artists_beware | Advice: Rushed commission with little-to-no payment?

Hello, I've felt conflicted about this situation for months now and really need help.

Around December 2013 I opened up for commissions and my client asked for a fursuit partial done in time for AnthroCon. Although I don't take deadlines, I told him I would still be able to get it done in time for then.
The partial (head, feet, tail and paws) is completed a month before the con, but only because he asked every few days for WIPS and info on the suit. This was his second commission from me and unlike the first, he rushed me along. That did not effect the quality.

My problem is that I told him I would not start until I received most/all payment and he told me he NEEDED the suit done in time for the con. He had a job and then lost it right before the AnthroCon; he still went and took the suit with him.

It's now December 2014 and he's only paid $167, the last payment being in May. He just got a job recently and I asked him in October about payment, when he saw my message and never replied.

What can I do at this point? I feel cheated and incredibly awkward being in this new situation. I don't know how to ask him to finish paying for the suit, or even if I should post about him to here. He's a local and very nice, I'm afraid of being given a bad rep if I mess up with communication.

Thanks.

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"...but I'd feel a bit bad."

Stop that. Do not feel bad for sticking up for yourself and deserving what you worked for.

Well that's kind of mean. I have social anxiety so anything that could potentially mean losing my friends or clients makes me worried beyond reason. It's ridiculous, I know, but I can't just magically pop over to another state and fit in there.

I feel your pain, I really do, but you're running a business. Everyone has to encounter those kinds of clients from time to time, but you have to be firm. Peer pressure is hard to deal with, and since he is local, it goes doubly so, but the fact of the matter is that you provided a service catered to his terms, and now it's time for him to reciprocate. If he can't do that, then that's on him at this point, not you. You recognize that you've made a mistake and are trying to fix it, but if you continue to let him brush you off, it's not going to go anywhere. It just isn't.

I'm echoing others here about writing up an AB regardless. Collect as much information as you can. If you were on an iPad, it shouldn't matter. These days most services keep logs stretching far back longer than 6 months, so you should be able to find what you need if you delve deep enough. Screenshot and save everything. Any relevant exchange talking about the transaction with time stamps is going to help more than hinder, so even if you think it's not important, still file it.

If you're worried about flack, there's not much you can do about it aside from give your side of the story, and provide evidence to back it up. Explain that you'd bent over backwards for him, gave him more than enough time to collect funds, and that he's not the only one with bills to pay. If people still take his side, then whatever, because clearly they're biased and you're not going to sway their stance.

This!

Also, even if things explode into drama, and it gets awful, know that it will not be the end of the world. I had an issue with a customer back when I was newer at this stuff, and it pretty much exploded all over the place. Posts to a review community from the customer, screaming drama, people taking sides, the whole nine yards, and I did not handle it terribly well either. But I'm still in business. :3 You're already ahead of where I was at that point, since you're not having public shouting matches with this guy, so whatever happens, you'll be fine in the end.

I had a client submit a C rating for my suit onto Fursuit Critique when she rushed me along and then didn't tell me the problems, then harassed me on Twitter and her friend got involved.... None too good. In this case it can't happen for clear reasons, he can lie and idiots will believe him, but as I think more about this situation I feel safer and believe that my actual friends will support me.

It's haaaaard.

I'm on an iPad during school (like right now), it's why some of what I'm saying isn't making sense. Thanks, autocorrect.

I THINK I may be able to get old logs from my dead Facebook account and if PayPal keeps logs like you say then awesome, I'll get those as well. I'm only reluctant because out of the 5-7 past submissions I've tried to make, 2 have gone through and they weren't even serious. This is. Even if he never commissions anyone ever again, people need to know.

It's weird with locals because we live in such a small state. I'm incredibly thankful that i know some people will support me on this and may even try to provide evidence of their own to submit an A_B of their own (he takes commissions and will sit on them, not to mention someone told me he somehow got into a con without paying...? Not my business for here.)

Just hoping I can submit it without having locals flaming it everywhere and have the artist, not commissioning community, take notice. Would be really nice.

If commissioners take his side over non-payment, they're not worth your time as customers to begin with. Let your product and customer service speak for itself.

True friends will never begrudge you payment for your work.
Nor will a legitimate customer.

Everyone else you can do without, I assure you.

He and I aren't exactly "close friends". He's tried snaking his way in, saying I'm like a younger sister to him, but if I was that image then is cheating me out really that excusable?

I've already pushed away 3-4 locals who wanted to do business but couldn't conduct it without being rude or not even replying to my messages. This guy, though, a lot of people like him. It's why I'm slightly worried.

He doesn't want to be your friend, he wants to take advantage of you. If people support him in that, then they also want to take advantage of you. Telling someone to pay for your services is not rude, it's good business. Tell him to pay up or look into taking legal action.

This guy is wasting time you could spend on a decent customer.

I have 2 older brothers and they would never treat me this way. They know this is my work; they get paid for their work and I deserve to get paid for mine.

Edited 2014-12-11 18:41 (UTC)

I'm not trying to be mean, there's just NO reason to feel bad in this situation. Social anxiety I know is totally unreasonable, but there's never anything wrong with sticking up for yourself.

It's not mean, it's the truth.
You want to run a business. Business, at least in the US is all about being competitive and entrepreneurs put a ton of work into their products or services just to keep up with their markets. If you want to continue this business, you will need to communicate with and in some cases stand up to your customers even when they aren't being cooperative (see: yelp).
You keep commenting that you have social anxiety and that you can't say anything to this guy because he's nice or well known but the bottom line is he stole thousands of dollars from you. That was money for your time, labor, expertise and materials. That was money that you could reinvest into your business. How long do you think you are going to stay in business if you aren't willing to protect yourself because someone is "nice"?
If you don't think that you can do these kinda of interactions, practically every day then I'm sorry but you need to look into another line of work.

If it was thousands of dollars I would not have even let him get this far, let alone have it. I believe he owes me $150 or so. Regardless, I understand your point completely and that doesn't excuse him as a cheater.

I posted his reply in a comment above. You think he's going to pay it off like he said he would?

Advice: Rushed commission with little-to-no payment?

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