Smiley Hippo Reviews 158

Having the same exasperating experiences that are quoted by others.
Photo book ordered on the 8/11/18, all attempts to enquire on its delivery including 4 emails and online chat have received no response. Their “dedicated team” are a complete waste of time. I likewise warn people away from this company.
I am thinking Trading Standards should be investigating.

absolute nightmare to add more than one calendar at once so charged p&P for each individual calendar - customer service number doesnt work and dont reply to emails - waste of time and money

Having had good service from Smiley Hippo in the past, latest experience is appalling ! Should be zero stars. Submitted data on 18th. Oct. Now 16th.Nov. Still no book. Emailed two weeks ago- received reply - having problems but all sorted book to be sent within days. No book. Emailed again 6 days ago demanding info. on delivery. Received the same letter as a reply This outfit are not fit for purpose. For your information, the comapny is registered as 2M Print Ltd. Reg.No. 6404884 Director Mark Trevor Hipperson. Unless my book arrives within the next couple of days my next move will be to issue a small claims court order citing breach of contract. Perhaps that might wake them up.

what a pain it is to put a photobook together

One star as unable to give 0 stars!
Ordered photo books through a Living Social voucher and wished that I'd looked on here first because I wouldn't have bothered! Ordered 4 copies of the same photo book - frustrating as had to do it as 4 separate orders as opposed to 1 which meant I was charged p&p 4 times. For 3 orders I was charged £7.95 P&P and the fourth £10.95, when the terms and conditions on my emails clearly state the P&P charge is £5.95. Order was placed on 17th October. Fast forward to 2nd November and still no photo books, so I emailed the company. A reply came on 5th November to say there had been a 'major issue with the production of our photo books' but that orders should be out within the next couple of days. A week later on 12th November, still no photo books delivered so I decided to call the company. I'd had a 'live chat' on Saturday 10th where I was told someone would call me and received exactly the same standard email id had before stating the major issue with production. During the phone call I was told that there had indeed been a major issue with production but that orders should be out by the end of the week or next week. I don't work in customer service, but I know that this is pretty poor! I asked about the extra P&P charges and the man I spoke to said he would refund me the difference. In the meantime I discovered all these poor reviews so decided today (14/11/18) to cancel my order. I called again and was told at first that they were nearly back on track with production. I said I wanted to cancel my order. I asked about the refund for the extra postage I'd paid and was told that the system they use, WorldPay, had gone offline last night. I queried why this had affected my refund as I'd been told it would happen on the Monday and was told that they couldn't be sure when WorldPay would be back online. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing of how was I supposed to trust the fact that I would be refunded my money, the company saying they couldn't do it as WorldPay is offline when suddenly the person I was speaking to spoke to his manager and could then tell me that WorldPay should be back online on Friday!
Who knows if my money will be refunded? Who knows what nonsense I'll be told next time I call to ask about my refund?
I would not recommend this company at all.

After making 5 calendars discovered I couldn't buy them on a single order
Awful experience
Waste of time and effort
Don't use them
Customer service non existent

I would avoid this company, that's if it exists!
Placed order on the 12/10/18 for a photo book using a wowcher code.
Have not received my order, now 5/11/18. Spoke to 2 different people on their 'chat' page. Getting same message, will pass on my information and should receive a reply Monday-Friday! No one is getting back to me. Phone engaged too!
I am now getting really annoyed. It took me so long to organise the book as I'm not too good with technology. That was frustrating enough without all this added hassle.
I spoke to a lady called pat and she's passing on my complaint to a colleague. I informed her if my order doesn't appear in the post this week I will want a refund. Im not holding my breath!
Would've given zero star rating but not available!

I ordered 3x 106 page photobooks on 12/10/18 using Wowcher codes. Smiley Hippo stated 9 days delivery, Wowcher stated on/before 25/10/18. We are now at 2/11/18 and no sign of any photobooks. I too have tried calling within the working hours, left answerhpone messages that have never been returned, sent 3 emails none of which have received a reply, conversed with PAT on the webchat to once again be promised a call back - NOTHING!!!! Customer service is absolutely non-existent.
I have contacted Wowcher who have also tried contacting the merchant twice on my behalf but of course they have received no response either. Smiley Hippo were super speedy in taking the ridiculously high £7.95 P&P for each photobook I ordered from my account - I think it is appalling to charge such high rates when the service is so shocking - this is far in excess of the basic Royal Mail delivery let alone the service that takes well over the estimated delivery time! So I am £42 out of pocket for the wowchers and a further £24 P&P ....definitely ot a Smiley Hippo here and I am advising anyone else to AVOID THIS COMPANY!!

