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I was really holding out for Lorkalt, but the year is coming to an end and I have yet to get what I paid for. That, on top of months-long waits for a simple response and seeing the artist fulfill other commissions while I wait so long, I want to make this post to warn against commissioning Lorkalt or @Lorkalt1 on Twitter. On January 11th, I started talks with Lorkalt about a two-character colored commission. We did the transaction through Paypal and it was all done on that same day. A couple of days later Lorkalt sent me a sketch of what the piece would look like, and I agreed to what I saw. After this communication started to go downhill. I told the artist that I liked the sketch and then I finally got a response from him on February 27th - almost a month after we last spoke. He apologized for the wait and then sent me a link to a Google Drive folder that held detailed Black and Whites of my commission. I confirmed that I liked what I saw and sent him a few more details to help with the coloring. It almost took him until mid-July for me to get another response. When I finally got a response from Lorkalt, they explained that they were preoccupied with a situation going on at their end and sent me another update which I confirmed. He explained that he was just finalizing everything, and yet I only got my next response in October. There was no real update concerning my commission, but instead an explanation as to what was now preventing him from giving me updates. He explained that he lost access to his Twitter due to being blocked and that he would send me news during that week. That never happened, and now it's a few days into December and I have not heard ANYTHING from Lorkalt concerning my commission. As you will see in the screenshots, during these huge windows of silence, I have sent Lorkalt multiple messages to see if we can re-establish some communication. I would either be left on read or just flat-out ignored, so I was kept in the dark about when I would get any updates on what I paid for. And while Lorkalt did state that he lost access to his account due to being blocked, I don't find that as a valid reason mostly due to how we also established communication through email. So, regardless of if his Twitter was blocked, he still had the capability of updating me via the email address that I provided to him. It's irritating to deal with this because the art shows a lot of promise and I was excited to commission him. But I only learned that he has a habit of being tardy with updates only after I paid him, from this website and from other Twitter users who have been waiting for more than a year for their artwork.

I asked for a two person commission He agreed as you can see proof of payment I ask for another update because I've recieved nothing so far Here's me getting ghosted for several months before finally getting a reply finally after floating the idea of a refund First wip Me getting ghosted again for several more months (we are now well past the paypal refund date I know, my bad) Here, he promises to finish my commission in a week after not talking to me for months, he has been uploading other people's commissions during all this time though. I agree to give him a week because I have no real means of recourse anyway Second wip And now just me sending messages into the void, he is currently posting on twitter though. At this point I don't really expect to get anything, not a picture, not my money back. To be honest I've stopped caring about the image altogether, I actually just want a refund since it's clear the artist has zero interest in doing my commission. I won't hold my breath for anything though. I hope at least some of you won't repeat my expensive mistakes now I know to never let an artist drag things past the paypal chargeback date.

February 18, 2022: I message Envyfelled/Iigoart on Twitter expressing interest in commissioning them. February 24, 2022: They accept my commission idea (full message not included because this was a NSFW commission and I provided NSFW character details), and I pay the PayPal invoice they send me. The invoice they sent I paid (proof): September 20, 2022: Shortly after I paid for my commission, they went on a little art hiatus, which they came back a few months later in September and publicly tweeted that this was because of mental health issues. They mention that they have been giving commissioners refunds because of this, so I message them in hopes of getting one too (or at least a commission update of any kind, which I have not since I paid back on February 24). I understand they had life issues so I tried to be patient, hoping for a reply eventually (unfortunately, I never do). September 29, 2022: This is when I start to send several messages to them, asking for them to respond to me or explain where my commission is I paid money for. They never responded to me. I'm not sure if they've even opened our messages since I paid for the commission back in February. March 11 - July 18, 2023: They continue to ignore my messages. July 28, 2023: Both of their Twitters (@iigo_art and @envyfelled) don't seem to be the most active, so I find one of their tumblrs (@iigodeath) which they are pretty active on. I message them there, hoping they will respond to my messages, but they do not. I also try to send some Asks which they also ignore. Final contact was sent but no response: Summary: I commissioned Envyfelled/iigo-art in February 2022 for a $80 commission I would never get (no WIPs, progress updates, nothing). I unfortunately waited too long to open a PayPal dispute, so I am left robbed from my money as this artist will not communicate with me at all. While I get they have some life issues which may impede their ability to speedily answer my messages, it's been over a year since they have acknowledged my existence, and this behavior is just beyond unprofessional and frustrating. I make this post in hopes somebody can get me in touch with them so I can get my money back, or hopefully warn others in case this artist ever takes commissions again.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1021468.html WHO: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/just-a-little-mixed-up/ WHERE: Discord and Telegram WHAT: Eight flat pinups. WHEN: February 2018 to October 2018 EXPLAIN: Asked to buy 8 pieces in a discord we both shared. Was given an invoice, and gave her payments to the invoice(1) for the images she completed as she did them. First went pretty quick, the next one took a month, and the latest was not received until August. Between the second and third, she claimed she needed to get money together to move, and my response to that was to finish paying off the invoice completely. I also attempted to try to make the investment easier to handle by suggesting we switched out things, which is why I talked about getting a ref sheet instead of the last four pinups in the log. At the time I wanted to at least get something for the money I put down, and asking for a refund was the last resort. After that I waited a month assuming it would take that long, without response, until the artist asked for email communications in reply to an inquiry on telegram that I had sent her(2), which threw me off since we had been working through telegram for the majority of the work. I inquired about it, but complied and resent her the material she needed for the work to be done. Another month later (and three days ago) I tried getting in contact with her again, with no response.(3) After asking a mutual friend I learned that she's been refusing contact under claim that she will only respond to email. I was frankly, tired of my investment going nowhere so I sent an email asking for a refund for the 5 pieces that were never started. As of this post I have yet to receive any compensation, not even a reply.(4) Under the artist's ToS, linked here, the artist is responsible for keeping open communications to the best of her ability. This has unfortunately been broken seeing as she's still working on commissions while ignoring my inquiries, and with no faith that I will ever get a refund, I am washing my hands of this. PROOF: (1) https://www.dropbox.com/s/draztmtjxc9bslc/invoice.PNG (2) https://www.dropbox.com/s/p8xl0judwcz4fbj/log1.PNG and https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayvni8aecpsw6tg/log3.PNG (3) https://www.dropbox.com/s/qc05x9n8ox74kq2/log2.PNG (4) https://www.dropbox.com/s/ccupob7bh138nhw/photo_2018-10-24_05-22-09.jpg UPDATE: I've sent another email, essentially saying if she can't pay in lump sum to reply back so we can make arrangements. Like I said before, I don't have any faith that I'm gonna have a response, or my money back, so after a week I'm gonna be attempting chargebacks. UPDATE 2: Breaking a bit of a professional tone with this but I've been getting wind of people telling me about the artist DMing everyone around them about this entry. I believe this is probably gonna turn out pretty horrid in terms of drama outside you guys' journal community thing so I'm just gonna point out that anything I hear I'm going to log for future reference, especially if it ends up bleeding into this entry. I'm here for a business transaction, not furry drama. I respect the staff and people here and I would like to keep things purely business, as it should be.