I have a new customer that ordered 3 dozen Hanes navy blue t-shirts last week for screen printing. Everything was going smoothly until the t-shirts were delivered. He called me the next day to complain about the t-shirts not being the color he wanted and that he wanted them redone. What would you do in this situation? Just redo it to not lose a possible long-term, loyal customer? It’s only 3 dozen shirts so if I were to redo it, it will not be a tremendous loss if the outcome will be that he remains a customer. He does a lot of trade shows and this is his first screen printing order ever. I can tell he will be ordering more, whether it will be from me remains to be seen though if he’s not completely satisfied with the order. The print looks great though, just the shade of the t-shirts he’s not totally happy with!
Mary P.
Hi Mary. Okay so first off it’s the shade of the navy t-shirts he’s not happy with, so technically he’s not complaining about ‘incorrect t-shirt color’ as the title of your thread suggests. The color is correct, but the shade of the color is what he does not like. Also, the print looks great so he’s happy about that and that’s a big plus on the situation.
Did he come to your shop and see the t-shirts himself before ordering because it doesn’t seem like he did. Maybe you can give more details about that. - Johnny
Johnny, yes you’re right he’s complaining about the shade, not the color. He was referred to me by another one of my customers. He ordered off my new website. Mary P.
Ah, I think I know why now. If he ordered through your site, do you have a disclaimer stating that clothing colors are not exact and should be used for reference only? Not all monitors and their settings are equal. Thus, colors will vary from monitor to monitor. It’s best to let customers see a printed catalog if they can’t visit the shop. The printed catalog should come from the garment supplier itself for best color accuracy. - Johnny
Oh crap! I don’t have that disclaimer. I completely overlooked that part! Good thing my site is brand new. Yes, I certainly know about colors not being shown equally to everyone due to various monitors/settings, but placing a disclaimer just did not enter my mind for some reason. I guess the blame is on me. The customer has every right to complain because you just can’t expect them to know technical mumbo-jumbo. They just want to pay and go. - Mary P.
Don’t just redo the order. He didn’t get exactly what he wanted, but it’s not like he’s so dissatisfied or the order is completely wrong. If the print sucked and the t-shirt color is completely off, then that’s another story. What you can do is explain to him the monitor issue and that you overlooked placing a disclaimer on your site. Why not offer him a nice discount and give him several printed catalogs for future reference. In addition to the current discount, you can also offer him an additional discount for his next order. - Johnny
Great suggestion! Exactly what I was thinking Johnny. If he’s still not satisfied with the offer, then I’ll bite the bullet and redo the order because I now know he’ll be a good, long-term customer. I was just talking to the other customer who referred him to me and he does lots of trade shows too (that’s where they met) and he gives me large orders on a regular basis. Thank you. - Mary P.