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Sep. 8th, 2011 at 8:06 PM thaily I hate writing these things, but I hate people using artists are doormats even more and even though this guy is local to me, he has internet so no-one's safe. It all started with a retweeted message that someone was looking for an artist in the area to design a mascot for a site and create 12 illustrations of said mascot for said site. The tweet came from the guy's intern but she's not the problem here so I won't mention her by name; I want to keep her out of this entirely, I've accidentally interned for people with how do I put this politely diminished moral judgment. I don't blame her, I only hope she doesn't pick up on his sordid (and I use the following word in the most liberal sense) business practices. But I digress, the company in question is called Tenno Media, Peter Bierhuizen is the person this post is about. He appears to be the owner and sole employee, save for the aforementioned unfortunate intern who has since left. The site the designs would be used for is fitness-ferdie.nl Because this happened locally, i.e. in the Netherlands, I will provide translations of our correspondence as well as screenshots for any Dutch speaking person to verify that the translations are accurate. I invited the tweeting intern to look at my site and mail me if she liked my work. First e-mail. "Sending you an e-mail following your tweet. I design websites as a side job and my boss has asked me to design a character. Simply: a frog in an orange shirt with FF on it. A reference to Fitness Ferdi, a web shop where people can buy fitness appliances and goods. Of Ferdi, the frog, he thinks he'll need 12 drawings (illustrations) that will be used in various ways (websites, flyers). I don't know what kind of budget is available. This would kind of depend on the amount of time the designs will take to make. Vaguely said, but if you think you can create Ferdi I would like to receive a message. Kind regards, X" First reply, I explain my process, how many hours I will need and how much I charge; minimum wage is about €9,20 for my age bracket. This will be relevant later. "Hello X, I can definitely design a fitness frog. My hourly wages are €10,- ex. taxes First I will make a few sketches to your specifications, about 6 sketches will take 2 hours, so you can decide what kind of design you'd like or if you'd like to see more sketches. As soon as you pick a design I will customize it until you're satisfied, how that long will take depends on you (plural). From a sketch to a coloured vector (which can be resized to any size) takes about 4 hours x 12. With the cost are also commercial rights, I only retain the right to include the illustrations in my portfolio. - Kind regards, E. Palli (my real name, I use my real and artist name interchangeably)" Second e-mail, with this sketch attached. I sized it down. I told them I can do 6 sketches in 2 hours, they ask for 10 in 3, I comply. "Hello X, Hey E. I've discussed it with my boss and we'd like to get about 10 sketches (3 hours of work) of different kinds of frogs. One illustration we can picture is a frog in a circle, met a happy smile. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt which reads "FF" across his chest in white letters. The plan was that I was going to do the sketches myself, but I think this will cost me too much time, which is why I went looking for an illustrator. I've included the first sketches, so you know what direction we want to take. Once we've received the 10 sketches, we'll see how it goes. We'll have to think of the poses we want. Kind regards, X" I send them these sketches a week later to help them nail down the design they want. "Without shirt, it will be added later. Small: [link] Large: [link] Did you have an address I can bill? Kind regards, Thaily" Get an e-mail a week later, but there's been no mention of a deadline or anything, so I'm not too bothered. "Hey Thaily, I only work Tuesdays at Tenno Media at the moment (the company you drew for). My boss is going to look at the sketches one of these days and as soon as I hear back about it I'll contact you again. You can send your bill to Tenno Media. [blanked address] I really like your sketches, nice style! Greetings, X" Listen to me smalltalk, yap yap. "Hey X, Thank you, I hope your noss (typo) likes them too :P - Kind regards, Thaily" While I asked for a billing address, I hadn't billed them for the first batch of sketches yet. Keep in mind; 10 sketches, 3 hours of work, €10,- an hour = €30,- so far. "Hey Thaily, We had a little meeting and we'd like to see another ten sketches. Some comments: The head can be fairly human, like the middle frog (touching his upper arm). The body can be broader and more muscular. This will be another 3 hours of work. Furthermore we'd like to see sketches of Ferdie: 1 holding weights. 2 spinning on a bike. 3 running on a treadmill 4 flexing his muscles 5 holding a sign 6 pointing left or right 7 in a round logo, like in my sample sketch. Because of my internship I stop working at Tenno Media after next week. You can mail the sketches to my boss at [email protected] en/or [email protected]. The contact will be via Peter. He is my boss. Ferdie will be the mascot of FitnessFerdie.nl. The web shop for it is being perfected and is temporarily placed at this url: [obsolete link]. Maybe the site's lay-out will help you with your sketches. Have a nice and greetings, X" I take a little over a week to respond this time because I suddenly got slammed with unexpected work; friend told me at the last minute he had gotten me an art panel at a convention, so I suddenly had 3 days to prepare for an art show. Augh. "Hey Thaily, How's the frog coming? :) Greetings, X" I managed my art show, then did the second batch of sketches and sent them to both the intern and Peter, the intern's boss whom was now my contact. I explain, for a second time (first being in my first e-mail to them) that they need to settle on a design before I can start on the final illustrations. I've even made it easier for them by putting all the sketches on the same sheet and lettering and numbering the heads and bodies so they can just tell me which body and head they like best so we can combine them and move things along. "Hey X and Peter, Sorry for the delay, I was told at the very last moment that there was an art panel reserved for me at an art show. Here's the second batch of 10 sketches; I added numbers and letters so you can easily indicate which combination of heads&bodies you like, as soon as we decide on a design I can start on the sketches for the illustrations. Small: [link] Large: [link] - Kind regards, Thaily" At this point I decide I'd like to get paid before we go any further, so I send Peter the bill for 20 sketches; 6 hours of work is €60,-, plus taxes the total came to €70,80. Again I remind people this is essentially minimum wage, this will be hilariously relevant in a moment. "Dear Mr Bierhuizen, Here is my bill for the 20 sketches. - Kind regards, Thaily [I attached the 2 specified bills as PDFs, they are from Gear-IT.nl which is my husband's company, because it was easier at the time]" Here's where it took a sudden and sharp turn downhill; the intern gone I was left to deal with Peter who (perhaps after being faced with a bill and the realization that yes, I expect to be paid for my time) suddenly felt all my work was unsatisfactory and unusable. He says he's looking for a specific type of frog, but despite being prompted to tell me which design comes closest to what he wants, he decides he wants to back out of the deal without paying me for the work he has already commissioned and has already been provided. "Dear Thaily, I have looked at the sketches and I'm missing that which X asked for. X gave a whole list with situations and positions that we wanted to see sketches. However I don't see any of these positions. So I can't do anything with your sketches. To be honest I couldn't do anything with the first batch of sketches because I asked for (at least X) what I wanted. So I'm not very happy because you're sending me 2 bills for things I can essentially do nothing with. I'm looking for a particular type frog (see the list of X further down in the mail (was the same list translated further up)) depicted in a number of fitness related poses but I have received none of this. So I'm going to stop because I'm not sure this collaboration is going to be successful. I hope to have informed you sufficiently. Kind regards, P. Bierhuizen Tenno Media]" Assuming the best, that he is merely confused, I explain for a third time that he has to pick a design before I can do the illustrations from the list. I don't wanna do 12 sketches only to have him change his mind about the design before I can finalize. Plus it would cost more, I'm trying to save him money. "Dear Mr Bierhuizen, The sketches are to determine the design of the character, once the design is to your liking (the customer picks a design they like or a combination of designs they like) I will finish the sketches; the 12 sketches of the character on a bicycle/with weights etc. so all the illustrations will be to your liking and consistent. I have only billed you for the 20 sketches at the price we agreed upon beforehand. - Kind regards, Thaily" TL:DR, Peter still fails to understand simple things. 2 notes about that. 1. I was completely bewildered by his failure to understand this simple procedure. First you decide what the mascot looks like before I draw the mascot doing various things. It's not rocket science. And I know it's not me because I've designed numerous characters for various people, if anything people are excited when given choices and the chance to customize the character to suit their personal tastes. I've never had problems with anyone in this matter. 2. He says that if he makes me do the sketches he'll have a spent a fortune before he has anything that looks anything like something he can use; in addition to the procedure I gave him my time estimates and hourly rates beforehand. This only became a problem the moment he actually had to pay for completed work. Allow me to iterate; a fortune. Literally, he uses those words; "Een vermogen". Minimum wage. Aw yeah, I be ballin' with my €10 an hour! "It clearly describes what X wanted to see. I'm sorry but I think your work method is kind of too vague. If I let you make the sketches I'll lose a fortune before I see anything that looks anything like what I want. I don't think that can be the plan. If you included what I wanted to see a la, but this isn't the intention." As a side note I should indicate that he dropped all civilized pretense, as well as his ability to capitalize, punctuate and spell (I'm fixing this in the translation for legibility's sake), giving the impression he can't be bothered with it anymore. I know how he feels, so I give him an ultimatum, pay or lose any claim to the work. "We can do 2 things: - You pay me and you can use the sketches and designs, if anything to give to another designer to finalize the work. - You don't pay and I will sell the designs to a third part to compensate for my financial damages and you cannot use the sketches; so you can't pass them on to another designer without infringing on my copyright." He takes a few days to respond. "go ahead and sell them. i can't use them and will never use them" So, he had all my info ahead of time, knew what he was getting into and is not backing out of payment for work he commissioned and has already been completed; breach of contract. I inform him I will be letting my colleagues (hi guys!) know about him since you know.. Whether or not I manage to mitigate my financial damage, he's still breaking his contract and likely to do it to the next person as well. "Okay, I'll my colleagues know that you break your contracts. Good luck (with your future endeavors)!" This, perhaps predictably, leads to further deterioration in his ability to communicate like a professional. "My god, you are such a vengeful type. I'll tell your colleagues that you (read Gear IT) simply don't deliver what is asked for and that YOU are really (and easily provable) not delivering on your obligations. THAT my dear is actually the real problem. I ask A but get B. Think about that and stop (zeiken, crude Dutch for taking a piss; bitching, moaning, whining, carrying on etc.) pissing on about it, toddler" I iterate, Gear IT is my husband's IT company, we just sent the bill under that name because it was more convenient at the time; I didn't have a PDF and was too busy to make one, but the bill was specified and obviously from me, this is was not in dispute (just that he had to pay it). I correct him since well, Hiryu doesn't do illustration and design, he does hosting (sites, Minecraft servers etc.), security, domain registration and so forth. So if he wants to complain about the right person (i.e. probably lie his pants off) he should complain about Spirit Link Studio. "- Not Gear IT, Spirit Link Studio. - Be sure to present all your "evidence", k? :D" Further breakdown in communication and him not understanding simple things. "So why do you send bills with Gear IT on it. I added it just in case you forgot. Fucking (fokkin = Dutch white trash way of saying "fucking") vague as far as I'm concerned. Read your mails there's enough evidence that you don't deliver on your promises. I've had enough of this stupid pissing on. I'm going to stop replying." I explain simple things with small words. "Because it was easier at the time. Good luck (with your future endeavors)! :D" True to his word, he has yet to reply. But it's only been a day or two and sometimes he takes a week to respond, so there might be more swindling man-child rage to update with later. So uh, in short; don't work for this guy. He only likes your designs until the first bill shows up, then things quickly deteriorate into ignorance, lies and cussing. In a related note, if anyone wants to buy a frog adoptable, I have some available here ? Edit: Thanks for the input guys! Yeah there might have been a miscommunication, the "customer" was vague and told me to draw another 10 sketches "kinda like X". Had he gone "Oh that's not what I meant, I meant Y." the miscommunication could have been dealt with in a civil and mature manner. It wouldn't have been a problem. Unfortunately he immediately broke the contract by pulling out without paying, not to mention the condescending attitude and crass language. I managed to stay civil even after he said he wasn't going to pay for my time, so I don't understand his outbursts at all. In years of doing commissions, he is only the second unhappy customer I've ever had, and it's due to his own lack of patience, understanding and basic manners. I'll probably stay away from similar contracts for the time being, because they cost more time and aggravation than they're worth (especially when you're not being paid) and if I do take a design contract, I'll make them pay part up front like with normal commissions. Lesson learned, I'm moving on to my paying customers ?

