I hate some customers

[Locals Find!]

I know, I know HATE is such a strong word. I probably should say I LOATHE them, I wish a meteor would fall on them and crush them, or a Bolt of Lightning would light them up like a 4th of July Roman Candle.

I have had two customers in the last week complain that I screwed up their jobs because of their lousy choices.

One is upset because the letterhead she ordered is totally ugly. I printed exactly what she asked for. Approved by her. The other is complaining that his purple logo printed purple and not Blue. I can't change the laws of physics. If a color is purple it will print purple. When it was approved it was purple. So why the hell would you come to me and complain that its purple and not blue. Then have the Nerve to tell me I owe you a refund.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sorry I really just needed to vent before I committed a Felony on one or both of these customers.

 

[AUTO-FX]

Did your purple logo customer approve a hard copy or an emailed copy?

 

[Mosh]

Purple is a hard one to e-mail. ALWAYS have a pantone number on there for reference.
Then once a hard copy has been signed by them for the OK, you will have the PMS number to compair with.

 

[Gino]

No hard copy ??

You can't accept signatures on e-mails alone. That's ludicrous.

 

[SignManiac]

I like Moshs sign in his avatar.....

 

[AUTO-FX]

No hard copy ??

You can't accept signatures on e-mails alone. That's ludicrous.

This is an unknown - he's not following the thread. He just wanted to rant.

 

[Gino]

This is an unknown - he's not following the thread. He just wanted to rant.

Yeah, now we'll hear some back-pedaling excuse as to how his business code has this, this and that........ and why he is totally innocent of all problems.... that is creating his own doom.

 

[jwright350]

my motto: customer's... can't live with them, can't kill them.

Purple/Blue... I call it blurple, its my favorite color to print.

 

[Bigdawg]

How do you get your approvals Adtechia? And how do you spec your color on the proof? Just visually on screen or a laser print or what?

You are setting yourself up for this kind of failure if you aren't specing out the job on your proof. Our proofs actually say they are not color accurate - if color is critical, then we spec the pms color or I generate a color swatch on the Roland.

And then if your printers aren't calibrated - you won't get what you are looking for either...

 

[J Hill Designs]

I think addie's trojan posted this instead of him

 

[AUTO-FX]

ANY proof should contain color references, Pantone or otherwise if electronically transmitted proofs are provided. Color has to be one the easiest problem traps to avoid. Of course, hard copies and color samples eliminate it altogether.

 

[GypsyGraphics]

right next to where clients sign their proofs is a notation about color variation, screen, laser proofs and offset printing.

for off-set printing (CMYK) if your client is choosing a specific color from a PMS swatch, be sure to have the select from the "solid to process" book. many spot colors don't have an acceptable CMYK equivalent.

for me, when a client insists on a color i recommend against... an "i picked and ugly color" clause is added to their sign-off/approval. i had a few clients rethink their color choice when they saw that.

i once had a client insist i misspell the word stationery. i added to their sign-off/approval, a note that read something like:
client requests the following misspelling, the word "stationary" as in immobile, rather than "stationery" as in letterhead.

i thought for sure they would change their mind, rather than sign that... but they didn't.

 

[SignManiac]

All colors of proofs contained in this email are simulated and meant as an approximation of the actual colors that your product will be. Your computer monitor displays color in R-G-B (composite) and in no way will match your finished sign. Final colors will be based on actual paint, ink or vinyl. If color matching is critical, for an additional $300 charge, we can have the International Federation of Spectral Engineers have your colors certified with their recognized IFSE certificate of authenticity. Otherwise, stop your bitching you gay interior decorator.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

i once had a client insist i misspell the word stationery. i added to their sign-off/approval, a note that read something like:
client requests the following misspelling, the word "stationary" as in immobile rather than "stationery" as in letterhead.

i thought for sure they would change their mind, rather than sign that... but they didn't.

They might have actually thought that they had it correct though. Never can tell what goes on in some people's mind. For some people, I don't think even God knows what's going on up there.

 

[Locals Find!]

Sorry I was out making some deliveries. In the case of the purple/blue/burple customer.

It was his file he provided. We looked at it on his laptop, my 3 crt monitors, and 1 lcd. Along with the original photo he had me scan it from it was purple. Artwork was never anywhere close to blue. Was bright purple from beginning to end. EDIT: Print was a set of business cards with a picture of a purple ice cube he ripped off of his corporate website. He was told in the beginning that it wasn't good artwork.

I pointed all this out to him. He still thinks its my fault his purple ice cube didn't print blue.

He provided the artwork I simple took the order. Now if I do the artwork and its my mistake. I will do what needs to be done to make it right but, I will not fix other peoples mistakes at my expense.

 

[Locals Find!]

Here is the website he got the image from and the original image. You tell me what color you see. The part in reference is the ice cube in the center.

http://wellan2000.com/institut.php

 

[J Hill Designs]

I see blurple

 

[ProWraps]

your link crashed my computer.

 

[Bigdawg]

But did you verbally explain at all that he was going to get purple? Because I see blurple.. and the other pros here see blurple... but the guy I work with sees it as blue (he's not a color guy)... So just saying it's crappy artwork without the blurple explanation (and in case you can't tell I LOVE that term - new one to me!) probably wasn't enough.

Not trying to give you toooo hard of a time. But you are foolish to be proofing on a monitor. Period. I won't do a monitor proof even on my fancy-schmancy i1 calibrated monitor...

 

[AUTO-FX]

Hey A-hole <ahem> i mean Signmaniac, I like YOUR avatar almost as much as Mosh's new one....



(that's not going to read too nicely when you change your avatar now , is it? )