Why Graphic Designers Must Protect their Artwork
Have you ever provided work for a contractor only to be stiffed on the pay?
How can you protect yourself? And Will you get paid?
This past weekend I provided a service for Marvin Tulloch owner of Mix Bagz
a start up e- commerce store on shopify, he requested a logo design, with parameters of bag with items in it, then said show me what your think, I sent him a bid for sketches, I was interested in his idea, and thought it would be fun to make some concepts so I made the bid for 75.oo$ this wasn't a lot, I have recently due to High amounts of scam, work send out bids for service that turn into invoices for online payment, to weed out fake clients from real potential clients. I know the amount I charged is really small, and for small businesses, I never try to gouge large payments for design work, I was always taught to gauge your clients before charging them. It was how this Particular person handle the situation and accused me of being a scammer / poor artist. I wanted to list his Conversation, for everyone to see how, this person gas lights, becomes insulting, and tries to flip it by attacking my work. In my years running Smart Media shorts, I have never had one complaint, nor, have I ever not completed a site or have my work debased. So this stuck a nerve. I am sure many in this industry had to deal with this from time to time.
So Why write this blog?
There are times when you just lose, you lose your time for your work, you lose out on pay, and you have to deal with bad clients. The great thing about the internet is that its permanent,
Marvin Tullochs name is not associated with his business Mix Bagz publicly, Will forever have his name online for being a liar, and thief. It shows he is crude and childish in his reasoning, attacking before listening. Not a good business practice, and any company he makes or creates outside the Mix Bagz - e-commerce store will be attached to his name - diminishing his credibility. It also warns future Illustrators, clients, customers, and other prospective business owners of the type of person they maybe dealing with, but also help them not to make a bad decision in doing business with this person or people like him.
The Internet is Forever! - in time his bad reviews and other articles about people like him, will forever be available for anyone to see if they search his name or business name.
List your grievances show your proof, and never stoop to his level and call him names - you will see in these text, How I tried reasoning with him, and letting him know about the bid and how it worked. He Insults me, tries to get me to cuss, but I held my tongue only to slightly slip up, saying he was being a liar, and thief, and if anything he was scamming me. Keep your proof, as it can help you remove any bad reviews these people may put on your GMB, or Facebook and other Social digital foot prints, to protect your companies Reputation. I know it can be difficult as these people can test your buttons, and make you so angry your fingers shake as you type.
Here is the list of Text Messages from start to end - and here are the Sketches I provided, now understand I said would be in sketch form and in color, for approval, before turning into a vector for a second billing.
First here are the sketches:
First two I had no other information about this company or what he wanted other than what the company does, and name.
This next Galerie is the conversation, I will put his contact information at the bottom of the page if you like to contact him for his side of the events. People should have a way to tell their side - its always a two way street when it comes to peoples view points.
Here is a PDF of his bid and on the bottom the terms.
His acceptance tag on my Dash board
and his invoice was sent.
At no Point did I change the deal or add to it. I even did more work to try and meet my Mr. Tullochs requests.
I actually was able to submit the complaint form to OFCCP after checking the phone number. lol I was that mad.
At one point in the text he gets me to stumble a little bringing me down a bit to his level, Never once Do I change what I said, about my work and time, he starts attacking me personally and I do get a bit crude with him, never once calling him anything he had not stated about me first, and all I did was repeat the facts, and tried to reason, Mr. Tolluch is a last word guy so he kept trying to get his last word with insults and beratement, which lead me to question his character, and look up his company information, that lead me to his domain being just purchased this last month on the 14th and is only good for a year, I also Found out his site is just Drop Shipment merch. which means this product has no Quality Control, and may be shipped from china _ most likely china made products - now there are many Drop shipment products made in the USA too, but cost more, which goes back to the prior information of him not wanting to pay a small fee for time of 75.00, and then accuses the illustrator ( Me of being a scammer and terrible artist), leads me to suspect his merch will also be on the cheap side. And if he handled me a contactor so terribly it stands to reason he would run his business and his Customer service the same way.
He is trying to use my words of accepting the final as reason not to pay, and the fact I started the work without payment is how i breached my contract. I explained that accepting the work, is the agreement, as a professional I gave him the curtesy and trust he would make the payment in a timely manner. I did not press him for payment until I was done. He has emailed me calling me Mr. illiterate, showing me his immaturity.
So Lesson to be learned from this, make sure you get payment first before any concepts or Down payment - rule of thumb is 20 to 30% of total. Be very clear in the beginning, which I should have thoroughly explained and not started on the project until I saw the payment being processed. And lastly, Remember its not a slander of character when you speak the truth. What is slanders, is if he paid me, and I said awful things about him, or if I was to harass his company, and him by publishing article after article of lies about his company, that would be slander. but this article wasn't based on a lie, it was my experience with this Melvin Tulloch of Mix Bagz in Florida. I Hope this Article reaches as many people as it can, Warning them of this kind of business practice some people do to contractors. How a rude clients thinks they have the right to waste people times and not see, what they are doing hurts people, 5 dollars, 10 dollars or 100 dollars, money is money, time can not be replaced. I worked through my weekend, for this person, gave up on time I could have spent with family and friends. Instead I get berated, left without payment, and accused of being something I am not. Do you have an experience like this? I'd like to hear, how did you resolve it? employers
@smartMediashorts - facebook
@smartMediashorts - Instagram
#smartmediashorts #Mixbagz #shopifystores #shopify #ecommerce #dropshipmentstores #dontgetrobbed #standupforyourself #smallbusinesses
Want to hear his side of the story?
You can Contact Mr, Tolluch @ Mtulloch2000@hotmail.com
Phone 954 702 6735
Not sure what his comments are on his actions.