Bad Color on Business Cards - Another Customer Complaint

[Deb]

Yet Another complaint from my customers- a business card with bad color printing - ☹️

I'm seriously worried about the printing process -  has anyone looked into the  printers? Are they miscalibrated?  Where is quality control?    This is 4 or 5 color complaints in the last couple weeks for me alone.  And those are only the customers that have come to tell me - not counting how ever many say nothing to us  and just never return. 

https://www.zazzle.com/modern_elegant_silver_corporate_business_card-256038334106034789

169-55883056-5781629

This latest message I got from my customer:

Ok Deb, this is the pdf. The print is no color full, the gradient is disgusting. Maybe it's not your fault, but it's my money in the trash. Waiting for a refund. Sincerely, sorry too. ( Pardon my english, from France ). Thanks for your communications by the way.

I think this message from ‎05-06-2022 02:57 PM may have gotten lost in the thread so I am re-posting my original message on this product 

@Scott  I just got another complaint and am currently trying to find out which product/design this complaint is about - (Another reason that we desperately need to have the link auto generated when a customer contacts us -)  but honestly at this point I wonder if it even matters.. it is getting embarrassing now and  yeah I'm verging on tears right now.  Not only does zazzle look bad .. so do I as a designer   

This is my  chat note from the customer:

madame, monsieur.
I’m sorry to say I’ve never seen such a disgusting print. The grey is mixed with pink and blue gradient, the steel aspect is not present, it is just a badly printed cardboard. A card without details, not in accordance with the perfect photo of the merchant site, reason why I request a refund. It’s a typical scam. I’ve been working in visual creation on the web for 20 years, I’ve never seen that. These business cards are currently in the trash. I don’t return them at my own expense, what would you do with it. Just... Thank you for your understanding, do not be more disappointing, thank you for repaying me and I will not tell anyone about this misadventure. Sincerely.

[Rebecca]

Hi Deb,

Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention, I am so sorry for the continued disappointment and difficulty that this has been causing. I have contacted the customer from our Customer Support team to discuss this further. Thank you again for contacting us about this, and I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused. 

Best regards,

Rebecca 

[Deb]

@Rebecca  thank you very much!   but  Please can we find out WHY this is happening so often now.. the  problem needs corrected at the source - before the customer gets a product that is the wrong color and they are unhappy with. 

[Windy]

Sounds like these are both from France? Are you finding that most of your printing quality complaints are coming from certain countries? I am guessing not all cards are printed in the same building in one location and then shipped worldwide. 

[Deb]

@Windy  no.. I had posted this biz card in another  thread but I think it got overlooked.. so I made this post for it since I got more feedback from the customer - the only one I know of in France.  Anyway you look at it.. this needs attention sooner than later -  either the printers are miscalibrated  or running out of ink or what ever the issue is on TOP of that, Quality control not seeing it before orders go out .. it won't take long before business begins to suffer - and unfortunately customers  think (from SO many recent posts ) that  the designers are the ones who print and do the rest of the physical end of the  order. Not sure what has changed  but  more than ever now, folks think I am the one to correct shipping, refunds, changes, etc. 

[Fiorenzo]

It definitely looks like there is a severe lack of cyan and yellow ink and only magenta and black were applied. Most probably technical printing problem, unless something went wrong during the print file generation. Doesn't look like a simple color profile or miscalibration issue. In regard to cards/business cards, my own customer feedback and photos of the final products I've seen have been top so far, both print quality and color management from my RGB originals.

[JB]

There is confusion from customers about you being the one responsible for printing, shipping, and refunds because the chat feature unfortunately makes that somewhat ambiguous to customers. They think that is direct connection to customer service. There really needs to be some adjustments with that feature because it’s not your role to even manage customer service and to be left feeling so distressed by something you have zero control over. I really hope this is overhauled soon. I feel bad for confusion for the customers and stress to shop owners who weren’t expecting fro have to handle or navigate customer service, since you’re not an employee nor have access to their orders. 

