Shutterfly...very unhappy :(

rachjim

I just received my engagement photo album from Shutterfly today, and I must say, I am VERY disappointed! The album was the biggest they had, yet the photos were so small. The quality of the print of the pictures was very poor..some were blurry, some had spots or scratches on them. It's nice to have it, but it is NOT what I expected AT ALL! Thankfully, I had several coupons and only had to pay about $17 total, but I wish I would have went with another company.

midnightpixi

Oh, no!  We're doing our wedding book through them, too... I wonder how it will turn out...  

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience!  I saw, though, that they have a money-back guarantee-- Is it too late to try to send it back/get a refund/etc? 

Best of luck!!

rachjim

I'm not sure...I was so excited to get it and I worked SO hard on it...took me like a week. I sent them a rather lengthy e-mail going over every page that I had an issue with, and the cover is very scratched up as well. I know my photos did not look that that..they were taken by two professional photographers, and I have all the pictures anyway...some were blurry, some were very discolored, some the skin was splotchy, and some looked scratched or something. So sad. I'll let you know if I hear back from them. I actually talked to a co-worker and she had a bad experience with them too, and she said the customer service was very rude to her. I'm not usually a complainer, but this is somewhat of a big deal to me.

morainemom

I would call the 800 customer service number and talk to a representative.

I had a little smear on one page of my 102 page book of my daughter's wedding.  I called to see how I could remove the smudge safely and they sent me a new book and told me to keep the old one!

Regarding the size of the photos - it sounds as though you may have chosen some layouts with small boxes for the photos. 

The blurriness of the photos could be caused by having low resolution photos - these will cause the photos to be blurry, especially if you chose some larger photo sizes in the book.

I have been using Shutterfly for 18 months now - I really like the company and their customer service.  As I stated above, call the 800 number and tell the representative your dissatisfaction and hopefully they will be able to help you resolve the issue. 

midnightpixi

I'm so sorry, Rachjim  -- I agree, it's a big deal!  It's good to hear, moreainemom, that you had a good experience with them!  

I'm just waiting to get my final e-pics before sending my book off to print (though, our wedding isn't until September 2011.. so i have a big buffer.. lol) 

I think I'll still go through them.. just because the book is (essentially) done-- it's about 100 pages long, and that would be a huge amount of work to redo.

Keep us posted, Rachjim-- I'd love to hear if you have a good experience with the 800 number!

latty27

" The quality of the print of the pictures was very poor..some were blurry, some had spots or scratches on them."
The blurry photos are probably your photographers fault. The quality of the print of the pictures are also your photographers fault. You were probably using low resolution jpeg images. Higher quality JPEG or TIFF images will not pixelate when enlarged. 
We did our photobook through shutterfly and it came out super cute. I would contact your photograher and tell them that you want higher quality JPEGS or if you have photoshop request TIFF images. (i went to school for photography for 3 years).
Trust me - it is not shutterflys fault. 

rachjim

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_photos-video_shutterflyvery-unhappy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:30Discussion:42511301-f641-41f6-b761-9c6660d33c9cPost:1282b304-b117-45b7-8981-96c3a7edf444">Re: Shutterfly...very unhappy :(</a>:
[QUOTE]"  The quality of the print of the pictures was very poor..some were blurry, some had spots or scratches on them." The blurry photos are probably your photographers fault. The quality of the print of the pictures are also your photographers fault. You were probably using low resolution jpeg images. Higher quality JPEG or TIFF images will not pixelate when enlarged.  We did our photobook through shutterfly and it came out super cute. I would contact your photograher and tell them that you want higher quality JPEGS or if you have photoshop request TIFF images. (i went to school for photography for 3 years). Trust me - it is not shutterflys fault. 
Posted by latty27[/QUOTE]

 No, it was not the photographers's fault. I have the copyrights and all the photos and only one picture is blurry (due to shadowing), which I told Shutterfly that I knew that one was not their mistake. Besides the blurry photos, there were photos that were extremely discolored, the wording was off, and the binding on the outside of the book was awful...it looked old and used. I took it to work and co-workers noticed it before I said anything.

Anyway, they did give me a credit for a new book to replace this one and said they would make changes on their end. When I went to order it, it charged me like $10 in shipping. Unacceptable! I e-mailed the gentleman and he did take it off. I will say that he has been very nice...once I repeated that I own the copyrights to all photos and I know personally that they were not in this shape originally. I'm still waiting for my new book to be delivered to my house. Very anxious! :)

rachjim

Also, to add on to that...I have spoken to several people now that have also had bad experiences with Shutterfly. I understand that no company is perfect, but don't say that you know for a fact it is not their fault when you really don't.

latty27

you're right, i did some more research and it could have been they're fault too, but it should be pretty rare. sorry if that came across poorly. 

rachjim

No problem. I'm just frustrated with the whole situation. Kinda stinks. We'll see what I get in the mail here soon!

melliott09

I've used them for years, and 99% of the time I am so happy with their work, but it can happen and things could turn out poorly.

I've contacted them numerous times in the past and they have always worked through my issues!

Glad to see they followed through and you will be getting a new book!!

HaveAGoodDay

For anyone considering making their own wedding album, take a look at ...

http://www.wedesignalbums.com

You provide the images (either upload online or mail a high resolution CD).  They will design a custom album for you.  Once you approve the final design, the images are printed, the album assembled and shipped directly to you.

These are not the magazine style pages, these are the hard mounted pages bound in a flushmount/coffee table style album.  You can choose from many sizes, colors and even an acrylic cover.  These are the same albums many photographers provide to their brides.

Everything is done here in the U.S., so the turn around time is 2-3 weeks total.  You can also call and talk to a real person if you have any questions.

You will not be disappointed!

Good luck.