Answered By Suzanne Morgan, founder, Print Buyers Online.com

Question:
Please advise: I’m having a disagreement with one of my printers regarding the dollar amount for a credit for a quality problem. In a recent order of 5,000 custom printed and converted envelopes, I discovered 450 bad envelopes (which I graciously took my time to sort and find). I asked my printer for a credit. He sent me a new invoice with a $62.00 credit. I told him the envelopes are worth more than that. The envelopes cost me $2,760 for 5,000. So, I paid $0.552 each and I have to issue a credit to my client. I’m expecting a credit of at least $248.

When I requested this, here was his response: “You can't figure costs that way in manufacturing. We use the cost per add'l thousand price to calculate any overs or unders. Basically it’s $138 less to do 4,000 envelopes. Dividing out at .55 each would mean we could manufacture 2,000 for $1,110, which would be way too little and 7,500 envelopes would be $4,125 would also be way too high.”

I feel strongly that the credit is worth more than $62.00 and that my request was reasonable. I guess I could tell him to reprint them and see how he responds to that solution! I am sure it will cost more than $62.00 to replace them. What do you think?

E. H.

Answer:
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a proponent for fairness for BOTH print buyers as well as printers. So my comments reflect my frustration with this printer’s response – not printers in general…I find this printer’s response to be very disappointing. This printer is missing the big picture, which is working to make sure the customer is satisfied. I think your request of a $248 is reasonable. The printer is focusing on manufacturing COSTS. Regarding this situation, he should be focused in on how he can retain a client after having almost 10% of the job rejected due to poor quality. I think he should be grateful to have a customer that is happy with a $248 discount. Many print buyers would probably decide not to work with this printer again after getting this type of response.

Suzanne