Lost Customer - Due to Bad Printing

[Deb]

While I appreciate Mark reaching out to me yesterday (Incident Reference Number: CAS-7567408-G1M7D8 ) on Multiple  color print issues and multiple customers  letting me know he passed it to the team.. wedding customers esp are usually constrained by time limits - I know one gal has been battling this for 2 months - she finally gave up and  is not ordering from me - ALSO I looked at her order and it is still green, so zazzle has yet to refund her money apparently 

 This gal ordered her initial invitations on 3/16/22 - this morning -  2 months later - apparently she had enough  and let me know she would be ordering elsewhere.  I asked her what customer service had told her about replacing her order a 3rd time - I got this response. 

"They say they would have print one to see how it looks before they print all, it’s ok I’ll just find a downloadable one so I can print on my own. ... will get one off of Etsy, for less then $10 that I can edit."

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I have to wonder how many of my cancellations are actually returns due to bad printing - WE NEED  some sort of  system to let us know  the generic reasons for our cancellations - zazzle can do this without divulging customer information

[Cat]

This is not good. Not good at all. 🙄

ETA: I'm not sure that knowing it was a printing problem helps us much since we have no control over it, but I guess it would be nice to know.

[Deb]

@Cat  It is something  Zazzle seriously needs to get fixed - Quick.. and they Need to be transparent and tell us what is going on.. I have to wonder.. are they outsourcing the printing jobs like they did the masks ?? if so .. not good ..  So folks uncontrolled by zazzle with no Quality control are doing the work? Are they using cheap ink? Are they  not filling the ink when it gets low??.. what  is going on? I think we deserve to know.    in any case.. this was never an issue  until recently.. and it is happening to some of my most popular designs.. I Shudder every time I see one of them get ordered. It's got me sick to my stomach to tell you the truth..  it won't take long before word gets out and folks stop buying invites from Zazzle.. or worse.. just from me.. word of mouth is a powerful thing. 

[idraw]

Out of curiosity, I looked up classic wedding invitations, says printed by “zazzle paper” in Reno Nevada.  That’s part of the answer as to where, at least for these invites.
btw, how do we know how long it’s been going on, it may have been an ongoing problem that was previously always handled privately by zazzle, which Scott is suggesting that it keeps being handled privately. in his reply to deb, said  (taken from his post above, in this thread, only to point out the need to specify going private with the issue)—
”If you continue to have questions about cancellations it may be best to contact us directly/privately so that we can clear up any questions that you might have. ”
I understand that he wants to keep further questions and answers handled privately but still…enquiring shop keepers need to be kept informed,esp if they are creating paper products and get bad feedback and bad reviews, lose customers. It should be a team thing.
Thanks  @Deb for posting and starting an enlightening dialogue about this issue, making all of us on the forum more aware.

[Scott]

HI Deb,

Thanks for the feedback. I have certainly passed along the feedback that Creators would like better information about product cancellations.

I would continue to work with Mark via email. This might be the best way forward.

With regards to the second half of your post, we understand the feedback that you're leaving here. This topic has been forwarded along, and it's been discussed internally. If you continue to have questions about cancellations it may be best to contact us directly/privately so that we can clear up any questions that you might have. We're happy to help. Unfortunately, I don't think that sharing the information that you did is all that helpful. Your intention of showing a huge number may be eye-catching, but without any context the number is quite deceptive. Here's why:

Approximately half of the 52 cancellations are from the same user/same order. This user placed an order with a lot of individual products in it, then cancelled the order, and then promptly placed a new order. Then they placed three additional follow-up orders. IMO there really isn't anything too alarming about this, and if you were to scan through your cancellations you would notice that most of Page 2 of the listing is mostly the same name/location.

So you actually have closer to 25 product cancellations this month, and to some Creators that might sound kinda high. But it's important to note that you haven't shared how many TOTAL products have been ordered from your shop(s) this month, so we don't know the actual severity of this issue. If only 100 products have been ordered from your shop then there may be some big issues (that's a 25% cancellation rate), but if you've sold 1,000 products this month then the issue is far less significant (2% cancellation rate).

Moving forward, I think it might be best to use one discussion to report print issues. I don't think that the community is benefiting much from having so many new discussions on the same topic. Having one conversation thread with a list of issues people are experiencing will actually help us pass the information along. And, as always, if you have a question you're welcome to reach out.

[Deb]

@Scott 

Thank you for responding Scott. I'm not trying to make a major drama out of this but merely trying to emphasize the issue which is very evident to me. I certainly do not want to be making a nuisance of myself.

