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6 months ago I began a project with a well known commission service. 1 model. I made a deposit of $100.00. After a few weeks I inquired about the project. Apparently they had lost my deposit. After speaking with the owner over the phone & about 30 minutes later, he managed to locate the deposit. We verified the project cost & details. It was wrong. Via email correspondence & over the phone I was told I would receive a 15% discount on the order. I inquired about said discount with the owner & he changed the subject & said he would send me the cost details. I then find out that the artist I set up the order with left the studio. So I had to elect another artist. Received cost details, no discount. I let it go...

Over the course of the next few months I continued to check on the progress of the model. In that time I had between 6-9 points of contact. Each time someone new was involved, I had to re-explain the project details & everything. In my project details I included "very specific" examples showing exactly what it is I wanted. Received work in progress pictures. Half the instructions were not followed. I requested that the mistakes were corrected & included a second set of instructions with even more specific examples/pictures showing what was wrong with existing model vs example. Received another set of work in progress pictures within last month & once again some instructions were not followed. When I contacted owner on the manner, I was told that the artist no longer wanted to work with me & that he would like to bill project & get it over with.

I contacted him 3 weeks ago stating that current project status wasn't acceptable & even offered to pay more for additional work. He hasn't contacted me since, despite sending 3 emails. Throughout this entire process I have treated the owner & all employees involved with the utmost respect & understanding. Now I am being told that artists don't want to work with me? 6 months for 1 model? A basic infantry model costing over $200.00? Am I being unreasonable here? Is this type of experience normal in the commission community? I'm so upset right....

At competition grade, yes 6 months and several hundred dollars for a single mini are quite reasonable. You're talking about many man-hours of skilled, painstaking work.

Alarm bells start ringing for me when a discount is mentioned. This means whoever you're paying has a margin they can cut- usually this means they're outsourcing the work, and therefore any communication between you and the actual person doing the work has a middleman to screw things up.

In general (and under UK law), you can view your initial exchange of emails (KEEP A RECORD) as a contract; a service is agreed and specified along with a fee for that service. It's at this stage where I want the specification of work (as a commission painter) to be as clear as possible; as that's what I base my firm quote on.

Don't take phone conversations as binding. Make sure you have an email chain to verify what's been said. I was making a mistake from spec on the Necron I just finished (was prepping for a gold head, client wanted silver) and the email chain and comms made sure the mistake didn't stay there. Even if it had got to the end and I'd done the head gold I would redo it to match what a client wants. The earlier its caught (from my point of view) the better, as its less work to redo or alter. They're not my toys I'm painting.

I go through a few stages with clients:
1) listen to initial idea, then ballpark a price and turnaround time (once project starts).
2) continue to discuss and exchange ideas until we're both 'singing from the same sheet'. At that stage I know a bit more accurately how much work is involved and can quote a price and estimate turnaround. I make no promises; I make sure both I and my clients are aware that things do slip. At this point I take deposit and then purchase any required materials.
3) work along with progress updates when relevant.
4) complete shots and invoice for remainder.
5) pack up and ship,

It sounds to me like your service isn't passing on full instructions to its worker, or it has a problem worker that doesn't want to stay on spec. Either case isn't your problem and you should now be looking to recover your money for a service that was not provided to your specification. This is of course providing that your initial instructions were clear enough (no ambiguity, no room for 'alternative interpretation'.

You don't pay a contractor to fit a jacuzzi and pay for the regular bath he just fitted. You get him to tear out the regular bath and fit the one you asked for (and make sure it's all 'made good'). THEN you pay him.

To answer the thread title, it's not normal in my opinion. Most of the commission folks I know are as fiercely proud of making their clients happy as they are their paintwork.

While sharing the details of the service provider is probably not a good idea, it might help to be a bit more specific about the project.

You state that you are happy to pay, but maybe what you are expecting is the problem. Can you share which model this is about and what your requirements are?

 Stephanius wrote:
While sharing the details of the service provider is probably not a good idea, it might help to be a bit more specific about the project.

You state that you are happy to pay, but maybe what you are expecting is the problem. Can you share which model this is about and what your requirements are?

The model in question is a imperial guard HQ choice - company commander. Now, the reason I have been reluctant to accept the model in its current condition is because there were 3 details I was very specific with that haven't been met. I paint above tabletop quality myself, so I have a pretty good idea of the work involved. I spend around 20-30 hours per miniature. The model I am having commissioned is above my ability, but not to the degree that the techniques used are foreign to me. There is less than 4-5 hours left of work remaining yet communication with said studio has essentially ceased for the time being. More then anything I am just utterly shocked how horrible this entire experience has been. Do either of you have any recommendations or experience with high quality commission studios that you refer people to?

