Search the Community

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

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/865680.html WHO: Boxjelly1 (goes by real name also but for sake of having this posted, omitting) WHERE: http://boxjelly1.deviantart.com/ WHAT: Two full color, 2 character pieces with background. WHEN: March/April 2015 PROOF: Artist did not do correct characters, agreed to refund me, and ceased communications/has not yet refunded me. EXPLAIN: This is my first really bad experience commissioning someone, and first AB post, and most of the details will be here. I have worked with this artist in the past and their works are absolutely amazing. In the prior works I've gotten from them, they met or exceeded what I was looking to get. However, for whatever reason this time, the artist drew not what I wanted, decided to complete the piece after they had specifically asked if I wanted to see a sketch before they colored, and admits they didn't draw what I wanted, but due to their time and effort spent, were still entitled to something. This post is more about principal than a refund because I've nearly exhausted every avenue to get my money back, and I will not silently stand by while someone does this. In March 2015, artist had they were open for commissions on their page. I sent them a PM through DA's notes a while prior, and they messaged me saying they were open. I respond back stating I wanted my character Patches and Steele (from Balto) in some rather cute, mushy gushy poses. I've worked with the artist prior over the years and she has drawn the characters before. Artist states she has 2 commissions ahead of me and will let me know once she's ready to take on mine. In April, artist lets me know she's ready to start. Details are given, artist agrees, and artist asks if I want to see work in progress before she colors. I state I want to see work before she colors, and specify image formats preferred (as this artist has done prior for me), and she agrees. Between last message sent and this one (about a month and a half), artist has many delays for whatever reason. I had sent messages asking what her status was since I had already paid her, and finally on May 29 2015 she's ready to start. ------This is where things go downhill------- I still haven't received any updates so message the artist on June 3rd, and artist replies on June 4th with links to sketches and that she'll start coloring them right away even though this is not what was agreed on. Upon seeing sketches, I see that she has drawn my character Patches with Scar, and I tell her this. (I do like Scar and this artist has drawn them in the past, but I was not looking for that with these commissions). She states I didn't specify Steele, and asks to keep with what's she's done so she doesn't have to redraw. I state that I don't want that and want them how I described. Artist replies back that she completed coloring 1 of the pieces, is sorry that she did the incorrect character and admit to doing so, and offers a partial refund stating that even though it was her fault, she still is entitled to funds for her work done. (This completely blew my mind) It is worth noting that the piece she completed is so obviously hastily completed that I laughed at how horrible it was. Artist used a picture off the Internet for the background, and the coloring is rushed and absolutely horrid. Compared to her other works she's completed of the same type, it's clear that she spent no time at all trying to complete this. With the above in mind, I message the artist back, stating my absolute disappointment with their work, and ask them what would have happened had I not stopped them from completing both pieces, again, only supposed to have been done once sketches were approved? Seller states they will give me a refund, and this is the last time I ever hear from them. I ask 2 times where my refund is, artist reads DA notes, ignores/never responds. I send an ultimatum to artist; it is read and ignored (see above to see that note was read on DA). Dispute is opened with Paypal and ultimately denied due to being "digital goods" which aren't covered prior to 7/1/2015. It's worth noting when their new TOS went into effect on 7/1/2015, they would have been covered. They note I can attempt to get funds outside of Paypal, such as filing a police report. In the Paypal dispute comments, the seller is adamant they are still entitled to funds, and mention commission TOS that do not exist on their page (at least to where I can find them). TOS were also never mentioned in our communications. So with that being said, I've walked away from this feeling like I've been stolen from, and lied to. The artist has done nothing to communicate back to me or refund me, yet ultimately insists that because she did work (even though by her own account was wrong), she deserves to keep my money. And the sad thing of the matter is she's an amazing artist and this was probably some sort of fluke, but being a repeat customer of hers, I feel like I'm somehow been made the bad guy in her mind. Am I crazy? Did I do something wrong here? 😕

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/851367.html UPDATE: Contact was made, work was finished to my satisfaction. Issue is now resolved. I stand with the other posting regarding this artist, as communication was non existent. My take away is that I will research more and keep on communication, as I think now that 3 months between contact points are a bit long. Who: FA user Nuka_foxy3 Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/nukafoxy3/ What: Full color portrait of a character from a description. When, Proof and explanation all laid out below Pinged the artist on March 17th. Asked if she would be open to a description only commission. I was doing this in a batch with 3 others. 1 2 Commission idea was accepted, payment was sent. paypal record.JPG A journal was posted about 3 months later, she stated that she did not keep up with notes, and if her commissioners had not heard from her to contact her reminding her about the commission. I posted in the thread, she stated that she hadn't forgotten about it. (cannot post anything from this, journal was deleted.) Sent a note on August 29th 2014 asking for an update. Got a fairly sharp response. 3 Sent the next note January 19th, 2015. Was assured that I would have something in a week. That was 4 months ago. No additional updates have been given. 4 This was my final note. She tells me that I need to re send her the details, as she has deleted the note. She had planned to have my things done in a week in January, and then decided to delete the note with the description between then and now. 5.JPG I am writing this because it has been well over a year since the commission was agreed upon and paid for. I don't expect my money back or delivered product at this time. I followed instructions, I allowed the responsibility that should have been hers to be placed on me. She has broken 2 promise dates, and made me contact her to figure out if she still knew that she owed me work. In the year that has passed, 80+ commissions have shown up on her account, and she has opened up for commissions and YCH's and trades and badges and everything else.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/836140.html WHO: http://powerman2000.deviantart.com/ WHERE: Online/Interenet. WHAT: Digital Art. 10 Page full color comic with added back ground. WHEN: The initial conversation began through notes starting on March 2nd, 2013 details enclosed below (read from bottom to top). http://i.imgur.com/CGyQAsn.jpg http://i.imgur.com/tfPnVdb.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/L4QxaDk.jpg (the details of the commission have been mostly omitted, but can be given if necessary.) The agreed upon amount was provided in a 250$ amount and then an additional background was requested at the cost of 50$ and payment for that was also provided. After a year with no posting of progress, I inquired about the commission. http://i.imgur.com/pk6ACNT.jpg Then after another year I inquired again (within the past few days). http://i.imgur.com/xrJ9zsp.jpg PROOF: Proof: http://i.imgur.com/5wUe4tl.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/tITW7mb.jpg?1 (personal information has been omitted) EXPLAIN: I commissioned the above artist for a service, paid in full and never received the agreed upon comic. I did receive the subscription detailed in the deal to the artist's webiste, but that portion is small by comparison (and I cared little for it). I fully recognize that in the last bit where I requested a refund that I could certainly be perceived as flippant or arrogant, however bear in mind that this was after 2 years of zero progress from the artist when the artist advised it would come in small deliveries. 2 Years is beyond a reasonable duration for the agreed upon terms and I feel as though I had been less than rude about the initial inquiries. In addition, the artist certainly had time to complete the commission as they were free to fulfill sketch commissions from myself. As I waited patiently for the completion of my primary commission I report that I did commission the same artist several times for 5 dollar sketches . I submit that the artist was perfectly capable of completing my initial commission and that I was not being unreasonable with my request for a refund or fulfillment of the commission. There were no extenuating circumstances that prevented the artist from doing my commission. Please be advised of my experience and beware.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/833310.html WHO: RubbertexRaccoon WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rubbertexraccoon WHAT: 3-page comic ($120). An inflatable suit and a matching inflatable toy ($2400 for both to be paid in three installments: $800 down to pay for materials, $800 on completion of prototype, $800 on delivery - $1,600 paid to date.) WHEN: Comic commissioned March 2013, the inflatable suit and toy commissioned in April, 2013. PROOF: Journal showing comic pages paid: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4396795/ Original Agreement for the inflatable suit and toy: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/07imdps245l9xw2/Original Agreement PM.jpg?dl=0 Project delivery date showing target date of Midwest Furfest 2013: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/dpe9cpb507dp24a/Project Delivery Date PM.jpg?dl=0 First payment made on April 15, after timeline agreed upon for MFF. Second payment made in 2013 after initial concept sketch was finished: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/wjbr3sh4acsepl1/Payment proof email.jpg?dl=0 EXPLAIN: I commissioned Rubbertex Raccoon for art, an inflatable Maximus Ursus muscle bear suit and a matching life-size inflatable muscle bear toy, all in 2013. All of the products were to be completed in 2013, but the only thing I have received thus far is the pencil drawing concept sketch of the suit. Rubbertex said in a PM he received the materials to build my suit and toy, but I have seen no evidence to support the claim. He said he would mail a swatch of the latex for my approval of the thickness and color, but that never happened. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/cxg2bza1fbjrsnf/Swatches 12-2013.jpg?dl=0 He mentioned in later updates he is finished with the foam body so I could approve the size and shape of the muscles, but no photos were ever sent. He has also mentioned numerous times that his emails are often undelivered as spam because of the “rubber” part of his name, but I’ve never had any problems receiving emails from anyone. He has told this to numerous commissioners, including my mate, TonkaWolf, to whom he also owes an inflatable suit. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ha54nx05dehqvag/Email issues 06-2014.png?dl=0 Here is the update from May 19, 2013 talking about receiving the materials: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/yr1rnswlgwi9shj/05-2013 Update.jpg?dl=0 And an update in February 2014 saying he is waiting for tools to arrive to finish the foam dummy for approval, as well as not yet having done the comic: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/3na64moglubvrlz/02-2014 Update.jpg?dl=0 An update in May 2014 saying he is still struggling with completing projects and is having financial issues (none of which should have affected my commissions, since the materials were supposedly already purchased a year ago). https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ddqugvunlbr1m87/05-2014 Update.jpg?dl=0 After several PMs and emails later, I told Rubbertex that although I would be disappointed with not getting the suit and toy, I would accept a refund of the $1,600 paid if the projects were not completed by December 31, 2014. I can’t find any documentation where we talked about the drop dead date, so it might have been via texts or something. I have had it posted on my FA profile since October 2014: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/cgea1f13qu72wqs/FA Profile.jpg?dl=0 It is now March 8, 2015 and the projects still are not completed. Neither have the comic pages been completed, although Rubbertex has been doing LiveStreams fairly regularly since January, taking on all new work and completing that during the streams or shortly thereafter. Rubbertex is now avoiding the problem by not reading PMs on FA, such as this one I sent 10 days ago (02-27) asking for an update on the refunds for Tonka and me: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/mu2ybdt3pa6upnq/Unanswered PM 03-08-2015.jpg?dl=0 Even though he is still doing sketching live streams (this one is from 03-07): https://dl.dropbox.com/s/feg8woe1ww0pe10/Sketch Stream 03-07-2015.jpg?dl=0 He is also looking at FA as he responded to one of Oz Kangaroo’s journals on 03-01. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/xnppxkrjoe7yjed/Rubbertex journal post 03-01-2015.jpg?dl=0 I know Rubbertex is under a lot of stress and pressure and I honestly just want a refund of all of the money I’ve paid to this point: $1720. I would love to still get the items, but as far as I know, there are still at least 6 suits and toys in the queue before mine, so I don’t think it’s realistic that my projects will ever be done. *****UPDATE: 07-15-2015***** I received a PM from Rubbertex on FA, apologizing for not having the work done and saying he will give me a refund "within a reasonable time frame". I replied to him that I would still rather have the suit and toy, since he says "I'm taking a huge financial hit on the materials and labor", but I have not yet seen any evidence that the materials have even been purchased. I have tried to help him over the past few years to get his life and diet in order to reduce his anxiety, but it is up to him to change. our exchange is here: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/i2t648eszcs6ath/Rubbertex Refund PM on FA 07-11-2015.jpg?dl=0 The suit/toy building queue I mention is here: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/r6v2umlhnmd2slb/Rubbertex queue.png?dl=0

