How do you deal with clients that want their files

[gabagoo]

I have a designer who works with me, but not for me. One of his friends worked at a company and they gave him a fair amount of business. the friend has now quit his job and the client is asking for their files as they do have someone working on site that can design ( not one tenth as good as my guy). So the dilemma is...what to do. he has 20 gig of files and I said...well it's a lose maybe lose situation. If you give them the files you might pick up more work if the designer they have quits or is unable to design as well and as fast as he can, or you say that you own the files and they can't have them unless they pay $$$$$ which will result in you getting nothing, ever in the future.

I say give them the files...charge them for the time it takes to transfer them onto a hard drive and then hopefully they send you some future work, when they realize that in house kid out of college, can't quite do what you can do, hopefully they throw some more work your way.

 

[fresh]

I'm a little confused... lemme get this straight. Your friend, who's former employer was a customer of yours, wants YOU to give them (former employer) files?

If your friend was working for them, they should have a copy of the files anyway (assuming he was an actual employee, not subcontractor.)

I don't really know how this has anything to do with you.

 

[2B]

Why do they want the files? Usually the only reason someone wants their files is if they are taking their business elsewhere. at which point you are already going to be loosing money.

If they want a product you do not offer, then you send the needed file to the company doing the work.

Its Intellectual Copyrights / ownership, and you SHOULD be paid for your ownership.


there was just an entire thread on this exact subject
http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?132756-Design-Files-free-to-client

 

[Baz]

Put me in that situation ...
I would politely decline.
These are my working files. (Also my only bargaining chip for the client to stay with me).
In giving away my files i am helping my client for a smoother transition away from me. I sure as hell don't want that.

If the new designer is no good. The customer will realize much quicker how better it was before and probably call
you back.

 

[oksigns]

So he was a freelance worker that received regular work from this company? Not a salaried employee or not under a contract? I would ask for a severance in exchange for the files.

There is a question about particular deliverables that could very well belong to the company, but if the majority of the end product/deliverables were say.. print collateral, then that company is SOL, 'cause they got what they paid for.

I hope it goes smoothly.

 

[jfiscus]

Give them their logo files free of charge. If they want anything else tell them that to transfer them off-site that they are subject to a storage fee or a retrieval and transfer fee. You are only storing their old files as a convenience to yourself; they have never requested or paid for this service prior to this date. Put what you feel is fair on a CD and be nice, and discount the fee if necessary. No reason to burn any bridges.

 

[visual800]

if you have done work for him give him the files, what are you gonna with them?

if i create a logo or files and if the customer uses me for their stuff its cool, if the dont use me then i would charge them for the files.

 

[Billct2]

It's always a judgement call, if he thinks they may still give him work he can offer to make copies of the files for $$. Then again he may be sealing his fate as a former vendor.

 

[GAC05]

If they won't take no for an answer challenge them to a cage match - winner gets the files.
(no eye pokes or head kicks to a downed opponent)


wayne k
guam usa

 

[jdejesus]

Sorry, I'm confused. op, can you please re explain the relationships a little better? A lot of the follow up posts feels like an interpretation of your problem.

 

[zmatalucci]

Give them a high res .jpeg. Vectors are our tools and customers aren't entitled to them. Let somebody else recreate the .jpeg into a vector.

 

[gabagoo]

sorry...let me start over.

The designer rents space from me and I have nothing to do with any of it..(except I too do work for the company requesting the files). In any case a good friend of his worked for this company in a fairly top position. He was disgruntled and left the business. The company now is requesting all the files he has worked on over the last few years.

He does not want to release them as many have said they are his and his alone. He was never paid anything to archive any of it.

He came to me for some advice as to what to do. I figured it might be best to give them the files for a minimal charge of transfering them onto a hard drive. My thinking is that if you flat out say no or charge some unrealistic price, then you will never get another cent from them. If you work with them, maybe over time they may realize just how good a designer he is and start using him again. The files are od no use to him and why sour a relationship.

I just wanted to get a sense of what other designers would do in this situation.

 

[Marlene]

sorry...let me start over.

The designer rents space from me and I have nothing to do with any of it..(except I too do work for the company requesting the files). In any case a good friend of his worked for this company in a fairly top position. He was disgruntled and left the business. The company now is requesting all the files he has worked on over the last few years.

