Warning: Sirrinose

[mellehz.livejournal.com]

Hate to have to do this but I've just had an unpleasant encounter with a customer on FA. It's not a big loss, but it's still a loss, and I am quite annoyed.



Customer advertised on the FA forums, wanting to commission someone for a ref sheet of their character. I PM'ed them and they were interested in commissioning me.

Our first exchange.

As you can see, I very clearly stated this would be my first muscle picture, and they agreed to it.

I began sketching, and showed the WIP so they could request any changes. This was all moved to email.

Does he state anywhere that he was not happy with how I did the muscles? No.

I assumed things were ok so far, and went to work on his changes. A bit later, he emailed me back, wanting to pull out of the commission.

We agreed that he would pay me for the sketch I've done, after I cleaned it up. It is my standard rate for a sketch; $3 USD.

I worked on finishing the sketch and sent it to them, as you can see above. 6 days then went by with no word and no payment. I emailed again, inquiring after the payment, and then:

Apparently I shouldn't have taken the commission cause I wasn't good with muscles, even though he agreed to it in the first place. He also only payed me $1.50 USD for the sketch, despite agreeing to pay $3 USD.

Paypal receipt showing his rude 'it's better than nothing' message.

Now, I know $3 isn't a lot, but as many of you know, EVERY single cent counts, especially if you're unemployed like I am. I worked a good hour on his sketch, made it VERY clear in the beginning that I was NOT experienced with muscles but I would try, and he agreed to it.



I've learnt my lesson and now have a 'Terms and Conditions' page I will now show my future clients.

Comments

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

While I do believe it is within his rights that he decided not to continue with the commission (you did say, because you've never done muscles, not to send any money until he'd seen a sketch), I approved this because he ended up paying you half the agreed-upon amount for the cleaned-up and fixed sketch.

[mellehz.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) I realise he had a right to pull out of the commission, ya. The thing that mainly got me mad was that he never once mentioned he was unsatisfied with the muscles I drew. I would have worked with him, of course, to better them (and I was, until he pulled out).

Instead, he said nothing until the end, and all of a sudden it's my fault for taking his commission, when he ok'ed it in the first place, knowing full well I wasn't experienced in muscles.

:(

[zyleeth.livejournal.com]

Everything else aside, I just think its the tackiest thing in the world to send a rude message through Paypal.

[furinari.livejournal.com]

*monocle*

[juno-king.livejournal.com]

I wish i had a monocle

[mialattia.livejournal.com]

Definitely charge prior to doing art in the future. That way, if he'd still decided he didn't want you to finish it, you could have refunded him the proper amount and kept the $3.

Refusing to pay you for your work and time is a complete fucking insult, no matter what they think of how you handled the muscles. It is NOT up to them to decide how much they pay you.

[mellehz.livejournal.com]

I will definitely think about changing my payment rules now.

And yeah...that really stung. I spent a good hour on his initial sketch, another half hour to clean it up, at least.

[patchesfox.livejournal.com]

That's just silly....you showed him the work and he seemed happy enough with it right until he got an offer by someone else to do it for free then all of a sudden he's not so happy.

Hmm lets see, agreed to pay you $3 for the cleaned up sketch, went through all the corrections with you....I can't see any excuse not to pay you. I can't help but wonder: is it really that hard for him to pay you $3 considering he had enough money to commission you anyways?

[mellehz.livejournal.com]

I know, it's pretty stupid. He had $10 to commission me in the first place, and suddenly can't cough up $3? x.x

[jakejynx.livejournal.com]

That is really terrible. $3 for what you did is cheap to begin with, but to not even be willing to pay THAT? What a jerk.

[x-thor.livejournal.com]

This guy sounds.. absolutely ridiculous. How rude to sent that 1.50.. It's like he's saying that drawing is only worth half of what you usually charge. I also agree that it isn't up to him how much money he owes. :S


Sorry you had such an unfortunate experience, though you do sound very pleasant to commission and you were willing to work with something you hadn't done before.. Props for trying, I think you did a fine job.. Don't let this guy bring you down about that.

Image 2

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

"...not happy with how I did the muscles?" Uhm, yes. Point 3: "Not enough muscles and the gut is two small..."

It's not a big clue, but it is an indicator of dissatisfaction.

And stiffing you a buck fifty for work already done, that's just fucked.

Re: Image 2

[mellehz.livejournal.com]

I know, but I of course was working with him to change what he wasn't happy with on that list (I made all the changes and cleaned the sketch up for him when he said he didn't want the commission anymore).

The last email I received stung since he didn't exactly have to commission me in the first place if he knew this would be my first muscle picture. He seemed fine with it being a sort of learning curve for me at the beginning :/ Ah well.

Re: Image 2

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

Oh, he was definitely an asshat, no argument.

[findmealone.livejournal.com]

That is disgusting. He seems pretty young, but that's no excuse.

[haricotvert.livejournal.com]

he did have the right to pull out of the commission (the immature part of me is giggling at the wording), but he didn't have the right to deem how much your work is worth. if the sketch was $3, then pay $3. a buck-fifty is a slap in the face.

and i always have my clients pay upfront before any work is done. i do leave the option of pay-after-the-sketch only if a client seems leery about that. most of my clients are other artists or have done these before, so they don't have a problem with paying first. then it's easier to refund them the proper amount than have them not pay you enough.

[namitheuntamed.livejournal.com]

The fact that he won't pay a measly $3, especially when he AGREED to pay the $3 previously, pretty much makes him a jerk, yeah.

Sirrinose here

[juno-king.livejournal.com]

Am i an asshat: yes. (very mature by the way)

Though i could have Handled it different i'm not going to apologize because i was not happy with the finished product. Which i see was not posted on here. If you want the rest of the 3 bucks i can send it to you still if you want. hell, I'll pay you half the original price really.

Re: Sirrinose here

[mellehz.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I've pretty much gotten over it and wish to move on (so no need to pay me the rest). But just as a note, I really wish you would have said you were not happy with the final sketch (instead of throwing it back on me, like it was somehow my fault you commissioned me in the first place knowing full well I was not experienced with muscles).

I would have worked on any changes you wanted done to the final sketch, as I do want to please my customers (obviously). Perhaps it was a communication issue? Looking back, I realise it may have sounded like I was not willing to work on changes past that point, which is untrue.

Sorry our transaction turned sour, and I apologise for posting it here, but at the time I was truly annoyed and hurt.

Re: Sirrinose here

[juno-king.livejournal.com]

No need for apologies. I deserved it. I was kind of annoyed myself at the time and went about the complete wrong way.