You're quite right in pointing out that this is a vendor difference issue. I'm going to reorder your full order, after having a word with our printer to make sure that they handle it personally, and point out that a print setting is causing a systemic issue.
See the image below regarding this issue...
If you received books that looked like this, then you probably got them from the faulty vendor. (They would have also had heavy glossy covers that don't fold well, rather than the regular coated stock that other vendors use for these books, but I can't do anything about that; it seems that's standard for this vendor and Lulu knows this). But about the printing default...
If you're copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion looked like this, you probably got defective copies from the same vendor. And if you ordered other (different) letter-sized saddle-stitched (stapled) books as part of the same order and you got them from this vendor (Lulu farms orders out to whichever independent vendor grabs the order first), then ALL of what you ordered was probably faulty. POINT OUT THE ISSUE AND TELL THEM YOU WANT A REPLACEMENT COPY!!!
They are having to replace my entire order (2 copies of Valley of the Five Fires, 2 copies of Ogress of Anubis, 1 copy of the d30 DM Companion, and FOUR COPIES of d30 Sandbox Companion).
As far as I'm concerned, it's too late and Lulu took too long admitting the issue was their vendor. I'm still moving ahead with moving my inventory "in-house" and shutting down my Lulu storefront soon.
This happened with my copy of Fight On! #14. They claimed it was the author's fault and wouldn't replace my copy, though they gave me credit for it. Makes me leery of ordering from them again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing this out. I believe at least one of my copies was affected.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest, the two times I had print quality issues with Lulu UK they asked for a photo of the problem and within 24 hours of receipt offered my choice of a full refund or a replacement.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I had pointed out this problem to Lulu a month ago, but they said it was a problem with the publisher's files. Without discussing a resolution with me, they simply issued a refund, which is not what I wanted. I wanted the product that I had ordered. Instead of talking to me, their customer, about the problem, they instead said "screw what that guy wants" and did what they wanted. I'm not very excited about ordering things from them in the future.
ReplyDeleteHey Guys,
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Lulu, we would like to apologize for the frustrations you've experienced in publishing your books. We are always appreciative of honest feedback and take our customer's satisfaction very seriously. We are consistently upgrading our services based on feedback we receive from our author base. Your sentiments are not falling on deaf ears and we will continue to strive to improve your experience with Lulu in the future.
Hi Meg, being the Social Media Marketing Manager at Lulu.com (per your LinkedIn profile) we appreciate you taking the time to express appreciation for our issues.
DeleteI also have a question I've been trying to get answered for a while about Lulu.com that I was hoping you could help me with. (Since Lulu.com doesn't have any sort of customer service phone number, and since the online help section is limited, I haven't really known where to reach out to get this answered.) So here it is...
How are Staff Picks made?
Here's the reason I ask... for quite some time in the game section of the bookstore, one of the staff picks has been the 92-page "eve online guide to mining" PDF by damned Thunder for $937.50 (Yes. 92 pages for $937.50.) I have serious doubts that anyone ever has bought this book, especially because if you look at the preview of the PDF, it is the exact same content as the following PDF which was released FOR FREE!!!! in March of 2009 (six months before the version in the staff picks on Lulu.com):
http://dl.eve-files.com/media/corp/chromophobia/completeminersguide_v3-0.pdf
This seems like a ridiculous item that the "author" has only uploaded with the hopes some idiot buys one. Whether or not he has the rights to the content is definitely an issue that you should look into.
With all of the worthy books in this section, how are these selections made? Who are the "staff" that make these picks? Do they have specific knowledge/experience in the area of the bookstore where the picks are located. Do the people who make the staff picks get a commission on sales? And how does a product like a $937.50 version of a free product like "eve online guide to mining" get selected as a Staff Pick?
I just got them all like this. I am going to contact Lulu for a replacement too.
ReplyDeleteFinally got my reprints. Passable but disappointing. Interior pages are a little washed out (printing on previous copies was better - had richer blacks - except for that messed up margin thing, which they finally got right). Hope to have direct sale copies of everything available by end of next week. Keep your eyes out for intro pricing and bundle deals.
ReplyDelete