A year and counting...

[cactusjack1999.livejournal.com]

I really did not want to do this, but my hand has been forced by time and annoyance factors.

About a year ago I ran across a very cool artist by the name of "cureineko" on FA: Link located here

More Below Cut

EDIT: This has been "Resolved"



I got to speaking to her via AIM and arround December 17th we worked out something abotu a comission. Unfortuantely I do not have the AIM logs (stupid me I know) but I do have the corespondance of us discussing stuff of the character and the image and will provide these below:





On December 28th, I have a paypay reciept for $15 paid to her as well as my username seen below:



What followed next is several months of cat and mouse. She drops offa AIM entirely and what follows is me attempting to disern if she's ok, even messaging a friend to ask if she's alright because she had been inactive. According to the friend she is fine as well. (This occured in March of 2008)

I proceed to keep contacting her every few weeks to try and disern if anythign has been done at all.







FIanlyl I ask straight up about the comission





She doesn't respond till I send the message below (It was a two part responce hence FA's messed up formatting)



And her Responce:



Now I'm an easy going guy. I had asked her to speak about the commission multiple times as evidenced by the photos...but never once did she ever say "I'm working on it" or offer up any sort of progress. Nor did she ever offer up any information other than what was given other than a "i'm fine" type deal.

Finally, I reach the end of my rope and tell her it's been too long and to finally get a hold of me one more time so we can possibly work out something to salvage this. A refund being my hoped goal when we woudl speak



Here's what she sent back in response.



OK... Yeah... I read the journals saying she had experienced computer problems and such... But here's the thing... she NEVER attempted to say "It's drawn, I just have to scan it" or "It's been finished just give me some time to get it to you" or "I can't scan it, would you be willing to pay for shipping and I can get it to you that way?" or "Can I take a picture of it with my camera to show you cause I can't scan it?"

Also I never said that I wanted to discard the comission. Just that I wanted to speak to her about it to see if it was in any shape salvagable.

I'm not saying it's entirely her fault, but jesus... I've paid for something and would like some updates other than "I'm working on it" or "I got my drivers license"

What REALLY cheesed me off is that she is trying to short me $5 for the comission (Her "refund" offer is for $10 when I have shown reciepts saying I paid her $15)

I honestly don't think I'm being a jerk in this responce:



This is just a fair warning to anyone who might think of comissioning her... Dont' expect to ever get anything... I sure as heck didn't.

UPDATE: 12/25/09

I heard back from her.

Here's what she sent me as to what was happening



OK... I can understand, and am willing to apologize for sending something like this, this close to christmas. There's no problem with that.

But It's still no excuse for dragging me on for a year

Here's the message I'm sending back to her

Look...

Yes I do realize that sending it at this time of year was somewhat in poor taste and I do apologize for it.

However, it's no excuse for stringing me on for nearly 12 month without any form of sketch or anything to say that the work was even being completed in the first place.

I would've been happy with a cell phone picture of the paper to show it was being done at all. Or I would've been happy to paypal you the funds to mail me the piece directly instead of settling for a digital copy (I would be willing to do this if you can provide some form of picture that the art is completed or near completion)

Looks like this might be a godo start to some form of resolution. I'll keep you posted.

Comments

[coyote-feathers.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Trying to short-change you on the refund? I really hope they can either prove that they've done enough work to WARRANT docking you $5.00, or they realize they've made a mistake.

If they've actually done some work on it, then yeah... a full refund wouldn't be fair. If not, then you might want to send a copy of that Paypal receipt their way. All the same, this is someone I wouldn't want to work with.

[cactusjack1999.livejournal.com]

She's acctually not that bad of a person what little I've talked to her.

But it's just annoying that she would go on and on that I will get it and not try to contact me about anything without me starting.

[coyote-feathers.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not saying she's a bad person. She could be the sweetest person in the world... if she has a poor work ethic, I still wouldn't want to commission her.

[aerotheacrobat.livejournal.com]

I did a Birthday trade with her in September 2008 since our birthdays are close together, but never got anything back. I write off skipped trades as unexpected gift art to a person rather than a bad business deal.

