BEWARE: NATHRADAS/STURMSCHWINGE
I've been debating on whether or not I should really post this, but in all honesty three years has been enough to have endured the run around followed by being blocked. And as such, I'm going to detail one pretty awful commissioning experience: WHO: Nathradas Sturmschwinge WHERE: FurAffinity Artist also posts to Tumblr as Sturmschwinge WHAT: Full color single character piece, no background. A complete timeline of events with screenshots: [08/22/11] Nathradas opens up for regular character commissions. I inquire if I can reserve a slot since I'll have to wait for a bank transfer to clear into my Paypal account. She agrees. [08/30/11] I send payment and commission details to Nathradas. I'm thus listed as paid on her commission status journal. [08/09/12] I'm a patient person; I know that life and related issues come up- she'd posted that she was going through some stuff and that's fine. It happens. But after hearing nothing about my commission for almost a year, I sent a polite note to her on FA inquiring about my commission's status. This note has still gone unread. [08/24/12] I attempt to contact her by e-mail, through the account she provided. No response. [10/21/12] I attempt to get ahold of her on dA. I receive no response. Unfortunately I also neglected to get a screenshot of this note. [10/23/12] Two days later, Nathradas posts an image to her FA of the werewolf suit she has been working on for the past two weeks. The bottom of the description reads "(nope, in case you're wondering, I'm not gonna be back, not until January I'd say, I can't say yet tho, I have no clue how long it takes me to get stuff sorted out again)." I'm only including this because it's the only sort of message regarding what's going on in her end- not even a word towards me and my attempts to communicate with her. [01/10/13] I decide to be patient- maybe what's going on is really bad? So I wait until January and post a shout on her userpage to get her attention. This also has the unintentional effect of having another one of her commissioners contact me in the hopes that I've at least heard anything from her. [01/15/13] Nathradas finally sends me an e-mail and informs me that she needs to talk to her bank about when she can refund me. It's around this time that I started to experience some serious problems with Gmail such as it temporarily locking me out of my account due to alleged security issues and login conflicts, messages simply disappearing, and in the case of my phone; e-mail not showing up entirely, messages not being sent, and/or being sent in triplicate. This has hindered my ability to reply in a reasonable amount of time. [02/16/13] - [03/28/13/] I think this is really my fault here; she gets back to me and I feel as though this was my golden opportunity to get my refund and well. I missed it; I thought I replied much, much sooner and overall, I lost track of time between some pretty busy weeks at work and some family related drama. This is absolutely my bad here. [04/30/13] Sent a follow up e-mail. No response. [05/20/13] Yet another follow up e-mail. No response. [06 - 11/13] I manage to get ah old of Nathradas by June and we exchange a few e-mails, but as you can see, from July to September, I get absolutely no response from her, meanwhile she is active on FA and taking commissions. [08/01/13] Nathradas stating that commissions are on hold due to the state of her health and other life issues. [10/08/13] Starting up a donation drive in order to pay for her life expenses, as was expected, none of the money earned was used to pay back myself or the other clients that she owes money to and the drive was never completed, leaving people who donated high and dry. [11/04/13] Nathradas posts this journal, pretty much claiming to be leaving the internet forever. [11/12/13] Nathradas opens up for commissions on Flight Rising[original thread here], despite owing people both artwork and refunds. [11/15/13] It is sometime around this time that Nathradas completely disables her userpage. [05/17/14] I didn't catch wind of her "I'm leaving forever" journal until sometime in May when another client who has been stiffed by her, contacted me about it. Feeling pretty fed up at this point, I do post a response. I've really had enough of this, especially when I've only found out about her leaving the internet "forever" months after the fact. [06/01/14] A personal friend of Nathradas sends me a private message informing me of her new accounts. I have edited out the username and any incriminating details as per the user's request. This person is also owed what amounts to roughly a grand USD by Nathradas. [08/24/14] Another person who knows Nathradas in person messages me on Twitter to inform me that she is at EF, taking commissions, and is using her new username on FA as well as Weasyl and Tumblr. [08/19/14 I fire a note over to her on Weasyl, this note has still gone unread. [10/11/14] I tried messaging her on FA, this note has still gone unread. [12/24/14] The second comment I have left on her userpage- the first one was deleted within a week of it's posting and I neglected to screencap it as proof. I have since been blocked from her page and am no longer able to communicate with the artist about the money she has stolen from myself and others. A long story short; do NOT commission this artist, do NOT fund their Patreon. They are a scammer and a thief who has no qualms about ignoring their clients, jumping accounts, and then acting as though nothing ever happened by blocking anyone who brings up past grievances with them over owed work or refunds. During these last three years, I have watched the artist buy numerous luxury items for themselves including fursuit parts, supplies, and a brand new sewing machine. Please do help me out by reblogging and sharing this so that no one else gets scammed by this person- if you include the incomplete donation drive, she has literally stolen thousands of dollars from her clients and people need to be informed before doing business with this artist. Thank-you.
