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

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[frisket17.livejournal.com]

Who cares if he is nice?
If you're owed payment, you're owed payment. He has the end product and you're lacking compensation for your time, materials, and efforts to comply with his rushed deadlines.

If he has the suit, he needs to pay for it.
If he doesn't want to pay for, he needs to return it.

Don't let yourself be walked over. You are owed for your time and your work. He's not so "nice" if he is not paying you for services and product.

I'd make a beware on him regardless of how this comes out as due to his flaky communication and how he's not forthcoming with payment he obviously owes.

Let him have a final deadline for payment (keep records!). Give him the options, and if he refuses, since he's local, you're open to more options -- including small claims if push comes to shove.

I agree with Signy. I get the feeling he's taking advantage of you. Don't tolerate it.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

If I put that he was "nice" in there, I take it back. His boyfriend made fun of me infront of him at a con recently while I was having an anxiety attack, was not the best experience.

I'm definitely not letting myself get walked on anymore. 6 months is way too much.

As much as I'd love to write against him, I'm not even sure if I can find the old logs of our conversations from when he first commissioned me and when he gave me payments last. I know it was before AC because he didn't do jack until I asked, and then he would say "Well it's hard right now."