the assumption is that Eulerami never got my message 4 - Aknowledging payment, describing setting for commission and Eulerami stating she would begin work 5 - After messaging them about the length of time it was taking, I got an update from them 6 - Eulerami sent me a link to their progress (June 16th), but I noticed she had the wrong character and messaged them back about the issue 7 - I clearly indicated earlier what type of setting I would like (docks or woods) which were disregarded, and though I assume my reference images never went through, Eulerami also never made any clarification on the matter. However I take responsibility for not catching the issue earlier. 8 - Issue resolved; character being corrected to the right one 9 - July 23, messaged them again about how it was taking a long time and was assured it would be completed shortly 10 - July 27, Eulerami made a general post indicating that she was dropping all requests to work on her project; I received no message on this personally 11 - May 5 the following year, Eulerami opened up commissions again 12 - I messaged them reminding them of my commission and they stated they did not have my payment, despite clearly remembering having worked on it (with the whole misunderstanding) 13 - Emailed them proof of payment and told that it will be completed soon EXPLAIN: Eulerami opened up emergency commissions, and I sent her $25 in payment with the understanding that I would also get a commission. At first it was very good, communications were excellent and we were exchanging information via tumblr. I sent in my reference images, and waited for the commission. From my understanding the message never went through despite me sending it, and Eulerami never received the reference image, and instead assumed I meant a different OC than the reference I tried to send. So when a WIP came into my inbox, I wasn't aware that it was meant to be the commission until much later since the character and setting were completely different than what I had originally requested. I apologized profusely for the misunderstanding, and this time sent the reference images through email to ensure they made it through this time. After that, I stopped hearing word about the commission entirely, except when I was the one initiating contact. Again, after this brief exchange, there was a lot of silence and no word at all about what was going on and when I might be getting it other than "soon". Naturally, I was content to be patient since she was working on multiple projects, and I understand what it's like to have a lot of things to do. On July 27, 2015 (67 days after I commissioned them), Eulerami posted a message: http://eulerami.tumblr.com/post/125203723681/tiny-announcement This message was a general post, and not once did Eulerami communicate directly with me that she would be working on my commission or pausing it. After this point, I had dead silence from them about everything regarding the commission. On May 5, 2016, Eulerami posted a new message opening up commissions: http://the-sword-saint.tumblr.com/post/143919832550 I messaged them again about the status of my commission and she said she didn't remember receiving any payment for the commission, so i had to send them screenshot to remind her that she had the payment As of May 19, 2016, I have still not heard any word back on my commission or any progress yet. UPDATE (6/27/2016): Eulerami has stated she will not be finishing my commission and that she will refund me. I have yet to receive my refund. UPDATE (6/29/2016): I received a refund and the sketch of my commission (to note, Eulerami had stated she'd redone the sketch with the CORRECT character and lined it/that it was ready to color, but it was the same character as before/still incorrect), and would like to mark this as resolved. I also want to apologize, as I had messed up typing her other tumblr username and edited it from the-saint-sword to the-sword-saint to amend my error. I will update with screenshots ASAP. Our last correspondence before I received my refund. (Sorry about the additional update, I'm done now. Thanks guys!
  22. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/900218.html WHO: Peridotkitty http://www.furaffinity.net/user/peridotkitty WHERE: Furaffinity.net and Skype WHAT: 42 page comic with a Cover ( $1500/$3150 paid ) WHEN: June2015- Present(March 2016) PROOF: All payments First payment (Jun 14 2015) Second payment (Jun 28 2015) Third Payment (Aug 13 2015) fourth payment(Sep 29 2015) Incomplete cover work(From Peridotkitty's Trello): [COVER] NSFW Incomplete comic work(From Peridotkitty's Trello) [COMIC WORK][COMIC WORK 2] EXPLAIN: I work on an anthology comic project with my fiance which is set to be published. Both of us work on comics for this as well as hire other artists. Artist hired receive a retainer fee( I pay this) to start them off before moving forward. With hiring artist we also gather funders to be a part of the comic. There were three funders for Peridotkitty's comic (names are hidden at mods' request) Funders were invoiced through my paypal (I work under LLC) and funds were sent to the artist.Payments for hired artist were sent monthly until the full project amount was paid unless the artist failed to produce enough progress in a timely matter at the funders discretion, that progress being a minimum of 2 completed pages per month. Now if certain uncontrollable life situations occured, we are understanding and funders are notified of what's going on to give the artist appropriate time to recoup and catch up. If the required progression does not occur, then a refund is requested. Bi-weekly check ups were also required in order to make sure proper progress had been made and to keep the funders happy. Help to the artist for anything was always offered and provided if needed including editing, storyboarding, and scripting. The Beginning---------------- May 2015-June 2015 Discussion was made with Peridotkitty about the comic and how it would work out through furaffinity and eventually moving to skype.