Artist Beware - Wyldfire7/Wyldfire/Fr0stBit3

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

WHO: Wyldfire/Wyldfire7/Fr0stbit3

WHERE: http://furaffinity.net/user/wyldfire
http://furaffinity.net/user/fr0stbit3
http://weasyl.com/~wyldfire7

WHAT: Traditional 2 character NSFW sketch commission

http://i.imgur.com/JCcdnQ0.png (details blurred out for NSFW reasons)

There was more notes before this, but they just include me at first wanting a comic, but then not being able to pay, so we decided on a sketch image.

WHEN: As you can tell from the timestamps on the notes, the commission was discussed, agreed on, and paid on August 1st, 2014 A rough time line of the situation from initial conversation, to 1st payment (or agreement of trade) to signs of trouble.

http://i.imgur.com/tISUOYg.png

I've blocked out the end of the email as the first part proves that Wyldfire is Fr0stbit3

PROOF:

Discussion of commission: http://i.imgur.com/JCcdnQ0.png
Payment: http://i.imgur.com/tISUOYg.png
Note that the sketch is too hard, artist wanting to change it, and me asking for a refund instead: http://i.imgur.com/Y1gShFI.png
More screenshots regarding the situation can be found in the explain area below.

Explain: On August 1st, 2014, I contacted (on Weasyl) Wyldfire7. At first, I wanted a comic commission, but it was changed to a 2 character NSFW sketch commission involving a dragon of mine and one of his. It was paid for that very night.

As I waited, I feel deathly ill and was unable to access the internet (nor was I physically able to) as I spent the next 8 months in the hospital.

When I was finally able to get online again, I was expecting to see the sketch commission, as it'd been close to a year. Instead, I find a note that had been sent on the 24th of August, 2015, saying that the sketch was too hard, and if I wanted the commission still, I'd have to request a different pose. I was a little disappointed, but at this point in time I'd fallen away from the fandom and my characters, and was more interested in a refund. A refund was agreed on, and I'd sent my paypal information, the amount, and started to wait.

About a month later, I poked him about my refund and received this. http://i.imgur.com/uUA9bh8.png I understood where he was coming from, so I resumed my waiting. Though I didn't log on for a while after I sent my last note, as I had a lot going on in my life and just assumed that he'd get to it soon, so I tried to give him space and not badger him about the refund.

So when I logged back on about a month later to poke about my refund, and I received a note that contained a personal means of getting me my refund. I shall not repeat what was said here, but I will say that I was rather grossed out by it.

A little while passed, and I decided to check my paypal to see if I'd gotten my refund. I, of course, didn't, but on my payment summary, I noticed something strange. The paypal email address that I'd originally sent it to (which was related to his Wyldfire/Wyld name) had been changed to Fr0stbit3works http://i.imgur.com/tISUOYg.png I was confused, as his name was still the same, it was just different.

Soon after that, I visited the journal of one of my favorite dragon artist's on Furaffiinty, as I noticed that were opening for commissions and I wanted to see if I could afford one. Well, in the comments, I saw this http://i.imgur.com/2ACVkkX.png They have the same name as what the paypal address had been changed to. So I visited the userpage and saw that they're skype address was the exact same as the paypal address http://i.imgur.com/rfoF11b.png

Please note that the Tier 1 commissin slot started at $60 and went up, so it's clear that he has enough to refund me. So I go back onto Weasyl, sent (and received) this http://i.imgur.com/eREiIAo.png I'll admit I was a little frantic as red flags were going up quickly, but I tried to control my emotions regardless. I was frustrated when I read the reply, about how I needed to be 'patient', so I just didn't reply as I'm sure I'd let my emotions get the best of me.

About another month passed, and I visited his userpage again, and saw that he'd going to the movies to view Ant-Man, and would only have $15 left until he got paid again http://i.imgur.com/evnKMEA.png Him saying that he had 'nothing he needed to buy' is really frustrating to hear, given that I've been waiting for a while now for my refund.