Sep. 7th, 2011 at 12:13 AM tijgerhuis This isn't a Beware as much as it is calling attention to blatant ignoring of a paying customer. Papaya's an amazing artist, don't get me wrong, and a really nice person. I'd just like this situation resolved, after six months of waiting, four months lacking of any communication whatsoever outside of short conversations at conventions, and recently, outright disregarding any messages at all. You guys have probably seen her around. http://furaffinity.net/user/papayafruitsushi I'd hate to give the wrong impression here. Again, all I'm hoping to do with this is bring attention to the situation, get some input, and get it resolved easily. Back in February, Papaya posted an FWA thread for badge commissions, and I jumped onboard right away (I'm Toraie). After the conversation there, I sent a PM through FA detailing the character, commission, etc., which was replied to promptly. I wasn't able to pay until the week after, and I let her know. After she claims here to have sketches, I go ahead and pay right away. FWA comes and goes, and I don't get a chance to talk to her, but having to deal with college and many other things, I don't get in touch again until right before ESG (bottom email), where I only hear from her that she's left all commissions back at home, and that she'd try to find them before too long. At this point, having waited a good three months since I paid, I barely want it anymore. Sometime in June (top email), I remind her through email, because she'd explicitly stated all contact was to be through email and not FA notes. No reply. And then it's time for Megaplex. I caught her for a few moments there, and Papaya told me it was in her room, and that she'd get it to me before I left. I left without hearing anything from her, though. A few days after that (per her journal saying she was busy and needed a few days), I send another email (bottom) giving a day that I'd like a reply by. I've already paid, so I really should be able to do this. No reply. The following week, another one (top email). Nothing. All I'm seeing are journals saying she'll be in touch with commissioners soon. And finally, I leave a shout on her page asking if she still uses that email for business. It's a fair question, but it got shoved off before it got replied to, and then others' commissions start getting posted. I can understand slowly working through commissions, but failing to answer simple questions like in my emails is unprofessional. I'd like to emphasize the absolute lack of communication here - surely, if you've got the time to post a commission, much less be working on it, you have the time to fire off a quick yes/no email. It's not about the money here, though I would like it back rather than having the commission finished. I'm just leaving a public notice here, because private communication sure isn't getting the job done.

WHO: FA user Battenburgcake [nsfw/adult account BloodSugar] WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/battenburgcake/ WHAT: 2 full digital pieces WHEN: Inital note, agreement and paid on April 8th 2011. First commission received May 20th. Second commission still not received, August 31st 2011. PROOF: Initial Commission offer: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission1.png Artist accepts commission: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission2-1.png Payment proof: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=paypal1.jpg First note send asking about commission status: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission3.png Note read by artist: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission4.jpg Other notes recently sent and no response: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=unreadnotes.jpg EXPLAIN: I commissioned Batten for two pieces, a one character and a two character, on Apr 8th, 2011, 11:02 AM. The total came out to $25 and I paid it via paypal in full on Apr 8th, 2011, 11:01 PM. I recieved my first commission May 20th and since then I have not gotten my second piece or heard from the artist after sending them notes to both accounts. I don't mind if it takes the artist a while to complete something, because I understand things happen outside of our control sometimes, so long as they let the commissioner know what's going on, or that it's going to take them some time/they will be unavailable etc. However, I haven't received a single note from them or a reply to notes I have sent them. Since it's past 45 days, I can't dispute it via paypal -_- Any advice? :s I know it's just $15 but that could have gone to a more responsible artist :S

Aug. 16th, 2011 at 2:27 PM undertow26 I'm not sure if I want to call this a beware. I feel bad putting her here because the transaction started out really awesome, but it declined from there. WHO: Neemeister neemeister.deviantart.com WHERE: Deviantart WHAT: $85 two character commission. WHEN: Beginning of May/June 2010 until now. PROOF: The exchange. She asked me about some details about the story and my characters, so my replies are omitted for personal reasons. [Censored by mod for lack of censoring. Paypal screencap is valid] EXPLAIN: I paid for a commission in June 2010 of two of my characters. In the beginning, the transaction went smoothly, but she required payment upfront. This was fine with me, I've done it before with good results. Since she was going through a tough situation I made the mistake of sending the full 85 USD to her account instead of half/half, which she said would be alright. Everything was fine, I was really excited about this commission. Almost three months go by and I don't get any progress. I understand that she had other commissions before mine so I wasn't really worried at this point. I sent her a message inquiring the status. Since she wasn't on dA very often. the exchange spanned from Aug 30th to Oct 1st. I omitted some unnecessary stuff, hope that's ok. The changes requested was for one of the characters who I redesigned. She went silent for a while, and closed her commissions in December. I was going to ask her about the commission again, but saw her reply to someone else's inquiry on her commission journal saying she intended to get to them. Reassured, I forgot about the commission. Until April/May of this year. I was a bit frustrated at this point. She stopped uploading to her dA gallery. It wasn't the time that got to me, it was the lack of communication. I sent a reply on her dA journal. And it was hidden. By now I'm getting bad vibes. I can understand hiding the comment but she didn't even reply. Irritated, I sent a note to another of her customers. I took out her screen name for privacy reasons. But it looks like I'm not the only one who hasn't received art from this artist. [Removed by mods for proxy] Doing a search on her screen name, I found some accounts on different websites, one that was last visited in July of this year. So I don't think she's out of internet. I sent her another note asking for the status of the commission and it sits unread in my inbox. I'm rather upset that I had to come here in the first place because this started off so promising. I don't want to assume the worst, but it appears that she's been recently active on other sites which isn't a good sign. I'm thinking of issuing a chargeback since I paid with a credit card, but I think too much time has allotted since the initial transaction. I will happily mark this as resolved if she gets in contact with me again, but right now it seems unlikely that I'll ever get the art. =/

Aug. 14th, 2011 at 8:18 PM thebrokentape WHO: Vaughnblondtail -> www.vaughnblondetail.deviantart.com, www.furaffinity.net/user/vaughnblondetail WHERE: Furaffinity.net/Deviantart.com WHAT: $75 commission from me WHEN: Initiated beginning of June 2011, finished June 24th PROOF: 1: http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae340/ABrokenCassette/Picture32.png 2: http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae340/ABrokenCassette/Picture33.png EXPLAIN: So this guy commissioned me to do a series of seven colored images for $75. As is my usual policy, I asked him to pay me half up front and then the second half when the piece was finished. He sent me the first half of the money without any problems, but then comes the trouble. After finally finishing the piece I told him that I had it ready, and if he was set to send me the second half of the money. He said he was, and so I sent him the image with a watermark. He said that he loved it, but then promptly told me that he didn't have the rest of his payment yet. ? I feel a little cheated and pretty frustrated because this guy also has decided to not respond to any of my attempts at communication (it's been a month and a half now with no word.) I've provided a few screencaps of conversations we had.

Edit: Got a DA account, sent her a note and gave her two page shouts... she ignored me. I can see she's responded to other people, and to one of them she said she wishes the trolls would shut up. >_< THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/390145.html#cutid1 WHO: Eclypse of FA / Leathurkatt on DA WHERE: http://leathurkatt.deviantart.com/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/eclypse/ WHAT: A Celtic pawprint badge costing $15 and paid for with cash and in person. I had the understanding that it was traditional, but I don't have proof of that. WHEN: I paid for it in November of 2009. The last I heard from her until this summer was in September of 2010, saying she would finish the badge and also try to send me at least $10. Then, on June 23rd, 2011, she sent me the... "finished product" in an FA note. EXPLAIN: This started out as a situation involving an artist who was ridiculously flaky and bad at communication and never showed me any proof that she'd worked on my art. You can read about this part in the previous A_B entry about her. I had pretty much given up on her. Then she sent me the finished product in June 2011. It looked NOTHING like what I'd asked for. I wanted a paw with the colors magenta, purple, and blue and some Celtic hearts worked into the design. I also asked for a name and paid for a solid-color background. But I was just so sick of dealing with her that I didn't bother responding at all. A few weeks later, I looked at the image again and got suspicious. It appeared to be a recolor of another badge in her gallery, and the file name of mine had "cougar" in it. I looked at her commission queue and saw that another person had commissioned her for a cougar paw. I contacted this person, and it turns out the artist sent both of us the exact same image, which had been drawn for the other person's trade a year and a half ago. The image in Eclypse's gallery is a recolor of the paw she drew for the trade, not the other way around. I should have realized right away she was a liar. When she sent me the completed image, she claimed that she finished the artwork, then lost it, and thought she'd have to start over again. The file she "lost" had been created in January of 2010. Well, in September of 2010, she claimed that she had the lines done and just needed to finish it. The person who traded with Eclypse has been in contact with Eclypse on DA. I don't have the details of their conversation, but I know Eclypse has been extremely immature and rude. Eclypse claimed that she sent me the wrong image, then said what she did was completely acceptable, then blocked the person. I will let said person know about this A_B post, in case she wants to add anything to it. I myself have not been in touch with Eclypse. I sent her a note on FA saying, "Over a year and a half since I commissioned you, and still all I get is the same exact image you made for someone else. Wow." She has not read it. If she doesn't respond here, I'll have to resort to getting a DA account, because she is obviously active there. I have no interest in her art after this mess and plan to demand a refund. I don't want to get a DA account just to chase after her but that seems to be my option. PROOF: In this gallery I have screenshots of the paw she sent me, the traced paw from her gallery, key parts of our conversation, her price list, and her queue. http://pics.livejournal.com/paula_mino/gallery/00008qs8 I hope this is an okay way to share the images.

