Help with threatening customer

[Inkinmyblood]

Hello, I am asking for some advice please.

I offer a service where I expose images onto screens for people. So normally this involves someone sending me an image via email and I pick a screen which is made new and I put that image on the screen for them.

In one case an ongoing customer keeps sending me screens and images which are very very difficult. I have expressed how I don't think my services and facilities are capable of doing them. They send me second hand screens and insist on me using their film positives instead of my own which I usually print in my studio. They then give extra pressure of tight time constraints. All the while I have said verbally and written that I don't think I am the right person for the job. I attempted the order and was paid for it, they were then returned to me as not fit for purpose. He is saying they were not done to a high enough standard. I tried to resolve the issue by attempting again. Now he wants a full refund. These jobs have taken me at least two days and delivery costs. I offered a 25% good will refund and to return any remaining screens. He is now threatening me with small claims court and has reported me to trading standards and is saying I am liable for his job to be redone by someone else and his legal fees and money for his time and delivery/courier costs too! Please help with advice.

 

[MOIC]

Ask the customer to return the work you have done for a full refund.

When the goods are in your possession, return what he has paid you. No more, no less.

Move on with your business.

 

[PipeTen-Carl]

Agreed with the above, but I'd probably now either 1) refund the lot, walk away, learn that lesson or 2) refund nothing, go the whole way and learn many other lessons. Trading standards and magistrates are not stupid, if things are as clear as you describe you have nothing to worry about.

 

[MOIC]

Unfortunately the OP's statement . . . "I attempted the order and was paid for it" . . .will not stand well if it goes to court.

It will be very expensive & time consuming, with no guarantee, even if he wins, that he ill be able to recover any or all costs.

Option 1 is best, at this stage.

 

[BustersDogs]

Sounds like you should have stuck firm and said 'no'. You've told him you can't do the work, then did it anyway, so I would give him his money back and let him go away quietly. Fighting just gives you more stress and sleepless nights than the money is worth. You are not of course responsible for him paying someone else to to the job.

And next time you can't fulfill what a customer wants - stick to your 'no' a bit stronger.

 

[The Byre]

Ask the customer to return the work you have done for a full refund.

When the goods are in your possession, return what he has paid you. No more, no less.

Move on with your business.

This!

We have had similar problems with packaging. I have learnt (through bitter experience!) that when customers present pre-print material that is unsuitable, to just reject it out of hand. We don't 'tweak' it, improve it, alter it, or otherwise try to help them. We have a pre-print service for packaging and if they don't go with that, they are totally and utterly on their own.

 

[Peter Durrant]

Is there an easier way than the pics? If there is, it could be a real problem solver - when the problem is entrenched, you may need to take a few more steps back and go to the drawing board once again

 

[smallclaimsassistance]

Ask the customer to return the work you have done for a full refund. When the goods are in your possession, return what he has paid you. No more, no less. Move on with your business.

Agree with this.

In a perfect world, you ought to have stood firm at this point -

All the while I have said verbally and written that I don't think I am the right person for the job.

One question however:

In one case an ongoing customer keeps sending me screens and images which are very very difficult.

......

They then give extra pressure of tight time constraints.

Your post seems to concern one order, but the above quotes suggest an ongoing course of orders, and therefore reference to only one refund request suggests satisfaction with previous orders. Are all the prints part of the same one order, that whole order now being rejected? Or has he previously accepted other orders?

Either way, I would guess that your business doesn't need this grief.

 

[Inkinmyblood]

Hi everyone, Thanks so much for the comments. This is an ongoing difficult customer. I pride myself on pushing my techniques and learning with every job. I am a self taught screen printer and this particular customer literally won't take no for an answer. I reckon this is me being weak and not just sending the screens straight back to him. Instead I was trying to make sure he didn't in turn loose custom and tried to do my best with it. I would say 70 percent of his jobs there have been difficulties. I want to add that I have never had a return in my two years apart from him. Only one other refund for crushed item in post. I think I am going to push through and defend myself as the actual figures involved are only £200. I genuinely think expressing that I wouldn't be able to do a perfect job, him telling me to do it anyway and myself failing to give what he wanted isn't my fault. You're right I don't really need the grief but it is already teaching my plenty!

 

[Carl Mintern]

[QUOTE="Inkinmyblood, post: 2590954, member: 254415] I pride myself on pushing my techniques and learning with every job.......... You're right I don't really need the grief but it is already teaching my plenty![/QUOTE]

Good for you.

