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Worst customer we've had so far! Rant!

401Graphics

New Member
Worst customer we ever had!!! :banghead::banghead::banghead::frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated:
Months ago we took down his sh!t sign down that had somebody elses name on it and was fading bad. we send him proofs he never responds, he calls and asks for the proof, we say sent went it. this happens like 10 times. the sign never gets done and we have the original sign sitting in the shop for months.
He contacts us about a week ago to reface a 2 x 25 foot sign on a mini mart hes opening. we do a simple 10 min proof. I was at the sign supply place today to get other stuff and figured id buy his aluminum faces while i was there because i was going to get the deposit right after anyways. My wife and I get to the mini mart to get the deposit, my wife goes in alone with the old sign we took months ago because he asked if we could bring it to him while we went there to get the deposit. (i had my daughter in the truck with me so i couldn't go in with her).
I called him and told him I was coming to pick up the check for the deposit and he said OK.. And he just argued with my wife saying she had NO RIGHT to tell his employee she was going to wait for a check because he was on an "emergency phone call"
And he tried to tell her he never said he wanted to do the sign
And he would call when he makes a decision
So she stormed out of his store because she was pissed, this set of the security alarm because for some reason they turned it on after she went in (i guess because they weren't open yet) and he followed her out to take a picture of our trucks license plate
But honestly on the phone today he said "OK let's do it" and asked when it would be done.. And told her we could come get a check for a deposit TODAY.

So is this guy out of his mind, or was the whole thing a scam to get his old sign back because he was too lazy to come and pick it up himself?

I guess from now on I'll have to tell ALL customers that we wont lift a finger until we get a deposit. And that will not pick up deposits.

Oh well, I didn't lose any money, just time and aggravation. The new aluminum faces get returned to the supply place Monday.
End rant.
 

HulkSmash

New Member
heh, i just lost one of my bigger clients.

Prices out 6 box trucks. Been doing them for years for these guys.
They got a new director at the company, and he called me saying
"Apparently you do all our trucks, and they look great still, we'd like you to bid on our
new 24 footer box trucks"

no problem i price them out. He emails back. Asks us to match a price he got from somewhere else..(Why are you shopping around when we do all your crap, and you just said we do a good job)... So whatever i match it, it was about 700 less, no biggie on a quote that large. He schedules them. They don't show up, we call..
"oh... we found someone who was more affordable"

um...there are people out there destroying our market every day. I was doing them pretty down and dirty cheap since they were a non profit.

sick of this
 

John L

New Member
Its really difficult to do business with me. I won't hardly even return a text message if it's not pre-sweetened somehow. Mini-marts kinda gotta get the immediate boot.
 

401Graphics

New Member
Mini-marts kinda gotta get the immediate boot.
yea i know this now. and what sucks is im doing different mini mart right now. but i did get a deposit today. Now i'm scared that the check wont clear, but i have to have the signs done by Monday. :frustrated:
 

jkdbjj

New Member
heh, i just lost one of my bigger clients.

Prices out 6 box trucks. Been doing them for years for these guys.
They got a new director at the company, and he called me saying
"Apparently you do all our trucks, and they look great still, we'd like you to bid on our
new 24 footer box trucks"

no problem i price them out. He emails back. Asks us to match a price he got from somewhere else..(Why are you shopping around when we do all your crap, and you just said we do a good job)... So whatever i match it, it was about 700 less, no biggie on a quote that large. He schedules them. They don't show up, we call..
"oh... we found someone who was more affordable"

um...there are people out there destroying our market every day. I was doing them pretty down and dirty cheap since they were a non profit.

sick of this
This is what I am feeling in Charlotte right now. We are so busy with other signage, but I feel real tempted to invest in unrolling a promotion plan for vehicle wraps. My fear, we will be spending all day dealing with crap like this.

Take Dan Antonelli for example, I know he doesn't land every job he pitches, but when he does land, he gets more than top dollar it seems.

One has to decide, if they are in the vehicle game, which ave to take on marketing the product. Less wraps for more money, since other sign products are doing well, or more wraps less money, just to grow that side of the business.

Really sorry to hear about his, and I hope it is not a trend for you in the future.
 

SignosaurusRex

Active Member
heh, i just lost one of my bigger clients.

Prices out 6 box trucks. Been doing them for years for these guys.
They got a new director at the company, and he called me saying
"Apparently you do all our trucks, and they look great still, we'd like you to bid on our
new 24 footer box trucks"

no problem i price them out. He emails back. Asks us to match a price he got from somewhere else..(Why are you shopping around when we do all your crap, and you just said we do a good job)... So whatever i match it, it was about 700 less, no biggie on a quote that large. He schedules them. They don't show up, we call..
"oh... we found someone who was more affordable"

um...there are people out there destroying our market every day. I was doing them pretty down and dirty cheap since they were a non profit.

sick of this

'Purchase Order Required' ...when the project is ordered and scheduled. No 'P.O.' ...No schedule!
 

jasonx

New Member
The biggest power you have in business is the power to say 'NO'. It sucks when business is bad but dealing with people who do this to you just makes things worse.
 

John Butto

New Member
Things you should not do in business:
1. Assume.
2. Bring your wife, or if you a female, your husband, and family with you to collect money.
3. Blame all your problems with business dealings on someone else, take part of the blame.
 

ThinkRight

New Member
Things you should not do in business:
1. Assume.
Sometimes that has to be done, some people don't know what they want or even know what they are talking about.( you can't fix stupid. ! )
2. Bring your wife, or if you a female, your husband, and family with you to collect money.
Correct
3. Blame all your problems with business dealings on someone else, take part of the blame.
You or we can be 100% right ,but sometimes we have to eat the crap customers give us. (they sign the checks)
Life is not black & white , there is a lot of grey .
Personality differences are what makes life interesting.
 
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