A Year of Waiting

[fayin.livejournal.com]

WHO: SpazzyKoneko. Also known as TequilaPink

WHERE: www.furaffinity.com/user/spazzykoneko
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tequilapink/

WHAT: Digital Art. “Blind draw” commission of two characters in a story I'm writing. I still have the original commission information, though it's not very relevant at this point.

WHEN: I initially contacted Spazzy on April 11th, 2010. She contacted me with a response on April 20th. All of the following conversations are dated, please check those for more details.
I paid for my commission on April 27th, 2010. I have not heard from her since.

PROOF: Everything is dated. I did block out my email address and other personal information (artist name, etc.). Because the artist's email address is on her FA profile I did not blank that out.

Initial commission inquiry and FA note exchange:
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/2270/fanotes.jpg

First email not included (it's just commission information).
Spazzy response:
http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/1236/spazzy10a.jpg

My response, letting her know payment has been sent: 
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8310/spazzy15a.jpg

After this I didn't get a response. No contact from author. A month and a half later I sent the following email:
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1589/spazzy12.jpg

Sent her a note on FA:
http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/310/spazzy16b.jpg

Sent this email a month ago:
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8644/spazzy11.jpg

Proof of payment:
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/7920/spazzypayment.jpg

Spazzy has updated her FA page in the ensuing months to advertise that she's open for commissions. You can check her page (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/spazzykoneko/ ) for proof of that; it's all in her journals. She has not said anything about old commissions in the past few months.

EXPLAIN: Spazzy accepted a commission from me. I paid her on April 27th, 2010. Since I paid I have not heard back from her, though she has continued to post that she is open for commissions. I sent her numerous emails and one FA note inquiring as to the status of my commission; she has refused to respond. Her FA page has complaints from other people that haven't received art, and her journals are also full of dissatisfied commissioners clamoring for refunds or questions as to what happened.



EDIT 5/2/11: Spazzy has just posted a journal on FA about finishing her outstanding commissions or giving refunds. I have just sent my email to her with the commission information, and once the issue is resolved I'll be sure to let everyone know.


EDIT 5/4/11: I have received my piece of art from SpazzyKoneko. I am more than pleased with it - it's fantastic. Glad to have gotten it. 

Comments

[bunglebearz.livejournal.com]

If you have a twitter account, maybe you can message her? She just updated it 12 minutes ago.

Here's her twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SpazzyKoneko

[zackfig.livejournal.com]

I got my arts from her, but never got the actual shrinky dinks =(

I chalked it up at a loss and was just glad I got anything at all to begin with.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Damn :/

It's POSSIBLE your cc may still do a chargeback, although a year may be the limit :(

[wyla.livejournal.com]

My partner paid her $90 on March 5th for a two character image so she is still around on FA (this was through the Spazzy account)

We've not heard from her since payment but seeing all of the comments from other commissioners does make me worry a bit. :|

[holydust.livejournal.com]

There's a possibility she's just letting herself be disorganized and isn't taking responsibility for that disorganization now, as she should be. (I've seen a lot of artists fall prey to this, and sadly, I've seen some simply choose to run away and evade questioning because being confronted is scary.)

That said, a simple journal stating "Commissioners, I've lost some info and need you to re-contact me" is not that difficult, and helps tell the clients who've paid that you're interested in fixing the problem. That she's clearly running from it is worrisome.

That her journals and shoutbox are full of complaints that she isn't hiding tells me that she isn't visiting FA much lately, if at all. She may have caused herself to experience burnout, but the best solution for her in that situation would be to try to start with a clean slate and get all those people to contact her via a public journal on her FA page.

In other words, when things get out of hand, it's perfectly reasonable to decide not to go slogging through old notes and journals digging up info, but to just share that information with the public and ask them to help you gather all that information again. She isn't doing that. Hopefully, this A_B post will light a fire under her and she'll take a day to get herself back on track; for now, though, I hope her popularity doesn't encourage people to go ahead and commission her anyway. Sadly, a lot of furs I've seen will trust name over recent evidence and will wind up getting hurt in the process.

