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BEWARE of South Water Signs

S

SIGN GUY OC

New Member
jeffkics said:
Please whatever you all do, DO NOT USE or TAKE ANY JOB from South Water Signs 934 N Church Rd, Elmhurst, IL 60126 (630) 333-4900

They DO NOT pay their invoices. I was burned by them for a lousy $125.00 site survey. And by the looks of their google reviews they are doing it on a much larger scale to all of their contractors. They should be looked at by the government in my opinion. If they are a member of the ISA or any sign organizations they should be removed.

This was a site survey for Edward Jones that I was taken for. So they obviously have big accounts.

My survey was completed Oct 7, 2021. I have emailed and called them since them, with responses that they have “escalated” the matter and it will be paid. I have come to the conclusion that I have spent more time than it is worth, and its time to move on, but not before I tell this to you
Click to expand...
They got me for $350 over a year ago, I have called and emailed every number and email add I could find with no sucess, all I get is voicemails without names. I found a cell number and called and got someone who had quit the company over these problems. He said it was to much stress... I can't stand a thief, and make no mistake that is exactly what they are.
If I had a copy of a whole bunch of invoices from their victems I could take them to the BBB and/or ISA and maybe get some heat on them.
So send them if you want : thesignguyofcorinth@gmail.com
 
Jay Grooms

Jay Grooms

Printing, Printing, Printing......
I am 27 minutes from south water signs, anyone need an invoice hand delivered?
Also, doing an incorporation search, the owner is listed as Thomas Merkel, even has his home address in Chicago listed.
I won't post it, but maybe you can get the address from https://apps.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/

Mail your invoice right to the A$$Holes house.
 
S

SIGN GUY OC

New Member
Shoot me your email and I will send you my invoice. I only wish I could be there myself... its not but a few months from being 2 years old which is ridiculous .
 
I

ikarasu

Active Member
Have you guys thought of going the small claims route?

For a $125, or $250 bill, financially its not worth it. But 99% of the time you get your filing fee and all other fees paid for by the losing party... The only thing your down is time. And in this day and age... everything is handled via video chat / remote call, so you can do it from Texas without ever leaving the comfort of your home... Watch them get a dozen small claims cases, and I bet you they start paying up - Judges tend to penalize repeat offenders.


https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.win...7-4fb3-a1ca-cf9c8602a2a0/SMC Instructions.pdf Heres the how to file document for their jurisdiction.

You guys can even group your "cases" up and have the sheriff go and serve them all at once. Scare the crap out of them, worst case you get taken off their E-mail list, and they pay up before a court date... Best case you get your money, they get to piss their pants / waste time in court and have 10 bills and court fees they have to pay.


I had someone try to scam me when I used to sell stuff on Ebay - They submitted a case saying the item didnt arrive in time for X-mas so they wanted a refund, and E-bay default gave them it. They ordered a custom product on Dec 20, I told them it wouldnt make it for X-mas... And they said thats fine, go ahead and send it. Once it was in the mail they got their money back... And stopped replying to any message. so I looked it up and filed a court case... it was a consumer so they pissed their pants and sent me the cash the day after they got served, as well as the filing fee. The item was a $90 item... I think they ended up paying $300ish after fees and everything. Took me 15 mins to fill stuff out, but even if it took me 15 hours, and all I got out of it was $5 I'd do it again - I don't like getting scammed, and I'd waste 10X what i'd recover just to teach them a lesson!
 
A

ArtSignFL

New Member
WARNING: DO NOT WORK WITH THIS COMPANY! Thomas Merkel, the owner of South Water Signs, LLC. will hire you and WILL NOT PAY you for your work. This is a pattern he repeats to many small businesses that we were not aware of. We ( Art Sign Company ) was hired to complete the permit process and installation for Culver’s in Cooper City. Mind you, Culvers keeps this company as a recommended vendor. From the beginning we have been lied to about payment. Thomas Merkel has promised several times to make payment. Excuse after excuse about waiting on financing to come…you have my word he stated. Needless to say… His words are no good!!! He breached contract, by owing us more than $28,000! We are in the process of working with our attorney and contacting the Better Business Bureau. Save yourself the hassle and go with someone else that actually pays you for your outstanding work you complete. South Water Signs, LLC is not a good company to work with.
jeffkics said:
Please whatever you all do, DO NOT USE or TAKE ANY JOB from South Water Signs 934 N Church Rd, Elmhurst, IL 60126 (630) 333-4900

They DO NOT pay their invoices. I was burned by them for a lousy $125.00 site survey. And by the looks of their google reviews they are doing it on a much larger scale to all of their contractors. They should be looked at by the government in my opinion. If they are a member of the ISA or any sign organizations they should be removed.

