Suggestions?

[buckeyedesigns]

Good evening all! I wanted to get your input on a tricky situation we have found ourselves in. We install lettering for a local company that manufactures a specialized box truck. They sell these trucks to companies all over the country. They sent me pictures the other day of a truck I lettered 2 years ago that is over a 1000 miles away. The install consisted of three colors which are all Oracal 751. Two of the colors look as good as the day we installed them. The third color, King Blue, looks like some of the pics on here of Avery vinyl. It is falling off of the truck. We do about 10-15k a year with the local company and need to make this right. What would you do?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[rcook99]

Can you post pics of the problem? I understand you not wanting to expose the company but maybe just crop out everything else but the problem area.

 

[Fred Weiss]

We had our one bad experience with Oracal 751 not adhering around the same time ago as your job and it was with King Blue ... and it had overlaid layers of a second color. We removed it all and replaced it with 3M Sapphire Blue. When we checked further into it, we actually found the roll of vinyl tossed under a table with a post-it note on it from the former employee stating that it was no good. Why he didn't report it to us will never be known but we sure think less of him for letting the job go out the door. You could squeegee it down an peel it right off with no effort at all.

IMHO, you should either travel to where the truck is or outsource to someone trustworthy and pay for the redo. What you may expect Oracal to do at this point or what they will actually do is a separate matter. You need to protect your relationship with your client as well as do the right thing.

 

[gbarker]

Get Oracal involved. You may have to prove it was Oracal vinyl but 2 years on what should last 7...? Definitely salvage the relationship and make it right though.

 

[TheSellOut]

Like Fred said...you are going to want to make it right and I think the best way would be to outsource it! Good Luck!

 

[buckeyedesigns]

Thanks for the replies

Thanks everyone. We had already told our client that we were planning on travelling to New England to redo the lettering. They acted like we were crazy which got me wondering whether we were. Your input has made it clear what we should do. I have used Oracal 751 for ten years and never had a single problem so I don't hold this against them. I may go the 3m route though just to appease the end user. I uploaded one photo that captures the problem- i just hope I did it right.

You guys are the best.

Buckeye deSigns

 

[Fred Weiss]

It look just like my customers van.

 

[buckeyedesigns]

Did Oracal work with you? I went through that years ago with Avery and won't waste my time doing that again. My biggest concern right now is where did the rest of that roll go?

Thanks.

 

[rcook99]

buckeyedesigns
College Freshman

Thanks everyone. We had already told our client that we were planning on travelling to New England to redo the lettering.

Not sure where you would be heading in New England but if you need anything recut feel free to look me up.

Did Oracal work with you?

I just went through a situation with Oracal myself in January. Here is the LINK to what I am referring too. They did in fact work with me. The vinyl was 6-9 months old 651 and after talking and sending pictures to them I received a credit for 2 50yd rolls of material on my Fellers account. They would not cover the labor for removal and replacement but at least they stood behind the product.

 

[buckeyedesigns]

Rcook99:

How did you go about speaking with Oracal? I buy all my vinyl through Fellers would you recommend contacting them first? I'm not bashing Oracal at all. I've never had a single failure even with 651, which I won't warranty. The fact that I only buy Oracal makes it easy for me to trace back. I'd take a couple of 50 yard rolls in exchange for this. It may not even out in the end but it would at least be something and we could keep everyone happy.

Thanks.

 

[rcook99]

How did you go about speaking with Oracal? I buy all my vinyl through Fellers would you recommend contacting them first? I'm not bashing Oracal at all. I've never had a single failure even with 651, which I won't warranty. The fact that I only buy Oracal makes it easy for me to trace back. I'd take a couple of 50 yard rolls in exchange for this. It may not even out in the end but it would at least be something and we could keep everyone happy.

Thanks.

I went direct to Oracal's site followed the steps on THISlink. After sending them pics of the problem they put me in touch with a Josh Culverhouse. I am not sure if they are region specific but here is his email info. Joshua Culverhouse

Product Support Specialist

josh.culverhouse@oracal.com


Hope this helps.

 

[G-Artist]

Two months ago I went to a friend's shop wanting to borrow some 24" Oracal king blue as I didn't have that color. He uses Oracal almost exclusively and he tossed me the roll he had and said "keep it...it sucks and doesn't stick worth a damn." Since then, I have heard that from another shop as well. Glad I was only doing temp coro signs.

I found that puzzling because that's the only Oracal color anyone in my area has had problems with. Nice color, I like it, but I'll be avoiding it for anything but snipe signs especially after you good folks confirmed the problem.

 

[signgirl71]

Oracal is what I keep on my shelf, both regular vinyl and digital and it is because they stand behind their product. A few years ago I did a job before we had a printer. It is all layered vinyl. We had a problem with the yellow fading. Oracal stepped right up and with no hassles what-so-ever gave us a credit for EVERY color we used on this truck even though it was only the yellow that faded. That credit was more than enough to cover the removal and replacement on the truck. The Oracal rep was great to deal with and the only thing that took some time was getting the rep to believe we didn't have a printer and that this was all layered vinyl. =) Because of that great service I will continue to use them and recommend them all the time. This is a pic of all the colors they replaced.

 

[buckeyedesigns]

Resolution

Thanks everyone for the replies. I couldn't let this thread die without giving a resolution from Oracal. What a difference between that company and Avery. I followed the direction to contact them and dealt with Josh Culverhouse. Within a week we have a credit with Fellers for the material and then some. I have never had a problem with Oracal but they definitely have my business for life now.

Thought the community would like to know.

Buckeye deSigns

 

[Gino]

Good Endings are just the BESTEST.