What to Do When You Get a Bad Online Review of Your Art Business

This post is a little hard to write. In order to tell the whole story, I am going to have to admit to a pretty major mistake we made with a potential client. It’s painful to admit to mistakes, but we learned some important lessons from our error. Hopefully missteps lead to wisdom, and I would like to share some important lessons we learned along the way. Warning: this is a long story, so be prepared to give it about 12 minutes.

The incident in question occurred several months ago, when we were contacted by a gentleman who had encountered one of our artists at a festival. The client had seen a painting he liked at the show but hadn’t purchased the piece. Now the piece was in our gallery and he had decided he wanted to proceed with the purchase.

The client reached out to us via email on a Saturday to ask if the piece was still available. We replied that it was and that we would be happy to accommodate the purchase. There was some negotiating back and forth until a price was agreed upon. We were opening a show for the artist in our gallery the following Thursday, and so we asked if it would be acceptable for us to keep the piece through the opening.

The client responded that he wanted to proceed with the purchase and that it would be fine for us to keep the piece through the opening. The salesperson who was handling the communication congratulated him on his decision to acquire the painting and requested that he provide us with contact information so we could call him to make arrangements for payment. She also gave him our contact information so that he could call us to provide credit card information if he preferred. The salesperson’s email gave very specific information about when he might best reach us to arrange payment.

Remember, all of this communication occurred on a Saturday. We didn’t hear back from him on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. On Wednesday the salesperson reached out by email again (we didn’t have any other way to contact the client at this point) and asked if the client still wanted to proceed with the purchase. She again provided information on how best to contact us.

Still, we heard nothing.

Now we were presented with a dilemma. The artist’s show was opening the next day. We had agreed to a sale, but the client hadn’t arranged for payment and wasn’t responding to our emails. This would not have been the first time a client agreed to buy a piece of artwork and then disappeared. The salesperson talked to me about the situation on Thursday morning, and I gave instructions to remove the hold that had been placed on the artwork. The artwork had been on hold for five days and we hadn’t heard back from the client after several follow-up attempts. I felt that it would be a disservice to the artist to hold the piece back during the opening, when it would have the best chance of selling.

The show opened Thursday evening at artwalk, and, as luck would have it, the piece in question was one of several pieces sold that evening.

Up to this point of the story, I don’t feel any regrets about how we handled the situation. I feel that we acted in good faith to complete the sale and that the client failed to follow our instructions to complete the transaction. I don’t consider any sale closed until the client has provided payment. We will go to great lengths to accommodate the needs of a client desiring to make a purchase, but in this case we simply hadn’t heard anything from the client.

Friday morning we received an email from the client. “Should I drop a check in the mail or would you like a credit card by phone?” he asked.

The salesperson replied,

Thank you for your email this morning. Since I hadn’t heard from you before the show, I thought maybe you had changed your mind. The painting sold last night at [the artist’s] opening.

We do have some other great new pieces that are available. Here is a link to [the artist’s] page on our site: [link]

I’m also including here a couple of great smaller pieces that might be of interest. These are new at Xanadu Gallery, and were not exhibited at [the art festival].

Another option might be for [the artist] to create another painting similar to the one you liked if you would like to commission.

Almost immediately the client wrote back “Wow. Unbelievable. I asked you to mark it sold.”

Oh boy! Now we had a problem. Our next communication with the client was going to be awkward and would require great finesse and care. Instead the salesperson wrote,

 I am so sorry. I had emailed you a couple of times about payment and then never heard from you.

A client last night loved it and paid the full [price] for it.

If any of [the artist’s] other works the same size appeal, or if you would like to commission a similar piece in the same size, we would be happy to honor the [negotiated] price including shipping.

Please let me know if you would like to go with either of these options.

While I know the salesperson was trying to handle the situation well, and she is usually very good at communicating with clients, there are several problems with this reply.

