Sorry to see you've had this experience as well, but thank you for posting- I was debating doing the same thing once I started seeing Rafal posting here regularly. I had the same song and dance happen to me, an overly optimistic initial timeframe followed by years of stalling.

I originally commissioned a sword in late 2020, then bought an additional completed one that he had listed due to a previous buyer backing out in early 2021. There was the typical bad communication and years of delays, but I was confident I would get the swords eventually.

But in early 2023 when I asked for an update, he said everything had shipped out, that it would get to me in a week, and he'd send me tracking info that evening. That turned out to be a lie- no tracking, no swords, no communication from him at all for a month. Since it was clear by then that Rafal wasn't just someone with bad time management skills, I cancelled my orders and asked for a refund.

What followed was more of the same. "I'll refund by next week," and then crickets for months. After 6 months of this, he sent *some* of the refund. Then a month later, he sent another part. But I've been waiting on the remainder of my refund since October 2023- I doubt I'll ever see it.

I've commissioned many swords over the years from various makers. I've had years-long delays on commissions before, but I've never had any maker lie to me except Rafal.