Rant

[Z SIGNS]

Customer asks us to quote a truck lettering job.
We quote them and show them a sketch.They say fine do it.
Now when it comes time to pay the bill they want a detailed breakdown of

How much to produce the vinyl.
Labor to produce vinyl
Labor to apply vinyl etc. etc.

To me it's like going to a restaurant and ordering food and when it comes time to pay the bill
asking for a breakdown of how much the food cost how much did it cost to prepare and serve.

Curious as to how others would respond

 

[J Hill Designs]

That's just plain rediculous

 

[player]

Show them a bunch of bills from other jobs and tell them this is how you do it. You are not working "time and materials".

 

[Gino]

Customer asks us to quote a truck lettering job.
We quote them and show them a sketch.They say fine do it.
Now when it comes time to pay the bill they want a detailed breakdown of

How much to produce the vinyl. 30% of the total cost
Labor to produce vinyl 30% of the total cost
Labor to apply vinyl etc. etc. 30% of the total cost

And when they say, what about the last 10%, just tell him that is your profit

To me it's like going to a restaurant and ordering food and when it comes time to pay the bill
asking for a breakdown of how much the food cost how much did it cost to prepare and serve.

Curious as to how others would respond

You have no reason or need to do this accurately, so just make it up. Whose he to complain after the fact ??

You do have a signed quote ?? ​

 

[oksigns]

Customer asks us to quote a truck lettering job.
We quote them and show them a sketch.They say fine do it.
Now when it comes time to pay the bill they want a detailed breakdown of

How much to produce the vinyl.
Labor to produce vinyl
Labor to apply vinyl etc. etc.

To me it's like going to a restaurant and ordering food and when it comes time to pay the bill
asking for a breakdown of how much the food cost how much did it cost to prepare and serve.

Curious as to how others would respond

When this used to happen to me, it meant the customer was highly interested in doing it themselves or had someone else in mind who would do it for a lower price.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Just give them a break down and at the bottom add an administrative fee of your shop rate for the time it took.

We don't do breakdowns either save for a few client contracts, but that was previously negotiated and is due to their lenders practices.

 

[ol'phart]

Response

My response to this level of crap would be: "NO" I provided a quotation for a complete job that included all parts of what you are asking me to break down. If you want your vehicle back then pay that price. Thank You, we appreciate your business.

 

[Andy D]

Just a thought, I wonder if they need it broken down for tax purposes...

 

[mfatty500]

I'd break it down for them, and make it wrong on purpose (in your favor of course) and then they would say this don't add up correctly oh, your right, now you owe me another couple of hundred bucks..

 

[bgraphix]

I would say Sorry, we do not offer breakdowns as there are many variables involved, this being why I give quotes to produce and install. If you would still like a detailed breakdown, I will happily calculate one for an administrative fee.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

I would say Sorry, we do not offer breakdowns as there are many variables involved, this being why I give quotes to produce and install. If you would still like a detailed breakdown, I will happily calculate one for an administrative fee.

+1 This.

 

[HDvinyl]

$6 in vinyl.
$350 labor.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

To me, it totally seems like an open door to nit pick different aspects of the job. Why should they know the labor costs for you to produce the graphic? Materials and production labor should be one cost to them, I can see breaking down actual install labor if they need it but in most states production labor is taxable.

 

[Gino]

Most likely what happened was..... the customer said something to someone who said, have them break it down. Ya know, a second opinion.... after the fact. You should only be paying this, this and that. Otherwise, they are ripping you off. Like I said, make it any way you want and tell them to ask before hand, next time.

Ya know, when you go into a pizza shop or some other place for take-out food, they want you to show them your coupons first..... or they won't honor them. You do the same. Fuggem. :Big Laugh




Happy Friday.........................................

 

[Billct2]

Weird, this usually happens during the quote phase, not after the fact. I would ask Why?

 

[Z SIGNS]

Most likely what happened was..... the customer said something to someone who said, have them break it down. Ya know, a second opinion.... after the fact. You should only be paying this, this and that. Otherwise, they are ripping you off. Like I said, make it any way you want and tell them to ask before hand, next time.

Ya know, when you go into a pizza shop or some other place for take-out food, they want you to show them your coupons first..... or they won't honor them. You do the same. Fuggem. :Big Laugh




Happy Friday.........................................

Yeah who knows what happened.I don't really care.
I have already responded to them and let that know that I think there request was unusual
I also sent them a new invoice and used your earlier response.

breakdown of above
30% was this
30% was that
30% is this
10% is this

 

[Baz]

Customers do not dictate my policies...

This is the price we agreed upon before starting the job.

That is the price indicated on my invoice.

Pay me now please!!!

 

[TimToad]

Yeah who knows what happened.I don't really care.
I have already responded to them and let that know that I think there request was unusual
I also sent them a new invoice and used your earlier response.

breakdown of above
30% was this
30% was that
30% is this
10% is this

Out here in Cali, sales tax is not paid on the labor aspects of a job. So, design/setup, installation, service call with no parts, drive time, etc. are exempt from sales tax.

We had this PITA repeat customer berate us after the fact on a difference of $12 and change because we didn't "stack" his invoice breakdown with more design and installation time like our predecessor used to do for him.

For one, it was an existing file that we didn't have to do anything with and the whole job was like $250 total. He swore if we kept "gouging" people by not breaking out the non-taxable, customers would go elsewhere.

Frankly, we don't mind paying our fair share of taxes and don't want to get in the habit of asking our customers "Would you like us to commit tax fraud on your job today, so you can pay a few dollars less?"

 

[player]

Customer asks us to quote a truck lettering job.
We quote them and show them a sketch.They say fine do it.
Now when it comes time to pay the bill they want a detailed breakdown of

How much to produce the vinyl.
Labor to produce vinyl
Labor to apply vinyl etc. etc.

To me it's like going to a restaurant and ordering food and when it comes time to pay the bill
asking for a breakdown of how much the food cost how much did it cost to prepare and serve.

Curious as to how others would respond

You are an award winning celebrity artisan sign maker. How dare they even question you.

 

[Marlene]

we break out the product from the install/labor as the product gets taxed. other than that, the customer doesn't need to know the details. the labor to produce the vinyl lettering is part of the cost of the vinyl since it would just be roll stock without it. break out the vinyl and install and leave it at that. most people will want to know the cost of what they are buying and how much they are going to pay for labor so that shouldn't be a problem

 

[Mainframe]

Send him a break down of the job that makes the total 50 - 100% higher than you charged, then tell him you packaged it out for the price you charged him... Ask him if he would rather pay the retail price next time?