Getting customers to check proofs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Marlene]

Marlene, let up on it, til the OP comes back and clears up your views vs. the rest of everyone else's views.

Stop for a minute and look how close the 'd' and 'c' are on the keyboard. It appears when the OP said
My spell checker has not picked it up as the word "price" and pride" are spelled correctly!!!

He input the wrong word and the customer didn't notice it for whatever reason. However, your view is quite possible, so we need to chill, until the OP can clear the muddied waters.

who died and left you in charge of who and what a person posts on the site?

 

[equippaint]

You said you caught it 2m into the print - half way through printing? So you knew you typed it wrong after seeing this? If you knew it at this point, then you knew what the low res photo said also - and was correct. Otherwise you would not have caught anything and it would have went to the customer. Furthermore, even if he supplied a high res file for you to use, your fingers would have still transposed the d & c, it was never an issue with what the customer provided.
I dont care how many disclaimers that you have, making a customer pay for your mistake is not very professional. If you only wasted 2m of material, you should still have plenty of money in the job to make this a non issue anyways.

 

[Gino]

who died and left you in charge of who and what a person posts on the site?

So what's got your panties all bunched up ??

Who hasta die to write something about the truth ?? The OP has come back and admitted he was responsible for the typo. Perhaps you didn't see his most recent post, but you were wrong, although I was trying to give you credit for another possibility...... but it didn't pan out in your favor.

Chill out and enjoy the scenery. One does not hafta like one another to be correct.

 

[papabud]

if i make a typo. its my fault no matter who or when its caught. i fix it.
my proofing disclaimer comes in when the customer wants something i know is wrong but they still want it.
for example one church wanted their tag line to read " apart of the community" this is wrong. it should be "a part of the community" but they knew better so when it comes back they will pay for it.
if i turned a part into apart i would pay for it.
basically my proof is so i give them what they want and they cant change it to something else later.

 

[ams]

The customer is not the professional in proof reading, you are. Own up to it and reprint.

False. Some people like things spelled differently such as instead of Copy Cat they like Kopy Kat, seen that happen, that isn't our fault. Also like my name is Brion, but everyone says Brian or Bryan, people don't know mine is spelled differently. So when people put unique things in their signs, it throws everyone off or else we change it thinking it's wrong and it's not. Also seen things like Workin' instead of Working, that is how they want it.
Our job is to do what we think they want and then it's up to them to verify it's correct. But any mistakes on our end, we always 100% back it up and redo it for free.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

I agree with most here. Regardless if the customer was supposed to approve or not... you made the mistake. This stuff happens all the time. If you are copying text from a previous picture and you put reed instead of reef that's on you. You shouldn't make your customer pay for that.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Sounds like you discovered the mistake during the printing process. At least it wasn't installed and your customer standing there looking at it.

 

[Gino]

Ya know, this could be a whole new ballgame.

Yes, mr so and so, we can have those 40 3' x 4' signs finished by the end of the week for you. Cost will be $14,000 and we will provide all the artwork and copy.

Kapowie...... Wham-O....... hammer..... thwip......... yoink......... make proof.

Looks good to me.

Okie-Dokie.

Make said signs and find ya made a mistake. Sorry mr so and so, but we found a mistake we made, but you said alright. These signs will now cost you $28,000.

What a way to double your sales, huh ??

 

[papabud]

ah gino you might be on to something. and if we get the signs back we can resell them as vintage

 

[Gino]

Nah........ just make one wrong one on purpose to show the customer's mistake. Keep the rest of them and charge them a second time for the same material over, again. Hocus-pocus is the name of the game. Keep 'em guessing.

 

[papabud]

well if your doing that couldnt you make a typo on the invoice and add an extra zero

 

[Gino]

You could, but think of the sales tax you're gonna hafta report on that one transaction alone.

Yes mr IRS. My cost for doing job was $*600 and $75 in inks, but my sale was $280,000. Nope, I'm not hiding anything. Just read my disclaimer and waivers.

A dozen of those babies a year and you'd be set !!!

 

[heyskull]

My only issue is customers DO NOT EVER check the proof and even if it was my fault or theirs, it always is looked at as I should of checked it and it's my fault.
A proof is for the customer to check (especially if I have had to input the information from a low resolution picture).
Yes the typo is my error, but the main error is they have not checked the proof.
They have just assumed it was correct and you should Never ASSUME, because when you ASSUME, you make an ASS of U and ME.

SC

 

[Gino]

Heyskull, you're pretty much right, in my opinion, but I think they are thinking they don't hafta look for the simple things. I think they wanna know what size something will be on a vehicle, or the colors are basically correct, or maybe negative space and balance. I don't think they are checking every word for spelling errors.

Perhaps, if you want them to take responsibility for errors from your side of things, you may want to add something like....... all spelling, grammar, punctuation, colors and whatever else you need them to check for you outlined in much bolder copy on your proof sheet.