Jul. 30th, 2011 at 3:03 PM lackoflollies Edit of an Edit! She sent me.. $10.. when.. I paid her $6. ? I'm sending $4 back, I don't need extra money, and I refuse to take it. Edit: She sent me this very lovely note: http://i52.tinypic.com/14tuf7n.jpg Now this lovely LiveJournal entry: http://pics.livejournal.com/lackoflollies/pic/00003pcw My first REAL post, bear with me. Yes, I am AuroraBorealia. WHO: RainbowJokerHound / Dog-Bone WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rainbowjokerhound/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dog-bone WHAT: 2 $3 icons when she was having some kind of offer, journal is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2120709/ It has been capped in case she deletes or modifies it. WHEN: It had been a month or two before I noticed trouble. I asked for updates, first she said her desktop computer or laptop was not working and she was unable to do digital art, but she had been submitting digital works while stating that. So, again I asked for updates after I presumed it was fixed, and she got VERY rude with me, stating I had to wait my turn just like everybody else. As of then, she has been continually submitting things digitally, and ignoring me when I asked for updates. NOW she's saying I never paid her. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2417369/ Edit: She saw my paypal screenshot and apologized for saying that, so that's situated. Everything else, however is still valid. This journal she says she owes me two icons, and my unanswered comment about updates. PROOF: http://i54.tinypic.com/r0v3o1.png Paypal transaction proving I sent the money for this. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2120709/ Journal EXPLAIN: I commissioned her in February because I had wanted some new icons, and noticed she was open. So I sent off my details via PM, and sent her the $6. I wanted for a month noticed she had completed every one else before me. I aske dher how my icons were coming once, and she said she was anable to do digital work because her computer was broken and she lost the files, I said alright and went on my merry way, I figured things would look up. A month or so later, maybe more, I notice she started submitting again, and when I asked for an update I got a nasty PM stating I needed to wait my turn just like every one else. Once I find the screenshot of this I will add it into the post. It is now July, and i've flat out asked for my money back. However, she is now stating I never paid her, which in the above screenshot, and based on the paypal in her journal, I totally did. This is the first time i've ever had issues with an artist, so I waited WAY too long to file a dispute, let alone properly save and record messages pertaining to this due to being a victim of FA leaks, I delete my PMs regularly, so i'm desperately searching for proof i DID get to add to this post. So, this is just a little beware to avoid this artist.

Jul. 19th, 2011 2:55 PM nathanial WHO dust-bite/Torrian Dear/EEEEAAGULLLL WHERE: dust-bite/Torrian Dear, EEEEAAGULLLL on Subeta WHAT: Waist-up couple piece WHEN: April 23rd-Present PROOF: I commissioned dust-bite on April 23rd. I didn't commission her through deviantart, but through Subeta, where she's known as EEEEAAGULLLL. Here is a link to her artshop and my post where I originally commissioned her. My friend and I commissioned her at around the same time; she commissioned her for a head-shot, where as I commissioned her for a $30 waist-up couple piece of my two characters. She got the sketches to both of us at around the same time, however she finished my friend's very quickly afterward whereas after I OKed the sketch and paid her... nothing. Here is a screencap of my payment. Here's the sketch: After about three weeks of no contact, and after she set up a chibi auction before finishing my piece, I sent her a PM on Subeta asking how things were going. Unfortunately Subeta didn't have a working outbox at the time, so I can't show the message I sent, but I assure you it was a very polite inquiry. In the mean time she was updating her DeviantArt quite frequently, and while it stated that she was moving, she still had the ability to respond to messages and post the odd sketch here and there. Wondering if she just wasn't checking Subeta, I sent her another polite message on DeviantArt on June 1st. Within a couple hours, she had read it, but didn't repsond (and still hasn't responded.) Since then she has actively been posting on both DeviantArt and her tumblr (dust-bite.tumblr.com). Some of them are old commissions, some of them are new. She even had time to draw a kiriban image for someone on DeviantArt, and work on her comic and website, orange-zombie.com. Getting a bit frustrated with the fact that she clearly had time to respond to my message/finish my art but chose not to, I decided to send her an e-mail on June 30th to the address she has listed on her DA page. Still polite, but I haven't received a response. At this point I just want my money back, but I don't know how to get ahold of her other than the methods I've tried already. She won't reply to my messages. I have a feeling she's purposefully ignoring me because it says on her commission journal (which I didn't see until after I sent her the first note on DA since I commissioned her on another site) that she will 'take longer if bugged.' "Please be patient when you commission me. Don't rush me, it will only make me go slower. Asking for updates is a little stressful, but I'll provide them." I didn't really think I was rushing her... I just want to know if she ever plans on finishing my art, and if not, if she can refund me. It's true that I haven't asked for a refund yet, before anyone mentions it, but I'm kind of a doormat and I'm afraid of doing it until she actually replies to me. I realize now I probably should have mentioned that in my e-mail. Unfortunately I can't dispute this, not only because it's been over 40 days but because when I sent the money I didn't realize you shouldn't send payment as gifts. Sweet.

Jul. 9th, 2011 at 4:27 PM vibris_sae I was told last time that it was time to make an official beware post, but the artist in question contacted me in the comments, apologized, and said the art would be done at the end of June. I think it's time, though, since it's been nine months of excuses and being ignored, and I really don't want anyone else taken in for more money than I spent. :T I commissioned Rabid Sept. 15, 2010 for three digital busts to be finished by Halloween at $15. After Halloween passed with no sign of them I poked her, and was told since I wasn't first in the queue she didn't get to mine. I said fine, just finish them whenever. I waited until Jan. 17 of '11 to ask her again. She was nice about it, saying I didn't deserve to wait so long, she'd get them done. By this time the person I'd commissioned this for were no longer together, so I made a change and waited until mid-February, when I decided I'd ask what was up. She claimed she just forgot to do them, so I asked for a refund. I made sure to be extremely polite throughout this whole ordeal. She said she would as soon as she opened commissions again - which she did shortly afterward. After I threatened a Paypal dispute (I had no idea at this point of the time limit :P) she begged me not to, since she was using her grandma's PP. This back and forth went on for awhile until she stopped responding altogether. When I posted here to see if anyone had heard from her (and several had) she responded with more apologies and a promise to do the art - not to refund me as I'd asked and as she'd promised. Also in the comments section she admitted having traced over a photo for at least one submission. I have plenty of screencaps once again, if anyone needs proof. Maybe I was bothering her too much over $15 but it's still stealing. I've been contacted by at least one other person who was wondering if she'd done the art I'd commissioned, which I thought was kind of bad form - but it's relevant that other people are being screwed over too. At this point I don't expect to see either a refund or the art, and I'm giving up trying to pursue it. It seems like she'd rather placate people or ignore them rather than fulfill her obligations. ? Edited: Caps: Inital deadline: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture5.png Offered refund: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture4.png Art offered after refund never shows up: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture3.png Art promised in June: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture2.png Proof of tracing: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture-2.png

Tyrah New posted to artists_beware December 26 2018, 18:29 BEWARE: DOBERMANMORALIST WHO: DobermanMoralist @ FA WHERE: FurAffinity WHAT: Digital Artwork WHEN: September 29th, 2018 to Today EXPLAIN: So I ordered a YCH from DobermanMoralist on September 29th. It is nearing three months since this date, and I have received NO updates on progress, NO messages, nothing. So on Monday I asked for either progress updates or a refund, and they said that they would complete mine AFTER they finished their new Christmas YCHs (which were ordered 3 weeks ago). I said "So.. you're doing the Christmas ones first, before the one I paid for three months ago?" Just to clarify, and they confirmed. So I said "I think I'd just rather have the refund then." To which they responded "I don't do refunds, there was no queue, you weren't given a number on the queue, I'll do the art and you won't get your money back." PROOF: https://sta.sh/01zyqqabwcpd EVERYTHING is in this one image.

kitsunewaffles wrote in artists_beware December 7 2018, 19:08 WHO: WarriorKniightSkye/KniightSkye on Furaffinity, Deviantart, Discord. They link everything they have on FA. WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/warriorknightskye WHAT: Stolen/Sold Traced Artwork. WHEN: Really unsure when she started tracing/selling my work, but I was informed of it in October, 2018. EXPLAIN: I was informed by someone that WarriorKniightSkye/KniightSkye had been spotted trying to sell traced artwork that looked like mine. I checked it out and it was definitely mine. I was provided links to side-by-side images and it speaks for itself. They have apparently been doing this to my work for a long period of time. As a precaution, I deleted almost all YCH template holders on my FA. I did notice that she actually tried to buy a YCH from me before, rather recently actually, which is funny, but I digress. You'll see me mention it to her through Discord/FA. I did contact them via note on FA and DA as well as directly through Discord. I didn't receive a response through FA or DA, but did through Discord. They admitted the theft and apologized and I let it go. I was informed again, today (Dec. 7, 2018), that they were at it again, this time trying to sell something for almost $200 using Discord to advertise it. I know she's primarily active on Discord, which is a place I'm really not, so I guess that makes her feel comfortable to keep doing what she's doing. PROOF: Side-by-side images of my old work/her tracings of it (Nsfw warning) --> https://gyazo.com/68ea06e1c24cbac2dc38913644c714ea https://gyazo.com/87bb8f96da9fe2261fb57294233b02ed The Discord conversation where she admitted to tracing and selling --> https://gyazo.com/7ea1183811eecfe43b7090dfe25ea52f FA note --> https://gyazo.com/1bb08d6c25cf2f8acce65b3119b08c99 The most recent tracing job w/ overlay on the original and her trying to sell it on Discord --> https://gyazo.com/fb7a60347a6fcddf203a97616300722e https://gyazo.com/150675260cac75b3215c7feda31cd84d

