PSA about multiple users [almond, honeyking]

Posted 6 years, 10 months ago (Edited 4 years, 8 months ago) by entropicteacups

Bit of background is necessary for this.

Back in January of this year, I was gifted a plunny by Almond [same username here and on FA. I'd rather not ping because of how ugly things have gotten]. I was also given money by my at the time fiance [Alysthene on FA/MidnightQueen here] to buy a kindling spot - that money came from my account, not anyone else's, though it was gifted to me first. The first one was freely given to me. I have proof of original ownership in screencaps, which I've included below, as well as the updated records page for the designs.

In February Almond moved in with myself and Alysthene. My relationship with Alysthene ended on April 1. Things went sour very quickly and I moved out. I did not think it would be an issue that I was keeping a design that was gifted to me, as it's pretty common knowledge that you can't take back gifts as they are no longer yours. While things had been quite sour between Almond and myself, I had thought things were relatively civil between my ex and myself. When she asked me about giving Apollo back, I said no. You can see that here: http://i65.tinypic.com/16c2tl1.jpg
I have proof of them originally being mine here: https://i.gyazo.com/cacecb9bfc3a33ff5697260ff9d0529f.png and https://i.gyazo.com/6ef464c710ad1dedd766f9edb4952758.png

I was on the forums the species has not too long ago to update the new info I had for Apollo. Earlier I noticed some new members I'd not seen before and decided to see which ones they were on the records page the adopt owner keeps. Imagine my surprise when not only Bound Spirit, but Noble Spirit were listed as having different owners. You can see that here: https://i.gyazo.com/19e4d7782bce0db284cd53b72e19db52.png My ex was listed under Bound Spirit's owner and Almond was listed as Noble Spirit's. I then realized I'd been booted out of the discord server they have when I went to go ask what was going on.

While I don't know the exact details of what was said to HoneyKing [here and FA] and Starprince, the former is upholding Almond's claim to Apollo even though he was gifted to me, citing that legally she still owns him [I disagree with this - a gift once given is no longer the first person's property. I wish to point out that I gifted one to her and could therefore use that logic to revoke her rights to him, though I won't as I find it petty] and that Barrett would belong to MidnightQueen regardless of the fact that the money came from my own account. I do not agree with this. Whether or not my ex gave me money to buy a slot should not matter. The money was in my account and I was the one who paid him. I have since been given a refund for the slot, though this was only accepted as he refused to give me back the rights for the characters in question. You can see the initial communication here: http://oi65.tinypic.com/66hop3.jpg And a note back from him here, in response to my protests: https://i.gyazo.com/92e40e0fe2896cf33e08aeb46a0e6b3f.png I did warn him at this point that I would be making a PSA. There is another note, but this was stressful enough and I have no wish to talk to them further so I've not opened it or been back to that account.

MidnightQueen later sent me an angry email over another situation and said she was unaware of the plunny issue and hadn't had anything to do with it, but if you note the screencap included above - HoneyKing directly contradicts this by stating they'd stated they'd not been able to contact me and had gone to him to gain control of designs they never had a right to - this was a clear lie, as proven by the screencaps of contact I provided earlier.

Due to both MidnightQueen and Almond taking designs that they had no rights to, I cannot recommend doing business with them either as buyer or seller.

I also cannot recommend doing business with HoneyKing as he has proven untrustworthy and I feel this is just bad business practices. Taking a design that was gifted to me and giving it to someone who is known to be a close friend of his [he's acknowledged as much in streams and so has Almond] simply because of a falling out is not right, nor do I think the majority of the adopt community would agree with it. Likewise, taking a design that I paid for from my own account, regardless of where the money originated from, and giving it to my ex is outright theft. Had I not approached and protested I might never have gotten the refund. At the point that it was paid for, we were a couple still and the money was given to me willingly.

I had hoped to avoid a PSA but as things became unpleasant and I could see I would not be able to sway HoneyKing with any sort of appeal regardless of the proof I provided, I felt that a PSA would at least save others from having to deal with this sort of situation with these individuals.

Edit: Since there's been some concern raised, here is an email thread with most of the conversation [it has nothing to do with the plunny situation until the end] and dates provided. http://i68.tinypic.com/j0yvlv.jpg

EmzeThe2nd

i'm not letting this die

this is absolutely horrible and people need to be on the lookout. Who in the world does these kinds of things to someone? even if you had a falling out you don't take back gifts

and you sure as heck don't steal them like these people did 

TheQueenNae

 Yikes! I use to want to buy from Almond when they had resells and use to want to commission a ref sheet from Honey but now I def. wont do business with any of these three! Blocked all on FA and TH so I dont forget their bad people.

Ellteo

Bump bc this is pretty ridiculous business tbh.

entropicteacups

As there have been concerns raised about the dates and that email, I have updated my psa to include an email thread with dates & all but the last message blocked out, as that is the nasty message I referred to. I do not have access to the discord log where they asked for one design back [Apollo] as I have since been removed and I deleted the direct message as I expected HoneyKing to do the right thing when I provided proof that Alysthene/MidnightQueen had in fact been in contact with me about one design. There IS a date listed however, as the day changed while we were talking - you can see it say 'May 2' right in the middle of that one. The FA note from HoneyKing where I was offered a refund does show a date - May 7th. So there are dates included now. I hope that helps clear things up. I do want to stress that Almond and MidnightQueen are roommates - so contact with one can easily have a messaged passed to the other.

Also thank you to everyone supporting me on this. It means a lot.

fruti_fae

Olay, Im not here to defend HoneyKings actions. But Almond still technically owns the character. I went threw something similar to this and lost a good chunk of characters to me and a friend having a falling out. She had gifted me these characters, but since there was no contract and no formal agreement, they still technically owned the characters, what I had gotten was a 'temporary license' in which I had been allowed to use the characters for a period of time but never actually own them. It didnt matter that they were gifted to me and had technically been my characters for the better part or two years, I didnt legally own them.

What she couldnt take was any art that I paid for, or got in a trade. I still had rights to those pieces, they couldnt use them. Its pretty complicated, and my memory is a but hazy on the subject. But Almond is legally right to take the character. Is it right? No. Is it hella shady? Yup.

Vespisia

@fa-wns

Basically this...it's not illegal, but it's extraordinarily unscrupulous, and should not be done. It's entitled, unfair, rude, and a low-blow, along with being disrespectful. I don't know what circles other people are in, but in the ones I am in, gifts are a permanent thing and there are no take-backs unless the giftee decides it is so. To do so is a great social faux pas. And from my own observations, this appears to be something commonly understood throughout the community and society, so this situation is mind-blowing to me. ' .' 

admin

Since we've received some concerns, I'm just posting to verify that this thread is not breaking any rules right now, just please make sure to keep all commentary strictly related to business practices. 

We'll be keeping an eye on the thread to make sure the conversation doesn't get out of hand. 

Psy-Yuki

Bump

Hyexur

Wowwie. I'll def stay away and just enjoy honeykings base's from now on.

Bump bc this is crappy as frick