Printing company dropped the ball big time!

1 year 2 months ago #748165 by J Hemingway
This is unfolding as we speak so going to remain vague for obvious reasons.  We drop ship from printer to my clients and have been doing this for 9 years.  During the last 10 months I have noticed some of my clients complaining to me that their prints have been arriving late, and when I say late, todays client stated he just received their print, and that was ordered nearly 7 weeks ago!!  :toetap:  THEN to make matter worse, the printer included MY invoice with cost in the package, revealing how much profit I charged to my client.  My client called the printer and asked why it took so long to arrive.  The printer company told my client the print was just ordered last week.  WTH?!  My credit card charge from them 7 weeks ago FOR THIS EXACT print disagrees.  I'm so annoyed.  So is my client, and this looks so bad on me.  

Who are you using for canvas prints?  


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1 year 2 months ago #748169 by NickSano
WOW that is pretty crummy of them.  Good luck with all of that.  

Bay Photo is who I have been using, they do good job, but nothing exciting either.  I was just talking to my wife last week that we might look to move to another printer if we can find one that has better print quality and fast shipping.  Shipping part seems to be the tricky part for many of these companies.  


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1 year 2 months ago - 1 year 2 months ago #748170 by Craig Stone
WOW is right!!, that is horrible way to do business.  Did you contact your printer company and hear what was the excuse?  


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1 year 2 months ago #748173 by Camera Diva
Millers is who you want to check.  If not, look up this sites YouTube channel, they have a number of print reviews that show everything.  

Good luck!

At the beginning of time there was absolutely nothing. And then it exploded! - Terry Pratchett
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1 year 2 months ago #748176 by Baydream
Photographytalk has a whole series on canvas print quality (a sort of rating competition) on YouTube. Alex does a great job of rating about 20 different companies over the year. Check them out to see who is delivering what. 

Shoot, learn and share. It will make you a better photographer.
fineartamerica.com/profiles/john-g-schickler.html?tab=artwork

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1 year 2 months ago #748180 by ShutterPal
Yeah I would be pi$$ed off as well.  That is messed up.  Personally I've been using Nations Photo Lab, which are pretty good.  I've had no complaints from clients on these.   


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1 year 2 months ago #748185 by Chester Foster
Bay Photo will treat you fair, maybe not the best price or quality, but these ship on time


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1 year 2 months ago #748217 by Ontherocks
Yeah that is screwed up on the printing company.  They need to make that right, but then again, claiming the blame on you is very screwed up.  Are you sure they are stating YOU placed the order last week vs THEY?


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1 year 2 months ago #748236 by Colorado Mike
Dang, that is messed up.   We use White Wall, which is printed overseas in Germany, but shipping is pretty quick to the states.  


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1 year 2 months ago #748241 by Inez Villarin
Horrible, sorry I can't recommend a printer myself.  The one we had been using closed doors last month.  I tried out one company (Canvas on demand) and can't recommend them.  Not happy.  


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1 year 2 months ago #748276 by KENT MELTON
What is the printer company telling you?  I would be ticked off that they are putting the blame on you, especially seeing you have receipt of payment from 7 weeks ago.  


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1 year 2 months ago #748286 by CharleyL
NEVER Drop Ship. You loose control of the quality and have no idea what your customer is getting. Re-sending it after you receive it and assure that it is of the quality that you want your customer to see is the only way to guarantee they are getting what you intend for them to see. Your customer's name and address should never get in the hands of your subcontractor printing service.

This is a perfect example of why you should never do this. It has very likely cost you a good customer, but you might get to keep them, if you give them their photos at the price that the printing company gave them, explaining that there were "problems" and hoping that they will be happy at the reduced price, but be certain to collect the payment from them and tell them not to pay that printing service. Then take the whole issue up with your printing service, giving them the money for the work, but only after the long stern talk with their head office. Then go find another more reliable printing service for your future work.

It's your fault for drop shipping, so it's your loss for any profit that you were hoping to make on this sale. Just do whatever you can to make things right with your customer, so they will be willing to do business with you again. Good customers are hard to keep, but very easy to loose, and they tell others about it when they don't get what is expected or get over charged. 

Charley


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1 year 2 months ago #748303 by Randy Shaw
I've never had issues with drop shipping, but reading this has me thinking.  Sorry to hear about the drama you need to deal with.  


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1 year 2 months ago #748341 by Sandy Smith Photos
That is terrible,I hope the printer company smartens up and takes responsibility for this.  I would be disappointed also.


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1 year 1 month ago #748382 by Pat White
I can't agree to 'never' dropship, there are benefits.  However as shown in this example, risks with drop shipping.  From my experience, I've never had any issues, but then again I'm dealing with professionals and well established companies.  Is this a small company you had been working with? 


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