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1019788.html Note: The OP did not delete the post. It was reposted on behalf of the Op, because we could not convey the necessary edits needed due to a language barrier. Original Poster: Carlossaiyan WHO: Zdemian WHERE: Gmail and Discord WHAT: Full Cel Shaded digital coloured pic of an OC with “enormous breasts”. It was a 60$ USD commission. WHEN: First idea sent on March 24th, denied on April 1st. Second idea sent, accepted and paid on April 4th. EXPLAIN: On March 24th I’ve asked Zdemian for a commission. He asked me to put the details of it in an e-mail to send it to his Gmail address. He denied the first NSFW idea I sent him on April 1st, so I gave him another NSFW idea on April 4th via Gmail too. He liked it and accepted it, sending me the Invoice, paying him at the very moment on the same day. He was going to start the pic the moment he got paid. The idea was to draw my OC Vernan in NSFW content, in a hotspring, relaxing and humming out, having enormous breasts with a little plastic duck at the neck side. After that, I’ve been trying to contact him every few days later via Discord to see if he was doing the commission. The money was sent but the invoice disappeard from the Paypal list, though I could do a screenshot of the e-mail or money sending before all of this happened. I don’t understand what might’ve happened. I’ve contacted him again via Discord more until he replied on Tuesday 9th of October (That’s 6 months later!), saying he didn’t wanted to do it, not even wanting/having the intention to reply to me. There’s nothing more after this PROOF: March 24th, references for the quality chosen and reference of my OC (NSFW) https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/500762741519286283/w1.JPG Denial of first idea (including OC reference. NSFW) https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/500776608257540126/w2.JPG April 4th. Sent the 2nd idea https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/500767287964467200/w20.JPG Accept the 2nd idea and send me the Paypal.me Link. https://www.dropbox.com/s/562b8hoagct4e2q/d4.png?dl=0 Paypal money sent on the same day. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/502134537036365824/zdemu2.png Contacted him via Gmail on April 20th https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/500776828559032371/z22.JPG Contacting him via Discord many times every few weeks https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/502204674162556968/er.JPG https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/502204661420261388/d2.JPG He finally replies back on October 9th, acting uncaring https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/502204679795769344/ser3.JPG https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/502204684874940436/ser4.JPG https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290285346359345162/502204669175660544/e1.JPG https://artistsbeware.info/sguidelines/ Read the Submission Guidelines and follow them. Use the outline below. Failure to follow all guidelines and the outline will mean your post will be rejected by moderation. Outline: - Original agreement + Proof - Proof of payment (If a paypal cap is not available, then the artist acknowledging they received payment is fine.) - Any relevant correspondence. This is where updates, WIPs go, if emails have gone unanswered, ect. If you make a claim, proof must be supplied. Do not cherry pick your screencaps. The mods will ask you to supply them. A moderator will contact you for proof that is missing. If it is missing because it was deleted, then we unfortunately can't take your beware. Remember, we are not Twitter, Facebook, Toyhouse, or DA. You must supply proof and make your beware readable.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1018126.html WHO: JackieJackal/Azazel WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jackiejackal/ — Now: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/azazel./ WHAT: Digital art — YCH Pre-pose WHEN: May 19th 2016 — Present EXPLAIN: Azazel (JackieJackal at the time) was hosting a ych sale on her Furaffinity page (link to the actual commission can be found here - WARNING! THE IMAGE IS NSFW: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19925712/) And so I bought one of the slots, and everything was going quite smoothly until it reached October 31st 2016. 5 months after purchasing the ych and I hadn't had any updates of proof my piece had been worked on, so I decided to ask for a refund. JJ excepted this and over the next 2 years (almost) I would ask every few months if she had enough money for my refund yet, and every time they would have some sort of money trouble and I'd have to wait. I feel I'm quite understanding, like I know sometimes life can be a bit rubbish and unforeseen expenses can come out of nowhere. But 2 years just seems far too long to wait for this sort of refund. PROOF: All our Furaffinity notes to each other (in order) — https://imgur.com/a/X0NWe1X

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1017903.html WHO: SnowPaw2927 , humansfurry12345 WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/snowpaw2927/ https://my.secondlife.com/humansfurry12345 WHAT: Tracing digital artwork and making profit out of it. WHEN: July 9th 2018 — September 30th 2018 EXPLAIN: I recently found out that an FA user named SnowPaw2927 has blatantly traced several of my artworks and made profit out of it! This person has tried to commission me in the past only to ghost on me. I then later this year find out that they are tracing several of my artworks without my permission and selling it as original commissions. This person also repeatedly advertises that they take commissions within the virtual game "Second Life" and accepts Lindens (ingame currency), which can be converted into real money. Their gallery consist of mostly traced artworks of mine and other artists. Most of their profile descriptions and journals are also copy/pasted of others. They eventually took down my traced artworks (after some protest) from their gallery. Initially I wasn't going to bother making an artist-beware, not until I found out that they were also making profit with this unethical behaviour and I want to prevent future scams or other artists getting ripped off. They've claimed to be a big fan of mine. But please, there is so many other ways to support an artist you look up to! Tracing their work and scamming people into commissioning that, is far from the right path to grow as an artist! PROOF: IMGUR album with all screencap proof provided (NSFW art!): https://imgur.com/a/QwE4f4z Community Tags: artist-snowpaw2927, artist-humansfurry12345, beware !mod post

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1017283.html WHO: Edalie https://www.deviantart.com/edalie-chan (she used to have a twitter, but it's been deleted) WHERE: Discord PMs WHAT: Digital art commission WHEN: Commission was paid for on April 11th. EXPLAIN: In April, I came into contact with Edalie. She had been posting her art in a discord server I frequent at a steady pace. After noting her quality and ability to draw different styles, I asked her for a commission. A character design sheet, with three total drawings, all shaded, and 6 total facial expressions. She charged me $290 USD for the transaction. It was pricey, but I could afford it at the time. On May 21st, I received lineart for the first pose. Simple enough. It was colored the next day. We would go about a week's worth of silence, before more contact on June 6th. She promised that she would get me a sketch of the second pose by the next day. It did not come by the next day. In fact, it wouldn't arrive for two whole months, during which contact was very scarce and was almost always initiated by me engaging in small talk every now and then. In early August, I finally received the sketches promised. And then more silence. On August 23rd, I was told that she would be streaming this commission on her Twitch channel, and she asked me if she was okay to begin working on lineart. To the best of my knowledge, this stream did not happen. I tuned in briefly and she was not working on my commission at all. However, she has past broadcasts turned off, so I have no real way of verifying this. I have reason to believe she did not work on my commission at all, however, because the next update I received from her would just be a revised sketch and not the lineart I was promised. A full month passed, and on September 24th, I messaged her again, this time with a pretty passive aggressive message. She responded and apologized, stating that she had accepted other commissions, and had given them priority. Her reasoning for this was because I didn't ask for a deadline. She asked for a chance to make it up by working on the commission all day. At the time, I accepted it. However, I sought counsel from friends, some of whom are also artists, and they understood my concerns. Mainly that I felt like it was unfair for my commission to just not be worked on even though I paid for a spot in the queue. Following our exchange, she finally got the lineart to me (mind you, this was supposed to be completed in August). I began to ask her for revisions, but instead I decided that it was best we called it off. I felt like it would be enabling that kind of behavior if I let her continue to work on the commission with no accountability, as she had already shown me that she was likely not going to give my commission priority if other commissions came in, despite the fact that it had been five months since I paid for it. After asking for a refund, she became very combative, initially saying that 2 months is the average turnaround for a commission based on what other artists have told her. She also tried to insinuate that because I was patient, that I was okay with being pushed back constantly due to her prioritizing other commissions paid for after mine. I told her I felt that the art I was going to be given in only hours would not match the quality I would expect for a $290 payment, and