In the first paragraph, I feel it would have been better to put the responsibility for the miscommunication on us. It’s never a good idea to blame the client for a screw up, even if the client might have some culpability.

The second paragraph is the bombshell. You’ll recall that there had been some negotiation with this first client to come to an agreed price. To tell him that we had sold it to another client for more money added insult to injury. The fact is that the price the second client had paid for the piece was completely immaterial to our decision to remove the hold and sell the piece. The fact was that this first client hadn’t followed through to complete the purchase, and we had made the decision to release the piece for sale.

I would have reworded the reply to say something along the lines of

I am so sorry about the miscommunication. We have a long-standing policy at the gallery that we can’t consider any artwork sold until payment is received. We also have a policy that artwork can only be placed on hold for a maximum of 48 hours. I did reach out twice via email to try to arrange payment, but I should have more clearly communicated these policies. I am sincerely sorry about the miscommunication.

This may not have assuaged the client, but now the conversation could have been about our miscommunication and the underlying policies instead of it looking like we had sold the piece of artwork out from under the client.

The client responded,

There is no excuse for the unethical way this is been handled. For you to admit that you can sell a committed painting for a higher price is shameful.

I would never do business with you in the future. As I will encourage all other art buyer to do the same.

You clearly are harming the integrity of this artist.

At this point the salesperson let me know about the emails and asked what she should do. I looked over the emails and threw my hands up in the air. At this point it seemed that it was going to be difficult to rectify the situation. I pointed out some of the things I would have changed in the communication and said I would think about how to respond.

I also suggested that in the future we needed to be far more explicit when following up with a client about payment to let them know what would happen if we didn’t hear from them. I also recommended that I review any of these kinds of communications before they were sent to the client.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and communication is a delicate art. I would be a hypocrite if I pretended that my salesperson completely screwed up the situation and that I had never similarly miscommunicated. The fact is that in the gallery business, and, I suspect, any retail environment, there are going to be occasional difficult situations like this one. It’s also inevitable that at some point, in spite of wanting to handle these situations in the best possible, professional manner, we’re human, and we’re going to screw up. If we can’t admit that and give ourselves permission to make mistakes from time to time, we’re all in the wrong business.

Now I needed to decide how to proceed. My first instinct was to simply let the situation go. It seemed clear that the client was unhappy and that he wasn’t interested in doing business with us in the future. I couldn’t see a clear path forward. I indicated to the salesperson that she shouldn’t respond.

I continued to think about the situation – possibly to the point of obsession – for the next few hours, but couldn’t see any clear way to rectify it.

The next morning I received a mobile notification that our gallery had received a new review on Facebook. My heart sank when I read the review from the unhappy customer.

Beware. Very unethical. I bought a painting via email and they asked if they could keep it for a few days because they where having a “Gallery Show.” After the show they apologized via email saying they sold it someone for more money. Didn’t matter that i had already bought the painting. Not a legitimately run gallery.

I jumped over to Google and Yelp, and sure enough, the customer had been very thorough and had left 1 star reviews with the same comment on both of those sites as well.

The poor review wasn’t as damaging on Facebook because we have a number of good reviews. On Google and Yelp, however, this review was one of just two or three. Not only did it bring our star ratings down, the customer’s review was the first thing someone visiting these sites would see about our gallery.

I read the review several times and my disappointment slowly turned to anger. I believed the client was making several misrepresentations in his review. I felt it was inaccurate for him to say “I bought a painting via email.” He had never provided us payment, and in my mind, you haven’t bought something until you’ve paid for it.

Had we screwed up? Yes, we had. Was he telling the whole story? I didn’t believe so.

Now I started to consider all of the approaches we might take to respond to these reviews. My first impulse was to contact my attorney and initiate a lawsuit for slander. I thought that this gentleman had every right to be upset, and to leave a bad review, but not to misrepresent what had happened.

I also thought about replying to the reviews to correct the facts.

