Need advice: when is it appropriate to ask for a refund and how?

[blackbird11d.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone, I need your advice. I will not say names now as I hope to resolve this with the artist.

I have paid for a very expensive commission (3 digit amount), and the artist has been giving me various excuses for not being able to work on it for over half a year. I now have no use for the picture anymore and I am thinking of asking for a refund. The artist has done some work on it but only with a lot of nagging, and it is giving me a lot of stress because it is a very large amount of money. The artist is also difficult to communicate with and sometimes unpleasant. 

Is it appropriate to ask for a full refund in this situation, and how should I approach the artist about it?
I will provide more information if necessary. Thanks in advance.

Comments

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Hi! I have approved this as an advice post, but please understand if you want to name names at any point that you'll need to make a whole new post as a proper beware. Please don't mention names in this post, even if asked. Thanks!

[dazen-cobalt.livejournal.com]

I think you are well within your rights to ask for a refund. However I am going to be honest with you; more than likely they have spent your money already. getting your money back might take hell and high water. Also you won't be getting the full refund since -SOME- work had been started. I wish you luck in getting a refund.

[sintocat.livejournal.com]

How much work has been completed on the commissions? If it's gone past sketch I doubt you'll get a full refund. I have no idea what their ToS is though - you may want to look over it.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

You can ask for a refund at any time for any reason. All you have to say is "Hello, I am formerly requesting a refund to be sent to youremail@email.com. Thank you."

No need to explain anything, just quick and simple and to the point.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

This. Until you receive your product, that's your money they have. It's reasonable for them to keep a suitable amount for the work they DID do, otherwise they owe you a refund.

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

This. And also what sintocat said. You probably won't (and shouldn't) get a full refund if there is at least a sketch involved. It's not fair to the artist to have to give up all the money when they've done some of the work - no matter how long they've taken or how much you've had to bother them. The only exception to that is if the art is totally unusable as even a sketch, but that's a lot more grey of an area to tackle.

[ocelotish]

I disagree with this.

While if a commissioner just changes their mind, yes, the artist should DEFINITELY be paid for the work they did. However, it seems like this is a case where may be a cancelation by default, when the artist is taking a largely unreasonable amount of time. In that case, I think that the customer is entitle to either work done or a full refund.

Anything else is treating the customer unfairly or stringing them along unfairly. In a case like that, the artist is at fault and the one that should be out if there's going to be a party that gets the short end of the stick. That means that customer shouldn't be stuck with a sketch they can't use and be out their money. However, this does mean the artist is the one in control of the sketch and can reuse or resell it. On the other hand, the customer might rather have the sketch and pay for it and those two options should alway be available to the "wronged' party.

[wolf-goat.livejournal.com]

This. If the artist is taking far too long and stringing the customer along, they shouldn't be paid for partially done, unusable work they may have completed. It's different if the customer just changes their mind or something comes up and they "need their money back".

[ocelotish]

Totally agreed. However, it's hard to tell in this case what's going on: whether the artist just has not been doing anything or whether it's the commissioner changing their mind.

[wolf-goat.livejournal.com]

Obviously we can never know for sure, but simply based on the information we're given here, it appears to be the artist who is being tardy.

[ocelotish]

Ah, sorry! I was misreading your reply as towards me, not as a restatement. I just got confused.

[10thdoktor.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. Artists should be paid for the work they've done, but in a situation like this...they really don't deserve it. Kinda makes me think of a child that washes one dish an entire month but still expects their full allowance...

I've had to wait 2 years for a lineart commission, and in that situation it was hell to even get a PARTIAL refund out of them, I honestly felt entitled to a full refund but I didn't want to deal with them anymore. Left me with quite a bitter taste in my mouth.

[ocelotish]

First question: did you get a deadline for the piece? If so, then ask for a full refund: you commissioned the finish piece not the sketch.

Secondly: are you willing to let them sell the sketch to someone else, reuse it, etc.? If the answer is no, pay for the sketch and get a refund of the rest.

[blackbird11d.livejournal.com]

Thank you all for the replies! After reading the comments I have decided to ask the artist for a full refund. I think I have given her more than enough time, as she told me it would be done in less than a month at the beginning. She has missed the deadline she set for herself and also missed the second deadline I set for her.

This was an artist I really liked and something I really wanted, but the art is still far from being done. I would not ask for a refund if the artist intends get it done soon, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I don't even think she is trying because she ignored my last email 3 weeks ago although she is active on DA. The commission was for a fully painted digital piece, right now most of the sketch is finished but the character's clothes is still incomplete.

I will wait 2 more weeks for the artist to respond. If she still ignores me, I would try to make a beware post. Thanks again for the advice!