ugh *UPDATE*

[sainler.livejournal.com]

WHO: CharChar2 on ChickenSmoothie
lady--bug on Deviantart

WHERE: http://lady--bug.deviantart.com/


WHAT: Digital Reference of my fursona.

WHEN: Commissioned on October 6th, 2013.
Trouble started about a week afterwards.

PROOF: Conversation is read from the bottom to the top!

[IMG]http://i61.tinypic.com/mvq25u.png[/IMG]

Also read from bottom to the top!

[IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/qo808x.png[/IMG]

Payment proof:
[IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/1ruflw.png[/IMG]

EXPLAIN:
I commissioned them in October of 2013 to make a digital reference of my fursona. We agreed on the payment pictured above, and yes, pets are a valuable currency on that website.
So, afterwards, I sent Charchar2 a PM with a description of the character. No screenshots of this because at the time, I hadn't seen any red flags. The description was along the lines of, "A cyborg German Shepard with a green belly, black top, and a robotic right forearm." She told me okay, and accepted the trade for the pets, and she'd get started right away.
A few days later she messaged me and showed me the ref. Everything looked good, until I saw that the arm was a normal dog arm. None of the arms or legs were robotic at all. So I replied, told her everything looked good except the right arm was supposed to be robotic. Me, being naive and trusting, didn't take any screencaps still. She apologized, and told me that she'd try and fix it soon but she had other people waiting for commissions and was slightly busy. I was okay with that, and just told her to get it done as soon as she could. I waited for, probably until February of this year. I was quietly stalking her pages, watching her take more and more commissions while hoping that she hadn't forgotten to fix the arm. Still, I got nothing.
A month later, in March, I was getting tired of waiting, so I messaged her and asked if she was ever going to fix the arm. She told me she had no idea what I was talking about and that I was probably confusing her with someone else.
I showed her the trade, and told her what I had commissioned. She apologized and told me she would look through her files and see if she could find the ref and fix it. I told her that was fine, but let me know when she found it.
So I waited again to July. I messaged her and asked her if she was going to redraw it, because I was assuming she hadn't found the file. Thats when that whole conversation occured.

I admit I could have maintained a more calm tone, but I feel very frustrated that a simple fix that could have been easily done in 30 minutes would take over 9 months to tell me she had forgotten about it.


UPDATE
So, after telling me that she traded away the payment and doesnt have the pets anymore... http://i58.tinypic.com/2pzxjec.jpg .
Yep.

I did get my refund, but I don't think I will be commissioning them again.
They're a great artist, as long as your character is mistake proof.

Comments

[duster.livejournal.com]

Never thought I'd see a CS transaction on here.

I think this is more a beware on you than on CharChar. She shouldn't have traded the payment away until it was completed (personally I don't accept trades until the art is finished but to each their own) but you started out passive aggressive and just graduated to rude.

I wouldn't do business with you.

[icedtei.livejournal.com]

I dont necessarily agree? I think OP was a little over the top (which they were aware of) but they had been waiting a year for a simple fix and were blown off at every reminder. I dont know how it isnt a valid beware on the artist if they took a year to fix a commission, never fixed it, didnt have a refund handy, and at certain points admitted they had no idea who OP was?

I do agree OP's behavior was uncalled for but I by no means think the artist behaved properly at all during this transaction

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I agree, the OP was slightly snippy, but I can see why. He paid for something, the artist didn't do much with it for a long time and suddenly his payment is insufficient despite a prior agreement.
I'd get annoyed too if I were in his shoes, the artist should have just sucked it up and done the art since it was her own tepid work ethic that caused the quality/price gap to begin with.

[gatekat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the beware on yourself. If you find anything acceptable about what the artist did, you are one to avoid.

[exo-formicidae.livejournal.com]

to be fair, they did say "more of a beware" on OP rather than the artist. so nothing about that what the artist did was acceptable.

[duster.livejournal.com]

I never said there was anything acceptable about what the artist did. I merely stated that the OP was rude and the artist mishandled payment. I don't see how that is condoning the artist's behavior at all.

[sacch.livejournal.com]

What? But Duster didn't say anything of the sort, just that the OP was rude. Which they were.

Artist was a hell of a lot more rude, but either way OP's behavior rubbed me the wrong way too.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

I think you read waaaaaaaaayyy too much into that comment. I don't think the artist is off the hook here but to be plain, Duster is not the only one finding the OP unapproachable for business.

