How timely. I recently nearly got burned by not demanding a deposit.
I do lots of boat lettering, and the process is wrought with potentially uncompensated time. So I’ve devised a system where if the customer wants me to come and do a site visit to the marina to measure, color match and assess the whole scope of the job, I charge $40.00 to do so. That way, if they don’t proceed with the job, at least my time is covered (albeit at a reduced rate).
If any customer (boat lettering or otherwise) wants me to proceed with design and emailing proofs, I require a deposit with C/C. As the old adage goes: “Design time ain’t free”.
So last week some woman calls me for some boat lettering. I explain my $40.00 fee for the site visit, and she says: “Does that include the name & installation & everything?” I should have known right there who I was dealing with. I explained that no, it just covers the site visit. She agreed and I went to the marina. She paid me the $40.00, and in my mind, I figure that if someone pays the $40.00, they’re going to proceed with going through with the job, so I didn’t bother with insisting on getting a C/C number. After all, it can appear a little overly officious on these relatively small jobs. She asked roughly how much it would cost, and I suggested about $200.00
So I proceeded (Thurs.) to draw up the transom and all details in my computer, and chose a nice font for the boat name and port name. Over the course of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I went back & forth with her via email with multiple changes. In terms of making changes and “trying things”, she turned out to be the nightmare psycho woman customer we all dread, but I continued, ignoring the alarm bells that were ringing in the back of my mind. So on Tuesday, she finally called and said that she was happy with that, and how much would it be. I said that I had spent a lot more time on the design than anticipated, but said that $225.00 would be fine.
She replied with: “Hmmm, that’s more than I wanted to spend; I’ll think about it and let you know.” I just about spat my coffee. I said that I had spent a lot of time on this and that this is an inherent part of doing the job. Her reply was: “Ya, but it’s just computer graphics right? It’s not like you’re laying it all out by hand.” My mind was reeling on just how to reply to such a stupid statement. But what could I do? I didn’t have a deposit. She had me.
After the call ended, my level of anger reached an unhealthy level; mainly at her narcissistic level of disrespect for other people’s time, but also at myself for not getting a deposit.
Fortunately she has elected to go ahead with the lettering, but I sure learned a lesson.
BTW: Demand not only the deposit on your larger job, but also the "balance due upon completion".
