Customer created pricing.........

[2B]

Long, needed to vent

Had a potential customer (one of the largest companies in that area) approach asking if we could do 15 banners, with custom sizes and custom frames that the banners are mounted on, totaling 768 SQFT of printed banner material at trade show print quality. They are making a wall mounted picture collage. they also had a firm deadline with was a 1.25 months away.

We do the song n dance go by show them the print quality and what our thoughts are for the project, they love it!!! verbally give approval and want us to get started on the prelim work. They were finalizing the pictures they wanted to use and would mail the CD with the images ASAP. after NUMEROUS attempts at contacting them FINALLY get the CD, it is now 8 business days from the hard deadline and after looking at the content the QTY is now 32 and the total SQFT of printed material is now 3,004.

We call them up and ask why the change in the QTY and SQFT? (still no answer) and the new price will be XX.XX they FLIP A CHIT yelling how dare we change the price that was quoted to them, they have already taken that price before the committee and got approval! Which we tell them what you have is for the ORIGINAL 768 SQFT of printed material NOT the new 3,004 SQFT amount you want... finally ask them what were you planning on paying for this new SQFT amount? their reply was "the price you quoted us, that is what is on the quote why would it change?" you want us to make 4 times the printed material and custom frames to mount them on and you want the price to be EXACTLY THE SAME!? they have the ballz to say yes!!


they finally send a reply (3 days AFTER this conversation) stating that they have located another company who can meet their needs and do so in their budget.........

they have yet to reply to our request to examine the product they got.

on a brighter side, nothing was lost out of our pocket besides the waste of time. no way was anything being bought before the PO was issued.


Where to some of these people come from and how do they get in positions of power/decision making?

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Don't you just want to SMACK them?

 

[Pat Whatley]

I'm sure what they're going to get will be lovely, too.

 

[jasonx]

The person you're dealing with has probably made an error and only realized it later and is trying to pass off the blame so they don't get into trouble.

Get a signed off purchase order when dealing with bigger companies instead of just verbals. Its like doing design by committee its never ending.

 

[qmr55]

I'm sure what they're going to get will be lovely, too.

 

[john1]

lol excellent customer begging to be fired. I would have told them off when they said they wanted 32 banners for the price of 15. That's hilarious on their end.

Don't lose any sleep over it, Yeah its alot of cash you didn't make but at least you know they are a waste of time and to stay away from now on.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

To proceed further with this quotation, please fill in the below details;

1) where you park your car
2) hours your car is unattended

Thank you, and we look forward to doing business with you.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

In your contract .,.sales communications cost X amount per hour and with payed sale free.
Send them a bill for wasting your time or ya walk away happy that someone else is losing there _____ not you.

I've gotten real tired of customers dictating the price myself and those are the ones I don't bother calling back and cutting them off quickly.

After all sign advertisement makers are the economy stimulus's

I firmly believe to do everything possible to help my community grow as long as I get to grow with it.

 

[OldPaint]

i question your judgment here. YOU was going to start a project of 768 SQ FT, custpm frames........AND NO MONEY IN HAND FROM THAT COMPANY???? consider yourself lucky, AND GET A FRICKIN DEPOSIT........on jobs that require materials!!!! this also makes for a PAYMENT you can take out of the money you refund them when they pull that crap of going somewhere else. what monies of THEIRS YOU HAVE, deduct you time and effort, then you NOW HAVE NOTHING IN IT!!!

 

[visual800]

The person you're dealing with has probably made an error and only realized it later and is trying to pass off the blame so they don't get into trouble

I think in the grand scheme of things it comes down to this. This explains those "no call backs" all the time we go thru. This explains people not answering your phone calls when you thought all was going along. People DO NOT do their jobs these days and they will use whatever means to throw blame on anyone.

I usually, after giving a quote, get pi$$ed off and start going after these people relentlessly. Only to find out after you corner them what some BS excuse they have for not getting back with you

If I was in charge of the business world I bet 70% of people would be fired

 

[Gino]

No money out of pocket ?? Walk away now...... and fugetaboutit.

They might be big, but you have no time to hold their hand and mend their mistakes..... and that's clearly what this is.... a huge mistake on their part... or they can't read.

Did you specifically quote on the number of banners, square footage and turnaround time and make things clear to them.... or did you just quote on banners and a generally printed portion ??

 

[signmeup]

To proceed further with this quotation, please fill in the below details;

1) where you park your car
2) hours your car is unattended

Thank you, and we look forward to doing business with you.

This is awesome.

 

[Patentagosse]

Here's mine (not totally out-of-topic but at a smaller scale...)
My shop is right in front of a very big motorcycle/snowmobile/boat dealership. They sell at high prices but are very cheap when it comes to outsource some jobs like decals and boat numbers. They already made me waste my time on a job the customer didn't want but they didn't want to compensate me for my time so when they call me for something, I let the phone ring. The other day, they called me 6 times during the day (instead of crossing the street to meet me) but as usual, I didn't answered so they call another shop in the neighborhood. The guy up there is a friend of mine so he told me the whole story. They asked him how much for 3 pairs of boat numbers, all in white, in usual sizes so he replied "usually it's $25/boat but for 3 of the same material, I can do it for $20/boat as you install 'em yourself". The girl in charge to find a place for these numbers replied: "Jeeez, it's way over what we want to pay for that... would you make it for $15 instead?". My friend was speechless... The boats in question are in the +50k range each... he couldn't believed what he heard. He just politely said "Fuck you mam" and flushed it, went back to work. After he told me the story, I laugh out loud and promise myself to never, ever, answer their calls / do any business with 'em. When customers want to fix the prices, it's the right time to turn down the conversation.

 

[2B]

There is no doubt in our mind that this is a completed and irrefutable FUBAR on this person.

We know this persons boss and so losing this "client", besides he is not liked, is NOT a concern as we have already done countless jobs for other departments in the company

to reiterate the point, when it was said nothing is done before a PO issued. It is referring to a signed document from the account department stating that QUOTE XXX is approved and will be paid by xx terms. if they are a "new" customer a CC must be on file or a deposit made before ANY work is done, mock-ups, supplies purchased, ETC...
it is BAD BUSINESS to do anything on a verbal approval without having some form of payment option on file ie Credit Card. Especially on large orders, you will get burnt!

the quote that was originally sent was broke down per banner (SQFT and QTY) and per frame. there was NO missing what we were going to supply!

Not thinking twice about this, no skin off my nose and no sleep lost.

 

[Gino]

A big DEFINITELY..... walk away.