Interior Design Customers From Hell

It seemed a pretty normal day when Mrs. Arnold phoned Art from the Start inquiring whether someone could help her with the design of her new bedroom.

But then again everything seems perfectly normal when a Customer from Hell first calls. If only there was a reliable means of screening out this sort of customer, they would quickly find themselves put on long term hold on the phone! But no such luck.

Interior Designer as Marriage Counsellor

After initial conversations and the usual site visit with Mrs. Arnold (name changed) it became clear that something was odd. She instructed us not to speak to her husband about the interior design of their bedroom and dressing room. Nevertheless we followed instructions, produced mood boards and quotation for the customer, however we started to get a bit suspicious when she arranged our appointments for days when Mr Arnold was out of town.

After Mrs. Arnold sent us a cheque by way of deposit payment we ordered in materials but a few days later an irate Mr Arnold called telling us to stop work. It then transpired that he knew nothing of his wife's plans and they were clearly not going to be a birthday surprise for him. He was furious that his wife was spending "his money" and it was clear that a marital row (probably not the first) was brewing.

To cut a long story short we'd been caught in the middle of a disintegrating marriage. The wife eventually moved out, the husband did not want any interior design work & cancelled the deposit cheque. We ended up wasting a lot of time with the Arnold's but luckily we did not end up too badly out of pocket!

Interior Design Thief

Every interior designer has probably experienced the potential customer who wants to borrow fabric sample books or catalogues. Sadly a percentage will use a designer like public lending library, borrow books and then purchase goods elsewhere. Sometimes books never come back but one can ask the borrower for a financial deposit to make sure they do.

However the worst case we came across was a customer who borrowed three books on a Friday and left a cheque by way of deposit. The customer returned, as she said she would, three days later and we then shredded the deposit cheque rather than bank it.

Unfortunately two weeks later, with the customer long gone we noticed that one book was missing two fabric samples, neatly cut out. We then checked the other books and they had been treated with the same disrespect.

If only the lady had asked for fabric samples - they would have been free of charge!

Catalogue Junkie

One job we quite like is recreating a "show home" for a customer because they usually have a good idea of what they want their new home to look like.

One day Freddie came calling. He had just bought a three floor town house on a large housing estate still being built near York, and he was only a few doors away from the show home. The brief was simple. "I want my home to look like the show home" and potentially the job should have been straightforward.

Unfortunately, Freddie had already visited a well known high-street household catalogue shop and had started buying furniture & accessories that looked nothing like the look he wanted. We had several visits to his new home & each time there was more "stuff" from this same catalogue. We tried to stop him wasting his money, but everything we suggested would cause him to look in the catalogue to find a cheap equivalent or alternative.

Our comments fell on deaf ears. In the end it was a case of "interior designer or bargain basement catalogue". Unfortunately Freddie's love affair with his 300 page glossy catalogue won and we had wasted all our time & effort, and he ended up with an uncoordinated and ridiculous looking home and furniture that would not even fit the available space.

With three real examples of Customers from Hell, you may well ask "What does a good customer look like?"

We like customers who:

want us to work with them in a partnership

are receptive to our design ideas

are honest about their tastes and budget

value the knowledge, experience and skill of a professional interior designer.