Got burned, my fault

[gabagoo]

This is a situation anyone could run into... Existing customer emails me and wants me to set up a decal for equipment. I get the particulars and set up 2 versions. I also priced 3 quantites with and without lamination. Sends me back an email likes version A but wants this, this ,and this changed ( I could hardly understand what she had written) She had emailed me a scan of their logo (which I have on file) and I noticed it was a little different than mine. I mentioned it to her and she said she wanted mine in there... She also wanted the decal slightly larger and I said OK, and would send an updated price.
I decided to hold off on the price until I finished with all this tinkering. Set it up as to what she wanted and sent off a pdf.

Sends me a scan of chicken scratch and has 4 more changes.... OK I do it and then she sends another emailing asking me why I did not make the changes on the logo that were clearly visible in her scan.... this is the question I asked the day before and she said to use my version. OK I am now starting to wonder if this woman is nuts or on medication.

I have come this far may as well see it through.
Make the changes and this time I put the new prices in ( went up about $50.00 to cover tiny increase in size and the extra art time.)

I am such a goof and I guess tired and did not want to convert the decal into a bitmap and sent off the pdf (with non editable function which we all know means squat).

Sends an email today , no Hi or good morning, just... "the decals are to expensive and we have decided to hold off"

FU I say to myself!!!

I send her back an email and I nicely say Hi Catherine ( you douchebag)
I don't understand how price is of any relevance considering I had prices in the first versions I sent you and have made 3 or 4 changes since then.
Why would you have me continue making changes if the price was to high?

Her response was that she never really looked at the price and they were holding off and making changes and would be in touch.

Thanks for the kiss off beatch!!!

I am completely guilty of it getting that far and I am out about 45 minutes in time....but this is rare to have happen with an exisiting customer you have done work for over a period of time, although I never dealt with her before.
I considered calling the owner and having it out, but where is that going to get me, maybe he was the one who put the stop to us doing the work.
I will wait for the next call and never do layouts unless they agree to pricing first.... and charge them an extra $50.00

just another lesson learned in the ongoing battle

 

[Baz]

We ALL go through that same scenario every now and then.

If it's a regular customer, then suck it up buttercup. You know you can make that up on futur work.

New customers always have to give me a deposit before any artwork gets created.

I know it sucks feeling you wasted time on that project and could have worked on other stuff that needs done but there isn't much you can do.

And my sketches are always password encrypted. My customers can open them up and print them out but that's it.
No copying or editing allowed!

 

[Gino]

Just happened to me yesterday.

Guy came in about a week ago, talking all this stuff about wanting quality and although price must be within his budget, he doesn't want a half@ssed job. He's getting his truck lettered and his trailer. Gave him prices and he said, that sounds good. Well within my range. Thanks. Okay. He gave me the artwork and I e-mailed him to confirm the layout was what he wanted and he did the same thing your gal did. Can you change this and make that bigger over there. Okay. Sent that off and didn't hear from him. Called him yesterday and he said, well, I'm gonna hafta wait til some money comes in. I want to do it, but it's going on a back burner for now. Da fug, you say.

People are just frickin' hilarious. He's talking like $1,600.00 and treating it like it's the national debt. I thought, he came in guns a blazin' and then he has to hold for a couple of hundred bucks ?? How's he gonna run his business ??

 

[J Hill Designs]

And my sketches are always password encrypted. My customers can open them up and print them out but that's it.
No copying or editing allowed!

way too easy to get around. rasterize at 72dpi

 

[Bly]

way too easy to get around. rasterize at 72dpi

Always do this.

 

[ColoPrinthead]

Maybe they had to make this weeks payroll and 86ed the project to be able do it. Sucks they wasted your time.

 

[Baz]

Yeah I usually rasterize the art as well. Sometimes though, if there is to much small detail. I like to live dangerously and leave the vectors in

 

[MikePro]

big fan of simply taking a screen shot of my drawings/layout for emailing to clients. resolution is good enough for viewing on a computer screen, but is horrible for reproduction. it also cuts the file size to ~1mB, which is also awesome for quick emailing.

 

[gabagoo]

big fan of simply taking a screen shot of my drawings/layout for emailing to clients. resolution is good enough for viewing on a computer screen, but is horrible for reproduction. it also cuts the file size to ~1mB, which is also awesome for quick emailing.

If it were a new client or one I suspected of being like this I would have done that, but this woman is new. Maybe she trying to make points with the boss. I'm sure she sent my file out for other prices and with prices included in the pdf, not hard for someone to beat.

Oh well, I will have to drive over and scout the place out and find out which car is hers and then throw a dead fish in the back seat

 

[TXFB.INS]

way too easy to get around. rasterize at 72dpi

and add a watermark over the design

 

[Gino]

Nah, throw it on the manifold. That'll last a lo-o-o-ong time.

