Jon Lancaster,
managing director, Falkland Press "What does it really mean? If they go bust four months down the line, it isn’t going to be much use to you. We only deal with middle men anyway, print farmers and that kind of thing, they have always given the work to their customer and you can’t go around high–street stores taking back leaflets. It is logical for some industries, but when you are dealing with work that is bespoke to customers, there is absolutely no point in taking it back. You can’t sell that on to anybody else. Ultimately it is of no help, so it isn’t anything I take too much notice of."
Mark Christison,
financial director, 4DM "We do have such a clause in our terms and conditions and as part of our customer credit application process we ask customers to review and sign these. In reality, though, we all accept that the product is likely to be long gone by the time it comes to payment and this clause is just there, like a number of others, to give the supplier as many avenues as possible to recover a debt. For instance, it would allow us to take back a recently delivered product that had not yet gone from the customer, to use this as a lever to get paid for older work."
Howard Matthews,
managing director, Loricas "A copy of our terms and conditions is attached to all our quotes. That’s the key – you have got to furnish your clients with your terms prior to producing the job. Once it’s completed, we will hold title to all the artwork and anything else to do with that job, such as overs, until it is paid for, but the job itself has to be released because it has to be mailed. The ROT clause isn’t one we’ve ever had to legally enforce and in reality it’s not much use if the client becomes insolvent – it’s more useful as a process for making sure a solvent company pays its bill."
Jon Lancaster, managing director, Falkland Press "What does it really mean? If they go bust four months down the line, it isn’t going to be much use to you. We only deal with middle men anyway, print farmers and that kind of thing, they have always given the work to their customer and you can’t go around high–street stores taking back leaflets. It is logical for some industries, but when you are dealing with work that is bespoke to customers, there is absolutely no point in taking it back. You can’t sell that on to anybody else. Ultimately it is of no help, so it isn’t anything I take too much notice of."
Mark Christison, financial director, 4DM "We do have such a clause in our terms and conditions and as part of our customer credit application process we ask customers to review and sign these. In reality, though, we all accept that the product is likely to be long gone by the time it comes to payment and this clause is just there, like a number of others, to give the supplier as many avenues as possible to recover a debt. For instance, it would allow us to take back a recently delivered product that had not yet gone from the customer, to use this as a lever to get paid for older work."
Howard Matthews, managing director, Loricas "A copy of our terms and conditions is attached to all our quotes. That’s the key – you have got to furnish your clients with your terms prior to producing the job. Once it’s completed, we will hold title to all the artwork and anything else to do with that job, such as overs, until it is paid for, but the job itself has to be released because it has to be mailed. The ROT clause isn’t one we’ve ever had to legally enforce and in reality it’s not much use if the client becomes insolvent – it’s more useful as a process for making sure a solvent company pays its bill."
