artists_beware | Artist/Builder Beware!!!

EXPLAIN: Ok, so what had happened here was I commissioned Poprock back in December for some crow wings. I was having a different builder make a head for me, so I thought it’d be a good idea to make a collaboration of multiple builders for a partial suit. Poprock was saying, at the time, that she was really desperate for commissions, so I thought I could help her out by hiring her. I was talking with her on Second Life about the commission I had in mind, and even modeling it after a different builders design. When I asked for a price quote, she said that it would cost me $125, which I thought was a reasonable price. Afterwards, I asked Poprock how long it would take to make them, and she said that it would only take a couple of months to do. So, from there I sent her a duct tape dummy of my arm, and an envelope containing the down payment for my wings. ($50) In about 2 weeks she began working on the wings and had a livestream video of her working on the wings. In a couple of days she sent me a picture of the progress of the wings. They looked pretty rough so I hoped that they’d look better over time, and in all honesty I was just happy that I was getting the commission made. Periodically, I would check in to see if any progress was made on the wings. At first I was asking once a week because I was really excited having this commission done. Poprock told me, whenever I asked, that no progress had been made on them since the livestream video. I started asking less often because I wanted to give her some space and not put any pressure on her.

A month passes and I ask about the progress of my wings. She again says that no progress has been made. When the next month passes, she asks on Facebook for some money so that she could buy something. Out of generosity, I gave her that money and we both agreed that it would be put towards paying off my wings. ($35) I was hoping that by paying her a little more to what I owed, that it would motivate her to work on my wings. To my disappointment, another month passes and zero progress has been made. Yet again, she asks for money for another thing (which I don’t know what it was) so I gladly obliged and paid her the remainder of the money on my wings. ($40) Of course I was hoping that some progress was made on my wings by now...she tells me that barely anything had been done. I was remaining patient as possible with her because I knew that if I said the wrong thing, she’d probably get mad at me and take even longer on making them. It’s around April 2011 this time, and I ask her if she could give me a deadline on when the wings might be finished. At first she tells me that she’ll have them done by the end of the month. As April came to a close, I asked if she was almost done, and Poprock told me that only one wing was done, but I would have to wait a bit longer. Also, to state, there were multiple times when she was guilt tripping me by explaining why the wings were taking so long, and she even offered me a full refund in May because she was feeling really upset about some stuff. Being a nice guy, I told her that I was willing to wait for the wings instead. (I fell for her guilt trip)

Eventually, she told me that the new deadline would be at Anthrocon 2011. Even as the days drew closer to Anthrocon, I still asked if any progress had been made on the wings. She dodged the question by saying they’d be done by Anthrocon. So, Anthrocon arrives and I eagerly wait to finally pick up my wings at Poprock’s booth. When I get there, she tells me that they aren’t done. She goes on to say that she has a bunch of commissions in progress, that she was booked until Christmas, and that she’d fit my wing commission “in there, somewhere”. In other words, it wasn’t a priority to her. Let it be noted that she constantly was asking for more commissions as each month went by, while my wings remained untouched. Nearly a month after Anthrocon goes by and I asked if she had done anything with my wings. Wonder of wonders, nothing had been done at all. So, what did I do? I spent 2 hours online talking to her trying to motivate her to work on my wings and other people’s commissions. She agreed to that, and I was glad that some progress was about to be made. One more month goes by, and I ask...she tells me nothing’s been done.

In this 8 month timespan, only one wing was finished and the other one hadn’t even been started on. At this point, my patience ran thin and I had to ask for a refund. She was highly confused by this and didn’t understand why. I explained to her that I was tired of waiting for them. Poprock flips out on me and begins asking all of these questions of why I didn’t say anything. I told her that I was trying to be a nice guy, but in all honesty, I was being too lenient with her. So she tells me that she’s only going to give me 30% back of what I paid once she sells the wings to someone else. First off, how many crows are out there who have the exact same arm size as me, and want the wings? Secondly, only 30%?! I paid her to do a service and she didn’t provide the service at all!

Eventually, I found out that she’s been manipulating other furs as well. Apparently, all of the commissions she was asking people to take from her, were just excuses so she could take the money from them and run off with it. There have been multiple reports from people who commissioned her, where they’ve been waiting up to two years for a commission. Not only that, some people didn’t even get a refund or any kind of update from her. She would often get pissed at them when they asked for an update and she would even go as far as to block them from all form of contact. 14 other people have reported cases similar to mine. In addition to that, some people who actually got the commissions from her were highly disappointed. One of the suits she made at a con even fell apart. The stitching was bad and it couldn’t even hold itself up for a second.

Sorry that this is so long, but all of this had to be explained in explicit detail so I could warn others of this horrible experience I had with this builder. I really worked hard to try and be her friend, but she was just using me the entire time. On one final note, I found out from a friend that Poprock was taking about me behind my back at Otakon and she told him that I hadn’t paid for my wings in full and that I was being extremely rude to her and pressuring her for the wings. Both of these statements are completely false! So that’s my experience here. Please, PLEASE, beware of her!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

poprock-grey.livejournal.com

Eventually it dwindled down into a whisper and I was semi able to deal with it. I started work on the fullsuit I had to complete for the deadline of AC, and making tails. I had friends come over to help me as well.
During that time, I slept little so I was extremely frazzled and even forgot to eat at times since I HAD to get things done for people. I worked on his wings a bit, but my main focus was the fullsuit.

