(no subject)

[eenyuwolf.livejournal.com]

Hey guys!
I’m new here and for a while I’ve been in a situation and I don’t really know what to do about it any longer. I don’t really want to badmouth this artist because I don’t know a lot about her and this is the only commission I ever asked from her so I can’t say this happens a lot with her… so yeah, here is my little tale:

So, a while ago I sent a note on DeviantART to the user LakotaSilver, it was sent May 27th, 2005. At the time she was interested in doing custom My Little Pony commissions and was curious if anyone was interested. So I have my own MLP character that I designed so I inquired about the price she would be asking for. When she replied it was a reasonable price so I accepted.

So at first she was very into it, we exchanged many notes and she was always punctual and at one point even sent me pictures of the progress which were looking amazing! So then one day I sent off the money to her snail mail style it it was nicely concealed, but strangely after I sent it she just stopped replying to me. I never knew if she received my cash and she never spoke to me again. I sent her a few polite notes on DA and even got her AIM name off her DA page and IMed her asking again politely about it but she has never responded to one note or IM. I know that she has been on DA, on her page it says when she has last visited and it is always recent yet my notes have gone unread, and her name is ALWAYS up on my buddy list.

I just don’t know what to do anymore, I just can’t understand why she sent me pictures and went through all the work of ordering new hair and everything for this custom pony of mine. It was nearly done too, she was putting on the finishing touches then she just stopped talking to me. I really have no idea what to do anymore.

Comments

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly, she is someone that people have had trouble with before, and she has been cited on artists_beware. Which is sad because she does do some decent work. I don't know what's going on either, nor do I understand it. All I can suggest is that you ask for you money back, if you haven't already.

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

Nice girl, but a little on the disorganized side at times. She bid on one of my badge auctions, dropped me mail...and mailed me again about five months later saying she still wanted it. Still haven't been paid, or heard back after that.

I do recall a least one other post on this place about her, I forget if they ever got what they paid for, but it would be worth searching back to see.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

she doesnt return email.

[rahball.livejournal.com]

Hah, Lakotawolf!
I haven't heard back from her since I designed her two of my furry badges. If she ever pays up, I might complete them. Pity - I liked her bright yellow and black character.

[lakotawolf.livejournal.com]

Yes. Hello. So lovely to see myself splattered across the mighty LJ, so nice to see you freely sharing what I consider to be personal, private emails between the two of us.

Anyway, I never received any money from you, Eenyu. I've sent you numerous PMs via DA about that, and I notice you haven't included any of THOSE in your post about me.

I haven't gotten any IMs from you. I didn't know you had an AIM SN. And yes, while I am always "online", I am Away most of the time and I've got the option set to display an accept dialogue window from users not on my Buddy List, so if you're IMing me while I've got an Away message up, I'm not getting your messages and you're not getting my Away message.

I also would like to mention that I actually started your commission prior to receiving payment from you, which many artists don't do. I took it on good faith that you -would- pay me, and I began work on that principle. But since I never received payment, I stopped work on the custom.

And yeah, I have a tendency to not check my email/get back to my emails for a while most of the time. Living with and caring for a brain-damaged father who wets his bed on a regular basis sure does disrupt one's "online" life.

I'm not sure how you would like to resolve this. You're welcome to contact me at Lakotasilver-@-gmail.com if you would kindly not post our future correspondance around on LJ.

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

With all due respect, if you've had enough time to make 9 separate posts in the art_theft community over the past three months, you've had enough time to contact not only the original poster, but each of the people who commented here saying you don't respond to emails.

[knifesmile.livejournal.com]

Yes. Hello. So lovely to see myself splattered across the mighty LJ, so nice to see you freely sharing what I consider to be personal, private emails between the two of us.

Seeing as you haven't been checking or responding to e-mail, IMs, or any other form of communication she's tried, how, exactly, do you get off bitching about that?

You're the one delinquent here. If you didn't receive payment when you were expecting it to arrive, what you should have done was e-mail the commissioner and say, "Hey, your payment never got here -- what's up?" She's done everything else she's able to do, and you have the nerve to bitch about her taking it to LJ? Especially when she hasn't said a single bad thing about you except state the facts of how long it's been and your lack of contact?

And if you've got so much to do that you don't have time to do so much as check your mail and shoot off a quick note to the effect that you're busy, you shouldn't be taking commissions. I notice you did at least warn her, after a while, that your life situation was chaotic, but now you're getting all pissy at her for asking what's up? Perhaps if you'd bothered to take a minute and a half to glance at the AIM account you have perpetually logged in and reply, you wouldn't be having this problem.

There is nothing in what she posted that any reasonable person would conclude is so private as to warrant not being posted, save the addresses -- which the OP deleted. Posting the full exchange does *you* a favour, in fact, as it shows the facts of what was said and what wasn't. If she hadn't posted those, especially in light of your tone in this comment, I would have been forced to conclude that you hadn't even bothered warning the commissioner about the turbulence that might cause a disappearance.

