Letterbox Mike
New Member
Aaaaaaaaargh.
Tell me what you would do in this situation...
We have a client we do wholesale printing for, just a little design agency. They have a client that requested a wrap which they hired us to do. They were very upfront with us and said they've never designed a wrap before and wanted some guidance. I gave them two options, either we'll design it for you at your direction for $850+ or we can supply you with the template and we'll "hold your hand" as much as possible, to teach you how to design it so you can competently design other wraps in the future. I don't mind helping them like this, they're decent customers and nice people.
They agreed to let us help them design it. They signed our invoice sent to them, and faxed that over to us. They then proceeded to forward our invoice to their client, who proceeded to pay us directly. WTF? First, that's a wholesale price we gave them, and we never agreed to work with or bill their client directly. But whatever, doesn't really matter.
So we send them the template for the vehicle (BadWrap if it matters). Their designer calls and says she's having trouble making it look right. She wanted a black background with a chameleon looking effect (like the paint that shifts colors from green to purple). She didn't really seem to understand how to even use the Bad Wrap template either. I spent about an hour on the phone with her walking her through how I would do it and how to use the template. I also raised my concern that that effect will not look like the real thing when printed, it's just not possible, but she may be successful achieving a similar look by carefully airbrushing the appropriate colors in the right places... She said she understood, had a grasp on it and thanked me for my time. I offered to sit down with her at her office or mine and help her in person further is she had any more issues.
That was 3 weeks ago and I hadn't heard a peep since. I assumed everything was fine and dandy and they were just working out the final design.
Today we get a call that the end customer (not the designer) wants their money back and they're hiring someone else to print and install. Apparently the designer was never able to accomplish what she was looking for. The end customer had used another shop previously for some work and recommended they call them for help. They gave them a PVO template which she was able to make work just fine apparently.
So the designer is saying they feel like we didn't do enough to help them accomplish the design they were after and they and the end customer believe we're not the shop for the job and believe they are entitled a refund.
I should point out when we got the approval/check we ordered a roll of 180C and matching laminate and set it aside so we would have everything we needed when the art was approved.
So now they want me to eat $1000 in materials and refund the entire amount. Their argument is I'll still be able to use the material on other jobs so it shouldn't be a big deal, which is true. But that's beyond the point, it's the principal of the matter that isn't right.
I'm content with standing my ground and refusing the refund, but they're being argumentative about it and demanding it back. I'm just not sure what to do.
Tell me what you would do in this situation...
We have a client we do wholesale printing for, just a little design agency. They have a client that requested a wrap which they hired us to do. They were very upfront with us and said they've never designed a wrap before and wanted some guidance. I gave them two options, either we'll design it for you at your direction for $850+ or we can supply you with the template and we'll "hold your hand" as much as possible, to teach you how to design it so you can competently design other wraps in the future. I don't mind helping them like this, they're decent customers and nice people.
They agreed to let us help them design it. They signed our invoice sent to them, and faxed that over to us. They then proceeded to forward our invoice to their client, who proceeded to pay us directly. WTF? First, that's a wholesale price we gave them, and we never agreed to work with or bill their client directly. But whatever, doesn't really matter.
So we send them the template for the vehicle (BadWrap if it matters). Their designer calls and says she's having trouble making it look right. She wanted a black background with a chameleon looking effect (like the paint that shifts colors from green to purple). She didn't really seem to understand how to even use the Bad Wrap template either. I spent about an hour on the phone with her walking her through how I would do it and how to use the template. I also raised my concern that that effect will not look like the real thing when printed, it's just not possible, but she may be successful achieving a similar look by carefully airbrushing the appropriate colors in the right places... She said she understood, had a grasp on it and thanked me for my time. I offered to sit down with her at her office or mine and help her in person further is she had any more issues.
That was 3 weeks ago and I hadn't heard a peep since. I assumed everything was fine and dandy and they were just working out the final design.
Today we get a call that the end customer (not the designer) wants their money back and they're hiring someone else to print and install. Apparently the designer was never able to accomplish what she was looking for. The end customer had used another shop previously for some work and recommended they call them for help. They gave them a PVO template which she was able to make work just fine apparently.
So the designer is saying they feel like we didn't do enough to help them accomplish the design they were after and they and the end customer believe we're not the shop for the job and believe they are entitled a refund.
I should point out when we got the approval/check we ordered a roll of 180C and matching laminate and set it aside so we would have everything we needed when the art was approved.
So now they want me to eat $1000 in materials and refund the entire amount. Their argument is I'll still be able to use the material on other jobs so it shouldn't be a big deal, which is true. But that's beyond the point, it's the principal of the matter that isn't right.
I'm content with standing my ground and refusing the refund, but they're being argumentative about it and demanding it back. I'm just not sure what to do.
