Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for 'Made by Mercury' in records.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Categories

  • Bewares
    • Artist Bewares
    • Client Bewares
  • Caution Posts
    • Artist Cautions
    • Client Cautions
  • Archive
    • Artist Beware Archives
    • Client Beware Archives
    • Artist Caution Archives
    • Client Caution Archives
    • Positive Reviews Archives

Categories

  • For Commissioners
  • For Artists
  • Fursuit Resources

Categories

  • Records
    • Site Information
    • Beware Information

Forums

  • Site News and Information
    • Site News
    • Site Questions
    • Artists Beware Information
  • Looking for Advice
    • Advice for Artists
    • Advice for Commissioners
    • Pricing Talk
    • ToS Talks
    • Lost Contact
  • Reviews Forum
    • Artist Positive Reviews
    • Customer Positive Reviews

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


About Me

  1. After posting the beware publicly in their discord they made this public comment Also the Image in question that was on the stream was this cat soldier
  2. Amtrask reached out to me and requested I make them a plush on Nov 14th 2023. We went back and forth a bit discussing this. They wanted a plush that looked like their OC, a human named Max. I said I would do this for $250. They agreed. However they said they had issues with their bank card. I said this was fine and we agreed on split payments. Here's the story of our transaction. Amtrask commissioned a custom doll from me and has received it. They were pleased with the plush and said quote "Max finally arrived today, which was amazing and such a relief! He's gorgeous!". They also received the fabric they requested. The only request I received was to send them more of the fabric from my sewing supplies, which I never agreed to. I explained there was a misunderstanding and that I sent them fabric for their clothes. Amtrask was unable to accept this and demanded I send them more of my fabric. While making the plush, there were various stages that went through personal approval with the customer. Each step before I continued I would reach out to Amtrask and they would accept the work before I moved on. This was a long and lengthy process. I finished the body of the plush and it was approved by the customer. Then I moved onto the process of making clothes. The customer requested the clothes be made as removable so that they could play with them. Since these are handmade items, the plushies I make can definitely be cuddled and played with but they aren't suitable for rough play since they do not have safety labels or certifications. I suggested that the clothes be sewn on. They insisted I leave the clothes as is. The customer then asked if I could send the leftover material fabric so they could use it for their own personal sewing. Since we are at the stage of discussing the clothes, I thought this would be fine since the clothes did not meet their expectations, that way they could make their own clothes. I gave them a quote for the fabric and they agreed to buy it from me. It was sent and received with the plush they bought. Everything they paid for is accounted for. The only reason a claim was filed was because I did not send them more of my personal fabric, which I explained that I never agreed to do. Their next message again demanded I send them the minky fabric I used for the body. They claimed it was something I promised. Again I explained there had been a misunderstanding. This time I decided to block them as our business had been concluded. They were happy with what they received and only asked for more fabric from me where I was not going to be sending them additional fabrics. In retaliation this customer went on Etsy and began sending me aggressive messages. They begin demands for 1/3 of the payment for the plush be returned to them and the fabric they paid for to be refunded. I respond to them refusing the refund since they received the plush happily. The only problems you will see arise after I refuse to send them the remainder of my sewing supplies. I also make a request for them to stop contacting me. In retaliation for refusing the fabric and blocking them, the Paypal claim is then filed at this point. They file two separate claims against me. The first is for the fabric ($15.33) fraudulently stating that it never arrived. The second is for roughly 1/3 of the plush ($83.00) now claiming it was not as described. After I responded to the Paypal claims Amtrask sent me messages on Etsy attacking my character, questioning my character for responding to their Paypal claims. After not getting their way, Amtrask begins to refer to me by my legal name instead of my artist name. This is a tactic (in my opinion) to intimidate me. I do not go by my legal name online, I go by Starful on every platform. The only reason they have my legal name is because on Paypal it is required. I also believe Amtrask attempted to gaslight me, making me feel as though these events did not happen as I perceived them to. Except I have proof that they were satisfied and thankful during the process of creating their plush. I will also explain after I accepted the order and after Amtrask sent me several messages with revised references, they went on my Etsy store and purchased two small plushies from me. I will include those as well. This is why they decided to move to Etsy to begin harassing me after I blocked them. We had no previous communication on Etsy. This smaller order was in November. Unfortunately if you block someone on Etsy they can still continue to send you abusive messages as much as they'd like. Some additional details about our transaction. These weren't necessarily blacklist worthy to me, they just caused me a lot of unnecessary grief during the process of completing their plush order. After I accepted the commission, I explained that it would take me some time to fill. I wasn't exactly sure how long, but I explained I had other orders and that I would fill their order last. I gave an estimate but still explained I wasn't sure how long it would take. This is not the type of order I usually take after all. While I worked on other orders Amtrask began sending me their reference over and over. The pictures had very little difference between them, if at all. They would also delete their previous photo that they sent me so it was hard for me to compare. I did not save any of the reference photos to prevent myself from being confused, I have the first image they sent me as well as the final reference photo. You can decide for yourself if there are clear differences between the first and last image to warrant the amount of pings I received to my inbox. This plush was sent internationally. Amtrask requested that I upgrade the post, but it had slipped my mind at the time. After the plush was sent, there was a period where the tracking did not update for 4 days. Amtrask began to send me many messages concerned their package was taking a while and that it was lost. I reassured them to wait and apologized for not upgrading their post. I gave them the estimated date I had been given. In their response they projected their feelings onto me and were unreasonable. I tried to reassure them after this. I reached out to Etsy two days in a row on the phone calling to see if I could get information for them to comfort them. Even after the tracking was updated they expressed worry that the package would not be delivered. [removed cap was here] - admin
  3. In September of 2023 I contacted koenvgraphics with an inquiry to get a logo made. I was quoted $700 for the logo, including a few revisions. I indicated that I wanted to proceed with the commission, and was directed to pay via Wise. I made the payment, and had been told to expect three weeks for turnaround time. In November of 2023 I emailed koenvgraphics asking for an update on my commission. This email was ignored. Meanwhile, I would regularly see koenvgraphics posting pictures of other icons they had made. I then sent them a message via twitter, which was again ignored. Eventually, in February of 2024, I responded to one of their twitter posts with an inquiry about my commission. I was immediately contacted. Koenvgraphics stated they had been going through a really hard time (understandable) and said they would still do the logo if I wanted. I indicated that I still wanted the logo and they agreed to do it. A few days after they agreed to do the logo again, they messaged me stating they were sick and asking that I understand why they haven't made it yet. I tell them that it's ok, and go back to patiently waiting. At this point it is March and koenvgraphics continues to post and repost various icons to twitter, but I have heard nothing else from them. I feel like they have intentionally scammed me. I post again a few times (admittedly in anger, and probably not the best way to handle the situation) under their posts once more. This time, I'm asking for a refund. My posts go ignored. I then send a direct message via twitter asking for a refund, which is again, ignored. I do acknowledge that I probably should have sent them another private message first, before jumping to posting publicly. However, they did take my money and then not do the work, and they have been at least keeping up the appearance that they are continuing to work.
