Help! - Angry customers. What can I do?

[fint2004]

Hei alle sammen!

 

Sorry to have written all this in English, but my Norwegian is still not so good, and what I want to ask is pretty important to me.

 

I'm trying to be a professional photographer, and I opened a small studio where I take photos with my digital camera. So far all my clients have been happy with the results. But recently I've made a decision to sell digital files too, because almost everyone of my clients wanted to have it and use an opportunity to print out photos themselves.

 

So, one family took a picture and got an original .tif file from me. And last Monday I've got a call from an angry father of the family. He actually accused me of cheating and fiddling with the file. He said that they tried to print it out using their own inkjet printer, and the results were disastrous: all pictures they've got came out unsharp, the colors are dull, etc, etc. So, he basically demanded that I gave them "the right file". But I don't have any other files! I used the same file for demonstration and final prints! I tried to reason with them and demonstrate that it's all the same file, but - no! They want "another" file that would come out nicely on their printer.

 

So, what can I do? Give them a crash course on how to use their own printer? Give them their money back? Adjust the file to their printer settings? Remove the "digital file for you" option back and just ignore that family?

 

This incident is draining me out . Help! What would be the best way out?

[Ursa]

Well that's a strange situation...

 

Anyhow: as long as you've got the original file (the same you gave to them), you should be OK. If the .tif file you've got is blurry and bad in any way, then you've done something wrong when you stored it. If it looks nice on your computer, then it's not your fault, and not your concern.

 

anyhow: good luck!

[aklla]

looks like it is something wrong with his printer, ask him to take the file that you gave him to your store and print the file out there, that will be a high quality picture, if you gave him that

 

now the customer can see that it is something wrong with his printer or computer

[anderfo]

Haha! Sounds like they dont know much about pictures and printing.

If you want to satisfy them (sounds like you do), giving them a crash course of using their own printer sounds good. Ask them what printer they have got. If it's a good printer, you shouldnt need to use very much time on such a course. Maybe you could get some money for the course if theyre satisfied.

Ignoring the family is not a good option, though they sound like strange people;) Those people know how to set out bad rumours..

 

Edit: ser at innlegget har havnet både under "Fotografering" og "Fotoskrivere, utskrifter, papirkopier". Forslår at en moderator sletter den andre tråden, og evt flytter denne tråden dit den bør være..

Endret 27. oktober 2004 av anderfo

[Klasbu]

Hm sounds a bit strange if you ask me.. Tell the father that he can come down to the office and work the file together with you. This way both of you can see the actual file, and in that way figure out if there is a problem with the file, or if your customer is doing something in the wrong way in his effort to print the photo.

 

Personally I would not give away the files, the original file belongs to the photographer and I don’t think that you are obligated to give it to your customers in any way.

 

If you still choose to keep this up you may experience bad publicity for your photos if/when amateurs play’s with your photos, print and maybe also publish a photo in a way you as a professional would not do!

 

Best regards

Jon

http://kdesign.foto.no

[Zork]

So, one family took a picture and got an original .tif file from me

By 'original .tif file', do you mean an unprocessed straight-out-of-the-camera picture? If so, I think you're asking for trouble as most people wouldn't have a clue about how to process it to make it look good for printing.

 

And even if it's been processed, I wouldn't really offer this service to customers.

 

The original files should stay with you. You can offer them prints and/or pictures meant for web-use/email, but simply giving a clueless customer a file and letting them print it themselves is not a good idea in my opinion. You have no control over what they do with it, and if they (for instance) print it on regular paper on a bad printer and show the picture to their friends, they'll create a lot of bad publicity for you. Most people won't even think about all the factors that go into creating a good print, but will unquestioningly look on their homeprint as what your pictures will look like.

Endret 27. oktober 2004 av Zork

[fint2004]

Thanks for answering so quick! I really appreciate that!

 

Well, I guess I'll ask the father to come over to my office and see with his own eyes that it's the same file. BTW, I checked again: it's in .tif format, and 300 dpi, no blurring and the colors are bright.

 

I was just trying to be nice

People kept asking about the files all the time, so, I finally added this option to the package.

 

Now I'm starting to think that giving away the file was a really bad idea.

 

Uff, so much stress over one stupid .tif file.

[fint2004]

By 'original .tif file', do you mean an unprocessed straight-out-of-the-camera picture? If so, I think you're asking for trouble as most people wouldn't have a clue about how to process it to make it look good for printing.

 

And even if it's been processed, I wouldn't really offer this service to customers.

 

Actually, the original straight-out-of-the-camera picture was in .raw format, but I processed it before printing and giving it to them. Had to crop it a little, balance the colors, retouch some minor details, etc.

 

Feel so stupid

Endret 27. oktober 2004 av fint2004

[Crazysteps]

What if you transform the tif-file into a high quality jpg-file. This would make it much easier for most people to make the most of the "original", since they're used to this format.

 

To me, it sounds like a good business idea to sell your files, as long as you give them a print-out as well. That way, they can have their fun with the file and see the difference in quality between the photo they print out and the one you've printed out.

 

Maybe you can also give them the option to come to you with their own files and you can work your magic with it and print it in a professional way. Just an idea.

[fint2004]

Also, about not selling the files to the customers and why I started this option in the first place.

I often hear that more and more people are simply scanning pictures made by professional photographers and print it out later or use in their websites. So, taking this into consideration, the "sell the file" option seems pretty OK, because people are actually paying for what they can otherwise get by scanning for free at home.
Reminds me of a situation with copying DVDs and CDs.

What do you think about that?

2Crazysteps: Wow, it's a nice idea! Have to think it over

[Crazysteps]

The more ways you have to secure a steady income, the better. Use your equipment for all it is worth. It's your living isn't it.

