Blurb Customer Support - Alert

NY_Dan

NY_Dan

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I've made over a dozen Blurb books -- almost all have been black and white. So I know how to prepare the jpeg files to print as well as possible. Blurb demands rgb jpegs. Generally, it's hit or miss if a Blurb book will print properly -- I usually have better luck with small books, than with larger ones. Also, a book may print fine the first time, and bad the second time. There's no rhyme or reason.

In the past, if a book didn't print well I would take a few photos, file a support ticket, and Blurb would reprint it. On a current book the printing was bad -- black and whites had that off-register cyan and magenta tinge -- this has always been Blurb's Achilles Heel -- and one they will not address -- other than by reprinting.

So here's the alert -- Blurb is now making the customer reprint request much more difficult.

Below is an excerpt of a response from Blurb's customer support:

"However, I do want to let you know that some color shift is normal for print on demand, since we use color printers for all our printing--we don't have a dedicated black and white press, so black and white images may not print totally neutral.

Our press operators do not check for slight color shifts. They do not keep the originals at hand, and simply cannot give you the kind of control that you might get printing individual images at a high-end photo lab, or via a traditional offset press."


So now their excuse is that color shift is normal for black and whites, and their operators don't check for it.


This isn't acceptable. Worse, I hate having to argue.



If Burb doesn't reprint a black and white book properly, as they have in the past (albeit sometimes with multiple tries) then I will get a refund through my credit card, stop being a Blurb customer, and will definitely stop referring others.


I'll will post further developments.
 
Hi Dan,

Thanks for the warning, I've only had trade books printed by them so far, which by using their black and white method has kept any colour shifts away.

Thanks in advanced for any updates too.

Peter
 
Yes, Blurb uses 4 or more printers -- not sure of current number -- so that, and different runs will lead to differences. However, the big problem is lack of quality control. This saves them money, and many people don't have time or inclination to complain. And as long as Blurb was willing to reprint the book until they got it right, which was almost always on the second time, I was willing to deal with the delays. But, with my current book, Blurb seems to want to make it much harder for a customer to get a badly printed book redone -- and for me this is a deal breaker.
 
Dan, if Blurb does not specify that "some color shift is normal for print on demand, since we use color printers for all our printing" and "our press operators do not check for slight color shifts" somewhere in the description of their products, I think you have a good argument for expecting neutral black and white printing at least for your current book. Going forward, you may need to look for an alternative. Not to excuse a poor quality product but this perhaps this is the best one can expect for on-demand printing and at the prices that Blurb offers?
 
Is their a viable alternative to blurb? I've had my own set of problems with them, but have stuck with the minor annoyances for a while now. To be honest my biggest gripe is their refusal to use the postal service. I've had a few books that were off but never bothered with getting reprints
 
They are trying to pretend 'color shift' doesn't mean color cast, it also means printed off register?
 
Lauffray said:
Do you think they're poorly managing their growth ?
Click to expand...

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? What sort of question is this? How could I know? What I do know is that I've prepared the files the same way and according to their guidelines since the first book I printed with them -- which was voted a staff pick for what that's worth if anything -- and sometimes the books print without a cast or registration problem, and sometimes they didn't. When the books were printed poorly, Blurb quickly reprinted them without too much bs. Now, I'm getting bs. This shows me that there is a change in how customer reprints are being handled, and that is why I'm alerting others -- especially considering that I've recommended so many here to make Blurb books -- besides being upset with Blurb, I have a responsibility to the people I recommended.
 
And the better alternative to BLURB is ....... ?
My take is that you won't get perfection for the price they charge.
I agree that colour cast and colour shift aren't the same, and what they have written to the op doesn't answer his query.
But customer support at BLURB just isn't good at the best of times - it just depends on who deals with the query raised. I have had some really ignorant responses to questions I've raised over 'Bookwright' insisting that someone more senior is consulted - usually pays off.
Persist Dan!
 