So I finally decided to shoot him a note (7/18/15) asking for a time estimate for my refund. What I got back... http://i.imgur.com/g0ryPTl.png He's claiming that I have him confused for someone else, even when I have all this evidence that he is indeed who I can prove he is.

http://i.imgur.com/QUqHeB8.png I confronted him with a screencap of the paypal summary, and this is what he said. I was angered by this, so I didn't reply, as I know, again, my emotions would've gotten the better of me. (as a note, I've moved from Weasyl to FA, given that the note system is easier for me to keep track of)

Mere minutes later, I get this note on my Weasyl http://i.imgur.com/NglAIdX.png After everything I've seen, I have the feeling that I'm just getting the run around at his point.

As of 8/4/15, I have yet to receive a refund.

I don't know what to do at this point. I paid with my paypal balance, so I can't contact a bank at all, and I'm well past the 45/180 days to file a chargeback. And I'm sure that posting this will cause me not to get my refund at all, but the least I can do is try to warn others about him before they get taken advantage of too. Please be very VERY wary of commissioning this artist.

Comments

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

unfortunately, from what I've seen, this is pretty run of the mill behavior for this artist. =/

I seriously wish you all the best in getting your refund from this person!

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

That's unfortunate. I honestly doubt I'll get my refund in the end. And the sad part is that I'd have been willing to wait if he didn't try to act like he didn't know who I was and just gave me a date. That in the end was the final nail in the coffin, sadly :c

[wyldfire7.livejournal.com]

I need to talk to you, please email me at wyldthedragon@gmail.com

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

Pretending not to know who you are? Ugh, how infuriating. That would drive me nuts! Given this artist's reputation, I don't think you'll be receiving your refund. :(

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much what pushed me into posting this. I was rather shocked when I read that, even though I had evidence that he was him :c And that's what I'm afraid of also. At least it was only $25 and not a larger amount, though it's still a hard earned amount that I won't be getting back.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

"So when I logged back on about a month later to poke about my refund, and I received a note that contained a personal means of getting me my refund. I shall not repeat what was said here, but I will say that I was rather grossed out by it."

All the waiting around and trying to deceive you is bad enough, but for me, this part is the most horrifying. There's only so many things this part means, and all of them are very bad. I am so sorry you had this experience.

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

One thing I will say is that it wasn't about me doing anything myself. It was an act that he claimed to have to do to get me my money. I only mentioned it here because it was very TMI and shocked me that someone would come out and admit something like that.

Though I still don't have the money even if he did what he claimed to do, so I don't think I should even believe it. Maybe it was an attempted guilt trip, I truly don't know.

[jemindra.livejournal.com]

Very disappointing that this artist tried to claim it wasn't them on the other FA handle. I literally said "What?!" out loud while at work with people looking at me funny. Sorry you had to go through this. :(

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I hope you didn't get into trouble or anything for that ;w; But yeah. At least I'm able to warn others at this point.

[darkunisha.livejournal.com]

I'm... not really surprised with this artist. They've had a bad wrap for years really, and it never ceased to surprise me. They started on DA before finally being banned after posting porn of their character when they were underaged as well.

They've commissioned artists of porn too then would flip out when the artist would suddenly blacklist them for the fact they found out that they were underaged, then hold a vendetta to them saying how wrong they were.

Whenever I see their name its nothing but drama - do something they don't like and they'll hold onto your money, they've told people that they will not get refunds, so forth. The name hopping wasn't a surprise, and eventually they admitted to it after enough people pressured them which seems like you were caught up in that ordeal.

Very sorry to hear that you had to deal with this. :( Hopefully you'll get a refund after all of this - it isn't fair to you as a customer to be dragged through this needlessly.

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

You see, I didn't know any of this when I commissioned him almost a year ago. If I did, you can bet I'd have distanced myself, at least from that aspect.

