The Consumer Complaints Blog

A little while back I was contracted to create an identity system and brochure for a company called First Playgrounds in Toronto. The company was run by two women (I’ll spare them from mentioning them by name) and a man from the 905. I can’t recall his name to be honest. Just remember him being a gaping asshole when I finally met him at our last meeting.

I haven’t thought about them for a while but I came across the video below which made me laugh and it made me think of them. They basically hired me for a $5,000 job and when it was finished they decided that they only had to pay $1,000 of it. I asked them if they were unhappy with the job. They said no. I asked them if I had made a mistake on the files. They said no. I know I went over all the costs with them before starting the work and even did it rush so they could make some meeting. They’re still using my logo (I say my logo because they didn’t pay for it so I still technically own it). Basically they just didn’t want to pay the fees after I was dumb enough to forgo my usual deposit because they professed to build playgrounds for disabled kids. (I say build but that’s an exaggeration. They only combined pieces from different manufacturers and pretended it was unique or somehow novel.) In the end, they just wanted to line their own pockets and didn’t care about much else. Hell I even had a baby on the way at the time. Just pathetic ladies… Stop pretending to care about the kids you’re building these gyms for. You just care about the buck at the end of it for doing little more than putting in someone else’s work.

It wasn’t worth my time going through small claims court for that amount so I just put them into collections. But enough about them. Try and figure out which clients from the video best represent them. It explains things much more enjoyably. First Playgrounds sucks but if you’ve ever freelanced or dealt with clients in a professional services business, you’ll find the video below very funny. Whoever did it got it bang on. Enjoy!

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Shek Ko is a Toronto based conductor who is with the Brampton Lyric Opera. A few years ago, she attempted to start a company called Panda Eye Passion that catered to “virtuoso inspiration, youth involvement, and cultural exchange tours, all with a multicultural twist.”

For her first show, Mother’s Day Italian Classics Concert: 1 Tenor, 10 High Cs, 100 Angels, Countless Love, a musical extravaganza that featured violinist Mario Zhang, she contacted me by phone for a press release and to get online exposure. Set for Sunday, May 6, 2007, she contacted me in mid Feb. Here’s what happened next:

Feb 26, 2007: emailed her quote for requested services.
Feb 27: Agreed and says will send a 50% deposit.
March 1: she requested a business letter to be edited. Additional cost added to outstanding balance.
March 2: First draft of press release.
March 12: Final draft completed. Press release out on March 14.
April 3: Email reminder for outstanding payment of $329.10 not sent. June 6: Another email reminder as well as letter sent to her home address.
June 7, 2007: Sent to collection agency. No success in getting the money (I guess since the amount was so small, they didn’t try very hard)

I also called her SEVERAL times, but I don’t remember the exact dates. Most of the time, it went to voice mail so I left a message. The last time I called her a few months later, I did speak to someone who claimed that she “would be dealing with all of her unpaid bills”. I guess I wasn’t the only one she swindled.

Sure, it’s a small amount – but that’s not the point. I provided a service, exerted the effort to complete it and was not compensated for my work. If you’re a freelancer or small business owner, you’ll probably understand how infuriating it is to be duped like this.

And there’s no way to collect.

Shek Ko
Panda Eye Passion (apparently, it’s not even a registered company)

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.