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/820936.html WHO: kiwizombielala WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kiwizombielala WHAT: Digital $35 "bogo commission" The "bogo commission" was actually a combo. One shaded picture and one flat picture that were offered for a short period of time and limited slots. She took down the journal after fill the slots but I've the notes here. WHEN: Artist agreed to take on the commission on February 14, 2013. Payment was also sent via Paypal at this time. She delivered the first picture 4 days later. It was looking pretty good so far. And while I was waiting for the second, the flat color, I commissioned ahorther full picture that also was delivered. So far nothing to worry about and meanwhile she took more comissions wich was really fine. She was delivering everything on time. PROOF: My notes contaction her about the "bogo commission" (full and flat). NSFW CONTENT AHEAD Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/sent-1.png She: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/received-1.png At this point she aproved the idea for the first picture and I sent the payment for both them while was thinking about the second. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/sent-2.png She: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/received-2.png She acknowledge the payment and started working on them. So I replied sending the other idea for the flat picture. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/sent-3.png She: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/received-3.png She contacted me about the reference link that was not working. Snd replied with the right one. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/sent-4.png She: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/received-4.png At this point she delivered the first picture NSFW: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/9951502/ So the flat was the only left. I saw her inactive for some time and since didn't had any way to contact her beside notes tried for other ways. And i saw that she had an xbox account and she was really active there so tried to send her a message there but since I didnt had a gold account I was not able to do so. So i asked on FA is someone could send her a message for me and one user offered and sent her a message but she never replied. Few months later I got a gold account so i could send the message myself to her but she blocked messages from users that arent in her friendlist so never received my message. Tough I tried to add her to my friend list in xbox but declined several times. I don't have any proff of that except my Journal...deleted the note by error a few month ago since I din't recognize the username and I tough was nothin interesting. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/xbox-message.png A few month later of inactivity I sent her a note asking if she had any news. This was on June 29, 2013. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/nonews1-read.png the note was read but never got a reply. So after a year, in June 1, 2014 sent the same note again. this time never was read. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/nonews2-unread.png At the same time I sent her an email to her paypal address she provided for the payment. But never got a reply. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/email.png At this point I gave up. Contacted a few users in the current waitlist where I'm asking if they had any news. And no, they simply don't know anything. Even there is an user that paid her $100+ in comissions that never got. Me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/flats-journal.png (the waiting list) And she was still active until last year on xbox... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20641771/kiwizombielala/active-xbox.png EXPLAIN: Well she simply run away with our money. She saw the notes but never responded. I've tried to contact her in many ways to at lest know if the last picture will be done or not. But aparently it will not.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/816794.html WHO: NEFUR-STUDIOS on FA/DA/Weasyl WHERE: Either http://www.furaffinity.net/user/NEFUR-STUDIOS/ or http://nefur-studios.deviantart.com WHAT: Full Color w/ background digital drawing of my character. WHEN: October 21st PROOF: 1: Original Post about Commissions: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/Original_zps67f46558.png 2: Comments I made with Nefur's responses on the Original Post: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/opcomments_zps5d738ff8.png 3: Note stating they were a little sick and it could be a delay in completion: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/sicknote_zpse5010621.png 4: Piece has started and will be completed "next week": http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/started_zps0b9301ad.png 5: Checking in with Nefur note: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/checkingin_zps197ccbc9.png 6: Shout on her page to contact me: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/shout_zps14aadae3.png 7: Message to a friend: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/contactingfriend_zps478bcdc8.png 8: Another of Nefur's commissioners reaches out to me: http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/comments_zps96c95483.png EXPLAIN: October I came across an artist who was doing some wonderful artwork and noticed they had a piece in their gallery that said “Emergency Comms [3 slots] OPEN full detail 10-25$” and I was SHOCKED. The artwork was STUNNING regardless if they were doing emergency ones or “full price” I wanted to commission Nefur!! So I posted on the piece that I’d take one where they promptly responded with a note asking for the details (reference images 1-2) where we worked out the price and I promptly paid! (Fast pay makes fast friends in my book!) Now on that same day they mentioned that they were a little sick, and that it might be a bit before they get to me and I was MORE than happy to wait their recovery and for my turn! Im quite a patient person within reason. (reference images 3) Well they messaged me on the 23rd stating that they started my piece and I would have it by the end of the next week! Goodness fast turn around. So I patiently waited for my commission and didn’t message them regarding this piece in hopes that I’d be seeing it the following week. (reference image 4) Well November rolled through and no communication. I thought oh well maybe something came up! So I waited. December is now rolling through and two weeks ago (Dec 11) I shot her a Note on FA asking if she was ok and that I hadn’t heard from her in a while. (reference image 5) With no response a week later I posted a shout on her page, asking her to please contact me!(reference image 6) Still no response so I reached out to a friend on her profile asking if she was ok. Her friend told me she was fine, dealing with some troubles and away visiting family. Well I post on her DA because it appears it’s the only place she’s active for her to PLEASE contact me. I’m past my PayPal dispute/refund period, and I'm out of communication with my artist despite seeing activity on her Deviantart account. (reference image 7) Its since been 3 weeks since my last attempt to contact Nefur with no response from her. I did however get a response to my shout on her Deviantart page from another person who commissioned Nefur LONG before I had who is also suffering from non contact from this artist. (reference image 😎 I have since contacted Nefur on DA/FA about either giving me my finished piece or a full refund to which, no surprise, I havent yet received a response. This is my last hope in getting my art or my money. If I can't even get those I'd more than anything just like to warn other commissioners to be cautious of this artist as it seems they are a scam, and will more than likely take your money and avoid you. *sigh* The commission wasnt for very much money but for me thats money I could be spending on an honest artist who would actually produce a finished piece. EDIT 1: adding the page break so I dont take up the entire front page of A_B EDIT 2: the artist is now in contact with me again! Just got a note after a few months of trying to contact them! http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/finally_zpsb65a3eeb.png hopefully we see some progress!! EDIT 3: Nefur posted a rather.. upsetting journal which I feel was indirectly... directed at me. They explained how they didnt intend for it to appear they ran off with peoples money, they dont trace, and that apparently I've pushed them to attempt suicide (kind of freaking out like holy crap i didnt mean for it to go that far!! what do i do!?!? i feel so bad now guys oh my gosh!) I responded to the journal because I felt MY side of the story should be shared as well. In fear of my comment/journal being deleted I screenshotted the whole thing. I asked for a refund for fear of A: not seeing the art or B: it being traced and I'm 100% against owning stolen art. http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah215/Sev_Discovery/umwhat_zps463af5c6.png Edit 4: its been a week (1-22-2015 today) since Nefur has stated that they were working on my piece. Have yet to receive anything, updates, notes, anything. low hopes are low. Edit 5: its now February 3rd and I have yet to get anything, a response, a note, art, a refund.. anything from Nefur. Left a shout on their page. losing hope. *sad panda*

