Customer demanding rebuild after 7 months of use or refund.

[Jaygra]

Hi I started a business making free standing wooden furniture 12 months ago. It is going well however a customer i sold a piece I made 7 months ago has been back to me saying the shelves are bowing. (Its a larder unit). So I made new shelves free of charge and refitted and even re-sprayed. They are now saying they're still not happy and want a rebuild or refund. Where do I stand??

 

[sunnybob]

its called fair wear and tear. As long as you are sure the materials used were fit for purpose, its their misuse by overloading the shelves.

 

[Wuffles]

Playing devil's advocate though, did you give them a maximum weight for the shelves?

This scenario terrifies me and makes me not want to deal with the public

Best of luck, following this with interest (from behind the sofa).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gregmcateer]

Good advice above.
The challenge is showing you made them fit for purpose, (e.g. show you have other customers happy with similar work). If you made them to a standard that you are confident with, then stick to your guns. You would win in court. The flip side is that they may be spiteful and do their level best to slag you off whatever you do. If you can, go there again, maybe unannounced so they do not have a chance to unload massive weight of goods - this would show if they are being reasonable.
Try to get photos of the design and build quality which would help you if (and it's a big if), it ever went to court.
Best of luck and let us know the outcome.

 

[RobinBHM]

What reasons are they giving for justifying a replace or refund?

Legally there is a requirement for a product to be fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, it doesnt need to be perfect.

The criteria is 'have they got what they paid for'.

If you dont have yet, you should create a terms and conditions / guarantee that is issued with each sale. That can cover loading of shelves, wear and tear, shrinkage of wood etc to cover you.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - sounds a tricky one.

What are the shelves made of and what are their dimensions?

What has the customer been putting on them and what is the extent of the 'deflection' from straight?

One possible solution could be some simple design changes, depending on the above.

Cheers, W2S

 

[NazNomad]

As they say, you can make something foolproof but you can never make it damn-fool proof.

 

[Mike Jordan]

Do you hold qualifications as a trained woodworker?

 

[Wuffles]

Also some pics would help.

 

[ColeyS1]

I've seen mdf used for bookcase shelves, about 5 ft wide. You can imagine how that looked !


Coley

 

[Peter Sefton]

MDF will sag under it's own weight so not suitable for shelfs unless well lipped or strengthened, ply or solid will be better. It is always a pay off between what a customer will pay and what will be fit for purpose.

I hope you sort it out.

Cheers Peter

 

[deema]

Personally, I would refund and sell on the item on probably on an auction site cutting my losses. Customers are dreadful things, they change their minds, loose their jobs and need to make cuts, plaster lovely comments all over social media. I always try to keep people on board, a poor customer experience can be turned into a sales pitch by them actually advocating you due to you sorting things out. The thing I've learnt is that you never win an argument with a customer, you just have so weigh up the damage to your business versus the cost of putting it right in their eyes.

 

[HappyHacker]

I think deema is right. Either due to their overloading of the shelves or the shelves not being strong enough they are bowing. With the advent of social media it is very easy for them to thrash your reputation even if you can prove that it is down to overloading and you have designed it to and can prove that it will take an elephant. It will hurt but smile and say that you have not had a problem like this before and you are more than happy to refund their money and take the unit away to see how it can be improved so that it does not happen again.

I forget the exact numbers but over 90% of those who have had a problem with a purchase where the resolution exceeded their expectations would buy from the same company again and recommend them to someone else. About 20% of those who had problem where it was not satisfactorily resolved would buy from the same company again!

I have recently purchased some shelving units for the garage, quicker than making them. They all are very specific about the loads that each shelf can take and they all say it must be evenly spread. It may be a good idea to put a sticker on each shelf with a max load or give some instructions to each customer.

 

[t8hants]

I second what deema has said.
Customers are always right even when wrong.
Offer to take the item back at cost, (which often brings on a rethink by the customer) and try to reclaim as much as possible by selling on.
Otherwise you can get into a vicious circle and nobody wins or comes out happy

 

[transatlantic]

Assuming your time is worth more than the product, I agree with the others. Cut your losses, give them a full refund and simply don't deal with them again.

But I'm curious, can we get more info about the build? pictures etc?

 

[bugbear]

This should help, once we have some raw figures and facts:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/

BugBear

 

[whiskywill]

Do you hold qualifications as a trained woodworker?

Why is that relevant?

 

[ChickenMan]

This should help, once we have some raw figures and facts:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/

BugBear

I've bookmarked that, thanks!

 

[MatthewRedStars]

Do you hold qualifications as a trained woodworker?

Why is that relevant?

It will help if things go "legal" which is admittedly unlikely.

 

[Mike Jordan]

The enquiry regarding qualifications is very relevant since I am frequently seeing very poor quality work turned out by people who are just taking advantage of the current shortage of decent tradesmen. There are those who are charging top prices for rubbish! On the other hand I have seen great work done by amateur woodworkers. If customers had the sense to enquire about qualifications, check previous work or seek recommendations from past customers.
There are some excellent craftsmen and women out there but you need to ask sensible questions rather than assuming that adverts and wild claims are true. I have seen contributors on this type of site saying that they have given a price for some work and then asking how to do it!