Advice on how to handle this situation.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

   I'm reluctant to do a beware on this but a commissioner has me a little stressed out lately and I am simply asking for advice on how to handle it. The commission started as a complex part for a Second Life avatar that involves a lot of scripting. After finishing that the commissioner came back wanting it to be bigger and with more features and, though I shouldn't have I agreed to try and make another version and ran into roadblocks on how to finish scripting it.

   Because of these complications the commission took longer then expected and I eventually tried to refund the commissioner telling them that I don't think I'd be able to complete it, who became very disastified afterwards. With a disgruntled commissioner on my hands who refused my refund, I offered to complete them artwork in place of the Second Life build and the commissioner said that the replacement will "have to be at least a 10 page comic." Wanting to satisfy the customer I agreed to it and am currently about halfway through the commission, working on the comic in 5 page intervals.

   But then the commissioner decided that I am to make them the orginal Second Life object anyways, so I'm expected to complete that with now a 20 page comic on top of it. (Note: the commissioner insisted on it being 20 pages after I tried compressing the story they've given into 13) The result is about double the work now for the price of one, and as a result has been taking up my time and filling a slot that other commissions could take up. The whole experience has caused me to stop commissioning for anything Second Life related and since then I've included a TOS point of not communicating except by email (the commissioner used to litterally hound me both on Second Life and on Skype).

   What do I do? I've already tried refunding this person but they won't take it, and I fear they're going to report me on here if I inisit on it. Other commissions have gone quite smoothy it's just this one that's been troublesome.

Please note that I am reluctant to give any names because I really want to avoid a beware before trying to salvage the situation.

EDIT: Looking back on the logs the comic started out 10 pages, but over email I was given a story that I could only compress into 13 pages, only for the commisisoner to insist on it being 20. That's where the 20 page comic came from.

Comments

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

You have the right to refuse service if you refund the person (though I think you'd be owed a partial payment because you did complete work- it sounds like the commissioner then wanted something bigger and better which s/he should have paid for as an entirely new commission.)

Refund the money and stop all work. What can they complain about- "The artist refunded my money!"? :D Let them whine.

[tylociraptor.livejournal.com]

To begin with, they're asking you to do double the work, when they have only paid you for one job. That is NOT okay.

You are in no way in the wrong to insist upon a refund if you feel you can't finish the work. I'd refund whether they say "yes" to a refund or not.

I'd also suggest posting a full beware about this client, as their actions, in my opinion, warrant it.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

Go through your Paypal records, send the refund, and walk away. Unless they paid you a large sum of money, very little is worth a 20 page comic. You are allowed to refund a commission at any time, without any reason.

If they never paid you extra for these "bigger, more features", then they have no leg to stand on to keep demanding more and more from you. It seems like they figured they could push you around, and nothing is worth that.

They do not get their original item + a 20 page comic. No. Put a stop to this immediately. They can try to report you here, but I doubt any member here would take a client who came in and said "I wanted them to do this this and then THIS all for the original price I paid!!" seriously.

[vauvakolibri.livejournal.com]

Agreeing with others and if no forceful refund is optional through Paypal, I'd just tell them that they either accept the refund, or you will consider their money as a willing donation and they will agree to it through not accepting the money returned.

[duster.livejournal.com]

Cease working, refund, and walk away. This guy is not entitled to more because he kicks and screams enough. If he's stressing you out that much it's not worth it and the entitlement is enough to pull the plug.

I doubt he can AB you. What is he gonna say? "I demanded more than I paid for and this artist gave me all my money back?"

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

Refund and walk away as others have said.

If it is in Lindens and the person will not keep the lindens in their own hands refund them and block them - I don't believe they can pay you once that happens (unless they changed in in past 5 years).

[kaiiju.livejournal.com]

Tell them you no longer wish to work with them and refund them. They deny it? Refund them again.
You've done more than enough work for them. You went above and beyond what you were expected to do -- what you were PAID to do.

They don't have a valid claim, so their beware would either (probably) not go through or they would be laughed at/it would quickly turn into a "beware against the OP".
It's clear they're just bullying you into getting as much art from you for as little as they possibly can.
If anything, I would make a beware on them.

[orangemonsterco.livejournal.com]

I've gone through this before, refund the money, scrap what you have done so far, and refuse them the use of the work you've done so far. If it's even possible recycle what you have done for another client or offer it as a ych type thing.

[chronidu.livejournal.com]

The simple answer is no. They accepted the comic, they get the comic. If that's enough, you are half way done with the comic, refund them half anyways. It is not their choice, and them trying to force you to do extra work they didn't pay for is completely unacceptable. It sounds like they are just trying to steam roll you over and get everything they can out of you.

Personally I'd say refund them the remainder and call it a done deal.

