It's always a little risky to try a new printing service, but in this case, the price was right. Unfortunately, the risk did not pay off as it should have. I will not be likely to work with Seattle Print Shop again for t-shirts.
I needed about 50 t-shirts of various sizes, with front and back one-color printing. I prepared the art myself in high-res vector format EPS files, to keep it as simple as possible. And I needed the shirts for an event in just under two weeks.
THE GOOD: I did get the shirts, and they were of good quality. Apart from a little color variance on the XXL's, they were exactly what I wanted and so far everyone here at work is pleased with them. We should be able to use them in the future. Unfortunately, we were not able to use them for the event we had intended them for, which leads me to...
THE BAD: When you order t-shirts from Seattle Print Shop, there is a field to specify the date you would like to have them ready by. I assumed that this would be result in a contact letting me know if it was possible within the requested date or not. Silly me!
Once payment had been confirmed, I sent an email asking if my due date was any problem, with no response. After a few days, I sent another email explaining the situation and asking for a response. I got a single line back telling me my shirts would be ready in two weeks. I immediately asked if there could be any exceptions, and got no response again. I tried calling the phone number on the website and left a voicemail, which was never returned.
Our event came and went without t-shirts for it, and then it was two weeks after I had ordered the shirts. Still no t-shirts, and no word from Seattle Print Shop. Another one-sentence email told they were "in production now" and would be done by the next week.
Next week comes and goes, still no shirts, still no contact. The next week I phoned again and left another voicemail, also never returned. I sent another email, and was told the next day that I "should have got them last week." Four days later, I'm told there was a major press malfunction and they would be running again on Monday, when my shirts would be printed.
And they didn't think to tell me about it?
I finally received the shirts a week later, over a month after I ordered them, over two weeks later than I was told they would be ready. I almost did not get them at all, as they were packed in a box labeled "Robert" (NOT my name, as I'm sure they knew by then) and got sent to several other people in the company before luck brought them to me.
To be fair, they are nice shirts, and they were cheap. I'm glad we finally got them, and didn't have to pay too much for them.
If you're looking to get quality shirts printed cheaply and have NO DEADLINE to work against and you don't mind not talking to anyone during the process, you may find working with Seattle Print Shop less frustrating than I did.
However, since part of my job depends on producing things like this on time for specific events and expectations, I will not be able to work with Seattle Print Shop again. Communication isn't everyone's thing. Customer service isn't everyone's thing. Working to a deadline isn't everyone's thing. I get that.
But I get paid to adhere to the standards of communicating clearly, working with my customers, and meeting my deadlines. I simply can't afford to work with a vendor who doesn't meet this level of service. My job isn't worth it.
If you need someone who will communicate, someone who will work with you, and someone who meets expected deadlines, stay away from Seattle Print Shop. You may have to pay a little more, but the peace of mind is worth it.
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