What should I do? I really need some advice.

[OnionRings]

So this is a long story so strap in. I honestly just need to rant and get it off my chest but at the same time I really do need some advice too.

 

Back in April I saw this guy on twitter that made art, being a small you tuber I wanted to hire him to make me some new art, I love the art that pixel flare had made me but I wanted something new and fresh. In August I finally had the funds to pay him and we agreed on 75$ for a full revamp to my twitch, you tube, and twitter. The deal was great, a lot of money for me seeing as I only bring around 200 a week and have to help with family bills, but I went for it, I was so excited to see what he would come up with.

 

I told him what I was thinking and what style I wanted and all that and he started brainstorming, a few days went by and he hadn't even started but I was patient as I knew art takes time to get right. I checked up about every week or so to see how he was doing as he never sent me any updates or anything, not like pixel flare did, pixel sent me constant updates and rough drafts to see how I liked it, this guy did not so I asked him to and asked him how it was going, he kept feeding me excuses upon excuses.

 

September rolled around and it had been a month and all I received was 1 tiny little button, a button that goes under my twitch for people to click on, I was like wow finally I got something but I was furious as he didn't keep to the color scheme I gave him and it was only 1 item. Here is it. http://prntscr.com/lagcmv. So I told him to stick to the colors I have him and asked him to keep me up to date as he went, he did not. More time and more time went by and I finally realized after looking at it a second time, this dude took my previous profile picture (the one I'm using on here) and darkened it out and put it UNDER WHAT HE MADE and called it " new " and said it looked " super slick " http://prntscr.com/lagd8w. I was absolutely furious with the guy.

 

So I blocked him on twitter and contacted paypal to get a refund, no go, I sent via friends and family so there was no way to help me, so I then called money network, my card company (I work at wawa and that's how they pay us if we choose not to use our own bank). They said it would be 45-90 days so I waited. I then received a letter saying my dispute was denied because of " previous contact with the seller " WELL YEA DUH, I had to contact them to buy the art. Money network are idiots... as of now I contacted the BBB hoping they could knock some sense into money network and get me my money back but it has been a week with no answer and the company only has until November 1st or the BBB will close the case.

 

I am so frustrated and don't know what to do, I asked the guy if he could do 50 bucks and I'd let him keep some just so he doesn't lose out totally even though he really doesn't even deserve 5 bucks from me, but he says he only has 20 bucks. I can't accept that... it would be a 55 dollar loss... I am just so stumped as to what to do? Do any of you have law degrees or just know something I can do? How can money network legally deny me a dispute? Based on the story wouldn't you say I should be eligible given that I wasn't delivered my product?

 

I can't take the guy to small claims court because the court fees would cost more than what I would get back, but I rightfully can't let 75 bucks go either, but also to only accept 20? Sure I get something back that way but it's a complete sham to me....

 

Edit: I forgot screenshots, here are screenshots after I unblocked him as of September 17th. Look at how he dodges me over and over and never gets it done. http://prntscr.com/lagk30

 

http://prntscr.com/lagklo I waited 3 days and asked what all he got done while he was blocked because the dumb ass didn't even know I had him blocked because he never attempted to contact me because he only ever DMs me when I harass him and ask questions. He then asks my email and I sent it and then guess what, he doesn't send the art to me, surprise surprise. 

 

http://prntscr.com/laglm2 in this one you can see I send him the email as I said, he doesn't answer and doesn't send, I wait 2 days, he finally answers and says he's " lacking creativity " and then I was like wtf, you don't offer to make somebody art and then be like " oh sorry I ran out of ideas "

 

http://prntscr.com/lagmck

 

http://prntscr.com/lagmhw this is when he send the shit button and was like " hurr durr its so sexy looky " and I said as you can see that I was skeptical of the colors, he saw the tweet so I waited a while thinking he was finishing up and changing the colors, notice the tweet dates.

 

http://prntscr.com/lagn3r here he asked if I wanted the art, I didnt want to be rude so I was like well yea silly goose I did pay for it but deep inside I was like wtf is wrong with this guy. He then misread my previous message about me not being 100% on the colors, I said and you guys can see it, that I would upload all the art to my twitch and see how it looked before having him change anything, he got confused so just went quiet.

 

http://prntscr.com/lagnxg I resent him the old tweet reassuring him what I said, he was like oooooh ok, then asked for my email again after I already gave it to him before. Then gave me another bullshit timeline of " after class " or " when I get home "

 

http://prntscr.com/lagoqm alot went on here, a few hours after I gave him the email I just got fed up again and said the thing about the money like I told you guys before where I was like here can we do this deal? he offered the 20, and thats when I said save up. You'll notice I threatened legal action and of course I can't really do that as mentioned before, it'd cost too much. And I also said I wouldn't name and shame him which I won't I'm going to go edit his name out now, I was going to plaster it everywhere because I'm tired of his shit and don't want anybody else to fall for this dudes garbage but im not mean like that. I also said I hope he finds more clients.. NO LOL I DONT. He deserves to get NO clients.

 

http://prntscr.com/lagq66 here the guy was like yea sure ill give you 25 bucks Friday and I'm like no bitch I said 50 and its when I realized he's either stupid or stupid. So I resent him what I said. He then said he jsut got confused with the color stuff and was almost done but he's being SAYING THAT for weeks and still has only sent me to this day THE ONE BUTTON.

 

http://prntscr.com/lagr6b here I went full no berserk, I was pissed for being strung along all this time. When I said I could easily get back the whole portion of money thats because I thought the BBB could help me, so before I contacted them I gave him another chance to make it right so he didn't have to get negative in his paypal. He then said he could do the 20 he has and maybe another 5-10 if I'm " down " which I was not, 30 is not worth it, so he offered 20 and the work, and ill be damned if im going that route as ill have to wait another 2 months for shitty copy pasted re used art. And then he said something that cracked me up... " I never even offered a refund " LOL no shit buddy I know he didn't I just kinda wasn't giving him a choice, he could do it willingly or forcefully have it done by money network (or so I was hoping).

