RANT RANT RANT RANT

heavenlymom · Nov 25, 2008

Since this is the business section I figured I'd post here. I hope that's okay.
People are just mean this Holiday season!! I have one customer who has made the past couple weeks hell!!!
I was three minutes late to their second appointment (retake) and since I'd taken their portraits before I had no problems with them being 10 minutes late. I was putting up the background joking with them as they appologized and said it's not a problem, I was a couple minutes late myself so don't worry about it. That started the whole thing, next thing they were complaining about my being late and how it made them take longer for their session. They weren't even there for another seven minutes after I'd shown up. Then they complained about me rushing them. They got an entire hour for their session. They were waiting for about 45 minutes for half their party to show up. I schedule my sessoins far enough apart to keep this from happening but still blamed me saying that it doesn't matter that their party didn't show up till 45 minutes after their session began.
Then they want a discount on their portraits and basically pay about 80% less than the price for them!! I have put my foot down but am so frustrated. I have worked with this family and I truly hate being taken advantage of. Anyone else have any rant stories they could share to make me feel like I am not alone??

Big Mike · Nov 25, 2008

Good for you, for putting your foot down. If you give some people an inch, they will try to take that mile.

Village Idiot · Nov 25, 2008

suck it *****!

That's what I would say

heavenlymom · Nov 25, 2008

I try very hard to be nice to all of my customers regardless of who is being a super jerk or not, but this one takes the prize. They are now sending out message saying how much of an issue they had with me. Though I have analyzed it all can't figure out not one damn thing I have done wrong. I've made mistakes before.. this one is not one of those sessions. I did everything right. It's that time of year when everyone wants something for free. I know they were hoping I'd give them their cd at a discounted rate or for free but I refuse to do that anymore.

MelodySoul · Nov 25, 2008

When I used to work in a portrait studio we had customers like that all the time, makes you want to tear your hair out.

SpeedTrap · Nov 25, 2008

Stick to your guns, If they are willing to send emails to everyone telling about the problems they are having this is not the type of client you want, and here is why.

1) Even if you make it right to them, they will not tell everyone how hard you worked to correct the problem. What they will tell everyone is what they did to get everything for next to nothing and any referals you get will try the same thing.

2) I have had clients like this before and I offer them a free set of wallets (8) or a free 5X7, but never a discount. When you start offering discounts people will come to expect them and when you don't give them, they think they are being over charged.

3) If you are offering a Premium Product and charging for it, discounting only tells your customer that you don't belive the product is worth that much.

Stand strong, Have them choose the prints they want, bill them the right price and if they do not want to pay, they don't get the prints. It is that simple.

Don't be afraid to send someone away, one bad customer will not ruin your reputation, and if it does it is time to look for new customers anyway.

This is very difficult the first time you really stand up for your work, but it is worth it and it will make sure the only referals you get from this client will be worth your time.

Synnove · Nov 25, 2008

The above posters did give you really good advice. Way to stand your ground.

I'm sorry you've worked with these people in the past and they're trying to take advantage of you. If you lose them as clients and they spread their lies, you'll only be losing people just like them.

Stay strong - it will get better.

visualpoetry · Nov 26, 2008

No discounts! None of it was your fault. If it was - then I would say compromise to something. But you have a good argument, use it! But I would always suggest you remain very professional. A bad testimonial can travel quickly..

stbernardm · Nov 26, 2008

Geez, the nerve of those people. In no way should you feel bad for their misbehavior, and it's good that you didn't let them take advantage of you. In this case you did nothing to ruin or damage their session, even though you were late. But they have no right to complain about that since it made no difference with them being even later. Maybe it's the bad economy getting to them, if they acted out of character.

Christie Photo · Nov 26, 2008

Are we really talking about 3 minutes here? I doubt it. If that really is the issue, you let things get out of hand.

I suspect it's something more.

Since they were coming in for a re-shoot, does that mean they weren't satisfied with the first session? If so, you were starting with two strikes against you. Put yourself in their place. It's not easy to get everyone's schedules together, with all the right clothing, etc. They had every right to expect that one session was all that was necessary. You were lucky to have a second chance and should have done everything to meet, exceed their expectations.

There have been a couple of times when I had to do additional photography because of something I missed. I assure you, I was VERY humble and ready to go the extra mile. I certainly would not engaged in an argument about how many minutes the session was.

But, I would not do anything at a discount.

I do guarantee satisfaction. I would refund the session fee, but nobody gets ANY images.

If your images are good enough at a discount, then they're good enough "period."

-Pete

PhilGarber · Nov 28, 2008

Village Idiot said:
suck it *****!

That's what I would say

That sucks, Heavenlymom, some people are just blind jerks it seems:er:.

roadkill · Nov 30, 2008

Take their money and leave those miserable douchebags to their own devices

maxalmon · Dec 1, 2008

Times are tough and people feel that they are entitled to whatever they want because they are paying for your services, most of the time they feel that they can push and yell and get a discount... If they are sending out emails or posting information that is beyond the truth, then you have 3rd party slander. Granted it's not something you want happening or have to deal with, but if it's simply a case of "them saying negative things in order to get a discount and it's not true" then by all means use legal means. I owned 4 dog grooming salons up until Dec of 07(thank god I sold them) and you would not believe the extremes people would goto to get a discount "I'll destroy you with negative online postings" etc...If it was my groomers fault, then I would do whatever to make it right, if it was some welfare case wanting a discount, then I got more ticked and would not back down.

I have prepayed legal and have used them multiple times when I found out that somebody was posting negative information that was simply false. I've won 4 cases over the years for 5k each because I was able to prove that my groomers were not negligent and we were able to prove it.

Point is, once somebody post anything to the public that is not true, they can be held as 3rd part slander, granted you have to prove the case. But sometimes a nasty letter from a attorney is enough to make them shut up.

Good for you.

stbernardm · Dec 19, 2008

maxalmon said:
I have prepayed legal and have used them multiple times when I found out that somebody was posting negative information that was simply false. I've won 4 cases over the years for 5k each because I was able to prove that my groomers were not negligent and we were able to prove it.

Point is, once somebody post anything to the public that is not true, they can be held as 3rd part slander, granted you have to prove the case. But sometimes a nasty letter from a attorney is enough to make them shut up.

Good for you.

How did you go about "prepaying legal"? -- it's a new term to me. I think that's great that you did follow through and hold those people accountable for 3rd party slander...there's a lot of that going around on the internet these days. And I think the slump economy isn't making it any better.