1. Installed a sign last week. On Monday I emailed the customer and asked if they were happy with everything and included the final invoice. They said they love the sign, I figured payment would be forthcoming in a few days. This morning I get an email, "Can I get the final invoice for signage?" I just copied the contents of the previous email and resent it.
2. Emailed a proof and payment link to a customer, who responds with "Looks great thanks. We will send a chec" It ended there, so I figured they meant to type 'check'. A week or so passed without receiving payment so I emailed to see if they still wanted to get an order going. This was the response: "Yes we are still interested. I was under the assumption that it would be ready this. Was the $100 number the total? I thought I would receive an invoice. If you need the payment in advance that is fine. Let me know if you need a check or a credit card number."
3. Lately have been dealing with a few customers who are spending $1,000+ on a new sign, and then order a cheap window cling from Vistaprint or wherever and slap it on their storefront door, almost impossible to see behind tinted glass and full of bubbles. Looks like sh!t. I typically charge around $100 for a storefront door, cut vinyl logo and lettering, installed, and people are turning that down because "they can do it themselves".
4. I've been getting a lot of work from a local designer. I appreciate the business and I like her, but every single email and file I get from her is full of typos to the point where it makes her sound drunk (is she emailing her clients like this too?), and she has no concept of staying within one email chain per project so I'm juggling questions and answers across several threads, leading to confusion and madness. Constantly starting new emails when we already have a thread going for that project.
5. Got a big job from a designer done entirely in Papyrus, which may have been chosen by her client, but really she should have guided her client into using something else. Made my eyes water working on it. I had another customer come in and see the signs on the table...she looked at me and said "Papyrus?!" We both laughed.
6. The sailboat guy. He saw my van in a parking lot last week and asked if I do boat decals. I said yes and told him to email me a picture of the area of the boat where he wants the name to go and approximate measurements. A couple days later I get an email with a distant picture of the entire boat, in winter, partially covered with a tarp. Okay. I replied with a ballpark price and said installation cost will vary depending on if I go to the boat or if he brings it to my shop. Never heard back from him. Monday morning I arrived to find a sailboat dumped in front of my shop. No communication, didn't even have an order started yet. I was literally stupefied and had to wait a day before calling him...I can have a pretty hot temper at times. Spoke with him on Tuesday and explained the process, he apologized and wanted to proceed with an order. I emailed an invoice link requesting payment and this was the response: "That's great, how do I pay online?" I emailed the link again, this time the actual URL he could copy & paste in case it was getting stripped out. Two days have passed, no payment, boat still sitting here. I have very limited parking in my lot, and told him so. At this point I'm dropping this order and if the boat isn't gone by the weekend it will be towed next week.
