Favorite Quote from a Customer Today

[TheProfessor]

I like "Make it light red"... so you mean pink? "no, not pink, light red"...

saklfsajdlsjskssajARGH

 

[RVSG-THOM]

We share a building with a lube shop. and we have 5 Foot Lettering on our top widows and lettering all over the rest of the shop windows that state we do Vinyl, Stickers, Vehicle Graphics, and such. And some how get "customers" coming in at least four time a week asking for an oil change!!! i Just don't get it. I'm a signmaker, and can't make anything bigger or brighter on our windows to make idiots read the signs.

 

[Bigdawg]

I love what you did! But I want to change the font to Algerian... and use Shelley Script on the bottom. Oh yeah... we want the channel letters that way too.





.

 

[Slowpoke17]

I had one this week myself. Guy tells me he needs vinyl done, likes my work ,blah, blah, blah, then throws me the "catch". He asks me if I can do his vinyl work now, and then let him pay me for it "when I start making money". He needs me to do the job so that he can get "recognition" to start making him money. I laughed, and he got ticked. I told him "I went to the grocery store to buy groceries and they wouldn't let me take the food and pay them later". He had the nerve to say "well, that's different". I just told him I couldn't do it, he responds with "well, I will tell others about this". I then got ticked and said, "what are you going to tell people, You want free stuff and nobody will do it" and then told him to go to the bank, get some money and we will talk. I am relatively "new" to the sign world but I am not new on common sense. Some people. Thanks for listening gang

 

[Border]

The same guy that I discussed earlier in this thread, who is now FIRED, wanted the printed vinyl to match his truck's paint job, EXACTLY.

When I told him that was nearly impossible, he said "Man, I don't understand that...can't you just call Ford and get the numbers and punch them into your printer?" And he totally came off mad, like I was BS-ing him when I said it doesn't work that way.
I put more effort into being patient and trying to educate this guy than any other customer I've ever had and he just kept getting worse.

Reason # 123-5a that he is now FIRED!

 

[Blazingsun]

Recently a woman wanted a 4'x4' sign. I sent her the layout and she said she liked it but wanted to see what it would look like turned the other way. I told her it would be the same since it's 4'x4'. She said, "Oh, so you can't turn it the other way?". What do you say to that?!

LOL.. Send her the layout again and say here I turned it the other way..does it look better...

 

[Graphics.Atl]

The same guy that I discussed earlier in this thread, who is now FIRED, wanted the printed vinyl to match his truck's paint job, EXACTLY.

When I told him that was nearly impossible, he said "Man, I don't understand that...can't you just call Ford and get the numbers and punch them into your printer?" And he totally came off mad, like I was BS-ing him when I said it doesn't work that way.
I put more effort into being patient and trying to educate this guy than any other customer I've ever had and he just kept getting worse.

Reason # 123-5a that he is now FIRED!

You should have told him that you normally could match it however your metallic and pearl cartridges were currently empty

 

[emo]

Painter comes in to have his truck doors lettered. His logo angles up from right to left. Job done and he comes to pick up his truck and gets all hot and bothered 'cause it "ain't the same on both sides".

Whaddya mean? If you stand looking at it it reads the same on both sides.

"It don't slant in the same direction".

Nope. It don't.

"I don't care what you have to do but I want it to go in the same direction."

I told him I could make one side read backwards. That'd do it. (puttin' him on with just a dash of sarcasm)

Again with "I don't care what you have to do...."

I turned him over to the boss to 'splain it to him 'cause I had lost me patience.

 

[anotherdog]

My favorite saying is by John Wayne. "All hat and no cattle" which I apply to customers that want a quote for 600 signs and then want you to keep your price quoted when they order 50.

Further to this is the customer who gets you to print at that price saying the other 550 will be coming next week (and you print in hoping to make money on the full job), but you never see them again.

It's a WalMart world, every day is cheaper and nastier than the last.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

Further to this is the customer who gets you to print at that price saying the other 550 will be coming next week (and you print in hoping to make money on the full job), but you never see them again.

It's a WalMart world, every day is cheaper and nastier than the last.

that's where "you'll get the discount when the other 550 come in" works....

one of those things you learn with time i guess

 

[rfulford]

My all time favorites:

How bad will it look?

I just need a photocopy of this mirror and/or piece of glass.

I don't want to pay for a scan just toss my poster up on your color copier and give me a letter size print.


The best conversation ever went something like this

Employee: Sir I am calling because your original file is sized to 10" wide by 7.5" high and I can not enlarge it to 30"x15"

Construction Engineer: Why?

Employee: Well, it will not scale proportionally.

Construction Engineer: You are going to have to cut out all that jargon chief! I am not in the mood

This guy's firm built bridges!

 

[J Hill Designs]

heh

 

[signpro]

so far, no one's called in a stupidity order today. but it's not yet 9:30am... i haven't lost hope for the rest of the day! ha.

 

[Hwy]

I deal with art directors and designers on a daily basis and often hear these comments:

Can you add more "drama"

We need more "snap" on the image

How about we "pop" this area

 

[CL Graphics]

i get at least one call every day that goes like this:

me: CL Graphics
caller: Is this comcast
me: No this is CL Graphics. You must have dialed the wrong number.
caller: are you sure, the cable company told me to call this number.
me:Yeah I'm pretty sure.
caller:OK

2 minutes Later

me: CL Graphics
caller: Is this comcast
me: No this is CL Graphics. You must have dialed the wrong number again.
caller: OK

apparently the cable company number is one number off mine. What I dont get is how these people constantly dial it wrong twice in a row.

 

[Graphicdetailsinc]

I can't believe no one has mentioned anything about...
"My 5 year old son came up with this and drew it with finger paint, and I just love it!! Can you make it for me as our company logo"
or "here is this napkin I drew on at lunch with my layout, so theres no art or setup right because I already have my design"

 

[Jane Diaz]

"I want you to think outside the box" ?!?!?

 

[HaroldDesign]

"I don't understand how it isn't vector art. It's saved as an Illustrator .eps"

 

[briankb]

My primary business with talking to NEW customers is in graphic design not signage so maybe this is different.

However, this past friday a potentially new customer calls and says they are calling around, 1st clue, and would like to discuss options for web design and hosting for possibly 3 different websites. I call him back this morning and I introduce myself and the company name and what we do. He asks if we can show examples of our work and I ask him if he has visited our website. He says no, 2nd clue, so I tell him the site url and then he asks our hourly rate which I tell him. He says he will review the site and if he finds "something of value" he will call back. I hope he doesn't. I HATE lazy clients they never work well with our small company. I all him lazy because on our telephone system introduction I literally spell out our website URL including saying "dot see oh em" instead of just "dot com". Maybe I'm being unreasonable in my quest for perfect clients but over the past 10 years I've seen these types and they never amount to anything. The best clients we have do their research or at least visit our website, we have 100's of examples of our work on our portfolio, and they are ready to go. Our most recent and soon to be favorite client of all times is a former programmer who has started a business. She provided exactly what we asked as far as content for the website and it has been great for both of us. She gets what she wants FASTER and we don't have to babysit her on getting her homework done ;-)

When I am reviewing a new vendor I always do my own research before calling by trying to find their website and if it's a large enough company feedback from customers on forums. I do this BEFORE calling and bothering someone. Am I being unreasonable in expecting the same from new customers? We do not have a retail front so new clients are either referrals (not this guy), from our single line phone book ad, internet search, or a website we designed with our link in the footer.

 

[Ponto]

"I don't understand how it isn't vector art. It's saved as an Illustrator .eps"

One of my favourites... sadly, I come across this in the industry and even those that I have worked with...

JP