A tale of one customer's experience with Zazzle.com

Great designs, great price, fast shipping, crappy service at lower level/front lines but it all worked out.

Ok ladies in a nutshell here's what happened. I customized these gorgeous Save the Date cards (below) and decided it was worth the risk to order from the US, and incur additional shipping costs plus duty in order to get them. The cost per card was just over $1 each so I thought no big deal. And I love the design.

Not 5 min. after processing payment I realized that the chandelier I was trying to match the font to, was actually BROWN and not black. Which is better actually because our palette involves brown and not black, but I had used black font and now it looked unprofessional and unstreamlined. I am very visual and have done a fair bit of art direction in my career, so working with images and making sure that the whole look/feel is cohesive and perfect before anytihng goes out is just in my blood now. I can't, in good faith, send these babies out as is.

So within seconds of realizing this (again just 5 minutes post-order on a Fri. or Sat. night when I know they won't go to print until Monday), I go back into my Zazzle account to update the file to the correct colour font. I contact Zazzle immediately by email (their phone number which is toll free, does not work from Canada - how convenient).

I specifically request they NOT send this to print as is, and that they please use the most recent version of the file attached to my account and NOT the one attached to the original order.

I get a message back 2 days later (Monday) saying that "we're sorry but you only have 2 hours to fix anything on your order and after that you're locked in." EXCUSE ME?!? I've been trying to fix this since 5 minutes after placing the order!! They tell me there is nothing they can do. They are now forcing me to receive this item, to incur the cost of shipping + duty, and to incur yet another shipping cost to ship it back should I wish for a refund of the item. It's not like it was already in transit. They still had it in production (if that's even accurate) at their facility - it had not yet been shipped!!

So STOP production. They won't. They say I "have" to receive it but that "if" I am not happy (of course I am not, I don't even want to receive it as is!) I can return it for a full refund (less the cost of shipping oh AND I am responsible for paying return shipping on the item too, did I mention?!?!?

So that's $36.99 USD lost for shipping it TO me when I specifically said it's wrong, do NOT send me that version. And then another cost of shipping to return it. And they think I'm going to re-order from them!?!?

I considered re-ordering the correct version only because I love the design of it and I put so much time already into creating and customizing these, but I would ONLY do that, if I was guaranteed they'd waive the shipping cost ($36.99!!) to re-send me the 2nd order. I am NOT losing $36.99 on the first order, incurring the cost of the return shipping, and also paying $36.99 AGAIN to receive a 2nd order, no sir, no way, no how.

I emailed the request that they waive the shipping cost yesterday afternoon and have not heard back. It's been almost 24 hours. I sent a follow up a few hours ago and still have not yet heard back. I am assuming they are not going to cooperate with me on this and therefore obviously don't need or want my business that bad.

This is a company I most certainly DO NOT recommend ladies. I was so excited when I found how great their website is, how awesome the concept of what they have to offer is, but the service outright SUCKS. There are better run companies out there who work way harder to earn your hard earned cash, I highly recommend you take your business to them and NOT Zazzle.

*getting off my soap box now*

I'll let you know how they look in person when I receive them.

In the meantime if you are thinking about doing business with Zazzle or had a bad experience and just looking for others to commiserate with, go here for reviews of both product/service from Zazzle. Clearly, offering anything close to what most would consider "good" service is NOT their strong suit.

While the internet has enabled an entire generation of work from home entrepreneurs who have created their own success because of the substandard requirements for operating a business online, from the consumer standpoint it irks me that online anyone can call themselves a business even if they don't abide by what have become standard business ethics in today's consumer driven marketplace. Like fixing customer problems when they occur instead of making them worse, or replying to inquiries in a timely manner.

Anyway, off to check out Wedding Paper Divas. Stay tuned.

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UPDATE:

So I received a message from a senior CSR (supervisor?) at Zazzle, thanking me for my message (but not apologizing at all for any inconvenience I've endured nor accepting responsibility for the frustration I've been caused), and saying:

"I have been escalated this case for resolve. I would advise you refuse the parcel and avoid any duties. Please let me know if this can still be done. If not, we will work with you on other ideas. If you can refuse it, please let me know and I will refund your order in full, allowing you to place a corrected order at your convenience."

I replied to ask if "refunding in full" meant I would also be refunded the cost of shipping the item and am awaiting reply on that (will be another 5 hours or more I'm sure, before I get reply).

I told him I would only reorder if the cost of shipping was waived. We'll see if they care about my satisfaction that much once I hear back.

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UPDATE 2:

Zazzle's reply

"Please contact your local Post office, advise them you do not want to receive your parcel from zazzle.com. This will ensure you are not held responsible for said duties. The reason we were unable to stop your original order is due to our processing time. Since cards can be produced so quickly, stopping them after they have entered production in not an option.

Generally we accommodate the original parcel/order in question; offering an option of refusal is best since you will not have to pay to send it back, and you will not be paying duties in accepting it. The parcel is then considered an abandon; Zazzle will not get it back after producing and shipping it. For this reason accommodating a future order is not an option. Thank you for your understanding."

My Reply is too long to post here but in a nutshell I told them they don't know how to run a business, told them that if they had been smart they would notice that I was ordering printed goods for an upcoming wedding and would also have needed invitations, thank you cards and possibly other items to be printed by them had they made any effort at all to ensure my satisfaction but they didn't, so they have lost my business. The clincer is the part that says "we can only accommodate the order in question we cannot accommodate your future orders." Pardon me?!? That is ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times businesses I have worked with in the past have offered discounts on future orders or purchases to compensate for a customer's trouble on a past order.

Anyway I won't be doing business with them again. I am going to refuse the order when I get it, and be done with it. They are going to refund my order in full (they better!). I am waiting to find out if that means the shipping I paid will be refunded as well. It better be!

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UPDATE 3

So I received a call from zazzle yesterday, a manager I gather, wanting to make things right. Said the guy who had been dealing with my correspondence (the guy who had taken over from the original CSR because the case had been "escalated" to him due to the issues), had said he thought he better deal with it and passed it onto him.

This guy finally seemed to be empathetic to the situation and acknowledged it had not been handled properly in the first place and apologized for that. Thank you Eduardo Sanchez! :) He quickly made arrangements for the re-order of my items at no additional shipping or duty cost to me whatsoever - he said Zazzle will absorb those costs and he will ensure they are prepaid before my order goes out. So I should receive my cards early next week! YAY!

I love when things go right. I just wish it hadn't taken for me to make a huge stink to get the issue resolved and to get Zazzle to take accountability for where THEY had gone wrong. The original order should never have been shipped in the first place - they should have just held it back and printed the correct file as per my request.

Anyway a happy ending. I think? Stay tuned for the arrival of the cards.

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UPDATE 4

I just logged into Zazzle and see that my most recent order is showing as being printed in a quantity of ONE (I need 65!) and that it's being shipped STANDARD and not EXPRESS as per discussion with the guy who was supposed to be making this right for me, and furthermore there is a price attached to it, which says it's being paid on my credit card (though has not been posted to my CC account yet with the bank). The fee is just $4.93 USD but still. I was told I would not be charged ANY additional fees. What are they pulling here?

I emailed Eduardo and am currently awaiting reply. If they don't get it right today I'm going to cancel and demand refund because as it is if they don't go out to my guests by end of next week there is NO point in sending them at all since invites go out in another month or 2. No point at all. I'd rather save my $$ in that case. And the headache. Again, stay tuned.