also due to how long it took for us to get to that point. She seemed to think that my issue was with the quality of the art and the price, not with how long it took for me to get lineart for the sketch. After a little bit more of back and forth (screenshots of the full discord conversation from the time of payment to the end will be provided) she agreed to calculate the refund price. I reasoned that the refund would be around $170 to $190 due to the fact that only one out of 3 poses had been colored, lineart for the other two poses had been finished that day, and nothing had been shaded. Her refund amount was $80. She tried to justify it saying that her prices at the time were $70 for lineart ($100 now, apparently). I agreed without thinking about it at the time, but upon further review of our logs, there was no such price specified at all. She also mentions a discount on cell shaded fullbodies. That was also not in our agreement. We go back and forth a little more, and our logs end with her telling me that after our conversation, she will be instating a no refunds policy and that it's based on her own kindness not to enforce that on me. I have since attempted to go through PayPal for a chargeback, and am currently trying to get half of the agreed amount back, as I do not feel like she should keep $210 for less than half of the work. Following this situation, she has since blocked me on Discord, and banned me from her server. The mod message states the following (a friend joined the server and sent the screenshot, which will be provided below): "Hi @everyone! This post is a warning of a recent commissioner. When doing business with someone, it's never wise to be fickle and change things unless the other party agrees. It can cause confusion, and a hassle for both sides. When you give money to someone for a service, you are forming a business relationship. A successful business is all about the satisfaction of both ends, and the responsibility of the commissioner matters just as much as the Artist's. Feelings must be mutual so the Artist can happily receive their payment, while the commissioner can happily receive their product. The safety of the Artist is just as important as well, so the commissioners that disrespect, and mistreat the Artist will result in being Blacklisted. The commissioner that will be Blacklisted is @yung nero, and will now be banned from the server. With research and from recent events, he's had a history of disrespecting creators for his own satisfaction and unrealistic views upon forming a business. So please, be cautious if he makes contact with you." This post makes me feel like 1) she told her mods false information about me to slander me ("With research and from recent events, he's had a history of disrespecting creators for his own satisfaction and unrealistic views upon forming a business" despite the fact that said research and history doesn't exist) and 2) it feels like an attempt to sweep everything under the rug. This could prove problematic in the future, as if there are any artists that accept commissions in her server, that could potentially prevent me from trying to commission other artists in the future. PROOF: Imgur gallery containing the full Discord conversation top to bottom: https://imgur.com/gallery/VRydPgT direct link to the screenshot of the mod message: https://i.imgur.com/lRCYhjN.png direct link to what was finished of the commission: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/433424408808259585/494201477372444702/unknown.png EDIT: PayPal denied the chargeback request. She got away with murder, ggs.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1016815.html (UPDATED 01 December 2018) WHO: FarisBatwan (FBsuits) - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/farisbatwan & https://twitter.com/fbsuits WHERE: Initial contact via gmail, conversation/discussion also via Twitter DM's & Discord. WHAT: Digitigrade Fullsuit - Head, Hands, Tail, Bodysuit, Outdoor Footpaws and Indoor Sockpaws WHEN: Initial contact on August 22nd, 2017. Paid in full on Septeber 02, 2017. Initial suspicion that things were not progressing as planned began in June 2018, especially moving into July 2018. EXPLAIN: I commissioned Faris after seeing her gallery on FA and seeing a couple suiters at Megaplex 2017 wearing her suits. Initial contact was good, and she was pretty responsive to messages. I was assured that Megaplex 2018 was more than enough time to complete this order, and told that paying in full sooner would assure me an even higher place in the queue. (1) After I paid communication began to go south. There were days, even weeks in between responses in gmail. Faris claimed several times that messages were not arriving from me, or that she had sent something I had not received. I thought this odd, but we agreed to move off-site for communication to Twitter DMs, and shortly thereafter to Discord. Communication problems continued throughout the beginning of 2018, although I always (eventually) received a response after prodding her several times. I was given a "100% guaranteed" completion of the suit by July of 2018. After this passed she told me she been handling her Anthrocon rush, but I would definitely have a fullsuit in time for Megaplex. On June 04 I was promised WIPs "this week" which never materialized until July 22nd, after a LOT of prodding, multiple failed promises of delivery on various dates and times, and eventually having to get pretty harsh with her and threatening chargebacks/legal action. As this date drew nearer with no updates - despite me asking several times - things definitely started to seem amiss. The bodysuit turned into a maybe, but the partial was "100% guaranteed." I did receive photos of a completed head, hands, and tail, and a tracking number only hours before she had to get it shipped out. I paid a premium for Priority Express shipping, but had no updates on tracking past "Pre-Shipment" until I left for the convention on August 02, 2018. (2 - collage of missed deadlines) After I got back from the con I dove into this with Faris, trying to figure out what happened. After an excessive amount of prodding I finally got a screenshot proving she had actually purchased a label - for a Priority package only, that wasn't destined to arrive at my location until August 02. I called her out on it and she had an extremely implausible excuse - I decided it was best to move on from that since I was still out over $2000 at this point with nothing to show for it, the shipping costs only being a fraction of it. (4, 5) During August and September I brought up numerous complaints from other customers to her. They were always "lying" or "not telling the whole story," or "out to ruin her," but she was never at fault for any of it, according to her. On the 31st things came to a head and I had a discussion with her about the poor communication, repeated failures to deliver WIPs as promised, and other issues. I gave her a 30-day ultimatum - if I had nothing in hand by September 30th, I would be moving on to expecting a refund - voluntary or otherwise. I made it very clear then, and at several other points throughout September, that chargebacks and small claims court were absolutely on the table. In the meantime I attempted to treat the unshipped package as a USPS issue, although I'd never heard of the USPS losing a Priority package without so much as an acceptance scan - it seemed extremely implausible. I did almost all of the legwork to initiate claims/seaches with the USPS, including talking to my local office on September 4th. My postmaster wanted to talk to Faris. Faris told me on September 6th that she had called in and given him all the info he requested. I called back on the 7th to verify as I was at a point where I was no longer able to take Faris' word for granted. My postmaster remembered specific details of my conversation with him on the 4th, but had no memory of talking to anybody about the case on the 6th, just a day before. After confronting Faris about this I was basically just given the same story: she had really called. My postmaster said they get at most 5-6 calls a day and that he definitely would have remembered a call about that. (3) I had no choice but to just move on from this point. Dealing with the original package and the constant delays and excuses over the bodysuit was taking a lot of energy from me. On the 22nd of September she was still claiming "100% guarantee" of delivery by month's end. I was also told on this day that the only thing remaining was to sew the front and back together, and sew in the padding. On the 25th she told me she may have to work out Friday shipping with her. I let her know I was not happy about this but as long as I had a tracking number that showed movement before the 30th (an acceptance scan or more) I would consider that acceptable. On the 30th was my last message from her - she contacted me to let me know the back had to be sewn together, and then the front and back had to be sewn together. Somehow in the span of eight days /backwards/ progress had been made, according to her. I was told proof would be sent later that day and that she would be willing to work with me on a refund. I told her that a refund would be best. I contacted her again Monday morning, Monday afternoon, and Tuesday morning to let her know I was expecting her to work with me on setting up a refund, and that Tuesday afternoon was her last chance to get in touch with me. While I normally would allow more time than this for a response, her past track record with communication and near countless other clients waiting on suits, partials, and premades from her, I decided it was best to move on to legal options. At the current time