James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Besides the obvious issue of non-payment, what other reasons have caused you to fire a customer?
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Your criteria for firing a customer
- Thread starter James Burke
- Start date
mark galoob
New Member
i have fairly thick skin and for the right money i can deal with just about anybody...but customer rudeness or bully behavior is not tolerated at all.
mark galoob
mark galoob
signmeup
New Member
I dumped one for being rude to me. She was real piece of work... demanding, condesending and an expert in graphic design, branding and sign fabrication. After a few choice encounters with her and her "assistant" (part time book keeper) I told her she could no longer afford me. It still makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
I've only done it once and he was my second largest customer. It happened when he failed to honor an invoice that had added on my extra time in a job which he had agreed to when it was quoted that way. He was also habitually rude, disrespectful, had no appreciation for anyone's value other than his own and was a regular waster of time.
The look of disbelief on his face when I told him I no longer would do any work for him was worth the loss of income.
The look of disbelief on his face when I told him I no longer would do any work for him was worth the loss of income.
Jack Knight1979
New Member
Fred,
That customer sounds like my old boss. haha
That customer sounds like my old boss. haha
signmeup
New Member
Mine sounds like this guy's sister.
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Anybody ever hear of the "clueless" routine?
"I don't know where the invoice is", "I could've sworn it was mailed last week", "The "other" boss knows about that payment....not me".
Seems I've heard it all....all but the truth, that is.
BTW...I believe I should have posted this in the Business Management thread...sorry.
"I don't know where the invoice is", "I could've sworn it was mailed last week", "The "other" boss knows about that payment....not me".
Seems I've heard it all....all but the truth, that is.
BTW...I believe I should have posted this in the Business Management thread...sorry.
ProWraps
New Member
time waster. money waster. time=money. if any client wastes either they are sh*t canned.
i fired jelly belly. huge client. they came to use because the 'last' vendor couldnt provide them what they wanted. i soon realized why.
now when a client calls me and says my competition couldnt do what they wanted, im instantly perked up because i know where it will go.
i fired jelly belly. huge client. they came to use because the 'last' vendor couldnt provide them what they wanted. i soon realized why.
now when a client calls me and says my competition couldnt do what they wanted, im instantly perked up because i know where it will go.
PromoGuyTy
New Member
Rudeness to my staff. Be rude to me, and I'll try to deal with it if the money is right. Be rude to my staff...Bye Bye!
PromoGuyTy
New Member
juan45215
New Member
I had a guy beat me down on price for 20 minutes, then when I emailed the proof he said "This looks like crap. How long have you been designing?" I told him he could get a cheap price or be an asshole, but not both. I sent him to the shop that gave him the price I had to match.
letterman7
New Member
Huh... I've not yet had any of my clients be rude but at the moment I'm dealing with one who nitpicks every little detail. But the only client I fired was based on I started getting the little 'picky' jobs - like running an hour out to a site to change the price on a sales sign. We had a good relationship for years - good, steady orders, and for some reason I started to get the dregs of a new building site. The final straw was doing one of those price changes and finding a tractor trailer box on site with nice new full color banners down both sides and new directional signs everywhere. Knew nothing about the want for those and the client hemmed and hawed about not giving me the chance to bid it out. See ya!
"Used" to have a friend that I worked in the mill with.
We were advertising in the local paper, but not knowing if it was actually bringing in any new customers. We decided to put a 10% off coupon in the ad figuring we might be able to track which customers were using us based on the discount.
This guy comes in with a sob story about how no other parents wanted to help pay for trophies for the kids on the team, it was coming out of his pocket, etc. After I gave him the absolute rock bottom price, with a sh!t eatin grin on his face, he pulls out the 10% off coupon. Wanted to know if he could use it also. We're no longer friends and he's no longer a customer.
Dave
We were advertising in the local paper, but not knowing if it was actually bringing in any new customers. We decided to put a 10% off coupon in the ad figuring we might be able to track which customers were using us based on the discount.
This guy comes in with a sob story about how no other parents wanted to help pay for trophies for the kids on the team, it was coming out of his pocket, etc. After I gave him the absolute rock bottom price, with a sh!t eatin grin on his face, he pulls out the 10% off coupon. Wanted to know if he could use it also. We're no longer friends and he's no longer a customer.
Dave
Slamdunkpro
New Member
When the aggravation outweighs potential revenue.
I've fired a couple:
One was a fairly steady customer when I was first starting out who just enjoyed abusing vendors - they'd go over signs with a magnifying glass and nitpick me to death, arbitrarily reject 50% or so of the order then brow beat me about how "the rest suck but we'll take them". You never got out without a 10 minute tongue lashing. When I delivered they had to check every piece and they'd make me wait around for 30 minutes before they could "get" to me. Plus they'd only give me the difficult / odd jobs or stuff on impossibly tight deadlines.
