I have a funny situation I'm in and I'm wondering how others might handle it.
Back in April 2021 a county organization's purchasing department reached wanting a Bas Relief plaque. Over the phone, I went over the pros and cons of each photo option and stated very clearly the pitfalls of each option. I went over the real downfalls of Bas Relief between the time involved and the sculpted presentation vs photo realistic.
So the purchasing agent approves the order, I get a PO and I get flopped to another person who would handle the layout/design. We go through the process. I also review the process with Bas Relief and all the pros and cons. I talk about time line and procedure. Eventually, I get approval on the design based on the photo they sent by just converting it to greyscale and doing some photoshop, so it's still basically photo realistic like an etch or UV print.
A few weeks later I get the sculptor's rendition, which I thought was pretty good, and they don't like it at all. I ask for what they want changed and they keep talking about the eyes. Every time they see a proof (including the recipient at this point), they comment on the eyes and how it looks freaky. After the 2nd or 3rd rejection, I send them 10 different images of Bas Relief photos from the net to try to give the artist more helpful feedback so I can get the damn job done, and they tell me they all look freaky. At this point I know I'm in big trouble. I've had a few conversations with my contact over this time, also laying out how the company needs to be paid for their time and how she wants to proceed with this process as specified. So over like 5 months, we get 5-6 different versions of the proof with minor changes in the eyes. To be clear, some of the delay was down to the bronze company and some were down to my customer just not replying.
Today I get the inevitable email they want to change to a UV printed photo of the guy from approximately 20 years ago. Giving further context why this has been such a pain in the ass.
Now the deal with Bas Relief is you pay about $1000 (cost) no matter what for the artist's time. Normally in this situation, I'd go to battle for my customer telling them the product isn't to an acceptable level and the efforts made weren't good enough to appease them, which is about 75% true. In this circumstance, I don't feel it's fair to go to battle with a good vendor over something like this because my customer openly admitted they don't like how bar relief's look despite specifically requesting it and being told the pitfalls.
At this point, my gut feeling is to simply proceed with the UV print. Not say a word about the PO/Invoice. Collect on the original amount and eat the $80 for the UV print, which is nothing compared to the total bill. The biggest issue with that is they could contest that I didn't provide what is on the PO.
Now also to be clear, I didn't write out in any email the policy on the Bas Relief. I potentially didn't make it as clear as I could have stating the costs involved if they didn't like it. We're talking about 10 months ago, so I don't remember what I exactly said, but I'm confident I mentioned issues with photos and fixed costs involved, as I had literally just had an issue with another customer on a flat relief vs a UV printed photo around that same time. I know I was wrong on that and I've since changed my policy to rectify this.
Back in April 2021 a county organization's purchasing department reached wanting a Bas Relief plaque. Over the phone, I went over the pros and cons of each photo option and stated very clearly the pitfalls of each option. I went over the real downfalls of Bas Relief between the time involved and the sculpted presentation vs photo realistic.
So the purchasing agent approves the order, I get a PO and I get flopped to another person who would handle the layout/design. We go through the process. I also review the process with Bas Relief and all the pros and cons. I talk about time line and procedure. Eventually, I get approval on the design based on the photo they sent by just converting it to greyscale and doing some photoshop, so it's still basically photo realistic like an etch or UV print.
A few weeks later I get the sculptor's rendition, which I thought was pretty good, and they don't like it at all. I ask for what they want changed and they keep talking about the eyes. Every time they see a proof (including the recipient at this point), they comment on the eyes and how it looks freaky. After the 2nd or 3rd rejection, I send them 10 different images of Bas Relief photos from the net to try to give the artist more helpful feedback so I can get the damn job done, and they tell me they all look freaky. At this point I know I'm in big trouble. I've had a few conversations with my contact over this time, also laying out how the company needs to be paid for their time and how she wants to proceed with this process as specified. So over like 5 months, we get 5-6 different versions of the proof with minor changes in the eyes. To be clear, some of the delay was down to the bronze company and some were down to my customer just not replying.
Today I get the inevitable email they want to change to a UV printed photo of the guy from approximately 20 years ago. Giving further context why this has been such a pain in the ass.
Now the deal with Bas Relief is you pay about $1000 (cost) no matter what for the artist's time. Normally in this situation, I'd go to battle for my customer telling them the product isn't to an acceptable level and the efforts made weren't good enough to appease them, which is about 75% true. In this circumstance, I don't feel it's fair to go to battle with a good vendor over something like this because my customer openly admitted they don't like how bar relief's look despite specifically requesting it and being told the pitfalls.
At this point, my gut feeling is to simply proceed with the UV print. Not say a word about the PO/Invoice. Collect on the original amount and eat the $80 for the UV print, which is nothing compared to the total bill. The biggest issue with that is they could contest that I didn't provide what is on the PO.
Now also to be clear, I didn't write out in any email the policy on the Bas Relief. I potentially didn't make it as clear as I could have stating the costs involved if they didn't like it. We're talking about 10 months ago, so I don't remember what I exactly said, but I'm confident I mentioned issues with photos and fixed costs involved, as I had literally just had an issue with another customer on a flat relief vs a UV printed photo around that same time. I know I was wrong on that and I've since changed my policy to rectify this.
