13 Unfortunate Customer Experiences

LIKE EPISODES OF THE 1960’s Dragnet TV series — from which we paraphrased the subtitle above — the experiences of some Brain Squad members shared here anonymously but in their own words intend to inform as well as entertain. Sometimes though, no amount of training or preparation can foresee or spot customers like these until it’s too late.

Abusive and Harassing

1 I had a customer’s van that I lettered in my shop. The owner already owed me a lot of money for a long time for a few vehicles. I told him not to pick up the van unless he had all the cash he owed me. He came to get it without any money so I wouldn’t let him in. He tried to break the windows to get in and was screaming he was going to kill me and have me arrested for stealing the van.

I had already called the police on him (we have “garage keeper’s liens” in my state) so the police came. He told them he would follow me home and kill me. They told him I was correct about the garage keeper’s lien, to get the cash and that they would wait. They also told me to get a restraining order. He did come back with the cash.

2 Client ordered three sets of 18-oz. banners for an event in September. Told the sales rep she had artistic license to “jazz them up.” We did and he became irate that we changed his design. We inadvertently only ordered one set from our wholesaler. Didn’t realize the mistake until the customer came to pick them up in July. He lost his mind. Verbally attacked my staff. Accused them of trying to “cheat” him. Demanded that we make the other two sets for free. That would be a NO.

Wanted them printed that day. We explained that we don’t stock 18-oz. banner, and use a partner to print this type. He told us that was ridiculous and he never heard of such a thing. Kept calling all day harassing the team about when his banners would be ready. We offered to deliver them when they were ready. “I never requested that,” he said. “I will come pick them up.” Then he went radio silent. We ended up dropping them off.

3 Probably the worst was in my early days when I started out and was inexperienced and a young female in a man’s trade. In the early ’90s I was in a customer’s garage lettering a truck and was propositioned to date the owner. When I said no, that I don’t mix biz with personal, he got irate and threatened not to pay me. I threw my cup of thinner on what I had just painted, packed up and ran out!

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Vengeful Online

4 We sold a sign package to an HOA. As soon as we started installing, the residents hated the signs. Even though the board had brought us the design, the residents trashed us on social media, sabotaged some of the signs and got a petition to recall the HOA board.

5 The few times usually stem from small orders we couldn’t get right. These customers can sometimes scream the loudest. For instance, multiple negative reviews on the same set of business cards where we didn’t round the corners. They had each of their family members leave a negative review, which brought our overall score way down.

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Due to Customer Snafu

6 One of my first projects when I started my company was when a customer went against my advice on a sign design and after the install he complained that it could not be read from a nearby grocery store exit. The next week there was a mysterious hole in the center of the sign and he wanted me to redo the project with my original design. NO!

7 We had a customer a decade ago that spent an enormous amount of money with us, but everything was always complicated and last minute. One such project involved expensive cut-aluminum letters mounted to a massive etched-aluminum globe. We sent layouts, got them approved, rushed getting all the materials and proceeded out to the job site to install.

As we were mounting the 200-lb. globe into a brick wall, the customer proceeded to tell us there was a spelling error and we needed to take it down immediately. After spending thousands of dollars, tons of manpower and putting other customers’ orders on hold, I was furious. We packed everything up and went back to the shop. They eventually acknowledged their error, but it was a horrible mess.

8 Among our worst customer experiences was the new truck stop we were building and installing the signs for — a large project. We should have been the last ones in — to install our imaging. The customer insisted we install on a jobsite that was nowhere near completion. The battle with the other trades trying to get our work done killed profits. And the client did not want to pay any additional costs due to the delays on site.

9 One customer came to us for some channel letters in a shopping center. His landlord had requested that he get a sign a year ago. He came to us with no idea of what he wanted and told us to create it. Once we did create something with little input from the customer, he yelled at us and said he needed it bigger and that he was in a rush to get it up. Going back and forth for two years now, he still has not pulled the trigger nor does he have a sign up. At this point I would have declined our services 1.5 years ago but we now find it entertaining.

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Threatening Nonpayment

10 We had a client who was a print broker and his girlfriend wanted a window graphic. He called us with it already measured out and designed and asked us to print and install it. During the install he stood over my installer, trying to tell him what to do. Ultimately the design didn’t fit in the window, so we redesigned it, reprinted and reinstalled it. When asking him to pay for the reprint, he wasn’t happy but said we’ll work something out. After a few weeks of no communication we sent him an invoice. He went ballistic and replied with a scathing email about how he would ruin our business and report us to the BBB. He then wrote an email to his entire company informing them to never purchase from us again.

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

11 After putting lettering and graphics on a Mustang in our service bay, the car owner’s husband demanded that we do it for free because his wife’d had to wait for a scheduled opening in our busy calendar. He said he wasn’t paying for it. Well, I sent the staff home, closed and locked the door, hat off, gloves off — and today he is as nice as can be to us.

12 Sold $50K of National Park Service signs to a contractor in Pennsylvania. They paid 50% down but did not have the remainder before we were required to ship by contract. We shipped so they could get paid by the NPS so they could pay us. They installed, got paid for our signs by NPS, but never paid us the remaining $25K. I had to put in a claim on their performance bond and eventually got paid eight months after it was due.

13 I ordered a promotional pen for a customer we won’t do orders for anymore. They wanted their PMS pink as the imprint. Then when they got them they said the pink was too hard to read. I offered to reorder with white (which I did) after a brief discussion. She said I was the expert and should have known that the pink wasn’t going to be a good choice. She kept the pink ones, I wrote that job off after she didn’t pay and I kept the white ones to use in the shop. It’s my favorite style of pen.