Large Printers Down!

anwmn1

Okay I had a pretty good sale to my employer of 3 16x20 prints that are to be hung in a Wellness Center that's grand opening is this Thursday. I had not received my confirmation e-mail after 4 business days so I sent an e-mail asking for the status.

Turns out the lab printers had gone down and were to be up in a day or two. I have had several e-mails going back and forth about the situation and as of now all charges have been waived and shipping will be next day air also free of charge. Unfortunately the status is the same as I have been hearing since last week- "Printers should be up today" and "Your order has been escalated to high priority".

I appreciate that the fees have been waived but unfortunately I am now going to look like an a**! I work for a VERY large Fotune 200 company and this Wellness Center opening is a very big deal, with Business Unit (Denver) and Head Quarters (New York) personnel coming into town simply for the opening. The Nurse that runs the Center, my VPGM, among many others were very excited to have my photos on the wall.

I am not on a tyraid or bashing but I am quite dissapointed. I know things happen and the fees have been waived but this still reflects negatively on me in the eyes of many. Not the greatest feeling when still starting out!

Hopefully no one else has been impacted by the printers being down like I have.

Aaron Newman

Andy

anwmn1 wrote:

I am not on a tyraid or bashing but I am quite dissapointed.

Ouch, I'm sorry you are upset. Indeed, there's an issue that we're dealing with, and these prints are being delayed. We're working as hard and fast as we can on this, as you can see.

We are doing everything humanly possible, including refunding this order, to make things right.

Sorry again for the hassle.

anwmn1

Andy-

Thanks. I am aware of the effort being made to fix the problem and the customer will like getting the photos for free- however as you guys point out in the Last Photographer Standing Contest- a deadline is a deadline and the customer or client does not care about why you missed it, only that you missed it.

The customer service and the timely responses by smugmug are appreciated but do not replace that.

Luckily, I have convinced them to let me put up some work I already have printed and framed as stand ins. So at least the walls will not be bare.

Aaron

Andy wrote:

Ouch, I'm sorry you are upset. Indeed, there's an issue that we're dealing with, and these prints are being delayed. We're working as hard and fast as we can on this, as you can see.

We are doing everything humanly possible, including refunding this order, to make things right.

Sorry again for the hassle.

AnneMcBean

anwmn1 wrote:

Andy-

Thanks. I am aware of the effort being made to fix the problem and the customer will like getting the photos for free- however as you guys point out in the Last Photographer Standing Contest- a deadline is a deadline and the customer or client does not care about why you missed it, only that you missed it.

The customer service and the timely responses by smugmug are appreciated but do not replace that.

Luckily, I have convinced them to let me put up some work I already have printed and framed as stand ins. So at least the walls will not be bare.

Aaron

Hi Aaron,

I'm glad you were able to improvise and partly ease the customer's pain.

That's about where we are at right now as well.

Obviously, EZ Prints did not foresee that technical difficulties with the large format printer would strike at the same time as a new printer was being installed, calibrated, and thoroughly tested. They are scrambling on their end to get through the backlog of large format prints without compromising quality. We are scrambling on our end to notify customers, issue refunds where needed, and keep Pros in the loop.

Yes, deadlines are deadlines and we hate to miss 'em. Sorry this delay at the lab hit you and your customer so hard.

-Anne

seastack

Ouch! Just placed an order today including two prints that just won a contest and are to hang in Art Wolfe's gallery. There is a delivery deadline of May 4. If I miss it they don't hang and I forfeit prizes. I really don't want to cut it too close in case there is a problem with the delivered order. Please keep me in the loop so I can make other arrangements if necessary.

Thank you.

Nikolai

Aaron,
Sorry about the problems...:cry
Once you get it done I hope to see the picture of the hanged pictures

Andy

seastack wrote:

Ouch! Just placed an order today including two prints that just won a contest and are to hang in Art Wolfe's gallery. There is a delivery deadline of May 4. If I miss it they don't hang and I forfeit prizes. I really don't want to cut it too close in case there is a problem with the delivered order. Please keep me in the loop so I can make other arrangements if necessary.

Thank you.

Hi, could I have an order # please?

anwmn1

seastack wrote:

Ouch! Just placed an order today including two prints that just won a contest and are to hang in Art Wolfe's gallery. There is a delivery deadline of May 4. If I miss it they don't hang and I forfeit prizes. I really don't want to cut it too close in case there is a problem with the delivered order. Please keep me in the loop so I can make other arrangements if necessary.

Thank you.

Thomas-

You are in a pretty tough timeline. I know they are working on getting the printers back up but there is no telling how many orders are backed up. I am not sure if you have local labs but mine here in Phoenix are usually at least a week out. If most labs are the same you only have a day or two to decide to go another route or not.

Tough call.

Congrats on winning and the hanging in a gallery.

Aaron

anwmn1

Nikolai wrote:

Sorry about the problems...:cry
Once you get it done I hope to see the picture of the hanged pictures

Thanks Nikolai!

Will do

seastack

Andy wrote:

Hi, could I have an order # please?

Thanks Andy, the order is #284517.
Also, there seems to be a delay placed on this (i.e. the proof delay). Thought the system should have kicked me a message to give final approval and place order. Guess I need to turn off the proof delay before placing an order for myself? New here, still figuring this out.

