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TLDR: I Paid for a commission I never received Back in mid 2017 I came across a post on Furry Amino from CanineVomit offering animated icon commissions. Interested, I contact them and we work out the details, with the payment being made on July 16, 2017. Fast forward maybe a few months and the end up announcing that they were leaving Furry Amino and tell their commissioners to email them (I don't have any screenshots from Amino as when they deleted their account their portion of the chat dialog was deleted as well). I do so and never get a response. After some time passes, I ended up finding them on Instagram and re-establishing contact there. After a bit of panic due to lost contact everything seems fine. More time passes and I hear nothing further from them again, and the same thing happens. They respond, everything's fine, but THIS time this is the last I hear back from them. I attempt a few more times to message them on Instagram after a while of not hearing anything but they never respond. Eventually they also end leaving Instagram like they did Furry Amino but without leaving any contact info for commissioners (They did leave their account up with the name "doggydeadd" for a bit but completely deleted it shortly after). I find them on DeviantArt and, like with Instagram, I attempt to contact them again. After a few attempts, they deactivate their account without even responding.

midderoo (midderoo) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-23 22:03 Xhybora WHO: Xhybora WHERE: Furaffinity ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/xhybora/ ) and Discord WHAT: Single character short looping animation WHEN: First payment made December 30th Second payment made January 12th. EXPLAIN: This'll be a bit all over the place because of how FA's notes work. And I want to get every single screenshot so it shows everything. (It reads from bottom to top when it comes to the back and forth, in case it looks a bit confusing to read.) Note: Some of the conversations via discord are NSFW. 29/8/2017 I was first approached by Xhybora on the 29th of October where they expressed interest in doing an animation for me. [1] I of course responded, not having had many people actually express interest in me and my OC's so much they actually come to me. I try to keep it buisiness like but friendly at the same time. [2] 30/8/2017 The next day he replies telling me how much the base price normally is. [3] I respond to them, telling them where it's easier to talk to me and how to keep in contact with me as well as telling them which characters would be good for the animation they had in mind. [4] They then ask for my Discord. [5] I give them said Discord. [6] Through Discord we discuss the idea. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] 11/12/2017 He messages me to check up on if I'm still on board with the commission and when I will be able to pay. [12] I suggest a payment plan since my PC had kicked the bucket and I had to spend any money I'd been saving on a laptop. He also reiiterates the idea he had in mind as well as which OC he wanted to use, which was my Fursona. [13] He tells me how much it will cost and what it will come with. I also express interest that if the animation turns out well I'll return for more. I think you can tell how that went. [14] I work out roughly about how much I can pay for and when I'd be able to. As I always like to give explanations on how/when I get the money and when it'll be in Paypal. As being transparent with the artist and explaining everything to them is something that I find they like. [15] We continue talking about the commission and not much else. [16] 28/12/2017 - 29/12/2017 He messages me again to make sure I'm still interested. [17] 30/12/2017 I pay the first payment. 30/100 USD. [18] The Invoice. [19] Him and I discuss when I'll be able to pay it all off/make another payment. [20] 12/1/2018 He asks for the rest of the commission payment, which I pay in full. [21] The Second Invoice. [22] 25/5/2018 - 23/12/2018 I ask how the commission is doing. To which he says he'll get me a wip soon almost a week later. I wait a few months, ask for the update he said he'd give me months prior. I wait 12 days before giving up waiting any longer. [23] I make a payment request through PayPal since I don't know what else to do. [24] Overall I kinda just feel crappy. I got a bad feeling once or twice around the time I was paying him. But I didn't listen to it because I always feel bad saying no and/or making people upset. I was just too naive and gullible. I am not sure if it'll get solved. If it does that's a plus. But I'd like this to be here as a warning. Do not commission someone if you get any sliver of a bad feeling. And please, be wary of people that come to you for a commission.

On August 1st I saw an adverstiment posted in the Megaplex 2018 artist chat for Tiki Badges. I contacted Nya and asked to be added and paid $25 for one. They said that mine might not get done until later after the convention which I was fine with. After this is was harder and harder to get a hold of them. The last time I heard from them was October of 2018. After they dropped out of contact I searched for their twitter and found it hadn’t been touched since late 2018. I now am at a loss on how to find them but seeing as Telegram reports them as active within the last week, I’m assuming they’re ghosting me.

