Customer Approved Misprints

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Catspit Productions
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Customer Approved Misprints

Post by Catspit Productions »

What do you do when you have a job that was approved by the customer but has a misprint? Many screen print shops today have a proofing system that attempts to eliminate errors in printing. We have procedures and policies with signs and sign offs on all orders. But what happens when you have a piece of artwork that was approved by the customer with an error?

The bottom line is no matter how many signs or sign offs you may have in your shop it’s always wise to fix the error even when the customer approved the error. You don’t want to tell the customer, “Well you approved it so there’s nothing I can do.” You would most certainly loose that customer even though the mistake was really theirs in that they did not look at the proof closely enough.

Now we can blame both he artist and the customer for this error but in the end it is always wise to fix the error at no extra charge.

Here is a situation that was just that. I did this artwork and I made a Freudian slip in that I typed “Drinking” instead of “Kicking” because when we think of drunks we always think of “drinking problem,” right? Well that’s what I did. I knew very well it should have been “Kicking” but because I was working on many different things at the same time my mind typed “Drinking” instead. The print was supposed to read, “Drunks with a kicking problem” but it was set up as, “ Drunks with a drinking problem”..... LOL.

Now I sent off the proof to the customer with the error and it was approved. Then when I delivered the order we discovered the error. So what to do....

Well in this case the customer was very easy to work with and I believe she knew that she did not look at the proof close enough and at this point I offered to reprint the shirts, no charge. She was very kind and offered a fix instead. She asked me if I could print over the print in black ink with some new text. In this particular case it was doable and saved me the extra cost of reordering the shirts which would have hurt the profit margin greatly.

On smaller orders like this one having to do a reprint can be a disaster for profits and labor. But in this case all it cost me was a new screen and a little time. You can see the pictures below as they illustrate what I am talking about here.
Cardboard Registration Point
Cardboard Registration Point
The Fix Screen
The Fix Screen
The Fixed Print
The Fixed Print
I think you can see I used the “Helen Keller” method to do this fix. I used some cardboard to place in the exact spot where the fix would print and then I lined each shirt up to the cardboard for printing. It’s the same set up you can use to print pockets without a pocket pallet.



The bottom line is that you need to do everything to make the customer happy even when it is their fault in missing a proof error. In fact it was my error as well and It did make me laugh quite a bit as it was a subconscious error.

Remember word of mouth is the single best form of advertisement for a small screen printing shop so ultimately you want the customer to be happy under any circumstances. In the end you want to make sure your customer goes away happy and speaking good things about your work and customer service.
Jonathan Monaco
Catspit Productions, LLC
Learn how to screen print tee shirts!

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/
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blacktalon
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by blacktalon »

I had a problem along the same lines and I always do a test print of my work before hand and another test print on the shirt color for the client to show them whet it would look like on their shirts.

When doing this I always eat the cost of one shirt because once they approve the work I give them the shirt... Now here is what happened

I had a client who came in and he loved the work and looked it over several times and gave me the thumbs up and walked out with the test printed shirt... so after doing around 50 shirts and delivered them to him he started laughing because he said I messed his print up.. Now I always carry my clients paperwork around with me when I am delivering the product so I pulled out the artwork he submitted to me and it was the exact same artwork that I put on the shirt, which made him Laugh even harder... He admitted that he had sent me the rough draft instead of the finished product... He was not mad at me but at himself for thinking he sent me the correct print but did not order the reprint and so I thought I lost his business... a couple weeks later He called me up and ordered anothe 50 shirts printed with the exact same template and I asked him why and his response was " I am getting more business with this one than I ever did with a corrected version." lol... He hasn't changed the design but has been more creative in his art work.. being unique in your field is a bonus and eye catching mistakes doesn't mean you are incompetent it is you advertising or marketing signature.

talk about a misprint nightmare because all his shirts were from 2 x - 5x and those are not cheap shirts and would have set my shop back a pretty penny just in the shirts....lol
The Bottom Line is, your professionalism, your product quality, your production time and your pricing will determine how your business will rise or fall...
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Catspit Productions
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by Catspit Productions »

:) Wow that is cool. That’s a lucky mistake indeed and a very similar situation where the customer approved an error basically.

