Recall we in the UK can now get Digital Prints from Flickr? Well my Photo Book arrived today and I must say I am disappointed.
What did I expect for my $41.25 including postage? Well I expected a book of my photographs printed at the same quality as, well, photographs. What did I get? 53 laser printed pages that look like they could have been run off any colour laser or photocopier.
The packaging was done well, the cover and binding are lovely. Inside? Crap. Grainy, dotty, unclear, bad colour. As I say, just like some 11-year-old kid with Microsoft Publisher has run off some pages at the local school computer lab.
The verdict; Don’t waste your money.
Technorati Tags: qoop, flickr, review, printing, digital, photography
5 Comments
Hi Chris,
A while back I asked on the TipsFromTheTopFloor forums about the Qoop books (for quality reasons) and was advised to steer clear and ended up choosing MyPublisher.com for a photobook. I posted a review to the forums when I received the book. It might be interesting reading for you.
The original post where I was given some alternative suggestions is here:
(http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2727&highlight)
The post where I reviiewed the MyPublisher.com photo book is here:
(http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2986&highlight=)
Sorry about embedding the addresses, I’m not sure how to format my comments on your blog…
Chris –
We are very sorry that you were unhappy with the book. We would be glad to reprint for you and we wish that you had sent us an email telling us about your displeasure (it is harder to hunt around the net – but we do). Maybe you can send some detailed comments to service@qoop.com (leaving off the 11 year old comment)
As per our FAQ our books are printed using high end digital printers (the highest end actually) – BUT these do not print on photo paper. Photo paper (Fuji Crystalline for instance) will not work with the adhesive that is used in perfect bound books. They are also not going to match the Photosmart printer you may have at home due to the DPI those achieve and the special paper they use. But those other processes can’t produce bound books…
From your comments I am concerned that there was a quality control issue that may be fixed with a reprint. However if you want a book that has pages that are literally like photo paper from the drug store we can’t achieve that (we print at 600 DPI and that is a continuous tone chemical process)
This being said we have a very large number of happy users and we are sorry that you are not one of them and hope we can turn that around.
We do have other products coming that Hugh in customer service can keep you up to speed with that might be interesting. He can be reached at service@qoop.com.
FYI we launched photo books with Flickr long ago – Stewart’s announcement was about photo prints on photo paper that we offer.
- Bill
QOOP
Glad to know this bit of information. Sorry that you had to be the guinea pig!
Thanks for the info Richard
Bill, it’s good to know that you look out for comments on blogs and thanks for the offer of a reprint. I don’t think a reprint would make me any happier. I should have done my research but as it was a recommendation from Flickr I thought it would be a safe purchase. While I am disappointed I am quite sure there will be people who are happy, looking at the forum threads above there are people (“less discerning”) who enjoy the product.
I’m sorry for you that I made my disappointments public but had I just emailed customer service then I would have been doing a disservice to people who read this blog who are now warned to avoid that product and it gave you an opportunity to show what great customer care you have. Although you have had these products for a while it has been the first opportunity for me as a UK resident to try them.
In the end I thought I was buying 50-some pages of photo-quality photographs, that is not what I have in my hands.
OK well thank you for the comments. And we have not problem with people posting their thoughts on blogs – it is just easier to find them if they tell us directly. And QC mistakes do happen and perhaps one occurred here.
But just for the reading audience we don’t just sell to less discerning customers. We actually print books for artists and high end architectural firms. A very picky crowd. And 600 DPI is a good resolution but as I said not equal to photo prints from the drug store which use a very different process but can’t be bound into this type of book.
Thank you for listening
- Bill