• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

The answer is "NEVER"

Joe Diaz

New Member
negative press from a d-bag = nothing
I agree.

Always tries to beat me up on the price. I start high let him talk me down to the regular price.
I am a one man show most days and don't need the hassle.

Not that I'm saying you shouldn't have fired him, however he probably beats you up on your price because you do end up lowering it for him, even if it is higher to begin with. He probably just assumes that's the way it's supposed to be at your shop because you have played that game in the past. Never ever budge on your price. Be confident in the prices you have set. If they don't like it, too bad. Haggle with someone else.
 

visual800

Active Member
and your cost was likely less than $99....

pick your battles my friend. the negative press from this guy will cost you much more in the long run.

And your point is Pro?...the ONLY people that leave negatve feedback are usually the ones that are a PITA!!!! Time and time again this has been proven

I say dump the loser. This is why I deliver signs after they come in or done. People love to place orders and once that "nut" has been satisfied they dont care anymore
 

rjssigns

Active Member
pick your battles my friend. the negative press from this guy will cost you much more in the long run.

I don't agree with this. Case in point I know a business owner not far from me that is solely in it for the money. His patented statement: People are waitin' in line for me to bend them over". Ya know what? His business gets bigger every year.
Granted he may be an exceptional exception but it brings up the question. Do you think for a minute that firing a few bad apples, or having someone make negative comments will actually ruin your business?
If so none of us would be in business, period. Go out and take a poll. Ask a group of people if they shop at Home Depot or Lowe's. There will be haters of both in the bunch. Are both still in business? Yup.

People will buy what they want, whenever they want, from whomever they want. I will not live in fear of some d-bag's opinion of my work or how I handle my business.
Like Uncle Dave says: "Can't tell nobody nuthin".
 

ProWraps

New Member
hey you guys can choose to run your biz however you feel.

in a world where this d'bag can leave you a ton of negative feedback on google, yelp, and every other review site, i chose to pick my battles.

and yes, i do make decisions based on what reviews i read about other companies/people.

lots of people do.

im just saying for chump change worth of sign supplies, your looking for trouble over nothing.

write it off as a loss with your CPA and move on.
 

visual800

Active Member
im just saying for chump change worth of sign supplies, your looking for trouble over nothing.

write it off as a loss with your CPA and move on.

thats not the point! Whether it cost you $5 or $100 its not the point. I think all should be brought out to surface. We all know how customers are! and we as self employed know what all they can do and will do when it comes to paying up time!
 

SD&F

New Member
I think we all have our share of customers who are a pain in the A-s. They work you and work you. You either make the choice to work with them or send them to somebody else who will put up with their BS. I always start off being nice and trying to make it work, if they come back I end up being more affirmative because I know what I am dealing with. It is all part of business and how you yourself chose to run it.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
There's always two sides to a story and then the truth.

Had you collected the money upfront as you said you usually do, this wouldn't have happened. You broke your own rule and it's like the only 'Golden' rule of any industry. So first of all, you set this guy up to fail. You afforded him the opportunity to screw you. So, not getting paid for a while..... you're lucky you got paid at all. Hopefully, lesson learned.

However, had this guy paid half up front..... anyone who treats me like he did you gets a fair amount of business courtesy, then I'll go kick a$$ figuratively. I'll make his/her life a living Hell. It's then the principle and not the amount.


If the guy has been a loser your whole time doing business with him..... you should set your prices high enough, so he goes away on his dime and if he does come back.... he pays 'Premium' wages. You don't haggle with a deadbeat. Like someone said... if you surround yourself with losers, you'll become one yourself. Take a step up in life and see how you don't need these bottom feeders, but like Pro said.... they can't bad-mouth you if they are the cheap party and you didn't scream junk at them.


Like Si said.... I don't want to be known as the shop where you can get your price.... it took many years to get a reputation for doing the kinda work we do and still pull the prices we pull in. We don't take no sh!t and we generally don't give no sh!t. It's a win/win situation.​
 

HulkSmash

New Member
I agree, I wouldn't take someone to court over 100 in material. The market in this area is much too fierce. I have been able to maintain 5 stars on google, dex knows, and yelp throughout all my year.. not a single negative review. You're telling me you guys don't go to certain places based off reviews? I do all the time.. especially restaurants.. and places of SERVICE...

you solve these issues by getting paid when the job is done. The only time you do 30 (or more) days is when it's a large corporate client, or a re seller that you trust. If that re seller screws up once with payment, it's COD with them...forever

If i told you how much money i had outstanding that people owe me, some of you wouldn't believe me.. but it's those companies who keep my business running. many are on 30-90 days. It's the nature of this business when working with certain companies.