This issue has been RESOLVED as I have received a refund, but I would still like to WARN others about this artist and their TOS. On 7/05/18 I commissioned BluntGypsy for a YCH pinup slot that they had put up for sale. The pinup YCH's were offered in this journal: And came from this DA listing: I wanted a $20 colored sketch and here is the conversation had with the Artist to confirm the commission: I paid them that day and added a $5 tip in advance since this was for a 'Fund Raiser' and it sounded like they were going through a rough time. Here is the proof of the Paypal transaction: As you can see in the messages above she said she'd have it done in about a week or so, so I waited. She did not reach out to me personally for months and I waited patiently until she began to post some pretty concerning journals. The first came in August. I am not a part of her Discord so this was the only update I had seen since I commissioned her, but as it said something may be done by the end of September, I decided to try to wait. The next journal, however, raised some red flags for me. I had not had any communication with the artist directly before seeing this journal, so it came as a surprise to me that they were trying to sell their tablet (which they would need to finish my commission). So, I sent them an email. On the bottom is the email I sent to her and above it is her reply to me which came about a month later. I will point out she said she understood if a refund is desired, or to let her know if I still wanted the commission. At this point, with the selling of her tablet and the lack of communication, along with me not playing that character much at the time, I just wanted a refund and knew it may take a little while to get one back but asked for one anyway. After sending this email I received no further replies through email from her. The only thing I saw of her was another journal posted at the end of December. It states that her house burnt down at the end of November but also asks for people to file refund requests through her emails, which I had already done, and clearly offers said refunds for clients who do not wish to wait until she can get a new tablet and get to work on art again. I decided to wait a couple of weeks before reaching out to her and sent her a message in January to see if she had ever gotten my email about wanting a refund and to simply check up on things. Please note that she said she'd put me 'at the top of her list' BECAUSE I'd reached out to her again. I waited another month or so but was concerned when I saw her offering money to those who would get her a tablet and talking about YCH's or designs she had bought in other servers so I contacted her for an update. I admit that I was getting a bit impatient as I had been nice and had tried to be understanding throughout all of this since I know she had been dealing with a lot of stuff. Two weeks later she reached out to me for the FIRST time since I had commissioned her. On that day she said she'd send a refund THAT DAY or the next. I checked my paypal for the next couple of days and had received nothing. I decided to give her even more time and waited a month before contacting her again. The reply I received was that I had been bumped down on the list due to a rather 'impatient and rash client' who received priority, likely because of their attitude. I was rather unhappy with this considering how patient and civil I had been trying so hard to be. She said she'd get it to me by Friday (which would have been the 5th). I waited until Friday, received nothing, let Saturday pass by and still did not see my refund so I messaged her on Sunday. At this point I was -done- waiting and receiving nothing but excuses, but as it had long passed Paypal's refund policy I could do nothing but continue to ask and wait. I finally received a refund on Monday the 8th. Firstly, I'd paid $25, not $20, but because the $5 was a tip of sorts, which I never should have given, I'll call the refund good. However, she chose to mention her TOS to me, which I was rather unhappy about considering she does not have this TOS listed on the front page of her DeviantArt, nor did I see it when I first commissioned her (turns out it was linked in a random journal). I WISH I would have read the TOS BEFORE commissioning her because I would have never done so otherwise. Here is a copy of it: First of all, she has a 'Pay Upfront' policy along with a 'No Refunds' policy, which Paypal will not even back (which is how she takes most of her payments). Secondly, it states she will finish commissions in no later than 8-weeks, so the fact that I asked for a refund on an 'Overdue Commission', one that she OFFERED to me first, does not seem so wild, to me. After this I did send her a message on Discord letting her know that I was unhappy with the entire process and why. She sent me a message back, defending herself, her policies, and then promptly blocked me. As stated before, I count this as RESOLVED because she did finally get a refund back to me, however with the TOS that she has (with the 'absolutely no refund policy') and with how hard I had to try to reach out to her, I am wanting to warn others before they commission her so they know the potential of what they may be dealing with.

I commissioned this artist in February 2018. This one is pretty cut and dry. We exchanged notes on the animated commission I wanted and then there was a pause in communication since I was busy with work and the artist was ill. After May, I didn't hear anything back from the artist. I exceeded the PayPal chargeback time frame so I was not able to get my money back. I also did not receive any E-Mails back from Ricardo from the address he uses for PayPal. However, there were plenty of instances where he was posting on his Twitter account throughout 2018 so essentially, he took my money and ignored me. Buyers beware!

Requested a commission of 2 female OCs spending time together. D.Orange presented me with 3 sketches to choose from and then pay the amount when ready. Paid $225.00: Months go by with little interaction. D.Orange claims to have working issues irl, gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him space. Months roll by and the responses gradually diminish to zero from him: Being part of a discord group, even had a mod step in to get it rectified, but even he didn't get a response from D.Orange. A bit old, but Orange is still active. Wanted to bring awareness.

This is an old Beware, but I was unaware of this website's existence at the time of this commission. To date, the commission has still not been completed as detailed, and the user continues to have me blocked, so I consider it still relevant. The commission took place on FlightRising, and thus all screenshots are from Private Messages and Crossroads (transaction history, basically) from that site. On a side note: all icons and names from PMs show up as Panicat because that's how the website shows them. However, I have marked clearly which ones are my replies and which are theirs. This is the original post I had made looking for art. Take note that it has not been edited since almost a week BEFORE any of our correspondence took place, so you're seeing the exact same message that they did when contacting me. The text links -- Tattoo Reference: Pose Reference: And a link to the original thread which still exists and has not been edited since, to verify that I'm not altering any of that information. On Dec 09, I received a PM from Panicat offering to fill the commission. The References link: Not perfect, necessarily, but most of it seems solid enough. So I replied: Their reply: For an idea of the cost, 1.5k gems is somewhere between $15 and $20. That was about 3x the going rate for that kind of commission on the site itself at that time, but since I was asking for a PSD to be edited by me later, and because I trusted in their ability to provide a quality commission given their sample images, I was willing to pay it. My reply. I should probably have waited to send payment, but honestly, I've commissioned dozens of pieces of art (not including adoptables) and had never been burned before (or in the three years since. Proof of payment. The diamond at the bottom is gems, the premium currency on the site. As you'll see, though, they did NOT keep me updated, though that's a minor complaint compared to anything else. This is what I received almost a full week later. Take note that this is NOT the pose I had asked for, nor do I believe this is "solid human anatomy," as the character looks like he's going to topple backwards. Also, should he put any weight on that left hand, with his fingers bent like that, he would BREAK HIS FINGERS. Regardless of knowing anything about the character or not, this not only does not match the reference pose, but I'd argue, isn't solid anatomy at all, nor is it representative of the samples they provided. So I contacted them, mentioning the various problems with the art they'd provided: I tried to provide positivity (what a cool breakdancing pose!) to soften the blow of the art being so wrong that it would probably need to be scrapped and done again. I also provided more specifics on WHY I liked the pose reference I had provided, hoping it would prevent a second mistake. I do not feel that I am in the wrong to request that they ACTUALLY draw what I paid them for. Their reply. They messed up, and they want ME to pay THEM to fix it. Just... WHAT? And 1kg? That would put it at 2.5kg for what is basically PARTIAL LINEART that is PROBABLY on top of a very, very rough sketch. That's absurd levels of payment, in my eyes, even given that I was asking for the license to animate the resulting image with a basic glow effect. For reference, that puts it very clearly above the $25 level. For again, what is essentially partial lineart. On principle, I refused to pay someone to fix their own mistake. I asked several artists (both friends and strangers) whether they felt I had been clear enough in the original thread, and they all replied that yes, the misunderstanding was on Panicat's end, not my own. So I replied: As mentioned there -- if they had questions, I would have happily answered them. If they'd "kept me updated," as they claimed they would do, I would have pointed out the error the moment I saw it. But they did none of those things, and instead blatantly ignored my requests. Their reply: They're insisting that I still pay, because "well how could I know better?" So my reply: I feel my solutions are pretty fair. They didn't deliver the commission as ordered. I would have PREFERRED a redraw, but it's entirely possible a YCH auction would've earned them money back for the (incorrect and inaccurate) work provided. Their reply: They delivered the WRONG work, and decided to blame me for not accepting blatantly inaccurate work that didn't reflect the original commission. My reply: I never received an answer to that PM, and soon after posted the entire exchange to the website-specific version of ArtistsBeware. I have since learned that they've blocked me. This is what I see when I try to view their profile: And this is what anyone not blocked by them, or me via incognito window (logged out) can view: So no resolution will ever be found, it seems. They scammed me out of my gems, refused to correct their mistakes, and blocked me when I tried to find a resolution.