Instead, I did what I often do when facing a challenging situation, I Googled it.

There is a lot of discussion online among business owners regarding what to do when you receive a bad review. While some business owners advise taking legal action or responding, I found that a majority advised avoiding both. The last thing you want to do, they suggested, is escalate the situation online where everyone can see the battle. Instead, many argued, it would be better to try and reach out to the unhappy customer in private to try and resolve the situation.

This approach resonated with me. I’m fairly averse to conflict if it can be avoided, and I decided that I would try reaching out to the customer. Even if the attempt failed to convince the client to remove his reviews, I would feel that we had legitimately done everything we could to resolve the situation. I fired up my email and sent an apology.

My staff brought to my attention the unfortunate situation with the [painting you wished to purchase]. I have owned Xanadu Gallery for 15 years, and it has always been our goal to provide superior customer service and complete satisfaction to our clients.

It is clear that we have failed you in this regard and I would like to offer my sincere apology. I am working with my staff to examine the situation to make sure nothing like this happens again. Please let me know if there is anything we can do to correct this situation.

Please feel free to contact me either by email or on my direct line at [phone number]

Jason

The client replied:

The email correspondence I received from your staff can best be described as offensive, unethical, and appalling.

After asking me if the painting could stay in the gallery during a gallery show, and then using the excuse of being able to sell it for more money is unconscionable.

I can’t imagine any business being able to operate in such a manner. While I still very much enjoy [this artist’s] art, your staff should be ashamed of how they conduct business on his behalf.

I responded:

Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve examined the email communications carefully and I agree with you, this situation was handled in an extremely poor manner by us. I am implementing changes in our communication and business practices to make sure this never happens again. While my staff made the mistakes, I must take the responsibility for the poor way we handled the situation. As the owner of the business, I provide direction and guidance, and it is clear that my leadership was lacking here.

Unfortunately, it’s not within my power to change what happened, but I would like to again sincerely apologize. I know that we are not in a position to regain your confidence or business, but would you permit me to send you a small token of contrition?

He replied:

Thank you for taking responsibility.

I would be pleased to accept your apology.

[Address]

I proceeded to send him a small work of art, valued at $150, and that was the last of our communication. Within a couple of days, the poor review disappeared from Yelp, though the Google and Facebook reviews remained.

While I had hoped the client might reconsider all of his reviews, or at least update them to reflect our efforts to correct the situation, I wasn’t counting on it.

Even as I was communicating with the client, we put into action part B of our damage control plan. I asked my sales staff to reach out to past clients and ask them if they would consider leaving a positive review for us on Google.

My staff was a little reluctant to do this because they were nervous about our existing clients seeing the bad review – an inevitability when they went to write their own reviews. I rejected this concern. I was confident that our clients would feel that the poor review was not reflective of their experience working with us.

We began sending out the following email to our clients:

Hi, ______________,

We hope all is well! Thank you so much for your past art purchases from Xanadu Gallery. We appreciate the opportunity to be of service regarding cool artwork for your collection, and hope you are enjoying it!

Recently, an unfortunate event happened at the gallery, and we are writing to ask you a favor.

We were contacted by a person whom we had never met who expressed interest in a piece at the gallery. Emails were exchanged back and forth, but no money changed hands. We made repeated attempts over the course of a week to contact the client to finalize the transaction and obtain payment. Those communications went unanswered by the client, so we assumed he had changed his mind.

Another client came to the gallery and purchased the artwork.

A day later we finally heard back from the client, who was very upset. Our attempts to somehow remedy the situation were rebuffed by the client, and he posted a very unfavorable review of Xanadu Gallery on Google. We were shocked and dismayed, and at a loss as to how to restore our online reputation.

Would you please consider writing a brief review of YOUR experiences working with Xanadu Gallery? We are hoping that if other potential clients read reviews by happy collectors they will feel confident doing business with us.

