Disclaimer : I run a similar conference called Think Visibility, if you think my opinions of the conference are influenced by that… well you’d be right so lets be upfront about it..
I’ve debated writing about this for a while since I know theres a lot of things going on with the company and a few staff members have left, There are a lot of sides to the story but I can only tell mine.
At Barcamp Sheffield 2 I was approached by Jon and Rich, two designers from Cornwall to come and speak at there up and coming conference Bamboo Juice (the site is now down), The conference was being held at the eden project and since I’d neither been there or to Cornwall, I agreed instantly.
They then asked if I charged for speaking (they already mentioned that they would be covering the expenses) which I don’t, I don’t pay speakers for my conferences I just try and give them a good time, I don’t expect to be paid.
The idea was that there would be 300 – 400 people at the conference, there would be a few top speakers and a few newcomers (I was happy to be a newcomer).The guys offered to pay the expenses for my wife and kids… which was news to me because I didn’t think I had any… as a compromise Heather came along. They explained that they had rented a house for the weekend for the speakers
We debated for a while with travelling down, since neither myself or Heather can drive, there we two options, Flying or Train..
- Flying came out to about £450 each and would take about 3 hours including a train from the airport
- Train came out to around £250 for us both but it would take 7 hours!
At this point I should mention that Heather likes going on trains and I really didn’t want to take the piss with expenses… so we took the latter option, I’d also bought a 3G stick to do some work on the train and it works… as we were leaving Leeds and didn’t work at all (thanks 02!)
We arrived at 10pm the night before the conference and got a taxi to the house, although it appears that the house was overbooked and we would be staying in a local B and B..
I got a little worried at this point because nobody seemed to know the name or location of this B and B and we were there for the weekend but Jon gave Heather a lift to meet the owner of the B and B (hes got a nice car but only fits 2 people!).
I will paraphrase this by saying that the B and B was an absolutely fantastic place with a lovely couple, great views and cracking breakfast (if I could remember the name I’d post a link to it now) but the owner let out a little gasp when they realised we couldn’t drive as “you carn’t get a taxi round here” the B and B was in the middle of nowhere.. Anyway we finally made it and went to bed…
The day of the conference
I’m a little fuzzy on times at the moment I was going to check the site but its down, I believe the conference started at 11 and we were told someone would be there to pick us up at 9 and we would be on our way..
9:15 – I gave richard a call who said Jon was on his way
9:45 – I sent him a text message asking for an update
10:15 – I gave him another call he said Jon was lost but would be there shortly
At this point I was confused because Jon has a 2 seater car and well… there would be 3 of us?
An hour and a half after sitting outside for our lift it finally arrived and 30 minutes later we arrived at the conference.. sadly missing the morning session by Jeremy Keith.
The 300-400 attendees was actually more like 80-90 and I felt a bit very let down by that having made a 7 hour train journy it would be a much smaller audience that I was looking forward to (thats not to say I still wouldn’t have gone but its about managing expectations).
The day went quite smoothly, at this point I will admit my talk had some problems that were my fault and some problems that wern’t, first of all Keynote refused to work plain off the bat and I almost had to rewrite it on someone elses Macbook during the lunch. I actually forgot to see how long I had, I rewrote a presentation I’d done the week before at the Microsoft Campus for WebDD which was an hour long and only realised on the day that I had 40 minutes in my slot. I said a few things I didn’t clarify (especially to do with header tags) causing some people to say “I was talking out my arse“, I will apologise for that bit but yes… the talk was on the basics of SEO because I am constantly surprised by the last of basic optimisation in sites given out and thats what I was asked to talk on..
The rest of the event went well and it was a cracking afterparty…
The agreement was that the organisers would cover the weekend stay for the speakers and the expenses thereof so Hev and I were looking forward to a weekend Saturday and Sunday morning in and about Cornwall.. however because we couldn’t get transport, we were slightly buggered… luckily the B&B owners were fantastic and not only took us into town but gave us there phone number and said no matter what time give them a call and they would come out and pick us up… (I will get the name of this B and B and give them a post of there own).
