Artist Beware: Somber (FA)

[scalpelkitty.livejournal.com]

WHO: Somber

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

WHAT: I commissioned her for a fully done DIGITAL couple piece to be done as a gift for a friend. Which means this it was to be fully rendered - Two characters, full color and shades and background.

WHEN: Payment was sent up-front. I paid her the full payment of $30.00 on August 31, 2013.

PROOF: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/trans_zpsb3902c76.png
http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/screencap_zps85f7b748.png

EXPLAIN: She and I have been friends for a while and I had asked her if it'd be alright to commission her for a gift I wanted to get for a friend. She agreed to do it and told me to send the payment of $30.00 to her. And just out of the blue today she told me she could not do my commission. I asked her why and she stated "I have my reasons" so I said I understood, but still I was baffled. I had asked for my money back since she didn't even go as far as a rough sketch. She said "I don't do refunds." Then I found out she took offense because I do not like what she likes. I do not agree that personal likes should affect what you're paid to do from a client. And I honestly think it's unfair for me that I cannot be refunded my money. $30 to most people IS a large chunk out of their wallets - in this case, MY wallet. I then went to file a dispute on Paypal, but they were unable to do it. So, now I'm out $30.00 and nothing that came out of it.


EDIT: She has refunded my 30. Please tag as resolved.

Comments

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

While I approved this post (as it's legit), I'm gonna ask you to possibly remove the bit about Homestuck. It's irrelevant to this beware and there's no actual proof that it's the reason for the artist to cancel your commission. So if you could cut that out, it'd be great thanks! Everything from " During the time..." to "d I still did not like it." is what I'd like removed.

Also, it's really -really- crummy of her to cancel without a refund, and I don't even think legally she can do that. I'd suggest calling Paypal as they are great over the phone!

[scalpelkitty.livejournal.com]

Fixed the post.

[chronidu.livejournal.com]

So if I'm understanding, the artist accepted the commission, you paid, had a disagreement, and then the artist stated they could not complete the commission.

The Artist then refused to refund you for the incomplete commission?

Is there any reason for this that they gave?

Also out of curiosity why weren't you able to dispute the payment? Did you send it as gift?

[scalpelkitty.livejournal.com]

I sent it as a gift because at the time, I didn't know there was a difference between Gifting and other options.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

Did you try calling Paypal? Sometimes you can get them to refund that way.

[evan-balot.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Look at his newest journal!

"I will not refund you if you anger me and I decide NOT to do your picture. - Reason behind this is cause I waste my time on a picture, Not you."

Beware well warranted.

*Edit, cuz I copied more than I wanted to.

[korth.livejournal.com]

I can't even begin to wrap my head around this artists logic. I'm sorry you had to go through this, I wish I had advice to offer. Hopefully this warning will keep others from commissioning them at least.. ):

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

Skip Paypal. Go straight to your bank to see if they can do a chargeback. I'm sorry you're going through this. Yet another example of someone who should NOT be doing commission work if they don't understand what theft is.

[mazz.livejournal.com]

This see if your bank will issue a charge back.

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

Along with this I suggest checking with your bank first, just like Paypal they have a time limit on how long you can wait until you can't file a chargeback (and even then some will still do it, then charge you for the same amount they refunded you for).

[vellacraptor.livejournal.com]

Please please please do this. And don't ever, EVER send payment as a gift. :) It's bad for the artist and you, and against paypal's rules.

Her ToS angers me to no end as well...omigosh she's basically saying 'pay me for art, but if I decide not to do your art no refunds.'

[kasune.livejournal.com]

OP, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I hate to be the bubble-buster but sometimes it's best not to commission or do business with people you are friends with.

I try to avoid doing business with friends because sometimes people do not know that business is business. It must always be separate from personal life or acquaintance.

Also, that ToS would not be upheld in court. If the artist didn't do the art, she owes you a refund.
In the future make sure to send payment as a service and not a gift. :(

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

Stepping in to say I've done tons of business with friends and never once had an issue! I tell my friends straight up business and friendship differ, while working with, or for them, they know that!

I treat it like any other commission. Don't know friends just because they are friends! This person seems like they would have been a hassle to work with regardless if you knew them or not, based on that TOS.

[torch-tiger.livejournal.com]

So she does not refund if she gets angry, and is apparently easy to anger. She must make a lot of money for very little work.

[evan-balot.livejournal.com]

That's right! The way it's written, it's she can just get the money and say. "You know what? Your face pisses me off. You've seen my ToS, right? You make me angry and get no picture. I'll keep the money though."

I'm aware that's an extreme, but that's the scene I'm getting in my head when I look at it.

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

beware warranted. That's really not cool that she just took your money and decided not to do your art. That's theft and certainly not good business practice. Also this is another reason to NEVER GIVE MONEY THROUGH GIFTS unless you are just giving it as a gift and not expecting anything back.

long time watcher, rare time commenter

[spiritlobo.livejournal.com]

because WOW. This logic just mystifies me.

Sorry this happened to you Scalpelkitty, that's really jerky. Totally agreeing with celestinaketzia, the fact that this person would run away with 30 of your dollars because you don't like the same thing they like is just shameful.

[0acorn0.livejournal.com]

I don't know if anyone saw this yet:
http://oi44.tinypic.com/1d7cl.jpg

Horrendous attitude.

[evan-balot.livejournal.com]

Extremely horrendous.