  4. A comment was not approved under item 1 of our guidelines. No proxy/ third party posts. If you would like to update on the situation as it currently is, you may focus on the public comments made by the artist, not anyone else. If other individuals have been affected by this artist's practices, we encourage them to come forward on their own terms to discuss their experience with Mieru. Censoring the names of 3rd parties not involved in your transaction is not an acceptable means to get around this.
  5. Commissioned art and YCH purchase on 5/24/2023 This Beware does contain NSFW elements, All communications were handled in discord After some difficult communication due to a language barrier, we finally came to an understanding and payment was sent These are the two payments through boosty, one of these is an error as boosty charged me twice. Here is the YCH that was purchased along side a REF sheet slot Here is the initial communication between me and the artist, it took a while to come to an understanding but we came to agree that its two ych slots and one commission if they are able to get boosty to send me a refund for the extra $200, knowing boosty from my perspective they is no way to really get a refund unless i want to get my account banned by doing a chargeback as in their eyes it would be considered fraud from some of the other cases i have seen They made an announcement on their discord saying that they are burned out due to them working on furry art and would prioritise working on working on human art if some of the people in their discord would like that instead So five months have passed from the initial commission DM's so i sent a DM in discord to see if they have a trello to see where i am in the queue, they apparently do have one but they keep it in private access and its supposedly in their language (even though i could work it out with a translator) in addition they state that the art would be worked on in november, After two months have passed including november which was the supposed date that the commission's was being worked on, so i sent another message to see what is going on... and no response, i waited until january to send another dm and still no response (image includes overlapping DM's from earlier images) I gave them a warning that if they continue to ghost me, i will be forced to look at my options such as posting an artist beware, after i gave them the warning they responded with this reasoning for their absence despite them streaming on twitch days prior Image includes another member of the artist's discord who also became frustrated with how long they are having to wait Due to the nature of this i decided to give them time to sort things out on their end and continue to wait, i waited a week as they would supposedly be working on art and sent another DM, they still did not reply, I then waited until this February to send another message and still no response still no message from them to as of typing this 2/26/2024 Here is their twitch activity for this month and prior They seem to be working on art for themselves such as emojis for their twitch discord and personal pieces it even seems some some of the newer streams are missing
  6. Who: Holomouse Where: https://x.com/MouseHolo When: Apr 1st, 2021 & April 9th 2021 What: 2 digital art commissions This has dragged on for almost 3 years due to a combination of life happenings, and the fact that I was on my way out of things I had been involved with for almost a decade, and it sat on the back of my mind for a long time because of that. No WIPS were ever shown to me after multiple claims that they would be done. Initially this was for a 2 character NSFW MLP commission, but subsequent offers were made that I accepted (regretfully). Much of the details of things are blacked out to maintain my privacy as best I can. My first commission inquiry was in March 2021, and I initially made contact on Discord to ask if they could provide with quotes so I could get the money to pay them with later: After that exchange, they provided a quote of $135 for a two fullbody character piece, and I told them that I would get back to them after my next paycheck: On April 1st 2021, I paid for the first commission: Proof of payment: On April 5th, Holomouse messaged me on Discord asking me for $20 and said they would pay me back in a few days. They cited personal matters stressing them out and needing some help. This is unrelated to the art I paid for, but I did end up giving them $20 as a gesture of kindness. This also started the trend of Holomouse coming to me in private begging for handouts and money, and this happened multiple times: On April 9th 2021, Holomouse messaged me on Discord and begged for money, but this came with the offer of another 2 character art piece at a discounted rate of $110. I accepted this offer and sent the payment to them on CashApp. Told them I would give them the commission prompt after they completed the first commission: Proof of 2nd payment: On April 16th, 2021, the first commission had no progress, but I gave them the prompt for the second commission: April 20th, 2021, Holomouse begged me for another $50, and I declined. On April 28th, 2021, I poked Holomouse on Discord to try and see if any progress was made on the commissions. They sent back with an excuse: May 7th 2021, Holomouse came to me and said that they would be starting work on my commissions soon, but also begged for $25 at the same time: The next day on May 8th, they sent me a big message with a screenshot of a note that mentioned paying me back and other personal matters that they needed to tend to: Another 20 days pass, and there is no progress to show. Holomouse messages me and begs for money again, and shares an image of their bank account being in the negative as an attempt to manipulate me into sending them money. I declined: Another week passes, and Holomouse comes to me wanting to reconfirm the details of the commissions. I told them to scrap the details of the 1st commission and that I would give them a new prompt. Also told them to take the prompt of the 2nd commission and work on that one first. I would give them details for the 2nd after the first one was completed: On June 17th 2021, I poked them and gave them details of the prompt for the commission idea that was scrapped. It took them another 2 weeks to respond to this message: Now we jump to December 27th 2021. I poke them on Discord for an update and did not get a reply for another week. Things started to get very chaotic after this point, so my attempts at keeping up with this matter become much more delayed going forward: On February 11th, 2022 I messaged them and asked when they would be able to start working on the commissions. I got a response, but it was another fake out: Another 3 months passed, and on May 26th 2022 I poked them to try and get an update. This went nowhere: We get to September 21st 2022 and I poked them yet again. Took them 3 days to respond, and also went nowhere: More time passes and this sits for months with no updates. On February 12th 2023, Holomouse sends to me and says that they will be starting soon, and also wanted me to reconfirm what I had wanted. Blacked out section was a Discord screenshot of previous exchanges between the two of us: I changed the prompts for the art I wanted