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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/983469.html who: Tobeabird/Cynical Sergal/Wayward Fox/Otter Nonsense Where: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/tobeabird/ and https://www.furaffinity.net/user/otter.nonsense What: Feline Foam Cut headbase mounted on a balaclava ($120) and One Fullbody commission ($30) When: I commissioned the base on Sept. 12, 2015 and the art on July 25, 2017 Explain: I initially commissioned Tobeabird when they needed help and opened for fursuit foam base commissions. The journal is long since gone, but we agreed to one of their foam feline head bases, cut and mounted on a balaclava. This was $120 and was paid immediately (they were wayward Fox creations/Cynical Sergal at this point) (1). The transaction was completed on Sept. 12, 2015 I was told multiple times (2)(3) that my base was going to be shipped on within the week of the message. The first time (screenshot 2) I was told I’d have a tracking number, and then wasn’t contacted again about it. The second time (that I could find searching through years of FA notes anyway) I was told that they had contracted a fever and wasn’t able to ship it (4). They even forgot what I was owed, this happened multiple times (5). I eventually stopped pressing them, a mistake on my part, but I believed I was helping a friend and this friend constantly posted journals about how they were financially in a bind or losing their home or in need of medication. I didn’t want to add to their troubles with bothering them over my product. I was too nice and it backfired. FWA 2016 (March 31-April 3, 2016) came around and I roomed with them. They had a bunch of foam bases, including the feline ones, casted for their dealers den table for the convention that year. I asked if one of the bases was for my commission, and they told me that they hadn’t cut any of them and that none of them were for me. This irritated me because these people had paid long after I did, but were going to receive their product first. They couldn’t have cut one before casting the rest considering I was a paying commissioner who had yet to receive a product promised to be to him within the week? There was one point where I asked them if they would rather just refund me instead of casting the base since it seemed like they couldn’t get to the post to ship and they had a bunch of other problems they were posting about. They agreed, but then this was later rescinded due to their financial troubles and me asking if it’d be easier for them to just go ahead and cast it. They agreed. There was plans to attend Megaplex 2017 together that ended up falling through. They had planned on getting me the base (as per their claims) but as we both ended up not being able to attend, that didn’t happen. (6) On July 24, Tobeabird was having a bit of financial issues and was hoping to be commissioned so I took them up on that offer. I asked for a fullbody anthro work of my character Riot and gave them a ref sheet (7). I then paid after a day as I was having some issues with my paypal and they received full payment on July 25, 2017 (8)(9). On October 27, 2017 I asked about an update for my art commission and was told there was an update on FA. There was another delay in getting art posted on a journal (10). November 11, 2017 I get a message on Telegram from Tobeabird asking if I’d like a refund for the art and the base. I agreed and was told I would be put on the refund list (11)(12)(13) (the last one is cut that way because the conversation was asking about personal issues) January 15, I wrote a series of tweets on my vent account stating that I felt taken advantage of and felt that I was no longer going to commission friends due to being treated poorly by a couple who didn’t handle the transaction properly. Tobeabird contacted me on Telegram to ask if the messages were about them. I told them that they fit into the messages but I was talking about a couple people. They proceeded to get bent about the fact I said they’d taken advantage of me and then guilt tripped me for even speaking about it. They kept saying that they’d hoped I’d be a patient friend, and at that point, I was pretty much done with the whole thing. I told them I’d be expecting a reasonable amount of time with the refund. Eventually the argument got to a point where I was irritated with them acting like I was the bad guy for being upset and ending the conversations because they couldn’t handle that. I was then told that Telegram was for friendly chat and to stop contacting them there and only through email. I agreed to this and when I posted another tweet, they found it necessary to then contact me arguing more about the fact I believe they took advantage. I told them to leave it to email and they claimed they didn't’ have it. I told them to wait for my message but then ended up getting them emailing me anyway and then attempting to contact me on twitter as well backing up the email. They have sent me $30 ( 2/7/18) and claim it’s for the base (when they could just clear off the art). They are treating this whole thing as two separate