UPDATE 7/31/09: The offending Website was removed and redesigned by the developer after we threatened him with Legal Action.  Keep in mind as you read this article that hiring a professional is always less expensive in the long run.

Stealing someone else’s Website design is a crime. It is the same as going to their place of business and taking money directly from the cash register. VisionLine Media recently experienced this first hand when a local “Web designer” (that is in quotes because he is a fraud) by the name of REDACTED NAME of REDACTED COMPANY in Marlton, NJ.  This guy was actually involved in a bid process (as were we) to develop a Content Managed Website for REDACTED Home Owner’s Association.

First,  this guy had the audacity to email our info account to anonymously ask what we would charge to build “him” a website similar to the one we built for another homeowners association (www.deerwoodcarriagehomes.org). This was obviously a ploy to get a leg up in the bidding process.

Secondly, REDACTED NAME blatantly stole our design and used it for one of his clients! 

REDACTED NAME is obviously not a very intelligent man because he left a paper trail of proof that he made a premeditated effort to steal our design. He actually went into a chat room and asked someone to help him steal our design!

This is just one example of the kind of devious, unprofessional people that have flooded our industry in the last few years. If you or someone you know is in need of professional Website design, have them call a professional design firm and not just “some guy who does Websites”. That “guy who does Websites” could be REDACTED NAME.

I hope this makes you as mad as it makes us.

Don’t Stand for Internet Piracy, and don’t ever call “some guy” for a Website