Advice on possibly getting ripped off...

[kallok]

Hello everyone,

Well I am having a little problem... not too long ago there was a post by user DigitalFlash about hiring people for designing templates and intros for his site flashmonster.com and any templates you sell you get 20 or 30% of the profits.I figured I might as well try it so I had a few beta layouts I made that never got used so I submitted them, as well as made a few quick ones. Now the problem is that some things seem a little weird...


He had created a post today entitled "If you are a flash EXPERT read THIS!" (was located at http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=350366 but I dont know what happened to it) and he stated that he was looking for a new staff or something along those lines.It also stated that the people he would hire would sign a contract.He never had me sign a contract. I replied to his post today asking if any of my work had sold, why when I did a WHOIS search on flashmonster.com, it showed up a different persons name than his, and I am going to guess he was the one who deleted it.


So then I do some research and look up the posts he's made with his DigitalFlash name and found some rather interesting ones like http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=315828 where he says you can make between $1500-$3000 a month.


Just look at some of his past posts at http://board.flashkit.com/board/sear...aily=&pagenum= and you might see why im skeptical.


Luckily, on every template I made I added secret things to my works so they can be identified, I even used my own pictures (I have negatives, ones my own face) and added "created by kallok" somewhere where it's gona be hard to find.

In conclusion, what should I do? I basicly think that I am getting ripped off.(even doing templates for a crappy 20 - 30%).I don't even want to do any further work with there company or any that there associated with.Should I email them demanding that they remove my work? Should I demand any money that should be mine? What should I do? And yes I did save all the conversations... even screenshots of them and have records of emailing him the templates.



Sorry about rambling on... I typed this long thing pretty quick, I am just a little mad, I rarely get taken advantage of.



Cheers

[crazybonkers]

Never send your fla’s to anyone, if he is truly interested in your work, he will ask for your contact number to discuss things with you professionally.

[swampy]

moving to board room...

[gecko2]

98% of people who come here asking for flash work are looking for something for nothing. Most say that full credit will go to the designer, payment maybe in the future depending on the success. A few say that you'll make X amount of cash. Others say everything will be great and it'll be the greatest website in the world.

Very few of these turn into anything, you can usually tell the people who basically don't have a clue and think they can pull the wool over everyone's eyes, unfortunately there are a few people who do believe what they read. Kallok, I'm not saying you're naive, but you didn't send the fla's did you? I'm sure you are a very good designer and I feel very sorry for you if this Tom @ Flashmonster guy has ripped you or your work off.

If someone does make a good proposal which includes an offer of payment you can normally tell by what they have wrote whether or not they are business minded or just trying to blag their way to some free work.

I despise these people who talk complete crap to try and deceive the designers and developers here and I try to make my point whenever I can on an offer, if the reply is inmature or lacks cred in what they say then it further exposes them and makes it clearer what they are upto. If they reply back with a reasonable passage with more detail on their project backed up with their know-how on what they can do and want to achieve then fair enough, it most probably is a genuine request for the work and falls into the 2% of threads which are legitimate.

But some members don't sometimes see what people do get upto on these boards and I for one will try and highlight the requests to find out what exactly is on offer for the designers and developers here. We'll never get rid of these requests for work and suchlike, but it's worth weeding out the scams for the real deals on offer.

[mikecoutermarsh]

i made a bunch of templates for them, i dtopped a while ago... i dont think they have made any money.. for the search u made, he told me he had a partner that sets up the site, he just uploads things and takes screen shots..
they also sell the templates for way to cheap so 20% is nothin

[JabezStone]

Kallok,
I have contacted admin Starkey regarding DigitalFlash. Please do the same, if you would by mailing nospamwebmaster@flashkit.com [remove nospam from the address]

Regarding your work, you should contack DigitalFlash again with an email requesting them not to use your work, since it was never paid for, nor a contract made for it. If you find it posted on his site, I would recommend contacting a lawyer and beginning correspondence about the situation.

[ViperGeckoFreak]

you did not sign a contract, so really he can do whatever he wants, nice or not.

[JabezStone]

Originally posted by ViperGeckoFreak
you did not sign a contract, so really he can do whatever he wants, nice or not.

This is absolutely not true. There were written discussions which took place, and in court these have stood as binding contracts before. While it is the best interest of both the client and the developer to have a contract (and I stress that) the lack of one does not mean that this is open territory for abuse. Laws still apply, and unfair business practices are grounds for legal proceedings.

[kallok]

I opened the thread becuase I hadda conversation with him that was somewhat amusing... heres some of the highlights from it...then I will close the thread because I think I have made my point with this...It all started from is the company legit, to me demanding my work be removed and all this other junk.


NJsurfingdude: Why are you hiding from me Ryan. You wanna know whats funny, my dad is sitting right next to me and guess what. He is a lawyer and you cant do a thing about me having your stuff up, becuase you had no contract saying i couldnt use it.
NJsurfingdude: but you know what - its ok becuae your work hasnt sold...
zERoSk8 BoArD Z: ok, well we will seeNJsurfingdude: man i make 17k a month from my template sites. Your 3 works dont really mean much to me, but it was just the fact that you dont understand that if people purchase templates by credit card, you cant recieve your money till end of monthNJsurfingdude: thats 100% correct, i dont do much but that, and i still make good money becuase i own 50%
NJsurfingdude: great have fun contacting a lawyer, would you like to settle this in my home state or yours
zERoSk8 BoArD Z: either
NJsurfingdude: lol give me your email address
NJsurfingdude: 1 more time
zERoSk8 BoArD Z: u dont have it?
NJsurfingdude: i delete my emails
NJsurfingdude: once i read them
zERoSk8 BoArD Z: look I am being nice, just remove my work, and thats that...... I don't care about money.If you want to talk to my attorney, his name is Mark email address MSG@legalemail.com
NJsurfingdude: I told you i cant till tonight, i dont have access
NJsurfingdude: deal
zERoSk8 BoArD Z: " He is a lawyer and you cant do a thing about me having your stuff up, becuase you had no contract saying i couldnt use it. " ..... thats wrong by the way, since I added "watermarks" to it so they can be identified as mine, like the photogallery pic, and all other photos I took, as well as invisible "Created by Kallok" in the flash.

[4templates]

I am personally trying to resolve these matters anyone who has submitted templates to tom can contact me directly via email or aol instant messenger at wwwadonis to get a list of all templates sold since the beginning thru flashmonster.com

on a side note we have shut the site down and are no longer associated with flashmonster.com

Doni
doni@4templates.com
aim - wwwadonis

[kallok]

Well theres good news now.The whole problem has been resolved, I have talked to the owner of the whole thing and he has been really helpful about the whole problem with Tom. I mean my whole goal was not to cause trouble and want my work removed, but it turned out that way from how Tom was acting. But as Doni the owner knows I would still happily work for his company. Also if anyone has made templates for Flashmonster and still hasn't gotten paid for there work, contact Doni for a Order List.His email is doni@4templates.com .

Im glad everythings better now, and I think I will reopen the topic if anyone wants to comment.

[JabezStone]

I'm glad all these issues are bing worked out. Best wishes to everyone involved. I'm going to close this thread now, and recommend anyone having any personal issues involving this to communicate through email. It's best to keep this discussion private. Thanks, and again... Best wishes.

-Jay