unhappy customer

MissB

Ok.. so Im feeling like many forms of art... photography is no different...in the fact that there really isn't a right way or wrong way to do it. Its all about who's eye is pleased when they look at it...right?! So a client hired me..based on my "style" and vision...to do family portraits. I tend to be pretty off beat in my processing and framing (not text book or technical im many aspects). I often have tops of heads or sides of faces cut off.. or intentionally over expose to create certian effects. The client who paid for the session was very pleased with the results .. however her mother in law is a different story. She ordered about $150 in prints right off of my website.. then when they arrived sent me a nasty gram email and phone call saying how dissapointed she was in the way the images turned out. Basically called me unprofessional and said she shocked to hear that I actually give my clients these images :beatwax OUCH!!! She said that none of them were frame-able because the cropping of images and she'd be lucky to get 5 usable images out of the 27 she purchased. ref: my website www.rgonzalezphotos.com proofing gallery password ' beal ' ... I apologized and told her that what she recived is exactly what she ordered. And yes I knew my clients get these images.. i created them and they hire me for my style of photography..which I admit is not traditional center frame studio style photography. Anyway... how would you handle a client approaching you like this????:dunno Im trying not to feel offended... thank you for letting me vent.

miss B

kdog

MissB wrote:

Anyway... how would you handle a client approaching you like this????

First of all, she's not your client, right? Your client was happy, so you should be happy. Secondly, the mother-in-law viewed the proofs before she bought, right? So where's the problem?

That being said, I'd be tempted to have her return the prints she doesn't like and refund her money for them as a good-will gesture.

BTW, the music on your site was so loud it almost made me jump out of my chair, and I don't keep my speakers turned up very loud either. Very annoying. But don't worry, I won't ask for my money back. :giggle

Regards,
-joel

Angelo

I think the images are all pretty damn nice!!!

MissB

joel.. thanks for the imput about my site.. I like the music there but you're right it starts with a bang i will probably change it to something with a smoother...softer start...lol. I was thinking I should offer a refund.. but her complaints are with photos that she picked and ordered knowing what they look like... i feel like...???? were you thinking?! you know?

Angelo.. thank you!!

BTW I know this isn't a place to bitch about clients.. ...just incase its brought up later.. i was just wondering how anyone else would handle a client who is unhappy after the fact.

MissB

wow!!! fantastic examples of expierence! thank you so much for sharing..im feeling much better. And yes.. im VERY new at this 1 year in

zoomer

You can't make everybody happy.
Your actual customer was happy so you did your job.
The quality of the photos is fine, good representatives of your style.

She knew what she was buying when she hit the purchase button.
She may have bought some weird sizes that did not crop well or when she framed them some of the tight crops made body parts disappear. Stuff happens.

I would not give any refunds if it were me.

ian408

The MIL is not your client but she did purchase something she's not happy with.

My suggestion would be first, ask what you can do to remedy the situation--what would she like you to do? If it's reasonable and you can accommodate it, go ahead and do it. Otherwise, offer her a full refund with the return of the product(s) she ordered.

Very often, providing good customer service in a bad situation is the right thing to do. In this case, your clients will have to put up with MIL's comments, etc. every time see each other. If her comments are positive because of the great customer service, so much the better.

Of course, there are some instances where regardless of what you do, it won't be right.

Mox

Grrr..sorry to hear this! I think the shots look great. I can't understand people who get exactly what they asked for, then complain about it. I agree with ian408 100%. Ask what it is that isn't what she expected when she placed the order and what remedy she's looking for. If it's a refund on most of the prints, I'd give it while firmly biting my tongue.

zoomer

It may seem on the surface the refund and make her happy might be the way to go (not to me).
Odds are however you will open up a rats nest of work for yourself trying to make her happy if you go that route...and in the end she still won't be happy and neither will you.
I wish you luck with it however you decide to go, these issues are never fun.

ian408

zoomer wrote:

It may seem on the surface the refund and make her happy might be the way to go (not to me).
Odds are however you will open up a rats nest of work for yourself trying to make her happy if you go that route...and in the end she still won't be happy and neither will you.
I wish you luck with it however you decide to go, these issues are never fun.

For me, the bigger picture is what's important. The clients that ordered the pics are happy and that's good. And if you'd like repeat business from them (unless the MIL is paying ), it's important to make sure they know you stand behind your product. MIL can't say something negative when you've a) offered to make it right or b) offered a refund. The client knows it. You know it and the MIL knows it.

Sometimes you won't reach satisfaction for either side even though you tried -- the important thing is trying. AND I think it's important to recognize that you need to be comfortable with the resolution too.

MissB

think that if it were quality of print.. or bad cropping from the print size.. or the image color was wrong.. but she got exactly what she saw on my website.. and decided after I'd ordered all her prints that she was not happy with them. So I appologized that she was not pleased with my style of work...and told her I appreciate her difference of opinion...but I did exactly what I was hired to do.. and my client was happy.. and she recieved exactly what she ordered. I never offered a refund... maybe I should have.. but I don't think it was justified.

ColoradoSkier

MissB wrote:

think that if it were quality of print.. or bad cropping from the print size.. or the image color was wrong.. but she got exactly what she saw on my website.. and decided after I'd ordered all her prints that she was not happy with them. So I appologized that she was not pleased with my style of work...and told her I appreciate her difference of opinion...but I did exactly what I was hired to do.. and my client was happy.. and she recieved exactly what she ordered. I never offered a refund... maybe I should have.. but I don't think it was justified.

She saw what she was ordering, not sure why she expected anything different. I wouldn't worry about it. As others have said, if you start down the road of trying to make her happy, it will never end.

kres

Checking out your gallery was like seeing what I wanted my portrait style to develop into... (I've been working on that barrel shot as well... and I love your treatment of it...)

