As many of you know, I've recommended the Costco photo calendars in the past as great gift items. I've given them out for the past several years and have always had rave reviews. In fact, they are the only gift I've ever given that people request year after year (they start in November, asking me to make sure that I'm getting them a new calendar this year.)
Anyway, today I received this email from a reader:
Based partly on your enthusiastic recommendations, last year we created photo calendars through Costco.com. Exactly like you said, they were amazing quality and a hugely popular gift with the kiddo’s grandparents. This year, I went straight to Costco.com to do them again.
They arrived today. And look horrible. Apparently they switched providers/printers, the customer service rep indicated that they were “swamped” with refund requests and quietly recommended snapfish.com when I inquired if I could still get the “old style” calendar. I did get a full refund, but now will have to scramble to replace them in time for the holidays (and they will be considerably more expensive even before the rush shipping).
I had the same thing happen to me. I ordered five this year, and they screwed up one of them (put the cover on backward). I am supposed to get a refund (they emailed me and said I'd be credited when I called them, but their phones are swamped and I haven't been able to get through), but who knows if that will happen. In addition, the quality is waaaaaaay below what it was last year. Very, very poor. I can no longer recommend their service to anyone.
I hope they switch back to their original provider -- or at least one with comparable quality to what I've seen in the past. If not, I'll be looking elsewhere for my photo calendars next year.
Update: Just got this response from the original emailer:
I had to wait on hold about 30 minutes last night before I could talk to a customer service rep. Once I did, he was pretty sympathetic and very forthcoming with a full refund.
Good luck getting your money back.
33% off calendars at Snapfish.com if you order by today with code CALENDAR33 (which brings the price down close to Costco levels). And if you go through fatwallet.com, they are offering a 12% rebate.
FYI, I sent Costco and email note this morning. I'll let you know how they respond.
I have used Shutterfly.com extensively for calendars, photo books and some 16x20 photo enlargements of our favorite photos and have been 100% satisfied over the last 3-4 years that I've been using them. They also have a number of discounts and free shipping offers from time to time.
Posted by: Doug | December 16, 2008 at 10:18 AM
I used Snapfish this year and should be getting them soon. We almost used Sam's Club, but was wary about the quality.
Posted by: Kevin M | December 16, 2008 at 11:13 AM
We've used snapfish the last two years, and absolutely love them! The quality is fantastic and there is always some sort of discount code you can use to get them at a cheaper price (try retailmenot for some good ones).
Posted by: RLZ | December 16, 2008 at 11:42 AM
My wife uses Costco for a picture memory book - she loads a number of picutes, digital scrapbook pages etc. into a 50 page book that is wonderfully hard bound with great quality paper and printing. It costs a little more than snapfish, but has great quality. We did it this year again and more than pleased with their quality of the photobook. We got 2 for 1 this year so a very good deal and Software was easier to use than snapfish, too. So maybe it depends on the location.
Posted by: George | December 16, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Ugh, I tried to order photo books from Snapfish this year for gifts and spent about 6 hours trying, but their system kept timing out and freezing so I had to start over. I called customer service and they said, "Keep saving your page." It still didn't work, and they just never responded to my other inquiries. I have used Snapfish for years, and increasingly had problems; I'm really mad that my last e-mail for help/complaint didn't even merit a response from them. I'll be switching vendors.
A friend recommended MyPublisher, so I ordered two books through MyPublisher/Costco, and just ordered photo cards through Costco ... now I'll be biting my nails waiting to see the quality.
Posted by: Cheap Like Me | December 16, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Shutterfly!
They are so easy to use and the quality has always been great. I did an ammiversary book for my parents and they love, love it. My mom carries it around to show her friends.
Posted by: Sara | December 16, 2008 at 12:06 PM
We ordered two calendars from Snapfish this year and they were a mess - the covers and text did not match the photos that were loaded for each project. Getting help through their customer service department was a complete nightmare (delays in response time via email, via phone there were substantial communication problems as the two representatives I spoke with had difficulty communicating in English, they refused to rush ship the corrected calendars even though they admitted the error on their end, so they would have to be late or I would need to pay an extra fee, etc.). Yesterday I recreated the calendars on my computer in iPhoto and have ordered them through Apple, I am crossing my fingers things go smoothly this time around!
