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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/845464.html Who: Thera Where: FurAffinity: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thera/ Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~thera Deviant Art: http://theramutt.deviantart.com/ What: 1. Animated Icon ($15 CAD) – One slot of several offered for animated icon. (Link to FA note) 2. 1-Character Digital, Soft-Shaded ($50 CAD) – Part of “Black Friday” commission sale. Subject was a SFW portrait of my werewolf character Vaarak. (Link to FA note) 3. 2-Character Digital, Cell-Shaded ($80 CAD) – Part of “Black Friday” commission sale. Subject was an NSFW kink picture of Zaelgolin and Sabre Dragon. (Link to FA note) *Note that Thera has since deleted all journals and comments referencing the above sales. When: 1. Animated Icon: Paid in full Nov 19, 2014, no progress of any kind to date. 2. 1-Character Digital: Paid in full Nov 27, 2014, no progress of any kind to date. 3. 2-Character Digital: Paid in full Nov 29, 2014. Requested a completion date of Feb 14, 2015 to be a valentine’s gift. The date was agreed to (link to FA note), but was missed with no progress. It was after this time I requested a refund for all three commissions. Thera responded by saying she could not offer any refunds, but would complete both this and the single-character commission during the following week (link to FA note). This date was also missed with no progress. Proof: 1. Link to payment receipt for animated icon ($20 CAD paid) 2. Link to payment receipt for soft-shaded commission ($50 CAD paid) 3. Link to payment receipt for NSFW commission ($80 CAD paid) Note that all of the above receipts are the result of Interac e-Transfers: a money transfer system only available in Canada. Explain: Let it be said that I never wanted to escalate things as a means of dispute resolution. This case is a simple example of an artist not following through on promises. While the above points illustrate the case rather well, I’ll try to give a broad synopsis: Having previously commissioned Thera (and quite liking the results), I jumped when I saw her sale on animated icons. Brief comments were exchanged, the fee paid and I was added to the list. A few days later, I saw Thera open another set of commissions for Black Friday. Having not commissioned any work lately, and really liking her art style, I took two slots: a single-character SFW commission and a two-character NSFW commission. All commissions were paid for in full as shown above. Having paid for the commissions in late November, I was really hoping for at least the NSFW piece to be completed by Valentine’s Day. This date was agreed to, but despite several notes (Note 1, Note 2) requesting updates, the date passed with no progress of any kind. Agitated, I asked for a refund. Thera apologized, but said she could not offer any refunds. In recompense, she assured me the drawing would be completed within a week, and even offered to do another piece for free. Giving her one last chance, I wanted until the end of the week only to again have the date missed with no progress. A few weeks passed before Thera finally posted an outstanding commissions list (now deleted from FA), dozens and dozens of pieces long. I contacted Thera with my concerns, but she assured me the piece would be completed that same week, and suggested I attend her stream. The date was schedule and I logged in, only to find Thera doing impromptu commissions for others. During the stream, she said she would not be working on any outstanding commissions that night, since she needed to take on new work. It was at this point that I sent a note threatening to post to Artists Beware if I was not refunded. Thera requested my payment details, which I promptly provided. After an additional three weeks of waiting, I have still not been paid, and am left with no recourse but to post my experiences here and hopefully warn other commissioners. Throughout all this, I do want to stress that Thera responded civilly and amicably in all notes, and made numerous promises to set things right. It is just unfortunate that none of these promises were ever fulfilled. Update: I have since been refunded in full for all payments noted above; this beware has been resolved.

Nov. 16, 2012 at 12:53 PM I originally came here seeking advice on the situation, which can be seen here, but it was suggested that I still make the beware because of said person's behavior. This is my first actual beware post, so I apologize if it's done incorrectly. WHO: Thera WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thera/ Though everything happened here on this journal. WHAT: One digital sketch. Here's screen shots of our initial conversation when she first ordered the sketch. Though everything can still be read in the journal I linked above. This is the finished commission. WHEN: November 6th, 2012 until now. PROOF: This is the paypal screenshot showing when she initially sent the eheck. This is the screenshot showing that the echeck failed to send. I sent her a note about the failed echeck asking if she could send it again or perhaps have someone else do it for her. She did reply to my note, which can be seen here, but she also commented on the original commission journal where the transaction took place. All of it can still be read in the journal linked above, but here are screenshots anyways. EXPLAIN: I hope it's alright if I just copy/paste from my advice journal, if not I can edit it. On November 6th, 2012 I opened for $5 sketch commissions and Thera wanted a slot. So we work out all the details, got everything settled and agreed upon. There was a slight bit of confusion on what she wanted at first, but we got that all worked out with no problems. She sent the payment, it was an echeck, and I started her commission. I finished it the next day and she was very happy with it. She even colored it and did a wonderful job at doing so. Now I've /never/ had any problems with echecks clearing so I really didn't think I'd have a problem this time. So like I stated, I did her sketch and finished it the next day. Now on the 14th, of this month, I got an email saying that the echeck failed. I sent a note to Thera asking if she could send it again or maybe have someone else send it for her. She replied saying she wasn't sure why it failed, but this was the second time it happened. She also told me that she wasn't sure why it failed because she had enough to send it, but paypal wouldn't let her send it until she added more money. So she asked me if there was anything else she could give me in exchange and I said no. With pretty large medical/dental debt over my head I really need every penny. A little while later she replied saying that she tried to send it again, got charged a fee, lost $70, and told me to please let her sort out her "financial bullsh*t". She said that this wasn't her fault because she didn't know this would happen. Which I got kind of confused by because she said this wasn't the first time this had happened, but okay, I understand that things happen sometimes. So the next reply I got from her is a story explaining about the last time it happened and her current family/money issues. I proceeded to reply with how I was sorry that her life was falling apart, but it wasn't really fair to me nor did it really concern me because I did the work they paid for, but in the end I didn't get paid. And that maybe she shouldn't commission people if her life is falling apart and she doesn't have money to spend. Honestly at this point I'm trying to be understanding, but it's kind of hard because she's dumping all her life problems on me and they don't concern me. I don't even know her on a personal level. The first time I talked to her was when this transaction started and I haven't contacted her or talked to her up until now. Now from this point on she starts getting kind of nasty with me. She's getting angry/frustrated and keeps using vulgar language towards me when I've been trying to be as calm as possible. Maybe I came off as cold hearted or something, I'm not sure. I mean I do feel bad for her, because honestly it sucks when crap goes down hill, I know, but I've always heard that business transactions should be kept as such. None the less, she tells me that all of this has happened in two days. So I go on to tell her again that I am sorry that her life is falling apart, but it doesn't concern me and she really has no reason to be so angry at me. She says she's not angry at me, that she's just upset in general, which is understandable, but really she shouldn't be taking it out on me. She should calm down and think about it before taking frustrations out on someone else. She has yet to respond to my last comment though. I was originally just going to accept the loss and just take it as a lessoned learned, but she says she still intends to pay me. She said I'd have my money in three days, but we'll see. I won't hold my breathe or anything though. I hope that's okay, I'm not very good at explaining things. 😧 I can edit anything as necessary. EDIT as of November 21th, 2012: I received a payment from taasla paying in place of Thera. I really appreciate it, so thank you again! I guess this can be marked as resolved then.