[latilombax.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry to hear about this issue with Spazzy, though I didn't have any issue with her

I paid her for a BioShock-themed pic of my fursona on April 30, 2010. 10 months later, I emailed her about it, asking if there's any update on the drawing, and she said she forgotten about it and finally finished it. I was very lucky to get it
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5263322/

once again, I'm sorry about all of this with Spazz. I do hope this issue gets resolved soon

[nsdragon.livejournal.com]

A "me too" post from me. Been waiting since early September 2010.

This is the majority of our communication (http://min.us/ln4Kac), (note the dates) but other than that it's just been a few tweets/shouts on FA/etc. to try to draw her attention to my e-mails. Oh and that sketch she mentioned towards the end? I haven't seen it.

Here's the paypal receipt as proof (http://min.us/ln4dx4)

In retrospect, I should've accepted that refund she offered.

[holydust.livejournal.com]

Sheesh. :( You've been really patient. I would have been kind of upset by now. It's not so much the wait, it's the total lack of communication...

[nsdragon.livejournal.com]

Got mine as well on May 7th, so all is good now!

[puritikoneko.livejournal.com]

This is kind of a let-down for me, since I've always admired Spazzy's work. It's always been kind of a little note in the back of my mind to save up a little extra money to commission her someday.

I sent her an e-mail back when she was first offering the "derps" and asked her how long she would be offering them as a commission option. She replied fairly quickly, so I'm not sure when or why she's been so sporadic with her communication.

Hopefully she gets things back on track.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I've always received the commissions I've purchased from her, albeit it took some time, but I know she's incredibly busy and works for Sexyfur pretty much 24/7 (at least thats what I've thought for a while). I am so sorry she's choosing to ignore the obvious complaints =\... she may be taking far too much more then she can handle and then is using the money to live on and thus not able to be refunding anyone - hence taking on MORE commissions.

Either way, I certainly hope she catches wind of this post.

[zackfig.livejournal.com]

Thing is, she's not the only artist doing this. I also have dealt with another artist who does stuff for paysites but has not worked on commissions that are pending for at least 2 years.

I really wish people would get their act together.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Er...it's not like theres a sudden "paysite artist" crime-wave, I'm sure both incidents are unrelated. Plenty of paysite artists take commissions, and finish their work. Who did you commission and for what paysite? Have you reported them here openly...? I just fail to see the link between Spazzy and your commission prior. I'm not making excuses for her, just explaining a possible reason for the lateness. So I don't know why you're making this comment to me.

[zackfig.livejournal.com]

Not saying there's a crime-wave, it just happens that some people just bite more than one can chew, and both cases, seem to be, because both artists care more about finishing their paysite work rather than their side commissions they took years back.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I just don't really think there's much connection beyond them having similar side jobs. Some artists take on more then they can handle, sure, (And on fa thats super common) but very rarely do I see complaints about pay-site specific artists. There are always exceptions, sure, but making the comparison about paysite stuff is a little off kilter to me. Especially since I worked for 3 paysites at one time, took commissions, and always finished my work, so I know for a fact it's totally do-able. It's about the individual in this case - personally I've met more artists that ARE responsible that work for paysites then not.

However neither you or I know -why- either artist didn't finish their commission. (Nor did you answer my question about who it was, or if you've reported them here) I was merely trying to give a reason as to why Spazzy may be not finishing her jobs. It's not that they don't care, thats a rather bold assumption to make - It's that perhaps there's more to it then that. And since Spazzy has always been good for me, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I don't excuse either artist, or condone their behavior however, to make things clear.

[foxbyte.livejournal.com]

Spazzy's a pretty good artist. The work is usually pretty simple, but looks nice. I got two pieces from her, paid at around the same time. Received the first April 2010 [about three to five months after paying] and the second in December 2010. She's terrible with communication, often taking weeks to read notes and almost never responding.

[darkduck64.livejournal.com]

I can say from personal experience, that Spazzy ALWAYS gets her art done. She is however just a little forgetful and disorganized <.<;; Ive commissioned her MANY times, and even I've had to poke her a few times to make sure a commission didnt get forgotten about.

Let me reassure everyone that Spazzy will get your art done if you give her a chance!
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2308881/

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

A year for the type of art considered is quite a hefty chance if you ask me. Especially considering it seems these issues she's citing are recent?