# How would you handle this



## tonkatruck (Apr 10, 2011)

I had a client place an order, send me a very low quailty jpeg, and were late getting me the art. They were suppose to get me the art on Tuesday as they need the shirts the following Monday. They did not get me the art until late on Wednesday. Because the art was poor quality I had to redo it. I sent them a proof which they approved. After the shirts were printed they notified me I put the word multiple instead of multiplied. It was correct on the original art they sent me, but because I had to redo it I put the wrong word. However, I sent them a proof which they approved. Tgey did not catch the that the wrong word was on the proof. 
What would you do in this situation?


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## chuckh (Mar 22, 2008)

Find a way to make it work. 

If you'll never see them again, I would still offer a discount. 

If you hope to develop a relationship with them, offer to re-print at your cost. If that's not good enough, ask them what will it take to make it right. 

So you eat some shirts....and maybe establish yourself with a good client, who tells everyone that you made good on their order.


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## beanie357 (Mar 27, 2011)

They all do this.
Expect it.
We would reprint free, they buy shirts. Fair as they approved it.
We point that out.


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## StarDesigns (Aug 4, 2013)

I agree with ChuckH, find a way to turn this mistake into a long term customer. We've all made mistakes that cost us some money but if you handle it right you just may have not only gained one loyal customer but also someone who will recommend you to their friends. "Oh you need shirts printed? You need to check out my printer. We had a misunderstanding and I approved the proof so it was actually my fault but they did xxxxxxxxx to make it right!"

Also, use that line "What will it take to make this right?" A lot of times a customer will ask for a small discount or discount on a future order. BUT, if they ask you for a reprint, be prepared to say yes and do it with a smile! Long term thinking. 


Mitchell - Star Designs
Sent from my iPhone using TShirtForums app


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

"Please examine the art proof *closely* and *carefully*. Sizing, placement, color(s), spelling and content."

Then add something about signature, signing off, responsibility for any errors, blah blah etc. 

This will never totally remedy the issue of responsibility because I believe shop/business has bottom line responsibility for what goes out the door.

But signing off approval at least makes more of a _shared_ responsibility and can likely make the customer more reasonable when asked what can be done to make it right.


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

Be clear on what you need and when and the quality and/or format. Make sure it's communicated verbally and in writing multiple times.

When folk are late with providing what you need or give you low quality images,_ tactfully_ let it be known that you now have less time and that clean up is required. Nixing a rush charge or clean up fee goes a long way.


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## UltraGravitySP (Mar 28, 2015)

I think that this is a frustrating situation that is bound to happen now and again. I think the more clients you have the easier it will be to avoid these situations. It is tough, and it might cost you some bucks. However, I think it is so important to maintain close relations with your customers. It is their fault for approving the graphic in the first place. In fact they should have sent you a better image in the first place.

I think that the best solution would be as beanie357 said. Other to reprint for free as long as they provide the cost of the shirts. Maybe off some discount for a future run. Mistakes happen and that is business. The last thing you want to do is cut ties completely and start pointing fingers.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

If I re-do art and there ends up being a mistake, I fix it at what ever cost to takes to make the client happy......They may never say a "peep" to anyone about the "satisfactory" result but you can be sure if there is a problem they will let everyone know....


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

TYGERON said:


> "Please examine the art proof *closely* and *carefully*. Sizing, placement, color(s), spelling and content."



That's what I do, but I include a check box for each item, as well as for the size mix of the garment. All topped of with disclaimer requiring the signature of the customer, sent via pdf. Nothing is printed until the proof is returned, ticked and signed.

You made the mistake, but they were asked to check it, which they obviously didn't do carefully, so the blame is more with them than you.

Like others have said, offer a reprint, but charge them something for the shirts, even if it is only cost price of the garment.


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## jeannekay (Mar 19, 2012)

I had this happen to me. A high school group needed them for a pep rally so I didn't have time to reprint before the event. I reprinted the order soon after all on my cost but asked them to give me back the shirts that had the error on them. After a few weeks they brought me the misprinted shirts. I went through the box and maybe 1/2 were the misprinted ones and many were the ones I had redone. I will gladly fix mistakes if I need to, even ones the customer may overlook, b/c I live in a small town and keeping people happy is everything, however in this type situation I will ask for the error shirts to be in hand before I reprint so I don't end up reprinting shirts that are never given out.


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

> find a way to turn this mistake into a long term customer


I worked with a rep who called mistakes "an opportunity to be a hero"



> "What will it take to make this right?"


A great piece of advice. Let them tell you how much of the responsibility they are willing to assume. I was asked once to offer a price on a piece of equipment "go ahead and insult me, how much will you pay?" The look on their face showed in no uncertain terms how badly I had overestimated the price, and there is really no backing up at that point. The life lesson was always counter with "it's your equipment, what are you asking"?


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

ShirlandDesign said:


> I worked with a rep who called mistakes "an opportunity to be a hero"


 Excellent point.

We should strive for perfection in all we do. 

But getting it right ALL the time kinda gets a little boring  and the reality is that mistakes will be made.