Another was a consultant that was brought in to do a holiday project for one of my corporate customers. She was total train wreck and it quickly became clear that the project was too. It was the first (and so far only) project that I've ever walked away from in the middle of it.
I've fired a couple:
One was a fairly steady customer when I was first starting out who just enjoyed abusing vendors - they'd go over signs with a magnifying glass and nitpick me to death, arbitrarily reject 50% or so of the order then brow beat me about how "the rest suck but we'll take them". You never got out without a 10 minute tongue lashing. When I delivered they had to check every piece and they'd make me wait around for 30 minutes before they could "get" to me. Plus they'd only give me the difficult / odd jobs or stuff on impossibly tight deadlines.
Another was a consultant that was brought in to do a holiday project for one of my corporate customers. She was total train wreck and it quickly became clear that the project was too. It was the first (and so far only) project that I've ever walked away from in the middle of it.
Cre8tive Advertising
New Member
I had one that wanted me to work with their own "Marketing guy"...
My client was a small time AC company, only 2 trucks... They wanted some vehicle advertising and marketing materials like business cards and a post card.. Easy simple and quick jobs... So I thought.
Turns out that their marketing guy is a retired exec, who does have lots of experience under his belt, including working on the Army's "Be all that you can be" and bell south's "reach out and touch someone"... Always eager to meet someone new and learn all I can I jumped at the opportunity. I was to follow his lead and creative vision. Basically run all design ideas through him and make the changes he wanted. Big mistake there...
I guess they were trading AC work for the "Marketing Genius's" opinion in all of this. It started out simple enough... But a month later and 30... That's right 30 proofs later I realized that when someone is trading $5000 in AC work for nothing more then your opinion you better make it look like you are doing a lot. This guy gave me the run around making small intricate changes for damn near a month. It ended up costing the customer twice as much in art changes and stressed our relationship because he was telling them that I was the reason for the hold up.
The lesson I learned... Don't let the customer take over the project... They will run you through the ringer and you will not even begin to be fully compensated for it. They are in your shop, asking for your work... If they don't like what you are giving them then they have the option to go somewhere else.
My client was a small time AC company, only 2 trucks... They wanted some vehicle advertising and marketing materials like business cards and a post card.. Easy simple and quick jobs... So I thought.
Turns out that their marketing guy is a retired exec, who does have lots of experience under his belt, including working on the Army's "Be all that you can be" and bell south's "reach out and touch someone"... Always eager to meet someone new and learn all I can I jumped at the opportunity. I was to follow his lead and creative vision. Basically run all design ideas through him and make the changes he wanted. Big mistake there...
I guess they were trading AC work for the "Marketing Genius's" opinion in all of this. It started out simple enough... But a month later and 30... That's right 30 proofs later I realized that when someone is trading $5000 in AC work for nothing more then your opinion you better make it look like you are doing a lot. This guy gave me the run around making small intricate changes for damn near a month. It ended up costing the customer twice as much in art changes and stressed our relationship because he was telling them that I was the reason for the hold up.
The lesson I learned... Don't let the customer take over the project... They will run you through the ringer and you will not even begin to be fully compensated for it. They are in your shop, asking for your work... If they don't like what you are giving them then they have the option to go somewhere else.
TheSnowman
New Member
I've only fired a couple...but I ate money first. One guy walked out with his stuff one day, and never paid me, then called the very next day and said, "You can do that in just a minute or two can't you" thinking that my job was nothing but to cater to him, and when I informed him he never paid, he got mouthy saying he did...I told him that's fine if he thinks he did, but I'm not doing any work for him again ever. Losing that $100 was worth never dealing with that guy again.
Another guy I quoted him $400/each on his trucks to put some basic letters on them...I gave him the bill for the first one, and he paid, I gave him the bill for the 2nd one, and he said, "What's this!?" I informed him it was his bill for this truck...he fires back with "You said $400 for all THREE trucks!" I told him there was no way I would have ever said that, but it's his word against mine, and I'm not doing the third truck, or any truck for him again ever.
Another guy I quoted him $400/each on his trucks to put some basic letters on them...I gave him the bill for the first one, and he paid, I gave him the bill for the 2nd one, and he said, "What's this!?" I informed him it was his bill for this truck...he fires back with "You said $400 for all THREE trucks!" I told him there was no way I would have ever said that, but it's his word against mine, and I'm not doing the third truck, or any truck for him again ever.