Are there any actions that can be taken by FA?

[xubunturambles.livejournal.com]

Wow. This artist has some serious attitude and maturity adjustments to make.

[evan-balot.livejournal.com]

Just a head's up. I may not be an admin/moderator of either this community or FA, but I will suggest that you not leave harassing shouts on her page. It really does not help the situation, especially if you're from here. I've seen people from here get suspended for doing that.

[scalpelkitty.livejournal.com]

I would like to add, though I regret not being able to save screenshots. My family member confronted her on her FA TOS journal. She replied very nasty and told him I was a liar and that I ripped HER off. Why? Because she 'gave me' discounts. Okay, first of all. I'd like to clear that up. She made me two gift arts in the past and a discount because I fell hard on financial problems. Which was nice of her at the time. Yet, she's saying I ripped HER off. The whole POINT of gift art is that it's a gift. You want nothing in return for it. So, I ripped HER off because she gave me gift art? Ouch. Then she went on to insult my family member.

By the way, I did go to my bank. However, they said they'd charge me for it back. And I live on a $200 check once a month. So, I don't think that would help me much.

EDIT: And I just saw the "White Knighting" screenshot of her journal. I'm not harassing her, I'm not complaining or ruining her "business." And oh, apparently all my friends hate me because of her likes? LOL. No. That's not true at all. =/

[thaily.livejournal.com]

It's not a discount if you don't get what you paid for.

[totschrei.livejournal.com]

I wonder where they ran off to.
I do not want to commission someone with that attitude!!

[evan-balot.livejournal.com]

From the edit posted, it looks like she ran off to a bank so that she can refund her the 30$ and end her nightmare. :D

[syrae-universe.livejournal.com]

As a professional artist (Well... far more professional than I was in my younger years of being commissioned), I told scalpelkitty that this was theft. And since there were not many options left, the advice I could only give was to forewarn other commissioners regarding this particular artist... by posting this up here on Artists Beware.

Because it was highly immature to just refuse to continue a commission, let alone refund, over just a dislike of a particular topic. Friendship/likes and Professionalism has a fine line. Don't remove that line. Know your boundaries. Because if we're allowed to do that, then the simplest things could offend someone and they would be allowed to outright refuse service to another. But it doesn't work that way.

I have friends who are my frequent commissioners. They know me well, I know them well. Even there are dislikes of certain things towards each other, we don't let it get in the way of business. As it should be. If you can't keep things separate and in order, then why are you allowing your work to be purchased?

Hopefully this will be a lesson learned to understand what's acceptable and what's not. To learn how to be professional, learn from your mistakes, apologize, and better yourself as a businessman/businesswoman.

[scalpelkitty.livejournal.com]

I would like to give a HUGE thank you to everyone: My family, friends and other commissioners for their help and support. This is greatly appreciated and I am grateful to have so many awesome people in my life. <3

Thank you SO, SO much!

[cursethespring.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to dig up a dead horse here, but I know the artist and that's not actually what happened. As I understand it, the artist had finished the piece except for the background when the OP decided to go with a different artist and asked for her money back. The artist only did not want to give the money back because the work had been put into it. She'd even shown what she was doing and had gotten approval for the piece every step of the way, and that time was already gone.

After being harassed, though, she decided the money wasn't worth it and decided to refund the money and write the time and effort she put on a piece that was, as previously established, two characters in full color (sans background at that point) as a complete loss.

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

The artist is always welcome to come here and refute the OP's claims with proof of their own.

[scalpelkitty.livejournal.com]

I would like to add some screencaps of a conversation she and I got into on the night I posted this up. I apologize for the delay due to IRL events. But here they are:

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som1_zpsf1a2e627.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som2_zpsc67feb56.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som3_zpsd7450f96.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som4_zps5860d496.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som5_zps9d1af523.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som6_zpscce8bc9e.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som7_zps20395e5b.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som8_zpsf25b4226.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som9_zpsbcdfc12b.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som10_zpsb5ec498d.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som11_zps9a7a220b.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som12_zps9eb0def4.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som13_zps9b4f8a0e.png~original

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som14_zpscaf25296.png~original

http://s1296.photobucket.com/user/LaRougeVampire/media/ScreenCaps/Som15_zpsee7dbb13.png.html?sort=3&o=1

And this is her reaction AFTER my family member contacted her.

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/LaRougeVampire/ScreenCaps/Som16_zpsdc932900.png~original

[yuki-fox-demon.livejournal.com]

I don't really need to see anything more to know how very unprofessional this artist has been acting. I'm not sure any amount of proof on their part is going to get them out of this one at this point, sadly. Even if you HAD said these things about her, that was no excuse to act that way. If it were me, my first course of action would have been to verify, with a screencap, not a copy/paste, of what you supposedly said to that friend of mine and not have gone by word alone. When she came to you, instead of acting civil and getting your side of the story, it's apparent she just immediately believed what was supposedly said and decided that was grounds to cancel your commission without refund. What REALLY bothers me is the part where she excuses her actions by saying it's not theft if it's in her rules (No, that's still theft, because her ToS does not abide by the law), yet when she originally told you she wasn't going to do your commission, she was afraid she upset you.

Thank you for posting those, OP. They've definitely shown a lot more light on the situation.

[adzuki.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that this is resolved, but it's awful when people think 'no refund' policies are okay when nothing has been completed or even started. That's nothing short of stealing.