occurrences. The base from otter nonsense, and the art from them. But as they are the owner of the otter nonsense account and since their business practices aren’t different between the two entities, I am treating this as ONE refund from ONE person rather than a person and their business. I’m still receiving the money from Tobeabird in both instances so I’m not sure what the deal is with that. (14) Update: 2/8/18 They have sent another couple refunds totalling $60 (15) for a total of $90 refunded (16) meaning the art commission has been taken care of and the base is halfway refunded at this point. Update 2: 2/8/18 Final amount ($60) has been sent. This matter is resolved. (17) Proof: 1. Fursuit Head Base Payment - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PAyeUxV7OKno9lrGn5PsowR3zvSbxT2j 2. First Shipping Schedule missed - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v1rOEfW-f9x8O6-CR5fBo1EIrgOgyjcP 3. Second shipping schedule missed - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g1yy39RIiC3KTmgF7KzWRQi9c2FleU37 4. Why second shipping was missed - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ce5ftTikpFl2HKHOAd4z87-KKnCNublU 5. Forgot what I ordered- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K27Bb0dpYW5_ejHCgxqfsR7b5DeIPFQr 6. Asking about base, told will give at Megaplex - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UDt0KXfm4I99nLkIdFOLa1Fv47V_AaHk 7. Art price confirmation- https://drive.google.com/open?id=15p67cZd9rUGdopdiW9iNs4PPtaj3WG8J 8. Art commission confirmation - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xvY1A-yAlifupm0zBJiXHsJxTcY1KcWA 9. Paypal transaction for Art - https://drive.google.com/open?id=106GTmQl201cFcy3qwos9_gAMHSJRXzZa 10. Asking about the status of my art commission - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zq0DSUComUq837BX8YH8UTdg1dHglab6 11. Tobeabird offering refunds - https://drive.google.com/open?id=13gKxL3y00vJhBJkYCzCD27t7B9cW-LlB 12. Tobeabird offering refunds (cont.) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_BO4O92yiFxm1y-1oAjgL_kWX4X3vCf3 13. Tobeabird offering refunds (cont) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QddXT8Kj_5D79MH-qjMsCneyxY5ra9jR 14. 1st Refund recieved ($30) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HZUFjLXJ8OoDddJ28tfPrxrfwYufUDG7 15. 2nd Refund Recieved ($60) - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yugLwOi3pXOANflx6nAj7w6msvd20uL2 16. Proof of $90 sent - https://drive.google.com/open?id=19epo7KtVff2L1RYhWHwQqitGETSaQTpO 17. Rest of the refund sent- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Yyoslh2eR7gRfeqHoMtMCkbtrFS-yooE </lj-cut>

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/924990.html Who: Art Fox Ninja and Art Fox Studios Where: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/artfoxninja/ (NSFW) http://www.furaffinity.net/user/artfoxstudios/ What: $15 Inked YCH (Sketch link NSFW) http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19408285/ When: March 3, 2016 Proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nncnt3664u2x00c/Screenshot (55).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/n95pdnwktjypu9u/Screenshot (70).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/0v29o17v61f6maf/Screenshot (69).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/6r3p1kgixqpkcuf/Screenshot (68).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/z89geopa9sozukp/Screenshot (67).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/jpgxxzdzqhdztsc/Screenshot (66).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/uouemztdilbdxr1/Screenshot (65).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xob2yo50wbavtml/Screenshot (63).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/2229ziqm3vwgzr9/Screenshot (74).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/3zapnjcjv7me5bs/Screenshot (62).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/snjcyyff4kdngdb/Screenshot (75).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/g9avych09ihpvek/Screenshot (76).png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qn63xdqlwu8iem/Screenshot (61).png?dl=0 Explain: I had come across her work while browsing the YCH section of FA, saw one that I like, and bought it. Things started off good at first, but got a bit slower though at the time I really didn’t mind being as that can happen with any artist. I eventually got a sketch which I was good with and was not just waiting for it to be inked. After a while I messaged him about the inked version and was took it would be done soon and that there were people ahead of me. No biggie. Fast forward to about the middle of May. The artist has not uploaded anything, contacted me or anything for that time. Will when he does finally come back in late May he goes on about not having internet, yet when you look at his facebook link on his page you can see he had been updating his profile picture. Yet he wasn’t able to post a journal updating the people who paid him. Never received a word back about my commission after the sketch. And there still isn’t one finished commission on his whole page unless you count his personal art.