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/812292.html WHO: Nathradas/Sturmschwinge WHERE: FurAffinity WHAT: Full color single character piece, no background. This is a follow up posting to my previous entries seen here: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/679299.html http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/724656.html I am mostly posting this to advise others that this artist has not refunded me or the other people she owes and has in fact, skipped accounts, while claiming that she has no inspiration and can't meet her obligations. PROOF: On Nov. 4th, 2013, Nathradas posts this journal explaining her situation. Feeling pretty fed up at this point, I do post a response because I've really had enough of this, especially when I've only found out about her leaving the internet "forever" months after the fact. At the beginning of July, this year, a personal friend of Nathradas sends me a private message informing me of her new accounts. I have edited out the username and any incriminating details as per the user's request. Another person who knows Nathradas in person messages me on Twitter to inform me that she is at EF, taking commissions, and is using her new username on FA as well as Weasyl and Tumblr. I fire a note over to her on Weasyl, this note has still gone unread. I tried messaging her on FA, this note has still gone unread. The second comment I have left on her userpage- the first one was deleted within a week of it's posting and I neglected to screencap it as proof. EXPLAIN: I have been pursuing this transaction for just over three years with very, very little success. This artist has ignored correspondence, taken on commissions while still owing others work and/or refunds, and then has gone so far as to abandon her previous account and responsibilities to start anew with a new username. At this point, I just want others to be very much aware of this person's business practices and to think twice about paying Nathradas for art because there's a huge possibility that they will never see their art or a refund. [edit]I have been blocked from her page. [edit]I have received a third party refund on behalf of the artist.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/792761.html WHO: ThisPornGuy WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thispornguy/ WHAT: $130 Three character commission with background WHEN: Paid on April 8th, 2014, June 5th, 2014: Last response PROOF: http://i.gyazo.com/3ad3156fdbb681eb5cb52052ca5f6117.png / Skech Received http://i.gyazo.com/17651ef726bf530397e863806d9e09e2.png / Payement Sent http://i.gyazo.com/c5a23e56e458663e695b6b0bd97a2ac7.png / Payment confirmation http://i.gyazo.com/1cdce44b738c36091bf534cec3f7e4cd.png / Status update http://i.gyazo.com/5cee171a4bbdd1b9973af622727e445e.png / Last Email http://i.gyazo.com/19a0eafa17dc9e254429353f3e669d56.png / Note on FA left unread EXPLAIN: My friend and I commissioned this artist back in March of this year, communication has been well back then. The commission was $130 in total for a full color three character piece with background. I received the sketch on April 8th of this year. Once I receive the preview sketch, I sent the payment on that same day. Ever since I have receive the sketch and sent the payment, the communication has decreased, immensely. I have gotten about 2-3 emails from this artist since April, the last one being on June 5. In those emails, I was told multiple times that the commission was nearly finished but still have not gotten the finished product. In the last email I got on June 5th, I was told that he had a hard drive issue in which all of his work had been erased. However, he still told me I was going to get an update or have the finished picture done within 1-2 days, and yet, nothing. I have sent multiple emails, along with my friend doing so too, to this artist and noted him on FA and neither of us have not received any response from the artist. He is, however, somewhat active as he has uploaded content to FA at the end of June and beginning of July, however he still hasn't been responsive on when he would be finished with the work. I'm writing this because the amount of communication is slim to none, and it's ironic that it happened once payment was sent. The artist is still around as he has favorite'd a piece on FA back on August 10th, the note I sent to him back in June is still left unanswered. I did manage to talk to one of his other commissioners and this person has not received an email from the artist since May. I don't know his issue but not responding to any emails has infuriated my friend and I as we are looking for answers. Current Mood: Infuriated

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/775398.html WHO: cicatrizESP/Rabid/makeshiftwings WHERE: www.furaffinity.net/user/cicatrizesp WHAT: It was going to be a simple waist-up, flat-color digital commission that was supposedly going to cost $10. She contacted me personally wanting to draw my character. WHEN: What got me suspicious was that she asked for five dollars more to cover Paypal fees…Off. When it got bad was the ignoring for months on end just for a single update, she has no list if there are other commissions going on or journals telling what is going on except she is trying to get active again but then disappearing AGAIN. I wanted to do a claim, but since I gifted stupidly I cannot get it back, nor can I get a refund with my ignored reply obviously. PROOF: When she first contacted me: November 22, 2013 http://i.imgur.com/CJSNdqC.png Proof of Payment on my part: December 5, 2013 http://i.imgur.com/5H5MuIT.png Internally questioning change of price to pay ridiculous fees: December 5, 2013 Was Naive and gifted it... (Explained below) http://i.imgur.com/XV8Dnp7.png https://i.imgur.com/wFaoixH.png She KNEW it would take it out of her '10' or else she would not have asked for more money! Red Flag there had I known... Getting worried at this point. But I was just being patient, polite and wondering if she okay and maybe if there was an update. I do not how much she is taking on, she has no list or anything. So I was curious. : December 27, 2013 http://i.imgur.com/CcINOfv.png Couple months later after ignoring the note above, the final response from her: February 3, 2014 http://i.imgur.com/8TmlRU9.png My reply... http://i.imgur.com/fQ8WG3Z.png My response left unanswered... http://i.imgur.com/7KN8Pdt.png EXPLAIN: At first she wanted that $10, but suddenly she wanted five more dollars to cover the Paypal fee? Paypal NEVER makes a person pay over $5 worth of fees and I never heard of it! She even said she would add in more art but I did not want it... But I fell for it. As Naive as I was back then, I decided to gift it to her, to pay the fees by gifting to move on about it (knowing earlier that gifting usually makes the person buying to pay the fee instead, but that was it…)…It seemed to work. (Later on it is revealed to me that the fee is there to PROTECT buyers and it is against Paypal's Terms of Service for sellers to ask the buyer to pay the fee FOR THEM.) http://i.imgur.com/3ys76EZ.png Trouble starts What I did not know is that if you ‘gift’ customers can no longer be protected because you cannot issue a claim against the person you ‘gifted’ it too. I learned the hard way. No longer will I be commissioning artist that require people to ‘gift’ the money to them so they do not have to pay the fee. Unless they request adding one more dollar to the original commission to pay for it or tell how much I should pay before hand to cover it, and I WILL CHECK. Asked for an update...http://i.imgur.com/CcINOfv.png Two months later… I finally get a response because I noted her asking for an update… But apparently it is going to take another couple of months for my commission. Nothing was done. Was it okay? No, you do not ignore your commissioners, especially what was the reason why for the delay. You tell them first and people should understand in this circumstance, do not IGNORE them for months! I am a very patient person and commissioned a lot of artists, they would tell you this! I can give a LIST. Is it so hard to inform? A reply...finally http://i.imgur.com/8TmlRU9.png http://i.imgur.com/fQ8WG3Z.png My reply back. I replied back to that final note that it would have been okay if she notified me earlier. No this was not okay and replied that I wanted a refund, but instead of waiting for my reply she disappeared for another two months and counting. I am done and fed up by this. http://i.imgur.com/7KN8Pdt.png Sitting for two months :] Funnily enough...even if I would have asked for a refund…. she might have already spent that money, including others!? This was on a journal 6 months ago (from April 22, 2014) that she was supposed to get ‘active’ again and I sent my “I want a refund note’ two months after until she disappeared again (not a surprise). So I waited even longer for nothing I am going to get back. She has done it before and I would not be surprised., People even asked for a refund there is a bunch of wrong with this... Quite sad. http://i.imgur.com/p3Rn5DV.png Journal comment http://i.imgur.com/8BM7CuY.png Artist Beware comment UPDATES: As of April 22, 2014...Heh. She is on the prowl again using the same tactic on by sending people either a note supposedly selling commissions again or shouting on their page. Where is my supposed commission? My money? Not done? Gone? Go figure. I can only warn so much by leaving this up on my profile and for the most part leaving the site. http://i.imgur.com/IFVXe0z.png Shout on page. June 10, 2014: I have blocked this user on Fur-affinity a long time ago because she ignored me anyway. I do not expect it to ever be resolved at all except I want this to be added to her thread. If she wants this to be resolved, she can resend/gift me my money back... But this will be a warning to others that she has not changed in the slightest. July 3, 2014: (Also added her other name to the title) On June 18, 2014 We have come to a slight agreement. The person is supposedly going to refund me on July 3rd as stated herself and I allowed it with the exception of three conditions; it is all the money I paid for which includes the fees, one of her names is on there so I know, and a message that has saying that she is unable to complete the service that she was paid for and is refunding my money back. I included that she can contact me here or on Furaffinity( as I unblocked her for this reason) that if she wants to make sure the paypal e-mail is correct that I can tell her/give it if anything. http://i.imgur.com/9fkv5xB.png Dead-line I have yet to receive any kind of payment... I will wait until it hits 12 a.m before updating this regarding if it is done or not like said. If it does not happen, I am not going to listen to any more excuses as I have lost patience with this person. July 4, 2014: It is forty past mid-night and have not received anything. She could not even hold up to her own deadline, not a surprise at all. This will stay unresolved until further notice... http://i.imgur.com/WC9tXFE.png No payment received.

