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we have all had that one customer
Hi everyone, i just wanted to ask how others deal with these guys,
we did a van at short notice for a guy on friday, it was a quick £100 + VAT job, the van was a black transit custom.
i then get a call on saturday morning to say the panels are all scores and his valeter cant touch them without removing all the graphics..ive been in the trade for 25 years and do vans every day and never had this issue before.. the van arrived dirty so as a rule now i clean were i have to to show them what they left me with, we cleaned the panels with soapy water and sponge, chamois after then APA cleaner on a microfibre cloth, unless there is another way to clean nowadays i dont know what else can be done :shocked:
the points i waiting with are
1. the van was not left in in a clean state
2 the van had been painted again so wasnt factory ( there was a melted mark from old graphics, not fade but an actual melt mark as the old graphics where put on when paint wasnt fully hardened
3. we can only wash as you washhe is clearly one of these guys that has decided he wants to be a tool and cause agro or wants his van totally polished and is trying to get me to cover this because the whole sides will need sorted, ive spoke to a few car paiters i know and they all say that black will always mark but 3rd party paint will be a curse, they have said to get the name of his valeter and then to chase him
its really disheartening as we do good work and this one cheap job is getting me mad, so how would you guys deal with it
ive known people to polish over graphics but never don it myself
thanks
John -
13 Replies
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I feel your pain.
We tend to find those ‘quick’ or ‘cheap’ jobs are the ones that cause the most aggro.
We had to replace a windscreen in a customers sprinter van as they claimed we had cracked it during fitting.
We couldn’t prove it was there before it came, and that we didn’t do it, despite knowing it highly unlikely we didn’t.
For the two minutes it takes, get a 3 part NCR pad made up, with a generic outline of a van, note the cleanliness of the vehicle, mark any visible damage, add a disclaimer about dodgy paintwork, damage not visible due to the cleanliness of the vehicle, note the date, time & mileage, get the customer to sign it when the drop it off, they keep a copy, then sign again when they return that the vehicle’s in the same condition.
That should cover most bases. Date, time & mileage are handy should they get a speeding ticket and think they can say it was you getting signed up and it must have been you. 😉
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No simple answer is there? As David says, you can try a pre-inspection which they sign, but many of my customers drop the vans off early or later and post the keys in the secure box, meaning I don’t see them.
I do much the same as you when a customer turns up with a manky vehicle and just clean off the areas required or I phone them to tell them I’m going to the valeters up the road and it’s going to be £50.
I can’t really help with what’s already happened, we’ve had it where crap paintwork has led to lacquer peeling off when the mask was removed.. what can we do? Most customers are understanding that it’s beyond our control but some walk away with a free job out of it or worse!
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We’ve a customer bringing two van’s in today.
Vivaro, LWB. Design’s been approved, all the vinyl cut.
Bloody thing’s turned up today and it’s a vivaro LWB, but a bleeding crew cab :bangshead:
Any tips on dealing with that one? 😆 😆 😆
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I always ask to see the actual van whether in the flesh or a photo, if it’s somebody in the office, they generally don’t know the difference between a transit & a double decker bus. This issue that John has is a tricky one to advise after the horse has bolted, sounds like a try on to me, dig your heels in because he has to prove you did it as much as you have to prove you didn’t. If it winds up in court I’d be astonished, but just bring along a few testimonials from similar jobs & he’ll soon be looking for a new sign maker to do his tuppence worth jobs, we all get them mate
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quote David Hammond:We’ve a customer bringing two van’s in today.Vivaro, LWB. Design’s been approved, all the vinyl cut.
Bloody thing’s turned up today and it’s a vivaro LWB, but a bleeding crew cab :bangshead:
Any tips on dealing with that one? 😆 😆 😆
Not sure this will help but I always send customer a copy of artwork on the vehicle template as I had assumed most do, if he has approved the artwork without telling you the vehicle in the image is wrong then thats the same as approving a typo in my book.
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I’ve just added a page that will go before our proof template when we PDF it.
In bold white letters, on a red background
"IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Please read carefully"Followed by an explanation of why we send a proof, and what to check, which includes ensure the template matches their vehicle, any obstructions such as dead locks etc, along with typo’s. They have to see that before they see the proof picture.
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😆 😆 😆 2nd van from the customer has just arrived, this time it’s still a LWB vivaro, but it’s a minibus, with blacked out windows… so now recutting the black vinyl in white so they can see it :bangshead:
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I’ve also just added on the ENSURE IT IS THE CORRECT VEHICLE to the template as we had a guy the other week who we had sent a visual to on a white Transit Custom, made several revisions, and he turns up in a LWB Grey Connect!
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Had a customer on Friday, had a signage order from us 9 months ago along with 20 polo shirts. Not paid the bill & doesn’t answer his phone. I’m not really a chaser as we never have time but got the hump recently when I saw my balance sheet so going at it now.
Went into his shop to see him face to face & was told “we withheld that one because we could have got the shirts much cheaper online”
??
I was waiting for Jeremy Beadle to come round the corner. I honestly will never understand some people -
Yes guys its the bane of a sign maker really isnt it, dave i know what you mean about the spec sheet but as mentioned it was left in in a hurry, i seen nothing wrong on completion and i think he is just looking to get the van buffed for free.. im just going to chase him out the door
the dreaded crew cab issue is one id charge the time wasted and the new material, its a big thing for them to forget to mention, i hate that you would not get away with these things if you are using their services
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Last time someone dropped off a dirty van they got phoned and told to take it away, and brink it back once it was clean, peoplemjst constantly try and take the piss.
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Customer wanted 3 vans done, all lwb, cut them, he came in, the all were swb. He couldn’t see the problem until we placed a line of text on the side and it hung over by about 8 inch. He wouldn’t pay to get them done again, I’d been paid in full as he wanted a deal on all 3, so I insisted on full payment first. He told us to "do the best you can….." So we put the text on 2 lines, looked crap.
Sines then, on the artwork we put measurements, showing the length and height of the van and we say please check
1 chap, dropped off his van and said he’d pick it up before we closed, rang the mobile at 8pm complaining the gates were locked to the carpark and he couldn’t get his van, insisted we come to work and open up… :bangshead:
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One of today’s jobs was a SWB van that turned out to be the extra long wheelbase version instead :rollseyes:
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