PROBLEM customers - DPChallenge Forums

08/11/2008 01:04:05 PM · #1

here's the deal:
we decided to have an ambassador program this year for our seniors. we took pictures of our first senior ambassador, she viewed the images and appeared to enjoy them. she and her mother were arguing whether or not to have names on the wallets, and after 30 minutes her mother decided no names.

3 weeks later, we handed them the prints. the other day we receive a phone call from the senior asking why there were no names on the wallets. after replaying the situation, she replied with an "oh" and that was the end of that.

today, her mother called and asked if we could reorder the wallets with the names if she paid for them. oh course we told her that was no problem and she is coming in later this week to place the order. she also asked why we didn't show her more images. we reminded her that our policy is that we pick out the best 20-30 pictures from the session (even though we showed them almost 40.) the mother completely understood and we hung up on good terms.

a half hour later, the senior calls YELLING at me, saying she wants to see all of the pictures so that she could order them. we had told her our policy several times before her session was held, but she waits until over a month after the pictures were taken to complain. after about 10 minutes of her telling me how other studios run, and being VERY rude and VERY nasty, she hung up on me.

i am sure that her mother does not know that this happened, but i do know that we DO NOT want her to represent our studio judging by her actions. we plan on calling her mother and explaining the situation in 4 hours.

so my question is what happens if the mom gets mad at us? this is our first problem customer and we just want to get this over with.

and sorry for the rant, i just had to get it out!

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

08/11/2008 01:26:45 PM · #2

bump

Apple iPhone 5

08/11/2008 01:36:44 PM · #3

I'll start by saying I don't have a clue what seniors, ambassadors, or senior ambassadors are! But here are my thoughts anyway.

Who is the customer here, i.e. the person paying the money - is it the senior or her mother? Sounds like you're in the middle of playing happy families. There could be bickering going on between the two of them, and the senior decides to pick up the phone to vent at you.

If the mother is the customer, concentrate on keeping her happy. If the senior wants to vent, then let her; just smile, give her a stock answer like "I'll get back to you on that" to get her off the phone. I think telling the mother about the nasty phone call might make the situation worse. Pretend it never happened.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

08/11/2008 01:43:30 PM · #4

yes, the mother is the paying customer. i agree with you completely, but at the same time she had an incredibly horrible attitude with me today AND the day of the shoot, so i can't be the only person she acts this way toward.

as an ambassador, she is supposed to be representing us in a positive light by handing out business cards and talking about her experience with us. obviously she isn't happy, which is why we are contemplating dropping her from the job.

Message edited by author 2008-08-11 14:01:52.

Apple iPhone 5

08/11/2008 01:47:07 PM · #5

Originally posted by CassieDoodle:

as an ambassador, she is supposed to be representing us in a positive light by handing out business cards and talking about her experience with us. obviously she isn't happy, which is why we are contemplating dropping her from the job.

Ah, I see. Then I think your contemplations are correct. (But get the money from the mother first!)

:)

glad2badad

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

Lensbaby Sweet 35 Optic

08/11/2008 01:47:11 PM · #6

Originally posted by CassieDoodle:

yes, the mother is the paying customer. i agree with you completely, but at the same time she had an incredibly horrible attitude with me today AND the day of the shoot, so i can't be the only person she acts this was toward.

as an ambassador, she is supposed to be representing us in a positive light by handing out business cards and talking about her experience with us. obviously she isn't happy, which is why we are contemplating dropping her from the job.

I'd cut your losses here and find another "Ambassador"!

Good luck.

Patrick_R

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

08/11/2008 01:57:12 PM · #7

Just call the mother explain the situation and tell her that for this reason you need will be finding another ambassador. Explain they are still free to order any of the 40 images you selected from the shoot as well. But yeah ditch the girl

frisca

Nikon D70

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

08/11/2008 01:59:06 PM · #8

finish dealing with the mom and then run run away from that girl. She's nothing but trouble.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

08/11/2008 02:04:04 PM · #9

thank you all so much! i'm glad to see that our opinions have been validated.
it's such a shame though, because the mother is so nice.

edit: i'm awful at typing today.

Message edited by author 2008-08-11 14:10:16.

togtog

Nikon D300

08/11/2008 02:11:51 PM · #10

Sorry to jump in here, but, this is very weird. I swear I have read this entire thread before, and knew what Cassie was going to say before she said it... very very weird, maybe I'm just tired.

08/11/2008 02:13:49 PM · #11

Originally posted by togtog:

Sorry to jump in here, but, this is very weird. I swear I have read this entire thread before, and knew what Cassie was going to say before she said it... very very weird, maybe I'm just tired.

go take a nap :)

08/11/2008 02:15:13 PM · #12

Originally posted by CassieDoodle:

i am sure that her mother does not know that this happened, but i do know that we DO NOT want her to represent our studio judging by her actions. we plan on calling her mother and explaining the situation in 4 hours.

so my question is what happens if the mom gets mad at us? this is our first problem customer and we just want to get this over with.

and sorry for the rant, i just had to get it out!