On the 9th of April, 2018. I ordered a commission from an Artist who was in need of money. The piece ordered was a $115 character reference sheet. The first payment was in the form of a donation taken and in return I was getting a paid commission from him, the second payment was when the commission was changed to a character reference sheet. In the first couple of weeks, he had finished the linework of the character’s body and first outfit. During that time he took on a number of other commissions from other people and worked on their linework too, but there was no progression of colour at all. He’d work on his own artwork every now and then, even colouring his own stuff but my commission still remained in linework stage. Months pass and I got the same “Yes, yes, I’m just going to finish some more linework from these other commissions and then colour them all together.” Well, it came to December where I was told I had to be bumped back in line because he had to deal with another commissioner’s art. So he began putting that commission in front of everyone else's. At the end of December, I had told him that I wished for a refund. Fast forward three months to this day and I just received my refund after badgering for him for so long about it. This man lacks the communication skills necessary to run a business as an artist, uses the “Send to friends/family” as a PayPal option and continuously makes excuses for refunds.

WHO: Kylestudios WHERE: Discord WHAT: 35$ Commission, 2 characters with background. Flat colors WHEN: June 11th the talk and pay. Lost contact until October 11th, then lost contact again, then re-contacted on January 11th and March 20th 2019 EXPLAIN: In June 11th The user was in need of money due to some problems mentioned in the screenshots below. Though we rarely chatted i wanted to help him out with the condition to have a commission with the quality avaliable for the price he asked. 2 Characters, Flat Colors and a Background. Details shown in the screenshots. I've sent him the money on the very same day and told him to "Take Your Time", that i wouldn't push him etc, but to please do a reference sketch for what i asked to see if it comes out more or less the way i asked for. Lost contact until i talked to him on October 11th asking if there was any issues but he said he haven't started yet (I am aware that he might be slow due to IRL situations or whatever mood he might be... But 4 months...?) I even told him that if there was any reason for him not being able to do it that he should tell me about it, and if he had even a small WIP , like i told him on June, that he could send it to me.. On January 11th 2019 i asked him for status.. Told me "Next week".. On Wednesday 20th of March i asked again for the commission status and all i got was the same kind of answer, "Soon"..If he's not going to do much about it i'm going to send him an ultimatum, wich's a Time Limit... And if that doesn't happens then i'll ask for a refund, but for now i wanted to show my status of the problem here.. ....And there was nothing else after that. Half year waiting and still nothing... However, in some other places where he posts his drawings (Not sure if i can link those), you can see him post art for himself many many times, but for himself!...NOT the commissions he owers to a total of 21 persons since a journal post on an art site for over 6 months! I mean, when you got a commission, you don't want to make the client wait THAT LONG.. People understands he might have IRL things to do (like a job, life, etc).. But you don't make a client wait nearly 1 year to get a drawing done, something he can make up quick and correctly (WIPs etc)..And even more making him look like "Hey look at my new drawing(s)!, but you'll have to wait for your pic even more because of this!" ...You don't do that to a client.. Whenever "I" get asked for a commission i put everything from my "To Do" list and focus on the commission at that moment (Unless i have to go to the doc etc) All the details below (Sorry if there's a bit of a chat but you guys want proof?, so have it.. PROOF: Refund Need https://prnt.sc/lw9upx Commission asking for the 35$ https://prnt.sc/lw9usm Paypal link https://prntscr.com/lw9xt4 (Censored) Commission Details: 1. https://prnt.sc/lw9uty 2. https://prnt.sc/lw9uus 3. https://prnt.sc/lw9uvj 4. https://prnt.sc/lw9uwg 5. https://prnt.sc/lw9uxe 6. https://prnt.sc/lw9uy4 Telling him to not rush things but please show a Sketch WIP in certain ways https://prnt.sc/lw9uz1 Asking if there's problems with the commission https://prnt.sc/lw9uzw Paypal Invoice thingy Commission status asking on January 11th 2019 https://prnt.sc/n25fdw Commission status asking, again, on March 20th https://prnt.sc/n25frp

