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Quote of the Week:

Good customer service: Don't let it go in the middle of a recession

I had a good printer friend bid on a project recently. It was too small for them, and he recommended a small, family-run shop out on the west side of Denver for me to try. They've been in business for over 20 years, and according to him and others, do a good job.

So I took my friend up on his advice, and sent over to this new printer a small project, with a relatively tight turnaround (about 7 working days...about three less than I usually give for a printer to deliver a project).

From almost the very start, there were issues with communication. The estimate came back, and seemed fine. I submitted the project, with the specifications identical to the quoted estimate. After a day of no communication, I call. "We got it, and we'll let you know if we have questions", they said. Another day later: "Oh, we need to know what sort of paper you want to use; we've been waiting to order the paper for a couple of days..." I told them the stock was the same as was quoted to me and was typed onto the specifications that accompanied the job files, I told him. "And what about ink color?" he asks. The same as I specified on the job ticket, I told him. By now, we're getting pretty close to deadline: less than three full days. Still doable, but close.

The deadline comes, and goes, with no word from the printer. I call the next day. They tell me the film was just completed the night before, and they were going to go pick it up. At this point, if the job doesn't deliver that morning, my client can't use it.

After conferring with my client, I call the printer back, and get voicemail. I tell them to cancel the project; the client can't use the materials at this late date. The printer had held up the project for over three days, without communicating any needs or questions to me about the job. Every time I called, I was asked a question that could have been answered by looking at the job ticket. Very unprofessional.

I call twice more within an hour; I finally get someone on the other end. Yes, they got my message. The printer will call me back in 15 minutes to talk it over. Yes, we won't print the project.

That was almost a week ago. No call from them.

The sad thing is that I could really use another smaller printer, especially so close to west Denver, to handle smaller projects like business cards, letterhead, and short-run point of sale and direct mail pieces. And if the printer had actually called back, I might have been able to figure out what went wrong and give them another chance, on a project that wasn't so time-sensitive. But without hearing from them, I'll never know what happened, other than that they apparently ignored my spec sheet, even though they had to read it in order to get the job file which they processed and sent me proofs from.

The bottom line: They are a small, family-run shop. We're in a recession. I have business for them. Why won't they stay on top of their customer service?

Labels: customer service, marketing, printing

posted at 1:30 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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