Pick your battles is pretty solid advice. . and don't tell me if taht same customer came back with a 18 thousand dollar job you'd turn it down... no - you would make a better structured payment plan with him, and get the job done...
 

Patentagosse

New Member
These d-bags never came back with 18 thousand dollar job* so I can live with the lost of another $300 coroplast because I'll be working for another customer that picked me for my quality of work, not because he can play with me (price-shoppers, d-bags, ...)

*if they ever do, they'll shop the 35 other sign co. in my area to try to save less than $500 at the end but everyone will have lost their time thinking they can get the job.

BTW, here's a quick one: someone I turned down was trying to make negative press but the 3 poeple he has talked to, the 3 were satisfied customers (long-time ones) and they all replied the same thing: "this guy is an artist, really devoted to his respectful customers who pay when the job's done so if you stepped in his shoes or treated him like a "nobody" who cut vinyl letters for living, don't be surprised he treats you the same... this guy works on weekends to accomodate me 'cause my rigs are on the road on weekdays so go spread your crap somewhere else" (free translation from original French conversation)
 

HulkSmash

New Member
These d-bags never came back with 18 thousand dollar job* so I can live with the lost of another $300 coroplast because I'll be working for another customer that picked me for my quality of work, not because he can play with me (price-shoppers, d-bags, ...)

*if they ever do, they'll shop the 35 other sign co. in my area to try to save less than $500 at the end but everyone will have lost their time thinking they can get the job.

BTW, here's a quick one: someone I turned down was trying to make negative press but the 3 poeple he has talked to, the 3 were satisfied customers (long-time ones) and they all replied the same thing: "this guy is an artist, really devoted to his respectful customers who pay when the job's done so if you stepped in his shoes or treated him like a "nobody" who cut vinyl letters for living, don't be surprised he treats you the same... this guy works on weekends to accomodate me 'cause my rigs are on the road on weekdays so go spread your crap somewhere else" (free translation from original French conversation)

I typically turn down those 300 dollar coro jobs.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
These d-bags never came back with 18 thousand dollar job* so I can live with the lost of another $300 coroplast because I'll be working for another customer that picked me for my quality of work, not because he can play with me (price-shoppers, d-bags, ...)

*if they ever do, they'll shop the 35 other sign co. in my area to try to save less than $500 at the end but everyone will have lost their time thinking they can get the job.

BTW, here's a quick one: someone I turned down was trying to make negative press but the 3 poeple he has talked to, the 3 were satisfied customers (long-time ones) and they all replied the same thing: "this guy is an artist, really devoted to his respectful customers who pay when the job's done so if you stepped in his shoes or treated him like a "nobody" who cut vinyl letters for living, don't be surprised he treats you the same... this guy works on weekends to accomodate me 'cause my rigs are on the road on weekdays so go spread your crap somewhere else" (free translation from original French conversation)
It doesn't matter how old you are or how long you've been in the business...... these people always come back. I don't know if they're a glutton for punishment or just testing you, but it never pays to just write someone off, unless they did you wrong.

I had a girl come to us for some little signs about 10 or so years ago. She gave me half down. When she picked them up... she had a song and dance about not paying right away. I knew I was in for a long wait, but I did. I hounded her for about 6 months and finally told her, if I don't get paid, I was gonna turn her over. She got totally p!ssed and told me how rude and un-businesslike....... and just plain mean I was. I said, yeah, I know, but you own me.... I think it was about $75. yet. I simply asked her, when do you think I can get it ?? I don't need it, but you ARE going to pay me. She said in a week or two. Well, another month or two went by and finally I got paid. I thanked her for the balance and told her, if she would at least tell me she needed a credit line, I could've handled it, but not to do it if she has no intentions of paying right away.
About a year went by and I got another call for her and she was all pleasant and asked me to do a similar job. I asked her how she intended to pay and she agreed to pay the whole thing up front.
Move ahead about three years and she became a regular customer getting about $12,000 a year worth of signs..
Just last year, the company gave us about a $45,000 job and right after that gave us another $35,000 or so worth of signs.

We now handle this companies signs all over the place... Virginia, Delaware, Jersey and four places here in PA.

So yes, they do come back with large orders. I can't tell you how many times this has happened. I'll bet you I can eventually remember at least a dozen times, by not being a hot-head, this has worked to my/our advantage.

The thing is, you get more flies with honey, then you do with vinegar, so just be careful how much your temper gets in your own way.

Be up front with your clients and be sure to enforce your own rules. If you don't, you just set the pace for a possible bad scenario.
 
Top