In February 2015, I commissioned RyunWoofie for a $25.00 USD colored sketch. She accepted my payment on February 26, 2015 and several months passed. I try to be gentle with my reminders, not poke and prod every week or month...just a reminder every few months / some chit chat about what could be causing the delay. During these months, I change my mind on which character to feature. She delivers a work-in progress in November 2015. I request some fixes to fit my character Syldria's proportions more accurately and she says OK sure. Some more time passes, artist mentions they'd like to use my WIP sketch as a YCH instead while allowing me to consider another idea. Idea is pitched, many more months pass and I remind her again in 2016. Okay sure, life grabs you by the horns sometimes...I let it slide. Several months pass again. I sent my occasional friendly inquiry/reminder and more excuses are given, with assurance that my picture will be done "soon". Concrete estimations of time, mind you, for a picture that's already a year late. Work isn't delivered, meanwhile she's been streaming commissions on demand to other clients within her picarto channel. She posts a journal update somewhere between 2015 and now with a whole bunch of clients waiting for their work, and upgrades the quality for those who have been waiting the longest. If you're promised a Shaded picture from a colored sketch, over 1000 days pass without an updated, upgraded picture, while hundreds of stream commissions have been done, how would that make you feel? Here is the Trello queue: https://trello.com/b/qZzbxjGv/commissions-in-progress-refunds I get it, Art is income. Income comes from new commissions, but what about my owed artwork? Note after note, she tells me she'll finish by X date, and there has been no WIPs or anything sent since the initial WIP turned YCH. You can't just sweep your past clients under the rug and under a mountain of new artwork done ON DEMAND in a livestream. I've remained neutral with my interactions with Ryun, and she has with me...I'm not a dick, but this sort of client treatment reeks of being taken advantage of due to my chill demeanor. It may be only a $25 commission, but you can't treat other people like this. Attached is the payment record on PayPal and our conversations spanning from 2015-2018, the last of which being July of last year. There has been countless posts of art from her since then and the majority of them from stream clients on demand, being done in short order. Also attached is the WIP sent to me November 2015, dated in my email with today's date and the original watermarked rough sketch stage of the only work she's sent me since February 2015. It is now March 2019. A disappointed client, Jarmenj

This is my first post on this site so i'm not sure if I did this right. A while back I discovered that my stickers have been traced. I went to the artist to confirm that they did indeed trace here is the conversation I don't see it right to sell traced art to someone It isn't fair to the artist who spent time making the art or the original commissioner who bought the art. I can't do anything about it here so I'll just post this here so someone will see this and think twice about this person.

I had contacted the artist on September 18th by commenting on their journal regarding their open mlp commissions. I apologize for the 'hidden by owner' status on some of the comments in the following journal screenshot. The owner had hidden the commission details between the time that they had refunded me and the time of the final message. On September 18th 2018 I sent them the payment On December 12th 2018 I receive a note explaining that they are having trouble and wish to cancel the commission. It was at this time that I received a partial refund for what I had paid them. Jump to January 23rd 2019 I still hadn't received the owed amount of 1,720 points and so I contacted them to request that the pending refund be sent They replied on February 17th 2019 claiming that it would take them longer to issue me a refund and that they wanted to re-start my commission and asked me to send them back what they initially refunded me. In addition they also asked me to re-send them the commission information. I promptly declined this offer and reiterated that I would like the refund as this was now 2 months after the initial cancellation date and the note remained unread by them (as indicated by the yellow sticky note on the right side of the page in the second screenshot below). On March 4th 2019 I sent a follow-up note to the one above as they still hadn't read it. I indicated, again, that I would like the remaining 1,720 points to be refunded. I also explained that if they did not have my points still on their account that they were responsible for finding another way of paying me, one of which was to purchase the owed amount of points from the DeviantArt store directly and then send them to me. On March 5th 2019 I received their response which was an excuse as well as their indication that they were going to leave DeviantArt and that they were sorry they couldn't issue the remaining refund, leaving me out 1,720 points (converted into dollars this is $17USD as 100 points is the equivalent to $1USD). I promptly responded, albeit a little hastily and angrily and informed them of my displeasure in losing my points without having gotten what I had paid for, as well as informing them that I was going to report / make this public. When I first started working with them they seemed like a sweet user and I appreciated getting the notice of cancellation and the partial refund. It was that which led me to trust that they would eventually refund my remaining points and instead of pressing further I waited patiently. The responses after that as well as the request to send the partial refund back so they could continue working on a commission that had been cancelled was where I began to have doubts about being refunded. I do admit my final response to them could have been worded a lot better but I was angry, frustrated, and so anxious that I went on auto pilot and wrote everything I was thinking then sent it without having a chance to proofread it. This was my final response to them and I do not intend to engage in further contact unless it is to transfer the remaining funds of 1,720. For that reason I have chosen to leave the user unblocked but I have high doubts I'll ever see the rest of my refund.

On July 13 I had paid Cody for a base fill of my Sona as a raptor... They said they'd get started right away. I sent proof of payment an kept in contact... Poking in so often to see what was going on... Well they kept feeding me lies, oh its done I'll post it later tonight, I'm working on it now... An it's been a month since they last even looked at my messages. I've attached picture proof.