Undelivered Commission I do realize I have been waiting for 6 and a half years for this suit. I have been trying to be understanding and patient with Clementine about this commission. However, after this long of a time period, her lack of communication, her every changing replies, and numerous excuses I have decided to move forward with this post. Below is a timeline of the communication between myself and Clementine and also her boyfriend the CFO. Back in November 2013 Clementine was having a black Friday (artistic freedom with limits) sale and I decided to buy it. (I believe the original post was on furbuy, but not 100% sure) The commission was for a full suit for $1280, with a deposit of $576 I sent the deposit to her with a money order within a few days (because if i pay with PayPal I need to add 5% according to her TOS....which is a violation of PayPal, however that's not what I'm concerned about) I was under the impression from her ad on furbuy that I would pay the rest once it was completed, so I waited. April 22 2014, I receive an email asking about the rest of the payment, and I replied that I thought I was supposed to pay when it was done and before it shipped. September 13 2014 (yes 5 months later) I receive another email telling me she does not work on anything until the payment is in full. This is when the excuses start, her first reason is work is super slow until they sell their house. We go back and forth for a little bit about paying and I send her money orders in early October for the balance ($704) All during October 2014 she sketches up some designs and sends them over to me and we decide on one Mid October she tells me she hasn't received the money orders and I end up having to call and get them stopped and reversed which took quite a while. During November 2014 I had a huge expense (over $5500) and told her I had to hold off paying the rest until it got sorted out. We went back and forth on emails for a little bit and that's the time she started getting disrespectful to me saying how she has bills that are way past due. She ends up getting angry with me and tells me she may cancel my commission and it is on hold "indefinitely" she also tells me that she has used my whole deposit to buy materials. I ask for a refund at this point, and she tells me that there is no refunds and the deposit is non refundable ( I also would like to point out she has not asked me to sign any contract at this point) She ends up blocking me on facebook in December, so I am no longer able to message her. She instead has her boyfriend (the CFO of her company) emails me and says he will conduct business with me from this point forward. December 24th The CFO tells me that I need to make the remaining checks payable to him personally, and I refuse. I told him that my business is not with him it is with Clementine and i will make the checks payable to either her or make them out to fruitsuit creations. He then tells me I can make them payable to Clementine. December 29th 2014 I sign a contract for the remaining balance Since the contract was signed I mailed the payments as follows Jan 15th 2015 mailed $200 ($100 plus $100 credit) - it was received on Jan 21st -- see below for paid in full email Feb 23rd 2015 mailed $100 - it was received on Feb 28th -- see below for paid in full email March I had a few extra bills and had to use the $100 credit from Jan -- see below for paid in full email April 14th 2015 mailed $200 - received on April 19th -- see below for paid in full email May 1st 2015 mailed $204 (the balance) - received on May 8th 2015 (paid in full) and was told I was moved to the "working queue" Clementine sends a newsletter out 4 months later with her working queue and I am not on it, on the list is 2 heads, one partial, 3 on hold (with the commission names). She tells me there was some confusion and she will update it. She does not. October 14 2016 (yes a year later) She tells me she is finishing up 2 heads and I'm a few spots down the line. Jan 13 2017 she tells me there are six in front of me, 2 of which are just heads **April 2017 more excuses that she has several breakdowns a week and it's hard to concentrate and work on commissions. April of 2017 is when something odd happens.....there is another person commissioning her for a rush suit, I'm not sure if I can mention names, so I won't but there is another artist beware about Clementine from this person. The odd thing is that they paid for this nearly 2 years after mine was paid off, but she was sending WIP pics to this person and I have yet to even be told my true place in line. April 2017 she tells me my place is "one less then last time I told you" **July 2017 more excuses of bad side effects from medication, mobile and cognitive Impairment, horribly depressed , separation anxiety, hysterical crying spells 3-5 times a day [Verified by staff. Lots of medical information.] July 8th 2017 she tells me "i believe there are 3 or 4 in front of you" **September 2017 more excuses of her injuring her shoulder September 2017 She gets mad at me for asking where I am in line saying that I've been waiting for a long time, she tells me that there are people waiting longer, and I signed a contract that has no completion dates. Dec 11th 2018 (another year later) she tells me "trying to get this done so I can move on" **January 2019 more excuses of her cat being sick, and not having a place to live with her workshop May 29th 2019 after 100 excuses from her I am told "Thank you so much for your incredible patience! I do wholeheartedly promise that I will make your wait worth it!" **August 2019 more excuses of her Mom being sick (not posting conversation due to her privacy on her mothers health issues) Dec 15th 2019 after more excuses I am told "I really can't thank you enough for your patience.. and I promise I will go above and beyond to make it up to you, and everyone else I've let down.." May 16th 2020 After asking about my place in line yet again, I am told "i believe you are 6th in line."