Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You cancel the order.
After searching for the paper that you know your client signed concerning the quote for the blinds and not finding it, you finally decide to call the manufacturer and have the order cancelled.
The manufacturer is not happy. They have finished the production of these blinds and now want their money for them. This specific set of blinds is a very unusual color -- a color that relates to the client's feng shui chart. The blinds cannot be resold easily because they are motorized and that makes them very expensive.
After arguing, begging, even pleading with the manufacturer, they agree to let you cancel the order, but only if you pay them a 35 percent "re-stocking" fee to cover the cost of the material they are out. That's $4,200 you have to pay for these blinds that will come out of the profits on the job.
Not only that, but the blinds manufacturer makes it very clear that you will never be granted a special order on blinds again. That means you'll have to find another supplier for blinds.
Later, when you are telling your design professional about the fiasco, you find out that she has the signed copy of the quote. The client DID know that the cost of the blinds was for his main office only, and he agreed to pay for them.
You wish you had confronted him rather than canceling the order.
"If there is one piece of advice that I can give anyone about going into their own feng shui business, it's get everything, everything, everything in writing," says Tracey Mackenzie. She is a feng shui consultant.
"If they tell you to buy a tablecloth, write it down. Get them to sign it. I never buy a single thing without getting them to sign off on the quote."