Point is, when you don't respond to any form of communication whatsoever for in excess of one year, you have absolutely no room to complain when someone comes into Artists Beware about it, especially when the post is as polite and forgiving as this one. I don't care HOW fucking chaotic your life is, sometime between last June and this June, you *have* had a few spare minutes you could have used to contact the OP and, at minimum, apologise for being incommunicado, not to mention inform her that you never received payment. (Frankly, given your attitude, part of me is inclined to believe that's bullshit, but there's no way to know either way so I'll reserve judgement; you certainly aren't winning points with your attitude, though.)
]
I took it on good faith that you -would- pay me, and I began work on that principle. But since I never received payment, I stopped work on the custom.

That's your prerogative. But since you were in a contract, it also behooves you to let the other party know that you never received payment, not to just stop the project and drop it.

So cease the defensive attitude. I know you're under stress, but when you decided to accept commissions, you took the responsibility of behaving professionally onto your shoulders. Your behaviour, particularly in this reply, is exceedingly unprofessional. If you don't want to be posted on Artists Beware or elsewhere, you shouldn't act in a way that prompts that behaviour in others.

[westly-roanoke.livejournal.com]

Personally I think it's kind of funny how you didn't respond to emails for months on end...

Yet...this was posted, what? Yesterday? And you pounced right on it...

[banrai.livejournal.com]

Hear hear!

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY!


*insert arm flailing here*

[exoditedragon.livejournal.com]

That icon is totally win for this scenario. :D

[jurann.livejournal.com]

ZOMG, Hitler wailing on a Nazi banjo is so totally FTW. o.O

[eenyuwolf.livejournal.com]

The only reason I posted here was to get some help with this situation, not to drag your name through the mud or anything. And here we are talking so I guess it helped.

And so you know I never received any note from you on DA after the ones I have posted above, that is why I believed that you had just disappeared. This is the only time I heard from you that my money never reached you.

I have sent you an Email with a little more I wanted to say, I don’t think it’s necessary to drag it out here on LJ any further.

[auradeva.livejournal.com]

Yeah... artists tend to get their name on this community if they go three months without replying to a commissioner.

Also, emails to commissioners are not personal or private. They are considered evidence of business transactions. You can defend yourself by posting your DA PMs here, or by taking the time to email them to your commissioner. If you have time to be on Livejournal and DA then you have plenty of time to check email.

That you started the commission befor payment, doesn't make you look any better right now.

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

Also, emails to commissioners are not personal or private. They are considered evidence of business transactions.

Mmmmmmm. Yes and no.

They are certainly business transactions, I won't argue with that. But as such, they do become a kind of sensitive material all on their own. This is why I never post my current list of what status what person is in public; that's between me and my clients alone.

I think what I mean to say, though, is, if everything is all well and good between you and a client, you should keep your business to yourself. Even if you have a minor scuffle or misunderstanding with your client, you should keep that to yourself. It's simple tact.

But when a client is being neglectful, that's when it's time to bring what was more-or-less a private transaction into the light.

That said, eenyuwolf didn't quote any sensitive materials verbatim, so lakotawolf doesn't have a leg to stand on by complaining about "freely sharing what [she] consider[s] to be personal, private emails between the two of [them]".

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

It's way too conveniant for you to just say " I sent you Da notes, didn't you get them?" And then after months of dissapearing, you suddenly spring up here within a DAY. Something is very fishy here.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

wow, so you are able to respond.




i think i just shit a brick.

[chlorophyta.livejournal.com]

Hi! I still havent heard back from you as to whether you like the badge I made for you almost a year ago, despite multiple attempts to contact you. You also need to get me your address so I can send it to you. You already paid for it, so really, it's no skin off my back if you don't care enough to get it from me, just wanted to add my inquiry to the list of others. =)

[bonewolf.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering why you didn't say something sooner. Thats an incredibly LOOONG time to wait. No one should treat thier customers like that. How do they ever expect to get another comission again? It's just sad.

What's sadder, is them not contacting you for months on end. Then the moment you make a post they jump right on it with excuses. Expessially when they have so many other people complaining. How can every IM and DA message just disappear?

I'm sorry but no, thats just wrong to keep you in limbo like that. I really hope that what ever you get done next by whomever, is handled a lot better than that. Just wrong.. *shakes head*

[banrai.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha! That's that crazy girl that kept accusing my husband of trying to stalk her IRL, when here we live in NC and she in California. I've heard nothing but bad about her, though, so of course I don't believe a word of it. It's really sad that she's not replying to you in all of this. :/ I hope things get straightened out soon.

[auroralockwood.livejournal.com]

Awww, she's a friend of mine :(