NY_Dan said:
What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? What sort of question is this? How could I know? What I do know is that I've prepared the files the same way and according to their guidelines since the first book I printed with them -- which was voted a staff pick for what that's worth if anything -- and sometimes the books print without a cast or registration problem, and sometimes they didn't. When the books were printed poorly, Blurb quickly reprinted them without too much bs. Now, I'm getting bs. This shows me that there is a change in how customer reprints are being handled, and that is why I'm alerting others -- especially considering that I've recommended so many here to make Blurb books -- besides being upset with Blurb, I have a responsibility to the people I recommended.
Click to expand...

Who's talking about tea ? Relax man.
If their business is growing faster than they can handle, they're maybe subcontracting printing to more providers, which means QC gets difficult, if they don't give a **** then you get **** customer support.
 
Jesse1dog -- I agree with everything you wrote -- it's my exact experience too. I know the printing will often look muddy -- but prints that look cyan or have magenta mottling for lack of a better description -- ugh.

UPDATE: After a lot of trouble on my part and many complaints, I just received a coupon code to get the book reprinted. Hopefully they won't mess it up. Thanks for reading my vents. I will think twice or more in the future about making books -- I don't need the aggravation -- and maybe, just maybe the world has too many books from me as it is.
 
The only way to make sure that you're getting what you expect, is working in person, next to the printer - is it financially feasible? Thats another question all together. Otherwise it's pot luck. Blurb has become an expensive exercise. As lauffray suggested, their growth may have lead to corner cutting and a laises faire approach to their printing and printer selection.
 
NY_Dan said:
Yes, Blurb uses 4 or more printers -- not sure of current number -- so that, and different runs will lead to differences. However, the big problem is lack of quality control. .....
Click to expand...

First Edition in Berkley printed my book, "Vignettes Cubano" and it was perfect. It is a small operation that prints in house so you get direct supervision. The President, Ben Z, has a MFA in photography. The proofs matched my B&W prints perfectly. And the final books matched the proofs perfectly. I received samples of my photos printed 4 color (RGB) and monochrome prior to the proofs. While the 4 color had zero color shifts, I chose the monochrome printing. I asked Ben if there was any way they could improve on the DMax and he indicated that he thought they could and actually did. I could not have been more pleased with the final product.

Now First Edition is not a Print On Demand operation. They are a real short run book printing operation focusing on photographers. They offer no marketing, copyright, or layout services, only printing. However, they excel at what they do.

My print run was only 100 copies but the cost was reasonable considering the size and length of my book. Cost was a factor for me as my book is not available for purchase. If you have a copy, it is because I wanted you to have a copy.

If you get really serious about printing a book, I certainly recommend First Edition http://www.editiononebooks.com/

BTW, I considered Blurb but rejected them because I have not seen anything they printed that met my quality standards.
 
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Using Blurb for black and white books is very frustrating indeed. They do recommend toning black and white rather than trying to go for absolutely neutral, at least they used to. Another issue I've seen is color moire patterns in b&w photos that have fine textures. I suppose this is a micro-registration problem. The book will be fine except for a few images. Reprinting can make it better, but there's an even chance it will be worse.
 
I really don't like color shift on my B&W prints. I tolerate it with Costco printing on color paper, but for a book I would blow up. Thanks for the warning.
 
Blurb has a reputation for poor quality. Try Adoramapix for your books. Their quality is 10 times above Blurb. Yes, they are more expensive but you really get what you pay for. My time in preparation and editing of a book is worth the extra money for printing.
 
I thought Blurb was supposed to be cheap and cheerful?

As the greasy sign says in any garage says: "Cheap, quick, or done right. Pick two."
 
NY_Dan said:
Below is an excerpt of a response from Blurb's customer support:

"However, I do want to let you know that some color shift is normal for print on demand, since we use color printers for all our printing--we don't have a dedicated black and white press, so black and white images may not print totally neutral.

Our press operators do not check for slight color shifts. They do not keep the originals at hand, and simply cannot give you the kind of control that you might get printing individual images at a high-end photo lab, or via a traditional offset press."
Click to expand...

Sounds exactly like what I got from Burb as their explanation on a recent B&W book I did with them. They offered to reprint, but even said up front that it would most likely not be any better - and they were right. I had earlier did a test B&W book that actually turned out fairly well, and then submitted my final book which was crap.

Bob Michaels recommends "Edition One Books", so I went and checked out their pricing. I could have gotten 10 copies of my book printed with a soft cover for about $225.00
 
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