Why I Paid My Client Back $500, Even Though I Didn’t Have To
Vol. 088
Why I Paid My Client Back $500, Even Though I Didn’t Have To.
A reminder of why you need a contract and insurance, and also that partnership, empathy and humanity is more important in the long term than money in the immediate.
A quick bite:
We recently had an expensive “Oops”. Our client printed over $1,000 worth of incorrect files. 🤦Thankfully, both our contract (and our insurance, if we chose to file a claim) had us covered. Despite our contract clearly defining that this accident was actually in the lap of our client, I chose to cover half of the mistake print anyways. Below I not only show the contract clause that covered us, and I also detail why I chose to pay the $500 instead of leverage the legal document signed by both parties.
Continue reading below…
We recently finished up a little project for one of our ongoing clients.
It was a 5” x 7” flier that had some information about their various products. In the process of going back-and-forth, at some point we accidentally worked off of an older file. In doing so, the back side of the flier had all the wrong copy.
Our client ended up sending these to print without actually reviewing the back side, and they got 3,000 fliers printed with the wrong information.
The day after he had received them, I received this text.
Shit is right.
Is this a big bummer? Yes.
Is this the end of the world? Absolutely not.
But, this was a $1,000 mistake and a panicked client. Neither of these are good things.
Firstly, let's be thankful for two things here.
We have professional liability insurance, which is also known as E&O or errors and omissions insurance. Essentially, this insurance covers Vicarel Studios for situations just like this. If this were on a much larger scale, and the scenario was blown up across tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in billboard placements or print ads, having E&O insurance would cover me instead of bankrupting my business.
Secondly, our contract (which of course my client had signed) clearly states that my client's approval is essentially stating that everything is 100% approved as is. This means that if they approve something and send it to print, any mistakes are on them. You can see the exact clause that I use below:
“Vicarel Studios will produce top quality, print-ready files, but shall not be responsible for any errors and omissions, grammatical or typographic. Vicarel Studios is not a material editor or proofreader. Care will be taken to check spelling and discuss grammatical issues if found during layout, but final approval of formatted material is the responsibility of Client.”
However, despite both of those points of protection, I ultimately decided to split this $1,000 mistake and reimburse my client for half of this cost.
Why pay $500 when I don’t have to? Because longterm partnership is far more valuable than a short term payout.
While yes, I was very frustrated at first that this oversight happened, it was far more important for me to preserve the relationship and continue to prove my partnership and dedication to their business as opposed to simply getting hung up on who’s fault it was and who owed the money.
This mistake was honest from both sides, and was a result of a quick moving schedule with a multitude of “rush projects”, us being pushed to execute outside of our normal workflow, and this combination of things opening up vulnerabilities in our process.
In the grand scheme of things, $500 is a nominal price to pay to continue what could be a multi-year partnership worth thousands of dollars with a fun client.
Like most things in life, this is a long game, not a short game.
Short game player mindset: $500 is a lot of money. My contract says I don’t owe it. I’m not paying it. This potentially tarnishes the relationship.
Long game player mindset: $500 is a lot of money. My contract says I don’t owe it. But, I’m going to pay it anyways because I want to sustain this partnership, and hopefully continue it for years.
So what’s the moral of the story?
We all make mistakes. Clients, designers, studios, moms, dads… all of us.
You must have a contract
You must have insurance
It truly is not all about the money. Relationships matter!
Actions go further than words. I can call myself “a partner” in their business all day, but it’s only when you put skin in the game like this that they truly feel that partnership.
Simon Sinek recently tweeted: “100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don't understand people, you don't understand business.”
Rooting your decision-making in empathy for humanity goes a long way.
Stay empathetic out there folks. Stay human.
Cheers,
Adam