from Holo, and gave them references so they could start working. The references and details of these prompts are blacked out to maintain my privacy: Several months pass after this, and after confronting them on twitter I was mad because they had taken commissions and completed them several times in the times that I was waiting for the art that I paid them to do. They had deleted Twitter posts of their offerings, and also posts of them begging for money to the public. This is a screenshot of me responding to a deleted post of them offering new commissions to their followers. Note the username that it is a reply to: I had already contacted their other customers and clients that Holo had completed work for, and also clients that had waited for months for Holo to do art for them. There were several others affected, but this post is about my experience with Holomouse and not theirs. Needless to say, it was a big problem. After confronting on Twitter, this moved to Discord in private. They try to tell me that they will be starting to work on the art soon, and I was having none of that. This all went down on September 14th 2023. At the same time, I was trying to be merciful and set up a way for them to work with me and make it easier on themselves. They could pay me back partially with some art, pay fully in art, or pay me back fully. In their replies they mention that they owed back $2000 to other customers... We set up a payment plan to pay me back $300, and Holo also took an extra step and said they would fulfill the art while paying back the money they owed me: The next day, I gave them a prompt for art they said they would do as repayment: 3 days later they message and ask for a few clarifying details, and I provide those: September 23rd 2023, I message them asking if they will be sending the first $50 as a part of the payment plan, and I received an excuse: I message again after another jump in time, and get a delayed response: On November 16th 2023, I finally get the first $50 back: After this, I continue to get ghosted, and so I gave them an ultimatum after discovering from one of their other customers that they refunded them $95. The whole time I was coordinating with other clients of theirs to try and pressure them at the same time as one another, but this did not work out. Holomouse had already started to pay me back, and then decided to tell me that they are prioritizing other clients money before mine. I informed them that I would be making a beware post to this site, and they acknowledged this. As of now, they still owe me back $250, and they have scrubbed their Twitter account of recent examples of begging and some posts of commission offers. There are screenshots of many of these posts, but they have a fuzzy time format so they do not hold much merit. Holomouse has started to become active again on Twitter and has also started to stream on Twitch. I still want my money back and it will hopefully make its way back to me eventually. Holomouse is still likely going to continue to beg for money on Twitter, Twitch, and in private, but I hope this makes it clear how irresponsible and manipulative they are.
  7. On June 15 2020 I commissioned the artist joojoo on furaffinity to draw a single sketch page with 4 nsfw scenes in it and she sent told me that the commission would cost 80£ so I sent her the money. A week later on June 21 2020 I asked her if it would be possible to add another scene in the sketch which I was willing to pay for but she suddenly sent me a message saying how each of the four scenes in this sketch page commission would cost 80£ per piece. she did not clarify this to me earlier as I thought that the whole commission was 80£. Than in another message she claimed that I didn’t pay her at all when I did in fact pay her as I have the paypal receipt to proof this and she blocked me furaffinity and she has been ignoring my messages for a refund I tried to forgot about this as she is a popular furry artist so I felt that the odds were against me but I just couldn’t let go of this issue anymore and at the time I didn’t know that PayPal offered refunds and I was also afraid to go to them for help due to the commission being nsfw I’m attaching all the photos of the messages that the artist sent me and also proof of payment on PayPal here I would be very grateful if someone here could help me with this thank you Note: this is my first time posting here so please let me know if made any mistakes or if I’m missing something
  8. All below messages are via twitter DMs. See attached screeshots. On Aug 11th 2022 I reached out to the artist who was then Marbleshark_AD on twitter, and now Pup_Jaxces after they did username change. After some discussion of content (skipped in the screenshots), we agreed to two NSFW sketches with alts totalling $140, paid on Aug 14th 2022 after some difficulty with initially paypal'ing the wrong address. I tip $15 at this step, for a total of $155. The agreement and payment is in the screenshots 4 months pass, w. no contact. December 10th 2022, I reached out again asking for an update since it had been awhile and I saw them posting about life struggles on twitter. No reply. 7 days pass w. no contact. December 16th, 2022, I reach out again asking for an update and giving reassurance in case they feared I was angry or annoyed. They reply saying theyve made progress on the comish, and ask for a better place to make contact citing a lack notifications from twitter DMs. I provide my Discord and telegram. They do not reply further. Jan 4th, 2023. I reach out to make contact, having not received any friend request on discord or message on telegram. Jan 24th, 2023, I reach out to make contact, having not received any friend request on discord or message on telegram. Feb 26th, 2023, I post a reply to an art piece on their telegram art gallery asking about my unfinished commission. They ask me there to message them on twitter, then delete the replies. I DM them on twitter asking them to contact me. I tell them I feel ghosted after 5 months, asking for the current state of the comish, and if none or minimal work has been completed I'd like a refund. They say they will need to look through their sketchbooks saying its 'most likely done'. This will be the last message I ever receive from them. July 31, 2023. I reach out to make contact after 5 months of wait, still having not received any further DM on twitter, nor friend request on discord or message on telegram. October 5, 2023. I reach out to make contact after seeing them post on twitter that theyre closing an account they host art on and that theyre discontinuing NSFW comishes, still having not received any further DM on twitter, nor friend request on discord or message on telegram. I ask again for a refund or for an update on their sketchbook search. After this I stop trying to contact them. However on Oct 25th 2023 I make my own artist beware style post on my twitter and @ their handle, which would generate a notification for them. On Nov 23 2023, I notice they've changed their handle to Pup_Jaxces. Having sought multiple times over a full year to resolve this either with delivery or refund, and sAs they have other posts here on ArtistBeware with the same behavior I can only presume this is not a mistake and they have no intent to deliver the commission.
