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Lately I striped a fellas Acura in his garage. From the beginning he wasnt happy with even the color. Since, he has called twice wanting to know what to do about spots and smudges.
We walked around that vehicle so many times I was dizzy. At the end he paid and after his wife said it looked good ( he never did) I went on to work.
Reason it's so maddening is I missed all the clues that he was going to be like that. They were right out there, clues that we weren't going to be able to get along.
1. refused to meet my schedule. Insisted he couldn't get off work and the car was garaged at his home. Even though his wife was home and he took off work to be there too.
2. expressed disappointment with color, spacing, length. That was when we started circling his car.
3. then we began cleanup patrol. opening hoods, doors etc in case paint got in there.
If every customer was like that Id be a greeter at walmart.
Wholesale Striping is my living. Retail will have to put up with a couple questions before we work together to weed out the weirdos.
Okay Joey, I know you are reading this..Be nice!
-------------------- Bart Robinson Bart Robinson Pinstriping Corpus Christi Texas Posts: 78 | From: Corpus Christi Texas | Registered: Jul 2006
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It's bad when you ignore the warning signs. I did that just recently on a large sign job. I haven't been able to sit down for a couple of weeks because of kicking myself in the azz.
As far as striping customers go, on the retail level, I find about one out of a hundred is like you discribed, the super anal and, yea, you can smell them a mile away.
I always ask before we start a job "do you have anything specific in mind? How about colors?" If they say no,this eliminates them coming back with anything later.
1. Is a standard. They are more important than you are...........or so they would like you to think.
2. Color gets decided on before we start. If they have a particular color in mind, we will mix it and they will approve it before we lay a brush to the car. Spacing? Was he complaining about inconsistant spacing or was the spacing too wide or too tight? I've never had anybody give a hard time over spacing. This goes back to "do you have anything specific in mind"
3. We always walk the car with a rag to get anything off that shouldn't be there, stabillo marks or that little drop that always seems to come out of nowhere before we hand them a bill.
Opening doors and hoods???? Bart, I think you had the supreme anal for a customer. They are out there unfortunately. Hey, I had a customer years back, super anal. I went to his house to do some work on his race car. He had a four door deully Chevy truck. I get there and the truck is up on jack stands, All the tires and wheels are off the truck. I asked him if he was doing a brake job. He said "no, I'm just washing it" I asked him why he had the wheels off. He looked at me like I was crazy and said " how do you clean the back side of the tires?"
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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The last vintage car I striped, took me about 1/2 hr to get the shade of orange right (in enamel) - he wanted it to match the acrylic paint on the wheels... and maybe 3/4 hr to stripe all the bits he wanted done, and maybe 2 hrs travel, and when I gave him a bill, he gave me a $100 bonus...which was really nice! There are some good people around to make up for the baddies!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Bart, what kind of striping was this? I am assuming ( I know I shouldn't) that it was two lines following the contour of the sides? And you did use a brush as opposed to taping off and airbrushing? ( mental thoughts of why to check door jambs, body panel areas)
And yes, the first clue would have been enough for me. Time is valuable no matter which side of the coin its on.
Spots and smudges would have to be because HE or someone else did, AFTER you left.
I refuse to do wholesale striping. I am going to get paid my fee if it is an individual, car lot or dealership.
Ask him to bring it to where you can see what it is he is talking about. Being it is still fresh, refund him the figure of the striping, remove it from the car and tell him to have a good day. Take it as a well earned life lesson.
I have no qualms "firing" problem customers.
Ian, I had a customer like that who restored Ford A's and T's. He was meticulous and I always had to match. He had all the Ford manuals even up to where the stripes were placed and the size. His favorite was 3/32" and Apple Green.
[ June 25, 2007, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: Sam Sanfilippo ]
-------------------- Skidmore Sign Co. 3806 1st Avenue North Birmingham AL 35222 205-251-6049
Skidmore Signs - Facebook
"Success always occurs in private, but failure in full view."
posted
I would have solved the whole problem very easily with Rapid Remover and a rag. Then I would have told him to kiss my lily-white arse and begone with the fool. Some jobs are just not worth it. Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Bart, Whenyou mentioned that even tho' 'his wife said it looked good, he never did' . . . that really struck a chord with me as far as customers like this go . . . In addition to that type customer, I have a customer who is a good repeater, but still, on one particular job wanted to see artwork. (He always asks me a thousand questions and is terribley indecisive.) After much questioning, walking down the job-site, and even after coloured-scale art which he loved and approved for the contract his final comment about the finished sign?
"It looks 'pewny'".
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Jillbeans: I would have solved the whole problem very easily with Rapid Remover and a rag. Then I would have told him to kiss my lily-white arse and begone with the fool. Some jobs are just not worth it. Love....Jill
Way to go Jill, still giggling...
