Vendor Errors

[sunshine]

What would you expect from your vendor if the following happened? We ordered two printed flex faces for a 10' X 13' Super America hi-rise sign. Installed the faces, at a cost more than you might think because we had to rent a crane at $1,360 to accomplish it. One of the face colors is wrong and the vendor admits it is due to a typo by the person entering the order. They are reprinting the faces but won't help with installation costs. Are we being unrealistic to think they have some responsibility? Thanks for your opinions.

[jerseysign]

What would you expect from your vendor if the following happened? We ordered two printed flex faces for a 10' X 13' Super America hi-rise sign. Installed the faces, at a cost more than you might think because we had to rent a crane at $1,360 to accomplish it. One of the face colors is wrong and the vendor admits it is due to a typo by the person entering the order. They are reprinting the faces but won't help with installation costs. Are we being unrealistic to think they have some responsibility? Thanks for your opinions.

Your not being unrealistic to THINK they have some responsibility, but you might be to excpect them to chip in.

If they do, hang on to them and build that relationship becasue that is rare from my experience.

We have similiar issues happen more than we would like, getting reimbursed for labor is tough - although absolutley is the right thing to do.

[Guest Signtiffic]

Agree with the above..... however I would weigh the vendors value against the hit you're taking on labor.

If it was a one off job I likely wouldn't hesitate to withold/back charge them for the error. Obviously if you've paid them already its not an option on the table.

Hopefully you do business with them enough that you can make it up down the road somewhere.

How about your customer? Are they satisfied with the repair/replacement? Did you jeapardize future work?

Deffinately not un-realistic. But like Bob said, getting re-imbursed for labor is tough, even though it's the right thing to do.

Remember your vendor could have pulled the following to avoid paying for labor "You didn't make sure it was right before installing it? That's not my problem"

If its a small time shop/vendor $1400 is likely 2-3 peoples weekly salary on top of fixing the order they messed up.

[YYZ]

The thing to remember is that the vendor has no control over whether your sign is 8' off the ground or 80'. As such, it's very difficult for them to agree to pitch in for labor in every circumstance, and most warranties will list some sort of limitations because if this. If they do go above and beyond and cover part of your labor, consider it the sign of a company that is willing to develop a good working relationship and stick with them - even if this means paying $2000 for your next order from them when you had a rival bid for $1800. Loyalty works both ways.

[Guest Signtiffic]

Great points...

One thing Marko said hits close to home.... "Loyalty works both ways"

It's off topic, but I had a CEO of a larger sign co say to me upon wanting to hire me that I should sell my company to come and work for him because "I could only have one master at a time"...... Yeah. I took it with a grain of salt...politely declined to sell my company but did take on a roll I THOUGHT would be a good challenge, and overall worthwhile. That comment really ticked me off though... I was like who wants to become a subserviant bitch as the phrase so implies? I should have listened to my gut.

Needless to say this CEO was so bent out of shape and un trusting of most of the players on his team that he forgot what Loyalty was about. He didn't realize that he alienated most of his key players by not trusting them, screwing them, taking atvantage of them, and lying to them. He didn't think he was putting his company or business at risk. But he most certainly was. The long story short is this particular firms success was the result of all the talented people that had worked there. Pissing on his staff and telling them it's rain only works for a very short time. A lot shorter than the ammount of time it took to build up the once great business it was.

After meeting my peers, colleagues, co-workers, and fellow "bitches" it didn't take long to learn I should have indeed listened to my gut. The lack of trust or confidence by the executive leadership only created the perfect environment for "labor pockets/cliques of resentment." Productivity, accountability, etc didn't exist before I got there. Finger pointing and blame was running rampant. I wasn't going to NOT listen gut again and knew I wasn't going to be there for long. Sure glad I didn't sell my biz to go sink with his. I did need to do some damage control though....

Facts:

-the leadership of the company had lost loyalty to their employees.... in turn employees lost loyalty to the company.

-VP's, Managers, even the CFO quit. Too many had enough.

-Short time I was there I had brought a large national account to the table, as well as another national service account opportunity.

-This guy who thought he was the "Master" wasn't to keen on the idea I cared about my reputation...

-This guy also bragged about how they were going to screw me first chance they got to the wrong people.... People that were loyal to me.

-This "Master" of mine watched accounts and others walk out the door

Loyalty is indeed a two way street. With anyone. Vendors, Employees, your Family, Friends,and Life in general.

Thanks again Marko... Great Point.

Also, a blind thank you to my loyal friends who know who they are. You are very appreciated. I will honor our friendships with the same loyalty.

[SignQuarters]

What would you expect from your vendor if the following happened? We ordered two printed flex faces for a 10' X 13' Super America hi-rise sign. Installed the faces, at a cost more than you might think because we had to rent a crane at $1,360 to accomplish it. One of the face colors is wrong and the vendor admits it is due to a typo by the person entering the order. They are reprinting the faces but won't help with installation costs. Are we being unrealistic to think they have some responsibility? Thanks for your opinions.

Your not being unrealistic to THINK they have some responsibility, but you might be to excpect them to chip in.

If they do, hang on to them and build that relationship becasue that is rare from my experience.

We have similiar issues happen more than we would like, getting reimbursed for labor is tough - although absolutley is the right thing to do.

I work for a manufacturer of LED signs and we sell wholesale to sign companies only. The company I work for has reimbursed several sign companies on labor when there was a problem with the initial install of a sign. Our warranty, does not cover labor, but parts, and factory repair if the sign is sent back. However, in an effort to keep good relations with repeat customers we have reimbursed labor in some cases. I agree, It is absolutely the right thing to do.

[Brad_Hunter]

Playing devils advocate: Did you not look at the faces and verify everything was correct before installing them? We do a 100% inspection/ verification of all printed faces before we get any shop/ install time into them. Errors are uncommon, but they do happen and it is better to catch the mistakes on the ground, in our shop.

[sunshine]

It is our policy to check everything that comes in for correctness, which includes patterns, lighting, etc., but didn't specifically talk to our receiving guy about colors. The difference is one number on the PMS scale (293 vs. 292). I'm not trying to say we don't have any responsibility, we do, and we'll pay the whole thing to satisfy our customer. I just believe they should share some of the burden. While I know it's common practice, we shouldn't have to be our vendor's quality control.