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At what point do you ask for your money back?

So like. I love getting artwork of my characters. But I almost never do that. Commissions are expensive and I struggle to eat some months (less so recently, but its still a paycheck to paycheck life).

Trades are fun, and when I'm regularly drawing again, I might be more open to them... when I don't also need commission money to help stabilize my income.

So, some time ago. When I was in a pretty damn good place money-wise I decided to treat myself and commissioned an artist for a prompt they put up (I'm not going to put out their name because frankly,  doing so is only sparking animosity all around)

So here's the timeline.
-Payment gets sent. an expectation of turnaround time is requested.
-The aim is for a month
-2 months pass and I make a request for an update (this artist does a lot of commissioned work, I'm not too concerned, just wondering the eta)
-Message catches them in transit they say they'll get back to me.
-7 months pass I message again
-Get the response that they will be working on it shortly
-4 months pass I message asking if this piece was going to happen at all. or if it had been forgotten or lost in the shuffle
-they admit it had been forgotten. and  give me an eta that they will have a wip sketch for me to approve of that friday
- two weekends pass, so I message one last time.  Asking how the wip is coming,
- No response.

So yeah. I'm a patient person and all. And I have been there. Making art can be exhausting. Art Block happens organizational issues happen. Having a que become overwhelmingly unbearable happens. But this feels excessive and I'm really frustrated, especially so because it feels good to support your fellow artists, and I just don't get to do this almost ever. And I'm wondering if I should have gotten to this point sooner.

So yeah. I'm probably asking for my money back tonight. But to the people out there who commission work. At what point do you determine that you'd rather have your money back instead (and be nice. while  I'm not naming names, the person in question could be reading this and is still deserving of respect and common decency)

Viewed:	81 times
Added:	2 months, 1 week ago 01 Jul 2024 04:14 CEST

11 Comments on this Journal

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krazylegz624

2 months, 1 week ago

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i'd go with double the ETA if its a first time commission source, that's an insanely long wait time tbh and kinda bs of them to take even half that long in the first place and not offer a refund

ReoDemonDays

2 months, 1 week ago

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@ krazylegz624

thanks.

yeah, double the eta sounds like a reasonable patience-o-meter in hindsight

Eviscerator

2 months, 1 week ago

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It depends on the artist and if they have a reputation for taking a long time. Generally I ask for my money back when it starts to reach the end of Paypal's purchase protection and the artist hasn't even started work.

ReoDemonDays

2 months, 1 week ago

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@ Eviscerator

yeah that makes sense. thanks

QueenKami

2 months, 1 week ago

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I totally get being patient and all that and not wanting to cause a fuss. I also know how it feels to be an artist who struggles with focus, art block, and other things.

I feel like now may be as good a time as ever to request a refund or threaten one if they cannot AT LEAST show you a WIP within like a week or something. (Threaten is a strong word, but just be like "Hey, I'm going to have to refund unless you can get me a WIP soon, etc)

It def depends, tho, on how long I would personally wait. If I was getting ignored, however, I'd probably start trying to get one a hell of a lot sooner. I would never treat a customer like that (I have admittedly very slow periods but I keep up with my customers) and I would never want to be treated like that. I don't blame you for waiting and being patient, because sometimes people do have a TON on their plate but also don't blame you for asking for the money back.

I've got no animosity to this person, just hope they can try and get things together a little better and maybe make lists and logs to keep track better XX

ReoDemonDays

2 months, 1 week ago

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@ QueenKami

First off, thank you.

And yeah, I think I was more willing to give quite a bit more lenience because my own turnaround time can be vary widely, especially if I've got a list of pieces to do that I might not be as excited about.

But here we are learning things about placing and taking commissions both.

QueenKami

2 months, 1 week ago

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@ ReoDemonDays

Yeah, I can def get that. Everyone's different and it can be hard to gauge exactly how long your particular thing will get done in relation to someone else's thing. Even if they are somewhat consistent, things still happen.

Hopefully they don't give you any grief and you can at least get your money back for food, necessities, or another piece of art, etc. ♥

OOOinfin

2 months, 1 week ago

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I'm probably too patient... Sometimes after all your messages (years worth in some cases), the artist ends up dying on you. If I had a nickel every time it happened to me, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

pentrep

2 months, 1 week ago

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Edited 2 months, 1 week ago by Owner

I understand your frustration. Your entitled to a refund if they've ghosted you. Happened to Me before and I had to charge back. Also if you do open again, I'd totally be down for a trade or com. You do great work. Good luck with your situation.

CactusLicker

2 months, 1 week ago

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Edited 2 months, 1 week ago by Owner

I'm way too patient.
I hate rushing people and reassure them that there is no rush, but it backfires so much.

I have multiple 3-year old comms that I've been totally ghosted on.
The worst was an artist that forgot me for a year and sent me a crummy wip sketch as the finished thing; I'd rather be ghosted than treated like that :(

TheFoxPup

2 months ago

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Correct me if I’m wrong but you’ve been made to wait 11 months when the original ETA was 1 mo without even a WIP?!
Definitely try and get a refund if possible, if there’s no sign of willingness to cooperate when the PayPal chargeback window’s closing u gotta let em kno ur ready to go nuclear and charge back if they won’t hold up their end before u can’t get ur money back
I can think of only a few possible explanations for why they’d do this and the only one where they wouldn’t refund u would b a scam
Gonna send u a dm about doin the art free can’t fkn stand to see other artists pull this kinda shit on clients it gives us all a bad rep

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