Activity Feed Forums Sign Making Discussions Vehicle Wrapping Failed Vehicle Wrap, who’s right, the guy or the girl?

  • Martyn

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 6:28 am

    Looks like a clear case of material failure to me. Definatly the vinyl manufacturers fault Joy

  • NeilRoss

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 6:53 am

    Man man! That truely is rubbish. I’ve never wrapped anything more than a christmas parcel, but I would sooner poke my eye out than present that to a customer. That’s pitiful! Scream

  • Jamie Wood

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 7:20 am

    Oh dear. I don’t think the girl is at fault. The chap who wrapped it should be embarrassed.

  • David Hammond

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 8:11 am

    WOW! That’s terrible! By the looks of it they’ve not bothered removing the lights or handles.

    Interesting question about who’s at fault.

    How many enquiries do we get, where the customer expects champagne, but only has the budget for lemonade?

    She either rang around for prices, and decided to go with the cheap option, without considering the consequences. Or she assumed it would be around £800, perhaps recommended by a friend, or just went off the price.

    It is at the discretion of the company what they charge, we all charge different prices for ‘the same thing’.

    We can all reduce costs by making compromises along the way, but this just looks like shoddy work. Regardless of what sum the customer paid, this shows a complete lack of professionalism to let that leave the workshop, and hand it over to the customer.

  • Craig Thompson

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 9:57 am

    Far too cheap…. but also the “wrapper” is at fault and should either re-do properly or give money back….. shocking that people are doing this bad of a job…..

  • Gordon Smithard

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 10:42 am

    Very poor standard of wrapping, it might be the wrappers norm though and he obviously thinks it’s ok, maybe new to the business and doesn’t know any better but that doesn’t excuse him. I have noticed a drop in standards over the last few years though when looking at vans etc, not just wraps but signage in general. Also seen some stupidly low prices as well, maybe we’re in a race to the bottom, hope not!

  • Phill Fenton

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    The old saying “you get what you pay for” is very true in this case. She has obviously shopped around on price and gone for the cheapest job on offer. Instead of doing some research and asking to see some examples of the work the company do she has had her fingers burned. The company is very much at fault for putting out shoddy work but I suspect they won’t be around for long. No one wins in a situation like this but perhaps the more professional wrappers have some ammunition and examples that they can point to when explaining the risks involved in choosing low prices over quality.

    If the customer then still decides to choose low price over quality then that’s their problem…

  • Colin Crabb

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    Both are to blame – as Phill says ‘ your get what you pay for’, and the wrapper wasn’t up to the task, or rushed to fit in an allotted time.

    But, legally: he has delivered the goods at the quoted price, and the customer excepted when collecting. I’m also guessing client paid cash……………..

    As I’ve said before, this is an unregulated trade, but would a regulative body make a difference?, or just add costs to those who sign up, while those who don’t make there service even cheaper? Double edged sword.

  • David Wilde

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    I’m torn,

    On the one hand, she’s clearly been given the world’s worst car wrap.

    One the other, she wanted her car turning bright pink.

    Its hard to pick a side…

  • Tim Hobbs

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 6:26 pm

    A great job is never cheap, a cheap job is never great.

    I do feel a bit sorry for the girl, even though she may have gone for the cheaper option.

    This guy doesn’t seem very professional does he and he obviously can’t wrap to save his life.

    I would be ashamed to turn out work like that. Even years ago when I was a fledgling wrapper I don’t think I would have made such as poor job of things.

    We’ve all been there on the odd failure, overstretching, bad trimming here and there but seriously.

    Awful!

  • David Stevenson

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    Regardless of price that’s horrendous!!! I honestly don’t even think on my 1st days training with Justin Pate I was that bad. We wouldn’t let that out the door. We’d give the money back before putting our name to that. She’d probably have done just as good a job herself 🙁

  • RobertLambie

    Administrator
    August 19, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    OK, honestly ask yourself this…

    This is “your car” and let’s drop the price to £400.

    You walk out, circle the car a few times and start spotting all these errors.
    Do you pat the guy on the back and congratulate him on a job well done?

    Pay him and walk off into the sunset a happy bunny?

    1. If “he” is charging too cheap, its “his” fault.
    2. If this is “his” bad workmanship, it is “his” fault.
    3. If he stops responding to the customer and blocks her. that is “his” fault.
    4. “his” crap application and attitude to his customers reflects back on the industry on the whole. “He is to blame”.

    Next time you shop for something, think carefully the following…

    There is three pair of exactly the same Nike trainers…

    £10 – £13 – £18
    All are FREE next day delivery.

    And just like magic, you all go for the £10 pair, right?

    Oh… wait…
    “You knew the £10 pair has a hole in the sole?”
    “You knew the £13 pair are fake Nike?”
    “You knew the ones at £18 were the only genuine Nike Trainers on offer?”

    It is all about educating the customer before they purchase. and that’s where us lot come in!
    and here, yet again, Mr Wrapper has failed again miserably!

    .

  • Tim Hobbs

    Member
    August 19, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    Get it a lot. It’s really difficult. As you’ve said Rob. The worst part of all this is that it paints a bad picture for wraps in general. Jo Public has no idea of what a good wrap should cost or how long it takes to properly colour change a vehicle. We don’t do a lot of colour change wraps ourselves. It’s mostly commercial stuff and a lot of part wraps, back doors wrapped and cut vinyl on the sides is very popular in our neck of the woods. Still use the top brands though. Worrying about the margins and using cheap vinyl is a mug’s game.

