Trying to collect payment

[MaderDesign 3]

Just found their facebook page, and she has the shirts posted up for sale.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

do tell? Post the link so we can all see.

[chefgary 4]

I'd like to see it also.  Maybe I'll write on her wall and ask her who designed it.

Gary

[MaderDesign 3]

Here was the design she agreed on. This was supposed to be only 3 shirts. She went on her own and added, womens, vnecks, long sleeves. I only submitted one design and the printer and I were on the same page. The shirts show up and its a curve ball. She added so many different shirts and designs.

[MaderDesign 3]

I'm not going to post her page just yet. I don't want people to go bashing her before I try to take her to court.

[MaderDesign 3]

Here are the actual shirts. Notice how the blue shirt did not discharge out. She is trying to blame this on me. But I sent her the email and i have proof she got it.

[Booper 2]

Wait im confused now, you designed the logo for 250 bucks, she pays you she gets to use the logo for whatever she wants. There is an issue with the printer that she is using that the shirts aren't coming out the way she wants them, what the heck does that have to do with you??? Why are YOU being held responsible for a third party issue?

[midwaste 4]

So she is blaming you because the printer didn't discharge the shirts properly and the red turned out purple?  What does that have to do with your graphics or mockups?

[sheister 1]

So you designed the logo. She paid you for it and then had the printer make these shirts. Because the design didnt come out as in the proof pics she is blaming you and therefore not paying. If you subcontracted out the work to the printer and then passed the total along to her then I think your problem is not only with her but the printer as well. Proof pics vs the shirt pics are clearly different enough . But for her to accept the product from you (as is) and then not pay at all is complete BS and even if the product didnt come out as intended, she shouldnt have accepted it from you. Using that bs as and excuse to not pay is weak reason and shame on her.  I am assuming you already paid the printer huh?? I dont imagine you could bring some of the mess his way b/c there is a clearly a difference between the proofs and the actual product. Probably didnt use a fine enough screen or didnt print out good transparency. It seems the fine grainy details got left out of the final product. Anyways good luck to you.

[MaderDesign 3]

Here is what happened

She hired me to design a shirt design. She wanted a basic trojan head with "trojan" on the front in foil.

I did this.

Printer and I were communicating back and forth and he told me ahead of time that the blue wouldn't turn out that well because the indigo dye doesn't discharge very well. I sent the lady the emails of our coversations.

She then tells me, you design the product and I will deal with the printers and paying them.

She then, orders 144 pieces, but my design was ONLY for 3 shirts that were unisex size. She orderes mens, womens, vnecks, long sleeve, gray, dark gray. And then she tells him to put the trojan on the back of the shirt was well. The printer said the womens shirts were too thin to do an all over and would bleed through to the back. And also the design was much too large for the womens size shirts. So the lady I'm doing the design work for tells him to make the trojan smaller to fit on the womens shirts. He sends her the mock ups and she approved them and he printed. She paid him to do the printing and she paid for the shirts from JS Apparel.

I am then blamed for the mishap and she sends me an email responding to the invoice and says "You do not have any ground to stand on, take me to small claims court." and she highlited an email that the printer sent her saying that he told me the blue shirts would not print right and suggested a different method.

Pretty much saying it's my fault.

But if you scroll down in the emails, you find the email that I sent to the lady that the printer sent me explaining the blue shirt deal. She had the email in front of her face that stated the blue shirts would not turn out right. She approved the printing. All i did was design the trojan.

[sheister 1]

Yeah this is some sorry bs. here is how I see it. The printer already got his money and he sure doesnt want to have to refund any of it. So he sweet talks her and convinces her it your fault. This lady is left with product that didnt come out they way she hoped and doesnt feel she should have to pay the full price for it. Since your the nice guy who allowed her to receive without paying they are passing the bs onto you. See how good relationships can go south faster than Obama can hand out bail out money! Well I would say at the least this is a lesson learned and at the most, you may win your court case. Either way thanks for posting this up. Even though I am fully aware of this type of bs, the nice guy in me sneaks in and occasionally steers me off course. Its posts like this that keep the rest of us vigilant and demanding payment up front!

Good Luck to you

And remember this is just a hump in the road on your way to success. And like George Clinton said

"without humps, there wouldnt be any getting over!"

[MaderDesign 3]

Going down today to get the paper work to file my claim.

[JoeBlow 5]

Mader,

I've been down that track many times, fortunately not once in my sign business.  I once had a film producer that owed me money, everytime I phoned, he wasn't in, everytime I sent a reminder, no answer.  I thought long and hard and came up with a way of embarrassing him into paying.  I checked with Australia Post what their rules were on envelopes and postage.  They told me that, as long as the stamp area, the address & return address areas were clear, you could do anything with the rest of the envelope.  I then bought a page of the brightest fluorescent "OVER DUE" stickers, I could find.  I placed them all over the envelope, both sides, leaving only the areas I needed to leave uncovered and posted it.  You almost needed sun glasses to handle this work of art.  Bingo, I had payment back in 3 days, people don't like it when others know that they're bad payers, he certainly didn't want anymore colorful reminders turning up.

