Heads Up, Artrepreneur, Bad Business

An interesting approach to attack the problem. Does not bode well for the company and their practices.
Thanks for the warning.

-YoPedro

i remember artists.cm, something about a fishy contract and to avoid them. i forget much more than that.


---Mike Savad

I recall your original thread, Angelina, and also recall doing some research on the owner, since I am close to where he supposedly conducts business. I was not impressed then and certainly not now.
Send him a certified letter with a delivery receipt for your records....wouldn't be a bad idea to "cc" an attorney, prominently displayed where he can see it.

Yes there were a few threads on this and at one point the owner jumped in. I maintained the position that, while not an outright scam they just seemed too shady in their business dealings. The fact that the domain name is in Cameroon is a red flag for me. Sure anyone can use a Cameroon domain but it seems to be a favorite of those wishing to be outside the reach of the law.

The same situation at another big art forum where I participate:

A member posts their negative experience with the company,
other dissatisfied people come out of the woodwork,
the owner jumps in with protestations.

Thanks for the reminder, Angelina.

It is good of you to share your (unfortunate) experience . So many directions an artist can go In desire need to be seen -& a whole lot of shady characters out there.

It is also a good reminder how fortunate we are to invest our efforts here.

Here's an old thread. I did say it sounds like a scam. A rep from the company chimed in.

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1337477&targetid=1338157#1338157

Oh and this. With my typo saying cs.com instead of cm.com. I said I wouldn't open the site without a hazmat suit on. Just my opinion. Nothing personal against small sites from near Nigeria asking for money.

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1371424

Thanks for all the feedback.

I feel pretty stupid right now, I tried to research it...it seemed like a smart choice, I was only a member for about a month when I decided it was the wrong choice. Now to see they have been listing my work all this time, I have no idea how many sales they made...I can't prove it.

If other people can be warned away...at least I can do that.

Marlene, I'm not even sure it would matter at this point...I have a copy of the email that I sent to terminate the agreement, they didn't honor it and I cannot afford an attorney.

Thanks for the link Bradford, at the end was the thread which we were invited to the site: http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1371424

"I feel pretty stupid right now,"

No need to. You are out there promoting your business and trying new things. I really admire that and encourage everyone to do the same.

Yes, occasionally something is not going work. In fact a whole lot of what you try is not going to work. But you do not have to be right 100% of the time or anywhere near that. That is business. Not everything works.

If you never make a mistake in business that means you are not trying hard enough.

Thanks for sharing your experience with everyone and as always, best of luck to you in the next new thing you try.

FASGallery

Run a bluff.

Send them a Cease and Desist letter. Send it via email and hard copy. If you really want to get their attention, send it registered mail and require a signature. What that says to them is that you are following the legal procedures that will support a legal action.


Cease and desist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cease_and_desist

Any one that has their images "borrowed" and whats to peruse some sort of action without hiring a lawyere should know how to write a Cease and Desists litter. Very effect in a lot of case.

Thanks Floyd.

Flloyd, my sentiments exactly...cc-ing an attorney lets them know you mean business....registering and tracking a snail mail letter is your insurance.

No need to be embarrassed or feel stupid. You are just more brave and adventurous. Everyone needs to take risks sometimes. I just said what I thought at the time and I am bringing it up now to continue to warn. "Russ" is still here on FAA with his one piece of art to prove he is an artist.
Maybe its all a big misunderstanding.

Several of us received emails and PMs from him and I'm glad my guts didn't fail me by not uploading there.

Don't run a bluff because he reads these threads - he is here and that's how he found some of us. If you're going to send something with legal verbiage, I'd suggest being ready to back it up. Good luck with this! I'm glad you started this thread to warn newbies who might also fall prey to it.


Edit - LMAO, I just visited the link Angelina gave to the old thread. I didn't realize I was so "vocal" about it. Now I'm a little embarrassed.

It's not a misunderstanding.

I terminated the membership in writing, as gracefully as I could, I took responsibility for my expectations (which were made from phone conversations about what the company is achieving and trying to achieve) and the fact that my expectations didn't match reality.