  9. Hello! Hytyle/Rayd/Aprilycan here. I just wanted to take a (rather embarrassing) trip down memory lane and once again atone for one of my biggest mistakes on the internet. As I've been heavily considering moving on from the fandom for unrelated reasons, I thought about this week of my life and thought I would write this post as a means for closure before I turn the page on this chapter of my past. First and foremost, I take full responsibility for what happened. I was very young and stubborn back when I did what I did (16/17?) and was frankly ignorant to commissioning etiquette at the time. I made a lot of childish and disparaging comments on the original thread and behaved in a way that was reflective of my age and stupidity in response to any criticism or demand for accountability I faced, showing how incredibly entitled I was, which I'm now aware was very tasteless and only dug a far deeper, much more embarrassing hole for myself. I also admit that, at the time, I only ever paid the artist to save myself from any further criticism or shame, rather than any actual repentance. I did what I did because I was an irresponsible teen who committed all of his allowance money on a single art piece, and instead of expressing to the artist that I was unhappy with the art and paying him for his time, I blocked him and thought nothing of it, not wanting to lose my allowance money for something I didn't like, again showing my immaturity and inexperience, having been morally stunted and misguided at that time in my life. I could make the excuse that I was peer pressured into doing so by a friend, but even if that did excuse me (it doesn't), I made the conscious choice to double down on my wrong doing and even try to paint the artist in a bad light to save my own skin, again something I'm incredibly embarrassed to relive and deeply regret doing. At the end of the day, every decision made was my own and nobody was to blame but myself. I'm very happy to say that I have grown a lot since the series of mistakes I have made, and have not had any further problems with any other artist throughout the 5 years that have passed since. I have gone from somebody who was unwilling to pay an artist for the bare minimum, to somebody who thanks artists endlessly for their work, somebody who tips ontop of payment when able, and somebody who appreciates and values art and money a lot more appropriately. Not only have I grown through my commissioning ventures, but also my behavior as well! Through maturing and therapy, I have become a lot more introspective, accountable, morally thoughtful and understanding! (Apparently I had unchecked BPD! Which may partially explain how I acted out on the original thread hahah). I have made more friendships and healthy artist/commissioner relationships than I can count and I couldn't be more grateful! With everything said, I would like to officially, genuinely apologize to drowninginbooks, the artist in question, and I hope you are living life to the fullest, wherever you may be. I also apologize to the numerous spectators that had to witness my childish and snarky behavior. There was a time this beware haunted me for awhile because of how embarrassing I behaved and slowly coming to terms with the mistake I made, but really, for all I know, it could have been the catalyst for the stark contrast in how I behave today, and I am really thankful that I was held accountable for what I did before at worst I really hurt somebody, or at least I never changed. Thank you all for hearing me out, and I wish you all a happy holiday!
  10. Hello I am the bewaree, This beware was rightfully written. Every word is true and I was not in my right mind. I used my mental health, lifes experiences, and flaws as excuses. My work fell off my priority list as my world was crumbling beneath my feet. I was unable to own up to my shortcomings until it all imploded. I spoke to Lady Mae, and many others, in an appalling way. I became completely unhinged and threw my emotions onto them. For that I apologize. I caused a lot of stress and worry for a lot of people who were waiting for me to work. Who had every right to question my behavior. I let emotions run my life instead of owning up and making the necessary changes. I ran, I went on the defense, and let my ego take the wheel. I have made a lot of mistakes and I'm done running. I have issued refunds to every one of my past commissioners that I could find. there are Two whom I have not been able to locate. If they are reading this please comment so I may find you. It has been many years since this incident and through a lot of therapy and self care I have come to peace with who I used to be. But I will never forgive myself for what happened through the Angels nest fursuits or the Dutch angel dragon community. For the way I turned on a community that welcomed me with opened arms. For those who felt the wrath of my own internal uncertainties. For the people I met with harsh anger instead of professionalism and compassion... I do not deserve forgiveness. I can only hope that my refunds can assure people that I never intended for this to happen. My intent was to create joy, by bringing characters to life. I was NOT ready for what came along with it. I am a very flawed human being who is doing her best to move past the person I used to be. I will tell every person who has seen this beware, that I am trying to right what I have done. Ive searched within, ive broken, and im rising. I'm rebuilding myself but I DO want to create again. I will NOT accept peoples money before a product is produced, that is a Promise. I refuse to let history repeat itself. I will create with my whole heart and soul in every costume from here on out. I will still search for a way to give back to this community. I will not give up.
