Hi All,

We have had some curious communication from someone recently.

Rather than copying and pasting all the emails I will briefly summarise the correspondence.

The enquiry was for full colour solid plastic cards, specifically requesting Pantone colours and saying how important it is to get the colours right.

We replied saying we do not print with Pantone colours (we print using a CMYK process) and we can not offer colour matching.

The person proceeded to say to go ahead anyway, we assumed they had changed there mind about the colours being important (quite a few customers do this) and proceeded to let him know how to proceed with his order.

We received an email back asking for a free postal proof. We replied saying this is not possible (the postal proofs not to mention the order administration itself obviously take us time and money to produce). This person then phoned up, to go through what had already been discussed via email, they were told the same things again, we do not colour match, we do not print in pantones and we do not offer free postal proofs, the next email we received was even more curious:

“I dont know if you are aware but this lady xxxxx is messing with people big time.

It looks like she doesn’t care about your business, No is her main answer and when I finally speak to her and try to explain what I need she just hung up.Bravo.”

In reply to your email:

1) I am not messing with people big time, I am simply telling you what we can and not not do – this is called honesty. I could fib and promise the world however I am not like this and prefer not to accept your order rather than lie and upset you later down the line.

2) I do indeed care about the business, please refer to answer one above. Perhaps not offering free postal proofs shows how much I care for the business, as I know we can not offer what you want so why waste the companies money by producing one.

3) Regarding my main answer being no, again I know what we can and can not offer, I am just being honest.

4) I did not hang up, the telephone conversation was over and you even said bye. I personally felt the telephone conversation was not constructive as I was just repeating my previous email correspondence (how does this help anyone).

So to conculde, what should we have done in this situation, lied to you, promised you the world and then let you down. Well sorry this just isn’t how we work.

Good luck with other companies, some who will probably fib to you and will frustrate you after you have committed to a order.

Hi all,

We received a quote request / email today which said:

Please could you provide me with a quote for some loyalty cards the specification is:

5000 printed in full colour to both sides

Flat Numbered (not embossed)

2 x Signature strips

and a Magnetic strip – the customer has no data, does this mean they encode the cards themselves?

I just though a would post a quick message about this request, we obviously produce this specification but the final question should be one asked to the customer not us!

We produce cards with magnetic strips all the time, sometimes we encode, sometimes the customer does, sometimes they are never intended to be used & are just for effect and sometimes they are to future proof the cards in case they decide to use them in the future.

Its best to ask the end used what they plan to do as unfortunately we can not second guess this.

Bye for now

Hi All,

Oh dear we made a mistake, a repeat customer ordered 500, 760 micron full colour solid plastic cards with a hole punched and by mistake we printed an old version.

We are currently re-printing and have promised the customer we will dispatch asap.

Luckily the customer has been very understanding about the mistake and sent a lovely email:

No problem at all,

Just what you need on a Friday!

Have a great weekend and thanks for your assistance.

Thank you Mr customer so being so understanding, mistakes happen but hopefully we will make up for it with rectifying the problem asap for you.

Hi All,

Unfortunately we made a mistake with an order this week, just down to human error. We forgot to add signature panels to an order of full colour solid plastic cards.

We re-printed the order the same day the customer told us about the problem and dispatch on a pre-10am delivery.

I was looking on the couriers website for confirmation of delivery which happened at 9.03am today and then emailed a quick note to the customer to ensure all was ok.

We received a lovely reply which was:

Thanks very much – I’ve received the re-print this morning. All appears to be ok – will get in touch if any problems are spotted.

Your quick turnaround of the re-print is very much appreciated. Have been really impressed with your level of customer service

Thank you very very much to this customer for there understand with this mistake.

Bye for now.

Hi All,

We printed some satin frosted clear plastic cards for a customer which were dispatched on Monday, unfortunately the courier did not play there part and only delivered on Wednesday, when delivery should have been on Tuesday. Any how the customer understood that this was out of out control and sent a lovely email to us:

Dear Catherine,

Just to let you know the business cards have just arrived. I am very pleased with the product and would like to thank you and your colleagues.

Highest regards and best wishes,

Thank you to this customer, much appreciated 🙂

Hi All,

In case your not aware its burns night tonight. Most will know that this is typically a Scottish celebration but hey ho any excuse for a celebration e.g. it seems to have spread from just Scotland to further afield now.

