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Gotta love Some customers.

HulkSmash

New Member
By yesterday, the 2nd day of the week, we already had some "special" clients.

first one.

Customer: "I'm moving to Denver, I'm a lawyer, and in Florida, I've been paying 1 dollar for 18x28 Gold coro, with simple black text on it. Can you guys match that, I rather not pay shipping"
Me: "No"
Customer: Well your competitor said he would.
Me: If that's the case we wouldn't be talking.
Customer: Well what about if it's just white coro.
Me: No.
Customer: How much for 100?
Me: 700ish.
Customer: THAT'S $7 EACH... WOW....What could i get for like $2.00 each
Me: Draft paper is 2.75 ea. @ 100 its about 1.50.
Customer: Don't expect any good reviews from me. *click*

2nd one:

REFUSES to check his proofs and says it's not his job, it's ours to make sure his email and phone numbers are right. Says it's too much for him to check, he's busy... Our designers tell him we cant print until the proof is signed. He signed it without checking the proof. Needless to say, he gave us the wrong email, and he had to pay to get the whole job redone. It was .com instead .net.

needless to say he was quite raged.
 

sar bossier

New Member
By yesterday, the 2nd day of the week, we already had some "special" clients.

first one.

Customer: "I'm moving to Denver, I'm a lawyer, and in Florida, I've been paying 1 dollar for 18x28 Gold coro, with simple black text on it. Can you guys match that, I rather not pay shipping"
Me: "No"
Customer: Well your competitor said he would.
Me: If that's the case we wouldn't be talking.
Customer: Well what about if it's just white coro.
Me: No.
Customer: How much for 100?
Me: 700ish.
Customer: THAT'S $7 EACH... WOW....What could i get for like $2.00 each
Me: Draft paper is 2.75 ea. @ 100 its about 1.50.
Customer: Don't expect any good reviews from me. *click*

2nd one:

REFUSES to check his proofs and says it's not his job, it's ours to make sure his email and phone numbers are right. Says it's too much for him to check, he's busy... Our designers tell him we cant print until the proof is signed. He signed it without checking the proof. Needless to say, he gave us the wrong email, and he had to pay to get the whole job redone. It was .com instead .net.

needless to say he was quite raged.

DAMN ... Adam, sounds like your day actually went WORSE than mine (had a Monday/Tuesday swap day)! I despise that mentality! I can appreciate your tact in dealing with it, though - especially the lawyer! :thumb:
 

HulkSmash

New Member
DAMN ... Adam, sounds like your day actually went WORSE than mine (had a Monday/Tuesday swap day)! I despise that mentality! I can appreciate your tact in dealing with it, though - especially the lawyer! :thumb:

Weeks actually been good for me. Can't say the same for them
 

sar bossier

New Member
This reminded me of a friend who owns a sign shop, he keeps a roll of toilet paper under the counter, and when he gets people that want CHEAP, PERIOD, he puts the toilet paper and a sharpie on the counter, and says $1.00 per sign.
 

HulkSmash

New Member
This reminded me of a friend who owns a sign shop, he keeps a roll of toilet paper under the counter, and when he gets people that want CHEAP, PERIOD, he puts the toilet paper and a sharpie on the counter, and says $1.00 per sign.

I just took a roll of toilet paper to my girls out front to follow suit. GREAT idea
 

oldgoatroper

Roper of Goats. Old ones.
2nd one:

REFUSES to check his proofs and says it's not his job, it's ours to make sure his email and phone numbers are right. Says it's too much for him to check, he's busy... Our designers tell him we cant print until the proof is signed. He signed it without checking the proof. Needless to say, he gave us the wrong email, and he had to pay to get the whole job redone. It was .com instead .net.

needless to say he was quite raged.


We had a customer like this once, except it was a wrong phone number...

We couldn't even check the number ourselves (as in calling it) as it was just issued by the phone co. for a new business but would not be in service until just after his business cards were due to be printed. So, when the cards were ready, someone calls the number on them to inform the guy and the number is not in service. No problem, we think, phone co. is just slow at getting this done. A few more calls every few days and the number is still not in service. (No other way to contact this fellow as this is the only number he has given us but not worried too much as we took a 75% deposit as he was a new customer)

Finally, the guy comes in wondering about his cards... and we figure out he has given us the wrong number AND signed off on the proof. Luckily, he accepted full responsibility for it and had no problem paying for a new set of corrected cards....