 

http://prntscr.com/lagsnp My last message to him before I contacted BBB, I said I would think about it but really I was waiting for the BBB to do what they had to. http://prntscr.com/lagszz

 

Then I asked him just a little bit ago if he was going to do the 50 or not and tried to persuade him how much better of a deal it was for him but honestly im just afraid if he doesnt do it and BBB cant help me that I really am fucked out of my money.

 

I never wanted any of this to happen, all this over some art... I just want my money back so I can be done with this prick.

 

[OnionRings]

Edited in some screenshots.

[Canada EH]

1 hour ago, OnionRings said:

I sent via friends and family

Yup if the seller asks for that as a paypal payment, tell them NO WAY JOSE!

Just pay the extra 1% or whatever it is. On $75 that 1% is $0.75 extra

 

[dalekphalm]

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do to get your money back without his cooperation.

 

There are some lessons to learn from this though:

1. Don't pay in advance, or only put a deposit down if they insist

2. When paying, use a payment method with buyer protection

3. Make sure to NEVER process said transaction as a "gift" or as "friends and family", etc.

 

Hopefully you can get at least a partial refund out of him. At this point, just take whatever you can get, and then be done with him.

[OnionRings]

The BBB came through and I got my money back, I'm so happy. WOOOOO! Fuck that cunt he deserves to go negative in his paypal for scamming me.

 

17 hours ago, Canada EH said:

Yup if the seller asks for that as a paypal payment, tell them NO WAY JOSE!

Just pay the extra 1% or whatever it is. On $75 that 1% is $0.75 extra

 

100% in the future that is what ill do

 

11 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do to get your money back without his cooperation.

 

There are some lessons to learn from this though:

1. Don't pay in advance, or only put a deposit down if they insist

2. When paying, use a payment method with buyer protection

3. Make sure to NEVER process said transaction as a "gift" or as "friends and family", etc.

 

Hopefully you can get at least a partial refund out of him. At this point, just take whatever you can get, and then be done with him.

Def will do those steps, this was a close call.

[Canada EH]

3 hours ago, OnionRings said:

Def

Learn from your mistakes, but your situation was totally avoidable in reading the terms and conditions of Friends and Family, or a simple post at Linusland. If something is new to you, a quick search online is very simple to do.

[AngryBeaver]

Btw, if you take someone to small claims court you can also ask for court fees. So if you had won you would have gotten back your money plus the court costs.

 

Glad you got your money back. I would see if there are any forums or areas that he advertises on and probably drop a review of your experience with his service there. If you had those issues I am sure others have too.

[Canada EH]

6 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

So if you had won you would have gotten back your money plus the court costs.

LOL

 

That assumes too much of people who got sued and lost. If the courts can not enforce collection, say on losers tax refunds, then a debt collector will be an option.

 

Do you know where the artist lives?

[dalekphalm]

5 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

Btw, if you take someone to small claims court you can also ask for court fees. So if you had won you would have gotten back your money plus the court costs.

 

Glad you got your money back. I would see if there are any forums or areas that he advertises on and probably drop a review of your experience with his service there. If you had those issues I am sure others have too.

Keep in mind that all of this is predicated on the idea that the defendant can afford to pay, should he lose.

 

From the sounds of it, the guy can barely afford $50. He's not gonna be paying any court fees, because right after he loses, he'll just file for financial protection, and if his income is low enough, he'll get relief.

[AngryBeaver]

7 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Keep in mind that all of this is predicated on the idea that the defendant can afford to pay, should he lose.

 

From the sounds of it, the guy can barely afford $50. He's not gonna be paying any court fees, because right after he loses, he'll just file for financial protection, and if his income is low enough, he'll get relief.

Depends. In America they will garnish your wages if you file for it, take from your taxes, if it gets bad enough they can seize and auction possessions to recover the cost.

[dalekphalm]

59 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

Depends. In America they will garnish your wages if you file for it, take from your taxes, if it gets bad enough they can seize and auction possessions to recover the cost.

They can garnish your wages, but not necessarily. If you make under a certain level (determined by the court, most likely), they won't even garnish your wages, since you won't be able to make ends meet.

 

And if the person doesn't have any large possessions (Car, house, etc) to repossess? Again, they cannot repossess things like clothing or other items that aren't terribly valuable.

[OnionRings]

Yea guys he wasn't gonna be able to pay fees lol. If BBB didnt help I would have just accepted w/e he offered, learned my lesson, and moved on. BUT I got lucky and he got fucked, he got what he deserved.

[Canada EH]

On 10/26/2018 at 12:08 PM, AngryBeaver said:

Depends

In the UK you can literally take the debtors belongings, there is a great show on netflix about that.

[voiha]

Well try to get like 30-40 bucks and call it quits. You won't die without those 75 bucks so just take it as a life-long lesson TO NOT PAY the full price until the job is done.

 

Oh so you got your money back ?

[OnionRings]

On 10/29/2018 at 9:20 AM, voiha said:

Well try to get like 30-40 bucks and call it quits. You won't die without those 75 bucks so just take it as a life-long lesson TO NOT PAY the full price until the job is done.

 

Oh so you got your money back ?

Yea I got lucky and money network decided to help me out.

[Speed Weed]

TLDR

 

My brain cells refuse to read this long ass essay! 

[OnionRings]

On 10/30/2018 at 11:10 PM, Speed Weed said:

TLDR

 

My brain cells refuse to read this long ass essay! 

I did say it was long at the start