I highly doubt I'll be getting a refund at this point, which is unfortunate, but given what I'm finding out, it'll probably turn out that way.

[darkunisha.livejournal.com]

Understandable - I agree with you completely with this. I'm glad that people are finally speaking up, but still a pain in the rear trying to find out that they have done x,y,z.

It is unfortunate that you're in a point where you're stuck and past the Paypal deadline. Hopefully he'll turn around but just seeing his response below made be frown and it seems that he has also disabled his Fr0stbit3 account on FA as well.

[crazy-sharklady.livejournal.com]

Yeah you're not getting a refund anytime soon. I know this artist too well, he refused a $200 refsheet commission and actually held it for ransom before cancelling it and not refunding. It was..bad. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, absolutely no reason for it whatsoever :(

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

When I commissioned him, I wasn't aware of any problems at all. I guess that's what I get for not googling or anything. I did glance at AB, and since he didn't have one, I figured it would be okay. I guess I just have to chalk this up to a learning experience, sadly.

Barreldog

[wyldfire dragon (from livejournal.com)]

I tried to get a hold of you to pay you back but you were ignoring my attempts to contact you. I had send you several pms via weasyl to try to talk to you and you ignore every one of them. Yet you go and create this AB on me out of spite and not try to communicate with me like I had asked you to. How immature of you to do this to me.

[losnyangeles.livejournal.com]

Could you provide screenshots/proof of your attempts to contact the OP? Based on previous commenters' testimonials here, your reputation will not uphold any of your claims unless you provide hard evidence.

Edit: As an added note, why have you not sent the amount directly to their Paypal? An artist generally does not have to contact customers via notes in order to actually give the money back (excluding the courtesy "I am refunding you for X" communication for the transaction). Did you lose the OP's Paypal information?

Re: Barreldog

[barreldog.livejournal.com]

I would like to see these notes myself, as I just checked both FA and Weasyl, and there doesn't seem to be any new notes. http://imgur.com/7NsFoRI I only seem to have you asking me what the hell is wrong with me, as if I'm the bad guy here. I'm not the one holding someone's money STILL. But if you're referring to the very last note (that I've included in this beware) then of course I didn't reply to you. How else could I reply to some blatantly lying in my face???

If I was doing this just to spite you, the AB staff would not have let it through. But given that they did, it's a valid complaint.

Re: Barreldog

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Yet you go and create this AB on me out of spite and not try to communicate with me like I had asked you to. How immature of you to do this to me.

Really? Wow and yet the evidence he posted here about you, and this post you made really does speak a lot about your behavior.

Re: Barreldog

[spartanwerewolf.livejournal.com]

*chinhands* Because giving your commissioner the runaround and pretending that you don't know who they are is the height of maturity, right?

Son, you have been scamming for a long, long time, and many, many people should have posted you up here. Clean up your business practices, and I think you'll find a lot fewer "furry assholes" on your case.

Re: Barreldog

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

Do you actually believe the things you write? The OP has screenshots to back themselves up. Show us your evidence.

(frozen)

[thegentilcat.livejournal.com]

I'd say - if you haven't done so already - contact Weasyl and FA's admins and let them know about this shady business; as I doubt either site will tolerate this kind of repeated behavior from what is turning out to be a deadbeat artist.

(frozen)

[lackoflollies.livejournal.com]

FA pretty much stopped banning scammers altogether, he'd have better luck with Weasyl.

(frozen)

[southernbourbon.livejournal.com]

He's been banned before for being underage. He got it overturned, but yeah, he already has a record with the admins.

(frozen)

[lackoflollies.livejournal.com]

If they let people like Stellary, Allan, and the various other scammers in the fandom roam free unless forced [in some cases, no action at all] I have very little faith, even with his prior offenses that FA will do anything to stop him.

(frozen)

[southernbourbon.livejournal.com]

That's true. :C It seems like they take "harassment" more seriously than people who scam. I've come across people who've been suspended or banned for harassment, but then people with long track records of non-delivery on refunds/payment/art get off free.