Robert burns in case you don’t know was a poet (focusing on the working man) who snuffed it in 1796, I am stating the obvious here but he was…you guessed it…Scottish. He died of a heart condition.

Surprisingly we have printed some burns night invitations which is a first for us. The customer who ordered these tells me that the night involves drinking whisky, reading poems, eating haggis, singing – sounds like fun, we wish you an enjoyable evening.

Have a look on the internet for some of his poems, they are interesting to read.

Happy burns night to you all, Scottish or not 🙂

Hello,

I thought I would start this blog as a lot of customers are asking questions about the special offer for our full colour solid plastic cards.

The point of the special offer is to provide our customers with a cost effective, high quality product for a very very good price. The reason we are doing this is to promote fast, easy to process orders for the company.

Recently we have found a lot of people contact us, not mentioning they are interested in the special offer, asking questions, we provide quotes etc and then they say “oh I’ve seen your special offer would this apply to me”. This really isn’t the idea. The special offer is meant to be quick and efficient for both of us. The website clearly explains what the deal is!

Examples of recent questions are:

Question: Can you provide me with a template for a calendar?

Answer: No you are to provide us with print ready artwork

Question: What is wrong with my artwork?

Answer: We have clearly provided artwork specifications & unfortunately are unable to provide technical guidance

Question: Can you check my artwork before it is submitted?

Answer: No sorry, we do not have any margin in this offer to offer this service however after placing your order if your artwork is not to the correct specification we will inform you of this and ask you to re-submit it.

Question: Is the special offer the same quality / thickness as you quoted me for originally?

Answer: Sorry not sure please check your original quote

Question: Can I have barcodes?

Answer: No sorry

Further questions:

You are very inflexible, why can we not have barcodes with the special offer?

Answer: Because it is a special offer, with no optional extras. Barcodes are an optional extra. A list of all optional extras can be viewed here

If you require any of these optional extras the special offer will not apply to you.

Question: How much extra is it on top of the £99 special offer, to have all cards embossed?

Answer: This is not possible as the special offer is not available with embossing. Embossing is an optional extra.

Question: Can I have a postal proof with the special offer before placing an order?

Answer: No, the special offer is not available with a postal proof, in additional we do not offer postal proofs without the order being placed and confirmed.

If you have any questions regarding the special offer please post them through this blog and we will respond as soon as we can. Alternatively if you would like to read about the special offer please see here (You can place your order through this web page).

Hi All,

Wow the BBC have to cut £46 million pounds from there budget. The BBC say this is due to government cuts but who knows if there is an alternative reason, the sceptic have already started rumors.

A report is due tomorrow, Wed 26th Jan detailing cost cutting measures which will most probably include jobs and programmes. Hope they don’t axe any of my favourites.

We were asked to do some plastic cards for BBC’s top gear this year but in the end they decided to order from somewhere else, probably a Chinese company as they were cheaper but don’t get me started on that topic again as I’ve done it to the death I think the plastic cards were for use as VIP invitations … maybe all the VIP’s decided to stay at home! Personally I like top gear so hope that one is to stay – fingers crossed.

Hi All,

I’ve had a rumor that a new director of communications is required for our government, I think I will send in the post a plastic business card to see if I will be invited to send in my CV. Look at all these wonderful blogs I write, surely I must have a chance?!

What qualities do you feel out director of communications should have, erm..well perhaps a few of the following:

An ability to communicate well with all levels of people

Fine qualifications to ensure good education

What is appropriate to communicate and to who e.g imagine someone who did not know when to keep quiet and the Times getting hold of a juicy story which was meant to be kept private

Someone would can keep calm in even the most stressful situation

Ok, I think I have ruled me out but I’ve still got some posh plastic business cards if anyone wants to see them?!

Hi All,

We received a nice email from a customer today:

As per our last order for plastic cards we are very pleased, top quality,great service, very well priced

We replied saying many thanks!

It’s always nice to receive emails like this 🙂

This particular customer ordered our new special offer of 250 x 760 micron plastic cards for the £99 + VAT including delivery to UK mainland. This customer uses the cards for business cards but we do have some customers who use the special offer for loyalty cards.

Bye for now