God I hate these type of customers

[wetgravy]

In the graphics shop I am in right now ... we do 95% of our business is big rig signs and lettering. (the other 5 being the local ricers who know I can and am willing to do just about anything they can think of ... stupid or otherwise ... it's not my vehicle.) ... as a result of the high amount of truck drivers who NEVER listen to what i'm explaining, DON'T care that i'm trying to make their truck look good and/or an obvious PILL to just about everyone ... there are days like today where I want to beat some of these aqua maroons half silly. Especially when you show them on the screen how big of a graphic they will get, they still don't get how big it is so you throw in the brown paper and a sharpy and show them that way ... they STILL don't get how big it is ... you take them practically by the hand TO THEIR TRUCK ... show them on the truck how big it will be ... they say ok " Yeah, that is perfect" ... you install the 3 color graphic ... show up tell you that you dirtied their paint job wet applying (while your still applying) and that they really wanted it TWICE as big. ARRRGGG. hate ... so much hate.

 

[RebeckaR]

I feel your pain and I share your hatred.
I love design by committee. They approve the design, but then keep dragging other people in to look at it.
"My mother-in-law's neighbor doesn't like the shape of the "N".
Gah!

So we finally get all the family and neighbors happy and set up the appointment to letter the truck.... no show.

Finally get the driver on the phone.
Him: "I don't ever know what my schedule is gonna be. I got a load so I had to take it."
Me: Gah!

Okay then. Schedule again..... no show.
They call a week later and want to drop the truck to me RIGHT NOW.
Him: "Can I pick it up at 5?"
Me: Uh... no! I can't get the vinyl ready and installed in 2 hours, I have other things scheduled to do today - people who KEPT their appointment - and it's raining and 32 degrees outside.

I learned long ago not to cut the vinyl until the truck is here, cuz sometimes I've never actually laid eyes on the truck and I don't trust anybody else's measurements.

We hates them. We hates them soooo much....

But we loves their money!
__________________

 

[R08]

....
I learned long ago not to cut the vinyl until the truck is here, cuz sometimes I've never actually laid eyes on the truck and I don't trust anybody else's measurements.

We hates them. We hates them soooo much....

But we loves their money!
__________________

I'm thinking I need to start doing that for some customers.

 

[VINYLIMAGEZ]

I take a picture of the vehicle, blow it up to scale insert the grafx in corel/flexi/photoshop or whatever and I hand him a pen........Just sign here sir, ill be ready in a cupple hours we will call you.

 

[wetgravy]

I almost never start blind cutting unless i won't be installing the graphics. And even then we either need a deposit, the person here, or the vehicle. Saves us a lot of headaches when a trucker randomly throws his two hands up and says .... "oohhh about that big"

Yeah, the guys that are in a rush on their own schedule is always a kick in the money maker. There is a reason why i have a small acrylic sign that says "Bad planning on your part does not equate to an emergency on my part". last week I got cussed out while I was applying a customers graphics because I wouldn't drop everything (destroying the graphic I was in the process of applying) and give this guy my full attention ... mind you I told him he only had to wait 5 minutes for me to finish (on the last panel) and i would be able to do anything he needed ... but i'm the "inconsiderate @#*$&## that won't give a minute of" my "time to a customer" ... also i should note his art "should be in the computer" which it wasn't and i also got yelled at for that ... then he wondered why he got charged so much. (he got the 25% aggrevation fee and a rush fee ... not proud of that .. but i was hoping it was high enough for him to walk out ... he didn't and the money was nice.) Most of my other customers that want graphics done right a way and have to wait just storm out after 10 seconds of waiting, we do appointments sometimes but most of our work is first come first serve and some people just do NOT know what that means ... even if you're sitting down WITH a customer and you are actively laying out their stuff.

I have 2 other favorites that I get at LEAST once a week. One i get is the person who can't speak english and it takes about 30-45 minutes to lay out a simple graphic but understands every word when it comes to the price and always says "too much!" . and the other is the "but i can get this stuff for x price down the road" and "you sure you can't go any lower?" both of those i LOVE ... cause they STILL get the vinyl ... but you know they are just dinking with you hoping you lowball yourself ... still takes 20 minutes of saying no to get it through to them that you don't drop your own prices.

