Woman charged $2,600 for rough sketch of a tattoo but no actual tattoo

A woman's video has gone viral after she explained how she spent a staggering $2,600 on a sketch of a tattoo she ended up not getting.

Canadian TikToker Courtney Monteith took to the site to talk about a recent encounter she'd had with a tattoo artist and has caused waves of outrage after going viral.

She explained that she wanted to get a tattoo of a fox down her arm and contacted a tattoo artist whose she'd admired online to see if they could do the job.

Wanting a full sleeve tattoo of a fox surrounded by leaves and flowers, Courtney shared some pictures of comparable tattoos which she wanted her ink to look like but when the initial sketch came back she wasn't happy.

The TikToker had wanted a full drawing of a fox down her arm but when she saw the sketch, she thought it didn't look the way she wanted her tattoo to be and decided not to go for the ink - but at this point, she had already spent a lot of money.

TikTok/@running_mom_of_boys

Monteith paid a CA$180 deposit and a fee of $1,000 for design and consultation on the tattoo, and was then presented with three options for the concept art of her tattoo.

The first choice was to pay a further $1,500 for the concept sketch where she'd be able to get one thing about it changed before it ended up being the final design.

For $3,500, she could get two concept sketches and 'a couple changes' before going into a final review on the design, while for $6,000 she could get 'multiple sketches and lots of reviews and lots of changes' before getting a 'canvas' of content.

The TikToker thought that payment would be taken out of the cost of her tattoo but realised that wasn't the case, so she picked the first and cheapest option.

TikTok/@running_mom_of_boys

She wasn't happy with the way her sketch turned out so she didn't go ahead with the tattoo, and in the end she'd spent over $2,600 on a preliminary sketch for a tattoo she no longer wanted.

Her video has since gone viral and people have commiserated with her situation, saying they'd 'never heard of a design fee' in what has been dubbed 'tattoogate'.

Another said they'd not seen an artist charging 'a deposit AND a consultant fee AND a design fee', nor had a tattoo artist charge them for wanting to make changes to the design.

The wave of backlash directed at the tattoo artist has led to them setting their social media accounts to private and they told Insider they'd received death threats over it, while their business had received some negative Google reviews.