Beware:Don't count on Overnightprints.com for overnight printing & next day shipping!

[tokaygirl]

My order first order to Overnight Printing was submitted on a Thursday for 8,000 4x6 postcards using my own artwork and was confirmed via email by a customer support representative on Thursday night. She said the order would print that evening and ship Friday for Monday delivery.

On Monday I hadn't received the postcards so I went online to use their buggy order tracking/customer service system. The system showed that my order was "Partially Printed." but I had received no notification from Overnight Prints of any printing problem or delay in shipping.

I called and was put on hold with 23 others in front of me. While waiting I tried to email customer support. I couldn't get the "Contact Us" screen from their website to clear my email message from Thursday. I sent an email to the address I had received an email from on Thursday night. I then goggled Overnight Prints for complaints. I found the "Beware Overnight Prints" thread on Digital Grin and also found that THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU HAS GIVEN OVERNIGHT PRINTS AN "F" RATING. Go to their website and check this out.

I was on hold for over an hour before I spoke with a rep. She found that 5,000 of the order cards had printed and 3,000 had to be reprinted. No explanation for why the 5,000 hadn't shipped on Friday, or why I hadn't been informed of the problem on Friday or Monday morning. She promised to contact shipping and find out if the 5,000 printed cards could ship Monday evening.

After several other calls and at least another hour on hold I finally got through to someone who said she was the shipping manager. But, strangely, she couldn't communicate directly with the warehouse and she wasn't in the warehouse. She was polite and did seem concerned about the problem. She promised to see that the partial shipment went out that night and call me back with a tracking number. I did eventually get a tracking number that evening. My emails went unanswered.

I received a partial shipment of the postcards on Tuesday. They were trimmed to 3 7/8 x 5 7/8 and had the right border almost cut off. But they were there and the printing was clear and I needed them for a time sensitive project.

So I called Overnight Prints again to see if I could get a tracking number for the rest of the order. The operator told me that the girl I was told was the shipping manager was in customer service, not shipping, and the operator would not connect me with anyone else in the company. She just dumped me in the line with 20 some other people.

I hung up and called back three times asking her (politely, I must say) to please connect me to someone who could tell me if the rest of the order was shipping today and give me a tracking number. I pointed out that I had already been on hold for well over 2 hours the day before trying to find out about my "overnight" order. Tuesday's operator was tougher than Monday's and she just kept dumping me in their horrible customer service line.

Right now it's late Tuesday afternoon. I'm on hold again...going on 50 minutes and now I'm customer number five.

Update Wednesday. After waiting on the phone for about an hour and 20 minutes I got through to someone who promised that the rest of my order would ship. I also got an email confirmation that my order had shipped with a tracking number. So the order didn't arrive today and upon calling UPS I found that they have a tracking number and billing information but they haven't been given the package yet. That's a new one for me. I didn't know that a package could be entered in UPS's system without being in their posession.

The customer service girl I spoke with on Tuesday pretty much said that every call she's had that day had been a problem. So all those peope who ordered overnight printing didn't get overnight printing. What am I to do? I'll have to stay on the phone another hour or so to speak with customer service again. AGGGHHH!

I googled their address and found Farheap Solutions. 1800 E Garry Ave Santa Ana, CA 92705-5809 (949) 417-1277. The receptionist said that they own Overnight Prints and I asked for Kim, the owenr. The girl said that they were having a Christmas party and that no one could help me. I would have to call the Overnight Prints customer service number.

Overnight Prints' prices look great...but can you afford hours on the phone for follow-uo or an angry customer when your time sensitive material shows up late or poorly printed? Hopefully, some other printer will figure out how to do overnight printing right. It's a great idea...just beware of Overnight Prints.

Does anyone know of a printer who can really do rush jobs well at a reasonable price?

[Dee]

After reading your experience -- I sure hope you have a speaker phone! And then your success at finally getting through, they were at a Christmas Party?

I honestly, don't see how they can promise overnight printing in the first place. But someone I designed a business card for was happy with the results.