[Cat]

@JB You make a good point. It seems like all of these issues with colors not matching are coming all of a sudden and out of the blue, but I'm kinda wondering if maybe these printing problems have existed all along, and we designers just never knew about it. I mean, this is the first big selling season (at least in terms of weddings and events) since Zazzle implemented this push to put designers up front and center - the designer credit in the design tool, the chat feature, the "thank you" messages from us at checkout, the switch to calling us "creators," and so on.

Before all that, I think people were pretty clear that they were ordering something from Zazzle, so when there was a problem they just contacted customer support and we never heard about it. Now everyone thinks they're ordering directly from us, and they assume that we're the ones doing the printing, so when there's a problem, the first thing they do is contact us for help. Even for the few customers who do understand how Zazzle works, the chat feature gives customers a direct line to us that's much easier and more straightforward than contacting customer service, so naturally, that's what they do.

Anyhow, I'm not sure if it's a comforting thought or not, but maybe this isn't a new problem, and maybe we've just been blissfully ignorant until now.

[Connie]

I don't know why there's so much confusion with the chat. When you first go to message a designer, Zazzle immediately gives you two options with clear explanations that the designer only does the artwork, and Zazzle takes care of all the customer service. And then you select the appropriate party to message. I don't know how they could possibly make it any clearer!

[Cat]

@Connie I agree that the two option thing is helpful - the problem is that all of this stuff that Zazzle has done to put designers up front and center has made people believe that it works like Etsy. And to be fair, Etsy's HUGE advertising campaign on TV etc. has contributed to the problem. I cannot even count the number of people (people I know personally who I've told about my Zazzle work) who contact me wanting to know all about how to open an Etsy store - it's like they think it's the same company or something.

So it's not like the customer is coming into it with a "blank slate" wondering how it works and who they should contact. They already think that they know how it works, so they don't bother to read the choices because they believe they already know who they need to contact. So the system needs to do more than simply offer the options, it needs to overcome the customer's false assumptions. Seriously, I've even had customers argue with me via chat about who produces the products! They're absolutely CONVINCED that it's me!

I continue to believe that the best way to deal with this would be for Zazzle to send an automated response when a customer initiates a chat letting them know that the message has been forwarded to the designer, and offering a brief, one sentence disclaimer explaining that we don't produce or ship the products.

[Cat]

Yikes!

[NigelSutherland]

I think one problem might be that it is not easy to create a metallic colour from CMYK printing process. Thinking back to the days when I used to buy print, often if a metallic effect was required it had to be done by printing an extra colour. 👍

[Fiorenzo]

No. In this case, it's definitely a technical issue, not a "regular" CMYK conversion color shift. The print clearly looks like either there was no or insufficient cyan ink printed or something went wrong with the print file generation. I custom-created a business card design with a golden "metallic" background some time ago and the printed cards came out perfectly and beautifully printed with almost no color-shifting and true to my RGB original. 

[Deb]

@NigelSutherland   I would agree. IF this had been the case all along. All of these color issues and I have had many.. are on products I have sold many of before without incident.  This is a 2022 problem. I have sold literally thousands of metallic biz cards without problems.. this particular design as a matter of fact. For years.  Also does not explain why my customer …got twice .. her blue foliage wedding sign in green and red-purple instead of blue.   There is Most definitely something wrong in the printing/ink. AND any way you look at it.. WHERE is quality control?.. they should catch these color errors before the products ever go out.

[Connie]

Whatever the reason for the printing error, the people doing the printing should DOUBLE-CHECK the print against the original design, to make sure it came out correctly. All machines mess up from time to time, and it seems like the printing process isn't an exact science, especially in such small batches. It's understandable that there will be errors, but those errors should NEVER make it to the customer!

[Deb]

---

@JB You make a good point. It seems like all of these issues with colors not matching are coming all of a sudden and out of the blue, but I'm kinda wondering if maybe these printing problems have existed all along, and we designers just never knew about it. I mean, this is the first big selling season (at least in terms of weddings and events) since Zazzle implemented this push to put designers up front and center - the designer credit in the design tool, the chat feature, the "thank you" messages from us at checkout, the switch to calling us "creators," and so on.