Here is a link:

[Link]

Please click on “Write a Review” located toward the bottom of the Xanadu Gallery box on the right side of the page.

Thank you in advance!

Warmest regards,

We didn’t send it out to all of our clients at once, instead waiting for the first few to respond to make sure the response would be generally positive. We were overwhelmed by the positive response. Clients replied that they would be happy to help and then left glowing reviews for us. We quickly sent it out to the rest of the clients on our list.

Here are some of the reviews that our clients left on Google:

Xanadu Gallery is a true find in the Scottsdale arts district. The works displayed were exciting and the staff were friendly and very helpful. We have purchased art from many vendors and have never had a better experience than with Xanadu Gallery.
My wife and I purchased items for our properties in Scottsdale and Toronto. The gallery did a difficult install of a set of climbing figures on a 20 foot plus rock wall at our Arizona home, and arranged for the shipment of a fragile piece to Canada.
We were delighted with all aspects of our gallery experience.


Xanadu is one of our favorite galleries. We love the variety of artists that they represent and have bought several pieces of art there. We have known Elaine and John for several years and enjoy their enthusiasm for their artists and their art, as well as their professional and ethical handling of our transactions. This is a gallery where you are not just a client but also a friend – and they want to make sure that you find a piece of art that you will truly enjoy living with. I’d encourage anyone to explore this intimate, friendly and well designed gallery.


Absolutely my favorite gallery in Scottsdale. I personally have purchased over 12 pieces of art from the Xanadu Gallery over the last 3-4 years !!! My son and daughter-in-law just recently purchased several pieces for there new home. In addition, my sister-in-law, an artist herself has purchased a couple pieces too !! The owners and sales personnel are all so over the top friendly and inviting. Even before I purchased any art from the gallery, everyone treated me like a close personal friend. I love the special events and parties that they hold. There is no high pressure sales. I have taken many of my relatives and friends to the gallery and they too have been welcomed with open arms and they too love the Xanadu Gallery….when in Scottsdale, AZ….it is a must see !!!


Xanadu Gallery is a gem. We have recently purchased several pieces of artwork for our home and dealing with the gallery has been a delightful experience. We were unsure as to how certain things would look in our house, and so Elaine and her husband brought the art pieces to our home so that we could view them on site. Once the decision was made, then the art was hung up by them immediately. Such outstanding customer service is hard to find these days. This gallery is passionate about the works they sell, and they have the integrity and service to back up their wonderful collection. I could not be happier.


We are frequent clients of Xanadu Gallery and have purchased numerous pieces of art. We have always been very impressed and completely satisfied with our experiences and purchases from the gallery. Jason and Elaine have always been very helpful and wonderful people to have worked with through are many purchases. They have always gone above and beyond to make sure our art purchases arrives safe and sound. We will definitely be coming back to enjoy the gallery!!


I have seven pieces of art from Xanadu Gallery. The owners, Jason and Carrie Horejs, are more than just art dealers and consultants, they are trusted friends of the highest caliber. Jason has hung art in our home, and has recommended pieces that work better than what we would have otherwise selected. He is not a salesman; rather, he is a true consultant who values the interest of the customer/client above his own. I am a return customer because of the quality of the people and the art I find there. And the gallery’s offerings on the web are astounding!


Wonderful Gallery. Discovered them while on vacation, and even though I live in Illinois, working with them has been a breeze and a joy. I fell in love with the whimsical works of Stephen Hansen, and Gallery Director Kristen has been personally assisting me with my new found addiction. I keep going back for more! Hands down, my favorite gallery on the strip.


My husband and I have purchased several pieces of art at the Xanadu Gallery. We were very impressed by how helpful and knowledgeable the staff was. Would highly recommend this gallery!


An incredible contemporary art gallery on the famous art walk of Main Street in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona. One of the best and most ethical galleries in the West!