I sure hope the problem finally resolves itself for you. I can't believe your patience!

My current tale of woe (with internet purchases and LACK of customer service) is that I bought a new canon printer, and got an ink refill kit for it. Unfortunately NO ONE can tell me how to refill the cartridge! Three messages left on their phone system, 2 e-mails, NO REPLY. Even posted in a forum, and my membership and post disappeared! No reply back from the webmaster, as instructed.

The only good thing is that I can use the refill kit to fill my Epson 3000, there are enough instructions on the web for that one.

[ian408]

Just FYI, many shippers allow the shipper to pre-print labels using a website.
The tracking number is issued when the label is printed. That's how you get
a number for a package that hasn't been picked up by the shipper.

Ian

[Pro-Cards]

I started using them about 1 year ago. They were great!!!!!! But about 6 months ago I called with a printing error, they fixed it. Then it was down hill from then on. They still owe me money from a job that came back. (Blank Cards) I must have about 80 business card accounts with them. I just called and was placed at number 23. Through past experiance I hung up knowing that when I finnaly got through it would be a message machine telling me that the box is full. I just called today to see if whatever problem they were having may have been fixed. I guess not! I think they grew to fast, maybe had some mechanical problems. I just wish they would tell us what the problems are, apologize etc, refer us elsewhere until they work things out. Anyway I am now using GotPrint.com. Give em a call, they answer their phones.

[Shay Stephens]

Trying to get anything in December quick is going to be a roll of the dice. You have to give yourself more lead time in December for everything. Stuff happens.

And remember this. You can have two of the following three options:
You can have it quick
You can have it good
You can have it cheap

[Bobby]

I had a very similar experience myself with this schiesty company. You can read the actual email correspondence I sent them here: http://www.dragulescu.com/overnightprintssucks.html

It's funny and sad at the same time.

[ASMGoods]

Maybe I can help!? :)

I run a print shop and very competitive in prices~

Lisa
ASM Goods
Custom Printing for Your Business
214-256-3583 or asmgoods@comcast.net

[Andy]

Ordered new cards on 9/14, a Thursday night. Requested 2nd day Air. Received the cards today, Tuesday 9/19.

[3rdPlanetPhotography]

I own 3rd Planet Photography, but I don't do photography all over the planet. In fact if you are far from St. Louis, then my services are useless to you... unless you are "paying" for the travel.

I think we all take the name of the company too literal. Overnight is somewhat a speculation. I've ordered from them twice. Their products were wonderful each time. If I get myself into a situation where I have to have the product that fast, well I've screwed up somewhere to get myself here... or if this happens frequently then I need to find a local place that can promise me what I want when I want it. Then if you have a local place and you are done wrong then you have a neck that you can reach out and strangle.

All preaching asside, they do have nice product and they don't deliver anything "overnight"

[mikeshots]

Originally Posted by Bobby

I had a very similar experience myself with this schiesty company. You can read the actual email correspondence I sent them here: http://www.dragulescu.com/overnightprintssucks.html

It's funny and sad at the same time.

Sorry about your experience, but that was a very funny response! Thanks for sharing that. I loved the "Hugs and cuddles" as a sign-off. Perfect!

[kabukimimi]

Here is the letter I wrote to them today:

Dear Overnight Prints, I just spent 20 minutes speaking with Ra***** on your customer service line. To no avail. Your company, apparently, will not reprint my poor quality business cards. I have placed two orders with you. The first was trimmed crookedly but I used them anyway and decided to give you a second chance. I got the second box -- same thing - they're trimmed crookedly again. I started using them because as a small business owner every cent is precious. This week I had TWO customers comment on how crooked my business cards were cut. I have used about 50 - 100 of a box of 1000 but I now realize I should have returned them immediately. This is my image and my company being represented poorly by offering an embarrasing, unprofessional-looking business card. It is my understanding that you will not accept returns after 30 days. This is unfortunate. I would have gladly accepted a pro-rated amount of cards back. I would have never expected to receive another 1000 cards - 800-900 would have been fine and I would have paid to ship the bad ones back to you. I am not trying to get something for nothing. I will never use your company again nor will I ever give you a referral for new business. I will also make sure all my colleagues at the Rotary Club in both Oakland and San Francisco as well as my colleagues at the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureaus of both Oakland and San Francisco are aware of your customer service and poor quality. If you cannot stand behind the quality of your product, neither can I.

