Don't bother with PhotoBox

hayleythedaisy

Just a warning as I know people may be making their own photobooks.
Don't bother with photobox.
I ordered a book for a present and paid £18.99 for delivery for the 72 hour guarenteed delivery.
It wasn't delivered in 72 hours and I rang up and was told it's give or take 72 hours, it could be a few hours early or a few hours late.... (Urmmm how is that guarenteed 72 hours!)
While it's not the crime of the century to be late delivering I was appalled by their awful customer service, the book wasn't great and IMO it's not worth the risk incase something is wrong cos they clearly aren't willing to attempt to put it right. (I know there will be people who have been served well by them aswell)
I have seen books from tesco and kodak and they were a much higher quality.

kr15snw

Unfortunately have to disagree. Never had anything but perfect service from them with quick delivery times, good pricing and also brilliant quality. I would say they are far superior quality to that of Tesco.

I also know quite a few photographers that use the site with no problems.

hayleythedaisy

Not quite sure what I wrote for you to disagree with, I was making observations about the experience I had? I did say some people would have been served well.

I've had a closer look at the book and the spine isn't stuck down properly the glue and ragged edge are clearly visable, the front page has bubbles in it where it has not been stuck properly and the back cover has a scratch on it. Not what I expected for a £70 gift.

kr15snw

I diagreed with 'don't bother with photobox' as it's the first bad thing I've ever heard about them.

I didn't mean it in an offensive way, just wanted to share my opinion that I have never known a problem with them!

hayleythedaisy

Oh right ok sorry, I thought you were disagreeing with what had happened! For a minute wondered if you worded for them lol.
I googled them to find an email address to complain to and found that also they sent out unencrypted passwords in emails to people a few weeks back which apparently created a stir.
I guess they are fine if you have the time to put it right if they !!!! up, or if you're not putting too much emphasis on them meeting the service they offer but if it's something that is important and you expect them to perform I wouldn't bother!

lucylucky

hayleythedaisy wrote: »

Oh right ok sorry, I thought you were disagreeing with what had happened! For a minute wondered if you worded for them lol.
I googled them to find an email address to complain to and found that also they sent out unencrypted passwords in emails to people a few weeks back which apparently created a stir.
I guess they are fine if you have the time to put it right if they !!!! up, or if you're not putting too much emphasis on them meeting the service they offer but if it's something that is important and you expect them to perform I wouldn't bother!

I appreciate that you will not bother with them, but I had some important stuff done by Photobox recently and was very impressed.

On time, good quality and quidco too!

bubble96

its hard because whilst it would seem most of us have had good service, the problem is that you want a company who has good service when things go wrong, so in this case they fair quite poorly, but their prices and the quality of their prints far out do asda tesco and kodak who all have poor colour representation, use flimsy paper, and are more expensive. So i would erge you to write a complaint to photobox and see what they do, failing that try using snapfish in the future, they are very good, and a friend of mine recieved the same order misprinted twice (which doesnt sound very good i know!) but they couldnt have been more helpful, sent her the third lot which were fine, all free of charge, some of the photos had been fine in the first place, but they didnt ask her to send the bad ones back, and they also credited her with lots of free prints. Now thats good service - yes its a pain in the butt when things go wrong, but they should be able to hold their hands up and appologise, so am sorry to hear of this example of bad service.

oh, and meant to say, yeah their books arent great, ive had a few done before, they are quite flimsy, but again, in comparison price wise they are pretty good

SugarSpun

I ordered a baby book from Photobox and it's rubbish :mad: the picture quality is cack and all the pictures are incredibly dark. When I complained they told me that it was because my pictures weren't of high enough resolution and the lighting in them was not right. My friend who's a professional photographer took them and the resolution and quality were great. I got some printed at the local digital machine and they turned out great. So I'm £30 down and the owner of a useless book.

Photobox are great when things go well.

bacard1

I have not ordered a book from photobox, but i have had loads of prints. They have been very good, even when some prints were lost in the post, they reprinted them and sent them out straight away.

hayleythedaisy

bubble96 wrote: »

its hard because whilst it would seem most of us have had good service, the problem is that you want a company who has good service when things go wrong, so in this case they fair quite poorly,
So i would erge you to write a complaint to photobox and see what they do

This was my concern with them, they have messed up but everyone does... it's the way they deal with it that matters.

I have emailed them as I was unhappy with the way I was spoken to.

lucylucky

hayleythedaisy wrote: »

This was my concern with them, they have messed up but everyone does... it's the way they deal with it that matters.

I have emailed them as I was unhappy with the way I was spoken to.

As you say everyone messes up at some time it is the service recovery that tends to make you decide whether to use a company again or not.

If the service recovery is poor then I will not use a company again.