This is a beware that involves somebody that was once a friend of mine. For that reason, this is quite a tough one for me to write. I have tried to limit the amount of personal information to what is required for anyone to be able to follow this beware. It all started over a year ago. The artist posted in a discord server that she had an unexpected bill for her new house. As a friend, I wanted to help her out, so I originally offered to let her borrow some of my money for free. She raised the idea of a commision instead. The screencap below is my response in PM to the post she made on the discord server. After this reply we had some chit-chat about trading cards that I have not included here. Afterwards, I asked what she could do for 250 pounds. Besides a plushie that was currently not a good option, she could do at least two “standard colour pictures”. What I knew of this type of artwork is that they were of just the character's face. She asked for screenshots of one of the characters, Truun, which I provided a while later. After that I asked her where I should send the money to. It was recommended to use paypal with friends and family. She also mentioned that normally she only asks people to send the money after the work is completed. However, given she had this emergency bill, I decided to pay right away. After mentioning the paypal that sent the money, she confirmed the payment. At the end of all this, the strongest I would say that we agreed to here is 250 pounds for 2 and a half standard color images. These are the type where I knew they were just the face. A few months went by without any progress. Besides the regular chatter, occasionally we would be in a group voice chat in a WoW guild discord with multiple people casually talking about all sorts of things. During those she would often on the side mention how she was sorry that she still had not started yet with the art and would start soon (which she then never would). After one group voice chat I started having my doubts about the “2 and a half image” agreement when she would mention that she would start on my 'one' character soon. So I asked for clarity on that after the voice chat. She ‘confirmed’ that it was indeed just one character. I agreed to that, under the assumption that it would then not be a standard color image given those were 100 pounds each. If we look here at a learning moment, I should have pushed at that moment for more clarity. Though I found it difficult to do with her being a friend. However, I do also believe that the artist has to do their part in asking questions and being clear when there appears to be doubts. Many months went by. During that time we still had our usual conversations and she would continue to occasionally mention how she felt bad that she had still not started yet. At one point I sent her a message to ask her to double check with me before she gets started. This commission was for a roleplaying character and a lot of character development had taken place between the first transaction and then. This would affect the work. I did not get a response to this one. Around two weeks after this message our friendship reached a breaking point. This was not due to the art commision itself, but a long buildup caused by painful interactions over time. I decided the best thing to do was to take distance from her and also leave the WoW guild discord she was part of. A lot can be written about how this friendship broke down, but I prefer to keep this private. Around three weeks later I decided to ask for a full refund for the commision. It had been over a year where no progress was shown. I decided to present the situation to two artists first before requesting the refund and they both mentioned that this would be fair. I hoped that after a whole year of having the money for free and having no progress, and me having done this to help her as a friend, she would understand and would have agreed to the full refund so that we could both leave this commision and everything attached to it behind us peacefully. At this point, I was not convinced this commission would ever still be finished and even if it would, I felt the work would only remind of the painful experiences that I tried to leave behind. I would not be able to seperate the art from how it came to be. She was not willing to offer the full refund even though it had been over a year. The reasoning being that she had started working on the commission since the moment I took distance. However, between me notifying her that I was taking distance and requesting the refund, there had been no contact from her what so ever. Also from what you can see from a previous image, I asked her to double check with me before she would start. I was not willing to accept this. I was also very skeptical whether she had actually already started at this point when she mentioned she could only show me progress the day after. After some pushing, and with a bit of time passing, she actually managed to show me the sketch that represented the progress she had made so far. I was skeptical about whether this sketch had not been done during the time I asked for the refund and when she posted it. She tried to convince me that was not the case and then went on to ask about details for the sketch itself. She also mentioned that I have had information along the way, but this has been mostly limited to the voice chats I mentioned earlier where she would apologize for it still not being done. There was never any progress shared or any questions asked regarding how the art should be. So she showed me a sketch of just the face of the character. As this seemed to be heading towards being one of those standard images that I originally would get 2 and a half of, I asked if it would indeed be just the face. I got the answer back that this was indeed the case. At this point out of good will she was willing to do a sketch of another one of my characters. As you can see above, she mentions that I agreed on this single image in voice chat. Though I asked her after the voice chat for clarity about how many characters were going to be done, and I did agree to just one (see an earlier image) , I never agreed to it being just the face. I offered besides the full refund that she could refund me 150 pounds and just finish the one image as a way to accomodate. She refused both offers and pointed at what her regular commisions are, which are indeed only faces, but these are the "standard color images" that I would originally get 2 and a half for. In the same response she grudgingly offered to do a full body instead for the full amount. At this point, I took some time to think about what to do next. At this point, I would not be able to separate the art from how it was produced and looking at it would mostly just give me painful memories to this exchange and all the things that ultimately made it better for me to take distance from her. A few days later I made the final offer. I would give her 50 pounds for the work she had already done (the sketch), without asking anything in return for it. She would be allowed to pay back the 200 pounds in installments of 50 pounds per month. She also refused this offer and this is where I have left it at. While this beware was pending, she came back to me to offer me 125 pounds without offering any art with the argument that it is 'common to do 50/50 with these large commissions'. However, this would still not be fair. We never agreed to this split up front and all the way at the start, she even mentioned that she commonly let people pay afterwards (see an earlier screen cap). So this is a pretty weak argument. A standard color image is 100 pounds, all the progress she has is the sketch of the same size. This would mean she is letting me pay 25 pounds more for less (or actually none as I won’t get any work for it). Ideally, I would have preferred not to have had to make this beware. I had hoped that after all this time she would have agreed to the full refund and we could have both left this peacefully behind us. Even after she refused that offer, I tried to accomdate in multiple ways. I feel my offers have been more than fair. At this point, I will only still accept the 200 pounds refund. This was the first art commission I ever tried and it has been the only one so far. It feels as if my friendship has been taken advantage of. Though this has been a rather painful experience that makes me somewhat hesistant to commission art in the future, I have learned two important things. One is that I should have pushed for a very strict written agreement even though we were friends. Another is to never do these types of transactions using “friends and family” for paypal. I hope with now having written this all down I can start leaving this behind me and have been able to warn others and perhaps tell a cautionary tale.

Hello, first of all, I want to say this is not a beware of not getting the art. I did infact get what I wanted, this is more for the passive aggressive edits and changes to the final uploaded picture after it had already been approved. Original Agreement: I contacted Xlyuz on Discord for a picture of my bee boy laying in bed in a sexual pose, as shown below, and supplied the reference (notice the lack of stinger) Proof of Payment: After everything was squared away and payment was sent and received, I was told there were others ahead of me, and the wait began. Xlyuz sent me this WIP, with a stinger. I didn't mention no stinger, but figured it wasn't in the ref, so it wouldn't be added. I asked for the correction, and he proceeded to tell me that in his opinion, my bee would look better with a stinger, but agreed to remove it. I also added another ref of my bee from behind. Honestly, I should have taken this as a red flag that he wasn't going to follow the ref. He shot me another WIP with the stinger removed, and with the color and shading and background added, to which I approved of, and gave my socials for when he uploads. Soon after, the finished product was sent to me, which I downloaded and attached here. So after this, I thought everything was done, and was prepared for when it uploaded, only for him to re add the stinger, change the dialogue, change eye color and remove the cum, all in what I can only view as passive agressive edits for me not agreeing to the added stinger, to the point that it is no longer my character, but is labeled as my commission. I have reached out, only to go ignored. I thought that maybe he may have uploaded the wrong one, but then he would have had to have went with that first WIP and took it to completion alongside the corrected one. At this point, I just want him to post the right one; the one accurate to my character.

Originally posted on Jun. 6th, 2013 by animakitty Mod Note: The NSFW flag has been selected for content of some of the later conversation. Additionally, one sentence at the end with speculation how much Jace's health issues keep him from work has been removed as this would not be allowed if this were to be submitted today. Brian Harp (He uses his real name openly on his current place of business, http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jace/ ) aka Jace, owes me for ~300 dollars of money and goods paid for two multi-character full color commissions never delivered, one ordered in 2005 and the other in 2008. This year I offered him a final chance to do right by me, giving him four months to deliver what I was owed. That deadline passed May 31st, thus this account to warn potential commissioners of his inexcusable behavior. I approached Jace for a commission in 2005 when he still did business out of his website www.sharkie.net, requesting a piece of traditional art using one of his established characters and my personal character. I paid his rates at the time for a color piece, and though it's been so long I could have sworn it was more, the one reference I could find below indicates the first payment was $120.00 Jace insisted on being paid via check or money order instead of Paypal. (This of course prevented me from disputing the payment via Paypal. Small claims court is not an option for me, as {as I understand it} I would spend more than I've lost simply flying to California to attend the first court session.) (The mailing address is censored, as are a couple words to keep the rating down. This one-sided conversation was drawn from my web-mail account. My side is missing because apparently my web-mail doesn't retain the contents of my outbox nearly as long as the inbox.) Over the next two years I received nothing, not so much as a sketch, though Jace claimed he had gotten to work on my commission and had produced a sketch. I communicated with him every few months, not wanting to annoy him into giving up on my commission entirely. I had commissioned him expecting there to be delays, based on what I'd heard from some of his former customers, and I was prepared to wait months, even as much as a year. As the occasional pokes continued to produce no fruit, I grew increasingly frustrated. In 2008 Jace commented on a photo of some painted Nerf guns I had done and posted on Furaffinity, expressing enthusiastic interest in doing a trade for some Nerf work. I reminded him he still owed me art, and he said he'd finish the first piece and do a second for me if I would send him some guns...and some more money. I foolishly believed that now, having captured his attention, (I have personally witnessed that he is much more willing to actually deliver on his promises to people closer to him) that he would deliver on his promises. I boxed up several Nerf guns, some off-the-shelf, some personally modified, sent him another sum of money as well, and gave him the specifics on the second commission, another multi-character full-color traditional piece, which he showed every sign of being enthusiastic about. I had to go back through my notes on Furaffinity to find the details about the original commission for him, because he didn't have the faintest clue about what I had ordered from him. (Censored to keep it SFW.) Jace fell into exactly the same pattern. He told me he was working on it, then stopped communicating. I gave him a few months between reminder-pokes, and each time he had totally forgotten that he owed me anything, and made excuse after excuse about why he wasn't working on my commissions. These included medical complaints, 'I am moving,' 'I have a block on [that particular subject matter] right now,' and more. I watched with growing outrage as despite these excuses, he continued to draw for other people, taking their money and actually producing for them. January 2013 I finally emailed him and confronted him, kid-gloves off. I told him I'd been waiting eight years for one commission, five for the other, that I had been more than patient with him, and that I would give him one more chance to make things right between us. I gave him a deadline. I wanted my art by the end of May 2013. It was near the end of January when I contacted him, so realistically this gave him four months to deliver. I did not specify what would happen at the end of the deadline if he did not deliver; I made no threats. He opened the excuse floodgates again. Medical issues, moving... He insisted my deadline could not be met. I told him if he couldn't meet the deadline he could always refund my money. He said that was impossible, and claimed he was doing commissions for medication and food to live on at that point. To meet the deadline then, I told him he may have to put everyone else who was waiting on art on hold. I seriously doubted anyone on his current queue (that hadn't given up already) had a longer-standing claim than I did. I told him I would not yield on the deadline. Then he told me both commissions I had placed were impossible for him to complete. The character of his I'd wanted him to use was too personal and spiritually-linked to him for him to use at will, and the content of the second commission involved something he found repulsive. You can imagine how infuriating this was to hear. If these things had been true all along, he had never intended to do the work. If these things weren't true back when he took the commissions, it certainly looks like he's just inventing reasons not to do the work. He also insisted he could not do color work and still meet his deadline. I told him that if he wasn't able to produce the quality I had paid for, then the quantity must necessarily increase, so two color commissions should become three inked commissions. He stated he did not feel this was a fair exchange for me, and while I privately agreed, I told him *I* could decide that, and had. Literally having nothing to lose at this point but time and patience, I told him 'Fine, I'll come up with new commission ideas.' I came up with five new concepts. He rejected all of them. He suggested a sequence, using a new character. I set some parameters, and he told me he would create a concept sketch of this new character for me to approve. It was mid-March before that sketch appeared. (Given some of the things I suggested that he rejected for the character, it's possible he had already drawn this character and just pulled it out, claiming he'd just sketched it. I'll never know.) He even seemed excited about the character. I approved of it, and we agreed on the last details for the commission. Before that sketch, and since, he has streamed almost weekly, and submitted other art on FA. He is working steadily, just not on my pieces. I told him back in February I would not be hounding him. It hadn't worked in the past, and I didn't expect it would work this time around. As long as it was done by the end of May I didn't care what pace he worked at. He could do it all the day before for all I cared, as long as the work was up to snuff. But he delivered nothing, has probably forgotten about me again, and I am finished wasting my time trying to recover what he stole. I have other emails and IM logs available for anyone desiring further proof. Whatever his intentions were, Jace took my money and my goods while reneging on his side of the deals, exhibited extreme disrespect and callousness in how he dealt with me, and betrayed my trust. Even after being offered a chance to make things right, even being permitted to completely change the deals he had entered into with me to accommodate him, he failed to put things right. That's all his doing.