Probably the only other ones I get that irk me are the ones that always say "i don't care" then spend 15 minutes moving one line of text up and down. Either that or the truckers that stand over your shoulder making sure you know how to use a ruler but have less paint on their door than the vinyl you are applying ... it's always the ones that are trying to slap lipstick on a donkey to try to make it look more like a woman that always try to be picky about everything even though they "don't care".

Needless to say ... Not really a fan of truckers some days.

 

[AUTO-FX]

A manager I had a long time ago told me- you dont have to like them, just take their money. And if you REALLY dont like them, take MORE of their money.

 

[Deaton Design]

A manager I had a long time ago told me- you dont have to like them, just take their money. And if you REALLY dont like them, take MORE of their money.

hehehe...thats a good one. Gotta remember that...:ROFLMAO:

 

[Jillbeans]

Words to live by, Auto.
The best is when after they make you produce something that breaks every rule you know, they decide that perhaps you were right after all.
Then you get to charge them to change it.

Love.....Jill

 

[ScottB]

How about the customer who asked for the artwork in a .jpg file so they could use is as a wallpaper on their computers. I should have seen this comming. After creating a low res jpg and hand delivering it I later find out that they have gone to another competing shop to get a better price. Now they have poor looking stickers (thanks to the low res .jpg) at a cheaper price. Ready for kicker? A few months later they wanted the rest of their artwork (that we developed in house). Hmmm, I wonder what for? If you wonder what I said to them. I said it nicely and as calmly as possible that the pricing they paid for the stickers and embroidery never included the actual purchase of the artwork. Now I make sure that if there's any in-house developed artwork, there's a release signed to protect my back side from getting burned again.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I said it nicely and as calmly as possible that the pricing they paid for the stickers and embroidery never included the actual purchase of the artwork. Now I make sure that if there's any in-house developed artwork, there's a release signed to protect my back side from getting burned again.

I usually have a payment schedule that shows what prices are for vector files(not my master ones mind you, they really pay an upcharge for those, so much so that most don't do it), then the variety of products, or what the products are without the files etc. It changes if they want files, but they want an internet file, but not the vector files etc. I always try to give as many options that I can depending on what the budget is.

 

[CropMarks]

before I owned my own shop I used to print out a life size version of whatever I was doing on the oversize B&W oce printer that we had. I would also do the "take a picture of it" method and make it life size in illustrator. Now that I no longer have access to a oversize B&W machine, I make tiled prints from our copier that are made of 11x17 sheets. This has saved me from a lot of redos

 

[john1]

Screw it, some jobs you need to just do, not take a portfolio photo and take the cash.

Some works better than no work if it's all you have.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Screw it, some jobs you need to just do, not take a portfolio photo and take the cash.

Some works better than no work if it's all you have.

I'm right there with you. There are some exceptions, but they have to be pretty extreme.

 

[showcase 66]

I had one of my good friends want a new logo and business cards. I worked with him for about 3 weeks on the designs. At that time his wife had some medical issues arise and he wanted to hold off for a little. No big deal he is a friend. In all the images I sent him I never put my watermark over them, since, you know he was a friend. About a month later I was having breakfast with my wife at a little coffee shop and what do I see on the wall. My friends biz card I designed for him. I could have killed him.

To this day any work I send to a customer to review has my logo over it. Except one. I had another guy want me to design a post card for him to do a mass mailing. I have heard from other people he was good at not paying and stealing stuff so I decided to have fun with him.

Never once did he ask about me not putting my logo on the proofs until they were finalized. He said his boss needs to see the final design with no watermark on it so he can see the "true design". They had paid the initial payment for me to start working on the design.
Finally after telling him it was against my policy to send him a file without a watermark on it, over and over. I finally said I would send him one but it would be on the next day. He was fine with that.

The next day I sent him the file in full resolution but with some extras.

I added across the front of the card "If you are reading this sentence, this company has stolen this design and has printed it without permission. If you believe this is wrong, please call the number on this card and tell them what you think of business stealing from other businesses".

3 weeks later I get a postcard in the mail and guess what. My statement was still on there. 1 week later I get a call from the guy yelling and screaming at me that he is getting calls from people yelling at him and telling him that they would never do business with a company who steals other peoples work. I laughed and I said well I told you in the email and also on the contract you signed that you can not reproduce my designs with out my consent unless you purchase the rights to the designs. Plus you should have read the card again before you had them printed.

 

[AUTO-FX]

is that really true? that's friggin great!