Anyway, we had a good time in Cornwall and made it home.. I’d started a new job and was busy with that so we wern’t actually in a position to tot up how much we spent to claim it back until 2-3 weeks after the conference, in the end I just said bugger it and we just claimed for the train fair (as it had been a fair wack).
We emailed Jon to ask for details of who to claim it back off and how to do it, he replied promptly that he no longer worked for the company but gave details anyway. We sent off the invoice recorded (as I usually do) and waited.
After two weeks I emailed Richard and didn’t get a response… then a few weeks later he posted a note on facebook saying that he had resigned from RQD.
I got worried / annoyed at this point.
I sent an email to info@richardquickdesign and got a response from Richard that the person in charge was Martyn Jago Tregilgas and I received his email address, that was over a week and a half ago and 3 emails later I’ve received no response.
It’s not a life changing amount but the principle of the situation is whats at stake, we had an agreement with the company (which I believe will be changing its name soon) and they’ve gone back on it.. I don’t know who is at fault as I’d had fingers pointed in all directions but I’ve given enough time to sort this out, I honestly don’t believe that I will be getting my money from this company so I am blogging this in the hope that someone will read it and think twice about dealing with a company that makes agreements then hides from there side of the deal.
I have been informed that Jon had been unfairly dismissed from the company and the new company is called Qualia Digital http://www.qualiadigital.com/
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Noted. Will avoid like plauge.
I headed down to Eden for Bamboo Juice. Not quite as far as Leeds, but it was a fair old trek. I was surprised to read you didn’t get paid for your talk … and even more surprised to read that some crappy company won’t pay for your travel?! Well out of order.
Hope to run into you again in the future mate.
They sound like cowboys, taking down the website, not dealing with emails all sound like generally crappy things to do rather than anything specific to your individual experience. Do you know if the other speakers have been treated the same way?
Yep – get in touch with the other speakers – they might have better information – might be worth considering the small claims court as well. Sounds as though it was a shambles from beginning to end.
This is about honor. Namely, people like us (and I’m only speaking for you and I here, Dom) who pay all our debts, don’t like to keep people hanging, and who pretty much do everything (important) we’ve promised to do for other people. Letting other people get away with dishonorable behavior just means it’ll happen even more.
My advice?
Dear Mr Quick,
You and [whoever] met me at [wherever] and invited me to speak at [whatever]. It was agreed that my travel and accommodation expenses would be covered by [company name.]
[short paragraph explaining what all the expenses are and how they were incurred]
I filed my expenses claim on [whenever]. I did not hear back by [whenever] and subsequently contacted you or your representatives on [whenever] and [whenever] and [whenever]. As of [now] I have still not heard about any resolution to this issue.
I am owed £XXX.XX. You have not paid it. If you do not pay me the money by 20 July 2009, I will issue a county court claim against you.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr Hodgson
..
When/if you don’t get the money, you then go to https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/ and file.
We know this isn’t about money, but it’s about honor and integrity and I think those things are worth fighting for, even if you don’t think you’ve got a chance. Good luck!
That’s pretty disgraceful. I don’t understand why they would burn their bridges like that: it’s a short-term (and trifling) gain for a long-term loss, surely?
Peter is right: if they won’t pay, take them to Small Claims. If you have it in writing from them re. your expenses covered, you may well have a case.
@Paul thanks for your comments, I’m at a lot of the community events up north (and more than a few down south) so if your ever about, gimme a shout
@Alex I am informed that at least one other speaker has had expenses refunded
@Elaine I wouldn’t say shambles from an attendee point of view but yes from a speaker point
@Peter Mr Quick no longer works for the company and my emails + letters have gone unanswerd (but have been read) Money claim might be the next step but I’m not hopeful
@Karyn if they can screw people then close the company and start again under a new name then as far as the law is concerned… they can do that..
Dom
I really enjoyed your presentation and didn’t think you were “talking out of your arse”. What you said may have been a bit misleading but only when taken at face value – A lot of the attendees knew what you were getting at.
