Well, I just found out that the guy who's been making my water-slide decals for the last five years or so (Mitch), is no longer in business. I had a feeling this day would come. His wife had been fighting cancer for a while, and the last time he made decals for me, he told me she wasn't doing well, but he was grateful to have something to work on to keep his mind off of it. We had developed a rapport over the years, and often had lengthy conversations in PMs, so this is a bit sad for me. I only ever communicated with him through Etsy, so I can't even offer my condolences... As belated as they may be. I hope he's doing alright. He's a good guy. He always went the extra mile with every decal.
So that meant I had to find someone else to make the decals for this project. Not something I was looking forward to, as it's hard to find a good decal guy who can do metallic inks, and does custom work (not just offering a short selection of fonts and layouts). It's even harder to find someone who actually
cares about giving you what you asked for. Frankly, most of the decal guys I encountered before I found Mitch were flat-out dicks, who just want to get your money as quickly as possible, and routinely disregard any and all instructions you give them... Sometimes, they don't even bother to show you a proof, and just print and ship the decals out to you, then they get all pissy at
you when you tell them it's not right.
Well, this time was no exception. I found this guy on ebay. One of maybe two sellers who could do what I needed. He even stated in his listing that he would show a proof of the decal before printing, so I contacted him to ask if he had the font (Magneto) that I needed, and sent him the mock-up that I posted above. He said he had the font, and could reproduce the logo, so I placed the order and sent him a note telling him that he would have to vertically stretch the Magneto font to match the relative proportions of the example I gave him. He replied by telling me he's had that font for many years and he knows what he's doing.
“Ok”, I thought... "I'll just wait until he shows me the proof", which I expected today. Well, this morning, I got a notification from ebay saying that my item had shipped! I contacted the seller and asked him why he went ahead and printed and shipped the decals without showing me a proof first, and he said: “I gave you what you asked for”, and attached this:
This is what I specifically did NOT ask for, and when I responded by reminding him of the instructions I gave him, he just said: "That's the same font style you sent a picture of".
So now I'm assuming this guy is being deliberately obtuse, and I'm talking to a brick wall here, but this is the last response I gave him:
"Yes, it is, and I specifically said that the Magneto font is too squat, and it might need to be stretched to match the relative proportions, and asked you to modify the font to match the example I gave you. If you misunderstood me, showing me a proof would have a been a great way to clear this up. I worked in the printing industry for 25 years, and in that industry you NEVER go ahead with the print until you get the OK from the client first, no matter how sure you are that you got everything right. That always leads to lost profits. Since you stated in your own listing that you would show a proof, and proceeded to not do that, you have no ground to argue."
Unfortunately, this guy can keep stone-walling me until I receive the decals, and I have to wait until then to file a case... which I will win. Even if he decides to begrudgingly do what I asked for, I certainly won't feel comfortable dealing with him in the future. I guess some people don't like repeat customers... He probably thinks I'm some kid building a kit guitar, or something. I'll make sure to let him know what an opportunity he borked, along with a pile of headstock photos from my previous builds.