vera_snep (vera_snep) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-16 05:38 Advice: Lost Contact with CanineKuroki (Please pardon my formatting and such, this is my first time posting) EDIT: Not long after making this post (a couple weeks), CanineKuroki contacted me, apologized, and provided a full refund. Due to personal issues I will not get into detail about, she was unable to finish. She also sent me what she had made for the price of shipping. It's unfortunate that she wasn't able to complete the commission, but I give her some serious props for providing a full refund and sending what she had made. WHO: Canine Kuroki/Kuroki Yami/HoneyspydeR WHERE: https://www.facebook.com/CanineKuroki/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kurokiyami/ https://www.deviantart.com/honeyspyder WHAT: Fursuit partial WHEN: Initial contact: July 16th, 2016 First Payment: July 24th, 2016 First Loss of Contact: September 16th, 2016 Second Loss of Contact: December 21st, 2016 EXPLAIN: So, I contacted Yami through Facebook in July to ask for a quote. She responded pretty quickly and all conversation until September was quick, taking no more than a week for replies. She would send occasional WIP photos and I was happy [1]. My first payment via PayPal was on July 24th and the second one was on September 6th [2]. She was fine with how the payment plan was and there were no disputes whatsoever. ( Read more... ) But then, she just seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. I’d contact her about once a month to try and see what was going on [3]. Her Facebook page never updated and I had no other ways of contacting her. So, I sent a dispute into PayPal in December for both of my payments. She then responded to them fairly quickly, apologizing for her lack of communication. She then offered to give a partial refund, promised to improve her communication, and promised some extra goodies when I got the suit (Unfortunately, I do not have any screenshots of our conversation through PayPal, though I have tried to get them recently). I accepted and she sent a refund [4]. She also recommended I use her email, which she gave me, in order to contact her more efficiently. Unfortunately, I was naïve and dropped both cases, saying they were resolved (because at the time I thought they were). She sent one last set of WIP photos within a week, then disappeared again afterwards [5]. To this day, I’ve contacted her about once a month to try and get her back. I have contacted her through every form of media I could find, including FA and DA. I have threatened, though not followed through with demanding a refund and taking legal action. To be honest, I don’t know how I would go about doing all that, I just wanted to get her attention. I honestly just want my fursuit. I’m hoping that someone out there can help. 1: FB First WIP 3 (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe) 2: InkedPayPal Payment 1_LI and InkedPayPal Payment 2_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4) 3: Everything in the Facebook folder titled “Lost Contact” (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe) 4: InkedPayPal Refund_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4) 5: InkedEmail Sent 12_17_16 - 12_21_16_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16_NkSjpftzPa0etb1Sh2o6YmmF20XKM_) PROOF: PayPal: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4 Emails: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16_NkSjpftzPa0etb1Sh2o6YmmF20XKM_ FurAffinity: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L8BUFSDmPU8W7CeEsKYiaw561QNEkdde Facebook: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe DeviantArt: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aza_Pfcm-wV6f2DnOw2rpNcVFi-ldddx

impatientpotato (impatientpotato) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-08 23:02 Chibijenhen WHO: Chibijenhen_art WHERE: https://twitter.com/ChibiJenHen_Art WHAT: Commission (never received) WHEN: 9/16/2017 EXPLAIN: Chibijenhen opened commissions claiming that she had a problem with her bank that needed extra money to fix, since she's a professional artist now, I assumed it was legit. I bought a commission after asking if the character would be doable, she said it was fine. Over the next year or so I asked for updates multiple times, she assured me she would get to it, but never offered anything as an update, over that period of time she had drawn hundreds of pieces of personal art, and had also opened up commissions again several times, always claiming it was from a bank problem. Now if it was something huge like a poster or animation that I paid for I could understand the wait, but I can't believe she would be so busy she can't do a sketch over a period of a year and 2 months. I had asked some people familiar with her work about it in private, and had been told this is something she does very often, only prioritizing things involving her characters and putting off everything else indefinitely. She doesn't seem like an inherently bad person to me, but going off of this her work ethic is horrendous, I would advise against commissioning anything from her unless you want to wait a very long time. PROOF: ( Read more... ) </lj-cut>

?Year of the Pupper? (JinxWolf34) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-02 13:58 Artist Beware: Matchadrool/QTCoyote Text: WHO: Matchadrool/QTCoyote WHERE: Megaplex 2017 - Artist Alley WHAT: Traditional badge WHEN: August 6, 2017 - September 6,2018 EXPLAIN: I ordered a traditional badge from Matchadrool at Megaplex last year. At first everything seemed fine. I got the sketch and it looked cute. However, there was an anatomical error with the badge and as an artist myself, I wanted to let them know how to fix it for the future(see images below). I told them not to worry about it for my badge. This was the last time I heard from them. We originally talked through text but after they disappeared I found them on instagram after a friend got a commission from them after I had bought mine. I saw that the badge had progressed since I had talked to them but, as of me typing this they have not sent a badge. I have tried to reach out both via text and instagram but no response. PROOF:https://imgur.com/gallery/aC0LHXy

col_eviscerator (col_eviscerator) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-02 10:15 Beware: Izacmafia, EmperorZheng WHO: izacmafia on FA, EmperorZheng on DA WHERE: FurAffinity WHAT: Zerosuit special colored sketch. WHEN: October 15th-31st 2018 EXPLAIN: Did not make corrections on a WIP sketch, and was abusive when such was requested. Admittedly, I could have handled it better, but I'm unused to such behavior. The latest/last notes exchanged through FA was shortly before I left for work this morning and when I got home this evening, I found that he'd already deleted the work and approval sketches before I'd been able to save them. I know English wasn't his first language, and communication was difficult at times, but he managed to satisfactorily complete one piece prior to this, despite him misreading or ignoring how I'd requested the characters be posed. I'm unsure if I should still press him for a refund seeing as he did the work, but I am now without even the unsatisfactory art. Edit: He did restore the image in question and I was able to save it, so the beware is now primarily about his behavior and advice on how to proceed. PROOF: I apologize for how disjointed and difficult to follow the conversation may be, FA note system is kind of difficult to use, and I had to bounce between my inbox and outbox. Please do note that 11 is not a duplicate, as it shows a different response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l10trvc31ed4wfa/01.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7ecsz1wlvh9y6a/02.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/01hxkt0j3xzlb46/03.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ey3pem5syi6yymh/04.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/7gqhzcwcg0jqwut/05.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/lj8eq5nnlcd4fuv/06.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vgj6g1dfcvz0yu/07.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hya4anavfhpboi/08.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/gh6oqhcaf051ead/09.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkh09hragdekg8e/10.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0mbv7gxpu8644g/11.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnqwddcd7dzq4lj/12.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/0l5d3q6agtksyok/13.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/k25xwl7kl6u26nf/14.png?dl=0 Edit: Art was received, 14 just remains to demonstrate it was infact deleted. https://www.dropbox.com/s/5fqytygw7nkzqq5/15.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/y7rt2p3k9372xy1/17.png?dl=0 The work in question: https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/d0419ad4-d23f-43fc-ad3c-41fbd79202b4/dcqsi1k-0f6c89a2-6327-47cd-b61b-2821d10f7af5.jpg/v1/fill/w_764,h_1046,q_70,strp/commission_for_eviscerator_2_by_emperorzheng_dcqsi1k-pre.jpg And as in my first screencap, I requested heights of 160cm and 185cm respectively, and supplied a visual aid when requesting the correction: http://www.mrinitialman.com/OddsEnds/Sizes/sizes.html?base_ft=&base_in=185&comp_ft=&comp_in=160 I don't know what good a paypal screencap would be, as the art is done and I'm no longer pursuing a refund, but here goes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v381vs704trfryg/16.png?dl=0

May. 23rd, 2011 at 10:32 PM undertow26 I probably should have come here much sooner, but I held on to the hope that this person would come through for me. However, after his excuses, I'm fed up and reporting him here. I discourage anyone from commissioning him, he's been nothing but evasive. June of last year, I commissioned Coferosa on DeviantArt for a fifteen dollar sketch of a character design. I have a few links to the transaction here including proof that the payment was transferred to him. Against my better judgment, I used the points system to commission him so I'm not able to file a paypal claim. Proof the transaction was made img855.imageshack.us/img855/2139/blackened.png I edited out my main dA name. The transaction was arranged on my commission account but I paid on my main account. First few notes exchanged, he accepts the commission: img11.imageshack.us/img11/5695/theif2.png img705.imageshack.us/img705/7246/thief3.png Some time goes by. I set a deadline in the job offer post of two weeks. As of right now I don't have the link to the posting anymore. But he overshot the deadline. I politely ask the status of the commission img860.imageshack.us/img860/7734/notez.png But my note is ignored. Feeling somewhat insulted, I send him another note img713.imageshack.us/img713/7401/reply0.png I finally get a reply. He says he finished the commission. imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/thief1.png/ After that, he goes completely silent. I admit, I should have pushed him more. Eventually it completely slipped my mind. But I decided to go through my inbox sometime in Febuary to clean out some old notes and found his. Remembering that he didn't send me a WIP or a complete picture, I note him again. By now, several months have gone by. img831.imageshack.us/img831/2341/reply1h.png I receive a reply, getting the character's name wrong and I don't buy his excuse. Art has been submitted, infrequently though he has posted new stuff. His most recent deviation was submitted May 2 of this year. img836.imageshack.us/img836/2540/reply2.png That's the last I've heard from him. I've warned him several times and now I make good on my promise. As of now I've given up any hope of him refunding the points to me or sending me the art. I have filed a report with dA's help desk but I highly doubt that they'll do anything about it. This is more of a warning to others that may have been interested in his art. It may be a case of him not having his priorities straight, but communication is awful and he'll only respond if you nudge him. Not once has he noted me to say that his computer failed, etc. Edit: As expected, I recieved a response from the staff basically saying I'm on my own here:http://oi54.tinypic.com/wa0ygk.jpg I'll try contacting the artist again with a stern note and a link to this beware. But lesson has been learned, that will be the last time I commission an artist with points unless they've proven to be a very reliable artist.