I have a claim in progress with PayPal for a payment made for shipping & indoor sockpaws, and a chargeback with Discover for 50% of the commission price (she has a chance to attempt to refute both of these, currently). The other 50% was unfortunately paid via my PayPal balance which I have no easy recourse to outside of small claims court. Currently I have started that process and am awaiting small claims papers to be mailed to me. I will update this posting as more happens. I just felt it prudent to warn people that Faris is not a trustworthy person to work with. I don't believe she does anything maliciously - she's not trying to run a scam, but she is disorganized and doesn't have the integrity to tell her clients the truth when she gets behind or misses a deadline. For the most part she was polite and pleasant to talk to - but ultimately, I paid a four-digit sum of money for a product that never arrived, with suspiciously similar circumstances to multiple other clients of hers. I would feel remiss if I did not do my part to warn others in the community to avoid making the mistake I did. ~ 06 October 2018: I submitted a claim to the USPS earlier in September regarding the supposedly lost package. An initial payout was approved of $60.15. I thought that an odd number, so I appealed (Faris insisted she had purchased insurance for it, but never procured it when asked). Today I got a letter back with the results of the appeal — it was again denied, and as requested, they explained the $60.15 payout. No additional insurance was purchased to cover the value of the item at time of mailing. The baked-in insurance is $50 plus the amount of postage — meaning she spent $10.15 on the label for this, after I had sent her $107.30 for Priority Express. (6, 7) Faris made no mention of this when I confronted her with this evidence (I already knew she had spent less to do Priority vs Priority Express, via evidence she sent me, I just didn't know the actual amount). She is still insisting she purchased insurance, however, she says she doesn't have a receipt or any other evidence to prove it. She did say she was going to start making regular repayments later this month. At the current time she still owes me $839.85, pending the PayPal chargeback cases resolving in my favor. I am not holding her responsible for the $60.15 the USPS paid me. ~ 18 October 2018: Since posting this I've gotten in contact with multiple other people dealing with undelivered fursuits from Faris, conflicting stories and accounts, etc. I have evidence that Faris submitted, as approval images, the exact same fursuit parts for both hands and feet for both me and another client — and in the case of the hands, she even sent us both the EXACT same image, down to the pixel. See images 8 & 9. PROOF: https://imgur.com/a/uu8eRgf (1) https://imgur.com/BKYiNx9 (2) https://imgur.com/dqEMLK9 (3) https://imgur.com/xp2wZSl (4) https://imgur.com/TwD8QyU (5) https://imgur.com/6ToDOrQ (6) https://imgur.com/j1W8bPy (7) https://imgur.com/8CHFShz (8) https://imgur.com/1yzI5vc (9) https://imgur.com/RAxem7q ~ 01 November 2018: Faris has sent a small repayment toward the total amount she owes me. She says she is planning to make monthly payments until the debt is paid off. 01 December 2018: Next refund payment has been made.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1014686.html WHO: FarisBatwan (FBsuits) - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/farisbatwan - https://twitter.com/fbsuits and the facebook which is under "FuzzyBatSuits" https://www.facebook.com/fuzzybatsuits/ WHERE: Conversations were spread out between Facebook and Texts. WHAT: body suit commission, feet, handpaws, head trade, a pre-made black body suit, and Lastly a body suit that she was fixing for me made by headsandtailsstudios named "Zaroo". WHEN: Febuary 22, 2018 [As of October 29, 2018; we're working it out a resolution] November 17, No progress has been seen/started since resolution was discussed. EXPLAIN: The initial transaction was 550$ for a Body suit of one of my characters and a pair of black feetpaws, she said that she would throw in a pair of handpaws in for free with the commission. Transaction 2/22/2018: https://imgur.com/a/oJhGtyB full payment as she requested here; https://imgur.com/a/ANWt6HB While the commission was taking place I was in the process of looking for a black body for my character Kieraa (We did a head trade so she was making my Kieraa head) when she learned I was looking for a black body suit she told me about one she had for 400$ it was a planti-grade black body https://imgur.com/a/mDiAzAs I questioned her about why we couldn't swap my ZER0 commission body out with this one and she told me that since she had already gotten the materials and pattern out that she wasn't going to (also needed the extra money; https://imgur.com/a/uuypkVd) so I went ahead and paid 400$ + 22$ she requested extra for(Payments for it: https://imgur.com/XJFkBBY Apologies they were sent in weird amounts I had to dig through and balance funds at the time) Upon further discussion I wanted fur to be added to the back of the body so it had a moehawk/mane look to it so when I brought that to her attention she wanted an additional 22$ to pay for the fur cost to add that look onto it (essentially making this now a commission even though it was a premade) https://imgur.com/wr60I4s So I paid her the 22$ on May 14 which can be seen in the payment plan started for the body picture. May 31st I get this message https://imgur.com/plykAWG "So I ran into a huge problem" So I was curious what was going on ... But wasn't getting any responses back so I messaged her on my phone asking what the problem was and getting worried because there was no responses. I find out later; https://imgur.com/oDqGNkt / https://imgur.com/VnrQNLb That the body was a 'premade' only because it was someones DTD who messed up and then later was demanding their body back. But I had already paid for extra work to be done on this body that she did say she did and all of that stuff (never got pictures of the extension fur on the back though still) She said it would be handled, but I'm still not sure if it was handled correctly. Fast forward a little bit and my partner ends up getting angry at her for not producing any WIPS and making a lot of excuses - He wanted me to open a paypal case and put his foot down on it because we sent the money "Friends and Family" and if there was a chance we could get it back then we should try https://imgur.com/5FnF1X8 so she responds back to me https://imgur.com/4QdVRCz and https://imgur.com/MWCi0Ne Holding me responsible for the case being opened and I told her it wasn't about the money so much as it was about the WIPS for the two of us because they were flat out promised https://imgur.com/cNCEkgo Case was 'mutually decided' to be closed because of the Terms of Service she has set in place so I couldn't have a case open and she provided me with pictures of an abandoned project along with SOME of my commission (seen here: https://imgur.com/K3fvK1t / https://imgur.com/jTTu6Ay only I couldn't see my commission part very well because everything was so jumbled and bunched together but there is; The black body suit which I couldn't see very well, Zaroo's suit she was fixing up and some side projects which were a black and red body with a bio-hazard symbol in the middle along with a tail she didn't want to throw away because it was a canceled commission she had prior so was giving to me and a pair of handpaws that weren't part of that exact commission) With the case closed it takes me a little bit to get something from her for a while but eventually I got tracking information; https://imgur.com/aw9QzRy by it's history it took a while to update, the number was made on September 1st https://imgur.com/Ds2L3DH but the item was not picked up until September 7th, which is shown there. It looks like an odd route the package was going but I decided not to question it, I live in Florida so the route looked odd to me. When I finally looked at 'estimated' delivery date and lined things up, the package was headed and delivered to North Dakota; https://imgur.com/lqwUcWD I asked her about it; (Here's where shes saying it's the right tracking number and going to me; https://imgur.com/lAQqbQm / https://imgur.com/wjb6Bbk and here https://imgur.com/pSgeo2J) in that package was suppose to be half of my commission + a bodysuit she decided to fix for me almost a year ago (https://imgur.com/f3Tt6SR where she was asking for the measurements to fix him, you can see it in the pictures I received when the case was opened) she said it must of been a post office mix-up and it was out of her hands. She didn't give me a postal case number or anything like that so I had to call in and ask all the questions and when they got back to me they said the package was suppose to go to North Dakota and not Florida, so where my stuff is now? "Edit: I found out what happened with my tracking, In the comments someone claimed the tracking number and gave me proof https://www.dropbox.com/sh/smkpciia50xrorh/AAAaPASAnzU6ylwx_81o9Y5Va?dl=0 that the tracking + package went to them. I honestly don't know where my stuff is, but she had told me so many times she would be 'done' with my stuff but never had any pictures to back up the rest of my commission being done. There's more I'd like to add to this so when I get the rest of the screenshots in order where I've asked countless times for WIPS and haven't gotten responses I'll upload the link to the album to the beware. Update: We are working on payment plans for refunding. Will update when refunds are being sent.