Well, my first order of Flyingmice games had to be refunded due to an error, Lulu messed up the refund and it took me a month of chasing to finally get it processed.
I resubmitted the order, and they've bound In Harm's Way inside the Aces and Spades cover, so I don't have Aces and Spades. Hopefully that will get sorted out in under a month this time, they're talking about investigating pending a possible refund or reprint, though I don't want a refund and I don't see how it can be a reprint when I don't have a print in the first place (and the word possible doesn't fill me with confidence either). I was asked to send a scan of the problem, how do you scan the fact that one of the books you ordered isn't there?
I have to say, I'm not persuaded I'll be using Lulu in future.
Quote from: Balbinus;221388Well, my first order of Flyingmice games had to be refunded due to an error, Lulu messed up the refund and it took me a month of chasing to finally get it processed.
I resubmitted the order, and they've bound In Harm's Way inside the Aces and Spades cover, so I don't have Aces and Spades. Hopefully that will get sorted out in under a month this time, they're talking about investigating pending a possible refund or reprint, though I don't want a refund and I don't see how it can be a reprint when I don't have a print in the first place. I was asked to send a scan of the problem, how do you scan the fact that one of the books you ordered isn't there?
I have to say, I'm not persuaded I'll be using Lulu in future.
Damn, and i've been saving up to get JAGS printed and Marco uses Lulu... hope it doesn't screw that up too. Hope your stuff gets straightened out soon B. Keep us updated so we can get a picture of what the experience is like and maybe vote with our dollars here.
That's not good. I had planned on using Lulu for my games.
Maybe worth looking at other options as well... :-/
I've not heard of anyone else having problems, but I've not had a good experience I'm afraid.
My impression is if it goes well it is very slick, if it doesn't they struggle to cope a bit.
Quote from: Balbinus;221388Well, my first order of Flyingmice games had to be refunded due to an error, Lulu messed up the refund and it took me a month of chasing to finally get it processed.
I resubmitted the order, and they've bound In Harm's Way inside the Aces and Spades cover, so I don't have Aces and Spades. Hopefully that will get sorted out in under a month this time, they're talking about investigating pending a possible refund or reprint, though I don't want a refund and I don't see how it can be a reprint when I don't have a print in the first place (and the word possible doesn't fill me with confidence either). I was asked to send a scan of the problem, how do you scan the fact that one of the books you ordered isn't there?
I have to say, I'm not persuaded I'll be using Lulu in future.
I just checked to make sure, but the source file for Aces In Spades is the correct one, so this is Lulu's fault.
I will offer you a full refund AND get the proper book to you, Balbinus! They have never failed me before except when the European printer was new, and they got right on that.
To get my facts straight: You ordered IHW, AIS, AAA, and WB, but received IHW, WB, AAA and another copy of IHW bound up in the AIS cover - correct?
-clash
Quote from: flyingmice;221400I just checked to make sure, but the source file for Aces In Spades is the correct one, so this is Lulu's fault. I will offer you a full refund AND get the proper book to you, Balbinus! They have never failed me before except when the European printer was new, and they got right on that.
To get my facts straight: You ordered IHW, AIS, AAA, and WB, but received IHW, WB, AAA and another copy of IHW bound up in the AIS cover - correct?
-clash
Yup, no need for a refund though Clash, it's not your fault. I just needed to vent and currently I'm posting here again in place of rpg.net (I vary from time to time where I post more).
Quote from: Balbinus;221402Yup, no need for a refund though Clash, it's not your fault. I just needed to vent and currently I'm posting here again in place of rpg.net (I vary from time to time where I post more).
If Lulu doesn't get this sorted out in a very short time, come to me and I
WILL get it sorted out.
-clash
Quote from: flyingmice;221408If Lulu doesn't get this sorted out in a very short time, come to me and I WILL get it sorted out.