Apr. 3rd, 2011 at 9:32 PM synchra WHO: Aliases: SophieCabra, Waji "Company": SurfCatCostumes WHERE: http://surfcatcostumes.com/ WHAT: Costume of my character Tokkebi Kesaki done in the same style as Luskwood (with permission from Luskwood. SophieCabra used to work for Luskwood so she had confirmed she could achieve this quality. It was promised to be the same quality.) Art: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/1745-1/tokkebikesakicharactersheet.jpg Product: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7306-1/IMG_5509.jpg (in depth pictures and descriptions of everything below) Screenshots of initial e-mails confirming these facts: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10055-1/Screenshot-AB-1.png (Note: She mentions a non-refundable deposit of $495 but never mentions what it is for. In talking with other makers this is always accepted as a cancellation fee, I never canceled the product while it was in process. The promised product with the promised quality and features was just never delivered so I asked for a refund because it was offered to me.) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10057-1/Screenshot-AB-2.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10059-1/Screenshot-AB-3.png (I never received guidelines or a real contract or a ToS so all agreements were made through e-mail in this fashion.) WHEN: Initial Costume invoice was sent 6/18/09. First Payment of $520 was sent out via paypal Jun. 7, 2009 Second Payment of $545 was sent out via paypal Sep 1, 2009 Final Payment of $600 was sent out via paypal Sep. 2, 2009 Product promised to be done and received by: Halloween 2009, if artist could not get it done in time then sometime in January 2010. Total of all payments as well as price of costume: $1665 Costume received: Feb 6, 2010 Promised refund: Feb 6, 2010 (Promised refund by: August 1st, 2010) Costume confirmed to have been received: Mar 18, 2010 Partial refund of $1,081, $1050 after fees was sent to me via paypal Apr 18, 2010 Current payment owed: $584 Asked for rest of payment initially: 4/19/10 (never got a response) Gave artist a time line to pay me back again on: Feb 15, 2011 (end of march) Artist failed to pay me back by: 03/31/11 (never got a response) Demand Letter to be sent: 4/4/11 Court date if Demand Letter is not responded to: TBA PROOF: Here is a review of the costume I wrote which includes all proof needed of the quality of the product received including pictures, videos and e-mails sent and received throughout the process. http://community.livejournal.com/fursuitreviews/31415.html (I figure it's better to just post that part here as a link because it's just as good as copy-pasting and putting it behind a cut, please tell me if you'd rather have me go about this another way.) Here are some e-mails in which the refund is mentioned: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10077-1/Screenshot-AB-refundmention-4.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10075-1/Screenshot-AB-refundmention-5.png (promising refund for suit.) I can provide screenshots of anything asked for if needed. Here are the paypal transactions: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10061-1/Screenshot-AB-5-1stPayment.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10063-1/Screenshot-AB-5-2ndPayment.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10065-1/Screenshot-AB-5-3rdPayment.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10067-1/Screenshot-AB-5-refund.png Note: She mentions that it's $1050 even after fees and isn't including the initial 30% even though I never canceled on her and she had promised me a full refund. However $1665 - $1050 = $615 which was not even the down payment. The down payment was $495 so even if there is some reason that I am not owed the original 30% (which I still have yet to clear up since she has never responded to me about this) she still owes me $120 by her own standards. With fee money included $1665 - $1081 = $584. Which is what I am currently asking for. However if her statement that I do not owe the 30% is true then: $584 - $495 = $89 So, she would still owe me $89. http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10055-1/Screenshot-AB-1.png I was told to cover paypal fees (which is apparently against Paypal's TOS https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/terms-outside ) so I sent her $520 with the first payment to make it even/easier to track how much I still owed. I also paid for her to ship it to me. The receipt she scanned for me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10072-1/Receipt-AB-6-shipping.png (I blurred out most of my address, the address of another person she mailed something to, and her card info.) And I paid a lot more than that to ship it back to her with tracking and confirmation which was something she failed to do herself. EXPLAIN: Once again, here is a review of the costume I wrote which includes all proof needed of the quality of the product received including pictures, video and e-mails sent and received throughout the process as of March 23rd. http://community.livejournal.com/fursuitreviews/31415.html Also copy pasted here: ----REVIEW START---- I have given this maker an entire year to come clean and fix the problems with this transaction and they haven't, so unfortunately, this is not a positive review. As a DISCLAIMER, this person may have changed their ways since my commission and I have never seen the produce work of this low quality before or after my commission was made. Name of Artist: Surf Cat Costumes/SophieCabra Website: http://surfcatcostumes.com/ Character/species commissioned (link to photo/concept art): Tokkebi Kesaki, a ghost Korean Jindo dog. Here is the concept art: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/1745-1/tokkebikesakicharactersheet.jpg I also included some snapshots of my SL avatar of her (my by my friend, Luper): http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6484-2/Snapshot_003.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6472-2/Snapshot_001.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6480-2/Snapshot_002.png (I have more, but you get the idea.) Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: Currently I have absolutely nothing, and I am down -$584, but this is what I got in the mail last year in February: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7306-1/IMG_5509.jpg Because there is a lot to be said about every other picture I have of it, I'll put them in the appropriate places throughout the review after all the other information has been said. Is the item old or new (if old, how long have you had it/when was it made?) This was made sometime at the end of 2009 but I did not receive it until February 2010. (again this will all be explained below.) --Grade each below aspect on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best)-- Visual Aspect (does it match the concept art? Is it consistent with other items the maker has produced? Is it visually pleasing overall?): 1 Okay first, let me say, this wasn't my first fursuit commission, this was my 5th or 6th fursuit commission so I had had a lot of experience with this at this point. The product did not match the concept art to the degree I had hoped for (to me it doesn't match at all other than colors really), it's not consistent with the other items this person has made, and it came out looking pretty bad overall. Why? I was promised something I did not receive. This commission was originally going to be made by Luskwood and when they stopped taking commissions and I saw Sophie, who used to work for Luskwood had parted off and started her own company I approached her asking if she could do that quality of work for me. I had seen the work she did at Luskwood and it looked good and I had seen the suits she had made on her own at that point and I thought they looked pretty nice! She promised me this quality, she promised me leg padding, eyes that light up, glowing fur, and that she would match my concept art... you know what? here is that part of the original e-mail, no better way of putting it: First E-mail: Ooh. Awesome character. I can totally play around with some glow in the dark effects. I could hopefully even find some transparent glow airbrush paints I could highlight the fur with. The problem would be finding one that went on completely transparent. But I would love to play around with that and experiment beforehand and to see if I could get it to work for your fur. ? Anyhoo, before Luskwood disbanded, I worked with Arito, so I can do the same leg/foot padding system and whatnot. I think for the whole thing (supplies, labor, shipping) I'm going to say $1650." I was excited to hear that she liked the character because usually that means the maker will make a better product when they like the character as well! I was also excited that she promised me all of these things and that she was going to do the glow in the dark stuff as well! Sounded like a dream right? The price was the highest I had ever had at the time but I was willing to pay that much for the promised quality. (All my previous commissions at this time were a lot cheaper, were much higher quality when received and were from big names like B3/Joecifur, JillCostumes, Midori, and Rose Quoll.) Here is my initial response: "Awe, thank you so much. ? I wouldn't really need the fur to glow, but actually it does on the SL avatar my friend made for me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/2228-1/Snapshot_483.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/2232-1/Snapshot_480.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/2222-1/Snapshot_485.jpg Hahaha, so that would be really freaking awesome if you could figure it out. I know that paint from that kotaku link is really good for stuff like that, but I can't remember what it's called. I know Beetlecat used it once on some claws. I can do the 30% paypal deposit. Man, thanks for responding so fast, I asked for quotes from a couple other people and it's been months and no one has responded! Then you finished that Roo head recently and I was like OH DUH everything you made with Arito and the stuff you've made alone seemed to be the best work that came out of Luskwood/in the style I want! I was all emo there for a week about loosing my quote. I got a good price on it, but I don't mind paying more if I am still going to get the same quality. (It wasn't THAT far off from yours. :P) I wouldn't "need" the suit until FC 2010 so anywhere you want to put me in is fine, I am patient. XD Just tell me where to send the money and I'll snag my space! ? Thank you so much!" Well pretty much none of these promised things came out right. The bodysuit didn't fit at all (we made a duct tape dummy), most of the claws on the feet had fallen off, I couldn't see out of the head and it flopped around, it didn't look right, the "glow in the dark" fur was yellow, uneven, and atrocious. There was absolutely no body padding, the eyes didn't glow (there is more on this though, I'll explain this in the service section), there were no teeth, there was black eyebrows on it (character does not have eyebrows), the mouth and nose were uneven, the ears were uneven. There was pretty much flaws with every part of the suit. More on this in the workmanship section with pictures. Service Aspect (Deadlines. Communication. Little extras.):0 I have actually been afraid to post this part because it DID start off wonderful and she was a pleasure to talk to for months of this transaction! Everything seemed to be going great but then several major flaws we're made towards the end. She is also a well known person in the furry fandom and has a lot of friends so saying anything negative about her seemed "awful".. but these are facts, and this is what happened to me. This is long, so I am going to put it under a cut. Most of this was typed last year in April as well. Communication/Deadlines/Shipping: The suit was originally supposed to be done for Halloween or in October. I asked to have WIP photos because I am very particular with how my characters are represented and I never got any WIP pictures, then suddenly I got finished pictures of the suit the week of Halloween but it just didn't look right in the picture and the eyes looked awful to me. It looked wall-eyed and she had worn the bodysuit. I had sent her a duct tape dummy so that the suit would fit me and I was aware Sophie is bigger than me, so it made me kind of irked to see that she had worn the suit because she said it was hard to get into and I was hoping she hadn't stretched it or something like that. Here are those photos: http://www.surfcatcostumes.com/v/costumes/kesaki/ I didn't really like the head shapes and some other nit picky things from the photos but the eyes were the main turn off so I asked her to change the eyes because I was thinking maybe the other stuff looked better in person. I remembered from experiences in the past that some fursuits look like shit in photos, but in person they look really nice. I'd rather have a nice suit, than have it by Halloween! She took 2 months to change the eyes and they still didn't look right. She sent me this picture on December 3rd: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7856-1/eyes1.jpg I asked to see them with the lights on in them since it was the point of them and she sent me this: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7858-1/eyes2.jpg Which looked just as wall-eyed as the last pictures. Also.. why not ever show me the whole head at once? ? She told me she'd change them again, maybe the light effect was just not working out right and she'd replace them with glow in the dark painted blue eyes. She also promised me the suit had body padding and that the whole thing "lit up like a light bulb" before I got it. She finally replaced the eyes again by December 31st and sent me blurry cell phone pictures of it after I requested to see photos instead of her just sending it to me. http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6943-1/s1.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7239-1/s2.JPG I was tired of dealing with it and I wanted the suit by FC so I asked her to send me the suit because maybe they looked better in person, who knows. She told me she sent it and I waited. On January 11th I realized the suit really should have been there at that point so I asked her if she had tracking info. She evaded the question and said the post office said it would be there by Wednesday. I waited. I e-mailed her on the 14th saying it still wasn't here. She said she'd call the post office on the 15th if it still wasn't there. I told her on the 15th it still wasn't there. She never responded so I waited some more. On the 20th I e-mailed her asking if she had ever contacted the post office. She said: "I called them, got the run around, was told to email them with the receipt number. There's not record of damage, insufficient postage costs, etc. They gave me some BS about being slow after the holidays and this past federal holiday weekend, blah blah blah. I'm calling them again. They filed it as missing as transit, so from what I hear that puts a fire in their asses if it's just sitting around in some office somewhere. It really should be there today. God, I hope. If it is lost, I'd say we allow until the end of Feb to come back and after that I can either remake the costume or begin issuing you a full refund. I am terribly sorry and infuriated this is happening. Let me know if I can do anything else." I said thanks for calling and everything she had done and continued to wait for it.. Throughout all these e-mails I had asked her multiple times if she gotten insurance and tracking info on it and she kept evading my question. On the 25th I still did not have the suit so I sent her this: "Yeah I think it's gone. ? I hope you got a large amount of money claimed for insurance on that. ? I'd feel bad getting a full refund now if you didn't, but I think now I need the money more than a suit. I lost my job on the 15th. X.x GUhhhhh stupid mail!!!! I swear this character is bad luck. The badge that ****** made of her got lost too! >.<" I censored out that artist's name just in case! Yes, a badge of this character got lost as well. We both had been completely friendly with each other up to this point and there had been no problems with each other. I already didn't completely like the suit she had made just from the pictures in the first place so getting her to remake it again seemed pointless (I would've rather just had the money at this point and commissioned the suit from another maker at a later date, especially because I had also just lost my job, and on top of that someone had stolen my identity so I couldn't get my unemployment money either.) She responded: "Went to the post office today with my delivery confirmation and receipt and in person they told me that as far as their records say, it's been delivered. o.o What the post man says he believes this means is that either one of your housemates (if any) accepted the package and never told you, or got a package notice (due to you not being home or it being too big to deliver) in the mail and forgot to give it to you, or the package notice may have gotten lost. Their advice was to have you check with anyone in your house, as well as head to your local post office ASAP. If it's been been sitting in the local USPS for a while, then that's why it's just been lost in transit without response. After a few weeks they will sent it back to me, which the post man told me can take quite a while. If you can check any roommates as well as your local post office as soon as you can, that would be the next best course of action. Please let me know!" I sent back this: "Hi ----, I don't have any housemates and nothing has ever gotten lost in the mail here at all in the past. ? I have received numerous LARGE boxes in the past, too. I just live with my boyfriend and we would've seen it if it got here. I will check the post office tomorrow I guess... ? We haven't gotten any notices. You sent it to *****ADDRESSS****** Right? I'll let you know ASAP what I hear from my post office." I wanted to double check my address because people spell it wrong all the time. Sophie responded: "Yeah, I didn't know if you had any, so I was just passing along info. Anyhoo, try the post office and see. That is the address I sent it to, so hopefully the post office was just being stupid and it's sitting with them." This is when I went to the post office on the 29th of January and e-mailed her this: "The post office says they didn't receive anything at all for me. I had them look all over in the back. Are you sure it was confirmed received?? Was it at a different post office? If you got insurance on the package, you should have a tracking number (according to the person at my post office.) I have a feeling it's lost or... at a different post office? My post office definitely doesn't have it. x.x I don't know why it would be confirmed received if it wasn't in ******." I spent a lot of time down there and they had nothing... This is also where I found out that she DID NOT get insurance or tracking on the suit. On the 30th I was upset so I sent her an e-mail explaining to her why I'd rather have the money than another suit because it seemed to me that it was definitely lost. I spilled my guts, I was stupid, I TOLD HER EVERYTHING that had happened to me up to that point because I was stressing out and so that she wouldn't think I was BSing about wanting the full refund that she had promised instead of another suit. I also asked her if she had actually sent it because it was just too weird that the post office had absolutely no record of it and that I was upset with her for not getting insurance and tracking. I was nice about everything I said in the e-mail. I asked to see the receipt so that if there was any tracking at all I could find it from the receipt. I got back an angry e-mail from her... in which she refused to refund me, but she scanned the receipt. She accused me of receiving the package and not telling her. We both basically got unreasonably mad at each other about the stupid USPS losing the package of the suit I was promised was of good quality. These e-mails are really long and tl;dr so I will leave them out and just put these summaries here. x.x I told her that I would wait 2 months for it to show up, but if it didn't I would still expect a refund to be an option if I didn't want her to remake the suit. On the 31st she e-mailed me back and said she could do the refund.. I'll just copy paste that e-mail, I can't summarize it well. "I firstly want to apologize for accusing you of lying. I was on the defense for being accused as well of something I would never do to a customer. I believe we are both just running a bit of a temper due to a regretful situation that is out of our hands. We both don't know each other personally, so it's easy to assume. It's stressful, but I think we both got any suspicions under the bridge and we can work to fix it. I do think you misunderstood me about the refund. Perhaps I worded it poorly, but I meant that I could not offer you a full refund right this minute. Firstly I really believe that we should wait the two months, and I am grateful you agree. But also I meant that I could not offer the full refund all at once. It would have to be paid back in installments, much like how I accept payment for costumes. As for it showing up in the hopeful case it will, I said in my previous email that I would be glad to change the design a bit so you could sell it without selling your character. I have no problem with offering you that at all. I encourage you, should it come to that, to allow me to do so, since I know my own work more than anyone else would. If it's truly just the head that's the problem, I can remake the head if the costume resurfaces. I still believe that I followed the concept to the best of my ability. But I also understand that the way we all see and interpret art can vary. I don't know if this would be a solution for you, but one thing I've done with previous customers is to sketch their character in my own style and render it out as such. It has been a very successful exercise in the past and I think it might work for you. Basically I would email you a bunch of sketches and you can pick and choose what you'd like. Anyways, I believe patience is our biggest ally right now and all we can do is hope it shows up. I am still going to be hawking around on the USPS phonelines until I've gotten an answer. Despite not having on-site tracking, USPS does track all packages in their own system, all I have to do is find someone on the phone that is willing to let me know what their systems are saying. I do not know why they would have told me it's delivered if it was not, but I know that I can find out somehow. It's a government agency and it is a bureaucratic mess to navigate. I will get answers, however, and I will pass them along to you as soon as I have some. Hope you are well and at ease at least a little bit," I explained to her all the things I would want changed if she wanted to remake the suit head (this was before I knew of the actual quality I would receive in the mail.) I thought only the head was a problem at this point, so it all seemed reasonable. Lots of time passed. On February 6th the suit miraculously shows up. The suit was the most terribly crafted suit I have ever had in my own possession. NONE of those things I was promised were on it. The whole suit was crammed into a huge box with no packing material at all as well... I told her my honest opinion on everything including pictures like I have posted here. Her response: "All right, send it back to me. Once I get it in hand I'll start issuing a refund in installments to be completed by Aug 1st. I will sell the costume off myself." On top of this I was told she was writing snarky posts about me on her LJ this whole time! I did not see them myself but people told had me about them. ? I never had any "buyer's remorse" for the suit I EXPECTED to get, the product I received was just NOT WHAT I BOUGHT AT ALL. There was no body padding, the eyes didn't glow, it didn't match my art, it was not Luskwood quality..etc.etc.etc. I'd be perfectly happy if I had gotten what I had commissioned. Anyways, you can see why I was not pleased with the amount of money I paid. Manda did not cost anywhere near that much and is MUCH MUCH higher quality..and she fits me, I also never sent Joe a duct tape dummy either, he just did it right with nothing but measurements and she still fit me. Licorice and Cricket were even cheaper and are just as high of a quality as Manda. Pierah was cheap as hell and much better quality, my "secret" suit is obviously higher quality and extremely cheap, same goes for Sync and none of them cost anywhere near this much. I was expecting the quality I had gotten in the past from other makers but with everything promised. I sent it back to her as soon as I could after getting back and asked her to tell me when she got it. I paid an extra $65 total to ship it and to get tracking and insurance on it (I will never get that back, but I knew that!) I just wanted to send it back to her right. It got back in a timely manor. I expected installments of payment like I was promised because she had said she didn't have the money so I agreed to have it by August 1st. I sent this to her on March 2nd because she hadn't told me she got it yet: "Hi, ----! I am just checking in, did you receive the suit yet? I sent it with insurance and tracking on the 18th, but the USPS website is giving me errors when I put the tracking number in. (Can anything with them ever work right?) Anyways, if you didn't get it yet, I am going to go down to the post office and figure out if they messed up their system or something. Thanks!" She never responded to it. So I sent this on March 18th. "Hey, just checking again since I never got a response back before. I just want to make sure everything gets there. Thanks," She responded: "Hey, I got your box. No worries." I never got any payment installments as promised but I randomly got most of it back on April 18th. This suit or.. lack there of.. THIS EXPERIENCE cost me: $584 + the money I spent to send it back to her.. and whatever I paid to send her a duct tape dummy which I doubt she used. I e-mailed her about this remaining money and she never responded. I e-mailed her again last month giving her an ultimatum, she sends the money back but the end of March or I go to court. I am hoping I won't have to go to court, but what's done is done. TL;DR: She didn't meet the deadline, the eyes never looked right, she promised me she could do something she obviously couldn't (make glowing eyes like my art), it got lost in the mail, she didn't put tracking on it, I asked for a refund when I got a bad product, she refused, she finally paid me back most of it, she still owes me money a year later and has about a week to pay me back before I go to small claims court. Workmanship Aspect (Is the sewing neat? Are things that should be sewn glued or vise versa? Does it fit? Has anything fallen off yet that shouldn’t have):1 Now to explain everything individually... First off, not fitting. I sent her a duct tape dummy so you'd think it fit? I don't know how she made it on it but it seemed to fit her pretty well: http://surfcatcostumes.com/v/costumes/kesaki/IMG_0915.JPG.html Here it is on me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7306-1/IMG_5509.jpg (ignore my hair popping out.) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7280-1/IMG_5522.jpg (There was no leg padding.) Here it is with a pair of pants on top to show just how baggy it was on me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7898-2/IMG_5594.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7882-2/IMG_5592.JPG It had some strange crotch bunching thing going on in the front: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7296-1/IMG_5514.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7290-1/IMG_5517.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7890-2/IMG_5596.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7886-2/IMG_5595.JPG The fur was full of weird stuff that had collected in it: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7870-2/IMG_5591.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7926-2/IMG_5576.JPG (oh look foam!) And loose threads all over on the inside, this is the hole the tail was supposed to go through: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7878-2/IMG_5588.JPG With the belt as tight as possible, this is how the tail help up: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7288-1/IMG_5520.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7286-1/IMG_5519.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7282-1/IMG_5521.jpg Oh yeah.. and for some reason you could see my divesuit through the fur? It must've had thin backing or something I remember it being scratchy, I don't know where it was from though. The glow in the dark paint glowed, not blue, nor white, and it was splattered on unevenly and looked gross glowing, I have a video of this but I am unsure of where to upload it.. (I don't want it on youtube.) Okay so second, not looking right. Why didn't I do something about this before? Well It looked "okay" in the pictures on her. I was "eh" about the eyebrows and some facial shape things but it's white and white never photographs well so I figured I wanted to see it with my own eyes before forming a solid opinion on asking for anymore changes (also, I had already had her replace the eyes 2 times when she showed me the pictures of it all together and it took her and extra 2 or 3 months to change the eyes.) So here are those things, first off the feet: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7308-1/IMG_5510.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7304-1/IMG_5512.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7302-1/IMG_5511.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7298-1/IMG_5513.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7270-1/IMG_5531.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7958-2/IMG_5571.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7966-2/IMG_5569.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7994-2/IMG_5568.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8006-2/IMG_5554.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8014-2/IMG_5553.JPG (mysterious shoe) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8010-2/IMG_5555.JPG (strange holes in the bottom?) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8018-2/IMG_5551.JPG (scale, next to a DS Lite, they were huge, I couldn't barely fit through the door wearing them actually.) A lot of the claws had fallen off in the mail, they were painted blue and left unfinished so there was fur, foam and dirt/dust stuck all over them, they were also shaped very elephant like, and not dog like at all. There claws that were left attached were loose and the ones that weren't, I found loose in the box but there was one I never found.. which means it fell off before the suit was sent? I know my concept art has chunky legs but she still has a foot in it and this is definitely not how I imagined, I was thinking more like this suit made by Luskwood (quality I was promised and paid for once again): http://luskwood.org/costume/gallery/canines/nataliecevichelimahusky/1 http://luskwood.org/costume/gallery/canines/keovi/2 http://luskwood.org/gallery/costumes/canines/keovi/keovi3.jpg I already mentioned the claws issues so here are some more pictures of that and the hand paws: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7950-2/IMG_5573.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7962-2/IMG_5572.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7970-2/IMG_5570.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8038-2/IMG_5556.JPG The Nose: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7284-1/IMG_5523.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7274-1/IMG_5525.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7998-2/IMG_5565.JPG (loose hot glue on the felt) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7978-2/IMG_5564.JPG It was very flat and had an outline around it which is something I personally just don't really like the look of on most suits. Does not look like the art. The Eyes: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7278-1/IMG_5526.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7990-2/IMG_5567.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8002-2/IMG_5566.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8030-2/IMG_5560.JPG Slapped on, falling off at parts, covered in scratches and at this point I had thought they were just glow in the dark (not EL wire anymore like originally promised because the first couple attempts at this had come out looking very wrong), but they weren't even glow in the dark and I could actually look through them because of how the head fit on my head. I had to look through the mouth. The Mouth being un-even and the lack of teeth: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7974-2/IMG_5563.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7986-2/IMG_5562.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7982-2/IMG_5561.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8026-2/IMG_5559.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7276-1/IMG_5524.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7268-1/IMG_5527.jpg The Tail back: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8042-2/IMG_5557.JPG This was just messy, and strange for what it was supposed to be. I feel like I am leaving things out. I don't know, anyone who was at my house when this thing was received knows this was just NOT a top quality suit, it was somehow worse in person. (A lot of friends were over when this came in the mail, my excitement quickly died when I opened the box.) Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments: Well I pretty much described it all already. This was an extremely negative experience for me. I have waited almost an entire year for this thing to be resolved and she has made no attempt to refund me the remaining money, next month it'd be a year, and I am tired of waiting in silence. By law, because I have absolutely NO PRODUCT, and I DID NOT cancel on her while she was in process, she owes me ALL of my money. On top of this, I have not seen her resell the suit.. so I assume it's still at her house or.. possibly in the trash? I don't know. I have put off posting anything "publicly" about this because I didn't want to start a bunch of e-drama and because I was hoping keeping it out of the light would help to keep a nice neutral relationship between me and Sophie so that we could solve things in a calm and fair fashion but now that she isn't responding to me at all, it's public. Final Grade (out of 5): 0 EDIT: Figured out how to upload videos to youtube so that they can only be seen when linked or something! So, I hope these work. These were filmed last year in February right after getting the suit. This is the "glow". Impossible to photograph, hard to video tape, but this is as good as it gets to convey the issues with it. Show media This one speaks for itself. ----REVIEW END---- An update on what has happened since then: I have received no response whatsoever from her and am in the process of settling this legally now. She has failed to respond to me in any way through all the conventional methods I have tried. Yesterday I noticed she had been active on Furaffinity so I attempted to contact her through the website (which I had never tried before) and received the response that I had been blocked. The fact that she has blocked me on a website where I have never once been rude to her or attempted to contact her before on leads me to believe that she is refusing to cooperate with me instead of just neglecting to check her e-mail addresses. I had a "demand letter" written up which is being sent on Monday. (I waited until Monday because April 1st is well.. April 1st and I wanted this to be taken seriously.) I have been researching and talking to people for the last month or two about small claims suits and finding out everything I need to do. I have asked her to explain her side of the story with no response. If there is something I missed, or am doing wrong, I want to hear it because I will admit my faults if there is some valid reason or something I missed. With nothing work off of on her end, I can only go with what I know and have on my own end. I saved every e-mail and record of transaction with her and have all the evidence I need for court however. Once again, I was never given ToS so I cannot share that with you either, I can just go on what I know.