    Love to know what vinyl this guy used here. Most of us here would do a better job using calendered vinyl with relief cuts. 😀

    Plus. Is he Stateside? The other vehicles in the pictures would make it seem so.

  • RobertLambie

    Administrator
    August 19, 2020 at 11:44 pm

    @tim-hobbs

    Correct mate! and yes, UKSB member Jill Welsh is from Pittsburgh, I think!

    so yes, an American job.

  • Jamie Palmer

    Member
    August 20, 2020 at 11:57 am

    To be honest I think the Wrap (although poor) is not the main issue, I find wrapping is more about ensuring the customers expectations match what you are offering. I always take the customer around their vehicle and point out what will be wrapped, what will not and to what standard they should expect. Granted I don’t wrap private cars but if the wrapper had stated I am going to do you our “6 Week Cling Film Special” then this would be perfect! I do agree though our Industry is shown to the public on Supercars with cost recouped for the materials and quality through online marketing streams and when it reaches the lower end and your looking at a young lad about to blow his wages on wrapping a rust bucket clearly some explanation needs to take place!

  • John Lacey

    Member
    August 23, 2020 at 4:18 pm

    Been a Signmaker for longer than i can remember – this is why i have never tried or entertained wrapping. Wrapping is as close to sign making as spray painting, its a very precise skill but to me is not anything to do with making signs….

    • Tim Hobbs

      Member
      August 23, 2020 at 6:50 pm

      I started out in the eighties as a traditional signwriter, Mahl-stick and One-Shot enamels. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to use that vinyl rubbish. Didn’t fit cut vinyl lettering until I was in my thirties. Then it opened up a whole new area of customers.

      It was the same with wrapping, didn’t start that until I was in my forties. Now in my mid-fifties I think that I have become quite good.

      I agree it is very daunting at first but I think that it is a skill set that is important to have in a sign-shop these days. If you want to offer the full range of services. Most of our business is general sign work but it’s great to be able to offer a wrap or a part wrap where it is warranted. It just gives you more options to offer the punter. Roof wraps , bonnet wraps etc. I firmly believe also that as I got more confident at using wrap materials on vehicles, it lifted my game in all other areas of fitting vinyl. Massively in confidence if nothing else.

      I do understand why people don’t want to get into it though. It does have it’s downsides. Very easy to have your profit whittled down if things go wrong (and they do!) I think that many here would agree that it takes time before the level of skill goes up enough to overtake the costly mistakes in materials. Especially as the materials themselves are certainly not cheap.

      • John Lacey

        Member
        August 25, 2020 at 7:47 pm

        Hi Tim, i suppose its that i’ve never been interested in sticking coloured PVC to stuff – bit too Blue Peter for me. I grew up using tools to make signs in perspex and metals. Although we have to get on board with vinyl i’m kicking and screaming all the way lol… I’ll leave wrapping to the kids and stick to my jigsaw and needle files 😉

  • Peter Johnson

    Member
    August 25, 2020 at 5:51 pm

    I don’t care how much the girl paid for this job. It’s crap. If a person undercharges/undercuts for a job, that doesn’t mean they are allowed to turn out garbage.

    Should she have been more aware that she might get a sub-standard job because she was charged a low price? Maybe. But that still doesn’t excuse the wrapper for such an amateur, sh*te job. It’s so bad I honestly believe I could talk someone through doing a better job if they’d never wrapped in their life. Even the simplest parts of the job are very, very poorly done. Bubbles and creases on the flatter parts of the panels. And those handles are just a joke.

    I could honestly have done a better job using the cheapest ‘air-release’ vinyl purchased from eBay.

    And in this instance, I don’t agree that it’s about handling the customers expectations. We all warn customers that if they use certain materials in certain environments, there could possibly be some sort of partial failure in the next few weeks/months. Nobody should expect a finished product that looked as bad as that immediately after the was completed.

    It’s that bad I’M embarrassed.

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by  Peter Johnson.
  • Darren Beddow

    Member
    August 25, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    100% wrap installers fault. No ifs or buts. Every wrap i do i give 14days to sort any defects that could possibly arise and 12 months warantee on the wrap failing due to my installation. I’m sat here cringing at every image. Wrap vinyl is very forgiving so to make such a mess is absolutely unbelievable.

    • John Lacey

      Member
      August 25, 2020 at 7:50 pm

      Have to agree its terrible job and i have to say if you can’t complete a job with a high level of competency then you shouldn’t offer it as a service (you will end up with a bad name)

  • Karen White

    Member
    August 26, 2020 at 9:11 am

    No matter the price agreed, the material used or whatever. does anyone here actually think their customer would accept this standard of wrap? I do not wrap but if this is what is being put out, maybe I should offer it because I can do much better than this! Stuck Out TongueRofl

    • Hugh Potter

      Member
      August 26, 2020 at 9:28 am

      I honestly wouldn’t let it out the door looking like that.

      I’ve had a couple of wraps that have come back for minor failures, sometimes difficult bits that we warned against, sometimes bits that should never really fail, either way we fix it one way or another!

  • Shane Drew

    Member
    December 5, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    The guy that did the wrap is totally at fault. She’s claiming warranty in effect, so he should be honouring that at the very least. End of story.

    He is way out of his depth so probably isn’t sure how to fix it.

    We see this from time to time. As Hugh said, it wouldn’t have left my shed in that condition. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t had some failures, but they get fixed at no cost to the client. That’s why you charge a fair price (not cheap price) so you can cover a repair. if something fails.

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