Lesson Learned Today

[DirtyD]

We got a job to wrap a fleet of vehicles from a dealership that sold them to the end user. We quoted the price and send a downpayment invoice, on the quote it states the exact vehicles.

Well (2) of the F150 were not the same as the rest - One was an extended bed and the other was a premium of the quoted truck, it had bumpers and headlight grills that needed wrapped the other tucks were all plastic in those areas.

We had to completley redo the artwork to fit the extended bed truck, use more material, and it took just a hair longer. The other truck required more material and time to do. I verbally told them that it would cost more.

So They get the final invoice and they said no, were are not paying that extra cost. The reason is that to them the downpayment invoice is final price no matter what, even though I stated that the downpayment was for the estimate. And they said that there was no documentation on that those 2 trucks would cost more.

So lesson learned. Don't just do something even though it has to be done, stop, get documentation and signoffs or approvals

 

[Gino]

Keep the two misfits, until they pay you. If they changed the specs after the fact, it's on them. There is no way in H*ll they cannot pay for the extra.


Yes, I'd like to purchase this 2017 truck as it sits on your lot.
Okay, that'll be $$$$$.00
The day you pick it up, you request floor mats, larger fog lights and leather interior.

Just so you understand, I will not pay a single dime more for this. You already quoted me.

 

[2B]

Gino summed it Exactly, you quoted XYZ, and hopefully you have XYZ listed on the estimate. they changed it to 123. they changed and therefore they pay for said changes.

 

[DirtyD]

Gino, I know - I used the analogy with there service dept. I said here is a scenario, your service dept said it wold cost $600 to fix my truck, but it took them 2 more ours than expected, guess what they charge me for that time..... not say oh well we didn't document and get your approval that it would take 2 extra hours and your quote says $600 so we will just eat the cost, No you charge for that extra time.

Bottom line, they aren't going to pay. The end user has the vehicles. So I will take this as a lesson

 

[Gino]

I think we've already verbally re-quoted things and never really had it go bad. I guess it depends on how well you know the customer or how much you want their business.... or they, yours.

How much do you think you are out ?? Is it a substantial amount ?? If not, since this has become a really sore subject with them, perhaps you could just appraoch them and ask them if this happens again, how would they like to proceed. You can't p!ss 'em off anymore than you have, so I'd try to patch things up, if you still want their business. Otherwise, tell 'em to f*ck off..... and throw some eggs on their car lot tonight after dark.

 

[DirtyD]

We patched it up - they are in my network group so we want to keep things civil, in 4months we have gotten over 30k in sales from them. It really isnt much it was mainly labor costs, everything is fine between us they said they will still send us work. They said it was a learning lesson on them to.

On another note, become friends with dealership commercial salesman.. They sell commercial fleets and can get you a lot of work...

 

[d fleming]

We got a job to wrap a fleet of vehicles from a dealership that sold them to the end user. We quoted the price and send a downpayment invoice, on the quote it states the exact vehicles.

Well (2) of the F150 were not the same as the rest - One was an extended bed and the other was a premium of the quoted truck, it had bumpers and headlight grills that needed wrapped the other tucks were all plastic in those areas.



We had to completley redo the artwork to fit the extended bed truck, use more material, and it took just a hair longer. The other truck required more material and time to do. I verbally told them that it would cost more.

So They get the final invoice and they said no, were are not paying that extra cost. The reason is that to them the downpayment invoice is final price no matter what, even though I stated that the downpayment was for the estimate. And they said that there was no documentation on that those 2 trucks would cost more.

So lesson learned. Don't just do something even though it has to be done, stop, get documentation and signoffs or approvals

Very old trick. you should have stopped the minute anything varied from quote and had a change order signed. Even then you would have had to fight for your $$ at end of project considering the way they are dealing with you now. Then there is the lost production from having to stop and get the change order. But hey, hindsight is 20/20. And car dealers are some of the shadiest characters out there, new or used.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

Or, you could have just put the material that would be for the swb truck, and leave the extra blank (unwrapped), and tell them that they had too much truck for the artwork...

 

[DirtyD]

Or, you could have just put the material that would be for the swb truck, and leave the extra blank (unwrapped), and tell them that they had too much truck for the artwork...

lol..that would be funny

 

[rossmosh]

This is where a compromise is needed. While you didn't do the right thing in telling them there would be a cost difference and what it was, they didn't do the right thing because they provided you two vehicles that were not as per the specifications in your contract (the invoice). So you take a bit of a hit on your price and they have to pay you the extra at a discounted rate.

I would also recommend you get paid for the bulk of the job before you start making waves. I have no idea what the extra cost was, but let's say it's $500 on a $10k job with a $5k deposit. Get the other $5k and then fight over the $500.

 

[signsofparadise]

So the price for the next jobs (for a them) them just went up to cover things - just spread it out. Works every time and everyone is happy.

 

[netsol]

gino is right, of course, BUT, before you go to war you need to consider the possibility you might lose the customer.
they are spending $30k with you, what is the acquisition cost (advertising, etc) to replace that customer?
you have to tread lightly, unless you place less value on that customer than i would