-clash
:hatsoff:
See, this right here is why it's often so much better to go with the little guy. They care more, and are infinitely more accessible. Kudos. I love you guys :)
Quote from: flyingmice;221408If Lulu doesn't get this sorted out in a very short time, come to me and I WILL get it sorted out.
-clash
Thanks, it's much appreciated.
Man! I have had no problem to date with Lulu. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
Quote from: JohnnyWannabe;221471Man! I have had no problem to date with Lulu. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
The same here. They had best handle this one with dispatch and profuse apologies. There are alternatives now.
-clash
This does strike me as very odd, because I've used lulu extensively, not just for RPGs, and its always shown an excellent level of service.
So I guess the good news is that even if their customer service in this case has been bad, I'd urge you to keep using them, since their failure rate on this is very very low.
RPGPundit
This could explain:
Quote from: Pendragon mail listNote that Lulu has an operation where the book is printed close to the customer, the last time I looked there were printing presses in the USA (excellent quality), the UK (good quality) and Spain (usually good though at times variable quality).
Now, just in case this were to come up here, some mainland European customers have occasionally had bad experiences with the print quality of their books which are typically all printed in Spain. If you want to look into the situation as it currently is you can visit the discussion forums at //www.lulu.com . My feeling is that this should not stop anyone in mainland Europe from ordering Lulu books, just that if the book you get looks shoddy it is probably not WW's fault and likely you can return the book and get a new one.
Quote from: JongWK;221516This could explain:
The only time I have had problems with print quality were with Spanish-printed books. I would have thought that Balbinus' books were printed in the UK, though, and I have nothing but good reports of them. Are you currently in the UK, Balbinus? Or are you in France or Italy again?
-clash
Quote from: flyingmice;221522The only time I have had problems with print quality were with Spanish-printed books. I would have thought that Balbinus' books were printed in the UK, though, and I have nothing but good reports of them. Are you currently in the UK, Balbinus? Or are you in France or Italy again?
-clash
UK presently, I spend a fair bit of time in France and Italy (and am spending September in Spain, hurrah!), but I live in the UK so stuff gets posted there.
I've notified them of the issue, hopefully I've just been a bit unlucky so far and it will get sorted out soon.
Odd. I've been really happy with Lulu. No problems at all, nice product, and outstanding packaging when they ship.
I've never actually had any problems with any of the 10 or so books I've ordered through Lulu.
Largely, I think Lulu does pretty well and would not shy away from a publisher who uses them.
Balbinus:
Have you been able to reach an accomodation yet? Do I need to borrow the Spiked Baseball Bat of Great Justice from Pundit?
-clash
No, they wasted my time saying Sales would contact me. On following up I've been told that wasn't going to happen, I have to contact Sales.
I have to provide digital photos of the cover and the contents to orders, so presumably had I not access to a digital camera I'd be fucked. They will then investigate with their printers. Once they have done that, they will then consider whether to give me a refund or to give me the book they have already taken my money for.
I actually think that's illegal as a matter of English law, but I'm not a consumer goods lawyer so I'm not wholly sure. It's definitely not what I would call good customer service though, I have to wait for my purchase on their internal investigation.
Lulu have got in touch saying that a new copy will be sent to me.
Separately however, Clash of flyingmice got in touch himself sending me a new copy, which is very kind of him indeed.
So, the outcome is that Lulu after some prodding got their act together, but flyingmicegames with no prodding at all made sure anyway that I didn't end disadvantaged which is entirely to Clash's credit.
as an aside, i just ordered the Encounter Critical hardback from Lulu, and got it rather promptly (4-5 days?) with no problems.
Although Lulu did the right thing eventually, I think the wait they imposed is unacceptable. Luckily, a second copy will always help while running AIS.
Enjoy the games, Balbinus! :D
-clash
I'm glad that everything ended well for you.
I got once a softcover book (Forward to Adventure) from their printer in Spain. I was lucky and had no problems at all.