 

[Baz]

If it were a new client or one I suspected of being like this I would have done that, but this woman is new. Maybe she trying to make points with the boss. I'm sure she sent my file out for other prices and with prices included in the pdf, not hard for someone to beat.

Oh well, I will have to drive over and scout the place out and find out which car is hers and then throw a dead fish in the back seat

Man ... New people coming in to your existing customer can be a real pain. Sometimes they have their own guy or like you say, trying to earn points with the boss.

I've lost customers in situations like that but on the flip side ... have gained new customers because of the same situation.

Anyways ... Still sucks you wasted time on it ... Hopefully they will contact you at the end of the year and say: Remember that project? We would like to go ahead with it. Is it still the same price? (hehehe)

 

[gabagoo]

I thought maybe I should look her up on LinkedIn and sure enough I found her and she is new.... This is what she wrote.
Regularly received positive feedback for excellent work performance and have been recongnized as a pivotal player in reducing costs. I have been regarded as a "profit centre rather than an over head". :


That account is gone for sure

 

[Baz]

Run Forest Run !

 

[Biker Scout]

I just got burned for 16 hours and they have a functioning website. Of course was all a rush to try to go live before their big pitch to incoming clients. They got cards, you name it. A few days go by and I hear nothing from them. It's now been a month and I've not gotten one email response.

Since I still have their GoDaddy credentials, I went in and changed their password. So, I'll give them one more meeting and if they decide they don't want or need what I already had made for them, since it was probably all for show and they don't need it now. If that's there stance, I'm going to place a large "Censor Word Box" hovering over their webpages, with their names and say they they do not honor their commitments or pay their bills. F'em!

 

[2B]

at least you are only burned on hours and no loss on materials.

if they are gone, then send them a bill for design work and if no pay collection agencies will be more than willing to take it.

 

[TyrantDesigner]

If it were a new client or one I suspected of being like this I would have done that, but this woman is new. Maybe she trying to make points with the boss. I'm sure she sent my file out for other prices and with prices included in the pdf, not hard for someone to beat.

Oh well, I will have to drive over and scout the place out and find out which car is hers and then throw a dead fish in the back seat

I miss the days of hubcaps ... I was at war with a neighbor and stuck a block of frozen squid in each of his hubcaps ... horrible stuff because it reaks like dead fish farts for about a week in the heat of summer and the fact the moisture sort of stays in solid hubcaps (especially in humid *** florida) ... best part ... it dries out and the smell goes away ... until it rains again and the smell returns ... that stink gets everywhere ... the car, the engine bay, etc. and it wafts so it's hard to pin point.

Lately I've been contemplating taking a bucket of liquid dog poo and pouring it on a neighbors car who drove through my front yard after jumping the curb and didn't have the decency to stop, apologize for putting divits in my yard and tread on my concrete. I mean ... a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water and dog poo closed up and left to ferment in the sun for a week would be about right. ... nah, I'll never do it ... I don't have the mean streak I did when I was younger.

It is fun to think about doing though.


I haven't been burned like that lately (call me lucky) most of the jobs I've done without a deposit were easily paid and no issues ... did have a few tire kickers lately who tried to pull the 'weeeelllll, if you design something I like I might order something" trick ... I just ask a million questions, and tell them without an order as a commitment ... it will be about 6 months before I can even look at it (and I pull out a stack of the same papers about an inch thick) ... they either jump in or walk out ... either way ... they don't leave me dangling with just the tip in.

 

[player]

I had a high tech guy tell me some time ago that when you help measure, decide on materials, type of sign etc. is called "building a specification" and that is billable. We should try not to build the spec for free.

 

[rjssigns]

One of our regulars called and said the drive thru menu board blew away could I fix it? So I drove over, measured, and sent a bid. This is where it gets into WTF territory. Get a call two days later and got told: Another guy is doing it. Came in and said what we had is ugly and he can "fix" it. Said he'll do it for snacks and coffee.

 

[jfiscus]

re: original post:
If they're possibly going with someone else, or not having them printed at all then just send them a bill to cover your artwork time.
Tell them that when they eventually place the order for these decals, their invoice will reflect no artwork charges.
I assume a regular customer knows you charge for artwork and don't work for free.

Mechanics shops charge for diagnosis, even if they don't replace the part.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

Since I still have their GoDaddy credentials, I went in and changed their password. So, I'll give them one more meeting and if they decide they don't want or need what I already had made for them, since it was probably all for show and they don't need it now. If that's there stance, I'm going to place a large "Censor Word Box" hovering over their webpages, with their names and say they they do not honor their commitments or pay their bills. F'em!

if you do that, please post links. That would be pretty funny, especially when they get searched on...