Posted by: Cindy | December 17, 2008 at 10:38 AM
AH, the joys of using your local talent. I have never had a problem with using my local camera shops for photo gifts. Yes, the internet can be a monetary savings, but how much value would you place on these peoples' time and frustration? The internet is not for everything.
Posted by: Debra | December 17, 2008 at 12:38 PM
I'm really worried about the calendars I have coming for my family. I ordered 4 of them, and they should arrive any day now.
I did notice that they use different vendors (at least they ship separately from different sources) for the two different size calendars they offer. What size calendars did you all experience the bad quality with?
Posted by: Eric | December 19, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Not sure the size I ordered, but I believe there were two choices and I went with the smaller one.
Posted by: FMF | December 19, 2008 at 11:56 AM
I'm the reader who emailed FMF about the calendars. I ordered both sizes and they were both terrible :( at least they were terrible compared to the awesome calendars we got last year.
I'm still waiting to see how the snapfish ones turn out, although from using their calendar tool it looks the same as the Costco one from last year, so I'm hopeful they will look as good as last year's calendar.
Posted by: Amanda | December 20, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Thanks for the reply Amanda! How are the calendars worse compared to last year? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.
Having never seen any calendars from CostCo, am I going to be disappointed to the point of not wanting to give these as gifts? Or are they just mediocre in comparison to the stellar calendars you've been used to? Thanks for the info!
- Eric
Posted by: Eric | December 20, 2008 at 06:05 PM
Eric --
Mine were poor in print resolution -- both compared to the past and to what you'd want/expect from such an item.
Posted by: FMF | December 21, 2008 at 04:11 PM
I just received my 11 x 14 premium calendars in the mail today. I ordered four of them. The paper stock seems of good quality With the photo side of the page laminated, they seem to have reasonable durability for a calendar.
The photos themselves seem decent - not as stellar as a similarly sized glossy print from Costco, but not necessarily objectionable for the average gift recipient. A little over-saturated, and not quite as sharp as I'd prefer -- but I doubt the average person would consider them bad at all.
However, one calendar had a couple issues. There was a vertical strip of the cover that seemed streaky and washed out. Definitely noticeable and sub-standard. The same calendar also had one of the months misaligned -- so the calendar portion and the photo on the back side were both off center enough to be clipped a little on the edge. Definitely poor quality.
I have to say though, if I had not received the one "bad" calendar, I would not considered the overall quality pretty good for $17.99.
I only explain this in so much detail because I haven't ordered in years past, so I'm curious to know if this is what you all have expereinced as well. As I mentioned before, their site mentions that 8x10 and 11x14 calendars ship separately from different sources, so I wonder if only the 8x10's are of bad quality, or if what I'm seeing is the same across the board.
I'm eager to hear your thoughts, since I do need to order one more calendar as a belated gift this year, and I'm sure will order more in future years. Has anyone found better value elsewhere this year for a price close to $17.99 for 11 x 14?
Thanks!!
Posted by: Eric | December 23, 2008 at 04:29 PM
I ordered one of the premium calendars through Costco on 12/11 and paid for 2 day shipping to insure it arrived by Christmas day. Now I am being told the calendar will not ship any earlier than 12/29 and they cannot give me a any definative ship date. They charged my charge card on 12/11 and cannot even tell me when the calendar will ship.
I first contacted them on 12/19 and waited on the phone for almost a half hour and they told me they were swamped with orders but would ship out my order when done by next day air. I thought there was still a chance to get the calendar by Christmas but received an email on the evening on 12/24 that my order had not shipped.
Now reading some of the posts here I have to worry that the calendar will not be the high quality product that I have received from Costco in the past. I think it is time for Costco to pick another more reliable vendor.
Posted by: Rich | December 26, 2008 at 09:05 PM