I know how frustrating it is waiting over a year with people blowing you off nicely, though. I've met her at a couple of cons and she's been nothing but a sweetheart. I think the $10 was a mistake on her part. Here's to hoping this gets resolved peacefully.

[rainbow-roo.livejournal.com]

What kind of a job does the person have that they can't get some kind of set-up going at home in the course of a year...?

Or..failing that...kinkos? College campus - if they're a student, etc..

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

BAAAAW! That requires taking responsibility for one's own actions, and getting off one's well-padded ass!

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

The working might not be in the paid job sense, if they're in college/uni they might be working hard still.

And even if you have a decent job you still might not be able to afford a decent set up. -_- I'm struggling to replace my failing secondary currently after my main pc just plain crapped out on me earlier this year.

[rainbow-roo.livejournal.com]

I can understand that hard times happen.

I still stand by my statement however. There are places you can go to, to get it scanned/sent/etc if you don't have the proper hardware.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree, there are places where it can be done, my point merely was that it's not always a case of buying a new system on the spot.

[obsidianwolfess.livejournal.com]

I could understand a partial refund IF she had already at least done a solid sketch and possibly some line work. But she hasn't showed you anything or even indicated that she's done work on it.

I'll definitely avoid the artist. :|

[cactusjack1999.livejournal.com]

I don't think she was even offering a partial. I believe she though that's all I paid for the piece.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Well you've certainly got the run around on this one.

Her excuses are pretty poor, even if a PC goes belly up, there's always internet cafes or the local library. Also since she was at school for at least presumeable some of the year she should have had internet access through there.

Not to mention she should have kept records of what was owed and what everyone paid so the refund wouldn't be off.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Trying to stay out of jail? Was she just kidding? Because I've never found this a particularly problematic issue O_o

And her internet appears reliable enough for her to send messages on FA.. That said, if she has the commission, why not snailmail it to you? Or can she also not afford that, since she apparently has trouble refunding $15
Yeah, taking a year on a $15 commission is ridiculous :/

[cactusjack1999.livejournal.com]

Acctually no.

According to her in one of her other journals she had apparently been arrested for driving on an expired license.

Also she never said she ever finished anything nor did anything to show even any form of progress

(frozen)

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Dumb and lazy then, winning combo!

(frozen)

[omega-ryan.livejournal.com]

That statement is totally uncalled for, especially when you don't even know the person just through the internet.

(frozen)

[cactusjack1999.livejournal.com]

Agreed...

(frozen)

[lobotomysoup.livejournal.com]

Uh, sometimes shit happens that you can't control.

(frozen)

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I just caught this. Please do refrain from such blatant insults.

[valentinecrow.livejournal.com]

I think the first flag would be several responses where the commission was in no way mentioned, it seemed she would rather type an excuse than give you an update. It's great that you would give her a few "chances" and I hope this doesn't dampen your view of all artists (that's the real problem with these sort of stories, honestly.). For anyone dealing with commissions, be direct when asking about the work, and if their response has nothing to do with the actual art work, ask again and be firm. You are paying them your money, and though an artist may do the work, they must earn it and respect the transaction. (Same could be said for the other way around too, and particularly if anyone wants to take their business seriously!)

Best of luck with resolving this issue, I am sorry to hear when there is a failure of business sense and money lost.

[stormslegacy.livejournal.com]

A year is just ridiculous to wait.

In the future, be sure to discuss a deadline with the artist. IMHO it's rather unprofessional, but there are artists out there that feel that a commission without a deadline can be pushed aside for those that do have one, and keep taking them and pushing it back.

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

I know her a bit more personally than some. I can contact her and chat with her a little about this if need be. Just let me know. This doesn't seem like her, so I'm already going to be getting in touch with her anyway.

[cactusjack1999.livejournal.com]

Don't bother.

I've been in contact with her recently.

She's gonna be refunding my money (all $15) of it. When, I have no idea.

I did offer her to take a picture with a cell phone and send it to me and I would pay for the shipping to get it to me...but she apparently has no cell phone.

Frankly I'm hopeful we can put this mess behind both of us and get on with our lives.