Customer calls, an okay customer....wants to know what i am gonna do about her sign, it is faded and the paint is peeling. Pushy, expectant.
I look it up. Turns out I did the thing in Nov of 1999!! I tell her as gently as possible that while I cannot give her a free sign since hers was purchased so long ago, but that I would give her a discounted rate, and apply UV protectant for free.
Won't do. She's mad because another sign I made for her even earlier has outlasted this one. "They should all last the same."
Yeesh. I tell her, again nicely, that what I have offered is the best I can do. She is a clothier, should I get new pants because the one's I bought four and a half years ago have a hole in the knee??
She replies that she is just gonna go to another sign person in a nearby town. I know the lady she is going to, she is a friend of mine. I tell her she is a good person and will treat her well.
Maybe you oughta tell the clothier that you will upgrade of her sign once every five years- for pants, an equal value in pants and clothes. And when they wear out she will have to replace your duds (every five years).
Nah, (on second thought) no pants are worth dealing w. her, ever. And she'll never "get it". So blow her off.
posted
Tazzzz...you missed your chance to tell her to call her Congressperson and complain that OSHA & EPA have ruined paint with all thier rules and exclusions!
Your new signs will not last as long as the older ones! It ain't the same paint, anymore!
-------------------- Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA
(714) 521-4810
si.allen on Skype
siallen@dslextreme.com
"SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Never mess with your profile while in a drunken stupor!!!
Brushasaurus on Chat Posts: 8831 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
My personal feeling is that signs should last longer than 3.5 years, but we have no idea how difficult she was to sell in the first place. maybe she cheaped out in the begining and opted for a cheaper material or substrate. If that is the case, she deserves the fruitage of money saved. Perhaps it will serve as a lesson to her, and a rule that cannot be broken...... YOU GET WHAT YOUY PAY FOR
[ June 04, 2003, 07:09 PM: Message edited by: Rick Beisiegel ]
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3503 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Assuming that the two signs are made of identical materials, if one of the signs was facing north or under a canopy it will have considerably greater longevity than one sitting out in the open or facing south. Down here in Florida, the north side of a two sided sign will look twice as good after five years as the other side.
Ask her how much a newspaper ad or yellowpages ad would have cost her for those five years. I'd say the sign was by far a better bargain.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7405 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Hey Taz... Got blisters on my fingers as I type, from fixin' a sign that failed after 6 years! The paint still looks great & glossy, the gold leaf still glitters. But the frickin' adhesive my ex-husband & former installer used to put the sandblasted SignFoam sign onto a backer board of plywood gave up. I think it was due to a combination of moisture & sunlight & the really crappy winter we had this year. I had to scrape the old crap off & re-glue. I think that they think I'm doing it out of the kindness of my heart, but I'm sending them a bill for materials- It's only fair. I've said it before, I'll say it again- People suck. Love- JILL
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Barry- If the "other sign lady" you're referring to is me- I haven't heard from her, but thanks in advance for the warning... if she calls I may take Donald's suggestion- works for me.
-------------------- Linda Schmidt Vital D'Signs Greers Ferry, AR signlady@ozarkisp.net Posts: 160 | From: Greers Ferry, AR | Registered: Sep 2001
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This is a common experience for many of us. Changes in paint and glue formulas have reduced the product life and the manufacturers will not give any guarantee. We can advise our clients that we're using the best quality of top name brand first grade products and manufacturers have altered formulas to meet environmental standards. We can guarantee that we're using top of the line products and more than that we can't offer.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6806 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I'll probably get blasted for this one, but if the sign gave up the ghost in just 3 1/2 years I'd redo it at no cost. If it has faded AND it's peeling in that short of time ( and to me, that would be a short time )something is wrong and you need to figure out what, especially with the peeling aspect. If she has others that are holding up well, then there is definately something amiss with that one sign. Sure you will have to eat it but your reputation is at stake and what is that worth?
A few years back I ran into a bad batch of Maroon One Shot. I had to redo about a half dozen 18 wheelers. All told maybe eight to ten hours work with no compensation from One Shot as I had already used up all the offending batch. Now I could have told them all to **** off, that is the fault of the paint and they would have been talking about me. As it was they probably still talked about me but in a more positive light. I'd rather have somebody say "Perkins went out of his way to fix something " then Oh his stuff comes off or fades real bad" I don't imagine Clinton and the surrounding area is all that big, a disssatisfied customer will talk a lot more than a happy one. And if anybody thinks I'm a pushover when it comes to dealing with customers....well you don't know me well
just my take on it.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
posted
I dunno Barry ... Nov 99 'til now is 3½ years, and you can presume it didn't start to peel yesterday. It might be her name on the sign but it's your reputation on there as well. I would have looked at a free or very low charge repair or replacement, while explaining it of to changes in paint formulations etc.. blah blah... Write it of to PR and experience. Good PR can only help you, bad PR can cost a lot more than the value of the sign. Failures can happen from time to time, hopefully, not too often; dealing with them correctly is important.
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
posted
Ditto! I tried to say that farther up. I have fixed stuff 5 yo before. A happy customer will tell 10 people...an angry one will tell 40. It's a fact.
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3503 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I may sound like I am trying to rewrite history on this post, but I made an Honest mistake--the sign is actually a year older than that, the art file was created NOV 98. So it is 4.5 years old, which to some of you does not make any difference.
Personally I offer NO SPECIFIC WARRANTY on ANYTHING. I have fixed truck graphics on the rare occasion that there were problems, after a year or year and a half. But to fix the sign for free after 4.5 years? Heck no.
George and all the others who see it that way, well all I can say is I bet your back hurts (among other things) from all that bending over!
I have a semi-prosperous, mostly-thriving business. I have a good reputation, and am like and repected in my community. I do not bend to every whim for fear of public opinion.
Now understand I absloutely back up my work in the face of reasonable problems, but I am NOT gonna fix EVERYTHING that EVER goes wrong...
That ain't self employment, that's indentured servitude.
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