I really do hope you get your expenses paid, plus compensation for the hassle it’s caused you since the conference. But most of all I hope this doesn’t dissuade you from attending any more conferences down this end of the country. I’d certainly like to see more of your presentations. …and get a chance to beat you at guitar hero!
Cheers,
Foss
Just to say I wa @ Bamboojuice and really enjoyed your talk, although as some people have mentioned the H tags thing, on the whole I found it to be a very informative and useful talk. Its quite shocking that you’ve been treated in that way and as the @Peter says I would send them a summons for the money. In any case I hope it wont put you off venturing down south in the future.
Dave
I think you’ve been badly treated. I think you should get the money back. I also think you may need to (in future) read people a little better. That’s not to say it was your fault – it wasn’t/isn’t but sometimes things just don’t “feel right”. When you deal with certain people (and I’ve met the people you’re talking about) you do get a feeling that things aren’t quite what they appear on the surface. It’s almost too late once you’re caught up in something, which sadly, Dom you were.
If it were me I would call the “new company” and discuss this with them. I’m not sure a name change is enough to get out of paying your debts. The directors of RQD will have some responsibility for paying you – even if the one you dealt with has now left, the remaining ones still have to honour the debt.
I would certainly talk first if you can. After that a letter and then small claims caught. There’s no point in talking to Richard if he’s now left the company. I can’t imaging he will pay you out of his own pocket. It has to be dealt with by the people who own RQD and now are trading under a new name.
This is bad news for everyone and I continue to be saddened by how people (in business) treat one another.
By the way, I think looking at the Bamboo Juice website could have given you a big clue about how this was going to turn out.
Best of luck to you. As for the RQD lot – well no suprises there really.
It’s a sorry state of affairs and I hope it all works out. I find the suddenness of Rich’s resignation from RQD quite bizarre, I’m sure there must be something to it but it seems pretty selfish to leave all of the other members of the company in the lurch like that.
Any way I enjoyed your talk and look forward to seeing some more,
Dan
@Foss I tend to have a lot of sarcasm and jokes in my talks.. usually people get that and go along with me for the ride but I think the pressure of having to squeeze stuff in ment that didn’t translate well
@damonkey thanks for the comments, I`ll be leaving header tags out of future presentations
@mike thanks for your honestly, I`ll be honest I had no indication from the company that there was anything wrong, they had a good client list and the organisers had attended (and sponsored) several community events of which I am a part of. I really had no reason not to trust them, I was in the same situation myself earlier on in the year, asking people to travel across the country to speak at my event and I would refund travel. The bamboo juice website wasn’t taken down until a few weeks ago.
@Dan thanks you can be sure you will see me again (I’m pretty hard to miss
)
That’s shocking!
I went to Bamboo Juice and enjoyed hearing your talk and chatting to you afterwards, it’s disgraceful that you didn’t even get expenses when these had been promised to you.
Should there be a Bamboo Juice next year, I will definitely NOT be attending.
Fingers crossed you get that cash back!
That’s pretty damn bad, but in the long term they’ll lose out from this trick. To make good relationships with people and then throw it away for a few hundred £’s is awful business sense in this industry, never mind morally wrong.
Good luck in your pursuit though,
This is a most unfortunate situation. I did not know about it, and I am grateful to you for bringing it to our attention.
WebConsult Ltd (trading as Richard Quick Design WSI)!!! I can think of a few other names for this company but cannot post here. These people have done a dissappearing act from their offices in Penryn, Cornwall
I have an existing County Court Judgement against this company and am still trying to recover money for work not being carried out (iaw my contract with them), also very suspicious about their handling of software licences!
They have left their offices without notice and, as far as I am aware, owing rent to the landlords.
Dick Slow (sorry – Richard Quick) has resigned as Director, so too has Frederick Habbe. Current Director (iaw Companies House) is now one Martyn Jago Trelilgas.
Best of luck recovering your costs everybody. Any news anyone has regarding the whereabouts of these clowns… please post here.