UPDATE ON UPDATE ** I finally received an email from somebody at the company when I requested a refund and stated I would take them to the small claims court.

I was advised that they would not be able to provide me with a refund as the order has been processed and as stated in the delivery dispatched email on the 31st Oct that it was sent out for delivery.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Two of my photobooks arrived 19 working days from the date I ordered them. On the package were two stamps, both of which showed the photobooks were received at the post office on the 5th November and not the 31st Oct. Not only that, but the stamps also show the total cost of shipping which added up to £2.95 but I was charged £7.95 on the website for each order. So not only have they lied about shipping the books out when they did, but they also charge their customers an additional £5 which they pocket themselves. For three photobooks they've taken pocketed a further £15 in "shipping costs".

I've emailed them back but I doubt I'll hear back for any refund on this at all.

It's such a shame because when I did receive the photobooks, I really liked them but I've been let down by the whole experience that I can't give them more than 1 star. I'd also never refer them to family or friends for this reason alone.

Just waiting on the one book now. 20 working days and counting....

UPDATE ** I recently receive a dispatch email for 2 out of the three books I ordered. Let's not forget that these were all ordered at the same time, on the same date which is the 10th Oct. Dispatch email gives you very little information. No estimated delivery date, no tracking number or anything. So I decided to get in touch to see if they were able to provide me with an update. Again, no email response, no call back, the woman PAT on webchat states that she will pass the message on and get somebody to email me. She's said this 4 times now in the space of two weeks and I am still waiting to hear from somebody on the support team. Apparently PAT on webchat is only there to assist customers who need help navigating the website! Great use of a webchat tool there... NOT! I'm be lucky if I get this delivered today. The photobook is for my family member who is moving abroad this weekend. If this isn't received today then I will be requesting a full refund, if I can ever get through to somebody for it. Company is a JOKE! I have written to WOWCHER to inform them of this shabby company and how it is ruining Wowchers reputation. Wowcher should have done their checks on reviews sites such as this below they allow the company to sell deals through them. **

Don't even know where to start. I ordered three photobooks using a wowcher code on the 10th October with a delivery of 9 working days. Safe to say we are now way past the 9 working days. I have emailed 3 times for an update, been on web chat (which is useless) twice and also called a number of times around 3.30pm to receive an answer phone message which says I should call back between the hours or 9 am and 5 pm. I haven't actually dealt with a company that has such bad customer service. I say bad, but let's be honest it's non-existent. I wish I had checked the reviews here before purchasing the voucher. One of the books I ordered was meant for a leaving present, which I needed by Friday. I think it's safe to say I'm probably not going to receive it in time.

My advice would be to avoid using this company at all costs.

I have contacted the customer service 3 times via email and have had no response. I have called numerous times but no one picks up. Firstly the photobook was late and secondly the quality was very poor. All the photos looked washed out. I have had no response from the company with regard to my complaint.
I reordered the book from another company and it looks amazing.

Awful experience with them, I made an order of a photobook and I recived 3 months after I purchase my order, I try to contact them and I had no explanation...when it finally arrives had plenty of mistakes like (blurry photos, and cut photos which in the program were fine)
I order a second photobook of smiley hippo with wowcher and the program didn't work so i couldn't make it, and lost my money.

Terrible service - do not use if you need your product by a certain date.
Ordered a photo book for a 10th wedding anniversary and paid £10.95 for a delivery within 9 working days. No contact from their side. Called 7 working days in to ask if it would be ready on time - was told yes. Called on 9th working day to be told it was shipped days ago and to call DPD. DPD hadn't received anything. Recalled SH who said that was an error and that it wouldn't be ready to send out for another 2 days at least. At 3pm factory workers apparently not around to continue working on it. No offer of gesture of goodwill - just a feeble verbal apology. Absolute joke of a company...

