Photobox - what is their concept of Customer Service?

Photobox weren't the cheapest option for a couple of photo books, but I thought that by going to a brand leader, one might at least expect competent performance.

Two books received - one with scoring across half of the pages, which any competent Quality Control process should have picked up.

And both books have photos with white lines down the edge (which is horrible against the black background we chose) - in one case, we now realise it was visible on the preview (so our fault), but not in the other three cases where the preview looked absolutely fine.

An online complaint made on Wednesday received the promise of a response by end of Friday (not really very impressive for a business selling gifts which are likely to be time-sensitive) - but Photobox failed to honour even that deadline. With a bank holiday weekend it will be the next Tuesday before we can even call them as their Customer Service is an office-hours-only affair.

So, my tentative conclusions:

• Photobox software does not provide a reliable means of checking the quality of the book you have designed
• Photobox do not do either an automatic or a manual check of the design you have uploaded to check for obvious errors (or at least, not for the white lines down the edge of photos)
• Photobox do not have a reliable Quality Control process to pick up manufacturing faults before despatch
• Photobox are mean in the hours over which they offer Customer Service access, and very slow in responding to online complaints

Other than that, they seem fine!

Mypix - case study in deterring feedback

I was trying to decide which supplier to use for a PhotoBook project, when Mypix sent me a promotion that seemed just right.

Everything looked fine, until I read in the description "You tell your own story using text and photos on the top quality satin pages inside (170 g/m²). All you've got to do is slide your photos in. "

Suddenly, I felt that I didn't understand their product. Satin pages at 170 g/m² fitted with my expectation of a product where I uploaded photos and perhaps text, and they printed them onto pages which they bound into a book. Everything else fitted with this, except the last sentence: All you've got to do is slide your photos in.

Was this a bad translation (MyPix is based in France) - where "slide your photos in" refers to the process of designing your pages onscreen? Or are they actually offering to send you a book with text printed on pages with transparent sleeves, and a pack of appropriately-sized photos that you then "slide" into the sleeves - not at all the same product (and hard to match with the "satin" description).

The obvious solution was to ask Mypix - if it was a product with a major disadvantage that they wanted to gloss over, then at least I would know, and if it was a bad translation then I could buy this otherwise-perfect offer and could even suggest that they do me an extra-special deal in thanks for the future sales I was saving them from losing.

But it looks as if I will never know - because MyPix only want feedback on their terms. I am free to write to them in France. I can phone them at a premium rate. Or I can send them an email about my existing order with them or difficulties uploading pictures. But helpful feedback that might help them losing sales? Not welcome. There is no method offered to send them an email unless it fits one of their very limited range of subjects on which they are happy to be contacted.

So Mypix aren't going to get my feedback and can merrily go on confusing (and perhaps unnecessarily turning away) potential customers, comfortable in ignorance. If they are privately owned, then I guess that arrogance is a luxury that their owners are free to indulge in at their own expense. But if they are a public company, then I would think their shareholders might be a bit upset to see their earnings potential depressed by such an approach.