  11. 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
  12. 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 $60.15 the USPS paid me. ~ 18 October 2018: Since posting this I've gotten in contact with multiple other people dealing with undelivered fursuits from Faris, conflicting stories and accounts, etc. I have evidence that Faris submitted, as approval images, the exact same fursuit parts for both hands and feet for both me and another client — and in the case of the hands, she even sent us both the EXACT same image, down to the pixel. See images 8 & 9. PROOF: https://imgur.com/a/uu8eRgf (1) https://imgur.com/BKYiNx9 (2) https://imgur.com/dqEMLK9 (3) https://imgur.com/xp2wZSl (4) https://imgur.com/TwD8QyU (5) https://imgur.com/6ToDOrQ (6) https://imgur.com/j1W8bPy (7) https://imgur.com/8CHFShz (8) https://imgur.com/1yzI5vc (9) https://imgur.com/RAxem7q ~ 01 November 2018: Faris has sent a small repayment toward the total amount she owes me. She says she is planning to make monthly payments until the debt is paid off. 01 December 2018: Next refund payment has been made.
  13. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1014686.html WHO: FarisBatwan (FBsuits) - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/farisbatwan - https://twitter.com/fbsuits and the facebook which is under "FuzzyBatSuits" https://www.facebook.com/fuzzybatsuits/ WHERE: Conversations were spread out between Facebook and Texts. WHAT: body suit commission, feet, handpaws, head trade, a pre-made black body suit, and Lastly a body suit that she was fixing for me made by headsandtailsstudios named "Zaroo". WHEN: Febuary 22, 2018 [As of October 29, 2018; we're working it out a resolution] November 17, No progress has been seen/started since resolution was discussed. EXPLAIN: The initial transaction was 550$ 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.
  14. 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!
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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
  18. 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.
  19. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1004598.html WHO: Otter'n'Daughter (FA) / WaterdogWharf (FA) / Keryu (FA) / KeryuOkami (twitter) WHERE: Initially - https://www.furaffinity.net/user/otter.n.daughter/ Later - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/waterdogwharf Also - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/keryu WHEN: Payment took place from 6/14/2015 to 3/29/2016, the only visual progress was 11/29/2016 (referenced in emails below) EXPLAIN: The overall process started June 2015. Below is the string of emails regarding the quote, details and the agreed upon payments: https://imgur.com/a/6w2ywB1 As of this time, while I had the initial concept art for the sake of the quote, the full turnaround reference wouldn't be available for another five months. However they were made aware of this from the initial quote. (Referenced in the gallery above at 006 with the initial ref below it.) The email with the finished reference would explain that it was layered to view various details (ei. arms, legs and other pieces could be hidden to see the shapes): https://imgur.com/a/LCCwePu The final payment would be sent March 30, 2016: https://imgur.com/a/94JDLy6 Later on in June / July 2016, I would ask about cancellation. https://imgur.com/a/OkYfA45 Fast forward to October 30 and November 29, 2016, these would be the only signs of visual progress for my own suit. https://imgur.com/a/UO1Xk47 The DTD would finally be sent around February / March 2017. Unfortunately, correspondence that took place on Twitter before October 2017 was deleted because I had assumed that things were moving along. However there is a DM referenced in an email for May 15, 2017 whose contact was unanswered until June 15, 2017. https://imgur.com/a/1SEjIY2 October 23, 2017, I bring a proposition regarding the change of the suit design and offer the majority of the fur to be used: https://imgur.com/a/98Ih8Cp After that, I found the most success in contacting them through twitter and would follow up about once a month. https://imgur.com/a/IO8siPx And the last final emails recently sent: https://imgur.com/a/WELE6Ce As of the time of this submission, there has been no reply from the final email on July 4, 2018. However I will correct myself regarding the large July 1st email as the body suit for the previous customer is incorrect, that I’m aware of. This was the rest of a full suit commission, to which they had only recently received the bodysuit for, over two years after the head (and assuming partial of the full) was completed. The following gallery is to show posts documenting visual progress on their commission list in general, as well as public client posts that I’ve been able to search for. The purpose is only for timestamps for the completion of parts or projects altogether, how they correlate with Keryu’s public Trello page, and the time elapsed for the length of the project based on dates. https://imgur.com/a/mrG7Xcs Here is also collection of visual posts regarding from or around November 2016 up until recently. This will be broken down into categories: Auctions and Commission Openings Bases Premades Collaborative Premades Commissions or designs not listed on Trello I've probably missed a few things here and there, my apologies. I won’t deny that progress has been made on their list in general. However, with no way to gauge that other than whatever pops up on a search or the few posts there are, I have no confidence with this transaction any more. It wouldn’t have been so bad if there was some consistency in the queue, updates or progress actually occurring when said instead of just being pushed back further and further. Not to mention premades and unlisted work looking to be on priority. It also seems that they rarely do body suits themselves, if at all nowadays, or has them done by another maker. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong as I’m only aware of the collaborative bodies. This post is not meant to be against the other makers either considering I don’t know how aware they are of Keryu’s workload or practices when agreeing to these collaborative, premade suits. Even more baffling, for a short time, they had a senior seamstress that worked with them on at least one body suit. (Referenced here: https://i.imgur.com/OMCqDGo.png ) More often than not, Keryu only makes heads, tails, hand paws, and at one point feet. However those haven’t been posted in roughly a year. Granted the majority of the commissions they’ve taken on are usually for heads or partials without feet. In the end, if you absolutely wanted a costume piece from this person, you’re likely better off getting a premade or a base and finishing it yourself. ------ Update - August 23, 2018 There has been no reply since the final email. I made a couple attempts to contact there after to request the dtd and fur sent back by email and twitter, including a mailing address and requesting a tracking number. No replies. Not surprisingly, they're open for more commissions: https://imgur.com/a/2EAyd4S I also attempted disputes on the payments. Paypal directed me to speak with the source of the funds for the transactions. Upon attempts between a credit card company and bank, they were too old to dispute, which was expected. However, something I did learn from the credit card company. Based upon what the rep told me, Visa and Mastercard type cards have up to 540 days to dispute transactions of which they have the ability to request funds from the merchant. But again, only if your dispute holds up.