I originally reached out to Kilwinz through Telegram in July 2022, for a quote on a custom Kigumari commission, that they were advertising for on a Telegram group chat. I gave them my fursona's ref sheet, and they responded with a quote of $370, including $20 for a floor dragger tail, which I agreed to. I saved up for this commission during the next few months, and then in early October 2022, I reached out again, ready to start the process. I had enough saved up to pay in full, which I did. I asked for a deadline- December 10th, which is my birthday- and since they had stated prior that their queue was one and a half months-two months long, I figured it would be a tight squeeze. However, they agreed to fit me in, and that they would "try my best" to get it done on time. At first, the correspondence, which occurred solely through Telegram, was clear and steady. They asked me for measurements and they shopped for fabrics, asking me for my preferences in color matching- which was very appreciated- and started patterning. Around mid-November, almost all correspondence had to be initiated by me. I sold them a pin of my fursona- the character they were making a kigu of- and they finished patterning for the floor dragger tail. It was becoming clear that the original deadline was not going to be met. On December 9th, 2022, I received a set of photos from Kilwinz of them modeling the kigu for me. They stated that it needed to be washed, the tail would be stitched onto the back, and it would be shipped out the next day- the deadline. Even if I didn't receive it for my birthday, it would be something I could wear for Christmas. I was planning on wearing it to Motor City Fur Con in March 2023. All communication with Kilwinz ceased after December 9th. The kigu was never sent out, they never replied to me on Telegram. I tried messaging them on Telegram, Twitter, Tiktok, and Discord (the discord message has been wiped) throughout the past 6 months, to be met with silence. It is now past the window for PayPal to issue a refund for this commission. As of June 7, 2023, I have not received my completed commission, a refund, or any response from Kilwinz. I sent out an email on June 7, voicing my frustrations towards this experience and the lack of communication. I will let the mods know if this issue has any updates or is resolved. Twitter: TikTok: Email:

May 21, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/768071.html WHO: Raikhan / deli-cat WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6003987/ http://raikhan.sofurry.com/ https://inkbunny.net/Raikhan http://deli-cat.tumblr.com/ WHEN: July 2012 - April 2014 PROOF AND EXPLAIN: Throughout the passed two years, I asked for updates and got either completely ignored for months at a time or received multiple "excuses" such as files got corrupted, or my mother has cancer. I stated multiple times that if the artist was unable to perform the duties to draw my commission I would be happy to just find someone else to do it and just get a refund. https://www.dropbox.com/s/7oxd1cfcocf53v8/excuse1.PNG https://www.dropbox.com/s/achlq8wuhsbqjod/excuse2.PNG https://www.dropbox.com/s/rov32ghc3rmvtn0/excuse3.PNG https://www.dropbox.com/s/62szgoanvjtfrp7/excuse4.PNG 7/1/2012 I query about price of the commission of 2 characters split payments agreement for progression on the commission for every payment https://www.dropbox.com/s/22gqwr147t04i2z/progression%20per%20payment.PNG 7/3/2012 Added additional character and renegotioated price. I organized the commission information in one large note with all the details needed for the art. https://www.dropbox.com/s/n228mpjp6ll4bs9/Commission%20Details.PNG 7/5/2012 Sent $50 payment https://www.dropbox.com/s/onn6hp93kqf3tfa/paypal%20transactions.PNG (this screenshot shows both my payments to her and the refund from her.) 8/9/2012 I am told that the sketch and color blocking is completed and asked if i want to see a WIP which I reply yes https://www.dropbox.com/s/ws91t9u4amgbf8u/sketch%20done.PNG 9/27/2012 I finally receive the WIP I was told was complete on 8/9/2012 I also sent another $50 payment https://www.dropbox.com/s/onn6hp93kqf3tfa/paypal%20transactions.PNG (same link as above, has all the transaction with the artist) https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucua4nluxjy9oa7/sketch.PNG https://www.dropbox.com/s/6lwj317ju5udo8u/sketch.jpg 5/11/2013 "color scheme" update https://www.dropbox.com/s/xy8aaexfi1p8z5v/matsi%20wip.jpg 5/11/2013 Last Contact until April 2nd 2014 when I posted into her shoutbox(she deleted these so I don't have screenshots of them) Here are 3 of the notes I sent to here one every few months asking for updates (since it took nearly 3 months just to get the sketches and because the poor communication I really wanted updated WiP before I sent the final payment because at this point I was already feeling like it was not going to ever be completed and I didn't want to lose even more money on it...) https://www.dropbox.com/s/zoj0h6sglel8gnh/ignored%20note1.PNG https://www.dropbox.com/s/93td92s9i13gpec/ignored%20note2.PNG https://www.dropbox.com/s/yq3jwg5b41en0vs/ignored%20note2%20still%20unread.PNG (you can see in this one that she STILL hasn't even read this note...) https://www.dropbox.com/s/pacvqiexnpcfr8m/ignored%20note3.PNG 4/2/2014 I get a response; stating that I never paid the full amount(I hadn't sent the 3/3 payment because I had no contact and received no updated WIP of the art, which should have been fully colored but not yet shaded... Also that I "never told her that the character had 3 heads and 4 arms" Artist stated she would be sending me a refund sometime within the next month minus time spent on the art, which she claimed was 2 hours(which certainly isnt 2/3 of the ~10 hrs I was charged total for the commission, going by the artists commission prices. Screenshot of her 4 shouts on my page: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lf2hsw8wv90tfhh/FA%20shouts.PNG The refund conversation went as follows... sadly I do not have screenshots of what I posted onto her page because she deleted them every time she replied: Her saying "You never paid the full amount and didn't mention that your char has 3 heads and 4 arms 😕 But I am done here, give me your paypal, I'll send you a refund." Me saying something about how I DID in fact say the character had 3 heads and 4 arms, and you can see that in the screenshots above where she even says something about how she wants to make sure the arms are positioned well.... and I also mentioned that I didn't make the final payment because she was ignoring me and not sending me a WiP where the picture was progressed enough to receive the 3rd payment. Her Saying The last WIP I provided was the main char almost done, atmosphere in, starting on bg. So much for WIP's not happening... Me asking When I will get the refund her saying "Mid of April minus the hours spent on it." Me asking hour many hours that was Her saying "2" 4/23/2014 I receive a "refund" from the artist of 50.56EUR, which is neither the currency the artist lists for what she charges for commission nor what I paid in, the transaction was also sent as a "payment for goods/services". this costed me several dollars in Paypal fees for being "a purchase" AND to convert the currency into USD, so instead of receiving a $70 refund from the $100 I paid, I wind up with $65. (I feel like this was very inappropriate, and that if you accept and list your prices in USD, the refunds should be in USD as well! And to send it in such a way that it charges me fees as if she was buying something from me instead of refunding my payments is nonsense.) https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrpdmno6yrrq5yt/currency.PNG I am happy that I at least got some of my money back, for over a year I thought I would just have no art and no refund...but I feel entitled to the remaining amount refunded and I feel scammed. I am posting this, not expecting to get anything more for me, but to warn others so that they do not have to experience the same thing I did from this artist!