This was a site survey for Edward Jones that I was taken for. So they obviously have big accounts.

My survey was completed Oct 7, 2021. I have emailed and called them since them, with responses that they have “escalated” the matter and it will be paid. I have come to the conclusion that I have spent more time than it is worth, and its time to move on, but not before I tell this to you
Click to expand...
He got us too....he owes us more than $28,000!
 
A

ArtSignFL

New Member
WARNING: DO NOT WORK WITH THIS COMPANY! Thomas Merkel, the owner of South Water Signs, LLC. will hire you and WILL NOT PAY you for your work. This is a pattern he repeats to many small businesses that we were not aware of. We ( Art Sign Company ) was hired to complete the permit process and installation for Culver’s in Cooper City. Mind you, Culvers keeps this company as a recommended vendor. From the beginning we have been lied to about payment. Thomas Merkel has promised several times to make payment. Excuse after excuse about waiting on financing to come…you have my word he stated. Needless to say… His words are no good!!! He breached contract, by owing us more than $28,000! We are in the process of working with our attorney and contacting the Better Business Bureau. Save yourself the hassle and go with someone else that actually pays you for your outstanding work you complete. South Water Signs, LLC is not a good company to work with.
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
Make sure you file your NTOs on time and lien these jobs. If you're 3rd tier, get paid up front. Never trust a contractor
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
greysquirrel said:
Can we just a "DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM" post? I love the idea. Call out all of the scumbags. I have a few I can put on in that forum.
Click to expand...
I worked for a company that had a national "bad guy" list. It wasn't a suggestion either, they were locked out in the computer system. You could add these people at the local level for anything from being annoying to skipping out on payment. It was great
 
H

Humble PM

Mostly tolerates architects
A dozen or more years ago, when we first set up a filemaker solution, we migrated data from a very aged database - possibly card box? - and mapped the notes field to notes field we'd set in FM. Some very choice descriptions of certain customers. Had to do a manual purge of the nsfw entries (customers would sometimes be able to see screens when booking work in).
 
Creative Sign Guy(s)

Creative Sign Guy(s)

New Member
We got burned for over $100,000 about 6 years ago. It was an LLC that went belly up. I am no lawyer and it wasn't even a job my department did, so I just overheard the owners talking about it. From what I gathered, when an LLC goes bankrupt, you cannot go after anyone for the money. Hence the limited liability.
Seems shady to me.
 
JBurton

JBurton

Signtologist
Creative Sign Guy(s) said:
We got burned for over $100,000 about 6 years ago. It was an LLC that went belly up. I am no lawyer and it wasn't even a job my department did, so I just overheard the owners talking about it. From what I gathered, when an LLC goes bankrupt, you cannot go after anyone for the money. Hence the limited liability.
Seems shady to me.
Click to expand...
We had a very similar situation, giant hotel letters that set in our yard for over a year before we started scrapping them apart. Just glad they never got hung on the building with all the potential man hours lost.
LLC will protect the owner, but not the assets in a bankruptcy filing. Nothing to stop the owner from buying the shop equipment and storing it all at his house during proceedings though...
 
J

jeffkics

Sign Says
I recently learned that FastSigns installed the Edward Jones signs at the location that I surveyed, I would imagine SouthWater wouldn't screw with not paying a FS. It's such a shame that no one can do anything about it. I filed a case with the Attorney General and never heard anything.
CanuckSigns said:
Wasn't there a post a few weeks ago about a guy not getting paid by Edward Jones, and FastSigns said they have the national contract for EJ? Now this South Water place is sending sign shops all over the country to survey for Edward Jones. I don't think Mrs. Jones would be happy to find out how many sign shops her husband Edward has been in bed with.
Click to expand...
 
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