I have been very very stressed out about this in recent weeks and I'm having an awful time with it. I have been called "incompetent" and "amateurish" amongst other things and some bad things were said about Zazzle itself. I take the utmost pride in my work and it's like a knife in my back.

I will certainly take what you said on board and hopefully, we can get to the bottom of this.

I did send pro support an email on the cancellations,  as of March 3rd  they were going to look into it. 

Once again, thanks.  Deb

[Cat]

I think this is the crux of the issue. Customers hold us responsible for things that we have no control over. It's not that I take it personally, but I too have received some pretty nasty messages from unhappy customers, and it's just super frustrating not to be able to do anything about it. You sort of have to gird your loins before you click on that little red dot - like am I gonna get it in the face with both barrels again?

I'm pretty good at diffusing the situation, explaining my role, and pointing the customer to support for help, but what worries me are the people who DON'T contact me, because it leaves me with no opportunity to set the record straight. People seem to universally assume that I'm responsible for printing & shipping, and they often say things like "I'll never shop at your store again!" So how many other customers are out there who may have had a bad experience and have concluded that there's something about me or my shop that caused their problem?

I don't mean to harp on this issue, but Zazzle has done a LOT of work to try to build a connection directly between designers and customers. I understand and appreciate that - but when it's done without any effort to explain the limits of our contributions to the process, it leaves me feeling very uneasy, almost like I'm misrepresenting myself to the public or something. And when there's a problem... well, it just multiplies that uneasiness and frustration. I'm not sure I want to have a "brand" built around producing a product that I cannot control. Because if it was me doing the printing, I would NEVER send something out without checking to make sure it had been printed correctly.

From where I sit, there's no way to gauge the scope of the problem with printing issues. Maybe it's a huge deal, maybe it's just a tiny percentage of orders that go wrong, and I happen to have seen a lot of them recently. But either way, I can't help but believe that the situation would be vastly improved if customers understood that they were placing an order with Zazzle, not with me.

Sorry to rant, but thanks in advance for listening.

[shellifitz]

I am sorry but I have to disagree about the helpfulness of Deb's posts.   We designers need to know when there are issues like this and even more so now that the chat is so designer dependent.  Quality of the printing and products are a major factor in whether or not we want our names associated with said print job or product.   Average joe public thinks we create the product and can expedite the shipping.  They probably think we print it too.  who knows but it reflects badly on all of us and for those of us who have no control over the fulfillment it is extremely stressful to have lots of cancellations. 

Adding:  and at no time should a designer or artist have to endure being insulted by angry customers.  This is why I hated the idea of the chat feature from day one.  

[mylittleeden]

I like the chat feature, you have to take the rough with the smooth yes but it is good as it gives me more feedback about what the customer wants and doesn't want. Whilst a lot of things are out of our control, it is helpful to see the customers point of view and I often make up items as a direct result of their feedback 😃. As for the cancellations. Yes we all get them... but agree normally it is an error with the customer and I often see the reorder appear a days or even a few hours later, but again not always. I also touch wood never had a customer complain about the quality of the item, I am very pleased to report. Maybe I have just been lucky too? In fact often I get such lovely messages it has made my cry with joy! I love my customers, feel very lucky to have them 😍

[shellifitz]

I'm happpy for you then but honestly the customers could have reached you through your own email address before chat was a thing, and they would have known you weren't customer service who can expedite their shipping or add an item to their order etc...  I still have many customers who reach me this way because of my intro message on the chat. 

[cosmictraces]

Oh no

I just opened my Zazzle store a month ago. I haven't made a sale yet but this info is quite a bummer. I mostly do mugs, t-shirts and thank you cards. So I guess this printing issue only with paper products? I hope it gets resolved, good luck to all.

Elias

[chefcateringbiz]

I sell mostly posters, cards, posti-its, folders, biz cards and stickers and have a very low return rate. Most of my customers are businesses, so they would definitely be getting refunds on bad printing if problems were widespread.

[CrazyMermaid]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Mine is the same. I sell a lot of paper and non-paper products in the wedding and other celebrations niches. I have had only one complaint about printing quality and have an overall low return rate as well. I am not experiencing widespread printing or any quality complaints. I also don't remember the last time I dealt with an angry customer. 

[Deb]

you both are very lucky then - maybe my products are being printed at a different location than yours?   I have been fortunate enough that these folks have not left bad public reviews.. (Knock on wood)  - the whole thing is very disheartening.