Tricks

[ramaslabas 1]

Hi everybody, Do somebody have any good ideas how to be safe with not trusted clients . Of course it is possible to make some bit or byte switched on after some time or quantity of products which stops machine at all, or cause some malfunction of it. It is better that this “bug” cause error which looks like PLC error or something like this. Can somebody share experience about this? Ramunas

[Groo 7]

don't know whats worse, dodgy programmers or dodgy clients. what you are suggesting is illegal, unless you sell someone software on a timed basis where know they are buying per period of time. Have you ever though of % up front, % pre-commissioned and the rest on completion. There's always court if a customer refuses to pay at the end of the day.

[JesperMP 2]

Groo is right on it. This is why there is something called "Letter of credit". My company dont ship anything without such a piece of paper. That, or the customer simply pays everything up front.

[ramaslabas 1]

I do not know is it illegal. This topic I have write because customer in Russia dissapeared in day of payment. To cover 1000km just for looking at him.

[JesperMP 2]

To add to what I wrote before: In addition to an "LC", professional OEMs require some kind of down payment to even start with a project. The worst that then can happen is that you have a machine that you have to sell to another customer at a discount. If the machine is a standardised item, then the down payment may only have to be 5-10%. If the machine is more or less customised, then the down payment may be up to 30%. So to sum it up, you normally get a downpayment in the order of approx 10% of the contract sum. And you ship the machine when the customer can provide an LC for 80% of the contract sum. The remaining 10% is what the customer typically have as a guarantee that the machine will work according to the contract specs. You get the last 10% when the customer signs a take-over certificate. The software thing you suggest is just an unprofessional way of solving a different problem.