During this time, I would do my best to message him as much as possible, keep him up to date, and regrettably, let him know things were not going quickly.
During my time of depressing, I asked him if he would prefer a full refund since I would be the canceller. He countless times said "no, it is ok." and would them sympathize with me. He countless times said it was ok, and would ask if it would be *possible* to get it for a certain time. I said most every time I would *try* my best.

AC was around the corner and I let him know they would NOT be ready for the con and he was a bit sad, but ok with it and understood. Especially since I had not slept for days, trying my best to work on things to make people happy. As AC came, he came by my table and I apologized profusely, and told him it would be done as quickly as I could. He seemed ok with it and we hung out at my table a lot during that weekend. We were going to hang out (as I was with many people) but once the dealers room was closed, I would go to my room and just pass out. (literally half hour after DD closed, to 9am the next morning)

After the con, I had a scheduled month off from making fursuits. Regardless of that, I still worked on things. His wings being once of them. I kept in contact with him and everything was fine. He asked for an update on the wings and I happily obliged. I usually run a private stream for a commissioner so they can see all angles of the work. He approved it, liked it and gave me one last measurement for the arm band top to have the elastic added. We both left the stream with good feelings and the commission still on.

Not even a week later, there is a complete change in attitude.

He wanted a complete refund out of nowhere, said he was hurting for money since he lost his job and all these things saying his family was broke or something. I understood, but was very confused so I inquired further. Just a lot of random things.

So, I did a little digging and found out he was actually getting the same commission from the person that was attempting to slander and spread libel about me earlier in the year (the time of little work and immense depression). So honestly, I felt I was being taken advantage of, so I inquired about that, and got no response to it but a lot of other words.
I was told of his friends posts on FA with edited screenshots and ommission to make me look bad. I filed a trouble ticket, and an admin removed it. Then I found he had done the same. Filed another ticket and it was also removed only after trying to defend myself only to find he had blocked me. Then I went to try and find evidence and it turned out he blocked me from his Facebook page as well. A friend told me that he is spreading lots of crap about me though. I have asked them to get screenies, but have not heard back yet.

As it stands, I feel betrayed, and less likely to let things slide in the future. I will be 100% professional in the future, even with my BF and best friends. It makes me super unhappy as I wanted to be lax with things and end up with friend with things I have made for them, not people that have commissioned me and have been a customer.

From:

otherscape.livejournal.com

Thank you for telling your side of the story. The best thing for you to do is to provide as much proof as you can get your hands on, even the people who where harassing you and talking behind your back. Also, I think it would be best if you took pictures of the crow wings and post them here as well. I know this isn't a critique community, but I and probably others would really like to see if there's any credibility to the claims of poor quality.

From:

poprock-grey.livejournal.com

I will do so, but earliest is Sunday night/Monday

From:

otherscape.livejournal.com

Sounds good.

From:

avianmaverick.livejournal.com

I can quote the exact words that you told me, before, during, and after AC. Before AC, on May 5th, 2011 you said to me, and I quote "I'll need to deliver your arm wings at AC" Here's a screen shot of you saying those exact words to me and my reply to it.

http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k541/AvianMaverick/NinthStage.png

I can't screen shot this next part, because it was directly spoken. At your booth at Anthrocon, I walked up to you and you said to me "So, I have some bad news. I didn't finish your wings, and there was some other stuff that I was trying to finish before the con." At the time, I knew that if I said anything wrong you'd probably get mad at me and just not even do the commission, so I asked when you'd get a chance to finish them, which you replied "Umm...Well you see, I'm booked until Christmas, so I can try to fit your wings somewhere in there." Key words used, "Somewhere in there" as in they weren't a priority to you despite the fact I had been waiting 6 months by this point.

After Anthrocon. On July 2nd, I was talking with you on Facebook and I asked, "If you happen to have any spare time, could you knock 'em out for me? My arms feel so bare right now, heh heh" [In Regards to my wings] and you said "xD Sure can!" Here's a link:

http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k541/AvianMaverick/EleventhStage.jpg

A few days later I spent about 3 hours talking to you on Steam Chat trying to motivate you to work on my wings because you were lacking the desire to do so. Steam chat doesn't keep all of it's chat logs, but I can show via Facebook message of the transition from Steam Chat to Facebook by asking "This better or Steam Chat?" http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k541/AvianMaverick/TwelthStage.jpg

In Steam chat, you told me that you didn't want to have to sew all of my wing fingers together because it was tedious. So you asked me if it would be ok to use hot glue instead. I agreed with it because you said that this would make the work go by much faster. Again, that was in the beginning of July. A month later I asked if any progress was made on my wings and I asked if you could show me some pictures of it or if you could show me on Livestream. On August 4th, you sent me a link to your livestream to show me the wing and you showed that only one of them was finished. Here's a screen shot of things leading up to that Livestream video: http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k541/AvianMaverick/FourteenthStage.jpg
Only one wing was done.

From:

kayla-la.livejournal.com

Hmm, sounds like she hasn't been taking your commission in particular very seriously until it was posted here. It might be because you two were friendly, not that that's an excuse. A commission is a commission.

From:

alex rahimpour (from livejournal.com)

Actually guys, I can back him up on the "In person at AC thing"
as i was literally right behind him as he was being told this.

Case in Point: OP is not a liar. If he was, I'd point it out. Friend or not.
~Arandus

From:

breakspire.livejournal.com

the OP came to me for arm wings after he lost hope that you'd finish them, but didn't go through with it because money issues.

so I'm hoping you don't mean me as the person he was getting the same commission from who slandered you? because I haven't done that...