Sorry, the correct spelling of current Director is Tregilgas
OK, I’ve debated whether or not to reply to this post, but here goes…
Just bear in mind this really isn’t easy…
I’m Richard Quick .. the person who co-organized Bamboo Juice and I used to be a director of Webconsult Ltd t/a Richard Quick Design.
The first thing to say is that I don’t dispute what Dom’s said.
The only thing I would put a caveat around is the “Jon had been unfairly dismissed” bit right at the end of the article, as that’s a matter of opinion, at this stage. However, it is an opinion I can sympathize with.
The second thing I’d like to point out, for the record, is that Jon Linklater-Johnson isn’t responsible for any of what’s happened and it shouldn’t reflect badly on him in any way.
Jon was a relatively junior employee of Webconsult Limited and therefore whether or not suppliers get paid isn’t down to him.
The conference
——————
Ok, it wasn’t perfect, I’d be the first to admit that.
We did screw up with the transport in the morning (there were reasons for that, which I won’t go into here), and it would have been nice if we’d have got a few more ticket sales.
On the other hand, I was actually pretty proud of the conference over all. It was a great line of speakers, Dom included, and a great mix of attendees .. in a superb venue.
Just bear in mind it was a web conference in Cornwall, which was organized from a standing start in a few months, by two people, in their spare time. It’s the first time we’d organized a conference and, yes, we made some mistakes. But all in all, for a first event, I felt it went pretty well.
Dom’s talk, BTW, was fantastic in my opinion. He was talking on SEO which is a subject which people get very up tight about, so it wasn’t that surprising that some people took offence. But I got a lot of positive feedback from attendees and, as the organizer, it did exactly what I’d hoped, which was introduce the basics of SEO to a general audience. He did a brilliant job of this.
Webconsult Ltd t/a Richard Quick Design
————————————————–
My name’s Richard Quick, so it’s natural that people expect that everything that happened at Richard Quick Design was down to me.
For the record, I was a 20% shareholder in the company (Webconsult Ltd) and I was Creative Director, not Managing Director, which meant I had no involvement with, or control over the finances. I never actually saw invoices, as a general rule, never spoke to the bank, and wasn’t a signatory on cheques. My role was to get work in and to quality control the work we produced.
The limited company was / is Webconsult Limited, and was set up in 2004. I became a director and shareholder in 2007, at which point the company started trading under the name Richard Quick Design. At that time, Frederick Habbe was the managing director.
Webconsult always had a reputation for paying staff and suppliers very promptly, while Frederick was managing director.
We weren’t perfect, and while the quality of the work – I felt – was high, we did have some long-standing issues with project management. However, Webconsult was a respectable company, we were growing, had a great team, producing some good work and generally things were going in the right direction.
Early in 2009, Frederick was succeeded as Managing Director by Martyn Jago Tregilgas, of Tremoghdale House, Tremough Dale, Penryn, TR10 8JA. Mr Tregilgas took a 60% shareholding in the company.
Several months later, I resigned as a director of Webconsult Limited. My reasons for doing so were as follows:
Mr Tregilgas had moved the company’s offices without telling me, to a location I wasn’t aware of at the time, in order to get out of paying rent due to our landlords
Mr Tregilgas has allowed my company mobile phone number to be cut off, meaning I could no longer make outgoing calls
After the office was moved, the company was no longer picking up the telephone, and I was unable to contact Mr. Tregilgas or either of the 2 remaining members of staff on their mobiles
I was unaware where anybody from Webconsult was on 2 consecutive days (I later discovered they were at meetings in London and Nottingham), and had clients calling me asking when work was going to be done and I had to tell them I didn’t know.
I felt that this meant I had effectively been constructively dismissed.
Also:
I felt the company was trading insolvent
Suppliers and staff were not being paid, despite multiple promises to do so
I felt Mr. Tregilgas was not acting in the best interests of the company
I felt Mr. Tregilgas was taking no account of the company’s legal (or for that matter moral) requirements, and was doing things which I considered might be illegal
If I had had the power, I would – to be frank – have sacked Mr. Tregilgas as MD, however as a 20% shareholder I didn’t have the authority to do so, and therefore my only other option was – I felt – to resign as a director and offer to sell back my shares for a nominal fee.