  20. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1004871.html I know that a Character Stealing/Abuse post isn't usually the thing to post here, but i think that this have gone beyond too far that it become a requirement for me to post my issue about it WHO: Lil-Maj, qtr1984, Maj2k2, Maj, Maj-Q WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lil-maj https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=1600436 https://twitter.com/maj2k2 https://maj-q.deviantart.com/ https://inkbunny.net/maj WHAT: He has been commissioning pictures involving my character, and claiming ownership of my character as their own, and involving them in NSFW commissions with his Characters, they were posted mainly on Twitter & Pixiv & so far, there is no known if he has commissioned many other artists now, since i didn't see anything other than the ones i saw from pixiv/twitter that was drawn without my consent WHEN: https://imgur.com/a/die0MXg Stolen Character work was posted on 2018 late June I spotted a post on Twitter where the Stolen character was drawn by an artist for the thief, it was also posted on Pixiv by the artist, Solo NSFW, & a NSFW comic involving sexual activities with his other characters I tried to contact the artist & warn them that hey have drawn a stolen character, but they did not understand at first, then said it's not their responsibility (don't blame them since eng isn't their main language, so they probably misunderstood) but for me it's an artist responsibility to stop drawing for the user who is using a stolen character, so i tried to convince them, and they finally understood and promised to stop until problem is solved EXPLAIN: Derrik has been a very long OC of mine for 5 years (before the stealing attempt) & those was the very first submissions i had of him https://www.furaffinity.net/view/9644902/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/12895269/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/13491381/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/14008888/ You can clearly see that he has been mine for many years & most of Derrik submissions are on my gallery, just search on FA Strawberry-fox Derrik or Derrik tiger, and i have never for once credit him to anyone other than me, even the artists who drew him have fully credit him to me & no onc else I have also other submission of him which are 4 years while the thief does not have a submission of him from 4 or 5 years ago, only something like 3-2 years & the recent ones he posted to claim the character as his I would like to make it clear here that NOBODY has permission to commission or use the character Derrik without my given permission other than me The thief have previously threatened to use him by force, along with other Characters of mine https://imgur.com/a/T60hMzS & While he was talking to Mutual Friend, he made clear that he would take not only Derrik but other characters that I own by force if need be, even hinting at logging into my account if he could get my details to take them, this was from a year ago, before the stealing attempt happens in 2018, there is more I can add if needed, though it is more personal and less to do with character theft. PROOF: Character Ownership https://imgur.com/a/JsMrGU6 (NSFW included) However After the stolen character artwork of Derrik he commissioned of in 2018 late June were posted, I caught him started editing the description & changed the credits of the character, so he can claim it as his & make it more recognizable as his so that way the stolen character will be officially as his and get away with it, But he forget to update the older submission description of Derrik that's on his gallery which is a pretty shameful behavior https://imgur.com/a/1yVd8Ng (NSFW included) Little Note & Advice for artists: please do not draw anything for him that involve my Ocs, as i am not longer associated with said the thief, I've known them for a while but cut ties & blocked the communication, so i do not wish to stay in contact with them in any way Anyway i advice you to check character source first, especially if it comes from this guy. I appreciate any help/advice provided here Side note: Just to avoid confusion Banto-kun is an abandoned account of mine
  21. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1003255.html WHO: Jailbird WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jailbird/ WHAT: a two-character digital painting with a background WHEN: November 2013 EXPLAIN: Jailbird on furaffinity has promised to refund a commission that she does not plan to complete, but has been avoiding every attempt I have made to contact her on various sites. I paid for my commission in 2013, and was put on a refund list en masse with 100 or so other commissioners. No one on the list has been refunded. Here is the list in question. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-8n-8_u2SMdgYx9LQBy0rL0YYFfE_F7e19nIMYrarH0/edit#gid=0 And the transaction: https://78.media.tumblr.com/91e3ca8dccc6db1ad755e786f04a8386/tumblr_pb1zyfwz0J1rauz49o1_1280.jpg I have emailed Jailbird twice within the past two months, as a response to her apology journal claiming she would clean up her act. She has not responded to any of my emails. I noted her on FA 3 months ago asking about the refund status. She has read the note but has not responded. https://78.media.tumblr.com/cb1d72ccc51f30bbea0956e827e084d9/tumblr_pb6o98S3st1rauz49o1_1280.jpg https://78.media.tumblr.com/bf1d4cd4a6366d78ba50610267350d6d/tumblr_pb6o98S3st1rauz49o2_1280.jpg I post comments on journals and leave shouts but she has not attempted to engage with me anywhere, and everyone else on that refund list is getting the same treatment. PROOF: Paypal transaction: https://78.media.tumblr.com/91e3ca8dccc6db1ad755e786f04a8386/tumblr_pb1zyfwz0J1rauz49o1_1280.jpg refund list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-8n-8_u2SMdgYx9LQBy0rL0YYFfE_F7e19nIMYrarH0/edit#gid=0 furaffinity note: https://78.media.tumblr.com/bf1d4cd4a6366d78ba50610267350d6d/tumblr_pb6o98S3st1rauz49o2_1280.jpg Email: https://78.media.tumblr.com/cb1d72ccc51f30bbea0956e827e084d9/tumblr_pb6o98S3st1rauz49o1_1280.jpg
  22. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1000834.html Who: Spodur/Spoder/Milkymelty Where: Spodur on DA, Milkymelty on Instagram, Their Online Shop, their Toyhou.se. When: 2016-Present Explain: Spodur opened up holiday customs for their closed species Skullieds on around December 10th, 2016. On that day, I commented with custom details and claimed a slot, and sent the 10USD for the base custom price. Soon after, Spodur's tablet malfunctioned and they were unable to do much for the month of December. In January, Spodur announced they had acquired a Cintiq and would resume work on customs shortly. Eager to see the finished product, I decided to hold off on messaging them for a while. Radio silence ensued with Spodur submitting a few things here and there well into September when they stopped mentioning working on owed art entirely. I finally sent them a note over DA on December 10th of 2017, a full year after I initially ordered. They read the note and did not respond, and have still not responded as of this writing. Spodur made an update on January 14th of this year saying they would be working on owed Skullied but as mentioned before, I have not heard anything about my owed custom. Proof: All proof is here https://sta.sh/22f2jcwcjb03 As of 9/10/18, Spodur and I have reached a resolution!
