Hi All,

What a frustrating day.

A customer came on to us a week or so ago wanting some satin black plastic cards with two ink colours quantity of 200. We prepared a couple of emails proof for him with slight variations at his request and he approved the email proof and confirmed he wanted to order 200 cards. We processed his payment and order and started the first steps in the manufacturing process e.g. ordered the printing plates.

The day after the order has been placed the customer emailed to say he wants to increase the order to 500 cards, well we were literally about to print his order (we order the printing plates on a next day delivery service) so this was going to cause problems as we could not hold up production whilst waiting for him to confirm the quantity increase/price increase. We emailed back the cost to increase and said we needed to know in the next hour, we heard nothing so phoned on both landline and mobile numbers but there was no answer.

Eventually the customer phoned us back to say he wanted to go ahead but unfortunately the first ink on his job had been printed and second ink was set up and to set up the machine again for the first print would disrupt the production process.

Unfortunately the customer could not see the problem at all and still wanted to upgrade the quantity, I kept saying that it was not possible but he got very cross with me and say he would not order any more cards from us.

I do feel sorry for the customer but if he had ordered 500 in the first place there would be no problem or if he had got back to us in the time period we asked him to it would have been ok.

I think he was so cross as the price difference between 200 cards and 500 cards is not a lot different however we do make our pricing very clear, it is even included on the actual email proofs and he had of mentioned earlier about the increase it would have been ok.

This customer is very cross with us but realistically what more could we have done, the customer told us what quantity he wanted to order, we make out prices as clear as possible and we gave him chance to upgrade the quantity.

Any suggestions on a post card to Po Box……….!

Unfortunately I feel that we have lost any future orders from this customer but I do not feel it is our fault – thats life I guess! We obviously wish him all the best with another supplier in the future, perhaps he will think a little harder about which quantity to order in the future, just a shame we are penalised as he did not do this for us.

Hi All,

As I am sure you all realise we have had a little sprinkling of snow recently. Little is a vast under statement in some areas.

Our Scottish customer have and will continue to be affected by delayed deliveries due to the snow as the courier companies can not access some parts. The courier company has assured us that they will deliver as much as they possibly can however you obviously know what the weather is like near you so common sense will have to used here.

One customer contacted us yesterday, she had ordered 1000 x satin black plastic cards, which she had not been received. She was very understanding and pointed out she was aware it was due to the snow but just wanted to let us know. Hopefully she will be very pleased with her cards once she receives them – possibly in a few days.

Bye for now and keep warm!

Whilst speaking to a number of different customers today, it is apparent that a lot of people are down in the dumps, this seems to stem from the cold weather and short days. I though I would try to think of a few reasons why we should try to like the winter season and have come up with the following:

Different and possibly unusual birdies in the garden

Christmas holiday – woo hooo 2 weeks off work

Getting to make a snowman or have a snowball fight

Enjoying feeling cosy inside, especial if you have a log burner

Not having to mow the lawn

It is the best time of the year to use hot tubs, if you are lucky enough to own one. If you don’t try hiring on and give it a go! A great way to enjoy the garden in the cold weather.

Spring is just around the corner and is something to look forward to – time to plant your bulbs if you haven’t already

Seeing the Christmas lights switched on in your village

Appreciating the walk to the pub as your greeted by a roaring fire

Prettier views – if you go out for a walk as the tree / hedge foliage is not masking what is behind it, its amazing how much more you notice when the greenery is not there

Less plane noise overhead – can never get my head around why people seem to go on holiday more in the summer, surely it would make sense to go to warmer countries in the winter and make the most of the UK summer

Christmas markets e.g. the German one in Manchester, just great

Temporary ice skating rinks which open in some villages – outdoor ice skating, nothing better….apart from hot tubs

… and finally you can use you full colour solid plastic cards as an ice scraper on your car!

If you can think of any other reasons to be cheery in the winter please add them to this blog, we all need a boost from time to time, lets think ourselves lucky for what we do have and stop moaning!

Hi All,

Where has this week gone?! I guess thats what happens when your busy …… time flies.

