I thought I would share this story.

Photo order #2441793

On September 9th a customer of mine ordered 5 - 12 x 18 metallic finish photos and selected normal shipping. On September 10th an email was sent stating "THE DELIVERYMAN COMETH. You shopped. We shipped. And your SmugMug prints are on the way! The email had the tracking info also. I thought wow that is fast but didn't give it any more thought.

On September 16th I sent an email to SmugMug help desk asking to check on this order because no delivery man has cometh yet. At that time I did mention that I thought the speed of the order was a little to speedy. SmugMugs reply was "The tracking info does seem to be a bit wonky. However, it's quite possible that it still will be delivered by Monday (within the 5 business day time frame). If the package still hasn't arrived with Monday's delivery, just respond back to this email, and we'll send out a new batch (via FedEx) :-)" I responded saying that will be fine.

On September 19th I sent SmugMug another email stating no delivery yet. The response from SmugMug was "Is the address correct? Yes, I replied. SmugMug's reply was "Thanks for confirming that. I'll get the order reprinted with upgraded shipping for you. You should be receiving the order soon"

On September 23rd I stopped at the customers place of business and asked them if they received the photos. Guess what the answer was? I then sent an email to SmugMug Help desk again asking them to check on this order. I got a reply a short time later to a "Cynthia" telling me (my name is Rich) the order was placed into production on the 20th. The reply to a Cynthia got me worried so I asked them to check again as the reply to another person has me concerned that there is a mix up. The reply I received from SmugMug "The lab shipped the order UPS ground and the delivery date as as I presented in the last email. It appears the lab did not honor the request to upgrade shipping and for this we apologize." Why no upgrade per your request??? I replied OK on that. What am I going to do about it now? I emailed back asking for a shipping confirmation #. A short time later I got that.The scheduled delivery is set for September 27th!!! The order was placed on the 9th.

I write SmugMug back and request for them to step up to the plate and do a refund on this mess. SmugMug replies they;ll take care of the shipping.I'll take care of the photo refund.

My take on this. I had four different SmugMug Support Heroes involved with emails to me. That I think is a major problem that needs fixed. Please take a look at that.

Sincerely,

Rich Wise
www.fourmilephotography.com

I'm digging into this right now. Back to you here shortly.

Originally Posted by rkw624 I'll take care of the photo refund.

I just read through all the order notes and emails. I'm very sorry about this shipping snafu, it's definitely not normal, but things like this can happen with the millions of orders we do. The thing is, we could have been more heroic to you for sure, and for that I apologize and also thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Have you already refunded your customer? If not, we can do that. If yes, I can arrange to refund you directly. Our guarantee is iron-clad and we always want to do the right thing - I'm sorry we didn't get it right this time, and believe me, we'll improve in this situation.

Hi Andy,

Thank you for getting on this. Yes, I have refunded to the customer. I also know this is not normal service for your company. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Andy I just read through all the order notes and emails. I'm very sorry about this shipping snafu, it's definitely not normal, but things like this can happen with the millions of orders we do. The thing is, we could have been more heroic to you for sure, and for that I apologize and also thank you for bringing this to my attention. Have you already refunded your customer? If not, we can do that. If yes, I can arrange to refund you directly. Our guarantee is iron-clad and we always want to do the right thing - I'm sorry we didn't get it right this time, and believe me, we'll improve in this situation.

Originally Posted by rkw624 Hi Andy, Thank you for getting on this. Yes, I have refunded to the customer. I also know this is not normal service for your company. Thank you.

If you will write me, ATTN: Andy at the help desk, I'm happy to work out a way to refund you the shipping $. help.smugmug.com thanks.

Email sent to the Help Desk.

Originally Posted by Andy If you will write me, ATTN: Andy at the help desk, I'm happy to work out a way to refund you the shipping $. help.smugmug.com thanks.

Well it's been two days and I have not heard back. I sent one email with the info requested and another follow up one asking if you got the info. Anybody there? Hello?

This seems to be all set. I see Andy sending out an email to your email (the one on file for your SmugMug account) that the money had been sent. If you have further questions on this, please reply directly to the case # 37354. Thanks.

Sebastian

I think we can call this case closed. Thank you.