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Some of our fellow sign makers just make ya shake your head

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
This is just a rant. Not looking for opinions or anything, just had to share.

I subbed out a 8' x 26' flex face install to a sign company in Jackson, MS. Their bid was in line with some others I got so I had them go out a survey. I made the sign faces and sent it to them and while they were installing one, one of their guys tore the new face open with the bucket. I had to make another face and personally drive 6 hours out there the next day so as to not delay the project. They covered the cost of the material but not my wasted time... but oh well. They finished installing the faces and converted to LEDs and all was fine. The next day client calls saying half the sign isn't lighting. I get them out there and they said it just needed to be "reset" and it lit again. (which I knew was a bunch of BS) Same thing happened less than a week later. I told the guy who goes onsite needs to call me while he is there so I can talk to him. Well, they go out there again and said something must be wrong with the power. They tested 120v but something must be interrupting it to cause half the lights to not kick on. At this point I knew I was dealing with an idiot so I called another company to look at it. They said the power supplies were overloaded and they had to install some more. I went back to the first company and told them what they found and he said they thought they had the right amount installed.

Few months go by and client reports lights are all over the place. I call the original company and they said they can't get out there for 3 weeks. I call the second company I had out there before and they go out and say all the light sticks are falling out and need to be mounted. I call the first company and the owner starts giving me shit about going back out there and said that since I had some other sign company in there before (to install power supplies) he said he's not responsible. I told him you have two options.... Either get the lights fixed or I'll bring you the lights and you give me my money back, your choice and if you don't like either option I'll file a lawsuit. Well, that got his attention and he went out there and screwed in every light stick.

Got ANOTHER call from the client and the trim is falling off from the sign. Again, the guy says it was from the other sign company and he needs to charge me for the visit. (The trim had nothing to do with the access to the sign, there is a door on the bottom BTW) Whatever, I paid the fuck stick and he fixed it. I told him to check all the other trim and make sure it's on there.

Got a call this weekend from the client and another piece of trim is falling off... I e-mailed the sign company and he says he can no longer service this sign. (Still less than a year after they installed the faces, repainted it, installed new trim and LEDs). Called the second sign company and they are going out to install the trim.



Moral of the story,
The crew was a hack and the owner is an idiot.

OK I'm done.
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
That sign guy really does sound like a hack - I would have blocked your phone number after about the 2nd or 3rd call.
What a noob.
 

Jester1167

Premium Subscriber
It's refreshing when you find a company that does what they say and when.
It's refreshing when you go to quote a job and they have listed all the information you need to quote it.
It's refreshing when a company calls out its own mistakes before you find out about them and calls with a plan to fix them.
It's also extremely rare.

Be one of those companies and you won't have any problems being successful.
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
First of all you should have run this job dealing with people through Robert.
Second, with all the back and fourth with two sign companies and driving there to replace ripped face you could have finished the job up right by doing it yourself.

The moral of the story should be, "it is wise to turn circumstances to good account".
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
I don't know. I see so much cut-rate, unprofessional $#!+ being pumped out by our industry that I'm afraid we are gladly giving the regulators the very knife they use to cut our throats.

I've griped about this before, and feel it is falling on 100% deaf ears. It seems no one in this industry sees the threat coming. Just take a drive through some really upper income suburb and check out the signs there, if you can find anything that would qualify as a real sign due to the local ordinances in place. Draconian anti-signs ordinances are very real and they are slowly creeping farther across the country. Sign companies who knowingly do poor quality work are directly aiding the anti-signs effort. They're doing so by giving the anti-signs, town-beautification crowd very good, poster-child examples of why these awful signs need to be reigned in or banned. We've all heard of home owner associations and how bad they can be in these pod-people, McMansion neighborhoods. We'll they're trying to force the same model of conformity onto the commercial districts too.

In short, we all need to be doing a better job at policing ourselves, making sure we're doing competent, professional work in the design, manufacturing and installation stages. I mean, good God, getting the lighting and electrical load in a lighted sign cabinet correct is very very basic stuff. It's not all that hard to figure out how many transformers or circuits are needed for a sign cabinet. And in this day of LED-based lamps and 60 watt low voltage power supplies, the freaking job is easier than ever. It's not like they're having to fart around with a bunch of ballasts for neon. Lord forbid these hacks actually try to do anything to comply with UL Listing standards. And retainers falling off a sign? That's just pathetic.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
What do I need to put up an electric sign tomorrow ?? The sign pole is there and the sign now is about 4'×4' The sign the customer wants is, 10'× 12'. Do I need more power, Tim Allen ?? Oh, and there are 3 glass poles inside. Can I use them over in the new sign ?? What are they for, anyway ?? I have two screw guns and a hammer. What else will I need ?? I've been in the sign world for almost 2 years I'd like to start doing this part. Looks like ya can make some good money doing this.

Tia
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Even though they are hacks I'm not disclosing their name because I don't want to be retaliated against. My perfect score is valuable and not worth the risk.

I have a better, crazier story to tell... I'll have to post it tonight when I get home since there is no debate.
 

Eforcer

Sign Up!
If you see my operation, it shows how many sub contractors screw things up whether materials or time. So feel your pain! The worst part is not only that they screwed you but the relationship you will have in the future with this client. Stay strong!



Sign Up!
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
If you see my operation, it shows how many sub contractors screw things up whether materials or time. So feel your pain! The worst part is not only that they screwed you but the relationship you will have in the future with this client. Stay strong!



Sign Up!
Did not affect my relationship with the client. I take care of things when they go wrong and they appreciate it.

If I do all the work myself . I can blame only myself.

That'd be nice... but you limit yourself
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
If you had to drive to site to deliver the torn face, why didn't you stay till the job was done to make sure it was done properly? I'm not saying it's your fault at all, the first company sounds very shady, but if you were on site already, whats a couple extra hours to make sure it's up to your standards?
 

Jeremiah

New Member
If you see my operation, it shows how many sub contractors screw things up whether materials or time. So feel your pain! The worst part is not only that they screwed you but the relationship you will have in the future with this client. Stay strong!



Sign Up!
I agree ! No matter what anyone says . EVERY Mistake is taken into consideration on every order. Customers just want their problems solved smoothly. Every bump gets noticed. They dont give a Hoot who actually made the mistake ! The one who was given the order gets the black mark .
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Maybe they wanted to peek inside and make sure their lights didn't fall down. Now that you mention it, it doesn't really look like a bucket strike.


Untitled.jpg
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
That could easily be the operator was toggling too fast and didn't stop in time and put too much stress on the fabric and oops, a tear commences. I've done it myself on rigid faces, when being careless. Just don't be careless around flex faces. Also, on some buckets, ya have a lotta hooks and clamps sicking out near the controls and he might've gotten to close and that part struck the face without even knowing it..... til he heard it.
 
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