design contract
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- stav
no signed contract but an agreement through a series of emails and an oral agreement over the phone...100 hours of working on this project later the client flakes on me. is there any hope in collecting any of the dough?
- vena0
if it's less than $5k, it's really not worth the legal fees and time it would take to recover the money you're earned :/
sorry man, best thing to do is to let everyone know who the deadbeat is so others can avoid them.
- mrdobolina0
man, that sucks. I dont want to preach to the choir, but GET THESE PEEPS ON PAPER!
- kappa0
well, in cali verbal contracts are just as legal as printed contracts - of course, if dood says he never made the agreement, you're fucked.
Plus, as vena said, it's not worth the effort unless it's a significant amount.
but, yea, get contracts signed, i've never been duped by a client who has signed a contract :D
- cphunk0
I don't agree with Vena. You can take your client to small claims court. The process is cheap, and fast, and if you have all the emails and info to back you up then you're goods. I've had to do it twice, and both times I won.
On a side. I have been thinking alot in the past few months about the fact that there's a lack of an organization that supplies designers with support with things like this. An International Designer's Alliance, etc.
What do you guys think about this. It seems that our industry, regardless of there being a contract present, has alot of this going on.
Something like an organization that you can become a member of, pay a small yearly fee, but then you have legal advice, etc. that you can rely on in situations like these that arise.
Just a thought.
- vena0
cphunk: if you're willing, by all means, go for small claims court. :)
re the organization you describe... that's exactly what the graphic artists guild does. http://www.gag.org/
- cphunk0
vena: i already have.
and cool reading up on the guild. thanks.
- stav0
thanks for the info guys. its about 3 grand it might be worthwhile.
its just hard to imagine this happening in any other industry. its not like you can tell your plumber - you know what now that you fixed all my plumbing i don't really want it. sorry.