Looking for Advice?

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Hello, first post here! ' A ' ;;; I hope this is allowed--I just would love to fix this if it is still at all possible to do so…

At ALA '10 (yes, more than a year ago @_@) I took a commission from someone for $10 to do a full color drawing of Xanxus from Katekyo Hitman Reborn with his Liger. It was the last day of the convention so he paid me up front and I asked for both his mailing address and e-mail to keep in contact, but only got his mailing address.

Life happened, and I'll spare you all details, but the bottom line is that I never drew it. In September, I think, I did send him a snail mail asking if he still lived there, and told him I hadn't drawn it and offered a full refund, offered to draw it if he still wanted it, or if neither of those made up for my inexcusable tardiness offered to work something else out. I included my mailing address and e-mail and asked him to contact me but he never did, and I didn't see him at ALA '11.

Now, I know not drawing and not contacting were both very terrible of me as an artist to do and I would like to make things right, but I'm wondering if there is even anything I CAN do to rectify this more than a year later? I hate that I caused a bad experience for this customer. Should I try to send him more snail mail? Forget about it? Draw the picture and post it online hoping that one day he sees it? X_X;

Thank you everyone for your help!

Comments

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

If you have his address, I would plug his name into google or something and see if I can find an online account of his that I could contact. He might very well have moved by now. If you have his furry name, even better!

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's not a bad idea! I'll give it a shot. It wasn't a furry con so I just have his regular name, but still, I didn't even think to google-fu it! o_o ;;

[kiriska.livejournal.com]

Honestly, though the tardiness was less than ideal, I feel you've done your best to try to re-establish contact with this guy. The ball's in his court and if he doesn't respond, well... Personally, I might do the drawing and post it just for piece of mind and if he ever contacts you, you can send it out. Snail mail correspondence isn't the best these days and I'm very puzzled at the fact that he didn't give an email address. :\

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm thinking as well, I'm just wondering if I should have mailed him more times, etc... And yeah, I think he just forgot and I didn't realize it until he'd already left my table. e_e;

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

You might want to try searching Facebook as well since you can send private messages on there without having to friend the person in question.

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

...That's smart, I didn't even think of that.

I think I may have found him on myspace, I just don't have a myspace account, haha. @_@;

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

Yeah that's why I like Facebook better. It less maintainance. Even if it means weird people can IM me out of the blue, I can always block them easily.

[razzek.livejournal.com]

Kiriska has the right idea on this one. You've done your best to stay in touch and make amends. At this point, everything is now on his plate. I would recommend waiting to hear from him before you do anything else.

Also, $10 for 2-character fully colored?! D: You are waaaaay under selling yourself. o.o

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the advice!

...And I know. I really needed the money at the time. XD;

[ocelotish]

I think that you've done all you can at this point in time. Maybe try sending one more note via snail mail, just in case one got lost, or I'll second looking him up on facebook and such.

After that, I think you've done all you can do as far as finding him. You can either draw it in hopes that he'll find you and still get the image or just make a mental note of the whole thing and just refund him if he ever finds you.

[boblooser.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem with a commissioner. She didn't give me her contact and I was too stupid to ask. So my only contact was on some avi site and I lost the contract. I try to email her using her paypal email but she didn't respond. Since I was at fault too, I let it go. I did paid her by the way.

SO if it help, I don't think someone would get mad at $10. I paid her $20 and I let it go.

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice! :3

Yeah, this seems to be the solution at the moment... it just sucks when something like that happens. I know I would let it go eventually too but I'd still be a little annoyed if I paid for something and didn't get it. ^^;

[sorcererhuntres.livejournal.com]

Just sayin' HELLO FELLOW ALA ARTIST :D

[mutant-cucumber.livejournal.com]

HELLO! :3 Perhaps we ran into each other! I think I remember your table! XD

[sorcererhuntres.livejournal.com]

HAHA PROBABLY! I was just stuck there like THE ENTIRE CON fffff

hopin' to get a spot next year, too! but we'll see. I was like second to last on the original sign up list, so it's getting tougher XD;