There is no doubt in the presentation of the proofs exactly what you getting.

Feel good about your product - it's clear what is being offered. I don't know what the disclaimer looks like in the shopping cart, but if you an optimist and think that people actually read that kind of thing, the only thing else you can do is bluntly state "no refunds for composition or intended processing" - but I'm guessing that you'd find a funkier off beat way to say that - given the small glimpse at your site.

MissB

wow..that was quite the comliment..thank you!!

MelmoK

I love your work as well.

What confuses me is how the MIL feels she has grounds for complaint when it was quite obvious what she was getting. Did she ever say anything that would shed light on what she was assuming she'd get?

Mitchell

First of all, I love your photos and your style.

I'm a fan of your type of cropping and tight compositions. In fairness to the grouchy mother, I have run across problems with several of my tight crops looking lousy in picture frames. Many of these frames will crop and additional 1/2 inch all around which can render some of your compositions too tight. Perhaps this is part of her gripe.

You may need to crop a little more loosely in these situations. Just something to think about.

MissB

MelmoK wrote:

I love your work as well.

What confuses me is how the MIL feels she has grounds for complaint when it was quite obvious what she was getting. Did she ever say anything that would shed light on what she was assuming she'd get?

She was under the impression that everybody would be fully in the frame. Perahaps she thought that the images on my site were just thumbnail type proofs.. yet she didn't ask. thank you for your kind words.

MissB

Mitchell wrote:

First of all, I love your photos and your style.

I'm a fan of your type of cropping and tight compositions. In fairness to the grouchy mother, I have run across problems with several of my tight crops looking lousy in picture frames. Many of these frames will crop and additional 1/2 inch all around which can render some of your compositions too tight. Perhaps this is part of her gripe.

You may need to crop a little more loosely in these situations. Just something to think about.

Good advice!!! I just matted a few of photos of my kids... and you're right a typical matte eats atleast 1/4 to 1/2 inch.. something that I haven't concidered until now. Thank you I will def. keep that in mind when im framing my images...as most of my cropping is done in the camera.

Wil Davis

I took a look at your site, and you certainly have a unique† style; if that's what your potential customer saw and liked, then she should have absolutely no complaints when you provided her with exactly what she asked for.

I think both Glort & zoomer hit the nail on the head, and so I wouldn't agonize too much over this experience.

It might have been an idea for you to ask as to how the pictures were going to be used, although her comment about none of them being frame-able is absolute tosh (she's obviously never heard of mats ); perhaps it was just an attempt to get out of paying for them.

I might even consider asking her to return the ones she doesn't like, refund her money, and refuse to have anything more to do with her.

BTW - My only criticism of your site is the music; I tend to not even bother with sites which start to serenade or talk to me as I find it extremely distracting (tip: provide an "ON/OFF" or "MUTE" switch), but it's all a matter of taste; I also have a very antediluvian computer which when asked to do more than one thing at a time, creaks along at glacial speed, before eventually keeling over…

Thanks for sharing (hope this makes you feel better)

- Wil

† compliment

MissB

I guess I should ask next time what the images are being used for.. thats somemore good advice. esp. if they are ordering many of the same size...good tip.

As far as music on my site.. thanks for the imput.. i really do like to look at pictures with some tunes.. perhaps a suggestion for what might be less obnoxious? I thought maybe whats on there now is a little better. ... thoughts?

squiddy

I personally loved the photos... that baby is so stinkin cute.

Unhappy people will always be unhappy and they will always think they are right. I had a lady email me a nasty gram about the font on the bottom of a photo and how it "didn't look right". It was a volunteer position where half profit went to the school and my take home after all was said and done was like $75. I worked alone and edited over 30 photos each about an hour apiece. However... she wasn't aware of the details and proceeded to ramble about mistakes, etc and her husband the photographer of 24 years.

Point being you will ALWAYS have someone that wants to interject their opinions of what they think is wrong and right, etc. In the end she ordered what she saw and that's what she got. You should not have to pay for something she made the mistake on. She did order a lot of photos so you might consider some free prints or a partial refund if any at all.

smc1972

So let me get my head around this. Clients mil saw a duck on your website. Selected and paid for said duck. Then got pissed off when the duck she selected and paid for arrived and *gasp* it was still a duck and not a new toaster like she wanted? What the is wrong with ppl? I wouldn't offer a refund either. I think you handled it fine. Remember this : you just can't fix stupid.

divamum

Rebecca -

You know I love your work, and this shoot is no exception. They have your energy and modern style all over them - that's what the family booked, and that's what they got. While I"m obviously not a pro to offer an experienced opinion, I have to say that I don't think you owe MIL a bean. As smc1972 says, she saw a duck, bought a duck, and then complained when she got a duck! Ummm...

However, perhaps for the future it might make your life easier in these situations if you considered:

- adding wide borders (on request, prhaps?) which can be cropped down for matting and framing. I do that sometimes for my own shots, because I also really like really close-cropped shots, but then it's hard to frame. So I add a 15+% white border in PS to give me some room to manoeuvre. It can always be trimmed as necessary, or used when it's needed. Works a treat

- shooting a few ueberconventional shots every session just to make sure there are some "grandma pictures". I seem to recall Heatherfeather or one of the other experienced pro wedding 'togs saying they always do some very old-fashioned-style shots alongside their more typical modern style, to ensure they have those in case anybody wants them. Easy enough to grab a couple of more typical poses even in the midst of a fun, energetic PJ/lifestyle shoot, and perhaps a way of covering all bases.

I really don't think you have anything to apologize for, however - you delivered a really nice set of photos! (And I'm looking forward to that PP gradient explanation when you get time - I LOVE what you did in those! )