Keeping them honest

[JBLUE]

Dan, seeing that you did the separations for the customer, wasn't it incumbent on them to proof your work before pulling the trigger on screens & printing? Nothing, well almost nothing, is more frustrating than having a customer sign off on a proof only to find an error after the fact...

This is true, but I made the mistake, so we "technically", were both at fault, but the problem started with me. I  knew that.  The real problem arises when (if I ever) make another major mistake like that and it's for a very large number of shirts, like 10,000, and I make a mistake like that. Sheesh,  it would shut me down to have to cover that. My customer was very understanding about the whole thing. We work well together and he's even sent me two jobs just last night. It's a good thing to make sure he's not financially injured for my mistake.  I would have been lucky had he needed to cover the entire cost and he would have allowed me to work it off.

I still think the final responsibility lies with the shop. Anything that gets outsourced here is gone over in detail. Especially if it were seps.

[Croft]

I always get the shirts back if I'm replacing them. Why would you want bad work out there. Also you quickly learn if the customer is being an a$$ and wants a discount. You will take a hit but it will pay off in the future because 1, you will make more of an effort to check jobs and get proof aproved.
 I have a good customer that did the same thing over a logo being less than 1/4" off in width. I replaced the shirts and started sending them proof pics for approval. I also started charging them a $40.00 printed proof fee because setting up the job photgraphing it and waiting for approval was costing money.

 For scorhed or flawed shirts in an order ( If not a team set) we just discount the cost of that piece. 

[MrBreeze]

Unless he pays for them, the shirts are yours to use any way you wish.  Always get the shirts back or get some type of payment agreeable to all.  In these situations I ask the customer "What do you think is fair?"   9 times out of 10 the customer asks for less than I would have offered initially.  If not them we start to negotiate.

[JBLUE]

I have a good customer that did the same thing over a logo being less than 1/4" off in width.

That would be a tough one to swallow no matter how good the customer is. Good for you getting some of it back and charging that photo fee.

[screenprintguy]

I have a customer outside of my state which i do quite a bit for, but usually 100 items at a time. I recently printed some shirts with a heart print and he sends me an email like a week after he receives them and says the print is too close to the shoulder (too far left). I ask how many of the 60 items are like that he says ALL of them, im like WOW i can't imagine screwing all of them up, but anyway i told him I would reprint the order and send it  to him. My question is do I ask for them to ship the bad ones back which I would pay the freight , or just let him have them. I feel I am creating a problem if I let him have them, they may get to thinking we can get two for one down the road. Just asking.

I see it like this, if it's not good enough for them to pay for, it's not acceptable for them to keep for free. I would send him a ship tag and get the shirts back, you can then donate them to a needy cause, or use as rags in your shop. When folks start to see that you will let them just keep things that they deem unacceptable, a bad trend can start up. If they really aren't happy with them, they should have no reason to want to keep them.