Every time I make a mistake, and I've made plenty, some costing 5 figure sums, I consider the money lost a training course fee.

I push everyone I work with to stretch themselves, overtly and openly accepting that it will lead to some well intentioned errors. I consider this the best, most cost effective, most intensive way to upskill everyone who works with me, myself included.

Live. Learn. Grow.

 

[myfairworld]

One of the big lessons in business is to learn to say 'no' to some people, even if 'no' means not just to the specific request but to losing that person as a customer.

It is not easy to decide when to draw that line. I mean some customers are sort of 'difficult' but you can still work with them and financially they may even be good customers if you sort of nurse them along. But some people are poison and you really need to firmly say no to them as soon as possible.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, someone came into my shop and was first of all 'difficult' and then OTT impossible and verbally aggressive with a member of my staff who had tried throughout to be as pleasant and helpful as possible. I intervened and told the 'customer' to leave and never come back. The customer left after a lot of huffing and puffing (I'm not to be trifled with if really annoyed!). The staff member was really worried that we'd 'lost' a customer but I pointed out to that staff member that they were much more valuable to the business than one poisonous 'customer' who'd only upset any other customers who happened to be about at the time and that it was one thing to deal tactfully with demanding customers and another to tolerate someone totally unreasonable.

One of the small delights of running your own business is that you can sometimes decide to say 'no'. Say 'no', enjoy saying 'no' and focus on doing business with people who appreciate your skills and who interact with you on a reasonable basis.

 

[MBE1]

Agree 100% with myfairworlds post above, learning to say no and to stick to your decision is as important as saying yes. It takes two to make a deal, if it's not right for one of you you lose no matter what.

 

[Turnkey Businesses]

in the future if you know the quality is not going to be the highest and is due to the customers materials get the customer to accept in writing before the order is placed that the product will be of a lower quality finish. the printers we use will always refuse to print when we provide images that aren't 300dpi unless we either replace them or accept in writing that it will be a lower quality.

if you don't have that in writing with this customer i would just refund the money, take the lesson and resist the urge to ever take another order from that customer again.

 

[john1989]

A good reputation is something that takes a long time to acquire.


By taking on work which you accept will be of lower quality when compared to your other work, you risk your good reputation being tarnished.


Some jobs are just not worth the money.

 

[Newchodge]

Just as an aside, every time I see the title of this thread I consider offering my help to threaten the customer. I love ambiguous headlines.

 

[Bartholomew Hearn]

How much was it? Does it worthy the time and nerves?

Just as an aside, every time I see the title of this thread I consider offering my help to threaten the customer. I love ambiguous headlines.

At first that was what I came for.

 

[Deleted member 252819]

You said a few times you didn't think you were capable, but you gave in and did it anyway (with good intentions). I've done this a lot of times; I've had clients who were difficult, asking for discounts and being unreasonable, but I did the work anyway - only to have trouble getting paid.

Have confidence in what you do! If you have doubts, say no. It's OK to be firm. There are lots more customers out there.

 

[obscure]

Hi everyone, Thanks so much for the comments. This is an ongoing difficult customer. ......I reckon this is me being weak and not just sending the screens straight back to him. !

Yes you are being weak. An ongoing difficult customer should have been kicked to the curb long ago. Your failure to manage your client is unfortunately now going to cost you. Give them a full refund and move on. Good luck in the future.

 

[TODonnell]

A small % of customers are troublesome. People think: "The customer is always right". This is a mantra that is both current and pseudo-clever. The customer isn't always right. The customer can be ignorant, wrong or just unreasonable. One is not obligated to bend over backwards, for anyone.

Business is offering a good or service at a price. Business is not being a serf just because of a cash-relationship.

In this era of small companies competing on price one needs to have a policy of quickly refusing or refunding problem clients. They take up too much time which could be spent more profitably.

 

[paulears]

refund, move on. No other sensible solution.

 

[Thermodynamic Man]

Not quite the same scenario but we have had on occasions a customer has gone against our advice as to the best place to site one of our products. Such as we advise that the boiler/solar panels etc should be sited in a certain place but the customer insists they/it should be placed elsewhere...for whatever reason. We explain that by going down the route they wish that the product may not perform to it's best capacity and reduce it's performance and therefore cost savings.
We now overcome that by getting them to sign a disclaimer which totally indemnifies us ( I assume it does anyway) in the event that they come back to us and complain. We just find it a good thing to get signed, very diplomatically, at the outset before any work is carried out.
Not sure if that is anything that you could adopt but it has saved us from troubles when the customer believes they know best.