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1014386.html WHO: Euclase and SionnachArtach (Second account) on FurAffinity http://www.furaffinity.net/user/euclase/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sionnachartach/ WHERE: Contacted on FurAffinity, paid via PayPal WHAT: Digital art, Flat Bust (20,00 €) and Flat Fullbody (30,00 €) WHEN: Initial contact in July/2017. First payment for the Flat Bust on 07/July/2017, second one for the Flat Fullbody on 22/July/2017. EXPLAIN: I sent her a note on FurAffinity after a recommendation in early July/2017, asking if she was currently available and willing to do a Bust-Commission from the waist up. She agreed and we started discussing the details, with me sending all the references in a separate note. First payment: (http://fs1.directupload.net/images/180918/8os6zy9y.png) Two weeks later, I approached her again for a Flat Fullbody-Commission, which she agreed to as well (She also mentioned that she was working on two commissions at once and would get to mine after them) and I sent the details again. Payment occured later. Now I was with my commissions on her To Do List. Note with the mention: (http://fs5.directupload.net/images/180918/h7pofc33.png) Second payment: (http://fs5.directupload.net/images/180918/gyckwldd.png) To Do List: (http://fs1.directupload.net/images/180918/mwgujoe7.png) Then I left her alone and waited. That was still in July/2017. I noticed her posting some commissions and personal art, so I thought of it as a great sign. However, she posted journals where she informed us about some health issues together with others that detailed about her returning and being active again, but I still wasn't worried. Her last one was a long one which ended on a positive note that she hasn't forgotten us and thanked us for our patience. Note: According to FA right now, this was still a year ago. (http://fs5.directupload.net/images/180918/2eclbpsm.png) In the meantime, I have decided to make a major overhaul to my Flatbody-commission since it wasn't started and sent her a note 10 months ago (November/2017) about it. It's unread to this day. http://fs5.directupload.net/images/180918/jlbutj9u.png Though, to not come off as impatient and pushy, I haven't noted her about this any further. But as month after month passed by, I began to get nervous and tried to get some info about the current commission-status. -First with a shout on her page 5 months ago (April/2018) -Secondly via e-mail to her PayPal-adress 4 months ago (15/May/2018) In both I have expressed my worries that something bad might have happened to her and that I would be glad to see a sign of life from her again. 10 months since her last favourite. Both went unanswered, so a bit desperate, I asked some friends of her - one of which provided me her new profile, SionnachArtach, created on 24th March 2018. According to the member, she had lost her password to the Euclase-account. Unfortunately, the profile seemed to be abandoned. There were two uploaded pictures, one of her icon, the other one for one of her friends. I messaged her on this profile three months ago (June/2018), asking if she had indeed opened a new account after losing her password, but it also went unread to this day. (http://fs1.directupload.net/images/180918/i8xljaic.png) Her page does feature a Steam-name for contact, but I'm afraid that adding her just to get some info might backfire in some way. After waiting three additional months (over a year in total) without seeing any new activity, chances are that I'm out of 50,00 € and won't ever see the purchased art. Don't get me wrong, I'm certain that she hadn't suddenly decided to run off with the money and abandoning her clients. But it still leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth, that she had secretly created a new account with two uploaded pictures for herself and a friend, without informing her commissioners - while also ignoring every communication-attempt, apparently. To be honest, I'm hoping that we could still bring those two commissions to a satisfying end. Should she get back in touch with me, I'll update accordingly and hopefully call this case resolved. PROOF: Provided in the links above. If I'm missing something important, showed the wrong evidence or censored too much, don't hesitate to tell me, please.

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

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1014170.html WHO: Taihab on Furaffinity, Taihab7 on Twitter, Taihab on Tumblr WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/taihab/ WHAT: Digital artwork, a YCH auction. ($250 USD) WHEN: Paid full amount on September 27, 2017. Last contact was on February 4, 2018. EXPLAIN: Taihab was holding an NSFW 2 character YCH auction (the original submission with the bids on it has since been deleted from his gallery), where I had bid $250 for the female spot on September 24, 2017. Shortly after winning, we added each other on discord to discuss details, and I give him my character's reference sheet. I sent the full payment on September 27, 2017 via Paypal. PROOF: 9/28/2017 Transaction: (https://i.imgur.com/onX0Fj8.png) 1/6/2018 Initial WIP sketch NSFW (https://i.imgur.com/Ck9vpft.png) 1/10/2018 Promising to finish the image in a few days (https://i.imgur.com/Ku00fBO.png) 1/17/2018 Changed the whole sketch NSFW (https://i.imgur.com/eQCQxSG.png) 1/29/2018 Instead of doing more work on the YCH image, he drew a completed image for me (https://i.imgur.com/GJEY5pg.png) the image in question NSFW (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26216614/) 2/4/2018 Last contact received (https://i.imgur.com/66oY0vB.png) as well as me checking up on him on 4/28/2018 and once more 8/15/2018. As of today (9/14/2018) I have opened a dispute against him via Paypal. [Editor's note: Resolved in comments] SavageGunderson November 29 2018, 17:57:32 UTC hey this is Doktor-Savage, updating as of 11/19/2018 Taihab has been in contact with me today, and has refunded me the full amount of 250$ plus extra.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1012021.html WHO: Tegan AKA CarrionCupcake WHERE: Original transaction was an in-convention commission at Furpocalypse 2017. Notes have been exchanged primarily through Fur Affinity since then. WHAT: Traditional con badge WHEN: October 27, 2017 (day one of Furpocalypse): I commissioned Tegan for a con badge. The base price was $80, but I asked Tegan to charge me $100 instead, with the extra $20 being a tip. Furpocalypse uses a system where the artist fills out the price on an invoice, which the buyer then brings to a central checkout and pays the teller. The teller then stamps the invoice to indicate it has been paid, and the buyer returns the stamped invoice to the artist. I paid the Furpocalypse teller in cash and unfortunately I no longer have my receipt after all this time, though the Furpocalypse staff might if pressed. October 28, 2017 (day two of Furpocalyse): I went to pick up my badge, as Tegan had promised a next-day turnaround. Tegan told me there it wasn't finished yet and to please check back tomorrow. October 29, 2017 (day three of Furpocalypse): I went again to pick up my badge, and Tegan once again said it had not yet been finished. Tegan asked if it could be done as take-home work, and I agreed. November 11, 2017: I sent Tegan a note on Fur Affinity asking for an update. (screenshot) The same day, Tegan replied and said it would be posted "this week." (screenshot) December 26, 2017: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. (screenshot) Tegan read it but did not respond. February 18, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. (screenshot) February 19, 2018: Tegan replied only with "Hey what's your next con?" (screenshot) February 20, 2018: I informed Tegan that I will probably be doing Furpocalypse again this year. (screenshot) Tegan read the note but did not respond. June 3, 2018: I asked Tegan if I'm to understand from that exchange that the badge will be ready before Furpocalypse? (screenshot) June 4, 2018: Tegan replied that it would actually be scanned, posted, and mailed to me "this week" if I could provide my address (screenshot) June 4-8, 2018: I asked Tegan if it would be all right to send my mailing address via email instead of Fur Affinity notes, because I don't particularly trust the latter. Tegan agreed, and I did so. I'm not providing screenshots of the email since it's literally just me providing my mailing address (which is not information that should be posted here anyway), but here (screenshot) is a confirmation note back on Fur Affinity, informing Tegan that the email had been sent. As of when I submitted this post to a_b, I never received anything in the mail. July 10, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. (screenshot) July 11, 2018: Tegan replied informing me that the scan would be posted "this week." (screenshot) July 22, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. (screenshot) July 11, 2018: Tegan replied informing me that the scan would be posted "today or tomorrow." (screenshot) August 5, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. (screenshot) August 6, 2018: Tegan replied informing me that the scan would be posted "tomorrow." (screenshot) August 8, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. Though there had been a soft unspoken inferring up to this point that Tegan needed only to scan and post the badge, the lack of updates over this long a time lead me to ask more directly and formally: The badge actually is finished, yes? (screenshot) Tegan read it but did not respond. August 13, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. Because of how long it has been and especially the lack of response to my direct question, I started to more overtly show doubts