Quote request sent on December 1st, 2015. Artist/Fursuit Maker, Stormy, Replied March 22nd, 2016 with final price broken down for each part. First payment sent via PayPal and received by Stormy on March 23rd, 2016. Payments completed via PayPal. Final payment completed on September 15th, 2016 . Work was delayed on June 11th, 2016 due to an animal with an illness. Her entire queue received a message with estimated completion dates on April 26th, 2016, which was supposed to be the upcoming Anthrocon. Work was again delayed on October 6th, 2016 due to a wedding. Contact was requested on January 18th, 2017 and a response was sent from Stormy to me on January 19th, 2017. Update on her personal life was sent to her clients [including myself] on January 20th, 2017. In this email she put what she has done on each project in order of what is done and where everyone is in her queue. Mine, Soleil, had not been casted. On April 13th, 2017 we all received an email saying she is selling premades for completion in July 2017. She also noted Soleil will be completed by the end of April 2017. Email was sent to her clients to join an Angels Nest Fursuits telegram chat on April 23rd, 2017, with the link provided. Shortly after it sent, it no longer worked. I emailed her on July 19th, 2017 to see a WIP or any progress to see if materials had even been purchased. I received a reply the same day, stating she is still working on her first two clients, and working on purchasing/replenishing materials. On July 20th, 2017, I sent Stormy a formal request for a full refund as she had broken her own ToS which I was respectful and professional. The same day, she sent me a reply. She stopped replying to my emails, so I contacted her on Instagram on August 21st, 2017, since I noticed she was active. She claimed she was “warned” about me and was very unprofessional in a lengthy conversation via chat on Instagram. Explanation in depth: In an effort to gain some understanding, I attempted to fix the issue by contacting her regularly to keep with updates, yet she refused to work with me at all. Once I noticed a pattern of similar life updates, but not any fursuit or art related updates, and the removal of her Trello and the Telegram chat, I grew increasingly concerned. I also noticed how she had posted she would be making premades to sell at Anthrocon and MFF. I also grew increasingly concerned since she told us all about her declining mental health and physical health, but after a time of over one year, nothing had changed. I tried to reach out to her as a friend and client but was later met with hostility as I emailed her regularly. I also noticed she obtained two new dogs after her puppy had passed away. I sent her my deepest condolences and gave her time to heal. She also posted on her Instagram how she will now dedicate her time to making a dog training channel on YouTube. After I saw this post, I was very upset. She has clients who have paid her a lot of money to work on custom fursuits/partials. In a series of messages via Instagram, she said some very hateful words and I never once went into all caps, never once did I throw an insult nor a curse word. I even praised her for taking care of herself. Yet all I was met with was hatred and insults and swearing. Since that day, not much has been done and I have not heard a peep. As far as we know, no one has received anything from Stormy/Angels Nest Fursuits. I am both shocked and gravely concerned for all parties involved.

Christmas was coming around and due to financial troubles, Chesta wanted to take emergency commissions to earn a bit of cash to spend on her three children. Proof of commission: https://sta.sh/024qbp1cjo2s Proof of purchase: https://sta.sh/011ldghfgpgk https://sta.sh/01wplj8ap2b3 She did have a lot on her plate, so I didn't worry about it. However, she has a Trello and didn’t update it often, so if anything, I was a bit nervous that she forgot about me. But a simple reminder should do. I noted her in April 2018 (forgot the original day, sorry) and asked if I could get my name on the Trello and was giving her a gentle poke in that direction. Sadly, no reply. I tried again, copy paste the original note on June 2018. Still no reply. Getting a little nervous, I wrote out another note on July 12th 2018, asking about my commission and expressing my understanding of the hardships she’s facing. However, I did mention, since it has been 6 months since the original commission was paid for, I was debating to get a refund. I was practically begging for her to reply to my notes. She did...telling me that I wasn’t forgotten and she doesn’t update her Trello enough to be reliable. Proof of unopened notes: https://sta.sh/0rx20svjd58 Proof of reply: https://sta.sh/0cqypc2a1f6 It wasn’t until November 2018 where I was knuckling down on this. I want my art and she’s not delivering. Not even WIPs or personal updates to me. Her situation is getting worse and she’s constantly taking on more and more work. I gave her another note, trying to get her to be honest with me. I wanted to help her. I was trying to be good and understanding because of my own experiences. I was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Proof of conversation: https://sta.sh/0urchox90qe (1) https://sta.sh/0x1byin29n2 (2) 5 days after this conversation (11/13), she wrote a PSA about explaining her actions (please note the comments are disabled). Sadly, she only refunded a handful of people (questionable) because she “is already working on the other commissions”. I was not refunded, because she claimed that she was working on my commission...but still no WIPs to defend herself. [Cut by mods. The journal is really personal. It should be noted that very personal information is being shared to clients who have been waiting for commissions.] The end of November, she gave out her email to everyone because she disabled her notes since they got too overwhelming. Proof of journal: https://sta.sh/0d2xvgeg56f I emailed her, laying down the line because I was losing my patience. More or less, I said, “Art or refund.” She pleaded with me to wait a week because she would finish my commission within that time frame. Allowing her one last chance, I agreed. It was November 30th 2018. The completed time would be December 7th 2018. Proof of email: https://sta.sh/013d1a9hxz8s (1) https://sta.sh/01954getkwvv (2) https://sta.sh/01yutosn7v2e (3) It’s been one month since that email. It’s now the New Year and I emailed her one last time, demanding the art or I will inform Paypal of fraud. She is telling me that she has it...but must wait until she gets home. Not since she got her internet back up (which was apparently on the 7th of January), she’s been radio silent on my commission. Yesterday, she posted only one commission; a more recent commission that she took on a month or so ago. I’ve had enough of this waiting game and pulled out the big guns. I filed a dispute with my bank on January, 9th 2019. Hopefully, I’ll get good news. Proof of email: https://sta.sh/02fzg9vaz8ds (1) https://sta.sh/0100d5wwgzxl (2) Proof of bank dispute message: https://sta.sh/01foihsglonb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It’s been a month since I’ve heard back from the bank, still left in the dark. So far, nothing. Chesta finally got some motivation to do some commission work and is actually posting again. She then did note me, asking for “certain” details on my OCs Proof of notes (NSFW!!): https://sta.sh/0cr9d1o5n36 However, despite this, I’m still posting this Artist Beware. If I FINALLY obtain the commission, I will update this Beware and say, “It is finished” and call it resolved. Edit update by Celestina: Chesta's response. https://sta.sh/0e408suwx31 Edit 2 update by Celestina: My bank got back to me two days ago, unable to help without "contacting the merchant". After today's journal, I know she will not take kindly to any pressuring for either commissions or money. She did make a new journal today...but more or less, it's another copy/paste job of pity, saying far more personal stuff and how she's sorry that she's slow and disappeared and "should be coming back soon." https://sta.sh/01icefwqiixy

