Digitt/HinaUchi - Commissioners beware!

[goddessofmadnes.livejournal.com]

(My boyfriend originally posted this, but was told that since I commissioned the artist, I needed to be the one to post this. Most of the content remains the same from the original post, with some sections as appropriate. Please let me know if anything needs to be fixed, mods!)

I realize that the onus was on me for not researching Digitt (also known as Hinauchi) ahead of time before commissioning her; it is my hope that by writing this and spreading the word in an appropriate manner I can help educate other commissioners so that they can make an informed decision on their own.

WHO: Digitt/HinaUchi (same user)

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/digitt/

WHAT: Chibi Commission auction (2 characters), valued at $30 (Payment proof:

WHEN: Payment made July 18th, 2013 - August 27th (date A_B article was written)

PAYMENT EVIDENCE: http://i.imgur.com/wydjAAE.png

(CONTINUE FOR SCREENCAPS/EXPLANATION)



http://i.imgur.com/jHS7G3j.png

(The link is of all the notes sent to Digitt - no responses from Digitt are shown because none were ever received. We never received any response communication from her until the day after the A_B post was made on FA.)

As an intended "surprise" for my boyfriend after a particularly rough week he had, I commissioned Digitt for a 2-character chibi piece, valued at $30. (Payment proof: http://imgur.com/wydjAAE) As the first note shows, she expressed that she would try to get it done "asap" to help his week improve.

In the time that passed, both from asking for updates and eventually requesting a refund, we never heard back once from Digitt regarding the commission.

On August 23rd, my boyfriend sent a notification to Digitt asking for this to be resolved, via a Shout.

http://i.imgur.com/6bl7Joa.png

Digitt responded with her own Shout, informing us that the 'finished' piece would be sent that evening:

http://i.imgur.com/euOfl5i.png

3 days passed from that point, and neither of us had yet to see either a progress piece, or a finished one. In the meantime, Digitt had also posted a journal excusing her disappearance for an entire month as being due to an FA suspension.

http://i.imgur.com/DL3gfoq.png



As one of the earlier images shows, my boyfriend warned Digitt that unless either a refund or the promised finished piece was sent by midnight on the 26th, he/I would be posting this. Based on you reading this, you can guess how that turned out.

There's not much else to say about this. A piece was ordered, payment was made, nothing ever came about, and Digitt was either unresponsive or outright ignoring attempts to get our money back or just what we paid for. It was only after multiple requests to get what we paid for, and after writing/posting this Artist Beware entry, that we received the completed commission.

IMPORTANT: We DID eventually get the finished piece, but it was given to us only after PommyN64 had written up and publicly posted the A_B entry on his own journal. Prior to that journal being posted, neither of us could get any response from Digitt besides her Shout I linked to above. Obviously I have no sure way to confirm if the two events are linked, but the receipt of the commission came in less than a few hours after the Beware post went up, and according to Pommy Digitt also pressured him over Skype within the same timeframe about 'stirring up drama' for her by writing that post.

Commission this user at your own risk. She appears to have an extensive history of drama, missing/incomplete commissions, and general immaturity.

Comments

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Well this is not surprising since there at least two other bewares on this person at least one is still not unresolved. Though since Digitt is hinauchi wouldn't the tags be added to the already existing hinauchi tag.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Ah you are correct, I will fix that.

[poizenkat.livejournal.com]

You may want to add a cyanbirddog tag for her DA name!

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Oh and there's something else that I've noticed her SFW account Birdog. (which you can see on the front page.) is suspended. So wouldn't that mean the main account is evading a ban?

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

There is no "Birdog" account on FA. Please do not suggest alternate accounts unless you have absolute proof it is the same person. If you feel she's evading a ban, it's best to contact FA admins about this.

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

Geez, will she never learn?

[mazz.livejournal.com]

In her latest journal is seems someone else is waiting for work: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4983802/#cid:35593454

It sucks to see artists just ignore those kind of posts like the person waiting for their aren't isn't worth an explanation.

(frozen comment)

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

- A month is not an incredibly long time to wait, I feel you were being impatient.

- You guilt tripped the artist with your personal financial problems when asking for a refund. This is uncool. Artists are not banks and you should have no need to explain your money problems in this fashion. A simple "I'd like a refund" really would suffice.

- Your boyfriend has nothing to do with this transaction, he should not be the one to contact Digitt whether in journal format, note, skype or email. He should NOT have posted that beware-journal in his fa either.

- The artist was suspended during some of the duration of your commission, you could have shown a bit more leniency to time constraint.

- And lastly, there was no initial agreement of when the image would be finished. "Asap" does not = "a week". You didn't make it clear when you wanted it, which in turn gave the artist somewhat free reign. So to put sudden time expectations on this commission was not the nicest thing to do as a customer.

In the end, Digitt should have contacted you regarding it and certainly this behavior is bewareable - but as a customer? You could have done some things much better.

(frozen comment)

[pommyn64.livejournal.com]

I understand that it was not my place to do any of this in my s/o's stead, and I will fully agree that if she was that bothered by the experience she should have been the one to write it. I fully attribute that to the fact that I am more easily driven to action and less passive than she is at times, and if that was cause for fault in this I apologize.