It's how the mistakes are remedied and problems solved that make lasting impressions.


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## Prudat (Oct 4, 2014)

Yep you need to bite the bullet. Try and offer a discount. It that doesn't work reprint.


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## debbbbsy (Jan 11, 2011)

We have all done it, our best one was printing pant hire instead of plant hire.

Its all about building relationships with your customers,we all make mistakes its how we handle them.

Debs xx


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

My all time personal best (1997) was 375 mid range polo's (this was in a shop that didn't write down instructions before this job) sewn with the wrong logo. Standardized forms followed very quickly.

I'm not going to haggle percentages of blame, it was a "you know the thing over in the thing with the thing, oh yeah yeah yeah, I know the thing". Guess I didn't know the thing.

On the upside the rep who handled the account with the wrong logo ended up selling the shirts a little cheap, but still, accounts receivable were generated.


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## Boohiss (Jun 20, 2015)

Hey I just had a similiar situation to this. I'm gonna end up eating 200 garments at a huge loss for my tiny business. I can't reprint because the customer needs them done in less than a week and just don't have the resources for that. My question is: what do you do with all the extra stuff?? I can't sell it legally because his name is on it. Considered running a plastisol ink over everything to match the shirt and reusing for something cheap to at least try to get money back?? Anyone have any ideas??


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## nphektor (Feb 13, 2015)

Boohiss said:


> Hey I just had a similiar situation to this. I'm gonna end up eating 200 garments at a huge loss for my tiny business. I can't reprint because the customer needs them done in less than a week and just don't have the resources for that. My question is: what do you do with all the extra stuff?? I can't sell it legally because his name is on it. Considered running a plastisol ink over everything to match the shirt and reusing for something cheap to at least try to get money back?? Anyone have any ideas??


dont know how it would look when done, but ... screen over a base layer to cover bad artwork - some color that coordinates, and then screen your log / biz info etc over the base.

another thought ... do you know anyone who has a small biz that could use a GREAT deal on some shirts? maybe a landscaper (could use them as 'uniform t's for their help). then do the cover/reprint on on the bad T's.

maybe you can at least recover cost of shirts.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

This has always been a problem in the printing industry. The printer makes a mistake and the customer approves the proof anyway. I've worked for companies that would tell them sucks to be you, you approved it, then they had the inevitable argument where the customer would say they didn't know they were supposed to catch the printer's mistakes, etc. etc. etc.

I agree with most of the above responses. If the customer is disappointed, it's irrelevant who's fault it is. It's a bad situation either way.

In this case, it doesn't sound like there will be time for a reprint. If they need it on Monday they'll need to use what you did. The incorrect word at least isn't spelled wrong, so it seems like they should be able to use the shirts. I'd give them a 20% discount or so and if they asked for more I'd probably oblige.

If for some reason (this has happened many times...) there is suddenly (magically) extra time to do a reprint, I'd do it. You should still make a profit after printing it twice. By all means, ask for the mistake shirts back. Just like returning something to a store, you don't get both the replacement and the original one you bought.


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## Boohiss (Jun 20, 2015)

That's second idea is brilliant. That's all I essentially want to do at this point. Just break even and be done with it. I was hoping someone on here had tried the cover it up and reprint something else thing. I'll just have to try it out to see!


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

Boohiss said:


> That's second idea is brilliant. That's all I essentially want to do at this point. Just break even and be done with it. I was hoping someone on here had tried the cover it up and reprint something else thing. I'll just have to try it out to see!


I did try that once, on a team shirt that I accidentally printed with the wrong number. Their game was that night and I wanted the guy to have his shirt, so to fix it I printed a big solid square over the wrong number (tried to mix the ink to match the shirt) and printed the correct number over it. (I planned to replace the shirt and I told the customer that, but at least this would give him something to wear for the game.) It looked fair, but really not acceptable. I wouldn't try to fix a whole press run that way. Also, I've always read that if you print over already cured ink that it will wash out in the laundry. I've always been slightly skeptical of that and I've never tested it for myself...


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

I think the biggest issue when redoing the artwork is the customer probably doesn't really check it over. They knew what it said and they just looks it over quickly especially when there is artwork. They make sure the artwork is right but glance over the text since in their minds they know what it said. Or so goes my belief.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

freebird1963 said:


> I think the biggest issue when redoing the artwork is the customer probably doesn't really check it over. They knew what it said and they just looks it over quickly especially when there is artwork. They make sure the artwork is right but glance over the text since in their minds they know what it said. Or so goes my belief.


This is exactly what they do...and the worst situation is when it's a bunch of names of specific people. If one person's name is wrong, that person is going to squawk big time and you are going to end up reprinting the job no matter how hard you try to negotiate a discount.

What I do for names is ask the customer for an email list that I can copy and paste. And I also urge them to double check all the names before I print.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

Ripcord said:


> I did try that once, on a team shirt that I accidentally printed with the wrong number.


Had a similar issue were Mom gave us the wrong number for a younger brothers "fan" hoodie.

We removed the original number, laid down a black panel where the original number was on the black hoodie and pressed the correct number (in white) on the panel. 

