ricklp

I have no clue who or what JR (VeloCals?) is. Nor do I care. I am merely trying to pay them in exchange for goods and services, that they publicly claim to provide.

It seems to me bad form to not communicate. If they are having a family emergency, that is one thing, that comes first. If this is standard operating procedure, then three weeks between emails, is a problem.

Cut or printed vinyl decals would take about 1 week to have in my hands locally if I decided to make it happen.

So far I have put about 2 hours into getting pictures that give me accurate measurements of the originals. I spent an afternoon tinkering in Gimp cleaning up the pictures of mangled decals. It would take another afternoon in Inkscape getting clean vector graphics. After that, I know three sign/printing shops, but there are shops on every other corner.

Though 2 months have elapsed, this has not been 2 month's effort.



I do not do graphic arts as a career, or even a hobby. I do not do anything with bicycles as a career. But I do run a business. The only problem I have with VeloCals is that they do not advertise clearly, what to expect. When one takes money for a service, or proposes to, it is good form to set realistic expectations right from the start. That is my only gripe with VeloCals.

Something on their web page like:

"We are a very busy professional sign shop who only make bicycle decals out of our love of bicycles. We are great at what we do, but have to concentrate on the area of our business that pays the bills. It usually takes us 2-4 weeks to look at pictures you send and create an estimate for custom decals. Our setup fee is based on $xx.xx dollars per hour and most bicycle decals take between X.X and X.X hours to prepare. Our printing fee is $x.xx based on (how ever we figure it out)"

Would go a long way towards making this a much better experience.

Over the years, I have tried to support businesses that service the niche markets, that many of my hobbies fall into. Often, I do this by purchasing more mainstream products or services from them. But my money is not worth any less when buying bicycle decals than when I am purchasing food and clothing. If anything it is worth more since this is hobby money that has to get past all other obligations.

I can think of a number of people/businesses who have turned niche market side jobs into very profitable ventures that took over their main jobs. This happens with good planning and consistent customer service. I can also think of many who have had poorly serviced side ventures cost them their main business.



BTW In the interest of full disclosure as well as to let others know their options, H. Lloyde did get back to me quickly. Here is their reply:

"Dear Rick
It’s not impossible to work from photos alone, but it is very hard work and time consuming. I dread to think how long it would take to draw that ruddy crocodile! If it wasn’t for that life would be very simple.
If you want the crocodile I’d need to take a week off from everything else (!) and charge accordingly (another “!”). If you just want the wording with no croc we’d probably be below gbp 50, rather than a long way North of gbp 500 to include the croc.
I guess it will depend on when you last won the lottery......
N"

It was quick and to the point. He professionally told me what he could do for me. 800CAD is somewhat more than I wanted to spend, hence my graphics work mentioned above.



So to concisely answer the troll, I do not know what expect from JR (VeloCals?), because they have not told me. I am still operating on three premises, the first is that I am not in a rush, and the second is that the general consensus here is that the decals they create look good and last, and the third is that there is a consensus here that they eventually get around to creating decals for people. I merely posted my experience so others who may be looking for decals will know what to expect.