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Customer complaints about design and layout. Advice please?
This is a new one for me. My client is very OCD not normally an issue as I have dealt with her for many years and know how to deal with it. Yet today I have installed the opening times graphic to her new shop front. See photo attached only to be told that the words do not line up, I thought she meant they didn’t all align to the left. Nope I was wrong, they don’t end in the same place!! How do you satisfy this request? Is it possible? Remember OCD and the font can’t change either. I have a funny feeling that I may just remove the days and just put M T W T F S.
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19 Replies
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Full stretch words as she demands.
(This will not look as good as you’ve done it) but don’t judge this design. She wants it this way. Not everything we do ends up on our website and fb page.
Send her proof.
She approves.
You do same as on the proof.
If she is not happy- she pays again. -
Ah man the would kill my ocd to stretch those letters they’d look terrible but as Pane says if she’s happy you’re happy. Gave up fighting with customer ages ago.
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You shouldn’t need to stretch the text, if they want the letters to end in the same place it’s called “full justification”, it’s an option in coreldraw in the same place as left and right aligned text. Im sure it’s in illustrator in the text alignment docker too.
Though in my opinion you’ve done it correctly, the client is off their rocker!
If they’re asking you to do it for free (because they think you’ve done it wrong) I’d politely decline and say you can change it to how they want for a fee!
Cheers
Alex
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Here’s a comparison of them both. Yes I was lazy and photographed my screen!
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quote David Stevenson:Here’s a comparison of them both. Yes I was lazy and photographed my screen!NOOOOOOOO
I can’t do it. I haven’t got OCD but that looks awful. Sorry [emoji45] -
I thought she’d complained that you missed the hyphen off Saturdays hours.
[emoji2] -
I was waiting for that. The hyphen was fitted after the photo.[emoji23]
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Good to hear it’s not just me who does that then!
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Took the photo saw it was missing and then had to open out the scrunched up app tape to find the (whoops I swore) thing!
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You spoiled it Iain by finding it. It’s much more fun to lose the missing part then have to go back to the workshop, load the cutter, cut a tiny piece of material then return to the job to fit it!!!
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Just playing devil’s advocate… did you not get the design approved beforehand? If not you’ve opened up yourself to this type of complaint. If you did, it’s on her.
Neil D.
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Here is another one for consideration.
I use Signlab and it auto kerns the letter by simply dagging.
I have used capitals as that helps give a better balance visually than Caps and lower case letters.At the end of the day…
did the customer provide you with a design brief?
did they provide the artwork or even a visual?If the answer is no to these, and they just asked for "hours of business" on their door, then the strip and redo the whole job should be chargeable. fair enough if this is a small part of a large job then you can lose it, but regardless, if they want your design time then it should be charged on top of your job. if they just want the job done on a budget, they cannot dictate views and opinions after the event.
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quote Neil Danley:Just playing devil’s advocate… did you not get the design approved beforehand? If not you’ve opened up yourself to this type of complaint. If you did, it’s on her.Neil D.
Even that doesn’t stop them!
We send a proof, when they approve it (usually by email with ‘good to go’) we send it back with a very noticeable "Approved" mark on it, and disclaimer
"This artwork has been approved and will be used for production & installation purposes. Alterations & corrections once approved may be chargeable.".
It also ensures when we’re producing the job it’s the final, approved, design.
We once made some sleeves to cover some road bollards outside their shop. Days later they complained that the writing was the wrong way, and that’s no what they wanted. We showed them the proof, and their email with it approved. They protested, but we’ve heard nothing since.
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Just an update, this was incorrect information given to me by the staff. It is not the ends but the First letters. I have placed a bubble against them and they are justified left?
This is from an email I received this morning
The signage looks great, except the Friday and Saturday vinyls aren’t in line with the above text… their indent is not proper… please can you sort it out when you come again?
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If it’s a valued customer, swallow your pride & change it. Digging your heels in over a 2 minute alteration is a waste of your time. I happen to think there’s nothing wrong with the job but do you want a row over it?
If you refuse, you will have one very p****d off customer who will moan to everyone they meet about how terrible you are (including the next Sign writer who goes in to fix, how will that feel?) or just give them the vinyls & keep them smiling. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Oh yes, make sure you add £50 to their next job. -
I am going to do it that is not a problem. I was more interested in everyone else view on it.
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It’s a typical customer wanting their belly rubbed I’m afraid. Yes you were correct with the first install, but being right can cost you in the long run when these idiots go elsewhere for their signage.
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I agree Kevin – But you’ve got to draw the line at some point though…
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Don’t get me wrong, if this were a big job to adapt, I’d be putting up a fight but pick your battles, a 2 minute fix is the easier option
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