Here's a tough one. Don't know what I'm gonna do.

[Homer]

I still vote for the atkins e-mail. . .just sayin. . .

[Command-Z]

Yeah, wow yikes... I think in the name of customer service, you're just going to have to do whatever it takes to make her happy and chalk it up as a learning experience.

In the future now, it might be wise to either get samples for the customer to try on, or have a disclaimer that says you aren't responsible for fit and can't take refunds on apparel that aren't actually defective.

A couple of the shops I've worked for had showrooms with samples of various sizes of the most popular corporate workwear... knits, sweaters, jackets, etc. Yes, it's true, women are more particular about fit... greater variation of body size and shape, and men usually just don't care. We're slobs. 

[dsh]

How about doing what a post I saw earlier said.  Let her know you're going to donate the shirts she doesn't want to some homeless shelters.  Her pretty logo will be worn around town by a rougher looking group.  She may change her mind.
In another life I used to peddle twinkies in provided uniforms.  A new batch of uniforms was passed out and a bunch of guys donated their old uniforms to the homeless shelters.  The bosses had a stroke when they saw their easily recognizable uniforms on a bunch of bums.  After that we had to turn in all old uniforms.

[sweetts]

I would eat it and move on. Some times it just the cost of doing business in public.

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

[Sbrem]

Hindsight is 20/20 of course, which is how I learned to get samples for fit before printing an unknown item. Reprint, see if she will take the others real cheap and use them as giveaways to customers... keep her happy, as you said she was OK with the t-shirts, and she will hopefully remember that you took care of it.

Steve

[Fluid]

If the customer picked a style and you ordered them and printed them and there is nothing wrong with the garment or printing, I would stick to my guns. The fact that the customer doesn't like the way they fit on herself is honestly NOT your problem. Guarantee she isn't even close to what the model int he catalog looks like as far as size and how she wears the garment. Yes bad news travels faster than good yet this is total BS. Hell for all you know she ordered the wrong style and is passing the buck on you with this story.

I would either eat it and move on. She can take her business elsewhere or I would offer a discount. Since nothing was wrong with the printing there is no fault in this but hers and you are now trying to figure out how to take the loss not her.  Sorry but I am calling BS.

If you are worried about what you may loose if not satisfying this customer, than reprint the new garments and move on to the next. Just make sure if there are any price differences between the garments that she covers the difference.

[Northland]

If I still had the screens... I'd reprint them.
No screens... I'd refund her money.
Either way, I'd need the shirts back to be used as I see fit.

[JBLUE]

This is why having samples is so important. It also helps to have a disclaimer that covers once the garment is decorated there are no refunds.

[Shawn (EIP)]

I would make her pay for the new shirts and print them for free (if I still had the screens) otherwise I'd tell her to go screw... she got what she ordered end of story.

May sound harsh but I've been working in the customer service field since I started working and a huge factor of starting my own business is the power to control not getting bent over and taking it up the rear end by a customer which is exactly what this lady is trying to do to you. This isn't Walmart...

[Shawn (EIP)]

This is why having samples is so important. It also helps to have a disclaimer that covers once the garment is decorated there are no refunds.

Who has samples of everything in the catalog? I keep sample of t-shirts around but that's about it.

[Chadwick]

Custom retail is a bitch.

Myself, I tell people to f*ck off, if they're messin with me and my crap.

If it's the other way, and I messed up, I try to fix it up proper.

I always try to do great work.
That's my method.
If someone's messin with that, well..

You gotta call the situation, based on where you stand within it.

[Prōdigium]

I agree that this is a NO-WIN scenario, however I would as already suggested offer to reprint the shirts for free if she buys the new shirts. Profit will still be made on the new blank garments. I would REQUIRE her to come to the shop and try the shirt on BEFORE printing them with an absolute agreement that this will not happen again AND that she understands that you are being the nice person in this deal..there are no guarantees of the garments "fit" and "wear"

On that note, as a business person I found it REALLY interesting that as I read the comments and original post....NOT A SINGLE PERSON, including the original post took note of a basic FACT of business. As stated by Ripcord..."....Twice as much work, but I still make $50 on the job" In an ideal world, maybe? However in the real world you must also consider that your ship will take on work that has a MUCH lower margin of profit and could require your facility to either lose, or delay more profitable work. In reality you could "still make $50"...or tell her to jump off a bridge and print a job that makes you $250.00 or much more. However this is a raw scenario, and does not consider customer loyalty if she comes back again and future sales profits (if any). It also does not consider the negative sales context if she is associated with other business's in her area..bad word travels. However in my printing days it was not unusual for me to refuse work that was not as profitable or schedule it to a lower status of importance when WE were clearly not at fault.

In the end, she must understand that you do not really accept her reasons for rejecting the job...AND that YOU are doing her a favor if you choose to do the job again regardless of how you work it out. Furthermore I would make it known to her that it will be redone without causing any delays to other customers you have scheduled in your shop...even if you don't have any at the time. Lastly, update your sales terms to make clear that you do not make any guarantee of the fit of the garments and that if there is any reason for a customer to question the fit of a custom ordered garment they can purchase at a discounted price up to 3 sample garments of various sizes (or what you want to offer)....either way, this issue will NOT come back...Live an learn.

[RICK STEFANICK]

I would reorder the polos, reprint them and pick up the others. thats the right thing to do regardless of the reasoning. remember a happy customer tells 2-3 people and a unhappy customer tells 10. I know its tough especially since its iffy but i would want this situation over with and her out of my life.

[Quaddaddy]

I would apologize for the inconvenience, replace the shirts and then remember she is a high maintenance customer so charge accordingly on her next order.  She will either go away or pay a premium the next time she tries to order from you.  I had this happen to me last year with a principal at a school I deal with.  He told me the sizes that he wanted to order and we delivered but he ordered too small.  I got him what he needed refused additional payment and moved on.  I'm pretty sure he will be a customer for life.

[beanie357]

IMHO Quadaddy has it right. We fixed a schools problem for cheap, even though was not our problem. Made nothing on the fix, but were stars. Now dealing with other coaches. Redid a couple other small questionable orders on the problem, but so what? Cost of advertising. However, we can do prototypes on DTG for most clothes and Boy O Boy does that make us smell good. We have to print regularly on the damn thing anyway to keep it happy, so no biggie. You should see the stuff in our chart of accounts under advertising.

One of the reasons we did a store front and put a few K on the floor in samples was for the sizing issues abundant in our nation of svelte personnas. "I'm an xl!!" Like he**. You be a 2 or 3x. Imagine the poor shoe salesman (a la Al Bundy). How's this one? Ladies M, but a male M fits perfectly. Boy talk about denial.