inklopbunny (inklopbunny) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-10 12:46 Dog-Bone / XenoForge WHO: The XenoForge, Dog-Bone, DogBoneArtwork, Leachymonster WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dog-bone , https://twitter.com/TheXenoForge WHAT: Digital art, YCH WHEN: Early December 2017 to now. EXPLAIN: Dog-Bone had posted a Christmas YCH auction, for multiple characters. I purchased one of the slots, and sent payment on the same day or the next. I have contacted them. multiple times since, they've ignored my messages for the most part, and no progress has been made. PROOF: PayPal confirmation screenshot, 7th December. On the 29th December I emailed them for an update, using the address they had on their YCH entry's description (dog-bone changed their email later on). At some point I managed to get through to them via Twitter DMs, but I've lost the messages: they said their computer died. 6 months ago, the artist deleted their entire gallery, announced they were abandoning FA, but assured their watchers that the account will remain open until all owed art is done. I leave a comment asking for details, and they claim they never received my message. I emailed their new email address on the 2nd of November; I still haven't heard from them or seen an update on their Trello, which they update every few days, or their Twitter. Dog-bone accepts and finishes commissions every week on Patreon. Their Patreon price sheet lists their two contacts, so it's not as though they have multiple inboxes to check. They only accept telegram and emails. The activity for the YCH hasn't changed since 26th March.

Had commissioned this artist back in July of 2018; the piece was a 3 character Studio Ghibli themed pic of my character as well as two of my friends. Here are screen caps of payment: At first I was super ecstatic about getting this piece because I really adored this artist and at the time, they were seeking funds to help them out via a journal (which they conveniently deleted before I could take screenshots of it). After payment was sent, I noted them asking if they had gotten the funds in which they replied yes and a WIP would be sent shortly (1 to 2 weeks). I figured at the time all was good: Some time goes by so I send them a reminder note and they state that, yet again, they will have a WIP for me soon: More time goes by and still no WIP and no reply from the artist. I get a little worried but don't think too much on it because, as an artist myself, I know how commissions can sometimes take a bit more time and personal life can throw some unexpected loops. I send another reminder note, this time letting them know that this is a shared piece and others did pay for it as well and if things are going to be too much for them to handle, they can just cancel the piece and we'd be fine with a refund: They quickly reply that they will get it done by Dec. or so: ... and yet I wait more: Still did not get a reply. My note is ignored and I figure, they are busy yet again. I myself get a bit distracted with my own commissions and personal life. When I catch back up on things, I still haven't received a reply from the artist but I do seem them uploading art. At this point, it's already well past 6 months and so I tell my friend that we may never get the piece and should each note them letting the artist know that we would like to get a refund. Soon after my friend notes them, I get this note from Yajuuu: I was shocked at this reply, especially since my friend told me that the artist told them how they were going through medical issues and such at the time and etc. (which they not once mentioned to me this whole time mind you). My reply to they're outlash: I was actually hoping that things would be different and give them another chance, but after being informed and seeing another artist post a beware on them, a few weeks before I had put in a commission with them, I changed my mind. I told them I would like a full refund on the $110 but as you can see, they tried to talk me out of it: I replied again: After this, they then agree to refund me but I have to wait another 3 months before they can send the payment. They also pretty much black list me then and there from commissioning them ever again: I acknowledge this and also take note of the date. Soon after this note was sent. They leave FA and later block me on their twitter account; I wasn't talking to them there. I managed to screen cap this before the block: So irritating that they make it sound as if they left because people were being "mean to them" and not the fact that they failed to keep their commissioners up to date, failed to give updates on works and pretty much played around with others money. Yajuuu even went as far as to also block anyone who was in association with me after informing them of a negative outcome with them (wanting to push for a refund). If they were watching me or I watching them on the site, they were automatically blocked. Now I'm afraid that I may never get my money back for there is no way for me to contact them when the date comes and there may be a possibility of them not keep their prommis of them refunding me at this specific date. Edit: Additional screencaps added on behalf of the OP by moderation staff.

Commissioned Bubbles at BLFC 2018 for a Colored Badge. I paid at the convention in cash. They emailed back very quickly to confirm the commission and get references. (They CC'ed everyone who had gotten a commission at the con). Their Trello was updated with a sketch of the badge. I didn't hear back from them though, and in November I sent a follow up message. They replied the badge was completed and being shipped out. Their Trello still only shows the sketch and I have no proof of its completion. I also did not get any tracking number or shipment details. I gave my address at the convention, but just to be sure, In December I sent my address once more. In January I sent a follow up. I also messaged them on Telegram - it is still not read. Finally in January I CC'ed everyone asking if they had heard from the artist. The artist also replied. I replied I'm happy to wait. Then in February I asked for an update. And then finally in February I asked for a refund. At this point it is not looking like I'll get either the commission or the Refund. This artist is not communicative, lied about the status of the badge and the shipping, missed multiple deadlines, and in all failed to deliver.

Commissioned Bubbles at BLFC 2018 for a Colored Badge. I paid at the convention in cash. They emailed back very quickly to confirm the commission and get references. (They CC'ed everyone who had gotten a commission at the con). Their Trello was updated with a sketch of the badge. I didn't hear back from them though, and in November I sent a follow up message. They replied the badge was completed and being shipped out. Their Trello still only shows the sketch and I have no proof of its completion. I also did not get any tracking number or shipment details. I gave my address at the convention, but just to be sure, In December I sent my address once more. In January I sent a follow up. I also messaged them on Telegram - it is still not read. Finally in January I CC'ed everyone asking if they had heard from the artist. The artist also replied. I replied I'm happy to wait. Then in February I asked for an update. And then finally in February I asked for a refund. At this point it is not looking like I'll get either the commission or the Refund. This artist is not communicative, lied about the status of the badge and the shipping, missed multiple deadlines, and in all failed to deliver.

