It’s a smart business strategy to require a deposit before starting work.

In today’s story, one business owner makes an exception to this rule, and it really backfires.

He decides if the customer won’t pay, he’ll make sure the customer’s business gets off to a very rocky start.

Let’s how it all works out.

Refuse to give me my money I refuse to let you make any.

I owned a sign company.

I received a phone call from someone at a local mall.

He was opening a restaurant in the food court, the catch was that he wanted to be open in two weeks for Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.

I met with him and mall management at the same time so that we could discuss ideas and get approval at the same time to speed up production.

Got everything okayed from his big, overhead backlit menu sign, smaller signs on both walls, and signs for both registers.

He made an exception to his deposit rule.

All in all it was going to be a pretty large order.

I typically get a 50% deposit but the customer said something about international money transfers and the mall management jumped right in to explain that payments were taking a couple of weeks to process but everything they’d charged him had been paid.

Because I had been doing a lot of work in the mall and I was trying to help them get this guy open I agreed to do it without the deposit.

He did the work, but the customer wasn’t happy.

I did layouts, he approved them, I showed him samples, he approved them.

I got everything finished and installed the Tuesday before he needed them….that’s when things went downhill fast.

He immediately started complaining that the material was wrong (even though he’d seen samples) and it wasn’t what he wanted.

Then he complained that the graphics were wrong (even though he’d approved them).

He complained that the prices were wrong even though they all matched the menu he provided.

He called the customer and talked to his wife.

Wednesday afternoon I called him again and his wife answered.

She cheerfully told me that I could take down my signs, they weren’t paying for them, they had ordered signs cheaper from someone else but they couldn’t get them ready in time and as soon as they other signs were ready mine were going in the trash.

So…realizing that I’d screwed myself by doing the job without a deposit I hung everything on the her little side comment that I could “take down my signs”.

After spending Thanksgiving with family, he headed to the mall.

Thursday I had a delightful Thanksgiving lunch with my family.

We watched football, we laughed, we enjoyed the day.

I took my wife and kids home, loaded up a ladder, and joyfully went to the mall.

I’d done enough after hours work at the mall that I knew there would be a door open somewhere and people in the large stores getting ready for the Black Friday crowds.

He did what the customer’s wife told him to do.

I went in, tossed my ladder over the restaurant counter, and started taking down the signs.

A couple of merchants in the mall asked me if the place was already closing.

I told them the story, and the next thing I know they are helping me take down the signs.

In 30 minutes the place went from looking like a fully opened, ready to rock restaurant to looking closed.

There were a lot of missed calls.

I went home and slept like a baby.

When I turned on my phone at 7:30 on Black Friday I’d already had 15 missed phone calls from the restaurant owner, his wife and the mall management.

I called the mall management and they weren’t happy.

I told them the whole story, they still weren’t happy with me but they understood.

Now it’s time to talk to the restaurant owner.

I waited 15 minutes before the restaurant owner called screaming in the phone demanding that I return with the signs.

I politely told him that I needed the full amount, plus the cost of reinstallation, plus an extra $50 for working on an off day.

He screamed at me….I hung up.

The restaurant owner tried again.

He called back once more and demanded that I bring them back and he would pay me the next week.

I said no, I needed cash.

He screamed at me again….I hung up.

Black Friday did not go well for the new restaurant.

I avoided the mall because screw Black Friday but from what I hear it was comical.

His entire backlit sign was nothing but lit up bulbs, he’d handwritten a menu on an old box and taped it to the front of the counter.

Every restaurant in the food court was slammed all day and nobody would even take his free samples.

He closed mid-afternoon after realizing nobody was going to buy.

It gets even worse for the restaurant owner.

He went through the entire shopping weekend with no signs and no business.

The best part was that two weeks later when his new signs from India finally arrived….they were the wrong size.

Screw you, Mr. Restaurant owner, for ordering signs from me that you knew you weren’t going to pay for because you’d already ordered them from someone else.

That’s horrible that he ordered signs from two different companies.

I guess the lesson here is to always gets a deposit before starting a job, no exceptions.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Yup, this is basically what happened!

This person thinks the revenge needs to continue.

This is a good point.

This was definitely a pro move.

It might be a good idea to talk to a lawyer.

Always get a deposit!

Smart business owners get it.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.