Help?

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

Being an artist myself I learned to be very patient when it comes for commissions. I have already commissioned people and waited for my finished picture for almost three years. But... in those cases I have been updated with progress scans and so on.

But now I am in following situation. In January 2005 I have paid the artis Jamie Sidor, also known as Emrys or Blaqriot, the proud sum of 400$ for a sketchbook commission.

Somewhen in March I think I had, out of cirousity, asked wheather or not she was able to start anything. Not to rush her, just because I was eager to know. She told me she had started it, but left it in her parents' house somewhere, when her younger cousin was over for a visit. He saw it and ornamented the pictures in it with crayons. So she wanted to start over. Well, bad things can happen and as I said, I can wait. I just felt bad for her that she had to start anew.

Short after that I think she moved from her parents' place to her own place? And this is where I lost track of her. She abandonned her Livejournal, her DeviantArt Journal and her MySpace thingy have last been updated in March this year.

I tried to contact her several times via mail, asking her if she was alright, if she could still finish my commission or if she'd have to stop working on it. I offered her to refund the money and because I know 400 bucks are a lot (...) she wouldn't have to pay it all back to me at once, in case she couldn't finish the commission.
Well, I never recieved an answer.
I also wrote her a deviantart note, but even though she was online in the meantime it seems she didn't even read my message.

So... I am pretty much at a loss right now and I don't know what to do. I already see my money being gone and me not getting anything for it.

Does anybody here have an advice for me? Does anybody probably have contact with her and could help me out? I would really really appreciate this.

I have reached a point were my spirits and hopes are less than low. -_-


Regards,

- Bloodhound Omega

Comments

[mottenfest.livejournal.com]

I've waiting for her half of a trade for 3 years... :/

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

Well, a trade is one thing, but agherigohre!! ... 400 Dolllaaaaahs. ;___;

[mottenfest.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see how that would be bit....aggravating. >:E

[silverfoxwolf.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I did have one commission with her awhile back, that was turned around in about three months. Was a colour A4 picture with no background. I also did ask about a skectchbook commission, but it never made it past the initial inquiries.

I have taken over a spot that someonelse had for a commission and heard nothing about that at all.

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

She mentions two commissions in her MySpace Blog entry from this year's march: the one for Klandagi and mine. She wrote... uh... what was it, before she posts new art she wants to finish those, but as I said... that was in March. :/

[silverfoxwolf.livejournal.com]

As I guess you have already been trying email and messengers I do not have any other ways to suggest contact, sorry.

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

What's Klandagi say? Do you know if she got hers at all?

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Looks like she's in the comm, so let's hope she responds.

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

Hm... do you think it would be an idea to ask Klandagi if she had more sucess in contacting Jamie, than I had?

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Worth a go.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

400 bucks, yikes :/
That really really sucks :/

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

*nods* Uhu, it does. :/

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to let you know but sounds like you got robbed, and at this point unless you want to go to the extreme of taking her to small claims court (which 400 in enought to do so over) you best bet is just to let people know this girl hustled you out of 400 bucks.
In the future however try never to pay that much money up front before you see any sort of progress or product. Its ok to pay the whole price prior to getting the product if it is like 20 bucks or less, but anything more than a 100 or so I would demand to see some sort of progress or product for before I sent in the whole payment.
Man that sucks 400 dollars is a lot of money to loose.

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

The problem is... she lives in the US, I am in Germany. O.o How high are my chances to get her infront of the court. Plus a lawyer might already cost more than those 400 bucks. :/

[sekhmet.livejournal.com]

Well, at least shes not posting oodles of art meanwhile or anything,then it'd be more insulting. I think she's only uploaded once(a couple of old peices) in the past two yearsish(one of the reasons being she lacked a scanner i beleive *shrug*).

I hope you get your money back eventually.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

She's usually pretty good about keeping her turnarounds in a timely manner, I wouldn't worry too much.

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry, if it wasn't for the fact, that she keeps ignoring all my messages. :/ And it's not like I spam her with mails. I wrote her like... four or five since I got the commission.

[duraji-synth.livejournal.com]

Ick, that's really terrible, sorry to hear that. Who knows, maybe she left the fandom, or lost all access to her computer or something like that. Keeping $400 is pretty awful, though, even if she WAS going to leave the fandom.

On the positive side, I've always liked YOUR art. :)

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

I know she must have acess to her computer, because she keeps on logging in to MySpace and DeviantArt. >_< Oy... that just blows.


Errr... thank you. ^^;

[farraptor.livejournal.com]

Dear god...this is awful.

Unfortuantely, there's not a lot you can do unless you paid via. Paypal...In which case I believe you can still get a full refund for service not rendered. There may be a statute of limitations on that, though, and I'm no expert. But it would definately be worth looking into for $400 worth of nothing. While you could take her to court, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile (especially since you're in Germany).

If I were in your position, I would do the following: Completely ruin her reputation.

It's the *very least* she deserves for essentially conning you out of $400. I'd make sure everyone everywhere knows that this idiot likes singing sad-heart stories while stealing people's money.

Thanks for the warning; I'll be sure to stay away from this one. Here's hoping for the best in your future endeavors.

Take care,

~FaR~

[bloodhoundomega.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is. :/

I did pay via paypal. The thing is, I would like to not play dirty, if possible, een after all of this. -_-

I think ruining her reputation won't really have any effect at all, since she is barely present anymore and doesn't post art any longer (so it seems) so I don't think she will return to full online and fandom activiy, so she can basically give a damn about her reputation.

[farraptor.livejournal.com]

You paid via. paypal? Contact paypal...they have ways of dealing with this. I know another gentlemen who just got $160 refunded for 'service not delivered' (bought an item, but the creator made an extremely poor quality product and he sent it back. She refused to give a refund, so he's *taking* it back from her, whether she likes it or not).

I'm sorry...playing dirty?

I wouldn't call it playing dirty...not at all, actually. I mean, she's the one who cheated you, my friend. Out of $400, no less. That's a hefty sum of change for most people, and it's absolutely your right as a consumer to complain to other consumers and give notice that she's a bad pill. That's why better Businiess Beauros and Small Claims Courts exist. Don't just let her get away with this without a whimper or scuff.

If nothing else, you should definately contact paypal. It's possible you could get your money back.

Best of luck,

~FaR~

[die-monster.livejournal.com]

ACK. $400 is a looot. I hope she turns out to have been reputable...not least because she HAS MY NAME O_o

I go by Emrys, though not as an artist or in the fandom, thank god. I feel compelled to go look at her art now, although I definitely don't feel like commissioning any, having heard this.