May 20th, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/767746.html WHO: HulaHula11 WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/hulahula11/ WHAT: Digital full colored image with background - $100 WHEN: Payment was sent April 29th, but the majority of the issues were from last night to today, May 19/20th PROOF: Payment Proof: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/2848/2848_original.jpg Emails (I just posted all for total information! Issue starts in last two links) http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/4336/4336_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/4543/4543_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/4846/4846_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/4897/4897_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/5149/5149_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/5583/5583_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/5739/5739_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/5915/5915_900.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/6193/6193_900.jpg Their rant journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5773489/ If deleted, screencaps: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/3227/3227_original.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/3387/3387_original.jpg Before finished commission (NSFW): http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/3595/3595_900.png After image (NSFW) : http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kayliimae/54117801/3920/3920_900.png EXPLAIN: As how most of my commissions start, I sent them a form requesting they read my TOS along with asking for general information for the commission. After that I sent them a sketch, and they asked for revisions. So I sent another. They were still unhappy with it, so I sent them some thumbnails with 3 new poses at no extra charge thinking they didn't like the original pose. One of these poses was approved so I did a touch up. They were happy with both the sketch and inks, so I finished the image and that's when the trouble started. I sent them the finished files and they sent back 3 emails stating that the eyes were not colored (they were, but with a spotlight effect that made the eyes brighter, I didn't fight that) and that the nose should be black, not pink, even though in 2 of the 3 refs they sent, the character had a pink nose. They never specified they preferred black to pink so I went with the color shown in the majority of the refs. As this detail wasn't specified beforehand, I asked for a fee, because my TOS states that if the coloring is wrong and it's not my mistake, I ask for an edit fee. It was a small change but it's part of my TOS. Personally I should add, I asked for a fee at this point because I had already done multiple revisions of this sketch as the commissioner wasn't happy with it, I didn't think it was unfair to ask for a little extra for more of my time. TOS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NvMkcR6HH9rpAa-nGTAX9WM_6M5IcmaX2-ttm-PrpJA/edit They replied back snappily in the last email and before I could respond to them, they posted a journal on FA calling me a "thief" and a "cunt". I am putting this on Artists Beware because I felt like I went out of my way to appease this commissioner with extra work for free but they did not specify preferred refs and got snappy when I used the color that was used in 2 of the 3 refs. And then they got angry and publicly insulted me when I asked for a fee as per my TOS that they should have read at the beginning of the commission process. I saw this and decided I didn't want any money from them, so I did the edits, sent the revised files, and told them to no longer commission me for future work. This beware is about their issues with communication and their treatment towards me.

I commissioned ObscuraSpark on October 13, 2020 for a NSFW nude color sketch of 2 characters, I paid the same day. On December 11, 2020, ObscuraSpark said they would start working on my commission The commission slipped my mind due to my own personal things happening, and I asked for an update on November 26, 2021 ObscuraSpark claimed to have forgotten, but agreed to do the commission a second time. I resent them all the commission information, with a change in character which they agreed to. ObscuraSpark left the commission information unread for 2 weeks, after which I contacted him with the request to reimburse me the money instead since I didn't feel confident in their professionalism anymore. This was December 9, 2021 ObscuraSpark answered the same day, telling me they would reimburse me when they could. I asked for an update on the reimursement on February 3, 2022. This message is still left unread as of today, March 23, 2023 Again it slipped my mind, due to my own life. I asked for another update on the reimubursement on March 14, 2023. This message has also been left unread as of today, March 23, 2023 At this point, I don't think I will ever see my money back again. Through this way, I hope to prevent other people experiencing the same issue with this artist in the future.

Originally posted on Jun. 19th, 2013 by goddamnanimals Mod Note: The PayPal screencap has been cropped to remove the URL and size it down for ease of viewing. Additionally, Kannos did make edit to this piece to the commissioner's satisfaction, so the matter was marked as resolved. WHO: Kannos/Astray/Starfinder/-Star- WHERE: https://inkbunny.net/Kannos https://www.weasyl.com/profile/kannos http://www.furaffinity.net/user/astray http://www.furaffinity.net/user/starfinder http://www.furaffinity.net/user/-star- WHAT: It was a 1½ character full color digital Walking Dead themed commission with background. WHEN: Initial inquiry was made September 9, 2010. After being told I’d have a sketch within the week, the sketch was finished on October, 21 2010. Details were discussed shortly after the sketch on FA. I sent an inquiry on January 11, 2011 over email after not hearing from her since the end of October. I received a response a week later. After not hearing from her for several months, I sent another inquiry on April 7, 2011. I received an update a few days later informing me that I was still slated to have work done that week and for me to resend most of the reference material due to the notes being lost to a hacker on FA. I never received Inks, which I was told I’d get, but was sent a half colored WIP on May 21, 2011 in which she also informed me she no longer had access to FA due to being suspended. I inquired about some things that were left out, but received no reply. I sent another inquiry over email on October 22, 2011 and March 26, 2012 and also received no reply. It was at this point where I pretty much wrote the commission off as abandoned, but received a reply to a note I sent over Inkbunny on March 26, 2012. I replied and received a note on the March 30, 2012 saying I’d have another wip by the weekend. I sent another note on July 25, 2012 after having no updates, and was told it would be done soon on July 26, 2012. I received a note letting me know the commission was completed and posted on July 29, 2012. I sent a note on the July 31, 2012 stating that a lot of stuff was missing from the commission that we’d discussed, and also expressed my frustration at the customer service. This was pretty much 2 years after I initially commissioned her, so I think it was a fair point to bring up. The conversation got heated from there and I received no reply after my last one on that day. I sent a note on August 20, 2012 and received no reply. I sent another on September 17, 2012 and received a very passive aggressive reply a few days later in which she stated she didn’t want to talk to me and had more important things to do. I replied but got nothing in return. I sent another inquiry on October 5, 2012 and received more excuses. All of my inquiries since then have gone unanswered, including one on a journal regarding owed art. PROOF: Initial inquiry on FA- FA Update Inquiry- Emails- Inkbunny Notes- Inkbunny journal comment with no reply- Initial sketch- Color WIP/Finished commission comparison- Paypal statement- EXPLAIN: I initially commissioned Kannos in September 2010 for their realistic style which I felt would make fit great for a walking dead themed commission. I’m used to waiting for long periods of time for commissions, so I try to give artists space to work at their own pace. I got the sketch fairly quickly, even though it took longer than I was told it was. After that I got a series of excuses as to why there hadn’t been any progress on my commission to my sporadic inquiries. I never received inks as was discussed, and received a colored WIP in May 2011. That was the last I heard from them, despite a couple emails over a year, until I inquired over Inkbunny in March 2012. I didn’t hear anything until the end of July when I sent a note asking for an update and to talk about the changes we had discussed. The commission was posted on July 29 without my approval, and with many of the things we had discussed missing, including some she had personally suggested. I had sent payment shortly after the picture was completed hoping that she’d be able to make the changes in a timely fashion. There was also a sunlight effect overlaid that drowned out most of the detail to the picture. I inquired about this and at this point she got defensive when I asked to discuss the problems over im’s and refused to discuss the matter with me, saying all I needed was inkbunny to give her info. Apparently not, considering she overlooked/lost most of what we had discussed and dropped me to the bottom of her list of priorities as far as making the changes go. I got a passive aggressive attitude and she pretty much stated she didn’t want to deal with me. My notes and comments have been ignored since then. It’s unfortunate, as I’d commissioned them for a badge before as well, but I guess being a returning customer doesn’t make much of a difference. I don’t know if posting this will resolve these problems, but at the very least it’s a warning to potential future commissioners about the unprofessional behavior I encountered. :Edit #1 7/6/13: I've sent them an email and posted in the thread they made for posterity. Just waiting for a response now. :Edit #2 7/9/13: Received an email from Kannos on the 8th. Currently working to sort things out. Added paypal statement. :Edit #3 7/10/13: Heard back from Kannos and have spoken about adjustments to the pic. When it's completed I'll ask to mark this as resolved.

MOD NOTE: This artist has completed all their outstanding commissions. Originally posted on Apr. 23rd, 2013 by missicee WHO: Pirate-Cashoo WHERE: www.furaffinity.net/user/Pirate-Cashoo Pirate-cashoo.deviantart.com www.hentai-foundry.com/user/zombiepirate/profile pirate-cashoo.tumblr.com/ WHEN: November 11, 2011 WHAT: Hi Res Full Color Commission via her FA account ($150 paid) EXPLAIN: I commissioned her for another hi res full color commission on November 11th, 2011 after having two prior commissions with her that went smoothly and without trouble. I attempted to communicate with her regarding my commission as best I could over time but she was certainly difficult to reach. After the recent outbreak of AB posts and Paypal chargebacks, I tried to work out a peaceful resolution with her and put faith in her to finally complete my commission and start to fix her growing negative reputation but her actions and responses (or often lack thereof) have shown me that she isn't as interested as I had hoped she would be. The following three images should speak for themselves and contain all the proof necessary including the screencap of the Paypal transaction. I created them to submit as proof for a Paypal claim so please excuse the brief explanation of things people of this community may consider common knowledge. Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: The Paypal claim was opened today and I am hoping they will file in my favor. If they do not, I will be attempting to get my money back through my bank. I am disappointed that someone with such talent is choosing to take this path but I attempted to give her the benefit of the doubt by letting her fix this and she chose not to. BEWARE!! EDIT 1: Paypal apparently automatically closed my case against her as it was over 45 days old. Guess it's time for me to go to my bank... EDIT 2: Filed a claim with my bank today (April 24th)... I should hear in the next 14 days if they're able to help me as typically they are only able to file cases within 90 days. If it doesn't work, I will follow the advice to call Paypal. EDIT 3: (May 3rd) Bank was unable to help due to the amount of time that's elapsed... going to try calling Paypal instead of filing online but at this point, I just think my money is gone :C

