The Framers Forum

We've all been there. Sitting down with a customer, writing notes, doing the work - only for them to come back and insist that it wasn't the work that they'd asked to be done.

How do you go about rectifying this when they refuse to pay the amount owed? Is it better to let them walk away or do you chase payment (or, where possible, make reasonable changes to the work, of course)?

Any tips for dealing with customers who insist they asked for something when they didn't?

'Cop it sweet', as they say in the Antipodes.

It's going to happen sooner or later. Best best you can hope for is that you don't get too many.

Make a big show of apologising. Make re-doing it their way a priority. Write it off to PR.

Every customer is given a copy of the order; to finalise that order they had to agree to everything on it - it's a legally binding written contract.

However - you can break your own rules whenever you want.

We usually do the following.

1) apologise (sometimes through gritted teeth!)
2) sort it out free of charge (usually) or for a nominal fee (less often)
3) if customer still not happy then I'd remove their piece from the frame and give it back it them with a full refund

I've had to do 3 only once in 5 years

I've recently done a reframe but charged the customer the difference between the moulding they chose originally and the one they chose the second time (which was more expensive) because they were arsey (they said we should have pointed out the black sight line on the moulding, although it is on the sample)

I value our good reputation too much to mess about trying to charge again, even if it is the customers fault, which it usually is. Again I've had one exception where the customer had their pictures on the wall for months before deciding they had chosen the wrong frame and blamed us for recommending it. I suggested a compromise where the customer paid a contribution (actually the cost price of the moulding) towards reframing and did decided she would keep the frames she had.

i agree in our business we work on 1st loss is best loss if that makes sence do whatever is required but record details of customer( we red flag them on our database) so as not to get caught again, great feeling when they come back and you apologise politely and suggest they use sombody else.

I need happy customers, but they don't neccessarily need me, so I will always go the extra mile to make them happy. If this means swallowing the extra costs, or even a full refund, so be it.

I can only think of two or three situations like this in the almost 10 years of running the business, so it's a no brainer, whatever it takes to solve the problem, I'll do it!

Thanks for your advice/help everyone. I guess it's down to experience and keeping your fingers crossed a lot of the time, then!