  23. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/999397.html WHO: undeadromance, cosmic paw creations WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/undeadromance WHAT: Digital Art WHEN: Ych was bought August 29, 2017. A request for info was sent February 6, 2018. No reply was gotten. EXPLAIN: End of August 2017 I got myself the YCH. Everything went well at first, the artist seemed to like my character and couldn't wait to get to drawing him. In the middle of December I asked on the original YCH submission (see proof) for an update, 2 months later I sent a request in a note. I never got a reply. Three days after it a journal was made with many excuses, but the note remained without reply to this day. PROOF: Original YCH submission (Screengrab) (Older screengrab that lacks the newest comment but includes the price) (NSFW) Paypal: Note: "Cosmic Paw Creations" is not stated directly on the userpage, but each journal has a footer with it. Latest note that was never answered and never read:
  24. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/995648.html WHO: FA: Arklionspaw , Glitch- or Glitchworks Eka's Portal: Lumesa WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/glitchworks/ , http://www.furaffinity.net/user/glitch- , www.furaffinity.net/user/arklionspaw/ , https://aryion.com/g4/user/Lumesa WHAT: Was originally to be part of a group commission, but when the artist encountered many personal issues related to the group commission, I agreed to take two separate pictures instead. WHEN: Payment was sent on November 22nd, 2011. Since then, the artist has taken numerous on-demand commissions ahead of the individuals who commissioned them, as well as promise multiple times over the past six years to resume work on the backlog they have accumulated over the past years, with only a minuscule amount of commissions completed. PROOF: Figure 1: http://www.imagebam.com/image/11d019861793094 Figure 2: http://www.imagebam.com/image/4758c9861793104 Figure 3: http://www.imagebam.com/image/1644e3861793114 Figure 4: http://www.imagebam.com/image/96d8f2861794644 Figure 5: http://www.imagebam.com/image/a77ac1860648104 Figure 6: http://www.imagebam.com/image/089223860648134 Figure 7: http://www.imagebam.com/image/12f965860648144 Figure 8: http://www.imagebam.com/image/8e3dd1861801774 Figure 9: http://www.imagebam.com/image/b5b68a861793164 Figure 10: http://www.imagebam.com/image/962484861793134 Figure 11: http://www.imagebam.com/image/904713861793144 Explain: I'm at a loss as to why I did not put this up a long time ago. Back in 2011, this artist advertised a Thanksgiving commission special on their original FA page (Arklionspaw, Figure 1), in which commissioners could buy slots to have their characters featured in a group picture. After about fifteen people, myself included, had paid (Figures 2 and 3), the artist announced a delay due to numerous personal issues. Later on, the artist suggested that people take two pictures each instead of the group picture, as it would be easier to complete without all the real-life drama associated with the group picture (Figure 4). Back in 2016 or 2017, the artist stated that she would be working diligently because she had found a manager, and would stick to working on art according to a strict, full-time schedule. Since the original offer back in 2011, the artist has used numerous life events such as illnesses, family issues, and car crashes as grounds to push back these commissions in addition to asking for more commissions to help cover expenses; very few of these commissions have been delivered. While I do sympathize for events beyond the artist's control, these do not excuse her from delivering. As you can see from the list of blogs by the artist on Eka's Portal, I had to make THREE screencaps (Figures 5-7) to show just how many journals the artist made either taking on more and more commissions, or promising to finish the backlog shortly, all between 2012 and now. As mentioned previously, the commission account (Glitchworks) has not posted a completed commission in at least a few months. I even sent a note to the Eka's Portal account asking for confirmation that I was on the backlog, and that she had indeed received info on what I would like in lieu of the group picture, but I did not get any sort of reply (Figures 8 and 9). Last week I sent an email to their manager asking for either a definite deadline as to when my commissions will be done or a refund, since making people wait over six years for their commissions is beyond ridiculous. I received no reply. I followed up with a PM to their commission account on FA, which is ran by their manager (Figure 10), and as of the time I am writing this, it has not even been read (Figure 11).
