Are there enough hours in the day to deal with Vistaprint?

Using press and magazine advertising, brochures, mailings - old hat or still cost-effective?
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Well done e-Richard!

I have no recollection of any such "offer" when I last placed an order, (for some business cards) on July 19th 2007. I recall all the hoops I had to jump through to get to this point, but not that one. And I've since unsubscribed to further emailed information/offers - if I want anything else from them in the future, I know where to find 'em. Good service, sharp-ish business practices. This latest though does sound a step too far - but not illegal since Richard has shown that if you dig down, the small print is there. They're just relying on a few of us being so bug-eyed by the time we've done our designs and are ready to pay that we miss this bit.

All these things put together, I'm rather sorry to admit, are the reason for their apparent world-wide success. :(
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
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Jason W
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Post by Jason W »

e-richard wrote:Please don't blame (or flame) me if I'm wrong, but I think that the scam referred to in those links and elsewhere happened a couple of years ago, and VistaPrint have cleaned up their act since then.

I have "bought" many free items from them (.co.uk) over the last year, paid my inflated postage, and been very happy with the products, the service and not seen any mention of reward scheme on any credit card statement.
Richard, I used the site last June having seen it recommended on here so at least up until that point they were using these tactics.

As for which portal/site the scam was operated from, I think it was the US site which is registered in Bermuda although the adminstrative side is in Massachusetts. Go figure.

At first I was told by my credit card provider that I had to take any disputes up with the supplier before they could block further payments, however its extremely hard to get anyone to reply. Eventually, it dawned on me to use Google (d'oh) and I quickly found a number to ring from the thousands of people who'd been scammed.

A simple phone call led to a full refund after a discussion about whether or not I had 'signed up' - job done, although the individual I talked to admitted I wasn't the first person that had complained that day and it was only mid-morning!

Its a shame as the basic product is essentially sound but has been sullied by this needless exercise.

Hopefully, what started out as an innocent question that got sidetracked by trolling will help others be a bit more wary although judging by the sheer number of people who've been caught out it may not be that simple.

I'll retire from this thread because I've said enough other than to say how encouraged I've been by the PMs I've received - seems the majority of people are normal and genuine - thanks.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

They're not all bad. Sorting through my gigantic pile of Valentines this morning, there was a sweet one from Vistaprint, plus another free offer of course, but....

MG
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enid
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Post by enid »

I've had the Vistaprint business cards and I don't get lots of e mails so they worked for me. But thanks for pointing this out none the less - I am old enough to know that I cannot make a full decision just based on my own experience and that other people's experiences are always worth listening too and at least now I am aware that this happens I will be more cautious.

P.S. They didn't even send me a Valentine :cry:
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Enid, if you're not receiving the emails, you must have unsubscribed at some point. I imagine that's why neither of us got the Valentine greeting! But I'm happy!
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

I've sent the occasional query to their customer 'services' dept., and one or two constructive sugggestions, and the standard answer, puffed up with yet more 'free' offers is:

Due to technical difficulties beyond our control, we are unable to respond to your email. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.


MG
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

WARNING

easyJet have now joined this questionable party.

I was booking one of my many flights each year with them only today and at the end of the transaction was invited to
"Click here to claim £10 Cash Back
on your next easyJet booking!"
.

Sounds like a deal to me, but the next page you are presented with is 3 screens deep, filled with a morass of info highlighting the benfits and how you can collect points for your cashback, but.... because of this thread, I looked ever so carefully, and there, hidden on the page in small print:

30 DAYS FREE plus only £8 a month thereafter

You have been warned, and please warn all your guests who travel to your property by sleazyjet too !!

:evil: :evil: :evil:
** Richard
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Jason W
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Post by Jason W »

Ah, Sleazyjet - my favourite airline, not! Nice spot Richard.
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Post by A-two »

WARNING! Doster.com are doing the same thing - Reservation Rewards - $10 a month. I just checked my credit card and found I got caught. They emailed to say they will be issuing a full refund as as soon as possible.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

I've been feeling a bit guilty recently, not ordering from Vistaprint, especially as everything is now "free", and their printing presses have probably ground to a halt waiting for our next order.

Is that because I've not ordered for a while, or is it a seasonal thing?

Anyone else on their "free" deal at the moment?

MG
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Mountain Goat wrote:I've been feeling a bit guilty recently, not ordering from Vistaprint, especially as everything is now "free", and their printing presses have probably ground to a halt waiting for our next order.

Is that because I've not ordered for a while, or is it a seasonal thing?

Anyone else on their "free" deal at the moment?

MG
VistaPrint UK has given up on e-mailing me but VistaPrint France has taken over.

The unavoidable fact is that VistaPrint is an enormously successful international commercial printing company which also happens to offer loads of little free things to non-commercial people like you and me. I order what I want, I pay the P&P and I ignore the rest.

Alan
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Partridge
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Post by Partridge »

offer loads of little free things to non-commercial people
Interesting Alan, could you (or anyone else) offer me an insight in to what sort of 'little free things' appeal to you.

I only ask because our family print business has just signed on the dotted line for an online ordering system, mainly for commercial use but eventually the idea is to introduce an on line shop. During one of our meetings it was mentioned to us that they (their marketing bods) had advised previous clients to offer the odd freebie i.e an umbrella and I must admit we couldn't decide between it a) Encouraging customers to hit the 'buy' buttton or b) Slightly cheapening the image. Although this was more for commercial clients.

It's all a tad daunting but perhaps I should take advantage of free market research from fellow hatters.
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Partridge wrote:
offer loads of little free things to non-commercial people
Interesting Alan, could you (or anyone else) offer me an insight in to what sort of 'little free things' appeal to you.
There's a whole list of them but business cards and calendars spring to mind immediately.

Alan
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Party, I must admit that I'm attracted to free gadgets - for instance, when ordering office supplies from Staples and Viking - there's always something like (currently) a car media player for orders over £40 (big deal), USB sticks (with company logos), laptop network cams etc.

How about keeping it cheap and cheerful - something like Stabletable with your company's logo? Or, just bought today, a bright pink flexible, have-it-in-the-bath-instead-of-your-duck, USB keyboard (though I had to lash out 99p) - you can't do without it. Or a stack of decent address labels Ablelabel-style? Or Photo Confetti - stick to the basic essentials?

I would kill to know what a professional printer thinks of Vistaprint's business model of everything 'free', and just scratching their humble millions out of the 'postage'.

MG
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Partridge
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Post by Partridge »

Thanks for that Alan & Mountie, interesting to know that 'freebies' do work.

Mountie, no need to 'kill', just ask away and I will let you know what him indoors thinks. We did sit down and do a quick pretend order for business cards with vistaprint, which hub had never even heard of :roll: I was convinced that a tiddler would not be able to compete on prices and was amazed to hear him say that he could do better and possibly cheaper......but then I do have to put up with him scrutinizing every brochure/card etc that we ever pick up and getting quite uptight about quality/bleed blah blah :? He doesn't appreciate it when his blind pugh wife says 'Looks fine to me'.
Don't waste energy on things you can't change.

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www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S5386.htm
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