[bIlZbUb]

The company is going through a growth spurt. they also seems to have hired a bunch of new reps. anyone that wants 8000 cards sent to them in 48 hours already has a lack of planning. i will say, as a returning customer, that i have received 3 emergency orders on time (bizcards). Just make sure you get stuff in before 5pm pacific standard time, choose bizcards or 4x6 postcards (everything else has a 72 hour and up turnaround time) and choose overnite shipping. do not order on a thursday or a friday, they're californian, they dont work on the weekends. make sure your files are to spec. (check file help page for specs). their hold line in the morning is hell, but the service is way better than it was 2 years ago.

keep in mind, a lack of planning on your part does not mean an emergency for everybody else.

the BBB rating at this time for them is CC

have a good one all hope this helps!

[Nikolai]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens

And remember this. You can have two of the following three options:
You can have it quick
You can have it good
You can have it cheap

In programming we have a similar saying:
You can have it done:

• Fast
• Right
• Cheap

Pick two.

[dangin]

well, at least try to... call your customer service # for the credit card you used to place the order with. open a dispute with them; when asked the reason, tell them that the items you received were substantially different from that which you ordered. save some of the items in case they ask for verification and document the issue with them. they'll open a dispute and place a hold on the vendor in their attempts to collect funds from you. it's a crapshoot, you may be able to recover your funds or you might not at all *OR* the vendor may issue you some sort of sonsolation (monetary or otherwise). it's worth the 5-10 minutes on the phone you're going to spend.

[stripee]

I ordered 5000 postcards from overnightprints.com for a convention I was going to. They deleted part of the ship to address, so they were misplaced and part of them were LOST for most of the convention and the WORST PART was the backs were all printed CROOKED. We had no choice but to use them, eventhough CROOKED postcards reflect poorly on us, we couldn't afford to lose the marketing opportunity at this event. I had to go through 3 twenty minute phonecalls on hold before I could get to KRISTI who offered me 20% off my next order or she would credit me based on how many cards I sent back. Their customer service and quality is horrific and I would not suggest using them to anyone. The risk is too high vs. the low cost of the cards.

[Ekaj]

Originally Posted by Nikolai

In programming we have a similar saying:
You can have it done:

• Fast
• Right
• Cheap

Pick two.

Nice!

Jake

[heatherfeather]

Actually, I have had some great experience with Overnightprints.

In the last two weeks I have received 2 orders from them. The first came with double printing on a couple of of the papers.

(Terrible photo, but you get the picture of what is going on!)
Notice the "green vibe" from somebody elses print job.


I called them up. They immediately sent out for another printing of the entire set for free and upgraded the shipping to get it here quicker. So basically we got the entire thing reprinted when only a few of the order were affected by the problem. Pretty cool.

The next order they were printed 1 day later than the promised time, and I called them up and they completely refunded the $54 second day air shipping. I wasn't in that much of a hurry, so it was just fine.

They are not all bad, just be willing to take your time. The quality of the product is nice, when they get it right.

[msf]

Ive had business cards made by them, the first batch had a mark on 2/3's of them. I was able to reach someone by phone reasonably fast and they sent out a new order. It took a while to arrive, but I got them.

Since then, their free shipping on orders of $75 or more seems to have disapeared. There are coupons once in a while for free shipping on orders above such and such, but then you cant combine them with the other offers they give out. All their special deals seem to work out about the same anywase.

I wish you could order x number of cards, 1/3 of which is one design, 1/3 is another design, etc, all for the price of x cards. But you have to order them in smaller orders which cost more per card. For example, instead of getting 3000 cards for $100, you have to order three sets for $40 each. Those numbers are just made up, im to lazy to go over to the site to see the current prices.