If you put your instructions in writing, you didn't change your mind (asking for corrections is not the same as asking for changes) and the instructions have not been carried out, you can easily show that the service has not fulfilled the contract.

You should at least get a partial refund to cover the bits that were not done according to your specification. That may be a better way forward than arguing about them completing the model if they don't want to.

In the US? GMM Studios have an excellent rep, but mostly concentrate on large armies. Joshua of JAH minis is very skilled on the single mini/small unit front, and I believe he's ramping up on commission work.

Honestly, all of the commission people I know would be pretty shocked by what you're describing here - it's stories like this that directly hurt our business as it is very much a trust-based service.

thanks for the shout-out, winterdyne...
i am indeed taking on more commissions, now that my girl and i split, and she got the surf shop:(...

@Commissar Benny:
what you have been through is not normal, or acceptable...
while $200 for a 25mm based model is a fair price (it's what i start at), the hassles that you have been through are not right...
it's the painter's job to make the customer happy, not the other way around...

the cutting off of communications is completely unacceptable...
especially when they still have your mini!!!
even if honest mistakes happen, and life throws curve balls at the painter, responding to emails, and explaining the delays, is essential...
they took your money, after all...

best of luck in getting the situation resolved, and getting the mini back...

cheers
jah

It's hard to say how off base it is without us being able to read your initial instructions & know what was done wrong. However that being said if all is indeed good there & you have requested that mistakes be corrected which they were not & the studio is aware that they have not met the initial terms if the agreement then they are not only in breach of contract but guilty of gross negligence & dereliction. That is actionable. But keep in mind that for such a small amount unless your state allows for treble damages it will likely cost more than it's worth to pursue it & that's just throwing good $ after bad.

What I would do if it was me (this isn't legal advice even though I am a law student) is explain to them the issues under law as stated above & demand a refund or remedial action be taken. Send this via email & certified mail. Make a copy of the letter. Inform them i expect an answer immediately & either remedy within 30 days or I will be seeking legal action for which they will be liable not only for the costs I'm out but also all court & attorney fees & (off applicable) treble damages.

But again that's just me & is in no way any form of legal advice not should it be construed as such.

 Red_Starrise wrote:
It's hard to say how off base it is without us being able to read your initial instructions & know what was done wrong. However that being said if all is indeed good there & you have requested that mistakes be corrected which they were not & the studio is aware that they have not met the initial terms if the agreement then they are not only in breach of contract but guilty of gross negligence & dereliction. That is actionable. But keep in mind that for such a small amount unless your state allows for treble damages it will likely cost more than it's worth to pursue it & that's just throwing good $ after bad.

What I would do if it was me (this isn't legal advice even though I am a law student) is explain to them the issues under law as stated above & demand a refund or remedial action be taken. Send this via email & certified mail. Make a copy of the letter. Inform them i expect an answer immediately & either remedy within 30 days or I will be seeking legal action for which they will be liable not only for the costs I'm out but also all court & attorney fees & (off applicable) treble damages.

But again that's just me & is in no way any form of legal advice not should it be construed as such.

Thanks for all the support. Its refreshing to hear that this type of experience isn't the norm as I very much intend to do business elsewhere once this transaction is complete. I called the studio yesterday & asked for the owner who was "In a meeting." However, the employee I spoke with did relay my request & the owner replied late yesterday via email. "I heard you called." Was the content of his response, but at least the line of communication reopened & I sent him another email describing the corrections needed to the project as well as my willingness to pay more to have it completed. We'll see how it turns out...

Commissar Benny wrote:
I sent him another email describing the corrections needed to the project as well as my willingness to pay more to have it completed.

Don't pay more and reward that kind of extortion. You have a contract to provide a finished project for a specific price. You either get your finished product, or you get a full refund and then warn everyone not to use them (even if it takes legal action, calling your credit card company and reporting them for fraud, etc). Paying extra just encourages them to scam other customers in the future.

I used to be a comission painter, I chose to quit since I knew in the end whilst I would always provide the requires quality, I had a tendency to let timing slip a lot, when things went too wrong I did offer to refund the deposit. I know being a new painting service people can struggle to trust them so it's important to help build that trust rather than break it and I think this dispute will lose them more bussiness than they gain from this scam.