I bought a reference sheet from an artist, and King21 traced it to fill orders and sell them as original pieces. My reference sheetThe reference sheet they sold the first personThe reference sheet they sold the second personProof that they actually uploaded it, meaning that someone had bought the art from them. (paid $$$). On Patreon, too (1) On Patreon, too (2) On Patreon, too (3) Patreon post 1 Patreon post 2 Proof that it's almost a carbon copy: Superimpose (front)Superimpose (back) Superimpose (second sheet) I put them on top of each other and decreased the opacity. Surely you'd agree that they traced my bought work, right? Sure, they changed some proportions like the ears, hand/paw, eyes, etc but that's very easy to do as an artist once you have the base. Hell, I could do it, and I have zero experience in art.While they aren't scamming me directly, I feel like they're scamming other people who are expecting original works, so that should be enough?

*Due do me deleting the conversation on Twitter, I do not have my messages to the artist.* On Nov. 9th 2018, I commissioned this artist for a $60-65 slot, including paypal tax, I was charged $70. I didnt care at the time so I accepted and waited for my commission. About a month went by and I asked if any progress was made, they said no, but would start up after the holidays. I accepted their statement and continued to wait. 1-going-on-2 months later I asked again, no reply, I believe I asked more than once if any progress was made, which I got no reply. So I decided to reach out to my bank and PayPal. When I sent out that claim I finally got a reply, about their dog passing, which NO UPDATE POST was made about this on their picarto, trello, twitter, and telegram chats, not even on their relationship partner’s social media. Its been going on three months with just one complaint about making a claim to paypal and my bank (which was closed so now I cannot make another claim to get my money back) and its about to hit four months, and I still havent gotten a sketch.

To start, a good friend of mine asked me to get a commission piece together. Long story short, we found this local artist and commissioned him on June 18 2018. A mistake we made is to wire the money instead of using PayPal. It's pretty usual for local artist here to discount their commission price if the commissioner is local and wire the money via local bank transfer. So we did And the wait begins.... Translation: Alzeaker: "ey halo, sorry I was just seeing the chat. messenger lite doesn't have any notification it seems ? I could work on the commission by Monday tomorrow, btw i wanna ask how's your new ref?" Alzeaker: "This is just the sketch, is the character too small?" So we got the sketch on August 27, 2018. Great. Then silence once again... Translation: Halo, how's my commission? Not long after that, my friend escalate it into a full blown rant over on her timeline. Drama ensued. Unfortunately I don't have that juicy screenshots as she already deleted it. So, after all the drama and jazz. I tried contacting him via Telegram Can't refund and not in the mood to do "background" of the previous sketch. Ok, I made a compromise and ask him to redo / change the commission with optional background in case he's not in the mood again. Fast forward today: Honestly I'm not hoping this commission to ever finish.

July 4 2018 Tolwulf posts an advertisement on a unofficial Anthrocon Telegram page for badges to be completed and picked up on Friday, July 6 2018 Following this advertisement, I replied asking for a badge upon landing at the airport in Pittsburgh. Payment email had been sent, and they received the amount of 30 USD. An invite link was provided to a group chat where progress on the badges would be delivered to those who commissioned him. July 7-8, 2018 An update on badge progress was requested. He replies that it will be completed by Sunday at the latest. July 9, 2018 No progress had been made in regards to the badge. In a face-to-face conversation, he mentions the badges will be shipped out post-con. This was later confirmed in the aforementioned group chat. August 7, 2018 TolWulf sends some messages explaining how he's been busy and is currently working on the badges. I reply back. There was no reply for several more weeks. October 15, 2018 The artist reiterates that he's busy, and adds that line work has been done for the badge. I ask for WIP pics to see if there is any truth to this statement. November 2, 2018 After asking once again for an update, and mentioning the possibility of requesting a refund, TolWulf replies once again, and no WIP has been provided, claiming they are currently busy with other work. I inquire about a potential deadline. November 28, 2018 Following a brief conversation regarding MFF, TolWulf replies saying he currently has completed the badge and mailed it and the other incomplete badges to the Hyatt (no idea why he did this). He says he will send pics of the completed work upon arrival to the hotel. He continues by saying he will ship the badge from MFF. I mention I will send him my Canadian home address when I see the completed badge. January 15 2018 No updates have been given. I give a final warning. As of today (February 16. 2019), the message has still been left unread. To sum all of this up, there has been a lack of prompt communication with the artist. If at any point there was a reply, TolWulf would continuously claim that work had been done, but not provide any evidence to show for it. A dispute has been filed with PayPal, but was instantly denied, given the claim was made 180 days past the transaction date, leaving me short of a refund and no foreseeable badge in sight. I will post any updates when and if I hear back from the artist.