Came out great.

Even though it was her error it was a N/C fix for her.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

Blue92 said:


> Had a similar issue were Mom gave us the wrong number for a younger brothers "fan" hoodie.
> 
> We removed the original number, laid down a black panel where the original number was on the black hoodie and pressed the correct number (in white) on the panel.
> 
> ...


Did she ever complain that it washed out in the laundry? (As I said, I've always been a little skeptical of that. When you run something through a dryer, I'd think that all the layers of ink partially liquefy and form a bond, whether they were fully cured beforehand or just gelled.)


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## competent123 (Jun 18, 2015)

Reprint at no profit/no loss basis

because you both were at fault here, you both share the cost, you share the cost in terms of lost profit and he shares the cost in terms of material cost

a win win proposal for both,

similar situations happen to me, usually they end up well.


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## Boohiss (Jun 20, 2015)

Ripcord- my phone isn't letting me quote. But. I'm going to test out that theory when I get home. I have 200 shirts that I can't legally sell so I have to do something with them! Gonna try a black square and something simple over it. I would think it would work or else how does anyone do 2 layers of ink with a cure in between? People do that right?
Maybe.... We will see!


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

Boohiss said:


> or else how does anyone do 2 layers of ink with a cure in between? People do that right?
> Maybe.... We will see!


The traditional procedure is to partially cure or "gel" the underbase so that it's dry to the touch but not fully cured. Industry wisdom tells us that this results in a bond between the layers when the print is cured. But why is that? The bond occurs when the ink layers partially liquefy from the heat in the dryer. What difference would it make if the bottom layer was cured before the top layer was laid down? I don't know the answer...


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## artlife (Jan 15, 2010)

you can overprint cured ink, no problem. the new ink will fuse to the original in the dryer. overprinting a really old shirt that had been washed several times, the new print would only be as good as the old, so you would have some durability issues.


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

> Considered running a plastisol ink over everything to match the shirt and reusing for something cheap to at least try to get money back?? Anyone have any ideas??


I wonder how well a Stock transfer would cover. Out here anything with a fish on it will sell for 10 bucks pretty consistently.


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

Had the same problem this morning (Saturday), via text message at 6.15am! 

The customer has been using them for 10 days, printed some more for him a few days ago, and _then_ he notices the spelling mistake...

Such a stupid mistake, totally my fault - even though he approved the proof below.

He didn't notice the mistake in the proof, or the finished garment, so what chance have we got?

Normally I would tell him that he signed off on it, but in this case it is such an obvious mistake on my part.


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

Maybe I'm dyspeptic?


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

Typos definitely suck. I look at work, both embroidery and screen print as two modes, setup mode, and production mode. I crawl in setup mode, and sprint in production mode.


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

ShirlandDesign said:


> Typos definitely suck. I look at work, both embroidery and screen print as two modes, setup mode, and production mode. I crawl in setup mode, and sprint in production mode.


I agree. 

What makes this worse is that is cut vinyl - I had to weed the thing a dozen times without noticing!

I could understand it if it was a screen print. Once I go to press I am looking at the print quality, not the text.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

PatWibble said:


> Normally I would tell him that he signed off on it, but in this case it is such an obvious mistake on my part.


Something I've been harping on for years is that all the employees who work on a job have the ability (and in my opinion the responsibility) to catch mistakes and pull the job before it progresses.

I worked in the offset printing industry for years, and it never failed to amaze me that something with an obvious mistake on it could go all the way through the process (pre-press, printing, bindery, packing) and get delivered to the customer. Anyone along the way (the earlier the better) can save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for the company by catching errors and halting production until they can be addressed.

I think too many employees have an attitude that if the mistake was somebody else's fault, it aint their problem.


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

In a plant of any size you simply can't proof every piece of type that passes your way. 

We had a 1200 piece 2 color front one color back on black that was vectorized in Punjabistan and the original art was setup with barely enough space between two words to separate them. The person half way around the world in an emerging nation read it as one word, can't really blame them. It wasn't my art, the sales rep sent it out for vectorizing and forwarded the design to me, and I printed all 1200 shirts with a typo. We had to redo the order, so three days banging out shirts as fast as I was capable, after several days of pulling at a moderate pace. 

I'm not sure what muscle on your arm is on the opposite side of the bone from your bicep, but mine burned like fire for a day or two afterwards. 4 years later we still polish crystal after etching with those shirts, and still have a good number of cases left. 

I haven't blown a design in years, if I'm responsible for the composition I proof like it's my money buying the blanks (often it is). 

The first shirt off the press I always show to the rep, it's their commission, they are going to care the most. I've had reps look at me like I'm stupid for always doing that, I do it anyway. 

I never sew without a solid proof approval, and will always proof the text no matter. Not all of the time but fairly regularly I have a $1000.00 hour on the 6 head Tajima, that's profit, not gross. Which means if your wrong you can throw away $1000.00 an hour and that's rocketing to Bankruptcy, to quote Al Bundy. Way too much liability in embroidery to get sloppy.

Still mistakes happen, shake it off and get back in the game, no starters on the bench.


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