The vast majority of design projects that we do are very successful. I bring in the right designer and the client is overjoyed with the result. But on occassion, we miss the mark. This was the case with a recent project. Our initial design was just wrong. Now, there are a variety of reasons that this can happen... sometimes the client does not really communicate what they want, or we don't really hear what they are saying. And sometimes the design isn't right for the client.
Now, in 8 years of business, this hasn't been a problem. Up until this last design, either my clients were very easy to work with or the designs were just that good. If the design isn't right, there is normally an additional design charge to do a new layout. And that was the approach I took with this client.
However... after a lengthly discussion about the design, it became clear to me that the client wasn't just "feeling" that the design was wrong. They had very specific issues with the design that couldn't be overcome with a simple revision. By the time I went back to the designer, we decided that it would be better to just start from scratch rather than try to make a bad design good.
Now, it's important to note that it wasn't the design that was bad. It was a very nice design. But for this particular client, it wasn't what they were looking for. And they had very clear and specific reasons for that position.
Not only did we decide that we needed to start over, but we also decided to waive the additional design fee. In this case, we did not provide what the client needed, through no fault of theirs, and doing a new design was just the right thing to do.
This is the kind of service I like to provide... no web company is going to be perfect 100% of the time. The real test is what they company does when they're wrong.