That is not our blue
The customer's corporate blue looks purple on the new leaflets, they say. They are holding the leaflet next to their office wall, or their screen, or a print from a different printer last year. Your press operator says it matched the proof. The proof was a PDF viewed on the customer's laptop. The press sheet the operator signed off has been recycled. The job was run on uncoated stock, which the customer chose, and which never looks like coated.
Somebody has to decide whether to reprint for free, split the cost or stand firm. Whoever decides has almost nothing to go on.
Why complaints come down to opinion
Colour disputes are hard because perception, stock, screens and expectations all play a part. They are harder when the evidence is not kept.
- Press sheets approved on the floor are not photographed or retained with the job.
- Proofs are soft proofs with no record of how the customer viewed them.
- Customer brand colour references are not stored against the account.
- Reprints are agreed on the phone and not logged with a cause.
- Nobody reviews reprints together, so repeated causes are not spotted.
What unrecorded reprints cost
Reprints cost stock, press and finishing time, and bump other jobs. Reprints given away because there was no evidence cost margin you did not need to lose. Reprints refused without evidence can cost a customer. And without a log, the underlying causes, a press that drifts, a stock that behaves differently, a customer whose artwork is set up in RGB every time, keep coming back.
The complaints and reprint log we build
- On jobs where colour matters, the press operator photographs the approved press sheet under the viewing booth and records any density or measurement readings your process takes, attached to the job.
- The approved proof version and how it was approved are already on the job if you use online proofing.
- Customer brand references, such as Pantone numbers and any physical samples you hold, are stored against the customer account and shown on their jobs.
- Complaints are logged against the job with the customer's description and photos, and routed to the person who decides.
- Each reprint is recorded with a cause from a short list you define, such as artwork, press, stock, finishing, customer change, and who bore the cost.
- A monthly view shows reprints by cause, machine, customer and stock, so recurring problems become visible.
| Evidence | Usually kept? | In the log |
|---|---|---|
| Approved proof version | Somewhere in email | On the job |
| Signed-off press sheet | Recycled | Photographed and stored |
| Brand colour references | In someone's memory | On the customer account |
| Reprint cause and cost | Not recorded | Logged each time |
Deciding with evidence
When a complaint arrives, the person deciding opens the job and sees the approved proof, the press sheet photo, the brand reference and the stock choice. Some complaints are resolved in minutes, either way. The monthly view changes what you fix: a press that drifts gets serviced, a stock that disappoints gets dropped, a customer who always supplies RGB artwork gets a conversation and perhaps a design service offer.
We do not decide who is right in a colour dispute, and neither does the software. The log gives you the facts to decide.
Is this how colour complaints go?
- Complaints turn into your word against the customer's.
- Approved press sheets are not kept or photographed.
- Reprints are agreed without recording why.
- The same kind of reprint keeps happening.
- You cannot say how much reprints cost you last quarter.