Beware: DustyTheMare

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

WHO: FurAffinity user ‘DustyTheMare’ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dustythemare (has since then disabled her user page and notes, making it impossible to contact her)


WHERE: FurAffinity


WHAT: A $25 digital full-body colored commission of two characters (a horse and its rider).


WHEN: It began June 14th, 2013, when I noted the artist and agreed to pay for it that day. Sent follow-up notes in July, August, September, and November, only to be declined each time with no sign of forward progress on the commission.


PROOF: June 14: I note Dusty about the commission for the first time. The initial series of notes went well. She agreed to draw the horse and rider for $25 to which I obliged. She also agreed to start as soon as she received payment.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/note1.png
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/paypal.png

July 8: I receive no feedback from her for 3 weeks. I sent her a follow-up note asking her when she’ll begin. She says she’ll begin once her laptop and Paint Tool Sai is fixed.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/note2.png

August 22: I send her a second follow-up note asking about the commission. She cites a journal she posted a while ago (that I unfortunately missed due to having 600+ watches) stating that her laptop and tablet are still broken. She offers a traditional commission instead but preferring the digital commission instead, I choose to be patient even longer so that her stuff can be fixed.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/note3.png

September 23: Losing patience, I send a third follow-up note, asking about her laptop/tablet situation and for a possible refund. She denies being able to refund or get her laptop/tablet back soon, again offering a traditional commission that I do not want and asking that I be patient.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/note4.png

November 7: Here I go with the fourth follow-up note, hoping to get somewhere with the commission. A volley of notes ensue. First, someone by the name of ‘Mystic’ replies, describing Dusty as lazy and irresponsible. I reply with a rather stark message to this Mystic person, telling her that I’m losing my patience and threatening an Artists Beware post about Dusty due to given the run-around by many artists like this before. Next, Dusty herself replies admitting guilt but not changing her tune whatsoever--no laptop, no refund, please bear with me, etc. I tone down my frustration, decline the traditional commission, and ask for the refund, to which she says she can’t due to unemployment.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/note5.png

November 10-ish: Feeling I overstepped my bounds a little, I wait a few days to reply to her last note, giving her an ultimatum of one week to draw or refund the commission. Unfortunately, in the meantime she has both disabled her FA page AND notes, making it supremely difficult to get in touch with her. She has also deleted any journals pertaining to her laptop woes before I could screencap them.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/no_userpage.png
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h116/eric43/Business/no_notes.png


EXPLAIN: TLDR: I bought a commission from Dusty. She said she can work on it as soon as she received payment. Yet for five months, she has either given me no feedback or deflected blame by claiming her laptop is broken and that she has no money for refunds. After grilling her, she disappears from FA with no way for me to contact her and no WIPs to show for it.

As of November 15th, I don’t know what to do besides report her to Artists Beware. I’m disappointed by how confident she seemed from the original conversation (“I’ll begin once I receive payment”) but now…I don’t know what to say. At least I get some solace out of posting this. Thanks for your time.

Comments

[clockmagic.livejournal.com]

Terribly sorry this has happened to you. She is making a new character and name for when she comes back to FA (same grey, white, black horse just different design). She should be reachable on FB as I know an acquaintance of mine talks to her on there if you happen to have an account.

[lunar-orchids.livejournal.com]

She hasn't left fa and is still using her dustythemare account. I ran into her yesterday trying to buy/trade adopts with another artist. Ill have to look to see if I can refind the post though...

[clockmagic.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't know that. I don't follow her activity so once I heard her FA account was disabled I never looked back on it.

[lunar-orchids.livejournal.com]

I didn't either honestly. I stumbled upon her in someone's adopt trade journal the other day and scratched my head about it. Because last I heard she was "leaving fa" but apparently she's jus disabling her front page and still using her account. Her last gallery upload was Nov 1st. I can't seem to find the journal with her activity in it though but I remember the post date of her comment was Nov 14th. Ill try to keep looking though but I think the person took it down...

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

It's interesting if she's still out and about spending money on adopted characters! Seriously, if you have proof of her spending money, I'd like to see it.

You can still keep tabs on her gallery and journals here (although there's nothing to see):
http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/dustythemare/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journals/dustythemare/

You can circumvent a disabled userpage by going to the links for the gallery/journals/etc instead...

[thefancyhorse.livejournal.com]

https://www.facebook.com/SilverStarPony?fref=ts
This is what her old FB url has led to (it was originally linked on her FA page, so this was publicly available.)

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1456126_497719940335185_926214274_n.jpg

This is the new character, apparently.

[pixen (clarity) (from livejournal.com)]

She is also on Deviantart trying to make money.

[gatekat.livejournal.com]

You might be able to contact her via her paypal e-mail, since you have that.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

That's not a bad idea. Though in a nutshell, the only thing I can tell her is "give me my money back," which I doubt she'll reply to. I don't even want the art anymore. I'd like to give my $25 to another artist that deserves it more.

