artists_beware | Starfinder update, part 2

Starfinder contacted me today and refunded my money. Thus, I've removed the post I made last night pertaining to her.

Edit:

I really should not have to explain myself for removing my OWN posts, but apparently I do. I wanted to just leave it where it was but now I'm being called names for it, so here:

Starfinder messaged me yesterday afternoon and said "If you remove the post I'll give you a refund." I asked why she wouldn't just give me the picture she said was done, and she said she didn't know what DVD it was saved on.

I said, okay, fine. She refunded me through PayPal and I said I'd remove the post. Then, I asked her what she'd do if I didn't remove the post, and she said she'd reverse the PayPal transaction. I argued with her over how moral that was, when she owed me the money anyway. We both got angry, she said she wouldn't actually do that, but she was under stress from finals etc etc and was losing legitimate business from "pay-on-delivery" customers because of posts like that and people harassing her customers and this and that.

So I figured, taking down the post was a small sacrifice to make in order to make sure she didn't decide to take the money back she owed me, and perhaps a little because I felt the situation was over, done, and closed. I would have liked to leave it up too, but I really don't want to risk losing the money again because she changed her mind.

Second edit:

Wow, this shit just doesn't stop. People bitching at me for accepting Starfinder's blackmail into getting my money back, and now Starfinder messaging me to bitch at me and calling me a liar for explaining why I removed the post. This situation is fucking ridiculous. I make a post, get my money back, get flak from people here for how I handle MY OWN FUCKING FINANCES and then I get flak from her for DEFENDING myself.

So now Starfinder is bitching at me that she overdrew her account to repay me to get me to take down the post. Guess what?

So here we go again.

Quick backstory: I commissioned Starfinder in May of 2007 by buying her batteries for her wireless tablet. Don't ask me what brand it is, it's been established that it was for real and legitimate. She couldn't do art without it and I wanted a picture, so it seemed like a good trade at the time. The cost was $40 plus tax and shipping to CA.

Anyway, this was a year ago, obviously. I've not even seen a sketch of what I asked for at this point, which is really not surprising considering who we're talking about (and hindsight being 20/20). What is infurating about Starfinder is all the empty promises and false hopes she makes.

Let me demonstrate:

About a month later on 7/2, she asked me for some detail on the character, and said she'd have a sketch of him by the 4th and a full color the following weekend. That was AC weekend and I would be out of town, so I figured when I got back from the con, I'd get to see a sketch at least.

It wasn't done by 7/10, and she said she was moving. Okay, fair enough. A couple weeks, she said, and she'd have some time.

By 7/20 she said she had a sketch done... And that she'd email it. I gave her my address, and it never showed up. On 7/22 I politely asked if she had sent it, thinking maybe it got lost in the web. She said she hadn't sent it yet.

By 9/23, I still hadn't gotten anything from her and was unable to contact her before then. She was having family issues at this time.

On 10/19 we spoke again, still nothing got sent.

Between then and the next time we spoke, I sent her a couple emails, and left a comment in her LJ, Nothing was replied to. The next exchange took place on 12/3, where I finally got to talk to her but as with most other times I got in touch with her, there was something eating up her time with furry drama.

On 12/18 I got ahold of her again, when she was *again* dealing with drama (for some reason she won't respond unless she's dealing with drama) and I asked about the picture, She said it was backed up on DVD in flat colors and wanted my references, again.

On 1/17 she was busy with FC preparations.

On 2/26, she said she had a new email address, which may have explained why my emails for the last month went unanswered, but not the earlier ones. Okay, this time she was dealing with a "douchebag from hell" apparently. At this time she was apparently finished with the pic, which made me scratch my head a bit, as I'd never gotten to see a sketch or hash out any changes that needed to be made. But hey, I figured, she's done with it, at least. She was going to post it to her art LJ within a couple of days.

Well, it never got posted, and we didn't speak again until sometime in April (I don't have the log as it was through my mobile). I told her I sent her a couple of emails, which she claims she never got. I asked her to please just email me the picture, gave her my address, and she said she was "going on a trip" and would try to do it before she left.

Of course, no. And in the meantime of telling me my picture was ready to be uploaded back in February, she's posted digital artwork for people to her art LJ, but not my picture.

Well, she's back from her trip, selling a camera and making LJ posts so I figured maybe she'd be reachable now. Email, nope. LJ comments, nope. And I haven't seen her on AIM since the last time I spoke to her.

The moral of the story? Don't spend money on this girl, and don't believe a word that comes out of her mouth. There's absolutely no excuse for this when she claims it's been done since late February and all she has to do is UPLOAD the damn thing.

Of course I'll believe that when I see it, which is likely to be never.

Since there's apparently no graceful way out of this situation without pissing SOMEONE off, I give up. I'll let you know if she reverses the transaction.

And thanks for all your support. Or lack thereof.