Ain't gonna do that anymore either!

[visual800]

As I get older, there is a list of stuff I just refuse to do.

1- banners by road on poles. Hate'em not gonna do em
2.rush jobs unless I have scrap material to do it

and the newly added, POS DRIVIT SIGN.
another sign co called me to sub out a dr sign with studded gemini plastic letters mounted on peachtree type sign. Without skipping beat I mentioned rip all letters off repaint whole monument and place panel with newer letters back on monument. Im not gonna caulk and fix 500 holes and deal with silicone.

i got the job and the doc hates the sign and the color and said if I cant fix it he will repair it himself and send me the bill. ( yes i talked to him directly) i said why the Hell would you fix a sign that needed fix anyway and send me the bill? Everything I did was presented to other sign co and they obvisouly did not relay this to the doc.

he was a ***** on the phone. So I think I will snatch everything off the sign I did, place his old worn out letters in box and leave on his doorstep and tell him to call someone else. I had to tell him 3 times on phone you cannot perfectly match drivit and best to repaint all he did not understand. im sure if I go this route I'll get a letter from one of his attorney friends suing me.

 

[CanuckSigns]

As I get older, there is a list of stuff I just refuse to do.

1- banners by road on poles. Hate'em not gonna do em
2.rush jobs unless I have scrap material to do it

and the newly added, POS DRIVIT SIGN.
another sign co called me to sub out a dr sign with studded gemini plastic letters mounted on peachtree type sign. Without skipping beat I mentioned rip all letters off repaint whole monument and place panel with newer letters back on monument. Im not gonna caulk and fix 500 holes and deal with silicone.

i got the job and the doc hates the sign and the color and said if I cant fix it he will repair it himself and send me the bill. ( yes i talked to him directly) i said why the Hell would you fix a sign that needed fix anyway and send me the bill? Everything I did was presented to other sign co and they obvisouly did not relay this to the doc.

he was a ***** on the phone. So I think I will snatch everything off the sign I did, place his old worn out letters in box and leave on his doorstep and tell him to call someone else. I had to tell him 3 times on phone you cannot perfectly match drivit and best to repaint all he did not understand. im sure if I go this route I'll get a letter from one of his attorney friends suing me.

Don't worry about it, i'm pretty sure they can't do anything, their beef is with the other sign company. If you have proof that what you did was what was directed by the other sign co, you are off the hook. tell the doc to pound sand and take it up with the other sign co.

 

[Techman]

The other sign company already told him to go pound sand. That's why the doc is calling you..

 

[MikePro]

who is this job through? the other sign company or the doc himself?
sounds like you explained the scope of the work required to your client but your client promised their client a brand-new sign and are leaving you to hang for touching the project.

 

[AF]

Shoot him a price to do it "right", toss a discount in there for him being a repeat customer. When he unloads on you about the price, ask him how much he charges to put a bandaid on a boo-boo. Good luck.

 

[Pat Whatley]

I think I got asked to quote that job today. We didn't even bother.

 

[visual800]

I think I got asked to quote that job today. We didn't even bother.

Damn good choice you made. The other sign co is a sticky shop and they are not experienced in doin stuff like this so they are kinda in shock right now. I am not shocked just pi$$ed. Time and time again someone has a shi??ty sign and you improve it 100% and they hate it.

 

[TyrantDesigner]

There is a lot I don't do anymore. Jobs that seem like they would end up with you cussing and punching a wall ... most likely will. Not worth your time or energy.

Even if you take down the new stuff and hand back the old stuff ... you're out your time you could have spent being more productive on ANYTHING even if it was a nap ... and materials.

 

[Jillbeans]

There are so many things I will no longer do that the list grows longer each day.
Last year I was asked to price a job for a 40" d/s circular sign on main street, that the "designer" had hanging from chains!
I told them that I could price the sign but that it was a terrible idea to hang that thing on chains over the sidewalk.
Never heard back from them until the other day, they wanted me to make the sign and their "contractor" wanted me to send links of places that sold hanging hardware.
...sorry...
I also eased my frustration with lowballers and tire kickers by getting rid of my sign phone....let them email me.
I'm not doing coro anymore.
Nor vinyl!
I love being an old curmudgeon.
Love....Jill

 

[TyrantDesigner]

My big list of no usually consists of just stupid stuff LIKE ...

stripping vinyl off of a garbage acrylic face that is half broken because the person wants to save $50 but will spend an extra $25 in labor on me trying to make it clean-ish. Policy now, buy a new face or strip it yourself. ... they always buy a new face.

Art for free. Drives me up the wall, worst tire kicking I've ever seen. At one point and time I had an art request form that people could fill out and if I had some free time I would see if I could get around to it ... I never had time for that, and the stack was 3"-5" tall at any given point and time ... best part, because I said 'IF I have some free time I can see if I can do it ...' half the time that person thought that really ment, I'll for sure get to it in 3 or 4 days and make the art for free! And If not, I'm the *******. Pass on that. Policy now, place an order and we'll talk. All others is an art fee. Either way I want to see money down. I don't mind about 10 minutes of basic design time to get a job going ... but I'm sure as **** not going to do a 3 hour full color illustration of a hulked out pirate wielding welding equipment in a thunderstorm around an oil rig without a commitment to a job or a hunk of cash for my time. Sorry dude ... MooOOooONEEEEeeeY!

My other big list of no's is just your average b.s. that people seem to be ok asking for ... discounts because they're my 'best customer' ($100 ever 6-12 months does not make you my best customer), sponsoring their team (listing my logo on their signs, shirts, whatever for a discount for that item for free), Doing installs in unsafe conditions, doing installs for free even though I have to drive 30 minutes outside of town and have to use a portable gen. to do what I need to do, Matching prices to shops on the internet because you want to 'keep money local', Installing signs that would be a hazard to people around them , etc, etc, etc, etc

 

[Joe Diaz]

Yeah I like using analogies with clients. I try to be nice and respectful about it, but in this case this doctor was wanting you to place a band-aid on a tumor rather than going in to operate. At least his clients can rely on health insurance to pay their ungodly high bill. Did you try selling him sign insurance first? LOL

We have this hanging up on our wall at the shop. Our good friends Tom and Kathy Durham made it after being frustrated that they would need to buy insurance to send a package at the post office. LOL


But in all seriousness I feel for you. I think the problem here has less to do with type of job and more to do with being subcontracted out by a company that doesn't have their ducks in a row. They probably messed up by not communicating and passed the blame on to you. You have to choose your partnerships wisely. We've learned that the hard way once or twice now.