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I had one of my good friends want a new logo and business cards. I worked with him for about 3 weeks on the designs. At that time his wife had some medical issues arise and he wanted to hold off for a little. No big deal he is a friend. In all the images I sent him I never put my watermark over them, since, you know he was a friend. About a month later I was having breakfast with my wife at a little coffee shop and what do I see on the wall. My friends biz card I designed for him. I could have killed him.

To this day any work I send to a customer to review has my logo over it. Except one. I had another guy want me to design a post card for him to do a mass mailing. I have heard from other people he was good at not paying and stealing stuff so I decided to have fun with him.

Never once did he ask about me not putting my logo on the proofs until they were finalized. He said his boss needs to see the final design with no watermark on it so he can see the "true design". They had paid the initial payment for me to start working on the design.
Finally after telling him it was against my policy to send him a file without a watermark on it, over and over. I finally said I would send him one but it would be on the next day. He was fine with that.

The next day I sent him the file in full resolution but with some extras.

I added across the front of the card "If you are reading this sentence, this company has stolen this design and has printed it without permission. If you believe this is wrong, please call the number on this card and tell them what you think of business stealing from other businesses".

3 weeks later I get a postcard in the mail and guess what. My statement was still on there. 1 week later I get a call from the guy yelling and screaming at me that he is getting calls from people yelling at him and telling him that they would never do business with a company who steals other peoples work. I laughed and I said well I told you in the email and also on the contract you signed that you can not reproduce my designs with out my consent unless you purchase the rights to the designs. Plus you should have read the card again before you had them printed.

Classic case of the bitter bite. I like it.

 

[PromoGuyTy]

I had one of my good friends want a new logo and business cards. I worked with him for about 3 weeks on the designs. At that time his wife had some medical issues arise and he wanted to hold off for a little. No big deal he is a friend. In all the images I sent him I never put my watermark over them, since, you know he was a friend. About a month later I was having breakfast with my wife at a little coffee shop and what do I see on the wall. My friends biz card I designed for him. I could have killed him.

To this day any work I send to a customer to review has my logo over it. Except one. I had another guy want me to design a post card for him to do a mass mailing. I have heard from other people he was good at not paying and stealing stuff so I decided to have fun with him.

Never once did he ask about me not putting my logo on the proofs until they were finalized. He said his bossd needs to see the final design with no watermark on it so he can see the "true design". They had paid the initial payment for me to start working on the design.
Finally after telling him it was against my policy to send him a file without a watermark on it, over and over. I finally said I would send him one but it would be on the next day. He was fine with that.

The next day I sent him the file in full resolution but with some extras.

I added across the front of the card "If you are reading this sentence, this company has stolen this design and has printed it without permission. If you believe this is wrong, please call the number on this card and tell them what you think of business stealing from other businesses".

3 weeks later I get a postcard in the mail and guess what. My statement was still on there. 1 week later I get a call from the guy yelling and screaming at me that he is getting calls from people yelling at him and telling him that they would never do business with a company who steals other peoples work. I laughed and I said well I told you in the email and also on the contract you signed that you can not reproduce my designs with out my consent unless you purchase the rights to the designs. Plus you should have read the card again before you had them printed.

One word...awesome.

 

[showcase 66]

is that really true? that's friggin great!

Yup! did it 3 years ago. He threatened to suit me but my lawyer (my best friends dad who is a lawyer) had a letter waiting for him telling him that he violated our contract and we have the right to go after him for any and all damages occurred for this project but would gladly not press any charges if he was to pay full cost of the design.

I never got paid but I have never heard from the guy again. I have done business with the company since then but never with this guy. I am not sure if he is still there or not.

I really shouldn't have done it but at the time I didnt really care. Even my friends dad (the lawyer) told me I shouldnt have done it.

 

[AUTO-FX]

You get to the point where people are just ridiculous and you have to do something.
I dont know what goes on in some peoples heads- i guess it's a form of self preservation at their jobs- they have to constantly strive for the cheapest price for their projects instead of looking at the bigger picture- getting it done- on time- with quality- and no messin' around.
Personally, i would much rather go way out of my way for a repeat customer who understands the whole "you watch my back and I'll watch yours" concept.
And that way of business-having a relationship- is what seems to be missing any more with the internet.

 

[GypsyGraphics]

CSDD... i think i'd have been laughing so hard when this guy call, i wouldn't have been able to speak!

What do you mean you shouldn't have done it...it's the greatest thing EVER!!!!