A problem with a commissioner

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

I have posted my TOS on here to be revised. I have not revised it so it still says I will take a long time to do my art.

I would also like to point out I HAVE NOT TAKEN MONEY FROM HIM AT ALL!

I will not name names, but I had a commissioner agreed to the TOS. I have Meebo logs as well as Email and FA notes where he has contacted me about the art. In all scenarios were I said I would do art by a date I said I would TRY to do it by that time. I have never lied.

I have Depression and Anxiety and I have bad panic attacks I have a wedding coming up and it is stressing me out the closer it gets and I did not expect that to be the case which is why I took the commission.

He says I have excuses and the excuses have been the same, I'm not up to it, I have a wedding stressing me out, and I cannot do the art because of these.

I have now canceled since he kept PMing me on FA about the art. I also told him if I took commissions again to try me then.

He then calls me untrustworthy. I have since replied with the full size rough of the image at no charge, and showing him the TOS he agreed to again. I have also reminded him I have logs and records of him stating my depression and anxiety he could wait for the art for.

Is there anything else I can do? Or should I try to whip out a subpar piece of art to appease him. I hate doing subpar work however.

Comments

[crisis-the-hat.livejournal.com]

I don't think you should have to do anything else to try to appeal to him. Technically he's gotten a bit of free work out of you.

Granted yeah, life happens and what happens offline tends to be more important than anything online. But since you never took any money from them, I don't see why they fussed about it in the first place.

I don't think he deserved the full size rough though for such accusations even when you tried to explain yourself- but that's just me.

[oki-warwolf.livejournal.com]

Man you don't need to deal with a guy like that. You've got bigger things on your plate then some guy who doesn't understand you can't give his commission every second of your time.

I think you've done all you can about him. You explained your situation, he agreed to it, he has no right to be fussy and keep expecting something from you. Especially if no money has changed hands.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

He never paid you, he never had the right to harass you for anything.
He can be upset that you won't take his commission, but really, that's his problem and not yours. He'll have to put on his big boy panties and suck it up.

Frankly, he's an asshole for harassing someone with depression and anxiety issues about something as trivial as an unpaid commission.
You owe him nothing, don't do a thing.
If he continues to harass you, put him on ignore on every single venue.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

If you're not sitting on their money they really don't have anything to @#$@# about. Don't show them stuff against your usual policy just cuz they're being a pain in the butt!

If this is a chronic problem with commissions maybe think about not doing them if they're too stressful, but if it's just this person I'd say wash your hands of them. Tell them it's not working out.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Please be careful about the name-calling.

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I've had someone get upset about my delays. I've had people patiently wait for their art and love it once it was done. At that point I get paid.

I just don't want my emotional stress to affect my art, it is not fair on the commissioner to pay for work I didn't put my full effort into.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

They have not paid, therefore there really isn't much for them to complain about. If you two had a set in concrete deadline, then I'd be more understanding to this person. Wash your hands of him and move on.

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

Your TOS says you can take a long time and he just can't handle it. If he was to come here and start telling us to beware of you, then you could point to this entry and your TOS entries and I think that'd be enough not to get you a beware tag.

You also took no money from him and cancelled the commission rightfully so. I think you owe him nothing.

[zombienerd.livejournal.com]

Meh. He didn't pay so I don't see the problem. He can just be removed from the queue. If he paid, I could see a reason for complaint but since money hasn't been exchanged...

[koisnake.livejournal.com]

If he does complain, people will ask "How much did you pay?". He can only answer "Well, I didn't pay yet, BUT-" and people will just roll their eyes and ignore his whining.

You'll be fine. Just ignore him and enjoy the wedding. :)

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

No Queue as I take one commission at a time. But it has been canceled he was messaging me every other day then once a week since I took it. That wasn't helping my stress any XD.

And he may not have paid, but I still feel awful about an unhappy customer.

[koisnake.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling of trying to do what you can to make a customer happy, even if you don't really need to.

