Janet
True Grumbler
I've been beating myself up for several days now over something that happened in our frame shop.
Back in September, a new customer brought in 2 small blue Bibles, 2 pairs of baby socks, 2 Feltman Bros. infant rompers, 2 satin bibs with blue crosses monogrammed on the front of each. She wanted me to do a shadowbox for each of her twins. I quoted her the price after we agreed on the design. She said she could only pay for one at the time, pd. her deposit for the first one and was ecstatic when she picked up the first completed shadowbox. Asked if I could wait a little while longer before starting the 2nd job. As I didn't want them to end up looking like exact duplicates (placement wise of the items, I agreed). Called her in late November and suggested that we should begin the 2nd one to insure it would be hanging in her home to enjoy during Christmas holidays. She asked that I once again delay starting the job as things "are tight" with twins, Christmas shopping, etc.
Well, she came in last month and was ready for me to begin the job and said she'd like to pick it up the end of March. This past Tuesday, I cut the mats, mounting board, etc. Began to place the little outfit on the mounting board and realized the bag with all the little other items was no where to be found. For the next 9 hours, we tore apart our frame shop and looked for that bag in every single nook and crannie but to no avail. My head was throbbing, my stomach was rolling and I was to the point of looking for a tall cliff to jump from.
The bag IS NOT IN OUR SHOP. Went through all the creative ideas of trying to figure out where I could purchase the socks, bib (I do monogramming and could have done that job although I would have had to let the customer know I needed the original framing back to scan the cross) and I also could find another small Bible and have it imprinted). My consciemce got the best of me! I kept thinking if this was my son's articles of clothing, I'd be really pissed if someone tried to pull the wool over my eyes regarding the replacements without my knowledge.
At 10:00 that night, I called the customer (who just so happens to be married to an attorney). I told her the truth. I must have said I'm sorry 5 thousand times in that conversation. She was the nicest, most understanding person I've ever talked with regarding any type of faux pas (which I've never had) like this. She said she accepted some of the responsibility as she should never have left the items with me for that length of time and that sh** happens!
Naturally, I'm going to do everything in my power to replace the items, but she even suggested that we wait till next week and let her go thru her son's "stuff" and she's sure that she'll be able to come up with some other items to put around the little outfit.
The reason I'm posting this thread is to warn all of you to be exceptionally careful about where you place items, how long you're willing to keep items, make sure your customer signs the info at the bottom of your form regarding the frame shop's responsibility, and also cover yourself properly with insurance.
The god's were smiling on me with this particular customer... and in the end she will get a beautiful, FREE shadowbox and I'll NEVER experience a loss of items like this again.
------------------
How cheap do you want it to look??
Back in September, a new customer brought in 2 small blue Bibles, 2 pairs of baby socks, 2 Feltman Bros. infant rompers, 2 satin bibs with blue crosses monogrammed on the front of each. She wanted me to do a shadowbox for each of her twins. I quoted her the price after we agreed on the design. She said she could only pay for one at the time, pd. her deposit for the first one and was ecstatic when she picked up the first completed shadowbox. Asked if I could wait a little while longer before starting the 2nd job. As I didn't want them to end up looking like exact duplicates (placement wise of the items, I agreed). Called her in late November and suggested that we should begin the 2nd one to insure it would be hanging in her home to enjoy during Christmas holidays. She asked that I once again delay starting the job as things "are tight" with twins, Christmas shopping, etc.
Well, she came in last month and was ready for me to begin the job and said she'd like to pick it up the end of March. This past Tuesday, I cut the mats, mounting board, etc. Began to place the little outfit on the mounting board and realized the bag with all the little other items was no where to be found. For the next 9 hours, we tore apart our frame shop and looked for that bag in every single nook and crannie but to no avail. My head was throbbing, my stomach was rolling and I was to the point of looking for a tall cliff to jump from.
The bag IS NOT IN OUR SHOP. Went through all the creative ideas of trying to figure out where I could purchase the socks, bib (I do monogramming and could have done that job although I would have had to let the customer know I needed the original framing back to scan the cross) and I also could find another small Bible and have it imprinted). My consciemce got the best of me! I kept thinking if this was my son's articles of clothing, I'd be really pissed if someone tried to pull the wool over my eyes regarding the replacements without my knowledge.
At 10:00 that night, I called the customer (who just so happens to be married to an attorney). I told her the truth. I must have said I'm sorry 5 thousand times in that conversation. She was the nicest, most understanding person I've ever talked with regarding any type of faux pas (which I've never had) like this. She said she accepted some of the responsibility as she should never have left the items with me for that length of time and that sh** happens!
Naturally, I'm going to do everything in my power to replace the items, but she even suggested that we wait till next week and let her go thru her son's "stuff" and she's sure that she'll be able to come up with some other items to put around the little outfit.
The reason I'm posting this thread is to warn all of you to be exceptionally careful about where you place items, how long you're willing to keep items, make sure your customer signs the info at the bottom of your form regarding the frame shop's responsibility, and also cover yourself properly with insurance.
The god's were smiling on me with this particular customer... and in the end she will get a beautiful, FREE shadowbox and I'll NEVER experience a loss of items like this again.
------------------
How cheap do you want it to look??
