 Courtenay Vanderbilt |
Beware of self-publisher Lulu Indulge me if you will, so that you hopefully won't fall victim to my error in the future. On Dec. 4th I responded to an email blast from the self-publishing company Lulu entitled "Hurry! Create your 2009 Calendar by December 11th!" Sounds simple enough right? I have created 2 successful calendars with them before. To my amazement 2008 calendars arrived in about 2 weeks!! 2008 mind you! According to the numerous email exchanges with their "customer service" representative they contend that 2008 calendars were printed because I neglected to change the default date on their form. I guess I'm a bit naive, but who in their right mind would guess that the default date in December of 2008 would be for a 2008 calendar? According to their representative they changed the default date to 2009 on Dec. 17. How random! You'd think it would have changed, oh around September or on December 4th at least??? Or perhaps a warning that you are creating a 2008 calendar with only a few weeks left in that year? As you can tell by this rant, they have refused to be of any further service. HA, service! They don't know the meaning of the word. They could have reprinted the calendar for pennies and made a formerly loyal customer happy. Instead, they have lost my business forever! Just thought anyone reading this might profit from my mistake. Happy New Year!
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John G. Clifford Jr |
Did you pay for this via credit card? If so, let the credit card company handle the refund for you.
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John G. Clifford Jr |
Did you pay for this via credit card? If so, let the credit card company handle the refund for you.
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Samuel Smith |
you got a note saying 2009 yet you purchased a 2008? the credit card company can't give your money back,you ordered a 2008 calendar.your so right about the company ,yet you made the mistake. chalk it up and go on.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
I've used Lulu the past four years...ordered a bunch of calendars for 2009...three separate orders with no problems... I did notice the default was 2008, during the review process and changed it. Agree it should have defaulted to 2009. I can see both sides to this.
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Courtenay Vanderbilt |
Thank you John, we considered that route but having already paid that bill we figure it would be fruitless. ~Samuel, I think I made it clear that it was ultimately my mistake and hopefully my experience won't be repeated by anyone else. But, it is interesting that they have since changed that field on their website. ~Ken, yep I've used them before with no problems but never had to physically change the default date so I wasn't judicious enough this time. However, their 'customer service' is totally lacking. My feeling is that there were many, many more like me that made the same mistake and they simply couldn't afford to make their customers happy. They were mighty cold about it and since there are plenty of alternatives I will simply take my business elsewhere. I certainly won't be making this mistake again! I tell my daughter all the time that you never learn by doing everything right!
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Richard Lynch |
I know many people that use Lulu and get good results, and they provide a nice service for those making self-published books and other things. It is a shame that you had a questionable experience -- though you say you've had good ones as well. The web form should probably not default to a year at all, and should force you to make a selection. I've build web forms, and it is easy enough to validate a form to be sure a selection is being made without a default. They don't know what your purposes are and if you want to make a calendar for 1933, you should be able to... In the case of defaulting, they assume some of the responsibility, yet with no defaults the onus would be on the user entirely. That said, did you have the opportunity to check and confirm the order, just as you would check and confirm your address and charges? I'm not sure the business is entirely at fault if so. They have to depend on your accuracy, and they just print what you tell them on the form. With their margins, they will not want to afford a lot of mistakes like that, and likely can't afford to eat them too often. That's the reality of it, and likely why they don't have a lot of easy return policies or they'd be out of business pretty swiftly. The fine print on the submission page will probably read that they are not responsible for errors on the forms or submissions if you confirm them...they do have to protect themselves. So, while I think some of the responsibility is theirs because the form defaulted in a year, you may want to consider a compromise if the process had you check your input before committing. You may get further with a compromise than expecting an out-and-out return. I hop that helps! Richard Lynch
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Courtenay Vanderbilt |
Thank you Richard! Yes I am painfully aware of the fine print! I was going on past 'good' experience and trusting where I shouldn't have. I like your suggestion to not have a default date at all. You know, I would have been happy with a compromise but they offered nothing. I even asked if I could speak to someone by phone but they never even acknowledged that request, only email responses. I am more upset by their lack of accepting at least some of the blame and unwillingness to try to work something out. In my mind it was a bit irresponsible to send out an email blast encouraging everyone to "Hurry! Create your 2009 calendar before December 11!" without having the presence of mind to change the default date on that day, instead changing it on the 17th of Dec... likely because others had the same problem as me! I'd love to know how many it actually affected. It's water under the bridge now, but I am one that really appreciates good customer service and I am very cognizant of trying to provide good customer service in my role at work. It is sorely lacking in their organization and their forums bear that out. I am perfectly willing to accept the blame for caving to their marketing scheme! LOL! What I don't appreciate is their holier than thou attitude and then covering up their oversight!
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- Dennis Flanagan Contact Dennis Flanagan Dennis Flanagan's Gallery |
I used both lulu and vistaprint.com this year for calenders. Vistaprint.com's calendars are the same quality and cost quite a bit less per calendar.
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Courtenay Vanderbilt |
Hi Dennis, thank you. I wondered about that! I have used Vistaprint in my job but not for calendars as I had already had good quality from Lulu, but I will certainly give them a try!
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