I didn't really want to post a beware, but after 8 months, I've come to hate the piece I got, and remember how horribly I was treated when I asked for a refund regarding it. So, here it goes. Also if I leave anything out, my web browser ate my first typing of this post due to a misclick, so I shall attempt to properly add all the information once again. So back in June I saw the artist hosting a YCH, and given prior business transactions went by smoothly and with great turnaround times, I quickly grabbed a slot. NSFW YCH: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27646358/ Proof of Payment: https://prnt.sc/mjumqe So payment was sent, and then began the wait time. Eventually after some time had passed without a WIP, I poked the artist asking if they had started one, and if not, I wanted a refund. This was after 2 months without a single update. When I did so, I was soon met with a rather rude, defensive approach and the artist claiming they did "no refunds" and that I should have known given it was in their ToS (mind you not once during any of the prior transactions did the artist provide their ToS, and had I known this was a part of it, I would have never commissioned them). They also blamed personal matters for the delay, and blamed my lack of knowing they were away (apparently they made a journal which I didn't see/missed in the mess of 200+ other journal notifications) as the reason for the delay. The artist also claims I had been pestering them since I got the art for updates, which is a blatant lie. I had asked for an ETA for the completion of the artwork, seen here: The next time I asked where I was listed in their que, which was 1 month later: Finally I asked for a WiP after 2 months without a single update and if one wasn't provided, that I wanted a refund (I cannot find if I told them if I didn't get one I'd open a PayPal claim), this is where the hostility happened: The one thing that should have been my red flag was that first they said they hadn't started, then suddenly they had a WiP to show once I asked for a refund. I was provided the WiP, asked for updates, and approved the WiPs then after: Eventually I got my art, but not in the professional manner I should have gotten it Unknown to me, the artist finished the art, uploaded it, and I went a week or longer without knowing. The only way I found out it was even done is when I saw the uploaded finished piece in my submission notifications. The artist failed to note me the link, and I had to ask for the finished file to be sent to me: Now 8 months down the road, I'm looking at the piece, and finding compared to other artwork done by the artist of the same style, my piece is lacking. it clearly was rushed, the quality is poor, and the more I look at the piece, the more I come to find myself wishing I had just pushed the refund via a PayPal claim and not accepted such a terrible finished product. This is what I received: NSFW: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28596438/ I should have posted a beware back when this first happened, but given I got my art, I didn't think it would be approved. Back then too I was just glad to have even gotten the piece. However, I'm wanting to now warn others of this artist and their means of conducting business. I just want to warn people of my experience with this artist, in hopes that no one else ends up treated like I was or in the same situation I am in now.

Incident 1: November 2016 In November 2016 I commissioned Graviilean for a fullbody traditional piece (digital copy only - the physical copy was for her school Portfolio). Around January 2017 I sent a note requesting an update. Graviilean apologized and offered a free sketch, explaining that she forgot to scan the original before mailing it. I asked for updates on either piece around every 3 months - until October 2017 when Graviilean asked me to accept a refund for the order, stating she had never done the extra sketch and didn't know if she would get back the portfolio. Incident 1 Proof: https://sta.sh/2kna8yk4e4i?edit=1 Incident 2: March 22, 2018 I ordered a fullbody digital commission and paid $70. On June 14, 2018 I received a notice of a refund (no other contact from the artist until this point). The artist did comment with a reason afterwards (illness/emergency). Incident 2 Proof: https://sta.sh/26b16j5xup8?edit=1 Incident 3 and 4: July 5, 2018 and September 13, 2018 I ordered a fullbody digital commission and paid $70. For those wondering, I tried again because I decided to chalk up the first two experiences as bad luck and bad timing respectively. I had also messaged her prior to ordering to be sure she would actually do the commission. At the time of ordering, Graviilean stated it would take about 3 weeks due to character complexity. I had no problem with the wait. I received a rough pose sketch on July 26. While waiting, Graviilean opened some headshot sketch commissions and I ordreed 2 ($40) because it seemed she was getting through them quickly. In October, Graviilean posted some journals explaining that she could not work on anything digitally** and needed to raise $2,000 for a new tablet and refunding old commissions. I was upset so I commented, and I will make no excuses for my rude tone at that time. Graviilean assured me that my commissions would be done by the end of October. November 4, 2018, after Graviilean ignored my notes requesting an update, I posted a PSA about her continuing poor performance, including proof of her opening commissions to refund older commissions she never did, along with posting statuses for new commissions/asking to raise large ($400+) amounts between the commission journals. Two days after posting the PSA, Graviilean found out and messaged me "How will I sell commissions to refund you now?" I offered her another solution, to draw my commissions traditionally (she claimed to have broken her tablet). November 18, 2018 I offered (requested) that Graviilean finish my commissions traditionally since digital was out of the question. I informed her I would file a chargeback December 31st if I had not received either the art or a refund. December 30, 2018 (a day early due to a family trip for New Years, where I would be without internet access) I opened the chargeback. Graviilean left a final status message stating she was abandoning her account and encouraging those who could to chargeback, as she had no interest in dealing with it. She refused to communicate with me through Paypal and forced me to wait the full length of time for Paypal to close the case. ** Special note - during my PSA updates, it was brought to my attention that Graviilean had a side account Graviinator (DA) and Facebook where she was posting digital art during the months she stated she had no way to draw digitally, along with opening commissions through that account. Proof of this - https://sta.sh/2twj39et8et?edit=1 Incident 3 and 4 Proof: https://sta.sh/2s2oveupup9?edit=1 Graviilean Status and Journal Posts (offering comms to refund comms) Proof: https://sta.sh/2z1vtwgq09d?edit=1 Graviilean final "Go ahead and chargeback" status: https://www.deviantart.com/graviilean/status/15992687 Summary / End Notes: Beginning in November 2016, I have attempted to commission Graviilean (DA) 4 times. My orders have been "done but lost", refunded due to "illness/emergency", and finally just simply not finished. I had to file a chargeback as Graviilean would not give me specific dates for the refund on my final 2 orders ($70 fullbody and $40 for 2 busts). In a final Status update on DA, Graviilean stated she was abandoning the name/account permanently and would move on to "better things". She stated those that could, should file a chargeback. She has moved accounts to https://miau124.deviantart.com (DA) / MiaU (FB) / MiaMatsuno (Twitter) (WARNING: NSFW Twitter account) and opened up new commissions and posted digital artwork (during the time she stated she could not use her tablet) MiaU / Graviilean + Graviilean final status- Proof: https://sta.sh/0dvuzxgi1kp https://sta.sh/01798pttiofh (In case it is unclear from her art style, several of the "fake screenshots" are posted on her Graviinator (DA) side account and now on MiaU124, along with the same character name and bio)