[sainler.livejournal.com]

The only reason for me being rude and passive-agressive is because this was the 3rd or 4th time i had contacted her about it, and I don't think its okay for them to continually accept commissions and crank out art (within like, 1 week or so.) and me be waiting for 9 months for a simple edit.

I'm sorry you feel like i'm a bad person.

[adzuki.livejournal.com]

9 Months is a long time to wait for a fix and it sounds like the artist didn't have an active list or kept records of their trades/commissions. Their wording on being 'ripped off' could have been better put as they meant creating new work now would be worth more than simply refunding/giving back the pets.

However, that being said, you came off really condescending and passive aggressive, then were flat out rude at the end after the artist said they were going to give you a full refund on the equivalent of the pets.

[roxyfur.livejournal.com]

You were a bit condescending, but I do see why you would be frustrated. You were very patient with them up until the end, and their feelings that they were being "ripped off" would have irritated me a lot as well.

I think that you wouldn't have gotten to the point where you were rude if the artist had just finished the art correctly and in a timely manner. So I feel like this beware is warranted, due to how long it took, and the fact that the artist didn't even remember you at first.

[sacch.livejournal.com]

I'm in understanding of the OP's frustration. While I don't think they should have behaved the way they did, the artist saying they were getting "ripped off" was extremely rude and uncalled for. Way to put guilt on a customer when you (general "you") should have just done what you were paid to do and what you promised to do in the first place?

I think that both parties could have acted way better but I want to side with the commissioner. I think the artist's responses and attitude were worse; the passive-aggressive fake-sweet message at the end? Incredibly rude and immature. Leave it at business and leave your personal feelings out. If you "have a life" that is too busy to allow you time to complete a service you were paid to do (in any way, shape or form, paid, such as with the currency here since it has value of some sort), then you shouldn't be doing commissions. Period. Stop making excuses and do it. We are ALL human, everyone knows this already. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

A full refund would have been nice but this could have been entirely avoided.

[niimou.livejournal.com]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster, but I had to chime in after seeing all the flac OP is getting about their tone.

Imo, the artist here is the one being passive-agressive.First they only mentioned sending back the pets they still have, because they're just so forgetful and had probably traded some. So they weren't even offering a full refund, but not on the basis that art had already been done, mind you. So when OP brought it up (calmly, I thought) that they at least wanted an equivelent value to what they traded the artist then goes on to say that since their art is has improved that wouldn't be fair to them. They really could have worded all that better, and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they forgot to say everything they meant, but their passive-aggressive 'wow my day is ruined' guilt trip at the end kinda killed it for me. I had read 'find an artist who doesn't have to be consantly reminded' as a response to 'I really wish you'd reminded me sooner'--which is not the commissioner's job.

So, beware well warrented for poor customer service.

Edit: deleted a sentence fragment that I missed--typing on a cell phone

[silvertiger.livejournal.com]

Agreeing with this, because everything about the artist's tone screams "I don't care about your commission" to me, from them mentioning they probably traded some of the pets/payment to saying they would be getting ripped off if they actually tried to finish it now. Then there's the whole "ugh you ruined my day" part. The commissioner might have been a bit rude at the end, but I don't feel like they were over the top in being frustrated with someone who really makes it sound like they never cared about the work they were hired for. The artist didn't even remember they were supposed to be doing this commission until the OP showed it to them, either, which is such a huge failure on the artist's part and a huge waste of time for the OP.

[silvertiger.livejournal.com]

Er, the artist didn't remember they were supposed to be FIXING their commission. Wrong wording there! Still sounds like the artist didn't care enough to finish it or never intended to finish it, and 9 months is an absurdly long time to keep someone waiting around only to get that kind of response.

[spytdragonfyre.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[maxi.livejournal.com]

This is also how I read it.

[whoop-zi.livejournal.com]

that last message is unacceptable. the passive aggressive smilies and guilt tripping is incredibly rude compared to any of the OP's messages, and i can understand why OP is frustrated here- even i'm rubbed the wrong way. beware well warranted, imo.

[chronidu.livejournal.com]

I agree that both sides got rude and condescending towards the end, but this is definitely a beware well warranted. The artist's behavior was wholly unprofessional and tactless as hell.

