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harrassment from competitor


Guest signcatgal

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Guest signcatgal

Does anyone have any advice for dealing with a competitor who has nothing better to do than to follow our guys around and take photos, checking with the city to make sure we have all the proper permits, and that the sign has been inspected, and etc, etc, etc.

He thinks his company walks on water and is busy turning in all the other companies for minor infractions just to hassle them and create a ruckus with the city. I have considered putting a restraining order on him, but does anyone know how to deal with this in an effective manner?

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Does anyone have any advice for dealing with a competitor who has nothing better to do than to follow our guys around and take photos, checking with the city to make sure we have all the proper permits, and that the sign has been inspected, and etc, etc, etc.

He thinks his company walks on water and is busy turning in all the other companies for minor infractions just to hassle them and create a ruckus with the city. I have considered putting a restraining order on him, but does anyone know how to deal with this in an effective manner?

Sounds like you've got a "Fatal Attraction" on your hands.

Honestly I think this activity will soon become too time consuming for him or her. Business must be slow for them? As long as all your signs are legal and properly installed you should have nothing to worry about.

You can always return the favor, in so many ways. In then call him later to see if they've had enough.

I have a friend here who thinks he's the sign police too, he drives around and takes pictures and calls in the inspectors if he finds illegal sign work going on. But realistically, it's such a waste of time to be worrying about someone else and not concentrating on your own business, unless it's somehow directly affecting your business, legally speaking of course.

Back in the day that would have driven me to take as much business as I could from him, but that was once upon a time.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

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better idea - go to a project and intentionally do it wrong...and let him take photos...and then go back that night and fix it.

Its the Cry Wolf theory - after awhile they all stop listening.

Its kind of like those companies that say they will do a sign for $X and then nickel and dime the customer. They will not win too many more.

Also - just FYI - if he has pictures of any person at all and he is making money off what he is doing with the pictures you can:

1. Sue him for not having releases from people in the photos

2. Go after him for profits he made from winning business from you.

And trust me - we have a competitor - a big one - that does the lamest crap all the time...but we just keep winning.

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  • Board Patron
Does anyone have any advice for dealing with a competitor who has nothing better to do than to follow our guys around and take photos, checking with the city to make sure we have all the proper permits, and that the sign has been inspected, and etc, etc, etc.

He thinks his company walks on water and is busy turning in all the other companies for minor infractions just to hassle them and create a ruckus with the city. I have considered putting a restraining order on him, but does anyone know how to deal with this in an effective manner?

If he continues to turn you in and you are not doing anything wrong. It is called harassment. If you can establish a pattern any Judge will hold him liable and if you can prove he cost you money you will get paid. If it was me, I would at the lease send him a letter by my attorney stating if he continues to harassment you without knowing the faxes you will hold him liable. Trust me he will think twice about doing it again.

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  • !llumenati

You can also make a few T shirts up with his name and logo (mis-spelled and altered and slightly blurred) only to be worn when installing. No one looks at the installers clothes when driving by but it can be zoomed in on a picture.

That should tickle him.

If he thinks he can walk on water, then melt the ice and see how he does then.

GOOD things happen for a reason......

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Guest signcatgal

Wow, you guys have some great ideas!!!!! Glad to have the input. Didn't know there were so many different possibilities out there.

Thanks!!

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  • Board Patron
You can also make a few T shirts up with his name and logo (mis-spelled and altered and slightly blurred) only to be worn when installing. No one looks at the installers clothes when driving by but it can be zoomed in on a picture.

That should tickle him.

If he thinks he can walk on water, then melt the ice and see how he does then.

That's hilarious! Great idea!

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I have some advice for your problem............................Are you absolutely sure that your equipment and installers are in compliance? Are you running equipment that is old and not certified? Have you followed proper procedure in obtaining all permits and electrical inspections as required by the city? If permits and inspections are obtained, then you have nothing to worry about and your city would not issue any citations. When servicing signs are you using new or used parts? We recently found this happening a lot lately. We would go service a sign and find parts installed by a competitor that are more then 10 years old. Besides wanting to make an honest living, I find that a large issue in this industry is maintaining safety for our clients and their customers by doing the safest sign possible for them and using the safest equipment while on their property. Poor competition makes for a completely unsafe industry. My advice to you is if your company is doing everything possible to maintain safety and following code then you need to do NOTHING! Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone ran a safe and fair playing field and got along as neighbors. But low balling is really starting to destroy the entire industry.

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Guest signcat
I have some advice for your problem............................Are you absolutely sure that your equipment and installers are in compliance? Are you running equipment that is old and not certified? Have you followed proper procedure in obtaining all permits and electrical inspections as required by the city? If permits and inspections are obtained, then you have nothing to worry about and your city would not issue any citations. When servicing signs are you using new or used parts? We recently found this happening a lot lately. We would go service a sign and find parts installed by a competitor that are more then 10 years old. Besides wanting to make an honest living, I find that a large issue in this industry is maintaining safety for our clients and their customers by doing the safest sign possible for them and using the safest equipment while on their property. Poor competition makes for a completely unsafe industry. My advice to you is if your company is doing everything possible to maintain safety and following code then you need to do NOTHING! Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone ran a safe and fair playing field and got along as neighbors. But low balling is really starting to destroy the entire industry.

That is the best idea yet! We shall do NOTHING about this because letting someone like this little squirt get to us takes away from paying attention to doing what we do best, building and installing quality signage. We only use new product in our signs, too. We also have found old product in signs that were supposedly put up after the warranty was over. We just inform the customer without pointing fingers and try to do what is best for them. As far as equipment is concerned, we have nothing to worry about. Our equipment is well maintained with actual record keeping and receipts by qualified people who we hire to do that type of work, and we purchase the latest updated safety equipment for our people. I see his serviceman and himself all the time without a harness on or with just a safety belt and rope lanyard, which was outlawed by OSHA along time ago. I agree, poor competion DOES make for a completely unsafe industry. We do get very busy and sometimes things fall through the cracks, like getting an inspection on shipped in signs. It Happens. But we do try to call for inspections on everything we do. It is too bad this guy has nothing better to do than act as the holy sign god, but I have heard there is one of them in most cities. If they would just concentrate on their own business and not everyone else's, they would probably have more work than they know what to do with and they would have a very reputable business name like we do. He is always calling and complaining about us lowballing a job, but I look at it and see we make a quite nice profit. We have lost alot jobs to this guy based on price alone, so I don't get the lowballing he talks about. I agree it would be wonderful if everyone played fair and got along. It used to be that way until this guy should up. If this guy would just get a clue, other sign companies, us included, would gladly be neighborly to him. I don't think he wants to be neighborly. I actually think he likes confrontation and confusion, which will ultimately be his demise.

I see you are from Montana. Maybe we could get together sometime and have a BBQ or something.

Thanks for your input!

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