[gatekat.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately it's well past the Paypal deadline to contest it.
Still, it can't hurt to try, can it?

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

I've never contested a PayPal payment yet so this is new... I can certainly try but I sent an email to her PayPal address so we'll see how that goes first. :)

[canilupine.livejournal.com]

If it's beyond 45 days, Paypal won't do anything, unfortunately.

[orangemonsterco.livejournal.com]

She has a very, VERY bad track record of this and other things. I'm really sorry you had to do this.

[corghi.livejournal.com]

Dusty is... not trustworthy to say the least. She's infamous for tracing various things and trying to sell them off. I confronted her about selling a traced photo and marking it off as a YCH and she was pretty rude, denying it, especially with screen caps and overlays in-toe.

This kind of behaviour seriously doesn't surprise me, she posts pity-me journals on the daily, and doesn't seem to get anything done except for personal art anymore.

I'm really sorry this happened to you and hopefully she will get the art done or refund you. :(

I really don't know why people spend the money they made immediately after they get it? I never EVER spend the money I make from commissions until I have the art all done, or have a means to give a refund need-be. Ugh. So frustrating.

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Also that beware about the tracing is right here. Though I am surprised this beware is not tagged with the other one months ago.
http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/681974.html

[socks-the-fox.livejournal.com]

RE: Your last line there I'm amazed PayPal doesn't have some kind of escrow service yet. Such a thing would solve so many problems it's disappointing there's not one in place already.

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

There have been attempts, but the 25% fees I saw drove me away, and now those websites don't seem to be around anymore.
Everyone has to get paid in that situation and most artists and customers don't want anyone else taking their cut as well.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

Now that I read what everyone's saying, I feel like such a dummy getting involved with her, like I deserved it somehow. I missed her first AB post (not sure how). I discovered her from a watcher who recommended that I commission her for a horse drawing. It was shady at first but she seemed eager to work on it right away so I caved, plus I had a lot of money at the time (unlike now where I have to scrape change together to buy a decent commission).

At least you guys are here to help so thanks a bunch. Hopefully two AB posts will convince her to change her tune... >_>

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

she has a very very bad reputation.

good luck! :(

[makafur.livejournal.com]

Well glad there a place like A_B that people can check first. This seem so unfortunate

[thefancyhorse.livejournal.com]

She owes money to several people mostly for furry cons and art. I'd be more understanding if she was making any attempt to refund someone, but she's seriously just like " No. I can't. Sorry. " and won't refund or do the art.

Notes between Dusty and a friend in regard to getting paid back: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/thefancyhorse/38940974/4076/4076_original.png
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/thefancyhorse/38940974/5385/5385_original.png
TL;DR "Yes, I owe you, but I can't afford to pay you. Not even payment plans. "

And be careful if you do get a refund. She paid back http://www.furaffinity.net/user/skytea 's boyfriend back for a portion of the money that she owed him for MFF this year. And then she filed a chargeback against him!

Be careful. :/ Be really, really careful.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

Quite an impressive track record she's got there. How she's still up and about in the community with that reputation, I don't know.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll do what I can to get the money back. I've dealt with many too many annoying artists to let this one slip away. It's $25, but it would be a supreme relief to put this mutiny to rest...

[thefancyhorse.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping tabs on her for years. Disappointed she didn't opt to better herself.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

Maybe not in the long term, but a little shock and awe (in the form of a tough love e-mail that I hope she read) could go a long way.

Worst case scenario, she doesn't talk to me again. Might as well play with her like a cat plays with a ball of yarn. Yes I'm being a bit mean, but when you leave a trail of horse manure behind you for this long, someone's gotta crack the whip. :D

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

I understand that you're frustrated, but please watch the language. It's getting close to insults, and those aren't permitted on A_B.

[alpharaye.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think tough love would go anywhere with her.
It's just not gonna sink in.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

I don't even think she'll read any notes. I don't think the letter I sent to her Paypal email was read either. :\

Assuming that my message gets across to her... I'm not cursing at her, I'm simply reaffirming my belief that she is a thief and should be approached with this. If she wants to slip away from the computer and go into hiding, fine, but I'm going to tell her that there are many people onto her and her elusive ways, to stop acting like a hard-luck case, and to man up and pay the money. Doubt she'll care but anything to send a message or at least loosen her up to it.

If you guys know where she is, we need to confront her, I probably can't do this alone. Otherwise, she's just going to steal money from more people which I obviously don't want to see happen. I also put in a trouble ticket to the FA admins to warn them about the litany of problems she has and see if they do anything about it at all, even give her a warning or something to potentially scare her, I hope.

[skytea27.livejournal.com]

After an insane amount of badgering we managed to get half of what she owes him back. But that was only by physically running into her at a local anime con. Not to mention when she saw us she tried to bolt but we cornered her and she caved. We intend to get the full amount she owed him in the first place now.

