Re: [FWDLK] Calendar Printers Needed
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Re: [FWDLK] Calendar Printers Needed



Title: Message
Hi All,
 
Since Brian has said my decription of the printing problems is 'incomplete', I will add a copy of my letter to the print company (dated May 11, 2003) to the end of this email.  It tells the rest of the story, and I hope this discussion ends here.
 
I'm sorry Brian had to bring this up, since neither Brian's nor the Printing company's name was -never- mentioned.  The reason we did not have a calendar last year, was I did not want to go through this nightmare again.  That is why I was asking for a printer who would actually conform to the specific guidelines in that email.  The reason I asked for someone who would specifically stand up to support the printer in the event of any problems, is because Brian would not.
 
And as for "resulted in the printer refusing to do any further business with him", that's actually laughable since I never approached them with any other print job -- why would I after the last fiasco?
 
I'm glad to see Brian passionately support this printer, but bear in mind he refused to get involved when we were in the middle of this whole mess? 
 
-Dave
 
(Faxed May 12, 2003 12:30 AM to (***) ***-****)
 
Dear  [Print Shop Name] : 
 
 
Enclosed is payment for the 2003 Forward Look Calendar order.
 
The amount is less than the amount on the invoice for several reasons that are enumerated below.  We are considering this payment as payment in full.  Depositing or cashing this check will constitute agreement to these terms.
 
Lack of Communication and the Delays:
 
On December 6th before we overnighted M*** H*****  the CD containing the final and complete layout of the calendar, we asked him if it would still be possible to have the job completed by the end of 2002; his answer was "not a problem".  The CD was mailed December 7th.  According to the tracking information, M***  had the files on December 9th.
 
Now, if the calendars were a few days, or even a couple of weeks late, the timeliness would not have been much of an issue.  We know the Publisher files CD was sent rather late, but M***  was aware of the situation all through November and December.  We have his emails that prove this.
 
We also have emails from M***  stating that they did not even start looking at the calendar files until January.  Never was the delay communicated to us, nor were any of my phone calls returned during December.
 
The first communications we received about the lateness of the calendar were from M***  (Jan 4th):  “I apologize for not contacting you sooner. We had an extraordinarily busy December and I've had some technical difficulties with Publisher 2002 and our imagesetter system. We plan to have the imagesetter up and running today and I will be working on the calendar this weekend and with any luck we will have it on the press next week.”
 
We both are aware that you had a problem with your presses that required two days to clean.  We are both also aware that you had difficulties with the color separations.  Based on the time from when we were notified of the separation problems, and the date on which you mentioned the calendar was on the press, nearly two months went by.  We have a difficult time believing that you worked on this problem all day long for two straight months.  It appears as if a job that was already late was “put on the back burner”, making the completion date even later still.
 
I gave these files to our graphic designer at work, and she was able to make color separations in about 30 seconds, so we are unaware of what your exact problem was.  But whatever the problem was, there was no communication of the problem, the status, or the resolution as time dragged on. 
 
Quality Issues:
 
When the first 25 calendars arrived, this graphic designer also pointed out that the colors on a few months were not in good alignment.  You can notice it easily when looking at the dates in blue on the calendar portion of the lower page; they are fuzzy.  She told me that if we were having these printed for one of our clients, our company would have rejected them due to this.  However, we are not penalizing nor complaining about the quality.  It is sufficient for our needs.
 
Another issue is the printing error on the "About the FLML" page.  What should be a transparent oval GIF, is instead an oval in a large white rectangle.  This is not a huge problem, but it could have easily been prevented if we had been provided with a proof as in the past; we were not.
 
Pricing:
 
Our payment calculation comes to this:  Since no notification of the price increase over the previous year’s job was given until after the first claimed shipment date, we, as the purchaser, did not have any choice in whether or not we would accept the terms of this job – also known as ‘the right to refusal’.  At $7.81 per calendar, we would have chosen a different printing company.  No notification was given that the terms of the job were dependent on the cost of neither your films nor your time, so they may not be used as justification for the higher price.
 
Therefore, the commonly accepted reasonable and established price for the terms of this job falls to the historical price per item as set per terms of the previous year’s agreement.
 
A calendar must be, by its very definition, timely.  Any delay in receiving the calendars would result in portions of the calendar being essentially useless.  As the calendars were not received until March 13th, approximately 2 ½ months (or 20.8%) of the usefulness of the calendar has expired and cannot be paid for.
 
There were 28 refunded pre-sales due to the very late delivery.  We are therefore stuck with 28 extra units of the original 400 ordered.  Since you provided 40 extra copies above what was ordered, we will consider those extras as the compensation for lost sales.
 
No cost for our time to answer over 250 emails to explain the late delivery of the calendar has been considered in this calculation.
 
The cost for dealing with an investigation by PayPal for “fraud” instigated by a customer angry over the late delivery has been considered in this calculation.
 
In previous transactions, shipping costs have been incurred by the seller, and will be considered as such for this transaction as no notification of a change in policy was communicated.
 
Note: At the time when F******  gave us the cost of the calendars over the phone, he asked if we were pleased with the price.  I specifically told him that no, we were not pleased, and gave a few of the reasons why.  F****** stated at that time that he would give us a call back to further discuss the pricing.  To date, F****** has never called.
 
We regret having to take this course of action, but feel we have been left with little choice in this matter.  We hope you understand our position.
 

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