Not only were our clients not negatively influenced by the bad review, they sprang to our defense. The response was heartwarming, and soon our overall rating on Google climbed from a 2.7 to 4.7. The bad review is still there, but a new potential client would will hopefully see that the majority of reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

We now request reviews from clients with whom we have positive interactions as a regular part of our sales follow up so that we can continue to build good ratings.

I certainly would prefer that this situation had never occurred, but it would be naive to think our interactions with customers are all going to be positive.  I feel like we are now in a better position to both prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future, and to deal with them if they do occur.

In summary, the lessons learned from this experience are

  1. Always communicate clearly with your potential customers about what is required of them to complete a transaction. It’s a good idea to have policies in place that govern your approach to holds and sales.
  2. If a client is unresponsive, clearly indicate that sale is not yet complete and that they risk losing the artwork if they don’t respond.
  3. When you run into a disagreement with a client, craft your communication very carefully – never respond in the heat of a moment and say things you may later regret.
  4. Never blame your client for an error or try to shift responsibility to them. If there is a disagreement, look for the ways in which it might have been your fault. In your communication with the client, focus on what you could and should have done better.
  5. Try to be gracious and professional in your apology
  6. If a poor review is left, try and dilute the review by asking your fans to respond. This is far better than responding yourself.
  7. Even better, constantly invite your fans to leave positive reviews on a variety of the social sites and Google. You don’t need to invite each client to leave reviews everywhere – you can rotate where you encourage clients to leave their review.

Have you had a bad review?

Has someone left a bad review about you or your artwork? How did you respond? What do you think we did well in this situation, and what could we do better? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

About the Author: Jason Horejs

Jason Horejs is the Owner of Xanadu Gallery, author of best selling books "Starving" to Successful & How to Sell Art , publisher of reddotblog.com, and founder of the Art Business Academy. Jason has helped thousands of artists prepare themselves to more effectively market their work, build relationships with galleries and collectors, and turn their artistic passion into a viable business.

26 Comments

  1. This is an extraordinary piece. I owned a To the Trade home furnishing business for 20 years. Communication is a delicate subject. Often what a person “hears” is not what was said. What we “hear “ is often based on previous experiences.

    This article is a wonderful communication tool for anyone. Thank you.

  2. Thank you for this article. I had someone commission a painting of her son. He had blonde hair which I love to paint so I gave her an excellent price, which she agreed on. When I was done with the painting she came over to see the painting and said she loved it and wanted to take it home. I made the mistake of no collecting any money. The person’s mother saw the painting and let me know how talented she thought I was and how she loved the painting. I saw the person many times and no payment. She came over and gave me half the agreed price and said this was all she could give me for now. I have never received more. She later divorced her husband and sold her house for nearly a million dollars and moved to another town. It was a good lesson not to do a commission without getting a deposit, not to let the commissions out of my studio before Venmo or cash payment.

    1. I learned a long time ago about this. I had created a commission contract of sorts, that required a non refundable deposit of 50% for the commission upon client approval of the photo reference I shot of the subject, and / or approval of the preliminary drawing. Once a client has 50% payment “skin in the game”, it’s much less likely for them to flake out on you. I had signature lines for myself and the client to sign and gave them a copy upon receipt of the deposit. This just makes you look more professional and gives you something in writing to back you up.

      1. I do this also. It’s funny, because relatives and people I had grown up around were more apt to stiff me completely on a commission. I also have a clause that the balance needs to be paid within 12 months. If not, the artwork becomes my property. I have not had that happen as of yet.

  3. This was excellent advice. Sorry you had to learn a hard lesson, but in the end what shines through is your reputation for caring and respect for the gallery. You turned that situation around as nicely as you could. In the end, having all those positive reviews is in your favor.