We have had a lot of orders for our frosted clear cards this week, with a lot of customers needing them very very quickly. unfortunately we can only please so many people however we do let customers know when they are looking to place an order whether we can meet there deadline.

One of the orders which was needed really quickly was a quantity of 250 frosted clear cards for a repeat customer with two ink colours. The order was placed on the Thursday 6th May and we dispatch the order on Tuesday 11th May.

Very very occasionally we have problems with the printing plates for the frosted clear cards which means the order will be delayed as the plate will need to be re-made. We explain this to any customer who have tight deadlined. Luckily on the occasion mentioned about the printing plate was fine and the cards arrived safely with the customer. The customer phoned to confirm they had arrived safely and to express his appreciation. Its always nice when customers go out of there way to say thank you.

Bye bye for now.

Hi All,

Our bureau personlisation service is proving to be very popular this month, we have had 5 new customers already. We may have to take on additional staff to cover the extra work.

Talking of the bureau service we have a long standing customer who first contacted us in early 2007 and have been a customer since then, wow 3 years has really gone by quickly. They typically order approx 30 cards each week and every now and again a large batch, presumable the larger batches occur due to a membership drive or a lot of renewals happening at the same time. From speaking to this customer our service really helps them to promote there membership scheme and ensures that members feel valued with a personlised card. Its also helpful for our customer as when there members phone up they usually have there membership number to hand as we also print this on the cards for them.

If you are interested in our bureau personlisation service more information and a quotation can be found /here

Place your bureau order sooner rather than later in case we reach capacity.

Bye for now

Hi All,

We have found over the past 6 months or so that customers often email artwork in which isn’t quite to the correct specifications. We have recently updated our artwork specifications for all the products we offer including the full colour solid plastic and frosted clear plastic cards. This is to try and help customers understand how to send the artwork in to us. This is to ensure that the customers obtain the best end result possible. Further details can be found here

If customers are unable to provide artwork to the correct specifications, we offer a design service where we take the customers ideas and put them in to a print ready format. If you require this service please email over as much information as you can e.g. logos, wording, colourings, layout etc and we will pop a quote back to you. Also please let us know the product and quantity you require so we can quote for everything for you.

We hope the new artwork specifications help. If you have any further improvements to recommend please drop us a line.

Bye for now

Hi all, We have had a few requests for our plastic cards recently which have been for things we haven’t done before.

For example we had a New Home / new address card today, what a great idea, no excuses for relatives to send birthday cards to your old address!

Other recent orders have been for: Christening parties Save the date cards for weddings House warming party Retirement party Surprise 50th Birthday bash If you are having an event and want to ensure all details are clear try our full colour solid plastic cards.

The other thing to remember with the plastic cards, that if you are giving them out to your friends in the pub, that they easily fit into wallets and purses for easy storage.

Bye for now.

Hi All,

Well its Monday again, its come round far too quickly! We have been relatively quiet today however the plastic cards orders we have got in are all needed asap.

I think it is going to be one of those weeks. One order which was proof approved this morning is for a quantity of 2000 x 760 micron full colour plastic cards with encoded magnetic strips which needs to be dispatched on Wednesday. It is do-able, just, however there is no room for anything unexpected to happen. Fingers crossed for us please, this one is going to be tight.

Bye for now and roll on Friday 🙂

Hi All,

There has been a little confusion with a few customers recently regarding the postal proofs for the full colour solid plastic cards. I just wanted to reiterate that the postal proofs are actual finished plastic cards printed the same way as the full order will be printed.

Some customers think they will just be a print out from a desk top printer and others seems confused on receipt of the postal proof that they are better than they expected so were querying whether they would match the full order.

Just to set everyones minds at rest, they will be the same as the full order (with the exception that any optional extras such as signature panels which may not be present on your postal proof, just for speed to get them to you quickly)

Any queries please let us know.

Hi All, Following my earlier post regarding postal proof for the full colour solid plastic cards, I also wanted to double check that you are aware that postal proofs are also available with the key cards (these measure 86mm x 54mm).

The postal proofs are really great as they allow you to double check the final product before we print the full order.

A lot of customers order the key cards with barcodes, these will be present on your postal proof so that you can double check they scan correctly for you. Hope this helps to clarify things.