The way customers should be...
 

petepaz

New Member
we find customer errors from approved artwork on a regular basis. we do some government jobs that have a lot of areas that need to be checked and i can understand something slipping through the cracks but when you approve your phone no. or email and it's wrong you are just an idiot
most of the time the customer assumes responsibility for their mistake. sometimes if they are real bad we will give them a small discount just to shut them up
 

Red Ball

Seasoned Citizen
This reminded me of a friend who owns a sign shop, he keeps a roll of toilet paper under the counter, and when he gets people that want CHEAP, PERIOD, he puts the toilet paper and a sharpie on the counter, and says $1.00 per sign.

:ROFLMAO: :clapping:
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
This one's a little different.​

I think it was last week, I answered the phone like always and the other person said......
Huh ?? Is this So & So sign shop ??
I decided to have some fun and said,​
Who are you looking for ??
Tom.
He's not here right now, but I'll help ya.
Okay, I talked to Tom last week and he said he'd have some signs ready for me later today. Are they ready ??
Yep. However, we're having a special on that type.... yesterday, today and tomorrow. They'll be 1/2 price until Friday. How's that sound ??
Great !! How much for some 18" x 24" two sided job signs ??
47¢ each for 100 with the stand.
Okay, I'll take 250 instead of 50.
Sure.... anything else ?? Do you need any large job signs like a 4' x 4' or 4' x 8' ?? We're selling them for $14.50 until Friday and the 4' x 4's for $8. a pop based on 10.
Can you get that all done til Friday ??
Naw, but as long as you come in and pre-pay it, we'll honor the sale, until Friday.

Hey thanks.... what's your name ??
Jack.
Okay, thanks Jack. I'll be out later today.


Okay, I know that sounds mean, but it sure was alota fun. :ROFLMAO: .......and it only took about 4 minutes.

I have lots of that kind. Ask me to tell you about the car lot guy some time. :doh:
 

brush1

New Member
This reminded me of a friend who owns a sign shop, he keeps a roll of toilet paper under the counter, and when he gets people that want CHEAP, PERIOD, he puts the toilet paper and a sharpie on the counter, and says $1.00 per sign.
I love it!!!!!
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Okay…….

We have several phone lines at our shop going in/out, but only our initial line is advertised. No one knows the others and they aren’t in any kind of order.

Evidently our second number must be very close to another car dealership number, but they’re kind of some distance away. I have no clue as to how or what numbers are being transposed, but they are.

Well, we kept getting all these wrong phone calls on our second line and I know for a fact…. no one looking for us will get or use this number. Always the same thing…. Ees dees Mattoe’s ?? No, you have the wrong number and these ding-a-lings would call back, two and three times. So, this kept happening and almost all of these people were heavily accented in the Spanish arena. After a few months of this, I figured the number must be close to ours and these bumpkins are just lazy calling in.

Soooooo…… I started saying yes, how may I help you ??

They would want to know if they could bring a payment by tomorrow instead of today, although the payment stub is due today ?? Well, we’re closed today and tomorrow, so bring it in early next week.. Okay…. Okay…. Okay…. Okay…. Okay !!
I did this for a few weeks…. maybe months, then I went the other direction.

Ole….. Mattoe’s. Wee ees clozed, so no zen yo moeney moeneys to ous aneemoe. Ze ress ov yo paymints… za ess free. O-ley !!

Little while later, I told them the owner had passed away and has given the business away and the new owners will be coming by to repossess their car. On that one, I heard a lot of fast speaking Spanish and it made no sense at all, but I know someone was waiting with a gun or two in their hands for a few days.

Maybe 4 or 5 months after doing all this stuff, I happened to drive past this place. It was a frickin’ car lot, with all junkers out front and one Winnebago that looked like Thomas Jefferson had driven it. Sign on it said…… $850. As Is. No office except for the building in the middle of the lot…. about 4’ x 6’ and no toilet or heater. Many years ago, it was an old gas station on an island which serviced vehicles going both ways on a highway. I was by a few months ago. Lotsa the cars are still there, but now there’s a huge pig roasting barrel there and they’re selling pulled pork. Doesn’t smell non too good while driving by, either.

