-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
You thought you got ripped off?
- Thread starter ProWraps
- Start date
Speedsterbeast
New Member
Do tell.
a bunch of us already blasted this clown on facebook reviews. Feel free to join
https://www.facebook.com/UltimateWrapsfl
These guys have more photos of cars they are 'prepping' by far, than they do of actual completed wraps....WTH?
UltimateWraps, Fabio, if you read these forums(safe to assume you do if you use google to search info related to your industry)... please do the right thing and take your site down, you were robbed by a degenerate scumbag on the other side of the planet. Chalk it up as a lesson learned.
Dan Antonelli
New Member
Yes its the wild, wild west out there unfortunately.
Our latest theft was the copywriting from our own site copied nearly in its entirety, onto another 'advertising agency' (sorry, have to put quotes on that). My lawyer did the usual C&D and DMCA stuff. Guy claimed the usual 'didn't know' and 'ive since fired my copywriter' - with a 'my mom is dying of cancer' kicker. Hell, sure was creative. ANyway, that was down in a few days.
Then Andrew Flanagan alerted us to one of our award-winning truck wraps for Air Zero in Florida was stolen. NOt only did they steal the identical layout, but they named the company 'Sub Zero' instead of 'Air Zero'. Same colors, etc.
A month ago, the entire web site, graphics and all for Timo's Air was ripped off by another HVAC company on East Coast. Again, 'they didnt know, used overseas developer' etc. Then we discovered his logo was ripped by another HVAC company in Chicago, after we declined to work with them due to a client conflict.
We even had one of our designs ripped off, and 'win' a truck wrap contest few months back.
Truth be told, you go one page on copyscape, let alone ten pages in, and it's simply overwhelming. Forget about images and logo rips. I really don't know the answer, but it would be almost a full time job to police.
So imitation and flattery, yadda yadda. It gets old fast. And expensive, time consuming and unproductive.
And people keep asking why my new book isnt available as a digital download. Yeh, why don't I just flush three years of my life spent on it down the drain so some schmuck can download it for free. On second thought, yeh, lets not do that.
Our latest theft was the copywriting from our own site copied nearly in its entirety, onto another 'advertising agency' (sorry, have to put quotes on that). My lawyer did the usual C&D and DMCA stuff. Guy claimed the usual 'didn't know' and 'ive since fired my copywriter' - with a 'my mom is dying of cancer' kicker. Hell, sure was creative. ANyway, that was down in a few days.
Then Andrew Flanagan alerted us to one of our award-winning truck wraps for Air Zero in Florida was stolen. NOt only did they steal the identical layout, but they named the company 'Sub Zero' instead of 'Air Zero'. Same colors, etc.
A month ago, the entire web site, graphics and all for Timo's Air was ripped off by another HVAC company on East Coast. Again, 'they didnt know, used overseas developer' etc. Then we discovered his logo was ripped by another HVAC company in Chicago, after we declined to work with them due to a client conflict.
We even had one of our designs ripped off, and 'win' a truck wrap contest few months back.
Truth be told, you go one page on copyscape, let alone ten pages in, and it's simply overwhelming. Forget about images and logo rips. I really don't know the answer, but it would be almost a full time job to police.
So imitation and flattery, yadda yadda. It gets old fast. And expensive, time consuming and unproductive.
And people keep asking why my new book isnt available as a digital download. Yeh, why don't I just flush three years of my life spent on it down the drain so some schmuck can download it for free. On second thought, yeh, lets not do that.
bikecomedy
New Member
website is down and Facebook posts are gone... poof!
Rick
Certified Enneadecagon Designer
I guess he removed his index page and now there is a splash page... you can still get to the other stuff, just nothing is linked on the homepage. A small triumph!
http://www.ultimatewrapsfl.com/
http://www.ultimatewrapsfl.com/
johnnysigns
New Member
ultimatewrapsfl is their instagram handle
Craig Sjoquist
New Member
Just keep your eye out cause this is the main http://signdoctororlando.com/ is Fabio also
Same name on the FL. coast & TX which not the same as above.
Thought these people were ok sure glad I found out, just not right, all the fancy equipment they had , wizards on Corel Draw, compared to me anyway (easy), with the help & customer flow they had it was totally un-necessary.
Folks when ya see a great branding/design/layout admire it, but use it to inspire ya & create your own...Copy & paste is just plain wrong.
Same name on the FL. coast & TX which not the same as above.
