A Stalemate At The Printshop. Part 1

A Stalemate at the Print Shop

Furthermore, they vigorously defended their actions by also saying that the workers in any other print shop would have printed the pages in the same way had they been given the same instructions. To be honest, I do not know if that is, in fact, true, but even so, what was perfectly clear to me now, was that they had not truly understood back then what I had wanted. Naturally, I felt as if we had reached a stalemate since they refused to accept any degree of responsibility for the mistake, and since I had given them my instructions to follow beforehand—that they did not follow--neither would I.

They again explained that for printers, it is customary to fill out a page with lines regardless of how many are shown on a client’s work-up, so according to them, it was my fault for not knowing that! Eventually, one of the typographers (most likely, they one who actually worked on the order) offered to pay for the cost of redoing it out of her own pocket, which was all good and well, but it was just as obvious from her expression, that she was refusing to admit to any error on her part. Ultimately, I took her up on her offer, as I certainly did not want to pay for a botched order, especially one for which I had given clear instructions.

What do you think, who was right?

Hi Alisa. Honestly, I have never know anyone else who finds as many problems in everyday life as you do! LOL!

Anyway, my two-cent’s worth about this incident is that the sign of a good business, particularly if it wants customers to return, is one that believes, “The customer is always right.”  As a business that accepts custom orders, they should protect themselves by not only getting clear written instructions from their customers, but also following them to the letter when they do. In this case, since they did not, or claimed that it was a mutual misunderstanding, each side should then bear their own cost, and go their separate ways. While not getting your print job will not leave you happy, nevertheless, you will be much happier than paying for a print job that you did not want and cannot use.

A good business, in a display of goodwill, and to keep you as a customer, would offer to redo it at their own expense given that it is just paper, ink, and another hour of labor. Having a monopoly as they seemingly do, however, provides them with a somewhat unfair bargaining position. [I had edited this yesterday, but it would not let me post it due to its length. Thus, I see that you have learned your lesson!]

PART II OF II

A Stalemate at the Print Shop

Two weeks ago, I submitted a custom print-job order for three binders of worksheets from a local print shop, which, unfortunately, is the only one in the city that I live in. I had thought that I had provided them with accurate instructions of precisely what I wanted, as I, myself, drew for them a model of exactly how a page should look like--13 lines, 4 columns, the page sizes, etc. I intended to use them as charts, and I had left the print shop feeling satisfied that I would later get what I wanted.

However, when I came back, and after telling them the info about my order, I watched with a bit of curiously as of the typographers brought out what looked like from afar, a huge brick,  due to its gray-colored wrapping. I then unwrapped it to examine it further and quickly noted that all the worksheets pages had full sets of lines printed on them. In response to my inquiry as to why, they told me that drawing lines, 13 or otherwise, on the order simply meant to fill the rest of the space with them after the heading, but in truth, that was directly opposite of what I had told, and even drew out for, them earlier.

PART I OF II