So, there were other dialogs, but basically all the same. People getting super pissed at Mattoe’s and I got my satisfaction. Doesn’t take much for me to have chits & giggles. Only takes two or three minutes at a pop.
 

HulkSmash

New Member
Okay…….

Evidently our second number must be very close to another car dealership number, but they’re kind of some distance away. .

Same problem with us. We have 3 numbers. That way we can record where our calls are coming from.

ones from our website/business cards
ones for Marketing AD's (magazine, news papers, radio ads) etc etc.
dont use the 3rd really...

in anycase.

our numbers are VERY close to 2 companies.

Coloardo Glass and Doors, and Colorado Ski and golf.

We get calls so many times about if we fix skis or sell doors.
 

andy

New Member
This one's a little different.​
I think it was last week, I answered the phone like always and the other person said......
Huh ?? Is this So & So sign shop ??
I decided to have some fun and said,​
Who are you looking for ??
Tom.
He's not here right now, but I'll help ya.
Okay, I talked to Tom last week and he said he'd have some signs ready for me later today. Are they ready ??
Yep. However, we're having a special on that type.... yesterday, today and tomorrow. They'll be 1/2 price until Friday. How's that sound ??
Great !! How much for some 18" x 24" two sided job signs ??
47¢ each for 100 with the stand.
Okay, I'll take 250 instead of 50.
Sure.... anything else ?? Do you need any large job signs like a 4' x 4' or 4' x 8' ?? We're selling them for $14.50 until Friday and the 4' x 4's for $8. a pop based on 10.
Can you get that all done til Friday ??
Naw, but as long as you come in and pre-pay it, we'll honor the sale, until Friday.

Hey thanks.... what's your name ??
Jack.
Okay, thanks Jack. I'll be out later today.


Okay, I know that sounds mean, but it sure was alota fun. :ROFLMAO: .......and it only took about 4 minutes.

I have lots of that kind. Ask me to tell you about the car lot guy some time. :doh:

F*cking hell... you're a merchant member to the trade and you volunteered this information right off your own bat... amazing.
 

Speedsterbeast

New Member
This reminded me of a friend who owns a sign shop, he keeps a roll of toilet paper under the counter, and when he gets people that want CHEAP, PERIOD, he puts the toilet paper and a sharpie on the counter, and says $1.00 per sign.


You could do them for $0.50 if you use single ply and a no-name permanent marker.
 
Same problem with us. We have 3 numbers. That way we can record where our calls are coming from.

ones from our website/business cards
ones for Marketing AD's (magazine, news papers, radio ads) etc etc.
dont use the 3rd really...

in anycase.

our numbers are VERY close to 2 companies.

Coloardo Glass and Doors, and Colorado Ski and golf.

We get calls so many times about if we fix skis or sell doors.

our number is close to a garage door place, people always ask if we can fix their garage.

We also get the occasional person that can't read all of our window vinyl and walk in asking if we can fix their windshield (guess who next door....)
 

sar bossier

New Member
Better yet, go the other direction - for FULL COLOR cheap signs, 1 roll DOUBLE ply TP, 3 crayons - red, blue, yellow, and charge 2.50 per sign, in full color. Need more colors? Blend!
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
F*cking hell... you're a merchant member to the trade and you volunteered this information right off your own bat... amazing.


What does being a Merchant Member have to do with anything ?? Are my rules to be here different from yours ??

This was some local yocal.... nothing more, nothing less. Was it professional ?? Nope. Was it fun ?? Yep. Was anyone hurt ?? Nope. Did anyone suffer ?? Not me..... and neither did the other guy when he probably figured out what was going on.


You're gonna tell me you haven't ever done that or see something wrong with doing it ?? :noway: Some people never grow up. :rolleyes:
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
our number is close to a garage door place, people always ask if we can fix their garage.

We also get the occasional person that can't read all of our window vinyl and walk in asking if we can fix their windshield (guess who next door....)

We have you all beat, the building we are currently renting used to have a glass company in it about 15-20 years ago, about once a year we still get old guys walk into the shop, look around for a few minutes and ask if we can cut some glass for them.
 
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