original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/647289.html WHO: Mutant-serpentina/Arody (On FA) http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/mutant-serpentina/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/arody/ http://mutantserp.tumblr.com/ WHERE: This Happened exclusively on FA except for one (unanswered) email I sent to her. WHAT: Digital color piece. 20$. screen shot of original conversation. Confusing to eye but otherwise all present. http://oi46.tinypic.com/25slt1j.jpg WHEN: Original transaction occurred on August 19th. Paid in full. PROOF: http://oi45.tinypic.com/etd2tl.jpg Copy of Paypal receipt to [email protected]. This email is listed publicly on her page. I also tried to contact her through this email. EXPLAIN: The commission started out great. She posted a journal that she was in need of some funds. So I responded telling her I could help her out. I ordered a flat color piece for 20$, The link is in the "WHAT" category of this submission. She was very responsive that day and the WIP was actually received the day of purchase (August 19th) Unfortunately, she didn't quite capture what I had in mind, and I offered to repay her for the new sketch and continue, but she was very professional and quickly drew me up a new one. (http://oi46.tinypic.com/1zxs57q.jpg That conversation is here) The New sketch. (HERE ***NSFW** http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee90/krimzon_wolf/macropaws.jpg) was more or less what I was looking for, On August 20th she told me she would fix one tiny thing I wanted altered and then "finish it off" that's the last time she responded to me on the account "Mutant-Serpentina" I noted her About a month later for some updates. Unanswered (the next part of documented unanswered notes here http://oi48.tinypic.com/aw9l0.jpg) Over a month after that. No Answer. At this point I was ready to put it off as a loss. I also tried emailing her and responding to her tumblr. Both Went unanswered. I really don't understand tumblr so I might have done it wrong? Around the end of November I noticed a piece of art on the homepage, the account name "Arody" which is the same as her first name on Paypal. Her Hotmail for commissions is also located on this page. I noted her with the question "did you move accounts" she responded with (http://oi45.tinypic.com/2quu6gx.jpg) In Which I responded with a firm note explaining how unfair to her commissioners it is that she switch accounts without informing any of them. which went unread. I find this in EXTREMELY bad taste and a pure lack of any responsibility on her behalf, continuing to post personal images without responding to anything on her main account. I have not heard back from her since November 30th and have noted her 3 times since then, All of which unanswered. Also upon examining her page. I noticed others have been posting on her wall asking about the status of their orders. Recently every note on her page has been sponged, including all the notes exclaiming her "absence" one in particular by what I assume to be a friend of hers said something along the lines of "Some people just don't understand that you don't have access to internet serp" In which was BEFORE she had continued to post on another account. In Reply to such, even IF she didn't have access to internet. I'm paying her for a service, there are many free ways to access the internet to reply with a note exclaiming her lack of such.. She also doesn't need internet to finish a piece of artwork. Also as a side note on on this journal, someone has asked for a paypal refund and has to this day gone unchecked http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3694248/. As of this moment I have NOT asked for a refund. Because I would still like the artwork finished. I find Mutant-serpentina/Arody's actions to be completely inexcusable and completely irresponsible for an artist. There's no excuse for not reading or answering notes and not replying to emails from a paid commissioner. Note to Artist: I would prefer to have the commission completed as to the fact I much enjoyed the sketch, but a complete refund will suffice. Feel free to note me on my FA account "Jhusky" or email me at [email protected]. I expect to hear from you VERY soon. -Jhusky

My personal journey with BadCoyote begins circa mid 2017, when I discovered his art on FA, and fell in love with his more realistic rendering of muscle. He had one pic in particular, of a bald eagle (Shown later below), that I just adored, and when he was open for commissions circa mid-2019, I created a PayPal account and made my first purchase: Specifically, I paid $250 USD for a character reference sheet, which included "Front, back and side view of the character, color swatch, and choice of font" and "A collaborative design session" (Included here is his newer commission form, circa July 2020, and his older one from early 2020, same prices and listings, but added a bullet point for "Complex armor/outfit/tattoos" costing $50 extra): I paid in full on June 22nd, 2019, and would not hear from BadCoyote again relating to my commission until April 24th, 2020, a full ten months after the invoice date: Now, lets talk about BC's Terms of Service (ToS): he has two separate versions, an old one (Used before July 2020, as far as I can tell) which he now claims applies to me based on my purchase date, and a new one (Screenshot taken in October 2020): Now you will notice the old ToS on the left has no set time-frame and refunds section, and is rather vague on when pieces will be delivered. If I give him the benefit of the doubt, the vagueness was not intentionally set up as a slippery way to get out of refunds, but rather run of the mill incompetence. This is seemingly corrected with the updated ToS on the right, which has a fairly comprehensive policy in the "TIMEFRAME & REFUNDS" section, specifically: I would consider a character sheet in the same level as a painted illustration, given the work involved, which would have given BadCoyote until December 22nd, 2019 to finish my commission. The fact that I didn't even hear from him until late April 2020 means he is in breach of his own ToS. And to be clear: He did not start work on my commission, as far as I know. BadCoyote does not run a Trello board, note system, regular tweets on progress, or updates to a profile like FA, Weasyl, Inkbunny, DeviantArt etc. with WIPs, nothing. BadCoyote routinely goes completely silent, for months on end, and no one has any idea what he has been doing in the months since his last tweet or last art stream on Picarto. The few updates commissioners or fans get is through his Twitter, which, for our purposes here, does not routinely give updates on commission progress or WIPs. He will post finished pieces randomly, usually weeks or months between such updates, and I never received any indication my commission was ever worked on. This leads to my character commission. On Twitter, I sent him examples of what I was going for: Here start and ends the "Collaborative Design Session". This is me telling him what I wanted with the commission, and then it just ended. I would send him more examples of what I wanted from bodybuilding references... Doesn't matter. He never acknowledged these additional images, or that he got my messages. Thus ends the "Collaborative design session", I guess. Personally, it did not feel collaborative, nor a session. Pretty unsatisfying, tbh. On June 28th, 2020, BadCoyote updated his Twitter with a list of 23 commissioners waiting on pieces: A few days after this tweet, BadCoyote announced one of his random Picarto streams, where he did art live, and his husband, Lobo, ran trivia, with prizes being either sketches or chibis (btw they still owe me a chibi from a year ago when I won trivia) done in an hour or less, live on stream. I take this as proof that he can work fast, as the following two pieces of my werewolf sona, TK, were finished within 4 days for the weightlifting piece, and the forest piece was finished live on stream since it was a $30 sketch commission, in under an hour: I would also like to point out his response to posting a queue of 23 separate commissions waiting to be completed was to draw sketches as trivia wins and take on stream commissions. Because he announced the stream, I figured that was a sign he was working, and decided to ask for any updates: Note that I did not say "I agree" or "I like it", because I did not want this to happen. But this was the first and only indication from BC that my piece was finally going to get worked on, a full year after the original invoice date of June 22nd, 2019. So I made a point to watch the stream, win trivia again (because that's what I do dab), and have people admire my eagley boi. This is the only piece I have received from BC regarding my $250 color character sheet, a full year after I commissioned him, paid in full: I'd like to note I was never sent a draft or image, and instead had to screenshot the stream. I will be honest: I don't fully like it, and I would have liked more changes, as I detailed on Twitter; such as a v-taper waist and more prominent obliques, as well as some changes to the muscles overall. This is a starting point, I fully get that, but BadCoyote and Lobo were seemingly against any changes made in the chat on stream, I guess because it made more work for them? Now, what I imagine BadCoyote will say is that because I have this pic, I will only get a partial refund from him, if any at all. My argument is that I paid for a character sheet he described in his commission form as being "Front, back and side, with color swatch". This is a black and white draft, barely the front view, and was started and completed on July 4th 2020, well outside the 6 month maximum outlined in the ToS, given an invoice date of June 22nd, 2019. This here represents the first and only piece of evidence BC did any work on my commission, and it was preformed a full year plus after invoice date/the commission was paid in full. I have not received what I paid $250 for, given the only work preformed is this black and white sketch, when I commissioned him for a full color eagle character reference sheet including front, side and back views. Since the Picarto stream on July 4th, 2020, I left Twitter because of personal reasons (Twitter was stressing me out, basically). This had the unintended consequence of cutting off my only communication line with BC, so I made a new Twitter account solely to communicate with him. He told me it would be better to email him, so I did just that: I never got replies when it came to updates on my commission, but he did reply to an email relating to his husbands health: I take this as proof he is reading this email address, and therefore is selectively choosing what he does and does not reply to. He told me on Twitter to email *this* email account. After speaking to a fellow BadCoyote commissioner about how long its taken and not hearing anything from BC, I finally decided enough was enough, and sent an email to BC saying I am posting an ArtistBeware on him because it has been over and year and a half now, and I have not received any updates on my commission. He did not reply. So I decided to leave a warning in his shouts to anyone considering working with him: BadCoyote deleted these shouts a day later, and reached out on FA: Let me be clear: There is no good time to ask BC to preform his work duties. Anytime I have seen anyone bring up the fact he owes them art or a refund, he treats it like he is being bullied, followed by a bevy of excuses ("Multiple Surgeries", "Burnout", "Been feeling sick because of my [censored]", "Dealing with family drama" etc). If I did not contact him on his holiday, I would have interrupted him while he was *totally* working on someone else's piece, or was sick and not feeling well, or was dealing with his dog, or whatever. There will never be a good time to make BC do his job, in my personal view. To ask him for updates regarding my $250 commission from a year and a half ago is quite obviously rude, and how dare I. The finale to this is I sent him a note on FA asking for any updates, and BC sent me a note back saying he is willing to do the piece, so long as I remain civil. So I accepted his offer, specifically because of this line: I reiterated what I wanted for my eagle design in response: Like the past year and a half, no response, no updates on Twitter, nothing. The week passed. Its been 18 months at this point. When BC talks about civility here, what I believe he means is "Go easy on me" and let him continue operating as he does. The way he conducts himself has lead to a queue of 23 people, all of whom paid in advance, waiting in some cases years for their drawings. When you criticize this simple fact, you are being uncivil in BC's view, and in fact, bullying him. BC says in his FA messages to me that he plans on leaving the fandom: To BC, all I can say is good luck.