that this badge is indeed finished. I asked for a refund if it was not. (screenshot) Tegan replied after "finally [getting] home" that the scan would be posted by "tomorrow." (screenshot) August 16, 2018: I sent Tegan a note asking for an update. I also asked what is causing all these delays. I repeated my stance that I would like a refund if the badge had not actually been completed, as Tegan still had not directly answered that. (screenshot) Tegan replied complaining about having a lot going on, but promised to get the scan "soon." (screenshot) August 23, 2018: I dropped a sharply-worded ultimatum on Tegan. (screenshot) The main point, to quote a passage from the middle: "You still have yet to answer a simple and direct yes or no question that I've asked several times now: Does my badge actually exist? Have you drawn it yet, in all this time? If so, prove it. It really should not take two and a half months now just to scan something. If you haven't started it yet, then please don't. I will instead take a full refund." Because of the repeated delays promising updates soon/tomorrow/etc. I informed Tegan that I felt the only way to get the matter resolved was to attach a deadline: I expected either the badge or a refund by September 1, or I would take the matter to a_b. August 27, 2018: Tegan replied "now that [Tegan is] home" understanding and thanking me for the warning, and promising to talk to me "soon." (screenshot) August 31, 2018: Tegan sent me another note suggesting it may have to wait until Sunday the 2nd, rather than the 1st as originally promised. Tegan promised to include extra sketches for the trouble, and to pay for shipping with tracking. (screenshot) September 3, 2018: The September 1 deadline came and went, and so did the September 2 deadline, so I wrote and submitted this post here. EXPLAIN: I still have not received anything after almost a full year of "today/tomorrow/this week/soon" promises. I still do not believe this badge ever existed, which leaves me at a loss regarding how to deal with Tegan's offer on August 31. I very specifically and directly, more than once, instructed Tegan not to draw this badge if it had not already been made, because I would rather have a refund at this point. Tegan never did answer the direct yes-or-no question of whether this badge ever existed. If it did not (which I very strongly suspect) but Tegan then threw something together this weekend to meet the deadline, that would directly go against my frequently-repeated wishes. One could argue that receiving the badge+bonus sketches+complimentary shipping with tracking would at least be something, and that was why I was persuaded to give Tegan one more day per the note on the 31st. Even now, a part of me is worried I'm going to click "Submit" on this and then received the finished product half an hour after I posted it, and end up looking silly for that. However, I look back on this entire history and... well, I'm sorry, but I simply can't believe Tegan anymore. Tegan implied I'd be getting the scan any second now, but Tegan has been implying that for months. At this point, I just want the matter resolved. By refund, preferably, but I might just have to take what I can get.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1011530.html WHO: CaptainRaidriar WHERE: Furaffinity WHAT: Digital Artwork WHEN: 07/02/2018 — 08/29/2018 EXPLAIN: I would like to report the user CaptainRaidriar on Furaffinity for plagiarizing another artist's commission. I ordered a commission from her back in July where she worked on it for a few weeks. I was satisfied with the finished product and gave my approval to upload the piece. Just recently I have been told by someone that it was a plagiarized piece in which she traced someone else's piece. It then became clear just how she ripped me off and broke copyright of copying someone else's work. Instead of being over dramatic I brought the issue up with her directly, calling her out on the commission. She believes she had done nothing wrong and that I was just complaining to get a free piece of artwork. I overlayed the two and it is very clear that the lines meet up perfectly. She claims that she used the YCH by the artist as reference and it was just coincidence that the line met up. She has just recently removed the piece from her gallery because of heavy backlash from several users, but I have thrown it into a dropbox with comparison to the two pieces and included a DA link where it hasn't been removed. The artwork she traced is uploaded a month before, and the YCH before then. ~ NSFW Warning ~ Raidriar’s Piece:b https://www.dropbox.com/s/cvdwzag1hk9cr08/CaptainRaidriar Piece.png?dl=0 -DA Upload: https://www.deviantart.com/captainraidriar/art/Keepin-Warm-756501830 -FA Upload: She has removed it. Original Piece: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27665635/ Traced Overlay: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zur21m3oge7n5fa/Traced Overlay.jpg?dl=0 After discussing the piece with her she only offered a $25 refund and to redo the piece or a maximum of a $31 refund. I paid $65 for the commission so I wouldn't even receive half so I declined. She claims she will also not refund me because the piece is finished. Proof of the commission agreement, payment, and partial refund can be found below. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7wmxtg4cjoxi2mq/AAAlE_8os3Jg3DUZDuznYAi2a?dl=0 Update 1/14/22 I did some digging and wasn't to hard to find that Raidriar had an alt account on FA and a new (active) account on twitter going by the name of Sybilich. She had the link to the alterative FA account on her DA which goes by the old name CaptainRaidriar. As seen here below this is her DA with a screenshot of her advertising this alterative account on FA. -www.dropbox.com/s/ok1pgdrja8yc… And a screenshot on that account has her active twitter as well. -www.dropbox.com/s/iuoug43b2vak… -www.dropbox.com/s/l6f2cvhbu6tg… Due to this evidence I can confidently say that Sybilich is CaptainRaidriar's alt account and will be updating the beware accordingly.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1011715.html WHO: BigDeadAlive WHERE: Transaction took place via paypal and was discussed via email, artists's twitter is @BigDeadAlive WHAT: Digital art WHEN: Payment sent April 14th, 2018. Current date September 1st, 2018 EXPLAIN: First contacted on April 12th. Commission was agreed upon and paid for on the 14th (https://i.imgur.com/6eINI1B.png). Over the next few weeks I wait patiently, sporadically requesting updates on my commission, all of which go ignored. (https://i.imgur.com/sK53fks.png) On June 19th, artist tweets that everyone with an outstanding commission has been contacted via Email. I was not. Artist also mentions to DM them on twitter regarding commissions. I send a dm, which goes ignored. 10 days later, I send an email politely explaining my growing frustration. It is ignored. (https://i.imgur.com/okYoToF.png) (https://i.imgur.com/coSoOF6.png) On july 2nd, I publicly tweet at the artist, along with an identical post on Tumblr. I voice my frustration regarding that lack of any communication, and threaten a refund. (https://i.imgur.com/TMHJEBD.png) This gets their attention, and they FINALLY contact me. However, all they do is give me a flaccid "Soon." (https://i.imgur.com/4gqb4rA.png) (https://i.imgur.com/zfUCZXo.png) On July 5th, the "Soon" become s"the next couple of days." I am incredibly excited, but it's all for naught, as the work never gets done. Over a week later, they say they will "Get to it soon" and resume their usual silence. Have not heard from them to date, and despite no work being done on my commission, the artist continues to take other commissions. (https://i.imgur.com/3cDMzLQ.png) (https://i.imgur.com/zXwUr2z.png) (https://i.imgur.com/PGwa8hV.png) PROOF: Provided via image links above [Editor's note: Resolved in comments] Manthony Higgs Sep. 7th, 2018 05:22 am (UTC) resolved Artist delivered final work. All is well in the world. (Technically he forgot to add my character's freckles. He's promised to fix that oversight, but it's such a small detail that I won't be TOO upset if he never does)

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1011083.html WHO: Rayd / Hytyle / Aprilycan WHERE: fur affinity WHAT: reference sheet WHEN: July 21 to yesterday morning EXPLAIN: user posted to FA forums in search of an artist for making a reference sheet. we agreed that I would be paid 60 during the process and remaining 40 upon completion. since being around 60% of the way through, I have been asking for partial payment; user has in response, acted like a victim by me asking for payment, suddenly reversing the affirming that my style works for them, that they like what I'm making, and claiming they hate it and therefore don't need to pay me. they have even said i'm witch hunting them, which is hilarious! since I've given up being paid the rent money i still need and have moved on to simply wanting to warn other people that this person is insincere and dishonest in their dealings. at first it seemed like a good fit. I gave them a choice of pose and got started. I asked them for feedback about the quality of linework and style. I started in on color and texture, adjusting when they had feedback, but the word "perfect" was thrown around a lot. Created multiple versions for comparison and customer design choice. Started in on the extra offers I included - poses with his outfit, offers to illustrate him using magic. Things people usually don't include in one reference sheet package. Around this time I started asking for payment and realized they most likely weren't planning on paying me. making a personal post to vent about what happened, they comment to harass me, while blocking me, meaning I technically can't reply to their weird victim posing. all said, I think some people are just best avoided at times. I don't know what's going on with this person, but I'd glad a platform exists to warn fellow artists. am I sad? yes. can I pay the rent without this income? not yet. am I going to waste my time harassing this person like they're harassing me? definitely not. but now I know I can check for names here if someone I'm working for seems fishy, and hope everyone stays safe out there.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1010928.html WHO: Milku/MilkuProducts WHERE: MFF 2017 - Artist Alley WHAT: Traditional Badge WHEN: December 3rd, 2017 EXPLAIN: Badge was commissioned at their AA table; a colored chibi-esque badge; $40 paid via credit card on Square. Left my traditional laminated ref with them. After a bit, they PM'd me on Twitter advising that it would have to be take-home, so I stopped by to pick-up my ref. Since the con, there have been no additional updates. PROOF: http://imgur.com/a/slQ30V1 Screencaps of Payment and Twitter convo