I will, however, defend my choice to update/place the post on FA as I did. Not all FurAffinity members are aware of/are members of A_B, and conversely not all A_B members have FA accounts. It is my place to decide what content I choose to post on my FA journal so long as it is within guidelines, just as it is the mods' decisions here what content to approve as long as it follows YOUR guidelines. My intent was to make as many people within that community aware as possible.

EDIT: I have in fact been thanked in said post for making a user aware of the issue, which may not have been the case were it only visible here.

(Edited solely to add additional content: NO existing content was revised or removed)

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I am going to ask you to calm down before commenting further. The beware is valid, just some people may disagree with some of your behaviour as well. As long as they express it civilly, that's okay for people to do, and leaving a dramatic comment like this isn't really going to help.

If you disagree with someone's opinion on your actions, that's alright too. But a simple 'Agree to disagree' should be more than enough.

[fauxfaia.livejournal.com]

Not a *single* acknowledgment for a whole month? Not even a sketch? For CHIBIS? What the deuce. That's ridiculous. I don't care if they were suspended, a whole month of radio silence without even a single line to show for it is unacceptable. They can't even play on the excuse that they were suspended, your contact info is on the PayPal statements/receipts. Beware well warranted.

[0acorn0.livejournal.com]

FYI a lot of people use spam filter emails and junk emails for their paypals. My old paypal email was an account I didn't have access to for years before I was finally able to change it.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

OP, it is against our rules to delete comments, please read our rules on our profile page.

[goddessofmadnes.livejournal.com]

Look. I have had a bad week. Just delete this whole post. I don't care anymore. Please.

[maxi.livejournal.com]

Hina has a long history of drama but Neolucky pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say on the issue. Next time leave out the personal junk because it does come off as you trying to guilt trip the artist into a refund (whether or not that was your intent is beside the point) and from what I've seen no where was a deadline mentioned - ASAP does mean as soon as possible and coupled with her being suspended during some of the month you had to wait, it does comes off as being impatient.

And for the record, you two aren't making yourselves look any better :/ Beware well warranted for all three.

[negawolfie.livejournal.com]

I noticed you written about how the artwork should be delivered on the 26th. I don't think you noticed that she had her tablet broken on the 17th, now I am not saying this to defend her just wanted to give some info on what was missed because Samm is more active on Deviant Art than she is on FA.
As seen here for proof http://cyanbirddog.deviantart.com/journal/tablet-is-broken-394076005

She just started borrowing her friend's tablet and her last submission was posted 20th of this month as seen here: http://cyanbirddog.deviantart.com/art/CO-TrikSilverwolf-394762838

[skittlewolf.livejournal.com]

Since they deleted their account, does that mean this post will be deleted too?

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

More then likely, as it takes time before LJ nukes the account entirely (30 days I think?), It's been archived in case they do not return to the account.

[cathzcathz.livejournal.com]

I've made a post on HinaUchi in December 2012. But my wait for my art was around five or six months. She's very unorganized, takes too many commissions to handle and they pile up. Just really unprofessional, I received my commission a little after I made the post here.

Neolucky, if you're reading, can you mark my post as resolved. Please.

Just wanted to express my experience with working with her. I wouldn't work with her again, seems like she's still not changed.

Still, rude to be guilt tripping an artist. You could of handled this a bit better and being patient during her suspension. Did you try contacting her on her Tumblr during the suspension? Looking through it, she seems really active on it.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Can and will do right now!

[poizenkat.livejournal.com]

wow I'll have to say you were being VERY impatient. A month isn't long to wait, I was actually pretty sure that around three months was the average? Has been for me, anyhow.

but on her, I commissioned her on cyanbirddog on DA for a piece for my friend's birthday. I was lucky enough to get it just on time for her birthday (in fact she finished it in a week!) but there was a small thing she missed on the reference. It took a bit of poking to get her to fix that. I notice that she has a tendency to read notes and not respond to them, which is a really bad idea for commissions.

[ducttapeninja.livejournal.com]

While I'm not particularly fond of Hinauchi given her past history, I am... not entirely won over by the OP either, both for her impatience with the artist (as Neolucky has already explained in far better detail than I could) as well as her behavior in this post.

yeesh

[xubunturambles.livejournal.com]

Hm. Beware warranted, but honestly seeing how the op acted towards the artist and the peeps in the community, i'd say this is a huge buyer beware more than anything.

edited for typo

[blaze-ignitus.livejournal.com]

This actually serves just as much as a beware for Digitt as well as for the OP and her boyfriend.

I'm sorry it had to come to an AB post to get what was wanted, but I have to agree with Neolucky on the fact that giving the whole tuition business wasn't a fair business move on the OP's part. It does ready very much as guilt tripping, but there's also more to it: Digitt isn't responsible for the OP's spending of money that would have been needed for tuition. Priorities must be set first and foremost; bills for things like car insurance, health insurance, tuition or what have you take immense priority over art, which is a luxury.

Hopefully this serves as another lesson not only to artists but also to commissioners: be thrifty, be smart with your money and spend only what you can afford to spend.