Unhappy customer

So I'm feeling kind of down on myself..I was hired to paint a face for Halloween, one where it looks like the skin has been ripped off and the muscles are showing, and after painting it, the women wasn't happy with my work : ( She said it looked more cartoony than she was thinking. I will say it was out of my comfort zone, but I was pretty happy with it. It didn't help that she was comparing it to a photo..of a model...who had been airbrushed...but I have never had an unhappy customer before and I didn't really know how to react. Usually moms start crying of joy when I paint a star on their daughters face..maybe I'm just spoiled? Has anyone ever had a negative reaction at a private gig and what do you do!? It was really awkward!

It happens & you have to be very up-front in the beginning with clients.

I had a lady last year that planned out a whole tiger face. Then I show up & she's changed her mind & pulls up Bec Anthony's beautiful sugar skull design. The model is gorgeous w/ a chiseled face, my client has a very oval face.... I tried to talk her out of it, explained the design was airbrushed & I'm pretty sure edited. It did not look like what she wanted (I can paint faces, but it would have taken a plastic surgeon to make her look like that ). he washed it off & step-by-step directed me on how to do a stitch face (it was awful). She insisted I did it her way & gave me NO artistic licence. All I can say is I had to put up w/ her for 1 evening, but her poor husband (that was awesome & understanding) has to put up w/ her every day.

Now, I get all the info. Explain what I can do & can't do. Let the client know there will be a changed design fee if I'm given no warning. Let them know a lot of planning goes into what I do & I often can't get the best results "on the fly." I also let them know I'm an artist & may have a completely different style than the artist they want me to duplicate & I'm not a photo copy machine. Therefore, what they'll get is an awesome & amazing original piece of artwork that will wow their friends, guests, etc. So far this has been enough to stem off this type of situation.... and sugar skull lady is now on my black list....

There are people out there who will be unhappy/negative no matter how amazing your work is....dust your feet off and move on, you can't please everyone!

I am a noob as far as face painting, but have been running a very successfull cake business for about 5 years now...and I rarely have unhappy customers, but they do happen from time to time. Statistically speaking, you're bound to have a bad apple in your batch every once in a while! You do what you can to make them happy, but at the end of the day if you feel you did your best work then you leave it at that. There are also some people (believe it or not) who will complain (even when they are thrilled) in order to get a discount or receive your service for free. I have encountered some of these people and when I give them back cash....they wind up referring me to many of their friends with the little note "if you complain, she won't charge you"...after a handful of THEM, I wised up. I never offer cash back for an order unless it's a total loss. In my business that would mean, the cake was inedible and couldn't be served...in face painting, that would equate...you forgot the gig, or had circumstances that made it impossible for you to be there or didn't have time to finish the job...something that makes it a total loss for the customer. In times where the customer didn't like my decorating of the cake (or in your case, the painting job you did), you offer a discount on future orders NOT a cash refund! If they were truly unhappy they won't call again and you have no problem, if they were trying to get a freebie...a discount will suffice them. It is true that one bad review will cancel out several good reviews...however, the fact that you offer a discount shows you are professional and you attempted to rectify the situation. Chances are this woman was the talk of the party all night and is now happy with the job you did!! I would send her an email or phone her and just say "It really bothered me that you weren't satisfied and in order to keep you as a future customer, I would like to offer you a coupon of $XX.XX amount off of your next order". If she refuses the offer, then wash your hands of her and forget it happened.

Maybe in the future, you could ask more questions (I find with cakes, the most unhappy customers are the ones that say..."Oh I don't care, do whatever you want!" and then they complain when what my style and likes are, don't match theirs...I guess I should mention I can't read their minds beforehand), based on these experiences I ask questions. They say "do what you want" and I say.....would you like something more elegant or something more fun and funky, are there any particular colors you'd like to see?

You could ask things such as, how realistic are you wanting this to look, maybe point out...this picture is of an airbrushed model, here is an idea of what you can expect with this design painted on...and find some examples online. Do your homework, ask lots of questions...and at the end of the day, remember you did what you could and you can't please absolutely EVERYONE all the time!

p.s. did you take any pics, sounds soooo cool!!

Oh no! Did she refuse to pay? I wouldn't know what to say either, I should probably rehearse an appropriate response considering I have private bookings in my near future...

She offered to pay right away, but it was practice for a halloween party this weekend, so now I'm waiting to see if she wants me to actually paint her for halloween.

She wasn't rude, maybe that's why it was even worse. She was just disappointed...and it made me feel like "Oh, I guess I'm not actually that good"

I would offer to "fix" her face.
I would wipe it gently off with one of my eye make up remover pads, and THEN give her the money back.

xoxoxo
Happy painting!