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1008605.html WHO: Murdoxy/Stellary/Inkyfox/Spiffy WHERE: Furaffinity & Email WHAT: Three digital pieces, valued at a total of $45. WHEN: September 2014 EXPLAIN: In September of 2014 I decided to purchase three pieces from (then) Murdoxy. Equaling up to $45 total. I ordered these from Murdoxy from my Furaffinity account Blysse as seen below: Note 1 This is where I inquired originally about the commission. Note 2 This is where we agreed on the price. Note 3 Confirming payment Note 4 First (and only) WIP. On October 10th I received a WIP (as seen in the 4th note above) of two of the three commissions seen here: WIP 1 WIP 2 These would be the only images of those commissions I would ever see. On October 19th, 2014 Murdoxy posted a journal about moving over to the account Stellary. Journal Seen Here Once the move was finished a journal was posted on Stellary's to-do list with me shown on it as paid and sketched even to this day. To-Do List On Stellary As Of Today After some time passed I wanted to know why I had not received my commission so I checked in on Stellary. Admittedly I should have checked in ALOT sooner but honestly I forgot about the commission for a while. I came back to Stellary's page to find this journal about them leaving Furaffinity for good. Journal About Leaving Fa Posted May 10th, 2016 So I did exactly what Stellary suggested, which was contact them via Email. I emailed Stellary THREE times over the next year without ever getting a reply. I also left a shout on Stellary's Furaffinity account hoping to get some kind of answer. Email 1 (Jan 20th, 2017) Email 2 (May 25th, 2017) Shout (Left the same day as email 2, May 25th, 2017) Email 3 (admittedly I was getting a bit agitated at this point. This was on Dec 9th, 2017 and I have still had no answer at this point from Stellary). So now we get to today. So today I woke up and was checking on old commissions. I had honestly forgotten about Stellary for a while since it had been almost four years now since I commissioned them. I checked Stellary's account to see if anything new was posted and found this shout. To me this seemed to indicate that Stellery had a new account under "Spiffy" they were operating from again. I checked their Leaving Fa journal again and it seems they used the same name for their tumblr so the name of the new account seemed to match up. Leaving Fa Journal Again For Reference Of The Tumbler name Being The Same As The New Fa Name "Spiffy" So I decided to send this new account a note to see if I could finally go ahead and get a refund. Low and behold Spiffy has blocked me on BOTH of my main accounts (the one I used to commission them back in 2014 and the new account I have switched to since then). Message I Tired To Send (I actually see now that I made a mistake when messaging Spiffy and said two years ago when it was really four years, but that isn't really the point). Block Proof I was able to send my message out from my VERY old account that I also use to watch Murdoxy on here. I sent this early this morning but as of this posting it has not been read by Spiffy. But I honestly have very little hope of them replying. So far I have been completely ignored and then blocked by Stellary/Murdoxy/Spiffy for wanting information on a commission that is almost four years late at this point. I realize I waited longer than I should have to follow up on the commission but I don't believe I deserve to be ran off on because of it. I really didn't want to submit one of these because I am normally able to solve these types of issues myself, however in this case I feel I have done all I can on my own. At this point all I want from the artist is a refund so that we may both move on with our lives. One of the characters I commissioned from them I no longer own and another one of them has since been retired. Getting the art at this point would almost be a disappoint. PROOF: All attached files are located in order here. Edit 1: As of 1:50 PM CST today 08/08/2018 Spiffy has read my note about a refund but has not replied. I will update again if they reply. Edit 2: Fixed the links. Sorry about that! Edit 3: As of 11/23/2018 the artist had still not replied. I suspect I was blocked again. I don’t intend to make any further attempts to contact them on furaffinity because of their rules, however I may email the artist again in the future about this. If so I will update again as needed.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1008092.html WHO: Wi-Fi The Sergal WHERE: On Furry Amino, their profile: http://aminoapps.com/p/1e02sa WHAT: Filed a false chargeback on a digital art order. WHEN: 4th of August, 2018 EXPLAIN: I was browsing through Furry Amino on my phone and saw Wi-Fi posted a blog entry about looking for commissions. Since I had nothing to do, I posted a comment along with examples, a link to my prices and to my reviews. Since they wanted a badge, we found a compromise, he wanted to order a YCH from me instead, conversation was moved to private messages on the same plattform. Proof of commission ad: https://sta.sh/0u65u1xmtul We talked more on what they wanted, after I was given enough instructions, I started working on their order immediately. When I was done, I showed them my sketches which were promptly approved. I gave him my payment instructions and payment went through, after this, I continued working until I was finished with the flat colors. Proof of conversation: https://sta.sh/21h8etmftqsh?edit=1 After then, I noticed I got a chargeback filed against me, an unauthorized payment claim. I, of course confronted the client (can bee seen in proof above) about it, I got told it was their mother who did this. I immediately stopped working on the pieces all together and blacklisted and blocked the client. Proof of chargeback: https://sta.sh/0jzd63mq1k9 I have contacted Paypal through their Twitter in DM's, they'll look into this. The YCH has been re-sold to two of my friends, so no money was lost. PROOF: https://sta.sh/2vj2q5qj1lz?edit=1 Edited broken HTML code to just links. Sorry about that! UPDATE:The case got reviewed by Paypal and was decided in Wi-Fi's favor, meaning they got their money back. I myself don't mind it as no money was actually taken by me (friends who covered the loss). It's just kind of funny Paypal wanted me to provide proof when I couldn't do so. I got no strike whatsoever, so I'm fine with that. Proof of the closed claim: https://sta.sh/01ujtmqpg41q

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1005929.html WHO: https://twitter.com/Kays_Creations WHERE: Twitter WHAT: A premade husky fursuit tail WHEN: 02/03/18 EXPLAIN: I saw Kay tweeted about a few premade tails that were for sale. The husky tail matched a fursuit head I have currently and I expressed my interest in it. She was very quick to respond to me and I sent my payment, during that time I also won originally a fursuit tail but requested to switch it to paws since I was buying a tail from her. She was ok with the change and I sent my reference sheet for the character, I wasn't in a hurry for it so I agreed with shipping both items together assuming they would both be done by BLFC (which is in May). So I left it at that until April, I saw she was tweeting about bringing finished commissions to BLFC and I asked her if it'll be possible to have her bring the items to the con. Kay stated she would try to bring it with her, I didn't bring it up again until April 30th. She never responded to my messages since then, I messaged her after BLFC requesting her to mail out the tail on Jun 15th. Kay was tweeting about how she was in a car accident after the con and was in the process of moving, so I waited the 26th to ask her about a refund. I did get impatient about it and filed a dispute, but I've waited two months since her last response to my messages. I gave her until the 11th of July before escalating the dispute to Paypal. Right now the last message I sent her was requesting a refund since I know that disputes will ding your account and as someone who also takes commissions. I know how important it is to be able to access Paypal. I know she's activate on her main account and is ignoring my requests for a refund. I've been very patient giving her time to respond since I knew she was busy with moving, but I feel like I'm being ignored. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt but I feel she is very unprofessional. [Editor's note: Resolved in comments] galaxy_deer Jul. 22nd, 2018 07:45 am (UTC) If any mod can, I won the dispute and will receive my money back!

