You should definitely post this on artist-beware on LJ.
I really hate to do it, but since my warning has been ignored (like all my other notes) I will post a PSA about this artist.. I've included the timestamps on every message for reference!
So, the very beginning, I ordered from this particular artist last year. I was super happy with the result, despite it taking a short while, and so they went down as a "to commission again" artist.
EDIT TO THE ABOVE: This is the note regarding the first commission, after a week I asked if he was still doing my commission (I'd had someone scam me out of about $25USD that week, so I was obnoxious and asked earlier than I usually do), he replied with a WIP sketch and the full commision was uploaded the very next day. He was genuinely really awesome to work with!
The order was made on October 16, 2016. The order was paid for on October 18, 2016.
Flash forward a couple of months, I post in the job forum part of DA, looking for someone to draw my OC Akuma, looking specifically for artists able to draw mature men without an issue. He contacted me with his information, and of course, I was eager to commission him again. Note: He promises to deliver 24h after the sketch is approved -- I wouldn't hold a person to that, but it's been a hell of a lot longer than 24 hours...
So it went well, I sent him my ideas and my OC references and he sent me a sketch to approve. -- The link to it is now broken, you can check for yourself if you'd like. I approved it, added the minor tweaks I'd like and then sent the money, with him letting me know the final copy would be sent to me the next day.
Now, meanwhile, he's uploading art to his gallery (please check the upload dates below) he's completely ignoring my messages.
Oct 19 2016 // Dec 19, 2016 // Dec 27, 2016 // Dec 27, 2016 // Dec 31, 2016 // Dec 31, 2016 // Jan 25, 2017
I messaged him once or twice, he ignored the first then replied to the second, letting me know he'd upload the commission.
Sent another message 2 months later. No reply.
Sent another one (simply copied and pasted my original message) about a month later, I got a reply but it's the wrong commission? I replied the exact same day, barely even 5 minutes later.. I got a little testy, and asked again a month later... And got a response, THE SAME DAY....about how the stash link was broken. I replied right away with the fixed stash link and still, 2 weeks later, have not heard anything from him..
TL; DR: Paid for a commission 6 months ago. He only responded before being paid. Still haven't got the comm.
EXTRA!One of the December 27 commissions belongs to Sarfiaholic who also left a comment about their experience dealing with Karn being basically the same.
EXTRA!: Another commissioner came forward about being scammed out of money and has waited over 12 months for their commission.
EXTRA!: @Junori has kindly shared some screenshots of a commission they purchased from him that wasn't finished.
UPDATE:Finally got some kind of answers! He replied to my ultimatum message with his reasons (link in the message is here) and the client of which the tweet was apparently about is the reason he can't refund me.... apparently?
EDIT: He used to have maybe 3 or 4 people in the comments asking him if their commission was done, but it seems he's hidden them.
EDIT: Thanks to Cawfee for showing me, he has a twitter and has been posting regularly since October last year, when I ordered the Commission. He's also using my OC as his icon //sobbssss.
EDIT: RIP a status from his twitter saying his customers are needy. (Screenshot, incase it's deleted.) -- big thanks to PetitexCosette for letting me know about this.
EDIT:I GOT A RESPONSE. I guess...you could call it that at least ???
EDIT: His secondary account is orphanageofkarn
I really didn't want to name and shame, but i'd rather at least prevent it from happening to someone else... If the issue is somehow resolved after this is posted, I will update and let everyone know. For now, I''m on a bit of a search to find if anyone else is awaiting art from this artist, or if anyone knows how to contact them about their orders?
Whoops, forgot to add that point, please don't harass or message this artist regarding this issue, I am only posting to make others aware of an issue I (and apparently many others) have faced, not to form a lynch mob over it.
I take a long time for commissions as well
But thats due me being a dumb fuck and misplacing it (which i have a tendency to do )
Or because i am taking care of my disabled grandma
That being said also do a guarantee
If it takes long than 3 months you get a 12 pixel pack and if it takes 6 months or longer you get a second thing of whatever you commissioned for free ( though it doesnt have to be the same OC)
I dont know if i am considered a bad person to commission or not but i myself am still waiting on a commission from 2013 so I try to be as prepared as i can when i get commissioned ;v;
Logging back on Toyhou.se after many months just to add my own story with that artist who is basically just a big scammer.
He had his commissions opened and I joined the waiting list to get an art from them. We began to communicate in March 2015, I paid them the 29th and never ever received my commission.
I sent him a message since I had no news 2 months after paying and giving the references, updating said references at the same time. He never answered to that message. A few days after he posted this message on his journal (which has been deleted since then :
As many others, I wrote several messages there, each time he would ask me the references of my character then nothing more. This lasted a while until I used his paypal email to attempt to contact him, here is the discussion :
Once more, no news after I send the messages, so like many others I began to writes comments on his Deviantart asking about my commission which were systematically deleted.
Now if you return on his Deviantart, you'll just see a comment section with a lot of hole, some pages fully empty as he was systematically hiding or deleting the messages since people, after over a year of wait, began to ask their money back, then to call him scammer (which he definitely is) and he was enough active to delete the message by the day, but definitely not to work on the art he owed us since more than a year.
With all the names I saw commenting and asking for updates, I believe he scammed at least over 30 people. I'm saying "at least" because there must have been people who simply didn't post anything or got bored of the whole hassle.