Tailor Archive

I was having a really bad day the other day. I had customers lined up waiting for orders, had /tells coming out my ears, and RL was not sitting back and waiting patiently for me to do my in-game thing, so yes, admittedly I was a bit more frazzled than usual....but here's what happened and my thoughts on it. I'm curious how others would have handled this:

I get a tell right smack in the middle of making a big order and juggling 6 tells, it's from a gal that wants to place an order for a PA. Ok fine, what was she looking for? She says she needs 40 of the Robe of Honor. Whew, that's a big order. Ok well, sure. I can do that, I explain, but that may take a few days. There's a silence for a few and she comes back asking what the price of the robe is. I tell her 10k. another long pause and I get the question...can I do it tonight? I tell her, no, I really don't think that's possible, blah blah, factory components, people in line in front of her, blah blah etc. Nother long pause and the next question gets popped....Will I give a discount on the robes? I said no. She got upset, said she'd go elsewhere and I got offended and pretty much said I'd rather not deal with it anyway. It ended up with bad feelings on both sides, and while I do regret that, I don't regret not taking the order. This is my reasoning for it:

First of all, name one place where you get "rush service" and a discount? Is it not normally that if anything one pays extra for rush service?

Is it not true that some charge extra for custom orders? I charge nothing extra ever on custom orders irregardless of how much of a pain they may be.

Is it not true that 40 robes if anything is MORE work than 1? Why should I offer a discount on an order that is going to be a big job for me, one that will take me away from my other customers, my stocking, will even require me to hijack my own factory making what I need for the order instead of cranking out my steady supply of what I need?

I don't mind doing large orders. It's not that I mind offering discounts either, but I generally reserve those for my repeat customers, I do not just hand them out to every person that asks for one. It's not that I'm stingy or greedy, I've given clothes away many times, offered customers with hardly any money price breaks, etc.

I was however, insulted that this person apparently did not think my time valuable, did not appear to care how much work this would take me, and seemed to not think I had other customers to attend to as well. I DO mind when people pressure me or hurry me. I hate doing orders and feeling like the customer is standing there tapping their foot.

How do the rest of you handle this sort of thing without ending up walking away from it feeling upset, or feeling badly that you left the customer feeling upset?

It was unreasonable of the customer to expect "rush service" on a huge order. I don't think it's unreasonable *not* to offer a discount for a large order either, but that said, I probably would've offered one here - large order, on a big ticket item, doing big PA jobs like that can be good advertising, various other reasons.

On the third tentacle, some people you can tell are just being too pushy or whiny or needy, and that ultimately the deal will be more of a pain in the butt than the money is worth. Sounds like this might be the case here.

Personally, I think I need to be a little less "nice" sometimes (or at the very least remember to turn off my Master Tailor tag a bit more often.) If I get a /tell from someone when I'm out in the wilderness shooting things, I need to be more willing to just say "I'm busy right now, please leave me an e-mail" or whatever. But that's a slightly different situation.

I wouldnt have given this person a second thought. I would have told them to go (place adjective) themselves if they were demanding a rush order and a price break. But then again i can be an arse to people like that, seems to me that your very patient.

Anytime you set down price and timeframe and a customer cops an additude because it's not what they wanted to hear, just move on. They're not worth your time or wasted effort on pleasing. Espically if they start attacking you. The moment they get insulting, you /addignore and move on with your life. It's too short as it is without having some jerk siphoning off part of it, no matter how small.

I usually give discounts on large orders, but that's on my timeframe. Large orders are always a chore because I don't want to crank out 20 of something only to discover that it's the wrong color.

But to expect service now on a large order? And a discount? Please. Now, if she had said "I realize you're busy but I'll add 50k for your trouble if you can finish tonight" then that would be reasonable to ask. It would also be reasonable for you to refuse (I would).

In general, people who need things now always spell trouble, because they change their minds halfway through the order, or you'll make the order in 10 minutes, and by then they've found another tailor, blah blah. Not worth it. They're never happy.

