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Got a message from a customer while I was out of town. He said his sign fell off the wall and the brackets on the back were pulled from the sign. He is irate because he has new a new competitor in the same area and now he is missing identification. However, he is going out of town for the week today and won't be back until next week. Asked me to call him ASAP. I did call him and left a message but didn't ever hear back from him yesterday.
So, here is the problem. My husband and I put this sign up. It was a 1-1/2" thick HDU sign. We applied Panel Clips to the back with stainless screws and also glued them to the sign with PL Polyurethane construction adhesive. There is no way those were coming off without a lot of force and damage to the HDU. We then added the opposite side Panel Clips to a concrete block wall with Tapcon screws.
Once in my sign life (11 years now), I have seen an HDU sign cup so bad it pulled screws out of a wall. However, that was installed completely differently and in a manner we never used again. I have not seen the sign as of this time. He did not mention it cupped or was warped or anything else. The sign has been up for 9 months.
So what I am thinking is some punk kids or maybe even his new competition or maybe the client themselves yanked it off the wall. It would have lifted straight up with the Panel clips!
What are your thoughts and how do I handle this? I don't feel it is my fault at all. I surely don't have any $$ to pay to him for problems and I don't feel after 9 months that it is my problem. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Happy New Year!
[ December 28, 2011, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: Amy Brown ]
-------------------- Amy Brown Life Skills 101 Private Address Posts: 3502 | From: Lake Helen, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2001
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Amy, Before I did anything else, I would want to first inspect the sign to try and determine what happened. If it cupped, then it would likely be my fault. But if it was struck by some object causing the fall, there could be telltale signs of that on the front or side surface. If it was pried off, there may be evidence of that as well. I've never used panel clips; do they lock on somehow? If the sign was only resting on the clips, you may or may not be responsible. Again, I would have to inspect and assess the situation before doing anything about it.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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The first thing I would do is go see the problem first before assuming anything.
I got a call from a client yesterday saying that his wood sign had a big crack in it but couldn't tell me anything more than that. I was envisioning the worst.
I dropped everything and went to see the sign for myself.
It turns out that a dark piece of string was stuck to the face of the sign. But to the client's credit, it really did look like a dark crack in the sign.
I decided to have some fun.
I called the client out so we could "discuss" the problem. He was really concerned about having future problems.
I reminded him that is what I'm there for and that we stand behind every job we do. I climbed up the ladder and pulled the string off.
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Never be too quick to think it is your fault. I had a 4 by 8 half inch mdo sign installed between posts using u-brackets. Customer called a year later and said it blew out. Man, I thought I really did something wrong until I investigated. The sign had the one half of the brackets bolted to the sign the other sheared off and bolted to posts.Then I noticed a bunch of kick marks and dents. Finally they admitted the local thug kids used this path as a shortcut.
Anything to put it back on you without \paying.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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My experience has always been that no matter what and especially since the guy is headed out of town, to go handle it immediately. The cost of finding a new customer is always greater than a simple repair. If it is vandalism, he will understand much easier if when he comes back, his sign is repaired. Nothing beats great service. The right customer is never wrong, the wrong customer is never right!
Plus...you will surely see his need for perhaps some other signage!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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My question is why use panel clips at all. An hdu sign tapconned directly to a comcrete block wall will not come down. There are many ways to hide or disguise the heads if you don't want them showing. I've done hundreds of signs this way, many of them on curved walls with that added stress with no failures.
-------------------- Dennis Goddard
Gibsonton Fl Posts: 1050 | From: Tampa Fl USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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Sounds like a vandalism problem, or maybe your competition put someone up to it. Like said above, it should have some pry marks or some tell-tale signs of mischief. What handier way to defer blame from himself, than for the customer to be out of town.
If you've got friends on the police dept, you might want to get them involved, so at least, you've got a "professional" opinion as to what happened, to maybe take the blame off you.
Good luck!
-------------------- Dale Feicke Grafix 714 East St. Mendenhall, MS 39114
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Posts: 2963 | From: Mendenhall, MS | Registered: Apr 1999
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as customers are horrible at describing anyhting I wouldnt do anyhting until you looked at it. If it's been up for 9 months thats a good indication it was forced down.
The customer should at least have taken that into consideration. If it had fallen 2 dats after install sure i would blame you.
-------------------- You ever notice how easily accessible people are when they are requiring your services but once they get invoice you can't reach them anymore
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I agree with the others to take care as soon as possible.
Write down all the comments and dates of everything as the police or others will require as much data as possible. Gee, Amy I hope it goes well, and maybe you can get a professional second opinion that can analyze what happened and have that in writing also. Then, you have some ground for whatever you find.
I think another outside professional can vouch for you as a credible witness in case it was pulled down by force and you can cover yourself better.
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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