-------------------- Drane Signs Sunshine Coast Nambour, Qld. dranesigns@bigpond.com Downunder "To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer" Posts: 965 | From: Nambour, Qld. Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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Sounds like Jill needs to visit a tanning booth.
Bart, I feel for ya. I ran into a similar problem with a client concerning his stupid t-shirt order. He couldn't get it through is thick head that I don't sew 'em, I just print 'em. The idiot was whining about the length of the sleeves being an inch longer than he wanted.
posted
A decade ago, we made several 1100 mile round trips to an apartment property to install various masonry signs. The manager, Stacy, always managed to find things to complain about that no one else could see.
For instance, the limestone on the rendition of her sign was "creamier" than the limestone in person. This gave rise to the "Stacy Clause" disclaimer on all our artwork: "Drawings are merely representations of the proposed sign and cannot duplicate texture and color of the final product."
Once, she pointed out a tiny shell in the stone and asked me: "You're going to change the color on that fossil, aren't you?" I answered: "Lady, you should have talked to that thing before it died."
Even though Stacy never liked anything anyone did, one of my better clients uses us because he is from her town. He has seen those signs with the not creamy enough limestone and miscolored fossils and knew we would do a good job for him here.
Edited to add: I usually don't have to drive 1100 miles round trip to find a Stacy. As this post title states: "Difficult people are everywhere."
[ June 25, 2007, 08:59 PM: Message edited by: David Harding ]
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5084 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I've been living in a town for over ten years which consists of persons who don't know the difference between accent and attitude, a town where persons spend upteen thousands of dollars on their vehicles and from what I can tell want the detail work to have mistakes so its looks hand done or so they say. I've been plagued with incompetence, surrounded by persons who mention other stripers on a first name basis as if who am I to have even come across them because of where I'm from. The banks here are literally filled with money from out of town home sales and these are the same people who spend big money building their vehicles only to have it finished with color, design and lines by persons who should have retired a long time ago. They speak of California and how they knew Dutch and Tommy as if they slept with them. My memories are long gone of every striper or celebrity I've ever met, helped or worked with but still my hand doesn't shake as much as it did when i first started out over fifty years back.
In the amount of time I've been living here the only time I have problems is when I deal with street rodders who wanting to be part of the design concept as if I was a friggin amature and than they want to dictate colors which haven't names I'm familiar with like salmon, champagne and mocha as if I'll be painting the interior of their home and after all is said and done they mention that thier last vehicle pinstripe job cost seventy-five dollars. I avoid these people like the plague. My work also takes me to nearby towns and to persons who have had me recommended by others or who have seen my work which is easily recognized by its purely simple and effective straight lines and design work which i'm proud of. I put up with everyone of those persons who actually want my work and to date haven't had a problem, I let these people pick one color because I know that whatever color they choose, I can make it work and as far as California, they might have invented striping but back east, we surely perfected it.
-------------------- HotLines Joey Madden - pinstriping since 1952 'Perfection, its what I look for and what I live for'
My brother Steve usta tell me that I should define my product, not the customer...I think he might have something there.
Unfortunately everything these people point out is true to some degree. This guy was watching and it was one of my "shakey" days. The spacing was off a bit on the pass door cause I wobbled. And every spot he pointed out was there, he didnt hallucinate. These experiences make me more cautious and a better striper.
Two years ago I walked on a woman after she got anal. She called the dealer and told the salesman That I was a beginner.And that he should send someone else. He said he told her I was the only guy he knew of servicing the dealers for the last 15 years and that there was no one else.
Oh well, pays the bills eh?
Good to hear from you Joey.
Oh, Sam The striping is basically two lines shot right down the style lines of the vehicle..I use a mack lite 00 and urethane..
We circled that car so many times I doubt there are any smudges. I think he may have been figuring how to remove the stripe.
Any volunteers?
-------------------- Bart Robinson Bart Robinson Pinstriping Corpus Christi Texas Posts: 78 | From: Corpus Christi Texas | Registered: Jul 2006
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by David Harding: [QB] color of the final product."Once, she pointed out a tiny shell in the stone and asked me: "You're going to change the color on that fossil, aren't you?" I answered: "Lady, you should have talked to that thing before it died."
I can't believe you made such an amateurish mistake; we always make sure our fossils match and we even insist that they line up in a geometric pattern.
Bart, getting a customers approval of a job well done is part of the pay in my opinion. When we don't get that it's like getting short changed. I quit doing automotive graphics and airbrushing for the public 10 years ago. The only thing I do now is vinyl stickers. There are some people that nobody could please no matter what you do. Sometimes you just gotta take the money and forget about what you didn't get. I feel your pain.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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