 

Nothing is better than if you manage to sell the final product AS WELL as the unfinished file.

[Zork]

I often hear that more and more people are simply scanning pictures made by professional photographers and print it out later or use in their websites. So, taking this into consideration, the "sell the file" option seems pretty OK, because people are actually paying for what they can otherwise get by scanning for free at home.

Reminds me of a situation with copying DVDs and CDs.

 

What do you think about that?

In principle, I agree with you. But traditionally, photographers are quite restrictive when it comes to upholding the copyright on the pictures they take. For a customer to scan a picture taken by a professional photografer is illegal and a violation of the copyright. (Unless permission has been expressly given by the photographer to do so, and you won't find many pro photographers who'll grant this unless the customer pays a great deal extra).

 

Personally, I think the limitations upon use are too restrictive in most cases. For instance, I think people should be allowed to scan their wedding-pictures to put them on their personal web-page, but this is not legal unless permission has been given.

 

But you do run the risk of making yourself very unpopular among other professionals if you offer this to your customers at a (comparatively) low price. And in the long run, you may be shooting yourself in the foot too. It's not easy to make it as a professional photographer and the income that you may get in the future from additional prints or rights to web-publishing might be worth considering.

 

I think it's great that you want to please your customers and, as I've said, I think most photographers are too restrictive when it comes to their work, but there are good reasons (both business-wise and 'artistic-wise') why most photographers have these rules in place.

 

I'd talk this over with someone knowledgable before continuing at least. Perhaps you could get in touch with a branch-organisation for photographers or similar and get their viewpoint? If not, I'm afraid you could run into more unpleasant experiences both from clueless customers and from other photographers who has a negative view on what they'll probably consider as unfair competition.

 

Personally, I would offer them prints and optional digital pictures (of varying sizes) for use on the web. I would never supply them with the original so they could do as they pleased with it.

[carbonize]

About retouching and printing pictures taken by customers:

 

Initially I like this idea. But you should be aware that it might not be too pleasant to explain to the customer that the photos he's bringing is so bad that you cannot make a good print from it.

 

This could also generate a bad reputation, even though the it's the customers fault.

[fint2004]

I know retouching and photo-restoration is quite popular in e.g. the States and Canada, but I'm not sure if it can generate steady income here in Norway. Maybe as an additional service? But, again, as Carbonize mentioned, I personally wouldn't feel too cool explaining to the customers why I wouldn't process their photos.

 

Anyway, wanted to say that it was no more calls from the Angry Father after 11-30 am today Hope he finally figured it out.

[fint2004]

But you do run the risk of making yourself very unpopular among other professionals if you offer this to your customers at a (comparatively) low price. And in the long run, you may be shooting yourself in the foot too. It's not easy to make it as a professional photographer and the income that you may get in the future from additional prints or rights to web-publishing might be worth considering.

I agree, but the thing is I'm not the only one providing this service now. I know at least one pro photographer who's selling the files too, and I know another one considering it very seriously. Their concern as well as mine is that with all that variety and high quality of digital cameras available in the market today, the number of people using our services would eventually decrease.

Endret 27. oktober 2004 av fint2004

[Alastor]

Well, what you have to get used to if you run a shop/service, is that angry customers may (and will!) come along. Whats best is to try to make them happy, and then go on as if nothing had happened. Cause in most cases, its their own fault that they can make this and that to work. Not yours. If they didnt get it printed out correctly, and you're sure that the image looks nice with you, then this is not really your problem. Of course, you want every customer to be happy, so trying to help is nice of you. But dont let their anger get to you. People just are that way when something does not work perfect.

 

Tip for this particular problem: Make the guy take the file and the printer down to your shop, then have a look at it. If you get it to work together, you give him a 10% discount on the next service he buys from you. If you dont get it to work, then its a problem with his printer and/or his computer. Which really aint nothing you should worry about.

[Kjetil-H]

Is your customer by any chance trying to print the image on regular copy-paper?

I don't have a lot to go on when making such assumptions, but no printer can give contrasty, sharp images with vibrant colours on such paper.

If your customer is not more in the know than to blame results on you, ignoring the obvious disrepancy between on-screen preview and final print, he might aswell have fed his printer bad paper..

 

Ask him to bring the prints aswell when he comes to see you!

 

With Regards

Kjetil

[fint2004]

I am back with an update

 

So, it turned out they tried to print my picture using HP inkjet glossy paper on a Canon printer. Besides, the printout quality was set to "Normal". Huffff.

 

After two long telephone consultations (they refused to come over to me and didn't invite me to their place either) they managed to print out a bunch of very good quality pictures. Then they were satisfied.

 

And I was relieved even though they didn't bother to apologize or at least admit that it was not at all my fault.

 

Anyway, I'm feeling much better, and thanks for all your support

 

 

P.S. Well, and now I have a non-paying customer! Am I attracting them or what?... :!:

[Alastor]

Hehe. Like we said..people will ALWAYS complain to others when they don't understand how to do things themselves. "This does not work...its THEIR fault!"

 

Oh well, glad it worked out for you! What you might want to create though, is a small "readme.txt" included with the picture-file, giving some info about what you could check if the printed result aint as good as they want it to be.

Endret 3. november 2004 av Alastor

[Playmofetish]

Hah, welcome to the world of stupid customers. I´m glad it all worked out for you on this case. In the future, maybe you want to give them an option of what kind of file your customers want. Wether it´s an .tif og .jpg. And perhaps a short standard description of what kind of files these are, and how your customers should adjust their printers/paper to get the best possible result

 

And be very clear to point out: The quality of the photo depends on the printer/paper, not the original photo file. That way, you won´t have hopeless causes like this.