Strange days indeed

[cam bortz]

I wish I had money to play with like this...

Back in September a client came to us recommended by a friend. She was building a bar/restaurant in a town in Ontario, Canada, and ordered two dimensional signs. Sign one is a carved, gilded DF hanging sign, with a custom bracket, 3'x4', the copy is "The Bear's Lair" and has a carved bear, on it's back with a mug of beer on it's belly. The other sign is for the fascia; it is 15' x 2', with raised gilded letters, all custom hand-carved, on a framed smalted background. Altogether just under ten grand worth of signs. The client paid a deposit and asked that they be ready for the first week of December. In December we called her; she came by, paid the balance, and asked us to hold onto the signs until after the New Year, because the buildng wasn't ready.

This was the last we have seen of her, to date. Last week I ran into the friend who referred us, and asked about her. The friend told us the client has gone to Europe for several months, and the whole Canadian project was being cancelled and the property sold off. Apparently the client ran into too many problems, between government red tape, cost overruns, problems with the construction firm, etc., so she simply washed her hands of the whole thing.

We still have the signs... finished, paid for, and now apparently not wanted. Obviously I can't really do anything else with them until I hear something directly from the client, so at this point I have two very large and expensive "showroom samples". Go figure.

Just when I think I've seen it all in this biz...

[Mike Jackson]

Hi Cam,
Normally, when we start reading a post like yours, we expect to hear you ended up shafted for the balance. This one is ironically funny. Now you just need to send a letter to them giving them a couple of months to pick up the sign at $X per month storage, and after a specified date, you will have to sell it as junk to recover your storage fees. You proably need a release letter somewhere along the line.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson

[cam bortz]

Actually, I'm just going to keep them here and hang them on a wall. Maybe if they are still here in a year or two I'll sell them on Ebay or something. I'm not sure how long property can be left before its considered abandoned, but at this point I'm merely amused by the whole thing - after all, they are paid for.

[Ron Percell]

Too funny Camm, not on your behalf but rather with the customer.

Looks as if its time to post up a "not responsible for items stored here" sign, with a tag line of "All item stored here longer than 3 months after completion will be deposed of". Due to cases like these, we document on all invoices times & content of calls on the customers invoice, this also helps us track time when doing contract work.

Like Mike I'm glad to hear you were paid on the balance, post the sign and and make the calls then document each call once a week over the next 3 weeks, then do what you wish with the project.

We went through this with a 4x8 just last year, now it's a table top for a screening table.

[Kent Smith]

I too am glad you were paid and have had a few like this over the years but it is so often not the case. Thought you all would appreciate the following from our postings in the shop:

STORAGE POLICY AND RATES

Revised February 10, 2004

All signs received or fabricated by us for installation or which have been removed by us will be stored in a locked/fenced yard. Those signs scheduled by us for installation will be stored at no charge. Those signs which are awaiting installation but not scheduled, will be subject to storage fees after the first 90 days, due monthly, within each subsequent 30 day period.

Those signs which have been removed by us and are stored awaiting disposition will be stored free of charge for a period of 90 days. After the first 90 days all signs are subject to storage fees, due monthly, within each subsequent 30 day period.

RATES:
Complete signs and sign cabinets $2 per lineal foot per month
Crated faces and inserts $1 per lineal foot per month
Uncrated faces and inserts $2 per lineal foot per month
Crates of components $1 per lineal foot per month
Poles and structures $1 per lineal foot per month
(double poles and multiple poles, etc. will be charged as if they were two separate
or multiple separate pieces. ie. double poles will be $2 per lineal foot per month.)

Inside storage for signs and crates only, subject to some size and space limitations, all at $10 per lineal foot per month.
Lineal foot is defined as the lineal measurement of the longest side of any sign, component or crate, without regard to other dimensions or weight.
Storage fee terms are net 30. Service charges for past due accounts are calculated monthly at 24% per annum.

After 30 days, following the initial 90 day free storage period, if no shipping or installation arrangements have been made nor storage fees paid, all signs, components, poles, faces and crated items are subject to sale or scrapping at our option. All signs, components, poles, faces and crated items for which removal charges are delinquent will be held pending payment and may also be subject to sale or scrapping. In these cases, the procedures outlined in the Colorado Revised Statutes, Abandoned Property and Lien for Labor, 38-20-116 and 38-20-106 respectively, will be followed.

[cam bortz]

The 15'x2' fascia Bear's Lair sign has been sold to Stonington high school to hang in their new gymnasium. The sign reads "the Bear's Lair pub"; I'm covering the "pub" with a bear paw graphic. This is a great use of a sign that's been on the shop wall for nearly three years.