Thought these people were ok sure glad I found out, just not right, all the fancy equipment they had , wizards on Corel Draw, compared to me anyway (easy), with the help & customer flow they had it was totally un-necessary.
Folks when ya see a great branding/design/layout admire it, but use it to inspire ya & create your own...Copy & paste is just plain wrong.
ProWraps
New Member
alls well that ends well.
i pretty much got everything taken down and or removed. a little public shaming went a long way.
the ultimate wrap guys called me several times. some shouted obscenities at me.
the final call was from one of the majority owners. an older fellow.
i feel bad for him.
he paid a company in good faith and they copied our site. that sucks. he did what he thought was right and he was being duped.
i called them to resolve this without attorneys etc. in the hopes of just resolving this.
in the end, it worked out ok.
the wrapsink site has been taken down by the owner. if you are reading this, thanks bud.
like dan and i said, its flattering, but at the end of the day, its exhausting and expensive.
i hope this thread serves to help people in my same situation.
the copyscape site that was posted by techman is a great resource. and i highly suggest you use it to see if you are being ripped.
the dmca site has helped us as well and has a tool that is very similar to copyscape.
i would recommend for $100/year if you are creating something online you protect it with dmca. if nothing more, it serves to show you are the originator of the content which gives you a bit more teeth if you encounter this problem.
we all start somewhere. im not exactly the perfect example of shining anything. but i have learned. this is why i was hoping to take a less than expensive and threatening attorney approach in this situation and luckily it worked out well.
i pretty much got everything taken down and or removed. a little public shaming went a long way.
the ultimate wrap guys called me several times. some shouted obscenities at me.
the final call was from one of the majority owners. an older fellow.
i feel bad for him.
he paid a company in good faith and they copied our site. that sucks. he did what he thought was right and he was being duped.
i called them to resolve this without attorneys etc. in the hopes of just resolving this.
in the end, it worked out ok.
the wrapsink site has been taken down by the owner. if you are reading this, thanks bud.
like dan and i said, its flattering, but at the end of the day, its exhausting and expensive.
i hope this thread serves to help people in my same situation.
the copyscape site that was posted by techman is a great resource. and i highly suggest you use it to see if you are being ripped.
the dmca site has helped us as well and has a tool that is very similar to copyscape.
i would recommend for $100/year if you are creating something online you protect it with dmca. if nothing more, it serves to show you are the originator of the content which gives you a bit more teeth if you encounter this problem.
we all start somewhere. im not exactly the perfect example of shining anything. but i have learned. this is why i was hoping to take a less than expensive and threatening attorney approach in this situation and luckily it worked out well.
OK so if you got a site you thought was original, but was cloned with some changes, that is understandable.
But how does he explain that his portfolio was not his work? Surely they would know what vehicles they worked
on. Something is fishy still.
I think that website checker should be a sticky.
But how does he explain that his portfolio was not his work? Surely they would know what vehicles they worked
on. Something is fishy still.
I think that website checker should be a sticky.
Pat Whatley
New Member
So...ummm...does that mean you get to take credit for winning the contest?
Congratulations?
Dan Antonelli
New Member
There were 4 winners. We won 3 out of the 4, or 4 out of the 4 if you include the stolen one. The other 'winning' entry has since been removed and now ours are officially the only three winning entries.
Anyway, Chris thanks for the info on the DMCA. We've just signed up as well - and found a coupon online for $70/yr for the pro plan. Worth it.
ProWraps
New Member
WeekendDirectionals
New Member
Their portfolio is still up. At least home page is cleaned up.
Supergirl
New Member
Wow!!!
Thanks guys for all the infos on the site.
As to "stealing images," Javascript is useless, so is Flash nowadays, because anybody can take a screenshot.
One good thing is left, but barely usable now and barely anybody ever knew about it.
If your image is in a table. set it as a cell background and as content, place a see thru image of the same size. People will right mouse click and save as... later when they look, they got blank images.
But, nobody should be putting their images in a table.
and people can still take a screenshot, they just don't tend to, if save as.. option is available.
Thanks guys for all the infos on the site.
As to "stealing images," Javascript is useless, so is Flash nowadays, because anybody can take a screenshot.
One good thing is left, but barely usable now and barely anybody ever knew about it.
If your image is in a table. set it as a cell background and as content, place a see thru image of the same size. People will right mouse click and save as... later when they look, they got blank images.
But, nobody should be putting their images in a table.
and people can still take a screenshot, they just don't tend to, if save as.. option is available.