There are the lone workers who may take on assistant or two, but maintain
complete control over the quality of what they do. They have long and steady
reputations - they don't BS you about delivery times, they don't BS you
about the work they have done.
Then there are those who take on more work than they can handle, hire
sub-standard help and their reputation suffers accordingly.
You will get warning signs of this - sloppy finishes, delayed delivery times
and if you know a little bit about the process yourself, a ream of technical
BS about why they are running 8 months behind. Some of them even try to work
as "brokers" and cut themselves in on a deal by acting as a middle man. Then
there are the ones who linen back fake one sheets (STAR WARS being a popular
one) for dubious sellers.
I was most impressed when one of the two linen backers I use asked if I was
sure if a poster I was having done was the real deal. We backed and forth
about its origins and in the end it became irrelevant because it was being
backed so I could just have that poster in my house - I would always hold my
own caveat emptor on it, so to speak. But they thought enough to ask, having
seen other linen backers of reputation having their names used as a selling
point on fakes sold as originals. They were right to ask, in my opinion.
I recently saw one linen backer involved in selling repro Italian 39x55 and
French one panels of all manner of advertising, linen backed, in an auction.
He's on my shit list for sure.
So, yes, watch for the signs, and while we all have moments where we might
snap at someone over the phone if we are under a degree of stress for
whatever reason, my experience was it not only happened to me, but several
other customers - because the golden rule was forgotten - you don't really
know who knows who - and once they start comparing notes, then 2+2 starts to
equal 4, and not maybe 5, not even remotely.
And for the record, it was not Posterfix or its owner, who I have never
dealt with at all in the linen backing/resto business.
Phil
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Melanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 12:02 PM
Subject: [MOPO] Experience with PosterFix...
Maybe my experience is unique and it has been more than 5 years since I
have sent work, but my experiences in the past with Chris Cloutier have
been entirely different that Andrea's, but I certainly would not
tolerate rudeness from someone, nay anyone, who is supposed to be
performing a service that you are paying for.
I believe that Chris has backed and done some partial restoration on at
least 25 or so pieces I sent him...some what I would politely call "very
rough" to say the least. One example was "the Egyptian" which came back
to me beautifully restored. When I dealt with Chris, he gave me upfront
costs for what needed to be done, and realistic turnarounds which were
not necessarily quick, but I was never disappointed with his results and
his expectations for turnaround times were as promised.
At the time I used him, he was not set up to do 3 sheets or large French
posters, so I sent 3 items to Jaime Mendes, who also did terrific work
backing them and doing some light fold restoration. I would put the
quality of work I received from Jaime and Chris on a equal par.
At the end of the day, any business rests not only on the quality of its
services, but how it treats its customers. This hobby is largely a word
of mouth one and I would think every restorer would appreciate that.
Now, as always, the consumer has a choice.
Eric Melanson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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