I do test prints on rags too but when you print as much as I do it can become so repetitious that you don’t really see what’s on the screen. I mean you see the stencil and the open mesh and you see the print. But it all becomes a blur after a while so artwork approval and creation is very critical and should never be rushed. Know what I mean....LOL.

With XXL that would have been an expensive error too. 5XX, oh my!

That’s why I tend not to take rush jobs.
Jonathan Monaco
Catspit Productions, LLC
Learn how to screen print tee shirts!

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CatspitProductions
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nswpr
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by nswpr »

Really nice fix my friend, and thanks for share it cause I just learned how to fix misprints and look cool!
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Catspit Productions
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by Catspit Productions »

Thank you. You're welcome but I have to admit. The fix went along welll with the theme of the shirt so that helped out a lot.

However it is a cool method to use when you can if you're in need.
Jonathan Monaco
Catspit Productions, LLC
Learn how to screen print tee shirts!

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CatspitProductions
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ppdlao
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by ppdlao »

Wow! Really cool that the client was so easy to work with Jon! but that fixing to the error printing was very clever too! you don´t know how helpful the "Helen Keller" method is until you see this kind of applications! and blacktalon that was an awesome experience too! can you tell a little bit more about it exactly what was the "error" design that worked best for your client?

I had one of this experiences the past December (´12) I was so busy, it seemed like all the clients decided to print their works at the same time and for the same day! and I had to take a plane a week later! so I worked so hard those days, and as Jonh said you´re doing so many things that what happened to me too, is that I missed a little detail on the design, it was some white letters (the ones below the CROWS letters inside the Red Oval), but the day of the print run I had the good idea(Thanks God) and after printing the first t shirt, I took a pic and sended to my client via Whatsapp (thanks technology 8-) other wise I would ruin all the tees) and in a sec the client texted me back telling me those white letters were missing! I almost cryed! but my wife in that moment took a breathe and told me to keep printing them, those shirts had printings en the chest, and 2 more printings on the back, so that´s what we did, and the next day we burned the fixed screen, and everything went well! (happy ending too) :twisted:

I couldn´t print the white letters over the Red printing, 1.- because my manual press is only 3 colors (the designs was 4! we managed to print the green from the little pepper just by hand) and 2.- because I though the white would need H/F/H minimum to be opaque enough over the scarlett red. Whatever, burning a new screen was the best way to fix that error!

See you guys! really enjoyed reading this experiences and sharing mine!!!
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nswpr
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by nswpr »

Nice Job PPDLAO!
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Catspit Productions
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by Catspit Productions »

Now that's a fix Pepe. Nice work. Everyone seems to order at one time don't they?

The old "Helen Keller" method can really help out. And she was an amazing person in reality too ;)
Jonathan Monaco
Catspit Productions, LLC
Learn how to screen print tee shirts!

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CatspitProductions
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ppdlao
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by ppdlao »

nswpr wrote:Nice Job PPDLAO!
Gracias Kevin, la vdd fue todo un show hacer esas playeras, pero al final todo salió bien, saludos hasta Puerto Rico! deberías compartir algún día algunas fotos de por allá! jejeje
Last edited by ppdlao on Fri Jan 25, 2013 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ppdlao
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Re: Customer Approved Misprints

Post by ppdlao »

Catspit Productions wrote:Now that's a fix Pepe. Nice work. Everyone seems to order at one time don't they?

The old "Helen Keller" method can really help out. And she was an amazing person in reality too ;)
Thanks buddy, I´ve the videos from that print run (but I want to edit them before uploading them on Youtube, but the problem are my PC's 532 Mb !!! :() cause the printing looks great!, I worked on the Yellow positive, in order to give the hat a lighter yellow color, and the black positive to give the mouth of the crow a "shady" effect, but I´ll have to wait, now everybody it´s been so quiet (my clients) but I´m pretty sure in some days they all will be here asking for a printing Job! jajaja (like always) and that you did, give me the clue to solv that kind of mistakes! I wouldn´t figured that out!!!
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