Its best to just ignore him and move on. Nobody is going to penalize you for refusing to make a guy like him happy since he wants to weasel free art from you. You're a very good guy and everyone who commissioned you knows that.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't give him the rough as a freebie, to be honest. It probably won't pacify him and if he's going to complain about you to people he'll complain regardless. He knew upfront that you take a while and agreed to it at the time, and you dont have his money so you owe him nothing. You've cancelled it, so just move on.

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

I don't think he is trying to weasel free art. Not at all. I just think he is very angry at delays and what he considers "excuses". All in all however I agree I need to just move on. I can't make everyone happy, especially at my own expense.

[genkigami.livejournal.com]

He didn't pay you anything, plus you have a record that he agreed to your TOS and on top of that you were upfront with your schedule and your previous conditions, and also you canceled, he has no right to whine and you don't owe him anything. If money changed hands, then it would be a different game.

You're absolutely fine, there's nothing more you can do. He seems like the type of guy who will never be satisfied and will dig to find something to whine about. Just take care of yourself, you got more important stuff to worry about than one tweaked out guy. :3

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

Best advice?: You can NEVER please them all.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Can't please everyone all the time.
You're style and his just don't mesh, best for both of you to move on it seems. No reason to feel bad about it tho.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

he is very angry at delays and what he considers "excuses"

... then again, I really don't understand why he's so angry. This makes me think he is actually bad instead of just incompatable. It makes no sense to be ANGRY at not getting art you haven't even paid for. a) art's a luxury and b) he's not out anything.

[myenia.livejournal.com]

How could you call him an unhappy customer? He did not pay you, so he is not a customer.

[kathy-lu.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see HOW someone would use your anxiety and such, and say it's just an excuse not to do their work. However, if they never payed you, I don't see them having any grounds to harass you the way they did.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

While its nice to try and keep potential customers happy, after all you want to turn potential into actual, right? But in this particular case, potential assumes he already is actual and is overstepping his boundaries.

I know you have anxiety issues, but when you want to DO work like this, you need to put your foot down. In the world of furry art, sadly most customers are more than willing to run an artist ragged and frustrated. If you don't firmly (and I mean frigid nun with the wooden ruler firm) tell people what is going on, they're going to run at you full throttle.

You didn't and DO NOT need to do anything for them. Point blank. You have logs saying he can wait, if he cannot (especially after not giving you a hot red cent), he can go somewhere else.

Also... as a suggestion, instead of stating flat out what your medical issues are, in the future simply state them as 'medical issues that may prevent you from immediately completing artwork'. You state you have anxiety, he's already played into yours by jumping on you at first with the constant pestering. Now he's going to try and guilt you, an attempt to play on your depression.

Don't let them know what will make you sweat, because some people WILL use that against you. And if anyone ASKS what your medical issues are, tell them that they are your own, and they're on a need to know basis. A family member needs to know but commissioner doesn't!

[mialattia.livejournal.com]

Add to your TOS that due to ongoing issues, you require a deadline if the user has a need for requesting one.

And please, please don't ever do somebody's art if they haven't paid, ESPECIALLY if they're so rude. You have no guarantee he'd pay you in the end, anyway, especially considering that he's acting highly self-entitled when he hasn't even put down a cent.

I say kick him to the curb and forget about it.

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

I think now he is just plane rude. I don't think he had a due date at all.

"well I waited a month or 2 and thats long enough time to finish up the commission. and sorry I would never wait for six months if that was the case/
.

and that aint the large sketch"

Even though I sent him the same rough he approved back in July.

[mialattia.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, he sounds like a terrible customer.

But again, don't let months and months go buy without payment! I think you'd best add 'will not begin work until paid' to your TOS, so at least you're getting monetary compensation for things like this. Especially if you suffer anxiety and so on, not even being paid will really loom over your head.

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not the payment thing doesn't bother me. At all, it's more the dissatisfaction of the customer. Until I got this last PM anyway XD.

[mialattia.livejournal.com]

There's no point to dealing with a bitchy customer if they haven't paid, however, and demanding payment up front tends to weed out people like this.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

He's not a customer if he hasn't paid.