For 14 months, I was fed a pack of lies and evasions along with no more than token performance on the product development services that I thought my $6000 was buying.
Davison's redesign of my product proposal, an automobile accessory, not only had no relationship to the intent of my invention, it had the potential to cause fatal accidents. When I pointed this out, I didn't receive anything back in writing. A phone discussion of the problem with a company vice-president produced nothing but gibberish. The alleged product design "experts" who worked on it obviously had paid no attention whatsoever to the photos, drawings and descriptions that I had supplied.
Davison's printed materials say all the right things. They do their lying verbally - including, in my case, an assertion that the design team was anxiously waiting for me to pay up so they can get the product into February auto trade shows. I foolishly trusted them and paid up. Six months later(July), their redesign arrived in the mail. Despite their literature's assertion that the "Inventigration" process as they call it is a cooperative undertaking, there was no consultation with me and no explanation of the rationale behind their redesign - neither before nor after I received it.
The white collar thugs that infest the invention promotion field urgently need more restraints. Companies that can be classed as legal swindlers number well over 100. Their profits are huge. I recommend that they be forced by the FTC or other regulatory body to complete standardized written reports at every stage of their dealings with prospects and customers, starting with:
1) Statement of costs - how much and when due - before money can be solicited or accepted from a prospective customer.
2) Standard contract forms prepared by the FTC or a responsible industry body.
3) Before contracts are signed, clear explanations of a customer's short and long term commitments, including options to cancel, if any. Include advice that it would be best to have all contracts reviewed by a lawyer before signing.
4) Also before contracts are signed, a statement about whether or not the inventor's proposal is worth developing.
5) Before doing any redesign work, an appraisal of the inventor's proposed product particularly pointing out its weak features and what should be done to correct them.
If not already done, it would be a good idea to require that invention promotion firms be licensed.
I'd welcome other suggestions.
Xavier
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
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