Shutterfly
Good thing I double checked the subject line of this as I typed Shitterfly by accident...
Although that's my sentiments on them at the moment so maybe it was a bit of a not-so-Freudian slip.
I ordered over a years worth of pictures from them the other day - 892 prints total. I really need to start ordering along the way but my new process seems to be download as I go along, then order one big batch sometime between February and April (according to my order history at least).
Anyway, I spent a ridiculous amount of time going through albums and albums and albums worth of pictures that I had uploaded, saving copies of the pictures I wanted to a separate folder. Then I saw that Shutterfly was having a sale on the app where all 4x6 prints were free, just pay shipping.
Perfect.
Except, not so much. I got my order in the mail the other day and... almost every.single.picture is either grainy or pixelated. Like every.single.one.
I was so disappointed. I have never actually complained to a company before but I contacted them today to tell them that there was a problem with my order; I did it through the online chat option.
At first the woman was like "Oh, that's a resolution problem. Your resolution was set too low." I told her that I didnt get a resolution warning (for starters) but 98% of the pictures were taken with a dslr camera, not my phone. She went right back to my resolution being too low. I told her - based on the shutterfly website itself - that the resolution was 3008x2000 for each of the dslr pictures and every place I looked up said that this is a good (if not excellant) resolution for 4x6 prints.
So now she went in the other direction and said the resolution & megapixels were too HIGH for the prints. Wait, huh? 6 megapixels is too HIGH for a 4x6? I told her that I had prints made at Costco of some of the same pictures in this batch and they came out very nicely. She said she'd give me a CREDIT for the shipping costs I put out. Um, ok. But that wont even cover HALF of the prints I ordered at regular price...
She put me on "hold" for a bit to do, whatever, I dont know then came back and said I should go back and either pick NEW prints to order and/or change the resolution on the original order.
892 prints need the resolution changed? And again, there is no resolution warning.. to which she said "Oh it wont come up if the resolution is too high". Sounds like a good warning system there, heh.
In the end, after a bit of back and forth, she said she would give me credit for all the pictures along with a free shipping credit - but that I should order through the actual desktop version rather than the app.
Sounds to me like the app may not be up to par. However, I did tell the issue to one of the girls that I work here with and she said she hasnt gotten a good order of pictures in a long while from Shutterfly - they all come out grainy and pixelated. She's been using TinyPrints instead.
Ugh... thinking back now, I remember getting a pretty big batch last year that wasnt very clear, but I assumed it was my error in downloading each picture I wanted to order into a folder onto my computer (off of the website) then re-uploading them to a separate folder to make the order (rather than go through each individual folder and put pic by pic into the cart).
Now I'm kind of kicking myself that I didnt just ask for a complete refund. I would have even sent the pics back if needed. I expected these really nice pictures - when what I got was barely point and shoot quality. Pffft. Plus I'm stuck between wondering if I should just reorder the big batch all at once and pray for the best... or should I order a few and see if they even come out ok... if I order a few though I imagine I wont get the credit back if the small batch comes back crappy... if I order the same exact batch all at once again and it comes out terrible again I guess I have a better leg to stand on to get my money back - then I can just take my prints over to Costco to be printed. Which I think I'll just start doing from now on anyway.
Although that's my sentiments on them at the moment so maybe it was a bit of a not-so-Freudian slip.
I ordered over a years worth of pictures from them the other day - 892 prints total. I really need to start ordering along the way but my new process seems to be download as I go along, then order one big batch sometime between February and April (according to my order history at least).
Anyway, I spent a ridiculous amount of time going through albums and albums and albums worth of pictures that I had uploaded, saving copies of the pictures I wanted to a separate folder. Then I saw that Shutterfly was having a sale on the app where all 4x6 prints were free, just pay shipping.
Perfect.
Except, not so much. I got my order in the mail the other day and... almost every.single.picture is either grainy or pixelated. Like every.single.one.
I was so disappointed. I have never actually complained to a company before but I contacted them today to tell them that there was a problem with my order; I did it through the online chat option.
At first the woman was like "Oh, that's a resolution problem. Your resolution was set too low." I told her that I didnt get a resolution warning (for starters) but 98% of the pictures were taken with a dslr camera, not my phone. She went right back to my resolution being too low. I told her - based on the shutterfly website itself - that the resolution was 3008x2000 for each of the dslr pictures and every place I looked up said that this is a good (if not excellant) resolution for 4x6 prints.
So now she went in the other direction and said the resolution & megapixels were too HIGH for the prints. Wait, huh? 6 megapixels is too HIGH for a 4x6? I told her that I had prints made at Costco of some of the same pictures in this batch and they came out very nicely. She said she'd give me a CREDIT for the shipping costs I put out. Um, ok. But that wont even cover HALF of the prints I ordered at regular price...
She put me on "hold" for a bit to do, whatever, I dont know then came back and said I should go back and either pick NEW prints to order and/or change the resolution on the original order.
892 prints need the resolution changed? And again, there is no resolution warning.. to which she said "Oh it wont come up if the resolution is too high". Sounds like a good warning system there, heh.
In the end, after a bit of back and forth, she said she would give me credit for all the pictures along with a free shipping credit - but that I should order through the actual desktop version rather than the app.
Sounds to me like the app may not be up to par. However, I did tell the issue to one of the girls that I work here with and she said she hasnt gotten a good order of pictures in a long while from Shutterfly - they all come out grainy and pixelated. She's been using TinyPrints instead.
Ugh... thinking back now, I remember getting a pretty big batch last year that wasnt very clear, but I assumed it was my error in downloading each picture I wanted to order into a folder onto my computer (off of the website) then re-uploading them to a separate folder to make the order (rather than go through each individual folder and put pic by pic into the cart).
Now I'm kind of kicking myself that I didnt just ask for a complete refund. I would have even sent the pics back if needed. I expected these really nice pictures - when what I got was barely point and shoot quality. Pffft. Plus I'm stuck between wondering if I should just reorder the big batch all at once and pray for the best... or should I order a few and see if they even come out ok... if I order a few though I imagine I wont get the credit back if the small batch comes back crappy... if I order the same exact batch all at once again and it comes out terrible again I guess I have a better leg to stand on to get my money back - then I can just take my prints over to Costco to be printed. Which I think I'll just start doing from now on anyway.