Employee price error...What would you do?

[thesignguy1986]

Hey there I was out on an install today and I had a customer stop by the shop. The employee that was there is a great employee but really screwed up a quote. He had a customer come in and ask for a quote on 100 10" x 10" black vinyl stickers. A easy graphic with his company name. I would have normally charged $4 a piece for these. The problem is he charged $1.25 ea. Now that is just way to low and I'm really upset. He's been a great employee and never really had this problem before but what I'm wondering is what would you do?

Keep the money and do the work? Or call the customer and explain what happened and offer a refund?

I'm going to end up doing the job and though it's defintally to low I just can't do that to a customer when it isn't his fault.

 

[ChristianSlager]

I would call the client prior to making the product and say "I just wanted you to know that we are getting your project into production, but I wanted to make you aware that my employee really made a mistake on the pricing on these, and I am going to honor the price on this batch, but when you reorder the correct price is $xx." You might get lucky and get a sympathetic client that will either offer to pay the full price, or meet you in the middle, but don't expect it. My next step would be to tell my employee to be more careful because next time the difference would be coming out of his or her check.

 

[StopSignGraphics]

Whatever you decide make sure the customer is aware that it was a error on price. You don't want him coming back in a couple of months wanting another 100 and have him upset when the price is different.

As far as the employee goes it was probably an honest mistake. I'd try to figure out how he made the error and make sure it doesn't happen again

 

[pointjockey]

pretty simple. When your customer picks up their order, explain the mistake and honor the price quoted. When he needs to reorder he will be aware of the true cost. We all make mistakes and your GREAT employee will become even greater.

I have a new salesperson and I can tell you that I don't like selling Digital print banners for $5 bucks a Sq Ft. Stuff happens.

 

[gbarker]

Not only would I verbally tell my client, I'd show the correction on the invoice. Show the correct price for each line item and than show a discount for improper quote (or however you want to word it) that way you and your customer have documentation. I think everyone covered what to do with the employee. We all make mistakes.

 

[Stealth Ryder]

Honor the quote. Let the customer know you did honor the quote and the true cost. Teach the employee how to properly quote the job... Everybody wins!!! Customer will come back because of your great work and honestly, Employee will become an even better employee and you will sleep a little better tonight for doing the right thing... Everybody wins...

 

[GAC05]

Sounds like good advice already given.
If it doesn't work out you could always send your guy over to work for Mosh....

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Air Art Girl]

Honor the quote. Great suggestions above.

 

[mtmdesigns]

Relax... You as the owner should know these things happen and be happy it's not a "big" mistake.

 

[thesignguy1986]

Well thanks for the ideas guy. As I said in the original post I was defintally going to keep the quote because in all honesty its just vinyl and really no cost but I'm still upset about the error. I mean if he was new I'd understand but he's been in the business for awhile and he's quoted similar things before thats why I was so upset.

Defintally nice to see you guys agree and wouldn't ask for a refund. Would take some nerve to tell a customer who paid you "sorry but thats the wrong price heres your cash back"

 

[CentralSigns]

On the invoice show the real price and show a less discount to get to the employees priceing. That way the customer sees what the real price is and the 90% iscount your staff gave.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Dude, lighten up on being upset at the employee, shit happens. I'd much rather have an employee who screwed a quote every now and then than an employee who was selling stuff out the back door. Mistakes happen, make sure he learns from it and move on.

Hell, I misquote a job at least every other month and I've been doing this 18 years.

 

[phototec]

Screen printing 20,000 night lights

This reminds me of a story that happened to a friend of mine who was screen printing 20,000 night lights for the client (see attached photo), you know the small flat square ones that kind of glow in the dark. He was all set to start the job on Friday evening, they had to be completed by Monday morning, the shop owner had the artwork and color approved, the client provided the blank night lights, the shop owner was going out of town over the weekend, but his employees were going to work over the weekend to screen print all night lights.

Monday morning when the owner came in he went straight to the back of the shop to check out the night lights, and to his surprise, he discovered they were all printed, but with the wrong PMS color.

Boy, was he upset, not only did he pay his employees over time to work all weekend to get the job done, no he had to pay the client for the wrong color printed night lights which were scrap now, and then pay the employees over time again to work all night Monday night to reprint 20,000 more nightlights.

I asked the owner if he was going to make the employees pay for the mistake, and he said, no, labor laws prohibit employers from charging employees for their mistakes.

 

[sjm]

Works out to about $2.00 a square foot. Seems like a fair trade price.

 

[andy]

If it's your money paying for mistakes it's always a good idea to be there so you can protect your wallet.

Can't say I'm all that sympathetic... if I have a job which is crucial there is no way I'm skiving off for a bit of R&R.... get the job done, relax and THEN have a break.

I personally like to work by example... if I expect you to work unsociable hours then I'll be right there next to you lending a hand.

 

[I-Style]

Did you ask him how he calculated the 1.25?

And we all do mistakes thats why we have things like tip ex,a pice of rubber on the end of a pencil .......

 

[JR's]

sounds like good advice already given.
If it doesn't work out you could always send your guy over to work for mosh....

Wayne k
guam usa

lol

jr

 

[Checkers]

Stuff happens. Honor the price, but note the discount.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what went wrong. Why did the employee quote such a low price?

Next, fix the problem and make sure the employee is properly trained to not do it again.

If it continues to happen repeatedly, then take appropriate action.

For the record, an employee who doesn't make mistakes is an employee who does no work. Just make sure your pricing reflects those occasional "oops".

Checkers

 

[imagep]

Quite a few years ago I had an employee to screw up a BUNCH of jobs her first week. I was so excited about her screwing them up because the fact that she was screwing up jobs ment that she was taking the initition to attempt to do jobs on her own and without supervision.

Most people we have hired have no initititive and would just stand around and do nothing rather than to try to figure out how to do something on their own.

I can deal with an occasional employee error, as long as the employee is doing stuff. I tell all my employees that they are authorized to make decisions, and I have a policy that I will never scold or belittle an employee because of a one time mistake, but I do reserve the right to explain to them to never do it that way again.

 

[Jet Fast Printing]

Like everyone else said...... whoops, it happens. We all make mistakes, take the lumps, tell the customer about the price next time, ask the employee what happened, move on.