Joe   

[prestonservco 26]

I used to have some of those stickers!  I haven't had to use them in a long time...wonder what I did with them.  I might to have to make some nice florescent vinyl ones. 

[MaderDesign 3]

I wish it would be easy to do like that. I just know when she sees this thing she will just throw it in the garbage. I'm serious, this woman acts like her sh*t doesn't stink, she thinks she is this millionaire lady living in hollywood. umm wrong.

heres her store. http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/ZCollections1/StoreFront.bok

she can't even afford to have a real website worth a crap.

btw, she lives on the same road as me!!!!

[DennyHaze 0]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5099146_write-letters-stop-copyright-infringement.html

You could send one of these in the mean time...  Just thinking

[pitkin2020 1]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5099146_write-letters-stop-copyright-infringement.html

You could send one of these in the mean time...  Just thinking

nice find, :thumbsup:

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5099146_write-letters-stop-copyright-infringement.html

You could send one of these in the mean time...  Just thinking

nice find, :thumbsup:

+1  one to keep handy

[RockerSigns 0]

Send her a cease and desist letter explaining that she is selling your product without permission. Tale her to court and demand half of all profits to date. She will counter that you were work for hire. The judge will kindly explain to her that it is not work for hire without payment. My brother in law went through this very thing. He paid the artist for the designs. Sold a buttload of shirts (high dollar). Artist wanted more money and had my brother in law shut down. Won a judgement for $30000.BIL had to file bankrupcy to get out of this. The artist dude fabricated a rolling scale payment and fogred the sigs on it! He wasn't happy with getting $1000 for the art, then seeing the shirts sell for $75.bIL still made money but it put him out of business!

This is not just a give me my $250 case! She owes you half of the profit from all products sold with your design on it! Take her to real court not small claims. Way to big an issue for them to handle correctly! 

[MaderDesign 3]

Thanks for the input Rockersigns. So far I do not know how many of the shirts she has sold. And I'm sure she could just make up a low amount and say here ya go here's half of 5 shirts or some crap. all claims under $3000 in ohio are considered small claims. And would not be worth me going to a regular court. i would need a lawyer and the fees would begin to pile up.

Do I have a lawyer write me a cease and desist letter or one from myself do?

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

considering the 250 I would just try the diy one. . .in the end is the price worth the squeezing.  make a point but don't get 1000 invested to get 500 back

just my 2c

[MaderDesign 3]

okay guys, got some advice from my cousin who is in law school. He said that I do have plenty of ground in this case and that she doesn't have a clue what she is saying, that I should take it to court and I "will" in his opinion not have a problem with the judge siding with me. He said no matter if I had a contract or not, her and I have been doing business with each other that the verbal agreement is enough. He said she obviously knew what was going on with the printing and that it wasn't like I was told do design her something and printed it sticking her with a bill. She went through with the printing and that after I did the design work that my job was over. He said i just need to print out all the documents and email between us, print out the invoice and past invoices showing we done business before and to make sure i organize it all very well so there is nothing that can be hard to find or questioned. He said pay the $60 court cost fee but ask for her to have to pay the fees and the money owed if you do win. He said it should be a clear cut deal and I should have no problems. He did say if she is required to pay and doesn't by the date the court gives, that in Ohio I just go down to the court house and report it and they will start to garnish her wages or salary.

So I picked up the paper today from the Court House and will prepare it and turn it back in to the court. I was told it would be around 4 weeks for a court date, but gives me more time to be prepared and basically forget it until the time comes to go to court. So not a bunch of time and money wasted by me.

I sure hope i can win this and get some justice out of this b*tch.

PS i was told not to send a cease and desist letter because I am not profiting on a per shirt sale, rather just the entire design work that I did for her. He said to leave it and just let the court handle it.

[Rodger 527]

"  He did say if she is required to pay and doesn't by the date the court gives, that in Ohio I just go down to the court house and report it and they will start to garnish her wages or salary "

  That IS exactly what happened in Maryland . When the other party would not pay , my Dad went back to the same court & same Judge . That Judge attached the person's wages . Very similar case happened in West Virginia .There is only Magistrate court & Circuit court . Some criminal & some civil stuff are handle by each ... I guess it is the amount/seriousness of the case that determines which court .The same Magistrate Judge ( 2 in the whole county ) decided the woman should repay my Mom's cash loan & then later ( after 30 days ) attached her husbands wages . 1 year & the money was fully collected with interest . My Mom named the woman & her husband in the suit . if she had not she would have only gotten a judgment against the woman . Mader , You might want to also name her husband/business partners etc  ( IF she has any ) if he had any involvement with her business or any benefit from your work .

[BannerJohn 1,324]

garnishing a person's wages only works if they are paid a regular wage. Self-employed people normally are not. I wish you the best of luck Mader, but things work slowly and differently in small claims court.

[prestonservco 26]

IMO you've already wasted more time than the $250 is worth.  JMHO.