I was going to say don't let her represent you, but I'm glad to read that you already thought of that!
I'm sure the mother will understand, it sounds like mother and daughter don't see eye to eye on things either.
You should be able to find other ambassadors. I did the same thing when I was in high school (not the behaving badly part) for a local photographer. There were about 6 of us and we handed out our wallet photos and anyone who wanted their portraits done by the same guy got 96 wallets free. (I was just a glorified coupon I guess) We each brought in quite a few people for him, I think I brought in around 10. Most important thing it was fun and it was good because we were helping each other out. Your girl doesn't sound like any fun :(
Good luck!!

08/11/2008 02:28:00 PM · #13

so what do we do when we tell the mom what happened and she gets mad? just stick to our guns?

Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4.0 AT-X Pro DX

08/11/2008 02:33:49 PM · #14

Originally posted by CassieDoodle:

so what do we do when we tell the mom what happened and she gets mad? just stick to our guns?

If I were that girls mother I'd be embarrased, not mad, but you're right, she might get mad. I'd stick to your guns though. What is the mom going to say to her friends, my kid was a brat and they don't want her to represent their studio anymore? If she bad-mouths you, she's going to have to come up with a good reason, and I doubt she can.

Beagleboy

Canon EOS-30D

08/11/2008 02:51:42 PM · #15

Girl sounds like a bit of a brat. Pretty girl who probably gets her way most of the time.

Some people...

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

08/11/2008 02:53:01 PM · #16

well that was quick.

the mom just called, and i told her everything that happened. i felt terrible for her.

i told her everything that happened and everything that we are feeling and she agrees with us. she sounded very embarrassed and very angry with her daughter. i apologized many times for sounding like i was tattling, but she assured me that she wanted to know everything that her daughter had done.

i really could not be happier with how that has ended. she told me several times that we are great at our job and the pictures are beautiful.

i'm just glad that the problem has been taken care of! now the daughter wants to come back in and take a few pictures that she wanted (but neglected to tell us.) but i think now that this has happened, maybe her attitude will be a little better :)

hanneke

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/11/2008 02:55:31 PM · #17

Are you gonna give her a second chance on the ambassador-ship?

good for you this worked out the right way!

08/11/2008 02:58:37 PM · #18

I'm glad it worked out!!! :)

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

08/11/2008 02:59:40 PM · #19

Originally posted by biteme:

Are you gonna give her a second chance on the ambassador-ship?

good for you this worked out the right way!

i'm going to give that a big... fat...

NO!

:D

hanneke

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/11/2008 03:01:19 PM · #20

Originally posted by CassieDoodle:

Originally posted by biteme:
Are you gonna give her a second chance on the ambassador-ship?

good for you this worked out the right way!

i'm going to give that a big... fat...

NO!

:D

*grin*

I thought you wouldn't, but I HAD to ask *lol*

ralph

Nikon Z9

08/11/2008 03:45:45 PM · #21

photoshop closed eyes / half closed / crossed eyes on the other ten
print a sheet full & hand it over ..
ask which she liked best ..

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

08/11/2008 03:54:45 PM · #22

Originally posted by ralph:

photoshop closed eyes / half closed / crossed eyes on the other ten
print a sheet full & hand it over ..
ask which she liked best ..

ROFL!
thanks for that!

Spork99

OM System OM-1

08/11/2008 04:55:28 PM · #23

Originally posted by ralph:

photoshop closed eyes / half closed / crossed eyes on the other ten
print a sheet full & hand it over ..
ask which she liked best ..

Nah, Give her the "Crazy Doll Lady" treatment, then show her the proofs.

Prof_Fate

08/11/2008 06:18:09 PM · #24

Who wants to be an ambassador? Two kinds of kids (parents too) - 'model' kids that want their ego fed, add to their list of things for college application, etc. and cheap ass folks. Cheap ass folks do it to save on money of course, and more often than not they have no class and are never satisfied. You may have just run into the second kind.

How to avoid this in the future is easy - interview the prospective rep and mom and have a contract - you will do X and they will do Y. In there you have a 'morals' clause - around here if a kid gets caught with alcohol on school grounds they are expelled - some idea for you. This keeps (hopefully) the riff raff out of it.

I don't charge my reps anything (some photogs do, a deposit for things taken as in samples to show around). I now understand why some photogs do that - it keeps the riff raff out and the serious ones will still pay. I'm rethinking my ambassador program as it's expensive for me the way it's set up and it's not paying off. So they don't complain about the rep images cause well, they're free (to them).

As to the 'i want to see all the pics' - i've gotten that once from a bride, but I explain up front that I take a lot of pics and show about X. (500 for a wedding, 80 for a senior -depending on session). As long as you show every outfit/BG they won't be asking for the other images. In this case just tell them "I shoot a lot and only keep what I feel is my best work. I erase the rest" . Hopefully they'll believe that and go away quietly.

The only issue i've had with wallets is logo - I want to put my logo on the wallets - especially of the ambassadors. But i've had to reprint more than once because of this and i've given up on it. Too new for this area but it does work in other areas. Perhaps my brand isn't up there yet with Gucci or Prada where having the logo means more than the product (hence all the fakes on the market!)