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!

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spiffystuff.livejournal.com

I think that would likely backfire.

And I'm not just saying that because I think the artist deserved this beware (really, 8 months, 3 dropped deadlines, no new completion date in site, and a 30% refund that they're too broke to give right now anyway??) Retaliatory beware posts seldom look great, even when the artist is 100% clear, which this one isn't.

stormslegacy.livejournal.com

Just look at this screenshot:
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k541/AvianMaverick/Screenshot2011-08-17at103718PM.png
What you are repeating is from the OP, not the evidence. Does what you're saying reflect what was really said by the artist?

I think your comment proves my point, namely what I said in my own thread here:
http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/501381.html?thread=18168709#t18168709

I'm not going to say that the dropped deadlines aren't a problem, but the artist was in contact the whole time AND she offered a full refund. Her 3 choices are all completely reasonable (I'm assuming that the 30% comes with the work thus far and materials) and have been suggested on A_B before as a means of resolution. He was offered a full refund 4 months in, so even that was on the table.

Yes this is from the artist as well:
http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/501381.html?thread=18088581#t18088581

OP was being a doormat but I don't think that's a great excuse to do that to someone.

And the evidence right there is that if OP wants a refund (do you really blame them after waiting another 4 months and the wings are only half done???) they can either take 30% or wait for the wings to be finished and sold, which is kind of the original problem: when the heck are these wings going to be finished??

http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/501381.html?thread=18099333#t18099333

Artist dodges the question of "when" but says it's not the first project on the list.

kayla-la.livejournal.com

The fact Poprock kept brushing off the OP's commission and doing other stuff and treating it like it wasn't important kind of made it a valid beware against her for me, and it wasn't something the OP was lying about, either.

That said, I'm not too impressed with the OP. I wouldn't work with either of them. But the OP doing what he has doesn't suddenly make this an invalid beware.

THAT said, I figure a lot of the people who would bother to use AB to research are going to read the comments, especially when there's 200+ of them. They're going to want to know why so many people commented.

Personally I wouldn't avoid the OP over what I see here so far, but that's partially because I'm pretty obsessed with getting things taken care of quickly. I just don't take commissions unless I know I'll be able to work on them within a week, and be fairly confident in giving a deadline I can meet.

Not saying artists shouldn't do that stuff if they're reliable and communicative about it, just that I choose not to because I'm a bit obsessive and hate having a paid job if I'm not working on it.

(and if folks want to avoid the OP because they feel like OP wouldn't tell them if they were unhappy in a useful fashion, that's understandable too)

poprock-grey.livejournal.com

I actually asked him many times if it was ok. Each time it was fine.

I also would have posted more of the reasons that I was taking so long but I didn't want people to say I was trying to throw a pity party.

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