I work as a graphic designer at a sign shop that makes, well, signs. We also do some car decals and wraps from time to time, but mainly it’s large format signs, banners, channel letters, and so on.
This time it’s a client for some truck decals. They come in and we take measurements and photos of the existing graphics. They want the same exact decals that are there but larger, so that’s what I set up in a proof, set up pricing, and send it over to them. They approve the proof in the portal, which is time-stamped with his email showing it was approved and paid and everything. Seems like an easy job and super simple to do.
Fast forward to when I email him to get scheduled for installation. I tell them the decals are ready and list the dates for installation. They pick a date and time and we get them on the schedule. All of this is through email.
Client: “Can I see how the decals will look?”
Me: “Here’s a screenshot of the proof. This was the same one we sent over to you for approvals when the order was first placed and was approved by you. Let me know if you have questions.”
Client: “Let’s take this part of the sentence we have on there and move it. Also, in this other decal, I want the logo flipped so it’s facing the other way. Does that make sense?”
The logo part they are referring to is inside of the blue portion of a stylized American Flag. It’s cut out of the vinyl and flipping it would cause the logo to be backward from how it normally looks. The sentence was just cutting off a word and moving it elsewhere, which is super easy for production to do.
Me: “The sentence part is something we can accommodate. However, the decals were made once the proof was approved and are based on that. It looks like the proof was approved on [date] and we moved forward with that.”
Client: “I am not happy at all. I refuse to put the logo on my car backward.”
This logo is facing the right way all along. They wanted it flipped around and backward.
Of course, now I go into a panic. I talk with my coworker, who works in the production room, and he’s like “yeah the decals are already made so we can’t do anything unless they buy a new one”. My boss isn’t there, as he’s out doing installs all day long, so it’s just me vs the client. I go back to my email and see that the client has emailed again. It hasn’t even been a few minutes.
Client: “Reimburse me my money or let’s get this right. I admit I didn’t look at the proof but approved it via the portal assuming you’d make it look EXACTLY how it looks like in the photos, which is why you took them.”
Once they said this, my panic instantly goes away. I know I have the trump card as I saved those photos from my phone to my work computer so I could reference them. I go back to the photos and took a look and, lo and behold, I did it right. The photo is even on the side of the truck the client had wanted it flipped on. I had mimicked it per their words when I spoke with them.
Me: “I did reference the photo and mimicked it when I was setting up this proof. Here’s the photo I referenced.” *Shows them the photo.*
Client: *Immediately apologetic.* “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was backward on my truck currently as well. I’ll still proceed with the install as is, but is it hard to order a new decal? If so, how much?”
In the end, the client came in and said to just install them as they are. They apologized for being a pain and didn’t like to be a complainer, which was nice of them. They said they were going to do some other decals once their new business got off the ground on this same truck, so we can make the change then.
Clients From Hell