Original agreement - They deleted their account so you can only see my replies, but it was for a NSFW colored sketch for $70 EVERYTHING/ANYTHING NSFW is censored! (This all happened in 2021) Me asking them how much a colored sketch would be & adding a sketch to explain what I wanted. Agreement was $70 & my messages confirm payment was sent. They sent a few sketches super fast & I ask to add one to the commission. Conversation ended Feb 11th. I message them again March 15th . March 24th they told me they had covid so i tell them to recover, as it hadn't been that long anyways. April 21st I message them again, no response. April 28th I tell them i would rather they just send me the sketches they have & take the loss. Still no response. Paypal statement showing $70USD was sent to chernobee Feb 10th, 2021 After them not replying to me on Twitter on May 1st 2021 I messaged them on Toyhouse, where they did respond so the conversation moved here. (This all happened in 2021) May 1st I message them telling them I would appreciate a reply within a week & state that I feel an A_B post would be necessary for the lack of communication. They reply 12th May they were super nice & understanding of my frustration w/ the lack of communication. They ask to speak on Discord but also offer to send the sketches. May 19th I apologize to them as I felt I just hadn't given them enough time & was being too aggressive. Give them my Discord. June 24th I send them a message asking for their Discord since they hadn't tried to contact me on there. June 26th they send me their Discord. 9th Aug I give them a completion date of Aug 20th or to refund me. 10th Aug they tell me their discord & the conversation moves there. They then message me Nov 23rd asking for options to get in contact as I hadn't replied on discord.) So I feel like I have to explain why I apologized in this message & it's bc I usually expect anything w/out a set date to take about 3-5months w/ an update every month or so. Idk , at the time it felt like I just hadn't given them enough time. Last message was because I hadn't replied on Discord (life got busy). Also thought they would be able to finish the art since they had the necessary info/refs. their discord info. #6688 I message them Aug 11th asking how they would like to move forward w/ the commission. They did not reply so Aug 31st I ask for a refund. They reply the same day saying they would be happy to refund me, & that once I opened the dispute they would approve it. But also offer the completion of art & say that that's what they would prefer. Say they can complete it in 2-4days. There is also a side convo about the frustrations of having to be the one to find/contact them & they express that they've had other commissioners complain too & that examples images they sent were for other commissioners that were "understanding/patient." I reply Sep 8th bc I wanted to update my characters reference sheet. Oct 28th I ask for an update. Oct 30th they send me images that show work has/is being done. (life got busy, this is when they sent me the message on Toyhouse) Nov 25th I reply saying I love the update. They reply saying they send me a message on Toyhouse. Say they'll finish ASAP. Nov 28th I thank them for the update. Dec 17th I ask if they can add some character markings. They reply the same day saying yes. They also ask me how I've been doing personally. Dec 21st I share that my life has been busy bc of work. Everything past this point happens in 2022. March 25th I ask for an update, no response. May 29th I ask for an update, even a personal one. No response. June 17th I ask if a partial refund would work as & could just color/finish the update they sent before. No response. I know there are points in this commission where I try to resolve it w/ accepting the money loss, or them offering a refund (but me still having to dispute it to get it?), but they offered to finish the art & hinted that it was the option that worked better for them & I still wanted the art & wanted to do what worked better for them too! Comment on their Toyhouse on Jun 8th, Message them on deviantart jun 17th. Message & comment on their new furaffinity page Jul 2nd/3rd. [Mod Note: Message has been seen and not replied to as of July 10th.] And as of July 3rd, they have made a new Discord (#9660) that they did not make me aware of. I have sent a friend request & am waiting.

This commission was initiated via Toyhouse, as such, some screenshots may need to be read from bottom to top with the way the PM system works with this site. In mid-September 2021, I reached out to DaziKidoT to create a reference sheet for a Final Fantasy XIV character of mine. After discussing the additions required for my piece, I provided their form and they took payment after presenting base sketches for the character's pose. After agreeing to one of the poses, they sent me an invoice and it was paid the same day. I received my first drafts of potential design concepts 10 days later, I selected the concept I preferred the most and confirmed that I was fine with giving them artistic liberties when it came down to the overall color scheme/design work of the clothing. This is the sketch draft I approved to move forward. I did not hear from them until October, where they informed of personal matters that cropped up. This was not a bother at all, up to this point DaziKidoT had been very commutative with me, and it's only been a month since we initiated the process. After this, I did not hear from them until November, another personal matter happened, but they delivered colored concepts for the design up to this point. I selected which elements I wished to move forward with, and later that day I received a WIP with the final draft of the design elements I wanted to keep. All work that has been shown has been of the front-facing portion of the reference, I had not received a WIP of the back-view, nor the unclothed reference which was to show my character's body scars, etc. A few days later, I received bad news regarding the commission overall. Everything was lost due to hardware issues. Admittedly, this was gutting to hear, because of how well things had gone up to this point. However, DaziKidoT was still being transparent and communicative with me that I genuinely was willing to wait things out for them to complete the work. At this point, I had no reason to believe we would run into communication issues, so I declined the offer of the partial refund. I did not hear from them until January. There was no additional progress to show, but I inquired on January 11th if it was possible to make modifications to the original concept, as things needed to restart from square one regardless. We did come to an agreement for the design updates for when they were able to resume working. Another month passed and I had heard nothing from them. I was starting to get mildly concerned about their ability to remain in contact, especially as I was nearing my window for a claim via Paypal. Toyhouse experienced site-wide outage some time before I reached out to them in February, and wanted to have another way to contact them in the event the site went down. We agreed to swap discord handles. However, I did not hear from them after we mutually added each other, I reached out to them in April to see if there were any updates, and I was informed of another personal matter, and due to limitations with accessing the site, I was willing to try and help them with at least getting the word out regarding the delay as I was not the only individual waiting for work from Dazi. This is what I posted in their thread, I have since revised my message as I have not had contact with the artist since April. On April 10th, I received a WIP of the anatomical revisions I was requesting. We agreed to little details and April 11th was the last time I ever heard from Dazi. I reached out to them in May to check in, but I received no response. At this point, I am far beyond my window with claims via Paypal, and I have no options left for recourse. I provided them an ultimatum, and later delivered the same message to them on Toyhouse in August, it has gone unread. Only this time being firmer in stating that I do not wish to continue if they do end up returning. A follow-up was sent in October to be transparent about my side of things, there has still been no response. As of September 2022, I have reached a full year of waiting for this piece, and I have not heard from them in nearly six months. In hindsight, I should have taken the partial refund offer when I initially received it.

Before the incident, I often repost my commission advertisement on various of art servers. Roughly a simple ad with low-ish prices ($15-20) compared to others advertising up to $30-40+, along with this fact, I was a first time commissioner with 0 experience apart from art trades and collaborations. On August 12, I received a friend request from Alastra (Client) at around midnight and they messaged me that they’d like to commission me. I was ecstatic seeing this during then, but I didn’t accept their friend request and reply until the next morning. August 13, From here the process was going well, we were communicating, their reply’s were fast, they did as I asked (filling out my google form for character info, “reading” my carrd) until I got to confirming the payment process, they asked if they could “pay with a $40 Amazon gift card” none of my terms of service said I excepted any gift card except for Apple, I didn’t have any red flags yet and so I thought perhaps they couldn’t pay through these other payment options I replied saying “I’m not sure, Codashop doesn’t allow any payments except through paypal, venmo, etc” They didn’t reply to me until I added “but I do accept Apple gift cards as payment instead” They replied fast ((At this point my mistake started here bc based on other accounts of them they blocked/ ghosted the artist after telling them they need to pay through these options. Gift cards were their way of swindling through)) I got to work quickly and sent them the first two halfbody sketches of their commission, They asked for a few changes, I complied i asked if things were alright with the sketches, they complied the first red flag I blindly encountered was asking for my 50% payment after the sketch (total for the commission was 30 so they had to pay $15) they avoided this by convincing me that they’d pay at the end when there’s a watermark on the drawing, this is so to make sure that they do like the commission and they would pay extra for the work. They were successful in convincing me, I saw on a few other commissioners for reference that they do a similar format to this as well and so I thought it’d be ok to try it out. August 16 - 17 a line-art and flat color was sent August 20 the coloring process started nothing fishy happened here, only reassurance that my work was going well. The process continued from me sending my w.i.p. for review and revision. By August 21, I was officially done with the commission I sent them a drawing with my watermark (top to bottom of the image for extra measures) and sent it to them. Strangely they didn’t reply, as fast as they normally would, despite their profile (little dot on the corner) saying that they were actively on. I didn’t think much of it but consider the fact that they’re a person with a life so I shouldn’t bother them. August 22, by now I got worried they weren’t replying and by now it was around 5. I remembered that we were mutuals on a few servers so I searched through those only to realize that they left them. I checked their bio to see if they really did and I saw the words “no servers in common” and on discord if you don’t share a similar server with the other (unless you friend them) you can’t message the person anymore. It took me a while to realize that they scammed me after they ghosted me and blocked me when receiving the watermarked drawing of mine. As of August 28, the time I made this beware, they are still using my drawing as their pfp. I do advice to keep an eye out on this person as their main focus of commissions are hazbin hotel. Their discord name are names of characters from the show so its difficult to find any true social medias from them unless they share any of my drawings around. If you do ever see a repost of the following commission images please report them. ((Extra: this story probably infuriated a lot of you bc I was so blinded to so many red flags that the client replied with. If anything it was also my fault too for falling for a scam and as of writing this, it urks me to read over how naive I was through the process. No I’m not asking for pity, I’m asking for people doing first time commissions to stand your ground and go with the process that you want to do as it may save you from being scammed like me))