Payment to Dom (and other speakers)
—————————–
Dom had a contract with Webconsult Limited, to speak at Bamboo Juice. He’s absolutely entitled to be paid.
By the time Dom sent his invoice, I was no longer involved with the running of the company and at no time saw the invoice. When Dom emailed me, I referred him to the new MD, Mr. Tregilgas.
I will support Dom in any way I can to get the money out of Webconsult or it’s successor company, Qualia Digital (see below).
As Webconsult is a limited company which (I believe) is currently trading insolvent (illegally), I have been advised that I am not allowed to pay any of it’s debts, as this would be seen as favouring one supplier over another.
As a former director of a limited company I do have legal responsibilities which I need to adhere to. In the same way that money the company earned was not my personal money, likewise debts of the company are not my personal debts and I’m not allowed to favour Dom over anybody else who is owed money, which includes : several full time staff and freelancers, the bank, our old landlord, utilities companies, Revenue and Customs, printers, etc.
As I mentioned, I never had the ability to sign cheques on behalf of the company. However, I had have done I would have loved to have been able to have paid Dom.
Unfortunately, if I did this now, I would be acting illegally, as I’d basically be saying “Dom’s more entitled to the money than, say, the bank.” Personally, I might be inclined to agree, but it’s not my call to make.
However, for the record, I did contact Dom when I found out his invoice hadn’t been paid and say that, whilst I wasn’t allowed to personally honour his debt by the limited company, I would do whatever I could to support him with this.
New company
——————
I understand that a new company has been set up at the instruction of Mr Tregilgas, called Qualia Digital Limited. The website address is: http://www.qualiadigital.com
This is operating from Mr. Tregilgas’ house, (Tremough Dale House, full address above). It’s been using equipment owned by Webconsult Limited, using staff that have employment contract with Webconsult Limited and dealing with clients of Webconsult Limited.
The “old” company, Webconsult Limited, hasn’t been closed yet, to my knowledge.
I’ll reply to a few comments made in a separate post(s), feel free to ask if you have any questions.
@Dan Gates
I can see why it might look like I’m running away from my responsibilities or being selfish by resigning as a director of Webconsult t/a Richard Quick Design.
Believe it or not, it was an extremely difficult decision. Bear in mind I’ve put 4 years of my life into building up a business, put all my savings in to pay people’s wages, and then to walk away from that is not easy.
However, I felt that the way the company has been run since the new MD took over was disgraceful, and as a 20% shareholder I felt didn’t have any other option.
When a company is in difficulty, people sometimes don’t get paid. It sucks, but it’s a reality of business, especially in a recession.
It’s ACTUALLY not the fact Dom hasn’t been paid that I have an issue with. It’s the way it’s been dealt with.
If Dom had received a phone call from Mr. Tregilgas, saying “Hi Dom, I’m really sorry but we’re going to be very late paying your invoice. I’m really sorry about this, but we’ve got a real problem with cash flow at the moment, and there’s simply not enough money in the bank to pay you,” that would Suck, from Dom’s point of view, but it would be the grown up way of dealing with things.
But as you can see from Dom’s post, that’s NOT how it was dealt with.
What I am extremely upset over is the way people Webconsult owes money to have been ignored, dismissed, and blamed for not getting paid, rather than just being honest and open with them.
Bear in mind it’s NOT just Dom that’s been screwed over by the company, it’s a lot of people.
For example, two freelancers are owed something like £4,500 between them (2 months’ pay each). One has a mortgage to pay, the other has just got over a cancer scare. When I asked Mr. Tregilgas about this he said he didn’t see why he should pay them, as they hadn’t worked hard enough. Another freelancer, I was told, shouldn’t be paid as the quality of their work wasn’t up to scratch.