I'm not thinking so - this particular design is on a business card I have sold for over 10 years and have sold 4459 of them generating Zazzle $85,021.88USD - I honestly think I would have heard something before now if it had been an issue - this is something new  IMHO with the ink.. maybe due to shortages zazzle is getting  bad (cheap)  ink?  or letting it run out.. and again..  it doesn't matter WHY  this is happening.. it IS happening  and Again Where is Quality Control double checking these orders before they go out. ??  AND WHY haven't I, as a designer with serious concerns, been contacted by Zazzle in any attempt to help me and my upset customers?  I am not a happy camper.  

[Cat]

I really hope you're right because the thought that maybe it's been happening all along sorta makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.

[shellifitz]

Quality control is definitely lacking.  Errors are going to happen but they shouldn't be getting shipped out.  And they shouldn't be reflecting badly on the artist or designer.   I hope that this gets fixed sooner than later because it makes you wonder if you really want to be associated with the company if this becomes a regular thing. 

[Windy]

Adding this info here as requested in a closed thread. Creators would like to have an update on what is being done about these color issues.

I'm reading about the numerous color printing mistakes which have been reported in these forums over the past few months. Business cards and invitations and other paper products are again and again reported here as being printed in the wrong shades. This is disappointing and frustrating to many brides and business owners.

Are there any plans to fix the color printing issues at Zazzle, and are plans being made to institute a system of quality control so that improperly printed colors will be discarded and reprinted prior to being shipped to the customer? 

[buxmontweb]

I would like to add that it's not just paper products. The last 2 items I ordered for myself - a bath mat and a pair of flip flops - both had color issues with the printing. I received replacements for both and the colors were still not right but I gave up and did not report the problem or ask for additional replacements. I've had a lot of cancellartions of pillows and towel sets long enough after the orders were placed that the customers must have received them, and I wonder if there are color issues with those too.

[ColsCreations]

I've been reading all the threads re color printing issues and am going to put my 2 cents here. My apologies to the Mods as I know discussion is frowned upon in the tech forum but i don't know where else to add this.

I completely 100% understand the frustration of cancellations and negative feedback/reviews. But as someone who had their own business for two decades and has also had countless years of experience working customer-facing retail jobs, I know one thing: Customers will complain and get angry over things that are 100% a result of their own errors and/or ignorance. Add to this that we most often don't get a true re-counting from them of the situation that led to their complaint and that in this day and age where 'the customer is always right' has taken hold with businesses bending over backwords to appease customers, every negative review has to be taken with a grain of salt. Your customer here using the words "a typical scam" raised immediate red flags with me. That's the lingo of someone already distrusting before even ordering. Anyhows,

Here is your image of what they got vrs what was 'correct':

There's a big difference in color there but my first thought was -  where did the "what they got" image come from? It had to have been from the customer themselves taking a pic of what they received. But do we know the camera settings used, the lighting conditions, the amount of degradation to the image depending on how it was saved and then shared with you? And - do we know from your royalty report what exactly they ordered?

I ask that because while in the Design Tool you see the nice steely gray color of your "correct color" image no matter which paper type you choose. But if you look in the lower right at the preview image, THAT does reflect the color variations of different paper choices.

If you are on the product page, this is what the preview image colors look like for semi gloss:

 but if you change the paper choice to 'signature cream" this is what the preview looks like:

 it looks remarkably similar to the colors in your "what the customer got" screenshot.

Is it at all possible that the customer changed the paper type (intentionally or accidentally) without noticing the color difference that would result in?

Again, I totally understand the frustration in getting cancellations / negative reviews and wanting to look at Z's printing as the reason, but the analytical side of me can't help but question the basis for such. . Is it actually Z's printing or is it user error/ignorance magnified on your end by the fact that you have to take the customers' word as to what the issue was?

@Deb