  4. Social media can be a great tool, however many people irresponsibly use it as a weapon to take out their frustration and anger. For someone such as this particular customer to take the time and try and “get even” with you through social media, then it is a clear indicator that they have some issues. They were simply mad that they did not get the work they wanted, however took no responsibility on their part. No amount of excuses or explanations will satisfy this sort of customer. I think you and your staff handled it very well. Whenever I have a situation where a customer wants me to hold a work for them, I always explain that I will need some percent down upfront. Although they can always get their credit card refunded, it shows some degree of seriousness, and helps them to follow through with the sale. One mistake was to tell them that you sold the work at “full price” to someone else. That simply fanned the flames. In situations like this when I am waiting for someone to pay for a work in full, then I will at times still display it , however instead of a red dot on it, it has half of a blue dot. Should another customer express interest in it, I explain that it is possibly sold, however should the sale not be completed, and they are interested in it, I will contact them. Well done though Jason.

  5. Dear Jason,
    I was on the edge of my seat reading this post. Although I have never been to your gallery in person, I have appreciated and enjoyed your newsletters, blog posts, and courses, and have told several art friends about your generosity, honesty, and expertise.

    The way you handled this unfortunate issue is exceptional. One thing that stood out was that in your apology letter you took full responsibility – “this situation was handled in an extremely poor manner by us” & ” I must take the responsibility for the poor way we handled the situation. As the owner of the business, I provide direction and guidance, and it is clear that my leadership was lacking here.” Instead of throwing your employee under the bus, you owned it.
    These responses show excellent management skills and more so, show what kind of person you are. Ethical, honest, professional, accountable. Someone I would be honored to work for and with.

    Thank you for sharing this story and what you did to get so many glowing reviews. It’s evident that your clients respect you and your business and see what kind of person you are as a gallery owner.
    Kim Beller
    Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina

  6. This is so timely I gasped OMG! This is exactly what happened to me this past week. Although it wasn’t a painting, I had an item for sale on line. I had a tremendous response. I took the first come first served policy and gave her my address and because she couldn’t pick it up for a week I asked if she would like to leave an etransfer deposit to show she was serious. She wanted to pay full price and sent the etransfer with a password. The transaction would not go through because the password was rejected. When I contacted her, by email, to tell her she said the money had gone into my account. But it hadn’t! I even phoned my bank! I told her it hadn’t gone into my account and she said she’d pick it up on Thursday, a week away, and will bring cash. Thursday came and went, no show, and after numerous attempts to contact her I offered it to the next person on the list and they picked it up immediately and paid in full. Then I got the “hate” email. Like you I responded in a polite, professional way explaining my reasoning and haven’t heard from her. I have a 5 star rating and wondered how I might respond if she were to leave a negative comment. So far she hasn’t. After reading your story I will know how to deal with it. Thank you.

  7. Your handling of an unfortunate situation was exceptional.- and educational. Customers, as the old saw goes, are always right. Customers ask me all the time to hold a painting at the beginning of a show. I have been very fortunate they have always come back to buy. One of these days I will get “ghosted”! However I put a “hold” (not sold) card on the work. If someone is interested I offer to do a similar commission. We all have to deal with unhappy customers, but that is part of business.

  8. Mr Horejs
    Sorry to hear this story and I am of the opinion that a client that apparently has his/her panties waded up, is unreasonable, unforgiving and revengeful by posting a neg review is not worth the effort of an explanation or apology.
    The less said with with such an unbalanced person the better. As far as worrying about this persons “clout” in the art community of buyers – well sometimes we need to call a bluff. If u do not know this persons credentials, or what rock they crawled out from under I’d certainly would not lose any sleep over it.
    I think your move to get satisfied customers to post plus reviews was the right one. That’s all I believe was necessary to counter act the situation. People like this r not worth the time of day. “Good riddance” is perhaps the only reply that was necessary.

