Shopping for Signs (and Avoiding Scam Artists)
How do you judge sign companies’ abilities?
We all have slick websites that say we are the greatest, but even the pictures in some websites are stolen from other websites!
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First, make sure a sign company is State licensed. A company that uses other companies to install and service their signs is much smaller than they are leading you to believe. They probably don’t even make signs, they buy them from someone else. [link]
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Look up their address on Google Maps. It’s amazing how many “big” companies are in a vacant field, or a house. If there is a building, could they do the things they say they do in it? You can’t manufacture large electrical signs in a shopping center. [link]
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Check the business name with the Secretary of State. Is the company listed as a sign manufacturer, SIC and/or NAICS code 339950, or only as a sales company with some other code. However, even if properly coded they may only manufacture garage sale yard signs, not electrical signs. You can also check on the SIC or NAICS codes a company is listed under at http://www.webstersonline.com. Click on Products/Services and enter the proper SIC or NAICS code shown above. [link]
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While on the State website also see how long have they been in business? [link]
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Check the Better Business Bureau, you can do so online, what is their rating? [link]
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Search the internet for negative comments on the company, and the principals in the company. Some of the “great” companies out there have many lawsuits against them for taking deposits but never delivering signs, and the principals have been bankrupt many times leaving customers holding the bag with lost deposits. In other words, they are scam artists. [link]
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Verify that the customers they say they have are really their customers. [link]
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Are electrical signs “listed?” This is necessary if the sign is going to be installed in Texas. [link]
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Does the sign company have insurance protecting you, and your money, and your customers? Do they offer to list you as “additional insured” to protect you? [link]
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Do they offer Lien Releases, to protect you from being legally required to pay for materials and labor they did not pay for, whether or not you paid the sign company? [link]
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Visit their business location. [link]
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Do you think that it is reasonably possible to provide all the goods and services they are offering for the price they are quoting? Are other quotations in the same ballpark? There’s usually a reason why quotes are significantly below others. [link]
“[link]”, above, are links to places in Signs Manufacturing Corporation's website that explain how we handle each individual subject.
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Signs Manufacturing™ & Maintenance Corp.