Friday, December 21, 2007

The Photo Card Curse


Do you see this picture perfect photo card that was taken during Thanksgiving weekend and ordered in the beginning of December? It has not arrived yet and I had to have the order resent. It is December 21st already and I HATE TO BE LATE!!!! And this is not the first time this has happened to us... 
Two years ago, I ordered photo cards through Club Photo (now Winkflash) in the beginning of December. For whatever reason, they were totally backlogged for the holiday season and they didn't process the order for three weeks. Needless to say, I mailed the cards out after Christmas and swore never to use Club Photo again. Did I mention that I hate to be late? 

Last year, I ordered photo cards through Snapfish and they were promptly processed and mailed the next day. However, two days later, I got an email special from them for 20% off photo cards. I emailed them and they graciously credited my account for that amount. The cards arrived within five days and we were back to being on time. I was extremely pleased and have been using them ever since. 

This year, I knew to expect a 20% discount off photo cards from Snapfish at the beginning of December, so I held off on the order until I got the offer. Sure enough the email arrived on December 4th, and I promptly placed my order. For shipping, there was a choice between in store pickup at Walgreens, which is about 1/2 hour away, or pay for shipping. Since I was running a 103°F temperature when I placed the order, I opted for shipping. Besides, I was a little wary about the quality of the cards if there were processed at Walgreens (was not happy with Target photos in the past). 

They promptly processed and shipped my order on December 5th. When the cards failed to arrive by the end of the next week, I started looking into my options. They said to wait 10 business days after shipping to inquire about the order. Since it was USPS, I included Saturday shipping days and emailed them on December 17th. They replied that I needed to wait 10 business days meaning two weeks. In the meantime, I had placed another order for regular photos and they arrived right on time. On December 19th, I emailed them again. Finally they agreed to reship the order, but could I confirm my shipping address? At this point, I wasn't going to mess with USPS again and asked whether I could take in store delivery. No, can't change the order. Finally the order was finalized yesterday and shipped today. Now I will definitely be late again this year. AARRGGGGHHH! 

Lesson: Always take in store pickup for holiday photo cards, even if you think the quality from Walgreens may not be up to snuff. 

12/22 - Edited to add: They arrived via FedEx today (day after I wrote this)!! I guess Snapfish realized how irate I was.

5 comments :

Bigqueue said...

Nice photo....I bet that patch of ground will not be seen for a few months given the snow we have been getting!

Anonymous said...

Given that it says Happy Holidays, you'll be right on time. Christmas, New Year's, Chinese New Year's... it'll arrive somewhere in there. ;)

And just be thankful you don't have to add the extra time for posting things internationally. Though the costs aren't too bad. HK$3 to the US for a card, which divided by 7.8 gives about 38.5 US cents for postage for air mail.

Melissa said...

Remember: Liturgically speaking, it isn't Christmas until the 25th, and that Christmas lasts until January 6th. So as long as they are then by then, you're cool. :)

Merry Christmas! And a great picture by the way.

Rick said...

Nice photo - lovely looking family.

http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/

CyberCelt said...

Maybe next year, you can just plan on sending them out late? I bet you can get them CHEAP after Christmas.

Happy Holidays! Here from BCs. We were the only ones to send in an entry.