(frozen) mod comment

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

Hey guys! This is getting a smide off topic, so feel free to take it to PMs!

(frozen)

[thegentilcat.livejournal.com]

That's terrible!

Though, I admit, I'm not surprised.

[southernbourbon.livejournal.com]

I had my own problems with him. He commissioned me like two years ago almost for a shaded sketch commission (it was $20 I think?). I went off the art in his gallery and pictures provided.

Afterwards he asked me to add on a cape to the character, and I informed him that, as per my TOS, a change that big would cost extra (I would have to sketch it and color/shade it).

He flipped out saying it was an integral part of the character (he never mentioned this or the cape, and he had several pictures that did not have the character wearing one including the icon he was using), that I was to blame for "forgetting" it, that he shouldn't have to pay extra, etc. I was always as polite as possible, but he really wore my patience. I would have happily done the changes if he just paid the fee (which would have only been like $10). He was also underage at the time and lied about it (the commission was pornographic in nature).

It was, overall, not worth working for him. So be wary of doing commissions FOR him, just as much as receiving commissions FROM him.

mod comment

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

If you need to discuss something with this artist I suggest doing so civilly here. Considering the amount of insults you've decided to hurl, I will be screening this.

[wyldfire7.livejournal.com]

Hello Maxx, I don't understand why you have this grudge against me that you feel the need to slander me everywhere you go. You make all these claims but we both know they are very much false. Yes I was a minor at the time I commissioned you, but that was something that you KNEW and were ok with and even took a second commission from me knowing that. The other thing is I have evidence that supports the claim that the references I provided you indeed all include the cape which you claim wasn't there. As an artist, you should have just taken the extra minutes to just fix the error you made and this wouldn't even be an issue. I would appreciate it if you stopped talking behind my back, because I see where you have and it sounds like you just want to "get back at me." It's very unprofessional and you're only making yourself look bad by doing so, and I can easily provide proof that states your claims are lies. I am done with this, if you want to keep doing it, that's fine. I'll take my own action if it comes to that, but I want this to stop because frankly it's going nowhere. You got your money, I got my art. There's no reason you need to constantly talk crap about me to everyone else.

Thank you and have a nice day

(frozen) mod comment

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

If you two want to continue this, then I suggest email or PM.

Lost Contact: Barreldog

[wyldfire7.livejournal.com]

I am trying to get in contact with Barreldog to have this issue resolved. If anyone knows the whereabouts of them, please email me:

wyldthedragon@gmail.com

Thank you!

(frozen)

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

I was hoping this would be solved, and yet the artist came up here with the insults and accusing the op of slander despite the evidence he posted up here. Artist you really need to calm down. you're really not helping yourself right here.

(frozen)

[wyldfire7.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if your comment is addressed towards me or someone else.

(frozen)

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

It's towards you actually.

(frozen)

[wyldfire7.livejournal.com]

Your comment makes no sense to me.

(frozen)

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Well still you really should calm down.

(frozen)

[wyldfire7.livejournal.com]

I am calm... I working out the issue with barreldog. It was a huge misunderstanding what happened.

(frozen)

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

I'm going to cut this off here as it's really not going to be getting anywhere constructive.

(frozen) MOD COMMENT

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Heya, I was going to tell you to repost your screencap with the emails censored as is standard for us, but considering the issue, I think what I am going to do instead is simply screen this and the original comments that touch upon the issue, so there will be no need to continue discussing this event in this post, and you won't have to worry about people seeing the original comment and getting the wrong idea.

With that, please do not continue this vein of discussion, as it has already been frozen once.

(frozen) mod comment

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

Given that there's no proof of these allegations, I will be screening this. Additionally, while we're happy to have people participate and comment in the community, it's important to understand that hearsay isn't appropriate.

Folks directly involved with this artist are welcomed to bring their grievances at any time.

Screened comments are visible to you and the moderators. Please do not delete it.