If you don't want to force a refund, you can give them a choice of you finishing the comic, or they get a refund, and make it clear those are the only choices available to them. If they do not chose one or refuse, refund them.

[roxyfur.livejournal.com]

If they hadn't gone back on their word, I would advise to continue working on the comic. But at this point it sounds like they're trying to bully you into doing more work than they paid for, which is not fair at all.

Refund them ASAP and walk away. If they decide to try and send the money back, do as vauvakolibri said and advise them that if they return the money, you'll be considering it a donation. Screencap everything, and if they continue to throw a fit, post a beware. Tbh, I think it warrants a beware already.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

This sounds like an awful situation. I don't know why your client has the idea they can refuse their own refund, but there's seriously no choice in the matter for them. As long as they are accurately compensated they have NO reason to make you do *anything*.
I would refund, scrap the comic, and never speak to that person again

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

Refund them. Block them. if they send the money back to you refund it again, and call paypal to try and block his payments to you.

Block him. AB him.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I agree with everyone else - refund and block. Screencap everything and consider ABing, because this is unacceptable. You have long since done the work they paid for, and their demands are well out of proportion for what they must have paid.

In future, make sure you have a written specification of the work you've agreed to do, and a stipulation that any edits or changes that aren't due to your failing to deliver what you promised will be extra. Most people will be honest and straightforward, but some will take every opportunity to take advantage of you. Don't let them.

[ithinkdirt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what this person wants is 100% absurd.

Nobody can REFUSE a refund, it doesn't work like that. A creator is not held hostage by their client.

Also, I would very, very much like to know the name of this person because that is appalling behavior/expectations and I absolutely want to stay as far away from that person as possible.

[lurkerwisp.livejournal.com]

I'd really appreciate it if you wrote a full AB on them. This is entirely unacceptable behavior, and I really want to know who it is so that they can be avoided.

[mazzy techna (from livejournal.com)]

please make a full beware about them , this is just wrong on their end and needs to be posted.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

Just REFUND them. They can't refuse a refund. Send it back to their SL account and block them, or if they paid by Paypal, click the refund button and send it back to them, then block them.

Then you're done with them. If they post an AB about you, so what? Just show your proof that you refunded them and they were trying to take major advantage of your kindness, and it'll turn into a beware on them instead.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice and support, I think I'm going to hold to what I meant when I said I'd "Do what I can" with the Second Life commission and get it to a finished state, specifically one that functions though maybe not with all the bells and whistles it was originally going to have. I've already finished the animations for it last night and just need to do one more series of scripts. The goal is to get the object to a state that can be considered done, so I can close the commission and move on. The customer is going to have to be satisfied with that because as you know I've been bending over backwards for this person the whole time.

Since the comic is nearly half way done and happens to be originally agreed upon 10 pages, I'm going to discontinue doing any additional pages.

The grand sum is a finished product and more then enough work to cover the linden payment, double in fact since the comic is free.

The AB requests have been noted and I'm considering it, I first want to close the commission so I can finally have closure and freedom. Then I need to gather IM's and evidence, which thanks to the exchanges being between FurAffinity, Skype, Second Life AND email (grr, this is why I only accept emails anymore...) that'll be a chore in of itself.

I also want to make a point that I've done mistakes too, another thing you probably got from the OP. The whole learning experience was such that I had to amend my TOS just over the various things wrong with this commission, which has to be an achievement of some kind...

Finally the main reason I've been reluctant to post an AB at first is I DO NOT LIKE DOING THIS. I'd much rather keep good relations with my customers and indeed most other commissions have gone well.

Another thing complicating the matter is checking Second Life chat history since the transaction history only goes to about a month in the past. The commissioner has told me that my last refund went over what they've paid, though it was based on me calculating what he gave between when the commission started and the ad-ons that led to the problem. The poor way Second Life tracks payments is one of the major reasons I'm not accepting lindens anymore, and I now wonder if this commissioner was taking advantage of that.

The one exchange I do remember was an initial 10,000 lindens or 40 US dollars. I may have to refund 50 cover additional payments the commissioner gave me without my permission when discussing features and additional stuff.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

And now he's telling me over IM that a friend alerted him to this journal despite the fact that I purposely left names out.

He said I can keep the money and went on to call me a "drama llama" while going on and on about how professional he was trying to be in the same post.

Right. Well, I'm guess I'm going to do the AB post after all.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

As an update I've payed a refund and am ready to end the commission. If the exchange goes well I think I'm going to decline to make an AB post simply because I really just want to be done with the commission first and foremost.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Please guys, don't pressure the OP into posting a beware if they just want to refund the client and get them out of their hair and simply move on with their life.

While yes everyone can be curious WHO it was, OPs comfort needs to be considered as well. They made a decision, please respect it.