Thanks for all the feedback!

I haven't been disappointed with any of my Lulu purchases, but I'll have to give DTRPG a try soon.

My old Stars without Number hardcover (original edition) from DTRPG/Lightning Source felt shoddy from day one. Books from Lulu books were clearly better quality, but they also miscut a few books. (You know how when you lay a book down flat, the pages should be perpendicular to the surface? They weren't. They visibly slanted, because the pages on top were a good quarter to half inch wider than the pages on the bottom.) But to be fair, Lulu replaced the books, and the newer books from DTRPG seem to have improved in quality, so I don't think there's a big difference these days. Both also seem to have pretty good customer service when things go wrong.

Though I agree there's a vast difference in packaging. Lulu tends to be bulletproof, with books shrink wrapped to a board. But DTRPG screwed up one of my orders earlier in the year and sent me the wrong book 3 times. Not one of the four boxes had anything resembling packing material in it, unless you count a solitary packing slip. Their shit tier packaging is why I'm always hesitant to order from them.

Quote from: Pat;1069325My old Stars without Number hardcover (original edition) from DTRPG/Lightning Source felt shoddy from day one. Books from Lulu books were clearly better quality, but they also miscut a few books. (You know how when you lay a book down flat, the pages should be perpendicular to the surface? They weren't. They visibly slanted, because the pages on top were a good quarter to half inch wider than the pages on the bottom.) But to be fair, Lulu replaced the books, and the newer books from DTRPG seem to have improved in quality, so I don't think there's a big difference these days. Both also seem to have pretty good customer service when things go wrong.

Though I agree there's a vast difference in packaging. Lulu tends to be bulletproof, with books shrink wrapped to a board. But DTRPG screwed up one of my orders earlier in the year and sent me the wrong book 3 times. Not one of the four boxes had anything resembling packing material in it, unless you count a solitary packing slip. Their shit tier packaging is why I'm always hesitant to order from them.

It's interesting how different and completely opposite our experiences are.

Quote from: uferschnepfe;1069336It's interesting how different and completely opposite our experiences are.

I think because both firms use a variety of printers there isn't much that can be learned from comparison.

Quote from: S'mon;1069339I think because both firms use a variety of printers there isn't much that can be learned from comparison.

They don't seem to use a lot of different printers, though. So it may be valid at a very general level, e.g. in the U.S., or in Europe.

So, my "Cyber-Monday" Lulu order showed up in the past couple days.

First, the return address on the box/label is Morrisville, NC, but the tracking information shows that it shipped out of Agawam, MA, which would lead me to believe it was likely printed by Millennium Press in that city.

This was my second order ever from Lulu.  My first order was a similar Cyber-Monday sale in 2015, where I bought 12 items (a bunch of Kalamar stuff, and a couple other items).  I didn't find any issues with anything in that order.

This order was 8 items (3 hardcover, 5 softcover/perfect bound).  Only issue was one of the hardcovers, the casewrap seems to have the image enlarged too much for the cover, causing cutoff images/title banners where the cover wraps.  Additionally, the casewrap/cover is misaligned (slightly tilted to the right).

I've opened a support ticket with them, but given the holiday weekend, I won't hear back until Wednesday at the earliest, so we'll see how they handle such a situation.

What has everyone's experience been with any POD company replacing books that came out wanky?

Quote from: Spinachcat;1069679What has everyone's experience been with any POD company replacing books that came out wanky?

Both have replaced books easily.

Quote from: brettmb;1069682Both have replaced books easily.

Agreed.

They may ask for a picture or some other details, but have never challenged me on a replacement.

Welp, got my reply.

The casewrap image enlargement/cutoff issue, they're blaming on the publisher, and that there's nothing they can do to fix it (though, they know exactly how to, considering they sent me a screenshot of the publisher preview tool).  They say the publisher needs to correct their cover image.

As far as the casewrap being canted such that it is, I need to send them another photo, this one with a ruler showing the misalignment, and once they have that, they'd print another, but it'd still have the cutoff issue.

I'm trying not to be annoyed at them - I understand they aren't necessarily setup to play layout/design for all of their publishers, but for something like this, you'd think they'd just silently fix the damned problem.  I'm certainly not swearing off of Lulu, but this has prompted me to give DTRPG a try the next time I have the opportunity to get something POD from them.

If it's a publisher formatting issue, expect DTRPG to do even less than Lulu. DTRPG has been managing Wizards of the Coast's old catalog themselves, and uploaded a number of products with poor scans or missing content, like maps or counters, and they haven't exactly been quick about fixing them. See the discussion under FR3 or GAZ4 for examples.

No quality control at DTRPG. If the publisher screws it up, they don't even check it.

Quote from: brettmb;1069984No quality control at DTRPG. If the publisher screws it up, they don't even check it.

Speaking as someone who works at a POD facility, the moment the printer "fixes" a file, we have publishers, authors, etc. screaming bloody murder that we changed their book without their permission. (I once fixed a spelling error on a cover that was DELIBERATELY misspelled, for Christ's sake...) Nope, opens up too much liability. Best we can do is send the publisher a message saying there's been a complaint and they need to resubmit files.

Quote from: sniderman;1069989Speaking as someone who works at a POD facility, the moment the printer "fixes" a file, we have publishers, authors, etc. screaming bloody murder that we changed their book without their permission. (I once fixed a spelling error on a cover that was DELIBERATELY misspelled, for Christ's sake...) Nope, opens up too much liability. Best we can do is send the publisher a message saying there's been a complaint and they need to resubmit files.

I'm with you on that, but they should check the files and then block approval until the problems are fixed.

EDIT: Some of the errors are completely obvious yet the files are approved. When I tried to set up a hardback book a few years back, they sent me the book printed at 72dpi. Now I certainly did not send 72dpi files, but how can they not see that something is wrong? They made me pay for it too. I haven't used their printing other than cards since then.