Advice?

[kavsie.livejournal.com]

Well, it has been about a year now since Maly (Jana Hill) ripped me out of my money an has refused to ship the finished product that I commissioned her for. She still refuses to reply to my e-mails, and I'm at my wits end. At this point, I'm considering small claims court, but I would like some advice on the matter before I do anything so drastic. Are there any other options at this point?

Comments

[ilea.livejournal.com]

how much was it for? if it's alot it might be worth filing small claims court papers.

One of her friends was sending out her hats... that just so messed up and sad.

[thornwolf.livejournal.com]

have you contacted Wicked Sairah? She was the one that got my hat for me from Maly

[reaperfox.livejournal.com]

What are her details? I too would like my money back.

[thornwolf.livejournal.com]

wicked_sairah is her LJ name. I'm not sure if she can get your money back but since she helped me its worth a shot.

[kavsie.livejournal.com]

She did mention that she may be able to, but nothing else was ever said past that. I would ask again, but it would feel rude.

[swandog.livejournal.com]

Same here...asking previously didn't get me anywhere. :(

[gungho-squirrel.livejournal.com]

What is the deal with the whole Maly thing? I don't understand how someone could be in full swing production of something that cool and in the middle of a handful of pre-paid commissions and then just... stop. Including not sending out the hats that were already finished and paid for. x.x

[celtic-tiger.livejournal.com]

If the money is more than twenty bucks, you might consider it, as it costs about twenty bucks to file a small claims suit. Of course sometimes it's the principle of the thing, too.

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

Like that guy on Judge Judy who smiled for small claims court, paid 35 (I think it was) for the paperwork and the cards he was suing over was only worth 20 dollars.

It was his son's Yu-Gi-Oh cards and he wanted to make sure his son learned that it wasn't right to cheat people. :3

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

How much did you pay her? Anything less than 200 is not worth going to small claims court. The costs alone would not be worth it, and furthmore unless you are near by to her it would just be way to much troble. I think you have done enough by coming on her and besmudging her name.

[fiercereaper.livejournal.com]

From all I've seen, Maly's done a good enough job of "besmudging" her own name. In the principle of the thing, it doesn't matter if it was 10 dollars or one hundred; and what makes it even worse is kavsie's commission is actually finished.

Seriously, this is such an easy problem to resolve.

[trikkeh.livejournal.com]

"Seriously, this is such an easy problem to resolve."

I agree whole heartedly. I had to go through hell just to get my hat and all it was over was shipping!

I think at this point it's really the principle of the matter. Maly did this to alot of people.

[ilea.livejournal.com]

actually in most states it's less than $30 to file. You don't have to have an attorney in small claims and usually in most cities there aren't any other court costs.

If you do a small claims court in your city they will seek to serve her in her city and if she doesn't respond she gets a judgement against her which you can use to a) report on her credit b) get her bank to give you the money c) get the court to get you the money

But really considering what all these people have gone through with maly lying and not contacting them and telling them their hats are finished sending them a pic and never sending the hat...she deserves whatever she gets.

[larylich.livejournal.com]

Look back through the history of this page and you'll find advice/links to what you can/should be doing. I'm at work right now so I don't have them handy.

In a nutshell: Keep all your communications with the artists. Read over the forms for filing mail fraud with the postal service (make sure you qualify for the filing), find the art's physical location and talk to the local police about the mail fraud; a detective should be able to help you.

What you shouldn't do (in a nutshell): Don't draw more lines in the sand; act or walk away from it. Don't threaten to sue as that's a form of harassment (sad but true). If you haven't reached an agreement by now, then there's really nothing more to say.

I'm voting we make a quick FAQ on the front pages so folks have an easy reference point and don't have to sort through old posts. :)

[kiwiseeds.livejournal.com]

Does anyone remember Jana's LJ? I used to find it through her website, but that's been down for a long time. Seems like she just kinda disappeared. Last I heard she was having some health issues or something, but I would think that she could at least mail out completed commissions.

[minimalismo.livejournal.com]

malytwotails.livejournal.com

[furrysantuary.livejournal.com]

If you look at her calender you can see shes been posting entries all this year, they are just locked.

[kavsie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's sad, really...I don't want to sound like a bitch or anything, but if you are going to rip people off, and then hide from them...well, that's just damn cowardly.

[swandog.livejournal.com]

And she was at AC again this year... :P