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what would you do if customer went elsewhere with your work?
I was asked to design for a van, boards , business cards etc and I spent alot of time coming up with something I was really proud of…customer came round…I gave him copies of my artwork…I was so proud…!! silly arse I am for letting it go out the door, my gut feeling now is that he is off somewhere else with it to get it done cheaper…hes not answering his phone….just one of those sort of people who likes to put people over a barrell and not give a shit. I thought I would have learnt by now……Im kicking myself!
UURRRGGGGHHHHHHH -
22 Replies
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If you see your design on his vehicles, etc., send him a bill.
If he won’t pay, take him to court.
Hopefully the sketches you gave him say "property of Such & Such Sign Co." and hopefully you also made him sign some sort of proposal.
And hopefully you will NEVER do this again!
Never give designs out unless you have a deposit.
Nobody likes to work for free.
Love….Jill -
Cheryl how long have you been in this game?? 😛
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yah boo…I guess you never make mistakes. My mistake is I can be a bit trusting, and too busy to listen to my intuition.
thanks Jill…just goes to show why Im kicking myself
…publicly too…just so that other people are reminded not to make this Stooopid mistake! -
Cheryl, Didn’t mean to sound patronising, we’ve all done it and most of us will do it again.
You can’t be sharp all the time me duck!
Karl.
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Hey Cheryl, we all do it/have done it.
Just hope you copyrighted all the stuff.
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(c) on the proofs helps with an indication about what they cant do
If not answering and have address… post a bill to the address.
Time for Artwork preparation for blah blah
Dave
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quote Peter Dee:Just hope you copyrighted all the stuff.
As the creator of the design you/your employer automatically owns the copyright – you do not need to register it as such. If I were you I’d drop him a note to the effect that you have attempted to contact him but to no avail and should he wish to use your design the fee will be xxxx (insert suitable fee!)
By doing so you are asserting your claim to copyright and indicating the value you attache to licensing its usage to him. It is very easy to check at a later date if he has used your design or a derivative of it. If they have you can pursue it legally – in Ireland we have a ‘Small Claims Court’ which would be perfect for this kind of case. -
May be hes just changed his mind or got his tax return in and cant afford to have it done , he should call or answer your calls but until its been copied you cant say too much. I still hope many companies including myself that if someone come to me with a design done on a vehicle template I know another sign company has put the time in and we wont copy the design !!!!!
just hope it works out for you
rich 😀 -
This bloke said that mr so and so had put him on to me….so I called mr so and so just to say hello and thanks for the rec etc and he told me to be really careful of this guy and get any monies upfront etc etc….as he is a little shit he said he did warn me in the past, I just cant remember! I have alot going on!
#Anyway managed to get hold of the bloke and he said he loved the design(who wouldnt it was fab) but could get the business cards and posters done cheaper elsewhere, I said okay but I will charge him an artwork charge…he said that when he last got a van done he went to ~~signwriters and they were cheaper….now I KNOW i have quoted a really good price….I said okay, if you dont want to use me I will have the artwork back please as it is subject to copyright….he said hed think about the price and get back to me in a couple of hours.
I am about to phone~~signwriters and talk to them in case he approaches them.
Cheryl -
spoke to ~~ signwriters and bingo! the reason he said he was so cheap was that he didnt pay him last time!! also he knows of this guy as going round not paying for all sorts of things i.e he is a professional non payer!
~~ signwriters supplies may signwriters in and around the area and he is going to put the word out about this guy…I have spoken to my supplier too and they are going to do the same. Also going to put him on the naughty list here too.
I am so much wiser than I was this time yesterday!! -
if this guy is doing this regularly I would be making a complaint to the Police.
At least you didn’t fall for the "free sample to get used to it" line 😳
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For whats its worth Cheryl, I still get caught 😳 I’m a trusting soul too…. I wouldn’t do it to anyone else, so don’t expect people to do it to me…
…thats how these con men keep getting away with it.
Sounds like you have his measure this time though. Well done
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Oh yes the free sample line.
In the past when asked to see a sample of vehicle graphics mail order I always ask for a deposit and even then the sample I send is usually 1/5th scale and the wrong colour. I send the correct colour sample as an offcut.
I have also been asked for t-shirt samples so if I think they are trying it on (no pun intended) I’ll give them a kids t-shirt (smallest possible) with a random design on, not the one they are after. They usually hand it back saying thanks 😀
Luckily I have not been caught (to my knowledge) with the artwork theft issue yet.
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I haven’t had this problem yet perhaps my designs are sh1t.
I spent long times on say leaflets for people though and then found they’d used the artwork for magazines and other publications mind you.
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You have to be careful with EVERYTHING.
I have a client, a long term one for whom I’ve worked for 8 years.
I’ve lettered his entire fleet.
In fact, his truck won contractor vehicle of the year last year in his particular field, over wraps and all manner of things (it was mostly hand-painted!)
He approached me about a billboard last year, one of those banner things that get ratchet-strapped onto billboard structures. I don’t do those, but I said he could have the artwork on a disc for $250 which would include a camera-ready logo in color and also B&W etc.
(his artwork was done back in the day when I didn’t charge for design work)
He said OK but never showed to drop off a check.
About a week after that I was driving and saw the billboard, with a p!ss-poor rendering of MY artwork! So I called him to complain.
He explained that he had gone to another sign company, one who made the billboard banners, and they had snapped a pic of his company truck.
He didn’t see anything wrong with it, either!
He also agreed that the banner looked bad
(red lettering on a teal background)
He still comes to me for vehicle lettering and small signs.
I charge him as much as I can without laughing now.
Bastard!
Love….Jill -
The classic one I have had is people asking for something cheap because ‘they want to order 50 of them, but want to see one first’ – nearly always for something that involves lots of time making up the artwork.
Always tell them that I’ll charge them the artwork setup fee and full price for the one decal, then deduct it from the total when they place the order for 50.
Have had a few people pay up, but none of them have ever come back with the mythical huge order !
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I’ve had the ‘ this is the first of 20 vans so give me a good price’ line before as well – I tell them they are the proper price but I’ll do the last one free, they stop coming long before 20 show up.
Alan D -
I went round to this guys house last night to ask for my artwork back as ‘surprise surprise’ he didnt ring me back, but I couldnt recognise his house without his van there (so obviously he wasnt in). I am sick to the back teeth of people thinking they can do this to me or anyone else without the other person kicking up a fuss….he seems to have been getting away with it for so long…!! I know at least I have not shelled out money on this job, but my time is money and that design is far to professional for a low life like him and his company.
Im going back there today and everyday till I see him to discuss either he pay for design or give back the artwork. I would sell the debt for this one 👿 👿 👿 👿 -
We have had this happen to us a few times. Now each client that wants any artwork we ask for a deposit which is refundable should they accept the job from us we also print onto the artwork when giving it to them "copyright and owned by "XXXX" until paid for!
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quote Stuart Hancock:we ask for a deposit which is refundable should they accept the job from us we also print onto the artwork when giving it to them “copyright and owned by “XXXX” until paid for!
I like the idea, gonna template that
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we have to cover our backs some way!
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Hi all
Just joined and I reckon this forum alone will save me a lot of hassle and money thanks.
Lee
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