There are 3 local printers who are owed money. Webconsult’s landlords were owed money for rent, and when they asked for it, Mr. Tregilgas:
a) Told them he’d pay them by the end of the week
b) Moved all the equipment out of the offices to (I later discovered) his home
c) Told the landlords if they had a problem they could sue
That’s the reason I left. As a 20% shareholder, I didn’t have any power to get rid of Mr. Tregilgas. I’d tried over and over to persuade him to do the do the right thing. So I had two options, resign, or continue to put up with it.
So I resigned.
I can promise you I didn’t want to walk away. I wanted to sort things out, which is why I stayed as long as I did.
It was a very difficult thing to do, and has left me homeless (I’m sleeping on a mate’s sofa), broke, badly in debt and unemployed. And it’s hardly done my reputation any favours, trust me!!
More than anything, I am very upset that I’m not able to pay back the people who are owed money. Dom’s one of those. There are plenty of others including lots of staff who were talented, hard working and loyal and really didn’t deserve to be treated like this. To be frank, nobody deserves to be treated the way the company has treated people.
And, because the company traded as Richard Quick Design, everyone will, understandably, assume that I took all the important decisions and that I was happy not to pay staff and suppliers.
I didn’t resign as a director of RQD for any selfish reasons, I can assure you.
@Bob
The company is still registered at the old Penryn address, but is currently carrying out business from:
Tremoghdale House,
Tremough Dale,
Penryn,
TR10 8JA
The telephone number appears to be:
01326 37 66 68
Regards to software licenses, you should contact Frederick, as he should have a record of any licenses which were bought on your behalf. I assume you’re refering to an EE licence. He’s still at the old Falmouth address, which you should have.
Thanks for your comments Richard, I’ve added them as a new post here as this one was getting a bit… full http://www.thehodge.co.uk/random-musings/rants/richard-quick-design-qualia-digital-update.php
I don’t know why you’re all blaming Rich when Martyn is the c*nt responsible.
I’m owed money …. but it’s Martyn’s fault – not Rich’s.
Hope the tw*t burns in hell…under whichever alias he’s using at that point… piece of s*hit.
Yes! I agree with the last! I worked my arse off at RQD and being owed two months wages is the thanks I get!
But the fact that we were not told we were being sacked made it worse!
I’m so angery! I have been completly taken in! Promise after promise! They could have warned us!
I’m so glad to out of a company that has no respect for their staff nor clients!
And as for starting up under another name should NOT be allowed!!
C**ts at least when Frederick was there we always got paid on time and the full amount not petty piss take cash handouts!
I will allow the Anonymous comments (because they are at least from the looks of the email and IP) from different people however can we please stop refering to people as c**ts …. tossers will do nicely
Well I have been Reading this and yes… I do find it hard to fight corners as o am also owed alot of money!
But I did learn alot whilst at RQD. Not only how to design for web but also how to run a business! The mess at rqd has resulted in Myself and another freelancer setting up our own business http://www.happyhopscotch.com check us out!
I refuse to comment on martyn and rich as it makes me so angery! But these things happen I spose so we just need to move on! Hopefully to bigger and better things!!
*edited*
It’s a shame it went this way. Rich put alot of time and effort in. I have faith Rich is doing what he can.
I enjoyed the event and it’s a shame that these costs weren’t made. I guess next time it’s worth getting payment or expenses upfront.
Cheers.
I have edited your comment because well.. it could get me sued…
I don’t mind people having opinions but just plain insults are not allowed…
This has been a very delayed comment, which I have had to think about a lot.
I worked for Richard Quick Designs at 16 to gain experience in design (which I add that he was the only person caring enough to take interest in my both my passion and determination to become a designer at such a young age). From when I was there, Rich was always hard working and bought innovation to the team.
It was Rich that inspired me to start a business at 16 http://www.ogsmedia.com A studio which gives young people the chance to explore their design and music talent.
I know this isn’t a question of maybe how nice Rich is however I felt the need to clear his name a little.
As far as I’m aware. Rich dealt with “Design” – therefore should be eliminated from even the discussion of finances. It should be the major shareholders names in the company that should be scarred not Rich’s.
@Dom Cheeky me and you both know we covered our expenses in “food tokens” aha!