Let her go elsewhere. When she comes back say that you've raised your prices, and custom ordered robes are now 12k. Ask yourself, if you made her the items would you really want repeat business from this person? Would you be happy with her demanding you make something right now every few days? Sometimes the credits are just not worth dealing with unpleasant people over and over and over again.

Personally, I wouldn't tell her to go elsewhere: I'd inform her that a rush service on such a large order will double its price. At least. Seriously, if people want that kind of service, let them speak with their wallet.

I do offer discounts for bulk orders -- but for me, these generally consist of five or six completely different outfits, simply because I don't do orders for PAs other than my own (a very bad experience with a PA a short time before I hit Master established that for me).

I do offer swift service, almost always. However, I do not deliver (unless it's a very special customer), and an order of that size (those are the most resource-demanding item we have, I believe) would definitely not be delivered on the evening it was requested. In my experience, people with big orders are delighted to have them the next day - heck, even the same week; I'm really sorry you got one of the lousy ones.

It is reasonable of a customer to be patient if you're already dealing with other people when they give you an order -- that's respect for your current customers, as much as for you. If they're going to be pushy, the least they can do is offer an incentive. And I'm with NJ62 on this -- I wouldn't want to deal with a customer like that more than once, let alone frequently. This was the very reason I ceased doing business with the aforementioned PA...day after day of "Now I want 20 of these, and my friend wants 10 of these, and we want to pay in hides rather than cash." No thanks.

Two comments,,,yes give her a discount but also tell her that the only way you can do that is to have her allow 2 days for delivery ,,if she agrees,,make a schematic and use your factory,,and 8500 or so per would have been nice for both of you,,

Second ,,for such a large order I always ask for 1/2 deposit,,,its a great way to make sure that you get paid or at least can recover your expenses,,

I would offer a small discount, maby 8k per robe instead of my usual 10k per (that's if I was feeling nice), but I would also want a deposit. If you don't sure as shlt they'll order with another tailor as well and go with whoever finishes first. And w t f would you do with 40 identical Robes of Honor?

For rush delivery? well... I don't think I could rush an order like that :, don't have enough components on hand. But I certainly wouldn't offer a discount on a rush.

The words "discount" and "rush order" just do not go together in my mind. IMHO, Rush order and pay 50% more or discount and get it a few days later.

In this case a rush order was not an option, a discount for a bulk order combined with a 2 day wait was the viable solution.
A pushy and very rude customer = /addignore

That's not nice at all.

I too have encountered people who need to have something NOW!! Once, I was out with my guy, and since we don't get much hunting time together, I wasn't about to hop planets to make this guy pants and a shirt.

What's curious is, he'd been sending me tells for over 3 days (while I was afk), and when he finally got me, he couldn't send an email and wait a few hours. He never told me why, either, despite my explanations that I was spending some quality time away from my store. So I just told him to look for someone else, and he finally did. Whew!

You are not in the wrong Theano, in fact no tailors are in the wrong for the decisions we make to any of these problems we sometimes face. Be firm with your answers, be matter of fact, and be nice I model Midnight Sun much like some famous Designer boutiques in South Beach in RL. What is in stock is in stock, there may be more stock coming of course, but if I went to buy a jacket from Armani Express that I had seen somewhere, and they were sold out and told me they'd have more stock in on Friday, would I complain, ask for a cheaper price, demand that I want it now, etc? Noooo...I would give them my CC #, and tell them to hold one for Sergia when it came in, and email me when it was in. Then, I would most likely buy something else that had caught my eye.

Do not let these type of customers stress you out, Theano. Stand by your decisions, feel no guilt about them, and spend that energy on the hundreds of other good customers you have Especially considering the large amount they wanted and the delivery time, I would have told them nicely ONE TIME how much it would be, and when they could expect it.

Don't let it bother you Theano

Wow, thanks everyone. I feel much better about the whole thing