The company response was...less diplomatic. Which affirmed my instinct to end it.

As a sidebar, when they went to review my portfolio online, the visitors showed Scottsdale AZ. Throughout the past year, they have repeatedly viewed the city silhouette series on my AW, that was still showing on their site. Coincidence? I think not.

Well a cease and desist is not a bluff, it's a legal notice.

Angelina, I'm aware of what a cease & desist is... my comment was more for what Floyd said - "Run a bluff."

Ah I see...I really didn't understand his "run a bluff" reference pertaining to a cease and desist. Except for maybe the fact that it usually includes the promise of legal ramifications. At this point I think I may need to consult with a lawyer.

Exactly - re's the promise of legal ramifications which is why I also said to be ready to back up whatever legal verbiage may be included. Otherwise, it comes down to an "empty threat."

Having a legal consultation can't hurt you and you might find an attorney who will offer you a free hour to see whether it would be worth his time to legally pursue.

I went back and had a look at those zombie threads. Seems the other FAA member who joined the service had a webpage (which seemed to be linked to their .cm domain) from which they were trying to sell his work. That page is now closed.

I have no insider information on how or why that happened, or what it means. I only saw that the page was down.

Out of curiosity I went to the site, clicked on the lists of artists, which was a total of 166....of those 36 have blank avatars (little chess pieces) and no art. Since the list pulls up the most recent artist (by activity), the first artist name is Very Dissatisfied, trying to remove my art for months and still getting billed....followed by Angel's with basically the same information.

Just having all those blank avatars and no artwork looks BAD. I say this as a big HINT to FAA in relation to the threads where there has been mention of how unprofessional it looks to potential buyers to have a bunch of empty accounts with no information listed as artists, particularly if one is searching for local artists in their area. Not trying to take over the thread, just seeing that on their site immediately reminded me of the conversations here about the same thing.

It was mentioned in one of last year's threads that there were 166 artists listed at that time.

Interesting . . .

"I deleted the work again and altered my profile."

Have you contacted anyone at the site? Did they offer an explanation?


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Yes I have.

I called...and someone answered the phone, I heard sounds, and then they hung up. If he still has my number in his phone, he may have saw it was me and hung up.
I called back again...no answer.

I sent an email today...no reply.

I saw what Melissa said...there are multiple people who have deleted whatever they could in their profile. Other people saying they are still being charged the monthly fee after cancellation of membership.

Initially...people being suspicious of the Cameroon domain, I thought it was a little silly...I don't anymore. Lesson learned.

BTW Donna...I didn't see that you said anything in that thread to be embarrassed of. Just inquiring.

Considering this whole situation, I am going to consult a lawyer. I still have the contract that I signed to be represented by them and the cancellation of...they are getting away with this, and it needs to stop.

Michelle Shackelford Yancey
https://www.facebook.com/michelle.s.yancey?fref=nf

She appears to be their Director of Marketing

Also it appears the "owner" has a FAA profile.

be sure to get screen shots of anything left there.

---Mike Savad

I took some with my phone before I deleted all the images Mike. Evidence.

Yes, the owner does has a profile.

i was going to recommend way back machine to see when he put it back on, but it doesn't cover that page. i wonder if the google cache version keeps track of versions. like you were gone for a few months and he put it all back.


to play devils advocate - what if he restored an old backup, due to a crash, and your data was on it. and it was all a simple mistake.


---Mike Savad

Angelina, I wonder if it would help if you contact Google instead and ask them to shut down the site because it is violating your copyright trying to sell your work without your permission.

Raisa

This is getting ridiculous. No one knows if this is on purpose or a mistake. Stop the witch hunt and the name and shame until you have the facts.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Dan, I'm not on a witch hunt. I am relaying my experience. It's negative.

Take a look at the avatars on the site, more people who, like me, are having a negative experience and cannot close their accounts.

I ended the contract a year ago, but all my work was still on the site, that's not a mistake. That is intentional.

Whatever, I gave the warning...so do as you will.