( Sadly,my notes will not appear past 1350 notes but logs are available [1][2])The agreed price was $75 per comic page(total of 42 pages) and a cover for $3150. During this process the idea of funders came about. Three were found and the retainer was sent on June 14th and a second payment on June 28th [SKYPE LOG 1][CASTING JOURNAL]NSFW More discussion was made about the comic and the script completion [SKYPE LOG 2] [SKYPE LOG 3] Sent another payment on Jun 28 [SKYPE LOG 4] July 2015-August 2015 References of the cast were provided in Peridotkitty's shared dropbox folder for the comic during this time. Conversations were friendly but quiet for July as my fiance and I were prepping for Anthrocon. Peridotkitty was contacted a bit about the dropbox progress folder set up for the funders which we shared with them to see the project progression. [SKYPE LOG 5] Anthrocon came and went and there was little communication regarding the comic until August 6 [SKYPE LOG 6] [SKYPE LOG 7] Correspondence during this month became harder and I believe this is due to Peridotkitty's Patreon and her owing a lot more work due to it. I was understanding of this and explained this to the funders.Another monthly payment was sent to her. [SKYPE LOG 8] [SKYPE LOG 9] No major progress was made to her sketches. September 2015-October 2015 At this point we became worried. I started to inquire about whether she needed any assistance with her pages.Attempted contact was made and became more difficult.No progress other than the sketches for the first couple of pages were done and Peridotkitty suggested that her public trello should be linked to the funders to keep their minds at ease. [SKYPE LOG 10][SKYPE LOG 11] [SKYPE LOG 12] [ SKYPE LOG 13] On September 25th, project structure was being changed where the freelancers were to sign a contract. Peridotkitty read the contact and found it to be fair. There was a tiny error in the contract (Wrong comic title) but was edited. (Contract will not be linked unless requested).Terms of the contract required a minimum of 2 completed comic pages monthly, withholding of monthly funds if progress was unacceptable yet gave the artist a chance to catch up in a timely manner before being fired and requested a FULL refund. PeridotKitty was set to fax the form...but she was told to wait until further notice due to the high cost of collecting faxes from kinkos. [SKYPE LOG 14][SKYPE LOG 15][SKYPE LOG 16] There was little to no response from Peridotkitty during October regarding the project and the funders were starting to get more agitated .On October 15th, she sent me a message that she had gotten a job which would take away more of her time [SKYPE LOG 17] November 2015-December2015 During November I hired my assistant Carmel in helping with correspndence with the freelancers. Communication became more sparce and Peridotkitty was spending most of her time doing other commission work and streaming. [SKYPE LOG 18] On November 15th, I dictated a note to Carmel to send to Peridotkitty seeing as contact with her through skype was becoming a major issue. In the note it was discussed the worry of the funders for the lack of progress and that monthly payments would be withheld until proper progress was made.[CARMEL NOTE 1] November 18th, Peridotkitty got back to me about withholding funds. During this discussion she also talked about making turnarounds for the characters. (Please note that this is not part of the project but her own doing). She even mentions that she was still refining the first page of the comic after months. [SKYPE LOG 19] November 20th, Peridotkitty was contacted again about the contract and the possibility of mailing it.Peridotkitty never provided the needed information. Afterwards the skype conversation fell silent. Rook dictated to Tia more notes to her on November 27th and two in December. [SKYPE LOG 20][CARMEL NOTE 2][CARMEL NOTE 3][CARMEL NOTE 4] January 2016-February 2016 Funders were pretty much unhappy with the major lack of progress and were ready to ask for a full refund. Contact was attempted again on January 4th with no response. Another note was dictated for Carmel to send to Peridotkitty stating that this is the ultimatum to keep her job. She was to complete the first 3 pages of the comic by the end of January and the next 3 by the end of February. Peridotkitty got back to me on January 11th and requested color armor references for one of the character as not having that stopped her progress. [CARMEL NOTE 5][SKYPE LOG 