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Paid order, customer says keep the product. Go figure.

binki

New Member
Customer comes in and orders 8 baseball jerseys. Ok, not sure why there are only 8 but so what, work is work. Artwork is supplied and we have to match exact. 50% deposit and we order the blanks.

Blanks come in and we put the name/number drops on the back. Getting ready to do the fronts and we get a call.
"We have a trademark problem with the logo, we will get back to you"

Two weeks go by and I call back.
"We want to cancel the order, We can't print the logo. The logo can't be reproduced"
Ok. We already put the name and number on the shirts. We can put anything you want on the front but we need payment.
"Let me get back to you"


Two more weeks go by and we contact the customer.
"Ok, I will pay the balance. I need to get some money together"

I know where this is going and it isn't going to be pretty.

Well they finally did pay the balance and told us to keep the shirts. And they were never going to use us again and give us a bad reference. Huh?

Since they cancelled the order (in their mind) and we wanted payment they thought we were not fair to them. At least we got paid.

Another happy ending for us.

Now here is what I don't understand. They could have had us put something nice on the front like Champions or All Stars or something that represented the team without using the logo and given it as an award jersey. We offered that several times. Nope, just take our money and keep the jerseys. Go figure.
 

401Graphics

New Member
weird.
I had a customer give me $150 cash for banners, and i never heard from him again. I never even did so much as design them. Thanks for the free money
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
I can see future trouble here. Wise business practice says that you still need to ship them the shirts (unfinished) with proof of delivery (and get a signed denial if they don't accept).

That way, the burden of proof is on them and it doesn't look like you didn't hold up your end of the deal.

JB
 
J

john1

Guest
Yeah man, Customers are weird. I had a lady wanting some stuff done, Bill was $150, she paid 50% and it literally has been 4 months and i cannot get ahold of her. She hasn't even approved the design so nothing was made. Oh well, Thanks for the free money lol
 

showcase 66

New Member
When I worked for a glass/windshield company we had a guy come in and wanted new glass for his old truck. All flat glass but needed to be measured. My boss at the time quoted him around 500 for it. He paid cash said he would bring the truck in the next day. Next day never showed up. Phone number he gave wen to voicemail. after a month of no word from him, we basically forgot about it.

I bought out the glass company about a year later and 6 months after that he came back in and said that he bought some glass for his truck from me and he wanted to pick it up. I had no idea what the guy was talking about and told him I just bought the business and have no record of any sale but if he had the invoice for it from the previous owner I would honor it. He said he did not then asked me for a price for the glass. I gave him the price and he went to the bank came back with cash and paid for them. Said he would bring the truck in the next day for measurements.

I called the previous owner and he laughed remembering about the old guy and reminded me of what happened with it.

Needless to say the guy never came back while I had the shop. Was bought out by Safelite about 6 months later.

I never saw the guy again. Go figure?
 

bernie

New Member
I understand the logo issue but not the keep the shirts. Strange.

I'd ship them the shirts 'as is' whether they want them or not. :) Whether they do business with me again or not wouldn't be the deciding factor. I don't like paid for stuff taking up space in my shop.

Bernie
 

Arlo Kalon 2.0

New Member
Years ago I took a $2,300 deposit on a sign for a small strip center. Before I could buy the materials I got a call from a woman wanting to meet with me to discuss a "revision" to the order. Shortly after getting there, I learned she represented the new owners of the center. She asked me to refund the deposit so "we can start over". I asked her if she had their copy of my original invoice..."no". I said well when you find it, you will see two things. First, you are not the people who paid me the deposit, and second, nowhere on it does it say anything about a deposit being refundable. She got pissed and threatened me with a lawsuit and said they had their own sign company they would be using anyway. I walked away and never heard anything about it again... actually bought myself a nice guitar with the free money. A few weeks later I saw the new sign up. It had to cost about a fourth of what I had proposed to the last owners, it was hideous.
 

binki

New Member
Well shipping them would be hard. We don't have an address, just a couple of credit card slips. The shirts are on our 'finished' shelf waiting to be picked up.
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Well shipping them would be hard. We don't have an address, just a couple of credit card slips. The shirts are on our 'finished' shelf waiting to be picked up.


Just curious...but how can you take a deposit without first getting complete contact information?


JB
 

islandtees

New Member
Well shipping them would be hard. We don't have an address, just a couple of credit card slips. The shirts are on our 'finished' shelf waiting to be picked up.
Dont be to suprised if you see the CC charges charged back against your acct. They may call the CC company and tell them they never received the product and the CC company will reverse charges right away.
 

TXFB.INS

New Member
I can see future trouble here. Wise business practice says that you still need to ship them the shirts (unfinished) with proof of delivery (and get a signed denial if they don't accept).

That way, the burden of proof is on them and it doesn't look like you didn't hold up your end of the deal.

JB


+1

Even if they bad mouth you they can never claim you did not deliver the products
 

visual800

Active Member
this is like getting a check from the IRS and you werent expecting it DO NOT GET EXCITED AND CASH IT, just set it to the side or cash it and set that to the side
 

rjssigns

Active Member
We had something kinda similar happen. A job was printed for a client and paid in full and delivered. Naturally we wanted to know if they were satisfied so we inquired. They said it is all in the dumpster. It was not our fault though. It happened to be a project that never saw the light of day.
 

Xcesiv

New Member
This reminds me of when a customer rings me. Gets a price pays up front. Gives me everything I need to produce the job. Except his postal address. Made all the stickers and packaged ready to post.

Calls, emails and daily SMS later sno reply. 12 months go by and I decide to throw them out. Another year later he rings me and places the exact same order again.

This time with address.

I don't think he realized I was the same people he ordered from sat Time.

Fun times
 

binki

New Member
We normally only take name and phone number. Normally we do 100% up front but this group is part of a ball club that does a lot of work with us so we do 50% down for them.

It is pretty normal to get several different people placing orders for the different sub groups.

I don't think we will hear from these particular folks again though.
 
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