I never thought I'd have to make a post here but I'm kind of at a loss... this has never happened to me before. I've made repeated attempts to reach this artist on all of their accounts. They've been online toyhouse repeatedly since my most recent messages. At this point I feel clearly ignored. The last several messages I've sent them I've stated that if I receive no contact before October ends I will be canceling my payment to them on paypal. I would have thought they'd at least answer me then, but no... I don't know if I should be directly name dropping here? I have a load of screenshots but they have usernames so I haven't included them yet but here is the time frame for our interactions. July 21 they open commissions on deviantart. There were five slots that were estimated to be finished in 1-5 days. July 21 I claimed a slot and they got back to me to let me know I would be added to the waitlist since the first five had filled. August 4th they gave me their info and I sent them $30 over paypal. August 13th they posted a status update saying they were taking a small hiatus. This never quite sat right with me because I feel like deviantart status messages are so buried and hard to find. I don't remember when I first saw it but I feel like if someone has paid you, you should let them know directly if you need to step away and delay commissions for a while... August 25 I note them to check in on them and see if they needed to cancel or anything. I let them know I could still wait a little while but I wanted to have a basic idea of what was going on with real money being involved. August 31st they replied - this is the LAST time I ever heard anything from them. They apologized for the late response and told me they would begin work on commissions in a few days. September 11th I send them another note to check in. I noticed their instagram said they were busy so I let them know I could still wait a bit but I would like to know if they had an idea when they might start work on their commission queue. September 16th I tried messaging them on their instagram. During this time I had seen them be active on deviantart adding things to their favorites but as far as I know they haven't favorited anything since September 18th. I also tried adding their provided discord with no luck. September 19th I sent them a message here on toyhouse. September 28th I emailed the address I had sent the money to. I let them know this was the first time an artist has vanished on me like this and that I might just be paranoid but I would really like an update on what was going on. I could still wait a bit more if I knew it was actually going to happen. October 6th I messaged on instagram again. October 8th I noted them on deviantart. I stated that if I haven't received any sort of response by the time October ends I would be canceling my payment. I can't afford to leave $30 in limbo with no idea what is happening. October 9th I tried their email again. I let them know that I sent the note and that I needed any kind of reply before October was over. October 16th I left a comment on their commission journal. October 19th I commented on their deviantart profile asking if anyone else had success getting in contact with them explaining my situation. Someone replied to me on the 21st and let me know that the artist was online on toyhouse a while ago that day. October 21st I sent them a longer message on toyhouse. I explained how uncomfortable the whole situation has made me. I stated again that if I receive no response whatsoever I will cancel my payment at the end of the month. I also stated again that if I can be given an update or some kind of answer I am still okay waiting a little while longer. I don't get a lot of fun money each month and this $30 has been in limbo for a while now... They've since logged on multiple times. I commented on their toyhouse profile yesterday letting them know I sent a message and that I would appreciate an answer. As of right now they were last active here on toyhouse 8 hours, 45 minutes ago I was so excited about these commissions and I had planned to surprise my sister with getting her oc drawn as well and now I'm so anxious and stressed not knowing what I should do. How many times should I try to get a response before October ends and I cancel the payment? I'm also a little scared because they have a large following and if I cancel my paypal payment what if they could somehow turn it on me and make me look like I scammed them? ;_; ETA: The artist in question is Renkaii. I've grouped together my screenshots of their original posts and my correspondences with them here. https://sta.sh/2xslogosiyv I've whited out the names to unrelated users I had notes from.
I have all of my screenshots saved together. I still want to honor my word and give them until Nov 1st to reply before I file a chargeback.
I wasn't sure if I should have said their name yet, but the artist is renkaii
I thought about pinging them here in case it got their attention but I'm also not sure if that's the best way to handle things. This is all a first for me.
Rule of three is good for most things. Ten messages is probably a bit much, so I would not do any more.
- You've made it clear when you're going to do chargeback.
- They've had a lot more time than their estimate.
- They've had plenty of time to reply.
All you need to do now is wait, and submit the chargeback if there's no response. More messages won't improve things, and worrying about it won't help you.
Not denying any of your claim but the first rule of the service and review thread is "Negative review threads must be accompanied by tangible evidence of the transaction and any relevant transfers or artwork where appropriate." and you havent linked any proof in your post :)
Thanks everyone for the comments! Its helped me feel a little less like a chicken with it's head chopped off. I'm going to wait it out and hopefully I hear something soon.
Cosmind Thank you for specifying! I was worried at first about name dropping but I've now edited in a link to my screenshots in my first post.
I was considering doing that - I would hate to file the charge back without them knowing it was going to happen... is there a way to tell on toyhouse if a message has been opened or not? At the moment this is the only place I know they're active.
There's a way to identify if a message has been open in toyhouse. It is reflected on the title of the message in https://toyhou.se/~messages/outbox. Unopened messages will be bolded (will look differently than opened).
DeviantArt has a similar function as well.
If I'd be you, I'd send one final message on toyhouse, titled sth like "Chargeback on Nov. 1st". In there, I'd simply write "Hello. I have send you a lot of message about my commision, however to no avail. On November 1st, 7am CET (as an example), I will file a chargeback."
If I'd be you, I'd also CLEARLY state "I will not postpone this again, so I will not accept an excuse. This is your final reminder. I will either receive the art by November 1st, receive a refund by you or I will file a chargeback.". Sounds mean, but you know, can't sugarcoat everything.
They do appear to be bolded - thank you!
To everyone who suggested it - I'll try one last message with a more informative subject line to catch their attention.
I hope you've filed the chargeback :( This is ridiculous and awful. I've had the same situation with another artist and decided to chargeback and move on. Perhaps in the future try to find an artist who has a quick turnaround and high reputation. They may be more, but it could possibly (?) prevent this from happening again.
Sorry I hadn't gotten an update here sooner - a huge mess of stuff is going on in real life this past week and I kind of spaced it.
An update from the artist was received before the date I had given them and private contact also happened. I'm still not happy with how everything went, but I was satisfied with the responses I received and I am giving them a little time to make things right as they have now upgraded my commissions as an apology.
I know that perhaps I shouldn't have given them any more time, but as I am still under my paypal protection and I know that this year has been horrible to everyone I was willing to give them a little more time. I'm keeping a close eye on how long I have with paypal to file a charge back and I won't be letting it go that long by any means. At the very most I could see giving them until this month is up and that is assuming that contact and progress updates continue up until then.
I really appreciate all the responses and advice I've gotten - going forward I won't be as lenient if an artist ghosts me but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt this time because of all of the circumstances surrounding it. I'll also update here again when there's something to report on. It hasn't quite been a week since I was last chatting with them in notes so in a day or so I'll see if they have any sketch updates.
Quick Edit I've seen work in progress shots now and I'm really pleased with them! It's looking like a happy resolution is on the way. Will update again.
This has been due for an update for a while, but the holiday season was hectic and things were still on the slow end.
It's taken until the new year, but I have received all of the promised artwork. Things went on longer than I would have liked - but I was still within my paypal protection and frequent communication was kept with the artist with another quiet period around the holidays. The artist was very apologetic and upgraded my slots to full illustrations instead of just sketches. So overall though the whole experience was frustrating at times, I am thrilled with the art I received.
Thanks for all of the advice given here. I'm glad to know how to handle things going forward if I am ever ghosted again.