20] January was a rough month for us due to personal matters and getting the colors took longer than we expected. They were added to the dropbox folder on [January 28th] and because of this she was given more time to work. She had to finish the first 3 pages by the end of Febrauary.But it must be said that during the month of January, all of her sketches for the first 3 pages were not refined as seen in her progress folder and in her trello. Not even inked. Flats were added to the cover but it still wasn't done. Peridotkitty gave more excuses which we tried explaining to the funders...but their patience was pretty much over. [SKYPE LOG 21][SKYPE LOG 22][TRELLO 1: COVER]NSFW[TRELLO 2: COMIC1][TRELLO 3:COMIC 2] The pressure was on during February and I desperatly tried to get in contact with Peridotkitty. [SKYPE LOG 23] March 2016 In this time frame of 9 months she added flats to the cover and did incomplete sketches for the first 3 pages. Not a single page was completed. We decided to terminate Peridotkitty on March 20th and asked for a refend. During this correspondence Peridotkitty kept making excuses that not all of this was her fault and that blame should also be placed on me . I was patient, I was understanding, and I defended her when talking to the funders and kept them informed of her life situations but the lack of major progress after months was enough.She had the resources to do what she needed to do but didn't. She mocked me for paying in advance, for not having a signed contract and my overall position.The question of a refund was not responded to. What ensued was the following conversation: [Firing note 1] Initial termination note [Firing note 2]Peri's response. She takes little responsibility for not doing the work and adds the blame on me. [Firing note 3] [Firing note 4] [Firing note 5][Firing note 6](Question about refund. Peridotkitty did not address this) [Firing note 7][Firing note 8] [Firing note 9]Peridotkitty's attitude quickly shifted [Firing note 10] [Firing note 11] Her last response in regards to a journal I made which has nothing to do with this transaction. [Firing note 12] My last note to her where I cut off communication. I honestly had to step away. All correspondence has since ceased. On March 21st I filed a claim with paypal. Sadly only $700 of the money could be disputed. The claim was [closed on March 23rd] as Peridotkitty told paypal that ALL work was completed up til March and that I was just being an unsatisfied customer.This was through a phone call and we are requesting an email of what she said to post here. Paypal did not contact us to hear our side when making their decision so I filed an appeal. March 24th, our appeal was also closed and none of the money will be sent back. I am not fully blameless and there are things that should have been handled better. I dont think there's much of a legal standing in regards to the new contract...but that doesn't justify keeping money for work not completed from 3 people.A partial refund would be fine but after her insulting responses towards me I felt that I wouldn't be able to get a decent conversation out of her. Funders were notified of the loss and have been understanding and I am more than thankful for this. This is a huge lesson learned.I accept any critisim on my part to help me in my dealings in the future. [EDIT]------------ March 23, 2015 I forgot to add the final note she sent me in response to Firing Note 12 [Firing note 13] March 25,2016 edit Firing note 3 above has the wrong link. Correct link is below. [Firing note 3] March 26, 2016 update---- Peridotkitty has posted her side of this situation here and on her FA . Apparently her fiance was the one who sent the malicious notes against me (Firing note 9 and onward). Whether I believe it or not is another thing.I have discussed with my fiance the possibility of a repayment plan and she has left a message to her. "Rook was unwilling to deal with you at all... seeing as how an apology about how you or 'your fiancee' acted at the end; I'm sure everyone here can understand why. I wonder why you didn't put those up there so your fans can have context on why he stopped communicating with you all together. But if you are serious, it isn't about paying him back, it's about taking care of the 3 funders. He is willing to let you set up a payment plan of a reasonable monthly amount to the 3 funders. You can contact me for their information. He says you can pay back one their 575 and the other their 600 for a total of 1175. And that he will settle up the remaining balance with the 3rd funder himself writing off that amount as service rendered. It's more than you've done but he's going to make a show of faith as well as responsibility. He would like you to publically keep track of the repayment to those two funders, he also wants them to get the full 600 and 575, so you would be on the hook for the transaction fee amount as well." March 26, 2016 update 2---- Terms have been agreed to and Peridotkitty has been given the funder' pages to get their paypal information.Monthy payments are being scheduled. Although these terms have been agreed upon, I will not mark this post as resolved until both funders are completely refunded. I will be handling the 3rd funder's refund myself.
