Damaged commission. What now?

[faust1103]

Hi,

 

I need the advice of my fellow collectors here.

 

I June 2013 I commissioned a piece if artwork by an artist living in Spain through his rep (also in Spain).

I am from Germany.

 

I don't want to name the artist or the rep yet.

 

I paid 50% of the fee in advance by bank transfer to the rep. Total price was Euro 600.00.

 

I was promised the artwork would be completed by the end of June 2013. However it took until Mid July until the artwork was completed.

 

OK, no big deal. The artwork looked nice and I paid the other 50% of the price to the rep.

 

Because the rep was on vacation the artist sent the art directly to me by the Spanish post office.

 

However the packaging was not very good.

 

 

Just a cardboard envelope with no additional protection and so the artwork arrived damaged. There was a chunk of the envelope missing as if the envelope got stuck on a sorting band during transit.

 

As a result there is tear of about 1cm on the lower edge of the artwork and a crease in the same corner.

 

I contacted the rep about this who got in contact with the artist.

However the artist feels that the "packaging was adequate" since nothing like this has ever happened before.

 

Since I already accepted and opened the envelope there would also be no chance of compensation from the post office. I consider this a bit odd.

Otherwise how could I know whether the artwork was damaged or not?

 

I suggested that the artist should compensate me in some form since he did the packaging and non-insurance of the piece.

Here is what I have in mind:

 

1) I send back the artwork the artist or the rep refund my money,

 

2) I keep the damaged artwork he gives my a partial refund (50%).

 

3) I get another commission from him (at a better rate) payable only after the rep has the artwork safely in his possession.

 

The rep seems to be a nice guy. I am not sure about the artist.

 

What do you guys make of this? Does this seem fair?

[Brian Peck]

If the artwork wasn't insured I don't see you having any recourse thru the post office. I don't think that amount of damage you could expect a 50% discount maybe 15-25%. If you like the commission and plan on getting another one I would look into getting some kind of a discount on the next one for the issues you encountered with shipping. I have had similar issues with artists doing a poor job when shipping artwork. Using the bare minimum to package it.

[faust1103]

This is how the envelope looked upon arrival

 

[malvin]

Artists can be terrible at packaging and your case is another example.

 

In my mind, this is their fault since the packaging is clearly inadequate. All 3 of your solutions sound reasonable (the % is debatable for option 2 or 3)

 

However, if the artists does not want to own up to it, so there is not much you can do. You can work with the rep, but ultimately it has to be the artist that compensates you.

 

Good luck,

 

Regards,

 

Malvin

 

 

[mister_not_so_nice]

Can we get a picture of the back of the art to see the extent of the damage?

[comix4fun]

1 centimeter? Did I read that right?

 

Does the tear enter the image area?

[Nexus]

1 centimeter? Did I read that right?

 

Does the tear enter the image area?

 

I can see where you're going with this. No doubt, some of the worst packaged art I've gotten has come from artists. But when the proposed settlement is a 50% refund for a 1 cm tear (that may not even affect the image area), then sympathy starts to wane.

[mister_not_so_nice]

1 centimeter? Did I read that right?

 

Does the tear enter the image area?

 

I can see where you're going with this. No doubt, some of the worst packaged art I've gotten has come from artists. But when the proposed settlement is a 50% refund for a 1 cm tear (that may not even affect the image area), then sympathy starts to wane.

 

Hands down, worst packaged art I have ever gotten has all come direct from artists.

[comix4fun]

1 centimeter? Did I read that right?

 

Does the tear enter the image area?

 

I can see where you're going with this. No doubt, some of the worst packaged art I've gotten has come from artists. But when the proposed settlement is a 50% refund for a 1 cm tear (that may not even affect the image area), then sympathy starts to wane.

 

Hands down, worst packaged art I have ever gotten has all come direct from artists.

 

 

10 years ago, Gene Colan folded a DD splash page in half to fit it in the priority mail box he shipped it to me in.

[mister_not_so_nice]

1 centimeter? Did I read that right?

 

Does the tear enter the image area?

 

I can see where you're going with this. No doubt, some of the worst packaged art I've gotten has come from artists. But when the proposed settlement is a 50% refund for a 1 cm tear (that may not even affect the image area), then sympathy starts to wane.

 

Hands down, worst packaged art I have ever gotten has all come direct from artists.

 

 

10 years ago, Gene Colan folded a DD splash page in half to fit it in the priority mail box he shipped it to me in.

 

If it fits, it ships

[ashrael]

10 years ago, Gene Colan folded a DD splash page in half to fit it in the priority mail box he shipped it to me in.

 

Oh my, that is horrible.

 

I was lucky when the last artist-direct piece I received survived, since it was loose in an envelope with just a single piece of cardboard.

[Solar]

Yeah, I bought a $2K oversized TPB cover from a very established artist who stuffed it in a fedex box with no protection. Fortunately I was able to use a couple tricks to flatten it out, but that was a scary experience.

 

Curious to see the damage to this commission. Please post a pic of the art.

[Pirate]

It's very easy in your case Solar to figure out who the artist is

[Dan.Adrians]

From the looks of the pic (damaged packaging) and description of 1cm as the damage, count your lucky stars it was not worse. Asking for 50% may be a little inane, if the art image was not affected at all.

[Solar]

It's very easy in your case Solar to figure out who the artist is

 

Yeah, that might have been a little too specific

[faust1103]

Here is a picture of the backside of the artwork.

 

The tear goes to the signature of the artist.

 

Since I haven't heard from the rep or the artist as yet I don't want to show the front side atm.

 

[alxjhnsn]

I think 50% is unreasonable based on that picture - S/H refund, for sure. Discount on another piece, yes, but not 50%.

[AKA Rick]

Based only on seeing the back-side close up photo...

 

That's only minor damage and the front isn't even shown, so I'd say get a partial refund of shipping or if you love the artist's art, in good faith, ask for a discount on another piece if you feel confident he'll be able to deliver the quality of rendering as well as sturdiness of packaging to you.

 

The 50% refund request may be off-setting if not offensive, so he may not even want to deal with such a customer he may deem as unreasonable and knit picky.

 

Because it's original art, I don't think the damage impacts the value much if at all, and if for a personal collection, so long as the aesthetics aren't ruined, that 1/4" to 1/2" minor edge tear and corner wrinkle doesn't compromise the integrity of the piece, or at least in my opinion.

 

It's odd that the artist would sign so closely to the edge and corner.

 

Yes, it's frustrating to see the package in which it was delivered in, and worst damage could have occurred due to that neglect, but at the end of the day your piece from what is shown looks fine to the degree, I'd personally not even have bothered requesting any compensation but would have pointed it out for future reference and educate the artist/seller on the inadequate packaging.

 

 

[*paull*]

I abhor lazy and sloppy shipping. I think the buyer is entitled to more than just reimbursed shipping and handling. 20% refund sounds fair to me.

 

 

[PokerKid]

I received one from an artists that packaged poorly and it arrived with some creases. The artist offered to do a sketch to make up for the problem as long as I would pay for shipping.

 

That all seemed pretty friendly, until I received a $40 shipping bill. Sure enough, the artist was just a bit passive aggressive and I received a box about 30" by 40" with heavy cardboard reinforcements and impeccable packaging that would have been plenty to ensure a Van Gogh would arrive unharmed if dropped from an airplane. (On the plus side, the "sketch" was a fully developed piece and much better than expected, so it was a little easier to see the humor.)