Apr. 1st, 2011 at 10:50 PM stalgondo Please be forewarned, this was a commission for adult material. Some links on this post refer to NSFW material. Who: TwistedCreations on Hentai-foundry. Where: NSFW link - his hentai-foundry account: http://www.hentai-foundry.com/profile-TwistedCreations.php Communication was mainly over MSN messenger, but I sent several emails attempting to contact him. What: Digital Artwork of a Female Orc with two versions of the same image, paid in two transactions of $100 each ($200 total). When: January 14th 2011 - I first contacted him to commission the artwork. The price and details were agreed upon. January 28th 2011 - First rough sketch was received and I paid the first installment. February 7th 2011 - Second rough sketch was received and I paid the second installment. The last contact I received was on Febuary 7th 2011. I never received the final versions of the artwork. Proof: NSFW text - Chat log of all conversations: http://doujinhunter.totalh.com/twistedchat.txt NSFW - Last image received: http://i.imgur.com/fvJFo.jpg Email 1: http://i.imgur.com/VrZVA.png Email 2: http://i.imgur.com/KU7KW.png Email 3: http://i.imgur.com/V0rjn.png Email 4: http://i.imgur.com/NlnjF.png Paypal Transfer 1: http://i.imgur.com/YDcWn.png Paypal Transfer 2: http://i.imgur.com/EiKkS.png Evading me on MSN: http://i.imgur.com/uBtAk.png Explain: Things went well initially, and the final draft was sent to me on Feb. 7th. I confirmed the final changes and sent the final payment. I have received no contact since, and I have made several attempts to contact him. I have sent him numerous emails asking for any reply or notice that I am not being ignored. He did not appear to be on MSN, but using an alternate MSN account, I determined that he has blocked my main MSN account. Contacting him via the alternate MSN account caused him to block that one as well. I attempted to retract payment via paypal, but they would not allow me to dispute a payment that was categorized as "other". I have submitted a transaction dispute to econsumer.gov in hopes of getting those payments retracted. I would prefer to have the final work, but that seems unlikely at this point. I was referred here by the hentai-foundry forums, and I will also be posting this to hentai-foundry to warn others. Thanks for reading, Stalgondo