Did u ask her where u went wrong? Follow up with her and maybe offer her a discount for the actual Halloween booking?

Yeah, that's a good idea...I'm still waiting to hear if she is going to book me. I Kind of hope she doesn't now because I'm scared..but then I feel like that's a bad attitude and I should just practice and do my best. ..we will see. I think I've decided that It's nothing to worry about...she wants to Wolfe Brothers..and I'm just not there yet : /

There are two things that must be given credence in order to know you've done everything you can humanly do to avoid such situations:

1. Consult with the client before painting. Even if it means she sends you examples of what she has in mind. That will give you an idea of what will be required of your skillset to pull off the desired look.

2. Know your own capabilities and be brutally honest with yourself. I have walked away from very lucrative jobs simply because I knew that I didn't possess the skills necessary to pull of the clients design to satisfaction. Then I took it upon my self to acquire those skills so I'd be ready the next time. I know quite a few painters who take on jobs that are way bigger than their skillsets just because of the monetary reward and then scramble around trying to figure out how to pull it off. When I get those phone calls, you know the "Hey CJ, I just booked a lady who wants this body painted design and I have no idea what I need to do" call, I tend to not have sympathy simply because while yes, we should all strive to grow and hone our crafts, cutting our teeth on unsuspecting customers just rings wrong in my ears. This is particularly true when that painter has underbid me on a gig that she had no clue how to pull off. But I digress...

Anyway, as I was saying before my soapbox got in the way. If you know what you're capable of and honor the integrity of your current skillset AND know what the client expects before going in, then you've done all you can do. The good thing about doing that is that then you will KNOW that you have met the challenge and any customer disatisfaction is the result of THEIR fluctuating expectations and not your ability to pull off the design concept. As for a refund, I can't even spell it anymore. I know when my work is crap and if it is, I can usually spot it before the customer can...if they do.

This is just another one of the mirad of growing pains in this industry and you should be proud of yourself for at least weathering the storm and getting better for it.

Under promise and over deliver.

The worst clients are brides... I had one that made me re-do her test make-up (which is why I insist on the test session!) SEVEN times... she didn't like it, it didn't look like her, blah blah... honey, Of course it doesn't look like you... it looks BETTER than you !!

I am lucky with most appointments for Halloween - but I am trained and experienced in SFX and generally can replicate things in photos. Most of my repeat clients just give me an idea of what they want or send me photos and I take it from there. It generally is NOT an exact replica but I don't get too many negative remarks.

But if you are outside your comfort zone... either turn away the booking unless you KNOW you can do it, or, explain the limitations to the customer. i.e. the sample they provide is airbrushed, photoshopped etc. and you cannot replicate it. Then let them make the decision.

And... I've never refunded the money. I still did the work!

Last year I had a full body black swan easy peasy but right yes.

After painting her whole body white she said it was to opaque so I painted it with more white she stilll wasn't happy so we air brushed more white on her. she was complaining every second.
Plus she said it didn't look like her test run last night so why was she hiring a personal appt with a body painter when she could of done it herself. I only got as far as painting her bosy white and she wasn't even happy with that. I didn't even begin and it was already over.
Some want you do do exactly like an airbrushed movie poster yeah ok how can we do that. They are already prepared to be disappointed and are very high maintenance.
This year everyone wants sugar skulls so that will be easy, 8 sugar skulls, 6 geisha girls, a 4 zombies and monsters so its an easy year.
Its coming up close so good luck to all lets hope for no high maintenance clients.

Awe, bummer. Don't be too hard on yourself! As you can see in the replies, it has happened to many of us! I have 3 businesses that I run, one of them face painting of course, and in all of them I have had that one customer who is just not satisfied no matter how above and beyond I go. You're bound to run into them once in a while. Did this person have any friends with her? Sometimes that helps for them to hear from a friend how great it looks! I painted my first Halloween private session last year. I was so nervous, I was dreaming about it the night before. Not only was it my first private session, and the customer was entering himself into a costume contest, but he was also one of my biggest clients...the Santa I work with every winter who fills my December calendar every year! I sent him sketches of ideas weeks in advance and never got any feedback, so I wasn't sure if I was anywhere close to what he was thinking. When he arrived he was describing something that I don't think I was capturing based on his reaction. I felt so nervous still afterwards, even though he looked good... then the next day I learned that he and his colleague ("father frost & mother frost") won the grand prize! He was so happy once he heard all the comments from other party-goers. I bet your customer will get plenty of friends at her party commenting on how awesome she looks if she does decide to hire you!

So get this! I got an email today from the women saying her sister LOVED the paint job, so much that she does want it done on Halloween AND her sister is going to have it done also...go figure haha. I think what Gretchen explained is exactly what happened.