....I then send her screenshots from 3 years prior of her telling me that there are 3 or 4 in front of me. she tells me she must be looking at the wrong copy and will get back to me. _________________________________________________________________ I feel that I have been beyond patient with her, I can be sympathetic to what people are going through, or if they have things happen in their life that they need to just stop for a little bit (which she did have a few which I did not include in here due to the privacy of her family) However, with whatever you are going though mentally or physically and still traveling to many conventions and fursuiting while injured instead of working on your obligations, or even keeping me informed about anything that is going on in 6 and a half years, doesn't seem like a good way to conduct business. Waiting 6.5 YEARS from ordering or 5 years from it being paid in full with her story ever changing about where I am in her line, and excuse after excuse, (which I found another post with the same issues) has gotten me to this point of frustration where I feel I need to let others know. Especially since she has taken other commissions AFTER mine and has worked on them before mine. Clementine has shown me that she doesn't seem interested in working on my suit by not letting me know anything about it, and the things she has told me she contradicts herself many times. For example, about what she has bought for my suit (she tells me she didn't buy anything, then she tells me she has the fur from a previous project, then she tells me she used all my deposit for supplies) another example is my place in line. I'm not quite sure if there is any bookkeeping in where she works on things, but she doesn't seem organized at all about what she is working on. There should be an exact answer to that question, I am not sure why I can't get a straight answer from her on that. She has not posted any updates on her working queue or anything of that sort in a few years, so I am not even sure she has one. I had asked a few times early on for a refund which was refused, I even had said if she is unable to work on it at all that's fine, I can just get a refund and either do it myself or get it elsewhere, I have asked for a transfer to another person and that was refused, she seems to be banking on the contract saying is does not have any completion dates, however that doesn't give anyone the right to take money and not deliver a product ever, and I think 6 and a half years is way beyond the time limit to wait for something like this. I feel that I have been very lenient with her and tried to compromise but her excuse after excuse has led me to make this post. Along with her lack of communication in her work order. In the 6.5 years there has been a ton of emails and messages so I couldn't put them all so forgive me for such a long post. Please think twice before commissioning anyone, and feel free to reach out to those who have commissioned a person in the past to ask about their experiences. I was willing in the past to work with her in the past on this problem asking her what she needs from me in order to get her working on projects, (I even sent her a link to an industrial sewing machine for a good price because she was complaining about her needing a new one), but her lack of communication and concern about this commission has led me to believe that she does not intend to provide me with a product. I am however still willing to accept a refund and turn this post to resolved, if she is willing to refund my payments.

I first contacted Hawk on April 25, 2020 through instagram. I received a quote of $1050 (+$50 shipping) on the same day. Commissions were advertised to open on July 1st, so when that day came around I went ahead to request a slot. They did not reply for 5 days (they usually didn't take more than a day to respond), so I emailed them instead. I got a reply in about 6 hours saying that they weren’t very active on insta due to personal reasons and that I could get a slot. I requested a commission slot on July 5th, 2020. At first, they tried to get me to send through Venmo, but I declined due to lack of buyer protection (thank god). Sorry I couldn't fit their user into this screenshot- the email too long to fit this piece and their user into one screenshot. I got an updated quote of $1200 (+$50 shipping) on July 6, 2020. At time of slot request, I was not first in the queue, so we agreed that I'd pay 30% down ($360) then to save my place, and the other 70% ($840) when I was first in line. I paid the 30% down on July 9th, 2020. After contact via email, replies from Hawk came every 1-4 days. On July 27, 2020, Hawk contacted me to tell me that I was now first in the queue. I paid the remaining 70% on July 28, 2020. After sending the rest of the payment, they confirmed that they'd received it, and said they'd be posting to their instagram, @fluffy.fox.fursuits, in a few days. Their instagram has not posted anything new since April 2020. As seen in the screenshot below, their definition of a late response was 3 days after the money was sent, which would become nothing compared to after this email lol. On their website, it states that the turnaround time for a partials take 6-7 weeks once you're first in the queue, so I expected to see SOME kind of progress within 2.5 months. After seeing no work in progresses and getting no response, I reached out just to check if things were going alright. I'm completely okay with delays, but not with being completely ignored for months. As my buyer protection was nearing its close, I decided to file a paypal dispute on November 23, 2020. By the 27th, they still hadn't replied, so I messaged them through paypal giving them one more chance to respond before I escalated the issue to paypal. After no response, I escalated the issue. Paypal has messaged them but have not received a response as of yet. It's safe to say I'll be getting the money back by default after the unresponsive 10 days are up. Judging by their attempt to get me to pay through venmo, I think this was their plan all along, yet they aren't experienced enough with paypal to know that it has buyer protection. I suspect after their account goes under by the $1.2k they'll suddenly appear and want to chat. This maker had great recent work despite their not-so-great past, and I personally know the person they last made a suit for, which is what made me choose this maker in the first place. Still, even if they decide to fix up their act after losing the money, I wouldn't trust them again, and I'm surely not giving the money back if they ask for a second chance.

I won an auction for a Noivern fursuit a while back, and before I made my bid, I asked if the suit could be altered up a little to fit my size. She agreed. After winning the auction, I agreed to pay the extra charge, and I added her personal account on Facebook. Fast-forward to May 2016. I asked about updates, and there wasn't anything to show for. Fast forward two years, I asked again, and she claimed that her suit was lost in a move, and would have to remake it. Fast forward again, after more occasional and unsuccessful attempts at getting an update, this was the last correspondence where she had actually replied, which was on Discord. There has been no communication from her ever since that one message. I honestly should've made a post like this years ago, but what's done is done. And during this entire, years-long ordeal, she had continued to complete other projects, including other fursuits. I hope that this post serves to help people not go through what I went through.