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Discussion Can you believe................................

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Presently, we have 3 nice size electric signs were are working on. One is right up the street from our shop. I gave her a rather good price in my opinion, since she's a neighbor. Anyway, we have our preliminary notes, quote sheet and our work sheet.... all in agreement with each other. Her signature and date is on the quote sheet and we received our deposit about 2 weeks ago. I called her the other day, as she said she had someone in her employ, who could re-do the LEDs in the sign. I had suggested her not using the old ones as the sign hasn't been used in about 3 years and the light bars have been moved around extensively according to her landlord. He had removed them almost 3 years ago for safe keeping. I called to let her know we'll be closing the sign up in the next day or two, according to the weather, and I noticed she hasn't done anything about the lighting.

She finally called me this morning and said, she thought I was doing the lighting....... I gently told her, no you said you were gonna do it. We went back & forth after I pointed out nowhere does it say anything about our doing the lighting. Also, it says right on the quote "no electrical work needed by us". She just kept saying, I thought you were gonna do it. No, I'm not. She finally said, well, for that price, it should include you putting all new lights in as you promised. Sorry Lucy, but that was not the agreement. At this point, I can't get my electrician here to do it in time for you. Plus, there'll be an additional cost for his time and whatever replacement lamps we need to get.

It's been about an hour since the first call and she just called back and said, we are not paying any more for the sign and you hafta put the lights in it so it works. That's the agreement. I could tell, this was not her talking but someone else. Turns out, her sister is doing all the paper work and financing the girl's restaurant. I said........ first, calm down and just stop for a second. I went over our past conversations and she finally saw how she misunderstood. She thought because we said we are not responsible for any electrical work needed, we would just put all the old stuff back in. I told her, I NEVER use old parts over again in electrical signs, once they've been removed..... and we didn't remove them. They've been removed for 3 years, so no way was I ever gonna use them. She said she'd talk to her sister and I suggested they both come in and we'll talk this over and find a way to help them.

We'll see :rolleyes:
 

KMC

Graphic Artist
sound like you are having as about as much fun this week as i am with clients
...i feel for you bud
 

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
I have very similar conversations with girlfriend all the time.

Me; I’ll sort dinner tomorrow
Her; no that’s fine I’ll sort it

*tomorrow*
Me; what’s for dinner?
Her; You said you were sorting dinner..

Sounds a lot like all your paperwork etc is signed and in order so you should be fine. Good luck!
 

GB2

Old Member
You can never be too clear or detailed about what you put in writing before you begin a job....even if you think you have everything covered, someone will come up with a new twist on it.
 

HulkSmash

New Member
Fun, everything is in writing for us, and it seems like you covered your base. Unfortunately....this is just one of those things where i feel like they're gonna do their best to f* you... from not paying balance.. to bad reviews.. its one of those things i'd suck up, do it, and never do business with them again.. good luck Gino..
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
How come ya'll done get 100% upfront?

Most orders I do are prepaid, except for a few Net30s that are repeat customers
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Gino, are you going to make sure you get the remaining 50% before you install?

Not quite sure how I'm gonna handle it, yet. It is a neighbor afterall and I'll wanna go eat there from time to time. So, I don't want anyone spitting in my food, but I'm also not gonna do things for free. I got the numbers together if she wants me to re-fit it with new stuff. BUT, she ain't gonna wanna pay it no way..... no how.
 

2B

Active Member
Sounds about like a recent project, total PITA

Customer ordered vehicle lettering.
after 6+ edits for a simple name, #, services on 2 sides of the vehicle. got approval and had a 3-day window for production & install.
They then bumped the in-hand date to next day, we agreed. It was a 1 color plotter design and by this point wanted them gone.
Installed ahead of schedule and of course, they couldn't get to us before closing, so had to wait after hours
They did suggest we leave the keys in the gas cap and they would settle at a later date...................

Husband walked in PISSED, apparently, he decided to walk around the back of the shop and reviewed the vehicle before coming in. his opening line when came in was " I knew y'all would mess this up"
they claimed there was an E-mail stating we would including lettering on the rear for FREE............. pulled out the proof that was approved and showed to them, they still claimed free graphics.
at this point was tired of their lies. Politely asked them to forward this E-mail and we would GLADLY get it corrected, would even do it while they waited.
Funny thing is this E-mail couldn't be found, and why were we questioning them...

you could see the guy getting madder by the minute, tossed the CC card to be charged, signed and then stormed out of the office.

The icing on the cake was he left the keys on the counter and had to come back and get them :)
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Yep, same kinda deal. They hear what they wanna hear and make up story lines to go along with what they remember. Then, when asked, well, uhh, ahh, ummm well, it was said somewhere along the way. No, it wasn't, but if you show me where I made this mistake, I'll be happy to refund you or fix if for free for your inconvenience. Funny, how NONE of these people ever think about how they inconvenience us, huh ??

We all make mistakes and I'll own up to mine or anyone working for me, but not for an outsider or a customer, unless it was totally by accident. Then, I'll try to find some common ground. Sure, in every job, there's more than enough money in it to fix it at no charge, but I decide when, to whom and how that's gonna be issued or even considered..... not them.
 

equippaint

Active Member
We spend enough covering employee mistakes but we're hiring. Just fill out an application if you would like me to eat your screw ups too
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
Take your whole crew over and remind her that she agreed to feed all of you for a month.
If her memory is as sketchy as it was about the lights you should be golden.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
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