Planning a party remotely can be perilous. My parents’ 50th anniversary was being celebrated in Vancouver, but I was doing all the preparations from my studio in Toronto.
I created a banner for my mom and dad’s party, which I would normally do with a trusted local printer. But because I was flying, I used on-line printing company Vistaprint and had them ship the finished banner to my parents’ house.
I wasn’t pleased with the customer experience: too small maximum upload size, no FTP option, and several pages of “buy this design on a mug” options to wade through before you can place the order. But the convenience seemed worth it.
When I arrived at their house, I could tell right away the tube was too small. I unrolled the banner to find that Vistaprint had sent me a banner for some sort of food bank charity event.
Vistaprint has apologized and refunded my money:
I am very sorry to learn that you have received the incorrect banner. I can understand your disappointment since it is an important part of the decorations for your parents wedding anniversary. I assure you that this is not a typical Vistaprint experience . . .
. . . Please feel free to dispose of the incorrect banner at your convenience . . .
. . . Again, I truly apologize for any inconvenience caused and look forward to assisting you in the future.
The lesson to take from all this? Find a local printer you like and use them for any work you deem important!