Andy

seastack wrote:

Thanks Andy, the order is #284517.
Also, there seems to be a delay placed on this (i.e. the proof delay). Thought the system should have kicked me a message to give final approval and place order. Guess I need to turn off the proof delay before placing an order for myself? New here, still figuring this out.

That's very true, and it's stated so on the Proof Delay pages on our help section. But no worries! We'll push the button for you right now, and you can write the help desk in 24 hours ATTN: Anne and get an update, okay?

seastack

Andy wrote:

That's very true, and it's stated so on the Proof Delay pages on our help section. But no worries! We'll push the button for you right now, and you can write the help desk in 24 hours ATTN: Anne and get an update, okay?

Okay, thanks for the fast service! I'll cross my fingers.

j-bo

Again? It seems whenever I or a customer orders (Order #281119 ) a large print there is a problem.(yes just coincidence as I dont get many large print orders) Last time this happened smug was going to start notifying us when there was a problem with anything or maybe they were looking into how to notify everyone, yet I didn't receive any notices. Do we have to look here before we order to see if there is going to be a delay? No message in control panel or email that there is a problem going on.

Yes.. I understand stuff happens. If I hadn't checked my customers order that was placed 8 days ago, I'd have never known. I very much doubt if they are in urgent need of the print, but when people buy something, they expect it in a timely manner, and basically, they see it as US the photographer as being the problem, not smugmug.

And yes...smug always has taken care of me and the customer very well. It would help if some kind of notice can be sent out.

No apology needed. Just venting and hoping things work out quickly.

Andy

j-bo wrote:

Again? It seems whenever I or a customer orders (Order #281119 ) a large print there is a problem.(yes just coincidence as I dont get many large print orders) Last time this happened smug was going to start notifying us when there was a problem with anything or maybe they were looking into how to notify everyone, yet I didn't receive any notices. Do we have to look here before we order to see if there is going to be a delay? No message in control panel or email that there is a problem going on.

Yes.. I understand stuff happens. If I hadn't checked my customers order that was placed 8 days ago, I'd have never known. I very much doubt if they are in urgent need of the print, but when people buy something, they expect it in a timely manner, and basically, they see it as US the photographer as being the problem, not smugmug.

And yes...smug always has taken care of me and the customer very well. It would help if some kind of notice can be sent out.

No apology needed. Just venting and hoping things work out quickly.

Hi, it's really hard on us, too.. we're manually reaching in for orders like this, and walking them through the lab. Many, many of the orders from last week have been done, and we'll have an update soon. Sorry for the hassle

AnneMcBean

Andy wrote:

Hi, it's really hard on us, too.. we're manually reaching in for orders like this, and walking them through the lab. Many, many of the orders from last week have been done, and we'll have an update soon. Sorry for the hassle

Ugh, I'm sorry. The order didn't ship today either. :puke1

There is no holdup at this point other than just the backlog the lab is experiencing. I wish I had better news for you, but I did want to give you an update.

-Anne

anwmn1

UPDATE on my order
I just wanted you all to know that my order arrived yesterday at 10 am. Though this was obviously way late it did give me all of 2 hours to mat, frame, and get the 3 pictures over to the new center to meet the deadline.


Like J-Bo mentioned it would be great if a notification could be sent to us and our customer if prints are going to be delayed. I know this could be a lot of extra work but hopefully this issue will not reappear often. In cases like mine it was still up to me to make the initial question as well as any additional inquiries- going forward if I am told prints should ship tomorrow- I want an e-mail the next day letting me know whether they shipped or if they are still having troubles. I was told this on 2 occasions and I still had to make the inquiry to see if indeed they did ship- which they hadn't!

Please remember - you can give the prints away for free but it is still our business and rep at stake. You help our customers but please help us as well.

Anne, I did get quick responses when I did inquire so that is appreciated and please let your team know so.

Sincerely,

Aaron Newman

Andy

anwmn1 wrote:

I just wanted you all to know that my order arrived yesterday at 10 am. Though this was obviously way late it did give me all of 2 hours to mat, frame, and get the 3 pictures over to the new center to meet the deadline.


Like J-Bo mentioned it would be great if a notification could be sent to us and our customer if prints are going to be delayed. I know this could be a lot of extra work but hopefully this issue will not reappear often. In cases like mine it was still up to me to make the initial question as well as any additional inquiries- going forward if I am told prints should ship tomorrow- I want an e-mail the next day letting me know whether they shipped or if they are still having troubles. I was told this on 2 occasions and I still had to make the inquiry to see if indeed they did ship- which they hadn't!

Please remember - you can give the prints away for free but it is still our business and rep at stake. You help our customers but please help us as well.

Anne, I did get quick responses when I did inquire so that is appreciated and please let your team know so.

Sincerely,

Aaron Newman

Aaron, thanks for posting back, I saw your photos of the prints, congrats!
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=59969

We are really working hard with EZP to ensure that this situation doesn't happen again. We've also taken your comments to heart and begun spending lots of extra hours on email one by one to affected clients....

Thanks for sticking with us!