  23. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/898979.html WHO: kgosiarts / reverseinversefursuits WHERE: Kgosiarts @ FA (old account) Reverseinverse Fursuits @ FA (current account) Facebook page WHAT: Fursuit partial (faun legs) WHEN: Feb. 15 2015 to Nov. 3 2015 PROOF: Initial contact Agreement on details and payment Payment sent DTD is sent and arrives Issue with fur order Asking for an update Flood happens Contact stops Sent messages over FA (read, not replied) Contact on Facebook: One, two, three, four EXPLAIN: A long, long time ago… Back in Febuary of 2015, I was browsing through the forums of a boffer game I used to play in and came across a post made by Kgosi offering faun legs along with a special offer. I sent them an email expressing interest in the faun legs/special sale and had a couple questions about fursuit stuff because I had zero experience with fursuit stuff. Kgosi responded quickly, answered all my questions, and we agreed on a bi-color set of faun legs with resin hooves. Due to a small medical issue, Kgosi agreed to build the feet/hooves around a pair of boots I had and would install a hidden zipper in the back so I could easily take them on and off. I paid right away and sent out the DTD a couple days later. Kgosi lives about two to three hours from me, so the DTD arrived in no time at all. Progress on the legs apparently began only to hit a snag when the fur Kgosi bought over Etsy specifically for my faun legs was "destroyed in the mail." Kgosi was refunded, and progress resumed when they got new fur from somewhere else. I heard absolutely nothing from them until July of 2015 when I contacted them asking for an update. Kgosi responded, claiming a flood in their work area damaged the legs; however, the boots and DTD were in a tote at the time and thus survived, and they were already "half way done" the replacement set of legs which would be sent in about two weeks. Two weeks later, nothing. I sent Kgosi another email in August and received no reply. Eventually I made an account on FA and sent them a note that was read but never replied to. I sent another note later and once again, it was read and ignored. So I contacted them on Facebook and they finally replied, stating the legs had been sent in June. I showed them a screenshot of their email from July about the flood, and Kgosi replied saying they no longer had the emails so I forwarded the entire email thread. (Which is the blank email in the "Contact stops" screencap.) After some back and forth, they said they contacted their local post office and was told the package had been sent and was past reimbursement. So I asked for the tracking number and called my post office, and the helpful gentleman on the phone said the tracking number didn't exist. Remember how I said Kgosi lived about two to three hours away? I figured there was no way in hell a huge box going to a place a couple hours away would just vanish, and so I called the post office by Kgosi's known residence and was told the tracking number didn't work because it had "too many numbers." I sent Kgosi a final message on Facebook with this information and requested another tracking number, along with any evidence that these legs I bought actually once existed. The message was read and never responded to. During all the waiting, the fur mishap, the "flood", Kgosi was actively posting finished projects on their FA account. (Which lead me to believe I was being strung along the entire time because they post pictures of every piece of work they finish.) They originally had a Trello page with a list of their commissions and commission statuses, but it's been long since deleted. I do remember the list being pretty long, though. According to some messages left on their old FA account and their Facebook page, I'm not the only one who was waiting forever for work from them. I doubt I was the only one who paid to be scammed, either. I did try to contact Paypal like people suggested to do in my advice post, but I couldn't get through to an actual person and it was too late to get my money back at the time. More so now. I know this is all partially my fault as I let so much time pass between messages, updates, etc. and got snippy towards the end. I didn't ask for any WIP shots either. I had no idea how to handle a fursuit commission, but now I know better. Unfortunately, this experience has left me incredibly wary of fursuit makers.
  24. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/897422.html Who: Ryunwoofie Where: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ryunwoofie/ https://www.weasyl.com/profile/ryun https://twitter.com/Ryunwoofie When: Sent payment on December 14 2015 11:04 AM and still waiting Proof: Discussion of transaction: http://imgur.com/aokHCIz Paypal receipt: http://imgur.com/gfDY1Qs Reminders: http://imgur.com/fH9pbot http://imgur.com/N1OVNc8 The first one is because i wished to know where is my commission, or a little new about that, she shown to me the list, but nothing change. And the second one, it's the same than the first. I took a emergency commission of a Color Sketch that Ryunwoofie offered on December 14th at 2015 05:30 PM . I sent a few reminders to her, and i wasn't angry or mad at all, because i hate to put pressure on an artist, and it doesn't help at all. She said i would be on the "to do list" but nothing, and it's like that since the first remind about the commssion. But recently and since the notes i sent, she posted many many pics, YCH's and taken more commissions, and nothing changed. And i use this Artist Beware as example : http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/840382.html I can not recommend commissioning this artist due to their lack of professionalism and to say the least the massive backlog Ryunwoofie has.
  25. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/871364.html WHO: Dirtymutt WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dirtymutt/ WHAT: 2 character digital flat-color WHEN: October 28, 2014 PROOF: see screenshots EXPLAIN: There has been a lack of communication from him with zero updates. He has provided me with zero wips or even the finished commission he says he has finished. He hasn't responded to me since April regarding my commission. In between waiting he disabled his FA user page for sometime in February which sent up a red flag for me. Has has re-enabled his user page but is continuing to ignore any communication on the art he owes me. Screenshots
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