  9. Hilarious and predictable this story! I have handle all kinds of clients and things like that are going to happen sooner or later. Indeed communication is an art in itself. I don’t have to worry about reviews online yet but I do have to communicate with cutators and clients and while losing a bad client is not that terrible, it always makes you reconsider how you guide a client to not confuse them. I I feel the mistake was indeed to not let the client know they will lose the piece on a certain deadline, but by no means they should expect the gallery to not sell it ever, if they are unresponsive and they haven’t purchase the work. To me as the artist communication with a gallery on expectations from both sides is a very delicate thing. I am never ever going to complain to a gallery or a client even if they completely wrong me. I only ask questions if I feel they wrong me and when they blame me, I take full responsibility even if I know is not my fault at all. Then I only step back just slightly on my trust until they correct themselves and of course I do communicate all my efforts so they know deep inside that I did my best. Usually they come up with an apology. Now after a decade of that type of interaction, my plan is to never even ask why something went wrong and always let them know I can change whatever they feel I might not be doing right. I feel many galleries expect us, clients and artists, to magically guess what are their protocols and for most people that is unknown territory because every gallery is different. In the end what they do wrong is not my business, is theirs. What I do is on me and if I feel they wrong me too many times I can always leave. The reason for me to decide to avoid questions when they do something bad is because they usually do that to me but also because I feel that it takes forever to built trust with any person, and getting emotional or disappointed when someone doesn’t value your work, doesn’t respect you yet or doesn’t know you well is just detrimental to your persona and your business. I think if you watch your own steps carefully things can go smoothly. So far none of those people are worth all that worry. If a client or a gallery doesn’t pay you, only try to get the money back if is worth the amount. I have been the client as well, and the moment I got ignored I went do same as your client did and like magic they finally fixed the service and another occasion I stop buying from them.

  10. I am compelled to leave a second comment concerning the disgruntled customer. A couple of issues r still nagging at me. First: the customer did NOT pay for the work, only pledged – enough said.
    Second: and this is more thorney. It seems to me there is a one way street involved here. It amazes me that a gallery that supports the community and a host of talented artists and has its credentials clearly in plane view can be upset by a single person crawling from out of a rock; a person that has money to buy (so they say) an art work but has no credentials as a buyer then throws their Freudian dysfunction around like a troubled child. I think this person would serve him/herself best by not using their $$ to buy art but rather to pay for a good psychiatrist.

  11. I had this situation occur with a family vacation rental business where a customer wanted out of a rental because, quite unusually for July, it appeared it would rain heavily throughout their visit. We refused to give a refund (several thousand dollars) and all 14 people in the party posted negative reviews on FB and Google.

    We did the same as you did, asking and getting positive reviews from former customers, but the wisdom we took from the situation was that we needed to ask for positive reviews on an ongoing basis. Once you’ve built up a backlog of positive reviews, a few bad reviews won’t do so much damage.

  12. I had flashbacks of working in the restaurant business….the customer is always right! That has always been a hard pill to swallow but I’m learning. Thanks for sharing ALL the details.

  13. I think that much of this embarrassing dilemma could have been avoided if the 48 hour policy would have been explained right then, and sent in writing via email, the very minute the conversation about purchasing the painting concluded–before he signed off his email. After agreeing to leave the painting for the show it should have been crystal clear about the gallery’s 48 hour policy. The salesperson then needed to take 1/2 down, got the credit card # and made out a receipt to be sent to him. I’ve never let the so-called buyer leave before he’s paid me at least half down otherwise it’s NOT a sale. All the preliminary paper work has to be done, money collected, and the 48 hour agreement given, etc. It’s then a “lay-a-way” as any store would have. I won’t ever agree to a “sale” without doing this, and leave me holding the art for him with no money exchanging hands. That’s not a sale, it’s a “maybe’.

  14. How you handled the situation was amazing Jason. It was taxing I am sure! The old adage “the customer is always right” is good to remember. Although this customer put all the blame on the gallery, you took it upon yourself to carry the burden. Good move! Good strategy 😀.
    The token gift made a big difference too— I think! He got a free painting!!
    thanks for sharing!

