Rick did my first tattoo back when I was 18. He did my girls tattoo as well. He did a great job! As I recall he was quite nice, very polite, and did an awesome job! Unless he has changed, which I doubt, I plan on letting Rick do my next tattoo as well. By the way, instead of patronizing him about his grammar and spelling try realizing that English may not be his first language as is the case for "80% of the population" in San Diego. OH! That statistic is made up just like yours. It's actually 90% of unhappy customers will not return again SOURCE: (http://ezinearticles.com/?8-Critical-Steps-to-Establish-a-Customer-Service-Culture&id=37272) One last thing, Rick is allowed to make recommendations as an artist, if you don't want to take them thats fine. Don't dis him for doing something that you agreed too.

Rick- you prove this poor fellow is telling the truth with your reply. He claims you were "very arrogant" and you only confirm this by saying "its impossible that your tattoo was overworked." Its IMPOSSIBLE that you overworked his tattoo? Impossible? Really?? There is absolutely no way you could have overworked that solid black? Wow. Now that's arrogance. And you ask why didn't he come back to you? I wouldn't have gone back to you either. After you talk him into getting something done in a way that he didn't want it, he didn't like the way it looked, so you shade it all in the way he originally intended, and it still comes out bad, yeah I definitely would not have gone back to you. Actually, considering that this was his first tattoo and he's using terms like "over worked" it sounds like he went to another artist to have it checked out or fixed. Its ok Rick, even the best artists occasionally will over work a peice. But at least they have enough class not to insult their customers. Instead of calling him juvenile, you could have offered to simply fix his tattoo for free. You say this is your first complaint (or 'complain' as you put it) but that means very little. 80% of unhappy customers don't complain, they simply don't go back.