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1005457.html WHO: Athena The Jackal WHERE: Biggest Little Fur Con 2017 Twitter: http://Twitter.com/athenathejackal Telegram: @athenathejackal FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/~athena~/ WHAT: headshot Perler bead badge WHEN: June 4, 2017 - present EXPLAIN: I realize some of my Twitter photos are out of order and I’m omitting a LOT of our arguing in-between some posts, but feel free to peruse her public Twitter for the full conversation as well as her attitude toward dealing with myself and others. I commissioned Athena for a Perler bead badge on June 4, 2017 at BLFC. I paid somewhere near $130 in cash, so I have zero paper trail. (A stupid move on my part, I know) At this point I have accepted I will not be getting a refund, and at this point I don’t even know when or if I’ll be getting my badge. We never really had good contact, but I’m a relatively patient person. As you can see from my Telegram posts, I let months sometimes slide in-between contact with her before trying to get something from her. On November 16 on Telegram, she said that my badge would be completed by MFF, and then shipped to me after the show. When nothing came about it, I asked again about my badge and on January 11 was told my badge would be done “at the end of next week”. https://drive.google.com/open?id=13RzS3kgroWv8RZOhmepHr4pBYtPpyO_L On January 10 on Twitter, she posted a batch of badges she recently completed — mine was not among them. I still have no clue what the size of her queue is, since she doesn’t have it publicly posted, so naturally I get worried. It takes her another solid TWO MONTHS from the original post to finally come forward about what’s happened to her. On March 15, she starts replying to messages, saying that her PayPal was hacked, and she had a bunch of personal drama going on. I totally get that real life sometimes takes over, and she did show another batch of badges March 31 that were finished. I don’t know how long it takes to make these badges, but I think I have waited long enough. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-oUSM7y4zAeWTC7_hlrwYpTiLavLuaHa Little did I know her queue was over 200 people deep by the time I commissioned her at BLFC’17. My commission is “11th from the bottom.” https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J1h-7LTavLznLvLFpSIXHzML_sYy1mff She told me on Twitter she was doing badges in order of who’s angrier. I’m not good at being angry, and I haven’t been particularly vocal about her until recently, so apparently people on her queue have been shuffled around ahead of me. Of course, no one knows this because she has no public queue visible anywhere. I told her she should stick to her queue in order of who ordered first, and not jump around. Due to the insane wait I’ve already had (uninformed on wait due to no public queue) and her saying that she’s doing the badges out of order, I requested a refund. Instead of offering a solution for her to get my refund, she merely showed me the screenshots of her PayPal and bank statement a second time, telling me how she had bills coming up. In order for me to get my refund, she tells me that I have to find someone to take my spot, essentially advertise for her. I’m sorry, but finding my refund is not my job. I told her this, repeated that I wanted my refund, and said I would be taking my business elsewhere. I do not want the thing I paid for. I do not want to advertise for her. She threatened in a Tweet that she would rather just vanish instead of completing everyone’s commissions. https://drive.google.com/open?id=16xGdffhNCYBhTubJsy8lh8EjKj_G9Kpj She told a friend of mine that she didn’t owe me anything because “I didn’t sign a contract.” https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qXNPGxpGLRCOWAjriz-Q73NeWj3p_yyX https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ENjpL5krhTmkR-VwZGIxliFMRlM_ej-a It has been clear through her dealings that she will never refund me, nor does it seem like she’ll ever return to posting her Perler badges. She made a post back in all this hulaballoo that says she can make 1-2 badges a day https://drive.google.com/open?id=1M0IJ6qpuDbKvMkwnKknRY-Xff5n4Vnli but yet, since March 31, hasn’t posted a single new finished product. A Twitter user pointed me to her Facebook, where I messaged her privately to ask about her queue and my refund. She accepted and saw the message, but didn’t reply, which blatantly told me she’s stealing my money, and probably countless others as well. I am currently in the process of reviewing my county’s laws about a small claims court case. PROOF: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-CRMnWk74TjWb1NF7NtTCujDcfI_HMUz

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1005593.html WHO: Sanny WHERE: FurAffinity - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sanny/ (NSFW) WHAT: $100 for 2 YCH gifs WHEN: Payment was agreed upon and sent on December 26, 2016. PROOF: The agreement and the PayPal invoice. EXPLAIN: I commissioned Sanny for 2 YCH gifs that he was offering for $100: Example(NSFW). I usually check in every month or so to see if progress is being made, and for the first month, he told me "it's getting there." After seeing him post some more commissions and then advertise daily stream commissions, I decided to check in again the next month and was told that it's a slow process, but it's still happening. A little later, he messaged me back with the first preview and I approved it, but had him make a slight change a few days later, after which he sent me the revised WIP. After another month or so, I decided to ask a few people who had also commissioned the same YCH to get an estimate of how long it should take, and the responses were anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. After this, I asked him for another update and was told that there wasn't much to show yet. I was going to ask for a refund at the 5-month mark, but he delivered the first piece right before then. I asked for a progress update on the second piece 4 months later and was told again that "it's getting there," and after another 4 months I get the WIP for the second image. I haven't heard anything since and he's still posting up more commissions. EDIT: Finally got the second piece on October 2, 2018, so this whole ordeal took a little over 1 year and 9 months. EDIT 2: Apparently, it wasn't the final version and he said he'll inform me when the updated version is done, so back to waiting again.

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