  15. Your business acumen pulled a rabbit out of the hat on that one. It is hard to stay mad at someone who has admitted an error and accepts responsibility for the error and puts a plan of correction into action.
    I once had put a water-based finish on two steel desktop sculptors that were purchased. I was able to call both persons and they brought the items in to be refinished and that was quite a process.
    I also refund them $25 on the purchase for the inconvenience. They both became repeat customers with one of them buying a piece on her birthday every year since.

  16. This is another absolutely wonderful article, Jason! There is so much useful information in here, whether you’re the artist, client, or gallery owner. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to help us artists out.

  17. Thank you, Jason,
    I learned a lot. I am an Artist, who also has a Gallery.
    My Gallery is Anona a working studio & Art Gallery in Winters Ca. When Covid hit my husband leased for me a building in town that had been vacant for some time. Long story short my art working space also became a Gallery for my work.
    I had a similar situation come up where the person who came into the Gallery saw a piece fell in Love with it, and wanted to purchase it right then and there, but, asked if it could still stay hanging in the Gallery until their new furniture arrived which was several weeks away.
    I was the only one in the Gallery and had others looking around. So I just stated to the customer, No worries, I trust you… It’s yours! But, I will need to have you come back next week, I need the wall space for another Big Piece that needs to be hung, and I was sorry, but, we would wrap it carefully so she could store it safely. No need to give me the credit card info! We can do the transaction next week! So after a few minutes more they were on their way.
    Within 10 minutes another couple from the town of Napa had came in and without me knowing saw and fell in love with the same painting! They conversed with one another about the particulars of where to hang it and what would go with it, what particular piece of furniture would need to be removed when it was hung, all the in-your-mind stuff that goes on when your thinking about decorating. They in their mind were purchasing that painting! They even canceled their dinner reservation to a famous restaurant that is next door, as they could see I was busy with other customers, they were just excited and continued discussing The possibilities of their new find! So, after about 20 minutes after finally getting through with this other Gentleman, I walked over and greeted them and introduced myself, when they said they had been waiting and we were so excited to finally have found the perfect painting, I was happy and then shocked as to which painting they were referred too!
    That has never happened before! Not to me anyway One painting being wanted by two different client’s minutes apart! I had not put a Red Dot! Or Sold sign up as I had not even had the time, I had been speaking to other hopeful clients. Needless to say, I felt bad, and was embarrassed that I had not put up a red dot or sold sign! that is when this particular couple went on to say all the planning that they had done in their heads, and had even canceled their dinner appointment to make sure the transaction would take place. What was even worse is they lived about 2 hours away, they had made the reservations weeks before for the Buckhorn restaurant, as it’s hard to get in. They hadnt even know my Gallery existed, they were just biding time when they noticed the Gallery.
    Again I was so embarrassed and apologetic, my mistake had ruined their evening. So here I am turning down a Sale for A Sale that I had not even got payment for yet. But, again it was me. The other couple had wanted to give their credit card info to me.
    Long story short. Or lesson learned….
    Make the transaction even if others need to wait.
    Make sure you mark clearly if a painting is sold.
    Let client’s know were Human and genuinely are trying our best.
    P.S. The first couple took several weeks before I heard from them, I was pretty nervous about the sale and told myself I would never NOT take the money again. They have their new furniture and my Artwork hanging in their home and had sent out Christmas Cards with their Art piece in the background

    Anona

  18. I am an photographer now, but for 15 years I owned a theatre and taught musical theatre to ages 4-college. Once a teenager did not pay me for her classes but I allowed her to attend anyway. After the session was complete, she bullied me online, leaving bad reviews everywhere and then got all of her friends to do the same–none of them ever had been students. I didn’t even know them. That was fun.

  19. I would love to have some people review the content I have on my site, digital art created through visions of architecture, science fiction and digital methods. Let me know what you guys think? Paperwhip.com by Tom Phillips

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