I don't get all these artists who have taken to getting passive aggressive and guilt trippy as hell at their commissioners over work they agreed to do.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

She was plenty rude yes
But from what I see 90% of it could have been avoided by cleaning up your tone
Also, it is really not "conceited" of an artist to increase their prices over time. Artist have the right to charge what they think is fair at any time. She shouldn't be trying to get more money/art out of you after making you wait so long, definitely not, but the concept of increasing your prices over time due to skill increase is extremely common and by itself, not unreasonable at all.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

Agreed Agreed. The artist clearly hasn't had enough experience to learn how to phrase 'I misjudged my time' without making it seem like the commissioner's fault, is what seems to be the biggest problem here. IMO

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

That's a great way of putting it

[houndofloki.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's any of the buyer's concern that she misjudged her time, though. That is something the artist can keep in her own mind for future transactions but this is one that, for better or worse, she had already agreed to. She can ask for more money/more art NEXT transaction, but she needed to complete this one to the agreed-on terms, and if she misjudged her time...well, that was her mistake, not the buyer's. There was no need for her to even bring it up.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

I never said that the artist shouldn't take responsibility for that they did (I actually clarified this in my other posts) but if the artist is going to say they misjudged their time to explain why it was late, it needs to be done tactfully and needs to be clarified that it's not the commissioner's fault at all.

[cidal-fun.livejournal.com]

Wow. That final coment from them. I wonder if they realise how they sound in it. Recieving that coment would just have made me so angry.

Have they sent you any pets back yet?

[rocketlynx.livejournal.com]

Bad customer service on the artist's end, but why didn't you contact the CS mods? I'm fairly sure they would have helped with the situation.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

The artist strike me as less rude, and more, inexperienced. The artist undersold themselves and misjudge their time, and then didn't have the dialog to articulate it. The artist was trying to state that they miscalculated, but unfortunately, the way they said it sounds like they were trying to place the blame on the OP. The OP responded equally out of place, interpreting the artist's statement as arrogant (Which the artist's statement about being worth more is not arrogant) and choosing to insult the artist directly instead, leading to more upset and frustrated posts from the artist. Not that it makes it right, mind you, but it's not like the artist was being snarky for no reason.

It's bad communication on both their parts. They're a newish artist, and for all intents and purposes the artist did the art, and made a mistake in the process, the only part they dropped the ball on, was the arm. The thing I see this artist being the most guilty of, is biting off more than they can chew. It'll take some time to see if their business smooths out.

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

I understand what you are saying, and you did a good read on the communications from both parties rather than just seeing knee-jerk rudeness.

The one thing I think though, is that mentioning about miscalculating your fee to the client is really not needed in any circumstance. I can't picture any way, no matter how light-heartedly you mentioned it, that it would be beneficial.
It's always going to rub the client the wrong the way; and especially it reads like a guilt trip or greed. Like a back handed way to get you to offer/send more- even if that was not the artist's intent at all.

If you realise you made that kind of miscalculation, no matter how frustrating it might make continuing the transaction seem, it's never a good thing to tell your customer!
Better to comiserate with your friends privately about it and be sure to charge a higher fee next time.

(edit because I English failed)

[armaina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree, you don't need to plaster around that you're working over time essentially. Basically as I see it, if you're going to state that you misjudged your time, you need to also reassure the customer that this is not their fault, and reassure that you are aware you're still bound to it and that the issue will be resolved.

(heh saying this more for guidance in general, not exactly specifically at you, sableantelope )

[spartanwerewolf.livejournal.com]

The artist didn't bother to keep accurate records, mishandled the transaction and was passive-aggressive into the bargain, and people are getting on OP for letting their frustration bleed into their tone?

I didn't find OP to be rude, really. Frustrated, yes, and blunt, but not rude. Artist should have completed the transaction under the original terms, or refunded OP in full, which wasn't possible, since they apparently didn't mark down "XYZ pets in exchange for reference sheet" anywhere.

ETA: While artists increasing their prices due to their skill level improving is a legit and valid thing to do, it is not the commissioner's fault that this particular artist chose to take nearly a year on their commission, causing the flux in pricing.

[sainler.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I could have handled it better, but I dont think its the commissioners job to continually remind the artist to fix an issue that, while im sure it was just a mistake, was also the artists fault.

I originally was very understanding and didn't have any sort of attitude. But after 9 months of waiting for an arm to be fixed, then telling me its my fault she forgot, then telling me that if I wanted it redrawn i'd have to pay more, I boiled over.

I understand that artists skills improve and they can change their prices, but I commissioned it when their skills weren't near where they are now, and I had expected to get something out of said commission.

Its just.. not my job to remind them constantly to do their job.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

You've been refunded? I ask so I can add a resolved tag to the post.