Theprintshopmk Reviews 1

I've had a nasty experience with Printshop - I wouldn't trust Daniel as far as I could throw him or his photocopier. I was a first (and last) time customer and Daniel was responsive and helpful during our email exchanges before I'd placed my order. I asked for 100 copies of a 30 or so page document, so about 3000 A4 pages - printed and four hole-punched. I needed them the next day. All seemed fine, so I paid the agreed £550.

Only when I went to put the documents in folders did it became apparent that there were no dividers between copies, so I had to pick through 3000 pages to separate each copy by hand.

More fundamentally, however, it was clear the holes were not correctly punched. I expected a print shop to have a professional drill, but it seems it was done using the hole-punches I could buy at WHSmith. Not only were the holes messy and ragged, as if the hole punch was blunt, but they were done in small batches quite possibly on different punches. The batches were out of alignment with each other and all of them were incorrectly set up for a standard A4 folder - the documents stuck out the bottom of the folders. Some copies weren't in the punch correctly, so the holes were right at the edge of the paper - it was a bloody mess.

I had no choice but to use most of them, as I had no time to get it corrected, but I was turning up with an apology for what should have been professional printed materials. Instead they looked like a 6 year old's school project.

Some documents were so bad they simply wouldn't go in the folders, so some of my customers had to go without. I was in a hurry, so immediately emailed Daniel with photos and asked him to call me. He didn't reply and he didn't call.

I returned to Printshop after the training course for which I needed the documents. I asked why he didn't respond to my request for a call back. It seems he didn't get that email.

Daniel's attitude was that if I was able to use some of the copies, then they must have been good enough and he didn't have to give me a refund. I showed him with some of the left-over documents where the holes were out of alignment with the folder and with each other. They were hanging out of the folder. He calmly explained to me that 'it doesn't matter' and I'm not getting a refund. I actually started swearing at him at this point as we clearly had different opinions on what 'correct' looks like.

I explained (again) that the job wasn't done to the required standard. He then complained that we were going round in circles and he had other work to do, as if I were now inconveniencing him. There was no apology - just an argument that if I used any copies and my customer didn't demand a refund, then it must have been ok, so that's alright then.

We got to the point where he offered some partial gesture - perhaps a credit on future work. I explained there would be no future work. So we talked about a partial refund.
I asked how much he thought was reasonable. He replied, I don't know.
So how do we reach a number?
I'll have to think about it.
What else do you need to know? Can you think about it now?
No, I'm busy.
I see. How long do you need?
I don't know. I'll get back to you.
When?
I don't know.
I was about to commit a felony - so I left.

Predictably, he has not been back in touch and I don't really want anything more to do with him.

I've seen him respond to other negative online reviews with helpful platitudes - face to face, it's a different story. Everybody in business has occasional problems - I'm not expecting perfection. What matters is how you deal with those problems and this was a disgraceful display of 'couldn't give a shit' - almost as if I shouldn't be bothering him with 'my' problem. Print is a commodity. Based on my experience my advice is go elsewhere.