Smiley Hippo left me smiling..
I have used Smiley Hippo a few times now. In the past, I never had any issues with delivery, service or quality. The software is a little bit heavy going to download and work around but once you get used to it then its easy enough to use so stick with it.

The first photobook I made was using photos from my phone and have to say the quality really exceeded my expectations. If the picture is too low quality and will be affected in print, the software warns you of this before printing.

The latest photobook I ordered admittedly took longer than usual to arrive, and when it did it didnt have the padded cover that I'd upgraded to and paid for.

After reading reviews of bad service on trustpilot, I emailed a complaint and prepared myself for battle. In reality, the staff could not have been more helpful. They (Mark) explained the reasons for the delay and that the reason for the glitch is actually because I'd upgraded in error, as I was using a wowcher voucher which did not cover the upgrade. He accepted their error, apologised sincerely and corrected the error, all in the space of 24 hours.

The new photobook arrived very quickly and is in immaculate condition. The photobook was a gift for my friends wedding photos and she and her new husband are over the moon. Products like this are invaluable and credit goes to Smiley Hippo.

I'd definitely recommend Smiley Hippo and their services and will be happy to use them myself in the future.

Purchased the hard back photo book and highly delighted with the quality of it. Lovely pictures (they were nearly on taken on an I phone, not an actual camera, so very happy they have turned out so well - have given up previously with some sites as they were so complicated! ie. I bought the personalised cushions from Dipinto, but they reject the pics saying not the right quality, and I couldn't get hold of them to get a refund!).
However this Company I highly recommend. The book is a good size and so are the pictures. I am not very 'tech' but I found the site very easy to understand and once I'd got the hang of it, there was a lot of things you could do, adding backgrounds, text etc to make your book a little different. It took a couple of weeks to arrive which considering the work involved I think is ok, packaged well, and they sent me a voucher for money off next purchase.
Very happy with the site and product but I cannot comment on the customer service as I didn't need to contact them.
Will definitely be using again.

Ordered photobook on the 20th of June, 2018. Personally received it on the 30th of August, 2018 - approximately 10 weeks later. Phoned, and sent numerous emails. In two emails I specifically asked Customer Service for the name and contact details of the manager. I am still awaiting these.

I ordered a photobook from Smiley Hippo on 6th August. It wasn't cheap but we had used them before for a calendar which was quite good. After submission didn't get an email or anything confirming when to expect the order but all the other photobooks I've had (from different companies) have taken about 5 days so on 12th August I emailed and asked for an update.
The following day I received an email back saying they took 7-9 days and was due "around the middle to the end of this week." On 17th August I had still had nothing from them so I telephoned during normal working hours, to receive a message saying I should "call within normal working hours"! I left a message and followed up with an email - to which I never received a response.
The book arrived yesterday - 18 days after it was ordered and I am really upset - the product is awful! The photos are really washed out and the colour has been altered (incorrectly!) on many of them and a lot of the pictures look blurry even though some are taken by a professional and they are all perfectly fine when I print them myself at home! I am really upset as it was meant to be a fantastic record of a big birthday year for me and my Dad and it's not even worth looking at.

Placed an order 5 weeks ago and it's only just arrived. I had to call, email and web chat them finally mentioning the small claims court.
I have not had a single response from them.
Previous prints have been fine these are terrible! Blurred and poorly printed, very amateur for £200 . Had another web chat yesterday "someone will contact us". I'm not holding my breath.

Would absolutely have given a zero rating if possible. Waiting a month for 2 orders then told the company had experienced difficulties.Now , I've got an email with one book sent and one book not. I bought these with wowchers and now realise why they were on offer. Don't be fooled into thinking your saving money, with this company , your getting added s
tress and incompetence for free.Massively unprofessional.

Ordered 3 weeks before farthers day now the 28th of June still not received, Untrustworthy, unreliable, no communication skills, AVOID

Would give zero stars if I could. Ordered on basis of seven working days delivery, then told nine working days delivery, and still nothing well after this time. Was told ‘your order will be fulfilled’ and ‘we’ll get back to you in a few days’. A FEW DAYS! Customer Service number is either constantly engaged or no longer in use - either trying to deal with so many complaints or that they’re crooks. AVOID! I’ll be taking this further, now have no photobook for family member’s 70th birthday present. Absolutely livid!