None payment demand.

[Ron_S 61]

I am in the process of upgrading an E300 HMI to the E1000 range for a customer

The old HMI keeps failing and going blank.

I managed to get the old program out while it was working for a short while.

A nice little job sat at my desk replicating the program.

 

I came across this block

 

[Ron_S 61]

An unreferenced block with a trigger of D502?

Here's what was in it.

(and I have edited it as it contained the rudest word)

 

[panic mode 245]

this is something used to rent equipment and ensure payments are in. clearly this is not something that author wanted others to touch, so why get involved? if something on equipment fails, then company that owns equipment will be the one to deal with repair/replacement. 

[Ron_S 61]

A strange answer with no knowledge.

The equipment was 25 or so years old and was never rented. They laughed when I told them about it

 

I found it unusual and quite funny so posted it here

[Inntele 60]

Hi Ron,

There are pigs who, having ordered the development and installation of an automation system, prefer not to pay money for the work done. This is for such snouts.
About 10 years ago I saw one such "entrepreneur". He owns a microbrewery that is serviced by an automation system developer company. He did not pay - "Why pay? The brewery is functioning." Well, a similar inscription was highlighted to him, and all the must in the tanks had to be drained into the sewer.
Alas, I myself also had a chance to encounter similar pigs, who did not pay me for a month of exhausting work, to the point of exhaustion, headache, conjunctivitis.

[Ron_S 61]

Of course there are Inntele.

Time bombs are a touchy subject - but I have done it only once in 30 years of programming.

And that was because I was warned by another contractor that they were very bad at paying. He had been owed £18000 for over a year.

 

I had been paid 50% before the job and the rest to be paid on completion (then I was warned by the contractor)

I was upfront with the customer and told him the machine would stop in 2 weeks if I had not been paid - they assured me I would be paid (I wasn't, even though I phoned them a few times)

It was amusing to me in a way because I set it for Friday morning and it would be triggered when the auto-stop button was first pushed.

I expected a call around 09:30 after their 09:00 tea break but no call. Finally, at 11:00 they called.

They were panicking as they had rush orders. I made them transfer the money to my bank and then told them how to take the trap off.

 

[panic mode 245]

21 hours ago, Ron_S said:

A strange answer with no knowledge.

The equipment was 25 or so years old and was never rented. They laughed when I told them about it

 

I found it unusual and quite funny so posted it here

maybe so but i have been asked before (twice to be exact) to do same thing on equipment with another brand of PLC+HMI. when i saw the message i asked them for proof of ownership, which of course they did not have, so i walked away. if they did not want to pay someone else, why should i expect they would pay me? and why get involved into something that may turn ugly and violate some property rights?

but you are welcome to do your own thing, i have plenty of work with nice people, don't need to wrestle with pigs or possibly engage in theft.

 

[Ron_S 61]

This was a one-off Panic and I would never advocate it. I thought about the repercussions later on but at the time I was new in the game and couldn't take the hit.

I never worked for them again and they are long gone.

It just reminded me of that story with this project.

[panic mode 245]

👍

[Inntele 60]

I have never used such insidious things before, because I firmly believe that a professional must be crystal honest and decent both in front of the client and in front of himself. But I observe that a lot of developers of automation systems are engaged in frank streichbreaking, initially globally underestimating the cost of work, promising the customer obviously unrealistic deadlines, offering miserable, ugly technical solutions, and already in the course of development they begin to blackmail the customer and milk him like a cow. Customers match in their irrepressible stinginess. As a result, the profession and professionals are completely leveled by both side of the relationship, and honesty and decency are perceived as a weakness. Given this, unlike you, on the contrary, I decided that I no longer intend to fuss with either one or the other. That those that others actually turned me into a disabled person, because of which I have to abandon the profession, which in total has been given for almost 40 years.

[pturmel 135]

I have never trapped a PLC or automation system.  But I have had a (very large) company that failed to pay for some work later ask me to expand upon it.  They were shocked when I insisted on being paid for the old work before I'd even touch their stuff.  Must have turned over an anthill internally, because the management there changed soon after.  They still didn't pay, though.  I've not accepted any RFPs from them since.

One area where my policy differs is pure software licenses.  I am a third-party module developer for the Ignition platform, and use its infrastructure to license my modules.  I will disable a license if payment is substantially late.  The way the infra works doesn't kill the end-user's operation, until they try to upgrade or add features.  Similar to what happens with real estate when a service company puts a lien on property for unpaid services.  You can't sell the house without satisfying the unpaid bill.

[panic mode 245]

On 11/7/2022 at 10:59 PM, Inntele said:

...turned me into a disabled person, because of which I have to abandon the profession.

wow, sorry to hear that.

On 11/7/2022 at 8:04 AM, pturmel said:

They still didn't pay, though. 

and that is why such measures exist, someone was burned before. which is why i consider any tampering with such measures equal to theft. hence do not want to be part of it.