Would you...................

[ThinkRight]

But then again I am in a small community and can't afford to upset my customers.

:ROFLMAO:
I always heard those corn fed girls could be mean !

 

[Salmoneye]

Unless you made it clear that they couldn't have it for some reason, give it up.

 

[Patentagosse]

Hand it over to him. All you did was recreate it in vector, you got paid for it, be the nice guy and give it to him. I don't know how involved it was but it sounds like you were paid well enough for it also.

And the fact that what ever format your machine needs, to me, is irrelevant. We all know that in this day and age all it takes is a click of the mouse and it's in whatever format you need.

But then again I am in a small community and can't afford to upset my customers.

+1

 

[ForgeInc]

I still can't get over a lot of the short sighted thinking many shops have when troubled by "handing over artwork". I know it mostly applies to smaller shops and as I've said many times, I can see why a small shop wouldn't want to simply hand over a file their customer can then go have printed somewhere else. But if you got paid a design fee, and produced the sign, got paid, and your long-time customer was happy then asked for the artwork, why risk the relationship and cry about owning the art?

If it was me in your customer's shoes, I'd be pretty damn pissed getting any kind of grief when asking for the files, especially if they've already paid a "vectorizing" fee.

 

[Suz]

Gino, I would just let the Customer have the file. I guess you learn to ask a few more questions next time before giving it any of your time. I hear so many stories from Customers about how somebody would not hand over the artwork. I do ask every time I hear a story like that though, "Did you pay for it?" If the answer is yes, I always say that they should get the Artwork, vector, whatever was paid for.

 

[Techman]

been in the bizz how long and forgot to anticipate this question?
BAd boy,, spank.

 

[ironchef]

Ive read in earlier post that if any design charge is on their invoice then they have the rights. If it was a verbal agreement on the design fee then it gets a little harder.

 

[GB2]

I know for a fact that there is a legal precedent that answers this question, unfortunately I don't know what that is at the moment, as it applies to your specific situation. I think it's safe to say however, that one should have all these details covered in a written agreement that ideally would be provided to the customer before the job is started. I know that's easy to say but not always convenient to do.

 

[signage]

I thought you had contracts for the work you do, if not I think this is the time to get them made up.

 

[FireSprint.com]

You said yourself he's a loyal customer. You also charged him for it, he didn't complain, now he's collecting what he thinks is his.

If you build the art into the cost of the sign that would be one thing, but you made it a separate line item.

He seems like a decent business man. That would explain why he wants the vector. He probably needs it for uniforms, promotional products, print, etc. Before we ever got into printing, I still worked hard to get the vector versions of artwork I paid others to do. It just made sense.

 

[anotherdog]

This was a much bigger thing in the past before the internet and easy computers.
The design belonged to the designer unless the rights were included in the contract (at an extra cost). The product of that work was what the customer got, whether it was signage, a flyer or a magazine ad. This was mainly because it was all hard copy and making reproductions was expensive.

These days with ftp and email... especially in a small town.

remember however to save it in a nice format...aldus freehand...for mac, save it as a .sit file on a 3.5 inch floppy disk (or split it across a couple of diskettes) and remember to drop in a few custom fontographer fonts you created yourself, but don't put the printer fonts on then disk. The mail it to him in a padded envelope with inadequate postage.

Ahh that's what the 90's was like!

 

[visual800]

there have been a couple post about customers art. Just give them the damn art! What else are ya gonna do with it? I never understood all of this "keeping art" thingy. Now if the customer doesnt do business with you absolutely they get no art!

 

[DizzyMarkus]

Repeat customer --- just vectored no design -- unclear from beginning --- he gets the files this time :0)

Markus

 

[Billct2]

I didn't get into this business to be an fing lawyer ( or computer tech, printer techician, HR dept, insurance analyst, IT dept or any of the other crp that I have to do now).
I just treat customers the way I would want to be treated. (Which also means not putting up with jerks)
I would charge a small fee for burning it to a disc and give it to them. And if I remember next time I would word it differently. (I usually call it "one time charge for set up")

 

[synergy_jim]

we charge 100% up front for all artwork all of the time. That way we are always paid and the customer can have any file they want... doesn't do any of us any good holding it hostage.

 

[Gino]

Ya know, most of ya make sense, but what about the part that his designer, who created this logo, only gave him a little .jpg and wanted I think it was around $500 to vectorize it and it would take him two more weeks until he could get to it ??

Also, if you do a job for someone.... regardless the size and you needed to get a special drill or expensive substrate.... do you tell your customer.... when I'm finished with your job, you can have this here drill and 1/4" cut-off of anodized aluminum ??

As for the contract, that was all in writing, but the vectorizing came up later.... kinda as an add-on and I quoted him a price verbally and then followed it up with an e-mail stating all the costs to produce this entire job and for how much extra that's gonna cost to produce his signs. Nowhere did I or he say anything about giving him files when completed.

I guess it just boils down to being blindsided.... and I don't take kindly to someone asking me one thing and then rephrasing it when it's finished, expecting a different result.

I'll probably give him a vector file and say.... here ya go. I won't charge you our normal amount for doing this, but let me know what else ya might need.

 

[J Hill Designs]

Also, if you do a job for someone.... regardless the size and you needed to get a special drill or expensive substrate.... do you tell your customer.... when I'm finished with your job, you can have this here drill and 1/4" cut-off of anodized aluminum ??

if you line-itemed the drill bit, then maybe...

 

[CanuckSigns]

Ya know, most of ya make sense, but what about the part that his designer, who created this logo, only gave him a little .jpg and wanted I think it was around $500 to vectorize it and it would take him two more weeks until he could get to it ??

Sounds like something I tell PITA customers in hopes that they go away!

 

[ForgeInc]

Gino, you are usually so spot on in your thinking. But...what benefit could you possibly get from your long time customer by refusing to give him the art, (AFTER he paid you a "vectorizing" fee) no matter whether you think it appropriate or not?

 

[Border]

The only "out" I can think of on this would be to tell your customer that is not your place to hand over the vectored artwork because you were not the original designer, however, if the original artist gives you permission to hand it over, you will be glad to.

Think about if you were the original designer and your custy took your jpeg to have someone else vectorize it after you gave them a price for doing it yourself and releasing it?


I think my answer covers your butt both ways.