  25. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/995528.html This imgur album may be easier to follow, but I will copy the relevant information in the proper template as well. https://imgur.com/a/vqw5xcR WHO: The artist is named Fr0stbit3 on Furaffinity. WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/fr0stbit3/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26222681/ https://www.furaffinity.net/view/27231252/ WHAT: Digital art, solo character NSFW commission, offered by the artist in pre-posed slots. WHEN: Initial contact was February 3rd, 2018 when the commission was accepted. Payment details were provided on February 4th, and payment was also sent on February 4th. On March 19th, email communication began inquiring about the commission, and then a month's deadline for a refund was communicated and accepted. On April 20th, I opened a PayPal dispute to reinitiate contact. The refund was refused, and the dispute was elevated to a claim. On April 24th, the claim was resolved in the Buyer's (mine) favor. On May 1st, the Seller/Artist, Fr0stbit3, reopened the claim to appeal to PayPal. On May 4th, the appeal was denied by PayPal. Fr0stbit3 proceeded to post an unauthorized image of my character, using the title and description to insult and defame me. I decided to create an Artists Beware entry. EXPLAIN: This began when I asked for a pre-posed commission slot Fr0stbit3 was opening in February. The idea was a line of dragon characters in pre-made poses would be completed individually for the buyers and then posted in a group pic at the conclusion. https://imgur.com/m6Yru9V This is my initial comment on the submission page inquiring for a slot. Page is still available as of 5/4/2018. I inquired after a slot for the "Dragon Wall", pre-posed pictures for dragon characters to be lined up in a group picture. [NSFW link] https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26222681/ https://imgur.com/cm67HUZ Here is the note after the comment. I provided references and my paypal information, he replied with the price and his PayPal information. https://imgur.com/Qst1p6l As you can see by the date I paid the same day (with tip!). The payment has since been refunded after I filed a dispute, which the following screenshots will show. https://imgur.com/8Kje8Iz About a month and a half later, I checked Fr0stbit3's Furaffinity page to see if he'd made any progress on the Dragon Wall. When I tried to navigate to the page from my note inbox, I got the error "user has voluntarily disabled access to their userpage", which was a big red flag for me. He has since reactivated his page. Worried that an artist had taken my money and run, I tried using his paypal address to email him, and to my relief he responded the next day. He assured me he would be providing a refund as soon as he could, but couldn't due to issues in his personal life. https://imgur.com/LHNOaEr I expressed my sympathy and asked for a deadline for a refund, and he said it could be up to a month, but he'd try to get it to me earlier. After this, I had no contact with him for a month. https://imgur.com/fF6AtiY This image is read from bottom to top. After a month of no contact and no refund, I reinitiated contact via Paypal by opening a dispute. Paypal's first step of the dispute process is simply the Buyer (me) contacting the Seller (Fr0stbit3). I explained what had already happened and informed him I had opened a dispute for this reason. He responded with "I told you to be patient with me" while simultaneously denying he had received any previous email from me. After that I realized that he was not going to be willingly provide any refund to me, was providing no revised deadlines, so I escalated the dispute to a Claim in order to have the transaction refunded. https://imgur.com/qkgo9uV He proceeded to send me several messages on FA, urging me to check my email. I did, and saw nothing, until I thought to check the email address I use as my Paypal. He also seemed to be confusing me for someone else named "Matt". https://imgur.com/YKjhrvO I checked my alternate email and found this from him, finding out that he'd gone back on his promise of a refund and went ahead and completed the image. I found this surprising, as he'd never even mentioned the possibility of him actually completing the commission, he'd only spoken about refunds. I also found it surprising that rather than actually send me the completed image to complete the commission, he'd chosen to hold it hostage instead. https://imgur.com/yBjpVIW For organization and clarity's sake, I forwarded the email he sent to my own email address, that I'd used to initially contact him, forwarded it again to him and then reopened our email thread, so that he could easily see my prior messages and stop having me confused for whoever Matt is. https://imgur.com/gK4yCmt I used slightly sterner language in response to his decision to hold the image hostage rather than fulfill his end of the transaction. I made it clear that he had communicated to me that the image was not going to be completed, and that I had been waiting for a refund. At this point, I had no interest in the completed image, as this commission had proved to be an extremely frustrating experience. However, I was very much looking forward for this experience to be over, so I made it clear that if he wanted the dispute to be resolved, he could just send me the image and I'd call it even. He responded as you can see above, with a pixelated/censored version, insisted that he could not trust me, and that he would only send me the file after I dropped the dispute, reiterating it with two emails in a row, making sure to mention in both that I could not be trusted. I was honestly surprised to see that he had done the image, but he still had not sent it to me, only a blurred version, so his part of the transaction was still incomplete. https://imgur.com/WnHAltB I did my best to clarify my position and made it clear that the Paypal claim existed because he had failed to provide what I had paid for, and that if he fulfilled the transaction, the claim would be dropped. But he doubled down, refusing to provide the image, and also claiming he never provided refunds. https://imgur.com/qqWOPKn Despite my better judgement, I tried to make the situation crystal clear about how the ball was in his court, and that he could either let PayPal settle the dispute or provide the full image to satisfy the claim. I did not have much hope for the results, and I was tired of arguing, and made it clear that it was my final communication. https://imgur.com/GTO96pO He then proceeded to be far more public, filling my shoutbox with messages. I provided a shout back asking him not to contact me unless it was with the image or a refund, via Paypal or email. I then blocked his Furaffinity account. https://imgur.com/KwZcvIF PayPal resolved the dispute in my favor, and they forced the refund. I was content to drop this particularly frustrating experience and move on, but I then received another email from Fr0stbit3 informing me that he would be appealing the claim and providing screenshots to PayPal, and also threatened to write a Buyer Beware against me. I was not overly concerned, as the screenshots demonstrate several times that he refused to provide the image he was paid for. https://imgur.com/7AfpLsB A few days passed and the PayPal dispute was closed, again, in my favor. Fr0stbit3 responded by posting the image to his FA scrap gallery, which includes a depiction of my character and my character's name, with the title "Scumbag Wall", claiming I had cheated him. I reported him on FA for harassment. At this point, the situation has concluded. I have received my refund and am happy to leave it at that, though I hope the submission he posted is taken down after my ticket is reviewed on FA. I hope this Artist Beware entry will help provide context for this transaction and help warn other commissioners from attempting to do business with this individual. PROOF: All screencaptures are in the following Imgur album, as shown above: https://imgur.com/a/vqw5xcR Update: At this time the submission he was using to defame me has been taken down and his FA has been suspended, along with another user who was posting death threats to my shout page. Their suspensions lasted about two days.
×
×
  • Create New...