Apr. 16th, 2011 at 12:59 AM eonisalpha WHO: Lionel “Solion” of Lion of the Sun WHERE: http://www.lionofthesun.com/index.php WHAT: A fursuit head of my dragon character Eonis, done ‘realistically.’ Emails showing exactly what I ordered here: http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/ http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/bigorderemailchaincensoredpart1.jpg http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/bigorderemailchaincensoredpart2.jpg WHEN: January 6th, 2009: Contacted Solion about getting a fursuit head. January 7th – January 14th, 2009: Sent info, discussed options for the head. January 14th, 2009: Sent payment. May 24th, 2010: Contacted him asking for status of head. June 4th, 2010: Attempted to continue previous conversation, in a different medium June 24th, 2010: Talked to him at Anthrocon September 27th, 2010: Contacted him again, asking for WIP shots December 7th, 2010: Contacted him, asking for a refund, was promised one. February 18th, 2011: Disappeared when I attempted to talk to him. PROOF: Screenshot from paypal payment: http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/paypalinfocensored.jpg EXPLAIN: On January 6th 2009, a friend of mine got me in contact with Solion while he was on their teamspeak server. After discussion that I wanted a fursuit head, he told me to send him an email with exactly what I wanted, so he could have it on file. He told me in the voice chat that he realistically wouldn’t have time to work on it until October of that year, and told me to send him half of the payment to start work on the head, and half when it was completed. The emails linked previously then occurred, payment was sent. I then did not hear for a while. October came and went with no contact from him. On May 24th 2010, I emailed him, he responded on the 25th, mostly wanting to know what was going on, and why it was so late, seen here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/secondemailchainconfirmingpayment.jpg . He did not respond to that last email, and I believed he was having email problems, so I attempted to contact him on second life, on June 4th, he responded on the sixth, seen here. http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/thirdchainsecondlife.jpg I then saw him at AC 2010, where I confronted him in person about it. He told me his email was acting up, and said that he sent me a few other emails, which I never received. He then promised me he would find a way to email me work in progress pictures of my head, to prove he was still working on it. On September 27th 2010 I emailed him again, asking for the work in progress pictures, got one response with no pictures, then he went silent again, email here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/postACquestionchain.jpg Finally, in December, I had enough. I emailed him on the 7th asking for a refund, he responded on the 9th promising he would send me a check for the money I owed him. IF he ever mailed one, I never received it. Email here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/Finalemailchain.jpg On February 18th, 2011, I was on second life, I saw that Solion logged on. I attempted to talk to him, and he disappeared quickly, log here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/finalmessagelog.jpg At this point, I just want the money back. It’s gotten completely ridiculous, it’s been…over two years now, with nothing to show for it. ************** Update 4/18/2011 ****************** Well, took some suggestions from you guys, because you're all awesome...started gathering docs for small claims court, sent him an email saying I posted here, and I got this! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/B8LEuY1D9_Tg5RkwDYeSMidk50KKAWkhe8CCeTw3TaU?feat=directlink (Hosted by my mate because I fail at photobucket) While I doubt it's going to lead to anything more than the last promise, I'm hoping >.> Thanks for all the support and advice, guys!