[thefancyhorse.livejournal.com]

How frustrating. :/

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Just want to step in and mention - It's NEVER okay to physically corner, harass, or stalk someone at a convention. Confronting them and firmly asking about a situation is one thing, but cornering someone who's running from you? No. That's absolutely not okay. Go through the proper (legal) channels to obtain the cash, don't use bully tactics as that's possibly going to land you or someone else in hot water.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Man, what legal channels? Unless losses are in the $1000s there's little to no legal recourse that isn't more expensive than the returns, not to mention incredibly time consuming.

A little IRL consequences to their scams, at the very places they are scamming (ie, cons)? Can't say I think that's bad. Not violence of course, but approaching someone at a con and not letting them just shrug it off/ avoid? Pffft.

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

The key word Neolucky was responding to here was "cornered".

YES you should be able to confront someone, but CORNERING them is a bully tactic.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

You don't need to have lost $1000's to apply for small claims court. In many cases you pay nothing, and the charged pays your small legal fees. It's annoying, sure, but absolutely a legal option instead of hunting down someone who's running and cornering them at a convention. That is not a safe, nor sane, way to go about getting money back. I'm not exactly sure why you're defending this.

I said confronting them is absolutely fine. Cornering them is not. Again, bullying and cornering is NOT OKAY, and no amount of "pffft" is going to excuse that sort of behavior.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Small claims court doesn't work well if both are not in the same area.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Out-of-state residents can successfully be sued in-state if you manage to serve them with court papers while they're physically within your state's borders and if the dispute arose in your state. - So instead of cornering, file the papers and serve them to her at a convention instead.

Still no excuse to confront, bully, chase, and harass a person regardless of what they've done/scammed.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

I feel like you're assuming a lot about exactly what happened; I wasn't there so I can't defend or condemn it. I have the impression "cornering" meant "will have to do something vaguely socially awkward to disengage", such as make it clear she is actively avoiding the person she owes. But I dunno, and I've said my piece; that a certain amount of confrontation is reasonable.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

" Not to mention when she saw us she tried to bolt but we cornered her and she caved."

Someone who tries to run when being confronted, and then cornered until 'caving' sounds a bit more severe to me then a simple confrontation. Cornering is not a general blanket term for "hey I awkwardly asked someone a thing". Cornering is... Cornering.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, we seemed to read the post differently is all. We're OT anyways, heh.

[alpharaye.livejournal.com]

Best of luck man, she's a local and quite unreliable in almost everything I have ever encountered her in.


You could always try giving PP a call and see if they won't help you out. Or if you have your PP connected to your credit card and pay that way, you might be able to reverse the charge with you CC company and go from there.

And an FYI Mystic is/was her mate. Who knows what has happened between those two.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I never had to resort to contacting PayPal until now so this is new to me. If I can somehow get a refund on a 5-month old transaction, then the option remains on the table if she continues to be stubborn. :)

Also, that answers the Mystic question, heh.

[alpharaye.livejournal.com]

Well, it seems PP is more helpful over the phone. And like I said, if your PP is connected to your credit card [which I would advise if possible] then you could possibly go the route of disputing the charge with you CC company. They tend to rule in your favor alot of the time and are helpful.

Glad to try to help.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

My PayPal is connected to my debit card. I tried doing the resolution online--didn't work because Paypal sucks. I can call them but what do I say? That I bought artwork from an artist who didn't draw it? After all, it's not a good idea to make Paypal aware to the fact you're using their services to buy furry artwork, right?

[alpharaye.livejournal.com]

I would try calling PP first and stating that you purchased work from an artist but never received it. It is a service that wasn't fulfilled.
If that doesn't get you anywhere, your debit card SHOULD have a Visa or MC symbol on it. Call your bank and tell them you want to issue a chargeback. You have rights as a used of Visa/MC as far as guarantee of service for payment.

[totschrei.livejournal.com]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SilverStarPony
Here is here new twitter. You can try there.

Edit: I also found her FB but I think that is her real name.
So I won't post that link here.

[norsepaw.livejournal.com]

She is going after fursuit again, I am feeling sorry for the fursuit builder who might know who they are dealing with.

[phantomfullforc.livejournal.com]

Do you think you can alert the suit maker about this? If she's out buying adopts and taking commissions, can anyone track her down?

Also her new Twitter hasn't been used for over a week, I doubt she reads anything on that either.

[canilupine.livejournal.com]

From what her former roommate has told me, Dusty's mate, Mystic.soulstar on FA, has forced Dusty to disable her FA page, change her phone number, and reads through every piece of correspondence she recieves (Facebook messages, FA notes, emails, etc). Long story short, he's abusive and controlling, and there's a LOT of drama involved.

I'd avoid ever commissioning Dusty until she gets her life in order, which may not be for several years, if at all.