We just did one for a company in which we designed everything. They Okayed everything and were happy with it...... they had picked the colors, gave me the wording and I hadda explain why and how I placed everything. They saw placement on the trucks and machinery with proofs. We then lettered several pieces and vehicles. They then asked me to send the file to a screen printer for making jackets and shirts. I did that, too. They came back about a week later and said they thought the second line of copy was a little too small. Why now ?? I asked. Well, we just thought it should be bigger. Hmmm, Okay, so, do you want me to change your logo for all future jobs ?? Yes. Alright, I won't charge for it, either. When can you change the trucks and stuff you already did ?? I must schedule and the cost for removing certain things and replacing will be........$$XX. Why ?? You had already given me a complete thumbs up and paid for everything and were happy before. Now, someone has put a bug in your ear and you want me to change it for free ?? Nope, ain't gonna do. So, they said all future stuff will remain the same, then.

 

[boxerbay]

you will always have partially blind people approving proofs. when it happens you have two options. you can be the gracious one to reprint at no charge and pull in the client closer to you or you can be a dick make them repay and push the client away from you. you should be making at least a pretty decent margin on large format prints were you could still reprint and cover your costs. if not then your pricing is wrong. yes there is "THE POINT" or "THE PRINCIPLE" but none of that matters in the Print Service Provider world if you want to keep that customer.

 

[eahicks]

Hire a competent designer who not only proofreads their own work, but whatever the customer sends. Don't make a sign unless everything makes sense to YOU and what YOU would want it to say. Just because "their" is spelled right in their copy when it should be "there" doesn't necessarily make it their fault. Our customers appreciate when we find the little hidden goofs before production. We have corrected customer's art/copy many times, because not everyone can grasp the English language.

 

[Gino]

It's really not a good idea to proofread your own work. More often than not, you read what you want and don't see the mistakes you made. You tend to read right over them.

This place proves that to be 110% correct....................​

 

[Chasez]

Gino normally I agree with you on most topics but here I have to disagree. Proofs/shop drawings/ approvals whatever you call them are in place to show the client exactly what they are going to get. It is their responsibility to make sure it is exactly what they want, whether mistakes are made (doesn't matter who made them, the client or the sign company) this is the time to catch them. Everyone makes mistakes and the proofs are out there to help catch them. If you didn't do a proof to have a client sign off on it accepting it the way it is (as it is their chance to proof read and/or make changes to design etc.) why even bother doing a proof at all? If you are going to just redo at your own cost each time then why waste the time setting up and sending off a proof? I'm not saying that we don't help customers out (if there's small spelling errors etc.) we will cover them if we are back in their area but if we have to make a special trip because someone didn't proof read there will be a cost. Again the sign company will need to determine if the cost of the redo is worth telling the client they have to cover it and risk losing the client etc. but that's the sign companies choice/decision. We had done a job year or so ago and supplied a paper proof and a material proof to the client, both were signed off on, job was installed and the client came back saying that it was not what they thought it was going to look like and they didn't like it. Should I have said we will redo it for you for free? No absolutely not... you saw the paper proof showing the design, as well as a scaled down version printed on the exact material.. and signed off on both saying yes proceed with this.

Chaz

 

[Gino]

I completely agree with you based on your example, but yours sounds like a much bigger and more involved project. Just like the sample I gave, earlier. Changing minds or mistakes found on larger items.... first of all, should not happen on either party's side. However, there is a certain amount of responsibility if someone knows everything going in and just is not clear about something. That's on them and I totally agree with you.

However, we're talking about a mistake found not even 6' into a printed media and telling the customer you goofed and they're gonna hafta pay for it, sounds wrong to me. Regardless of a proof, disclaimer or anything else, it would make more sense to just pull it out, fix the dumb mistake and start again and not tell the customer anything of your goof-up.

We all have our ways of doing business and unless someone is gonna suck it up on a little thing like this, you're probably gonna loose a customer, because YOU made a mistake.

Had this been a huge project, all the pieces were finished and installed on the side of a building..... my storyline would most definitely be different. Nevertheless, it didn't happen that way and the OP is out maybe a few dollars of media and y'all wanna jeopardize a relationship for that ??

 

[Chasez]

My thing here though Gino is why even bother doing a proof if your not going to stand behind it. You as a sign guy have the responsibility to produce what the client wants, but how do you know exactly what they want if they don't sign off accepting the design. It is the clients responsibility to make sure that copy/colours/materials etc. are correct as to what you have discussed with them. I'm not saying that we don't redo things at no charge but in the situation of this thread, I would charge back the mistake at cost to the client, I won't make any money on it but I'm not going to lose out on it because they can't proof read. A bit of give and take with the client (doesn't matter if it were first timer or a long standing client). Doesn't matter who made the mistake, they read the mistake and didn't catch it. The proof is there to make sure the client knows exactly what they are getting. Obviously we as sign guys need to make sure our proof reading etc. is done properly but we are only human and mistake can and will happen. If everyone misses a mistake yes someone will have to pay for it. If you charge back the client the media costs and suck up the labor costs its a give and take, you can't take responsibility for everything when it was both parties mistake.

Chaz