Apr. 20th, 2011 at 6:25 PM viothefoxbird This is my first time posting here, and fatkraken expressed interest in there being a general Avsun post, and having other customers post their experiences in the comments, whether they be good or bad experiences. If this is not allowed, I'm sorry :C The OTHER Avsun post: artists-beware.livejournal.com/447483.html WHO: Avsun Mascots WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/avsun WHAT: A body suit for an existing partial of my character. Concept art: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4856848/ WHEN: I first contacted Avsun for a quote late November, 2010. Contact was fairly consistent at first, and they were extremely friendly. I was quoted at $665 for a bodysuit, and sent the downpayment of 30% in early December. A duct tape dummy was made and sent out as well. The last actual email I received from them was 4 days after I sent the payment. In the beginning of February, I got a mass email sent out to their customers explaining they were sick. I've sent them several emails since, asking if they've received my duct tape dummy, and asking other simple questions. I have not received a response since mid December. PROOF: The first contact email: Payment sent: Last personal contact I had with them: Mass explanation email from Avsun: Email sent today from Avsun, undoubtedly after seeing these a_b posts: If any additional proof is needed let me know. EXPLAIN: Usually, for me, this situation would not yet be bad enough to make a post here about it. However, after seeing the previous post about them HERE I became very worried. Fatkraken wanted to have one big post where other people can post their stories about Avsun, good, bad, or ugly. After seeing the other post, I really don't think I will be seeing my $200 or suit from them. I don't quite know what to do. Like I said at the top, I've never posted to artists_beware before, so I apologize if something is off or wrong ? EDIT: Here is their pathetic excuse for a twitter, looks like it was made the same time the other post about them was made here on artists_beware. I think its a coverup saying LOOK WE ARE DOING WORK. But there are no pictures or evidence of any kind that anything is actually being done. http://twitter.com/#!/Avsun_Studios EDIT 2: Added the most recent email to the screenshots and fixed the blurring.

Apr. 23rd, 2011 at 7:50 PM demons_haven101 Who: Avsun Mascots Where: http://avsun.livejournal.com/ http://avsun.deviantart.com/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/avsun/ What: Foam head base of a toothless look-alike (without the newt features). My side of the story: I had sent a question e-mail about a foam head base on September 14th, got it worked out and a quote for 125$ on the 15th. I sent them a down payment on September 15th 2010, they had confirmed that I had a spot on the list. On September 17th 2010, I sent them the rest of the payment seeing as how communication was still good. They said they would have it done "around next month." So I assume that meant by the end of October to mid November some time, perfectly fine by me. On the 18th, I got a mass e-mail about a new paypal address to send money to, but had already sent my money to the first. They said in the e-mail this would be fine. I heard nothing from them until October 3rd. This was another mass e-mail, only this time about mass e-mails and how we are not to reply to those. I hadn’t heard anything from them until I sent an e-mail asking them about the status on November 8th. Got reply on the 9th with a picture of the head concept and saying they moved on with the project anyhow. They had mentioned getting glass eyes, which would in turn have me send them more money. Turns out this fell through and I did not send them more money, so they were going to stick with the regular toony eyes I opted for in the first place. A few e-mails went back and forth and communication was fair until December 21st, which was only them replying to the LJ comments I posted on one of their posts. This was them giving me their phone number, yet again. I waited patiently, attempted to call them once or twice without being able to connect through. I sent them another e-mail on February 5th 2011, asking them about my commission, it being far past due. I got no reply. I send them another e-mail on March 1st, asking yet again. I have yet to hear from them. I never got any e-mails explaining the delays that others have gotten, so I have been left entirely in the dark. I have filed a dispute through paypal, though it is indeed too late. It still gives them record that this person is not providing product for payment. I also called paypal, asking them what could be done. They have told me that there is an “internal investigation” going on for this person, seeing as others have filed as well. Seeing as others have filed, the gentleman on the phone had told me that it MAY be possible to get my money back due to their track record. I honestly doubt I have much of a chance to get my money back in any way, but I will certainly be trying. Proof: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62066370@N02/ Edit: I broke up the paragraphs to maybe make it easier to read for some people.

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: March 7th, 2011 WHAT: Two digital icons. $3 a piece. The artist was doing a one-night special that got quite a few hits; it wound up taking longer because of this. Fair enough! WHEN: I commissioned them November 17, 2010, for two icons. They had a list of people in their journal, but worked out of order, which is understandable. Inspiration doesn't always work in order! I replied to the journal again December 7, 2010 inquiring about the icons, and was told they had a sketch done for one, and that the second would hopefully be sketched that evening. Caps below the cut will show our interactions. Here's the initial commission journal. Below is the commission agreement, along with my confirming I'd sent payment, and my first 'hey, what's up with these?' comment. You can see the journal (screencap) in its entirety here. Time went by, and I got this PM in response to the comment I'd left on the journal. My reply: About another week or so went by, and I checked in again with a shout, since they'd uploaded quite a few more commissions (all from Furcadia if I'm not mistaken), and I was puzzled since I'd supposedly been pushed to the head of the queue. And then my last shout, left on Feb. 28th. I didn't get any reply, and still haven't. However, I also know they haven't been on FA much, because their last upload was January 23th; their last journal was January 25th, and their last favorite was January 26th. EXPLAIN: Well, the screencaps pretty much explain everything. I noticed their Tumblr account has been kept fairly updated, mostly with personal stuff, so I shot them an Ask there as to the status of my icons. I don't want a refund, but if I don't get a reply in the next week I'll probably try to contact them again asking for one. =C I'm just pretty let down, overall. Edit: They replied on Tumblr! "7th March 2011-Question teahound asked: Hey, this is Teahound from FA. I'm sorry to bother you here; I just noticed your FA wasn't updated and this was. xD I was just checking on my icons! :3 I finished one a bit ago, and the second will be finished next, sorry for the delay ? here’s a link to the finished one: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5126573/" Apparently they posted one of the icons; I didn't see it because I'd wanted the character looking seductive and they drew her reading... They say what's sexier than 'The Life of Pi' which is the book she's reading there, I'm just sort of let down in that regard because it's not what I requested. At this point I just told them I really liked it and was looking forward to the second one. The character depicted does enjoy reading, so it's not a total loss. :T (For clarification - I do like the icon I got, quite a lot! However it's not what I wanted. I'm not attempting to sound mean or anything by not mentioning that it's not what I wanted to them. They mentioned me asking for a seductive icon in the description, so they were aware of what I wanted all along. I don't want to pursue that anymore, and am waiting on the second icon.)

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: March 1st, 2011 Price: $10 Status: unknown, assumed untouched Problem: No status updates or finished icons. Now I'm being ignored. Length: from January 10th 2010 to current date Details: So I commissioned Darkshadow 8181 January 10th 2010. Just for a simple $10 animated icon. At the time he seemed pretty productive. But more and more time passed and icons came and went, but I never saw mine pop up. During this he would make Journals asking for more commissions and work to do. I also never once noticed myself on any kind of "work queue". Actually, the first time I sent him a note regarding this and a refund, he immediately changed his tune. Even offered a 2nd free icon. During this time of my asking about commissions he had a long down time. Turns out he switched accounts and is now known as Fungasm. Of course I followed and still watched for my icon. I've noted him a handful of times during this.(I do not have our earliest transactions, but these are the most recent) part 1. http://pics.livejournal.com/banewulf/pic/000h7rtd part 2. http://pics.livejournal.com/banewulf/pic/000h8yza part 3. http://pics.livejournal.com/banewulf/pic/000h9g8g part 4. http://pics.livejournal.com/banewulf/pic/000hatat So it's been a whole new year, and I shoot off another note to him. http://pics.livejournal.com/banewulf/pic/000h664p Now, what REALLY bothers me about this. I know he read my note. He just chooses not to respond to me. (Furaffinity notes clear of unread status, even sent ones). I am piss. I want my money back, but if I'm being totally ignored, what else can I do? Friends suggested I post here. I don't want anyone else to have to go through this. It's really lame. ? proof of original transaction: http://pics.livejournal.com/banewulf/pic/000hd2bk

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: March 8th, 2011 EXPLAIN: So, as you can see in the link, I commissioned for a custom of their adoptables quite some time ago. I was much rather wanting them to include that one in their next batch, so I could purchase it then when it was actually done, but I went on to commission it as a custom since I doubt they'd do otherwise. Only once since then have I ever received any sort of update, seen here: So, okay, I was cool with that. Sure it'd be a little over a month, but that wasn't too long right? Next day? Nothing. Day after that? Nothing. All the way up 'til today, and I've still received no news. I've sent them a note recently on February 22nd, which has indeed been read, just asking on how it was coming, and I have not received a response. I believe they were out of town or state for a while around Christmas time, but they've been posting their own stuff, and for a custom adoptable that really is only a recolor of old lineart? I really didn't want to have to write anything about anyone on here, but this getting ridiculous, and I'm still waiting of icons from another artist that someone just recently posted. Any suggestions of how I could ask for a refund without coming off as rude or whatnot? I'm rather worried I'll just end up being ignored though, as I already have once. |:

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: March 15th, 2011 WHO: Shon Howell / king_cheetah WHERE: Furaffinity / Deviantart WHAT: Commssion work and Retail book (two different things) WHEN: May 2009 and October 2009 till current PROOF: I originally contacted Shon Howell for a commission based on a comic I was working on. and was responded to almost immediately. I sent payment immediately, Shon was known for cranking out work like mad. And let him know EXPLAIN: After a month without hearing anything at all (including receipt of payment), I sent him a note to make sure that he had all the info he needed. And got a "Working on it note" And then nothing. Not for a while. I sent out a couple of pokes (notes and shouts, unfortunately, the shouts aren't available to screencap) just to see where he was on it. This note is still listed as "unread". 2 emails went unanswered. I received a response on Sept 23rd 2010 (almost a year since my commission) saying he had sketches and would be finishing them up soon, but I never heard anything after that. Even a quick note 3 months later resulted in nothing (This too is unread) I like to think that I'm fairly patient with things. I don't mind if artwork is late, but I'd like to be kept informed, especially if I've paid in advance. However, this is not the only problem I've had with Shon Howell/King_Cheetah. One of his comics, done with Phil Gibson (who is an awesome guy, really), had their first book printed back in May of 09, and I ordered a copy. Phil, as a favor, signed it and sent it with postage included to Shon, to be signed and shipped. It's, to my knowledge, never been shipped. (Receipt for the book follows) During this entire time Shon's been posting art on his FA, he's got his up and down times, but he's been posting fairly regularly. Conclusion: Beware. Shon Howell is a lousy communicator, and you'd do much better working with just about _anyone_ else. Getting updates out of him is like pulling teeth, and getting anything you've paid for is exponentially harder. Edited to fix broken image names