He does not want to release them as many have said they are his and his alone. He was never paid anything to archive any of it.

He came to me for some advice as to what to do. I figured it might be best to give them the files for a minimal charge of transfering them onto a hard drive. My thinking is that if you flat out say no or charge some unrealistic price, then you will never get another cent from them. If you work with them, maybe over time they may realize just how good a designer he is and start using him again. The files are od no use to him and why sour a relationship.

I just wanted to get a sense of what other designers would do in this situation.

so your friend did design work for a company. did he work at that company? if so, those are their files. if he did work for them but wasn't an employee of their company those are his files and not their files. if they are his files, then he should sell no give them to the company. if the company "sours" because he wants to get paid for work done, then who cares or who needs them any way.

 

[fresh]

Marlene is correct. He doesn't owe them anything. And you're thinking that they will come back if he is nice is a bad assumption. I guarantee if they aren't happy with the new person, they will most likely find someone else (not their old standby.)

depending on the depth and breath of the files, I'd definitely charge a good amount for them.

 

[chester215]

Tell them the hard drive crashed a while back and the files are gone.

 

[Jester1167]

These situations are tough unless there's a posted policy and I think your right to say it is a lose-lose situation. I would at least charge a half or a whole hours wages to organize and burn the disk.

Some of the things that would enter in the thought process on how much to charge would be;

1. Could he just resend all of the files he has sent them over the years (not the working files just the finished product) for a small processing fee. There is a chance they don't know any better and maybe they can't find where the guy stored the files. They have already paid for this part of the process.

In this example you look reasonable and may have an opportunity for future work.

2. Think about the time it would take to recreate the finished work and the amount of lost revenue and figure out a reasonable percentage. I doubt they will see it as reasonable. The reason I say that is because the new designer is on staff and they won't see the direct correlation between time and cost. They pay him no matter what he's working on. If they were hiring another outside designer or sign company they would get a bill for the recreation time. Unless you do this face to face with well thought out reasoning and examples in related industries, you will **** them off.

Walking a tight rope here. The more you charge and the less prepared you are the more likely you are to burn a bridge and get nothing.

3. Hold the files hostage and charge an insane amount.

You end up getting nothing. No money, no future work, and a mad customer bad mouthing the designer to all his friend at the Chamber of Commerce and BNI meetings.

 

[gabagoo]

so your friend did design work for a company. did he work at that company? if so, those are their files. if he did work for them but wasn't an employee of their company those are his files and not their files. if they are his files, then he should sell no give them to the company. if the company "sours" because he wants to get paid for work done, then who cares or who needs them any way.

He does not work for the company...a friend of his did, who sent him all the work. Ok I guess he should tell them to go fly a kite.

 

[klmiller611]

If you are a freelance designer, the chances of having a "posted" policy is fairly slim, as you normally work out of your home office, and rarely, if ever actually have a client in. I freelanced for almost 15 years, and the last client who actually came to my office at home was probably in year 7 or 8. Everything else was strictly electronic.

Otherwise, as I understand it, design work for hire does not allow you to claim ownership to the files, you were paid (hopefully) for the work. You retain files at your pleasure or expense. If the client wants those files, you have a set amount of time involved in pulling them from archive discs or whatever. That is an expense to you (the designer) and if the client is reasonable and not upset with you for some reason, tell them up front, there is time involved in me pulling the files and costs, make sure they understand that.

If we are talking about a logo that I did the vector work on, and they want one for someone else to use in print (like a t shirt or something) I usually have those files pretty handy, and it takes virtually no time for me to access them. If I can email it, and again, feel comfortable with the relationship, I don't charge for that.

If they want all the creative files, i.e. layouts for signs, posters, whatever, so someone else can redo the stuff, then, sure, charge them the archive fee and disc costs. You look like a good person, not a jerk who refuses to hand them over. If they think about it, and you are OK with it, you took the high road.

Ken Miller

 

[Billct2]

The more I think about the more I think he should offer to sell them the files. I don't see any scenario where they would come back to him. He should put a number on it high enough to make it worth it for him

 

[decalman]

If they won't take no for an answer challenge them to a cage match - winner gets the files.
(no eye pokes or head kicks to a downed opponent)


wayne k
guam usa

There shouldn't be any biting either.