Lay My Hat

Somewhere, buried deep in the bowels of LMH, I know we had a thread on compliment slips, postcards of our properties etc. and where to get them printed.

After fighting them off for years, I tried Vistaprint. All 'free' of course. Before I really get a deep and meaningful long-term relationship going with them, can anyone advise anyone else? The longer you don't order from them (and it's only been 48hrs) the more persistent they get, and getting back home after a week, could hardly open the door with their packages piled up.

For cheapo stuff they look OK, but I'm not sure of final quality on postcards - is it me or them? Results not brilliant.

MG

MG,

I ordered a box of free business cards from VistaPrint in July of this year. The cards are fine.

The people at VistaPrint are obviously very kind and attentive. They don’t want me to become lonely and frightened. Almost on a daily basis they send me e-mail offers which I can hardly refuse even though I do.

Alan

I'm quite happy with the postcards. Free and the quality of printing is as good as the pictures I uploaded

I went for their 'free' calendars - including pnp and tax etc they were just over £6 each and I'm very pleased with them. If you have pics that are 1meg quality each they look great.
The constant further emails are a pain though can't you mark em as spam and they all get put in that file..

Bye bye vistaprint spam..

M

Well, I think it's me and poor Photoshop skills.

Would be very interested in designs for both sides of the card, if anyone wants to swop cards, PM your addresses.

But what's this notepaper at 50p/page, or have I got that wrong as well?

Fridge magnets are quite cute, though.

MG

memes wrote:The constant further emails are a pain though can't you mark em as spam and they all get put in that file..

Bye bye vista print spam..

VistaPrint may be many things but since you are a previous customer it is not spam.

Every single e-mail you get from VistaPrint includes “If, for any reason, you do not want to receive e-mails concerning VistaPrint products, please click here�. The next time you get one of their e-mails why don’t you click here?

Alan

e-richard wrote: and the quality of printing is as good as the pictures I uploaded

Ditto Richard with our business cards - though they weren't free, unfortunately - there was a charge for using your own image and not one of their standard designs... puzzled as to how your postcards were free - they're bigger than a business card too!!

MG, can't help with a double-sided sample - it was a major feat that I successfully created a single sided card!

Hi MG

We've had postcards from Vistaprint and they were fine - we were actually pleasantly surprised by the quality - PM (or email) me your address and I'll pop one off to you.

We are subsequently bombarded by their daily emails. Have to say that I've marked them as a 'spammer' so they get ditched and sit in the recycling bin until I clear it. Only reason I don't press the 'send no more tat' button is that occasionally they do offers on something of interest (in my case it was the postcards) and we got a batch done for free - or would've been had I not got over-excited and pressed the higher quantity button, so did cost, but not too much. If you can be ar*ed to order in smaller quantities and when there are offers on I suspect you could get most things for free.

We've left the postcards in the chalet and I'm still waiting for the day when we get an enquiry from someone who says they'd been sent a postcard - it hasn't happened yet (anyone else ?). But I like having them and use them to send things to guests.

Cheerio
Beanie

Thanks, Beanie, PM with address en route.

An interesting idea would be to get some good postcards done of one's village, and then drop a few on the tourist office tables, newsagents' post card displays, restaurants etc. And with website address, of course. Rather like reverse shop-lifting.

MG

Mountain Goat wrote: Rather like reverse shop-lifting.

Mountain Goat wrote: they shoot dark looks when I lift a bunch of brochures from their display and I was told off a month ago, very thoroughly. What do they think we do with them?

By the sounds of things, your tourist office might be delighted to receive your cards MG - as long as no-one takes any!

I think postcards are a great idea. I get spammed by Vistaprint regularly (had an e mail today) and I will get a quote from them if the quality is as good as you say, Beanie.

The longer you resist them, the cheaperer they get. When you finally take the plunge, you get inundated, but I'm not complaining. Swiss chalet fridge magnet anyone? So practical.

MG

I've got it! Brainwave! A use for the magnet thing.

Pic of your property, on fridge magnet, with FINAL RENTAL BALANCE DUE DATE ON IT!

MG

We use Vistaprint for our various business cards. We pay the extra and use our own designs... but have only ever had one problem with them, when a whole consignment of 5000 went walkabout. Couldn't find any Customer Service wotnot willing to help - so hubby managed to get an email address for one of the women on the Board. He politely (ahem) suggested that she earn her 6 figure salary and get it sorted. Within 15 minutes of him pressing send, a rather sheepish Spanish gentleman phoned up and sorted everything out. Don't think that lady appreciated getting a snotty email first thing in the morning - and good for her!
We happily recommend them to our clients too. We don't have any issues at all with quality. Oh, but the business cards are a slightly different dimension to the UK standard... but that's okay, but it'll make your cards stand out a bit from everyone else's.

Elle xx

We've used VistaPrint for the past 3 years with no problems whatsoever. I've just taken delivery of 100 Christmas cards to send out to regulars and people who are coming next summer. The quality is superb. We've also had fridge magnets. Calendar magnets too. We send these to the first 50 or so that book for the following year as a pleasant (hopefully) reminder of where they're going. The postcards we send to our own families with little notes on. (A card Blog.....). We also sell them on site to guests, as well as leaving a couple in the gites with stamps on ready to post! All good marketing, and the more people get to see your stuff, the more bookings you'll get!

I don't know why, but I don't seem to get an inordinate amount of mail from them either. Maybe I'm just lucky?