artists_beware | Question about commission etiquette

I'm not sure if this really belongs here, as it's more of a personal gripe than a huge issue involving multiple people, but I recently commissioned PogoRoo (FA) / Jivyra (DA) for a 2-character picture, as I randomly stumbled across him and saw he was having a $10 sale to help him get a fursuit (he's since removed the journal entry and replaced it with his regular commission prices).

Cut because it's really long...sorry >.< But if you do read it and provide some tips, it's very much appreciated! =3

I sent him the following note with references on March 15th:

"Okay, I'm headache-free today, and I definitely decided I'm going to take you up on that cheap-commission offer to help a poor bobcat-goat-roo out with getting what is sure to be an adorable fursuit! ^^ A two-character colored non-yiffy art picture, if ya please - what address do I paypal the $12 to?
...[refs for a cougar and calico cat, including pictures]
As for poses, I tend to leave that up to the artist - just as long as there's some sort of 'boyfriend-girlfriend' feel to it.

Also, I doubt it'll take this long, but Tad's birthday is April 13th, so I'd like to have it done by then if at all possible - if not, that's fine; I certainly don't want you rushing and getting a crappier art piece than if you had taken your time on it for an immensely awesome-r pic. XD If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me!

Thanks again! ^^"

I paid as soon as he gave me his paypal address. He kept me relatively updated after he had started on it in the way of posting on my FA shoutboard that he had started working on it, and then when he had finished the sketch and was about to color it. He posted the final picture (I hadn't seen it before he posted it to his FA) at the end of March here:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1186259/ (for comparison, other pictures of our characters can be found on my FA here: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/spazkitty)

It's not a bad picture, it just...doesn't look like our characters very much. Two of the biggest missing details stood out to me immediately: Tad didn't even have the 'definitive' cougar markings on his muzzle, and my calico character didn't have any calico markings whatsoever -- she just looked like a brown/white cat.

So, I sent him a 'compliment sandwich':

"Hey! I saw you had posted my commission, and I first of all wanted to say thanks for doing it in the first place. =) The poses are really adorable and dynamic, and their expressions are really cute and fun. I don't like asking artists to change things in a commission (even if they're asking for tips), since I do prefer to see an artist's style come through in the work, but I had a couple of concerns that I figured I'd mention. The first thing I noticed is that Spaz doesn't really have any calico markings on her - she looks like just a brown and white cat without any contrasting darker blotches. [Looking at the 'main picture' everyone seems to reference (Dolphy's), the right arm does look like it's just got brown on it in the artist's interpretation of Spaz, but I do try and stress the fact that her patterns are variable, just as long as they're calico-blotches.] Also, Tad is missing the 'definitive' cougar "tear" markings on his muzzle. If it's not too much trouble, do you think you could spend an extra couple of minutes adding in these little details? Otherwise, I really love the coloring job you did, and again, the poses definitely have personality in them, so I appreciate your working on this. =3

Thanks!
Brooke"

He replied with:

"I didn't even read the whole thing, because the length indicates that I have to do it again. If I'm going to, you will have to wait for quite a while. I'm really sorry it's shitty, I'll do better. You have to understand, I kinda ripped myself off by charging people only $10 so it's difficult for me to have motivation to continue doing them. Kinda pisses me off that I did that in the first place. Point is, I'll do something new for you, just wait a while. I may even forget to, but I'll try to keep it in mind. Ugh. F*cking wasted all that time >_<"

So I replied with:

"You don't have to redo it. o.O The paragraph isn't just 'omg this sucks', it's telling you that I liked the poses and coloring job, but there are just 2 things that need to be tweaked - Tad's cougar 'tear' markings, and adding some darker blotches to Spaz to make her look like a calico. I figure that's a much easier fix than redoing it completely, since as a whole I do like it -- it's just those two things that really stood out as needing to be tweaked.

I'm fine waiting -- as I said in my original commission note, I'd rather get it later and you not feel rushed than the opposite.

I'm sorry this was such an ordeal for you. You had a right to refuse to do my commission if you didn't feel like drawing it."

Needless to say, I wasn't very pleased with the way he reacted to just a couple of tweak requests I had to make them actually look like the characters I commissioned the picture of -- maybe I'm just used to the type of commission artist who sends me a progress sketch and asks for advice on what to change, but his response didn't really seem too professional at all. He "didn't even read the whole thing"? And he "may forget" to give me a redo image, when all I really want is a couple of tweaks in the first place? I'm happy he finished it so quickly, but I didn't want a rushed job as a result. I'm not asking for a complete re-do, but I do want my paid commission to look like the characters I want in it, even if the commission was at sale price -- if I hadn't paid for it, it'd be an entirely different matter.

He replied the next day with "I didn't mean to sound mean or anything. I'll redo it, but it will be in the style I've been doing recently, which in my opinion, is cuter. :3" -- which is a /way/ different attitude than the first note had. o.O

So, I have several questions. How long is an appropriate wait before I contact him again and ask about the progress of the redo he offered, or at least bug him about adding those couple of details (the last mail was sent March 31st)? Is this a common cop-out of artists that don't want to fix a commission, and I should just suck it up and color in the missing things myself for my own personal benefit? =\

Furthermore, am I wrong in thinking a commissioner should always be professional and do a quality job even at sale prices (which is a voluntary act)? Am I just being nitpicky in thinking the commissioner is always right when big details are missing?