AlphaGraphics

Reviews

• BL

  Ben van Loon

  Jul 6, 2022
  1.0
  I’ve worked with Alphagraphics printers around the US and always had a good experience—until working with this group. My experience with them has been one marked by consistently poor communications and general dismissal of my print quality concerns. This entire drama went from mid-May 2022 to early July 2022. I work with a DC-based trade association and ordered a run of a hundred ninety-page magazines. Our association likes to use printers in nearby geographies, rather than shipping across the country, which is why we chose to work with this DC-based franchise. After submitting a request for quote, it took a few days for Alphagraphics to respond. After finally receiving the quote, I emailed an affirmative response to proceed. I didn’t hear anything back from the printer for another few business days, so I called them and they confirmed receipt. When I asked about the ETA for product delivery, I received a non-specific answers that my project would be entered into the queue. Understanding that printers are dealing with both supply chain and labor issues, I accepted this nebulous answer. A couple of weeks passed and I finally received the order. Shipment was fine, but the covers of almost every magazine had striping in the ink; a quality issue that typically suggests low toner or mismatched paper setting. This was not up to standards for distribution within our association, so we contacted the printer to state and document this issue and see what they could do to remedy the situation, such as reprinting. The franchisee ignored my first few emails. After this, I had several conversations with them over the next couple of weeks—over email and phone—to get a straight answer. The main explanation finally given to me by the printer is that we ordered a digital printing, but the printer only had paper available for offset printing. According to their explanation, when you use offset paper for a digital print, striping can sometimes be an issue. In their words: “We have to use what's available, unfortunately we may have to use an offset sheet instead of a digital sheet to meet the customer delivery. Offset sheets do not treat toner like digital sheets. Digital sheets are produced to lay the toner down evenly, like offset is designed to absorb ink.” If the franchisee was aware of this paper supply and print quality issue, they should have told me beforehand and given me options for how to proceed. Instead, they sent the shipment—which they knew to have issues—and likely hoped that we wouldn’t notice or be so scrutinous. Rushed and disingenuous. The worker I spoke with on the phone also said that if I was happier with another Alphagraphics printer, why didn’t I work with them instead? Clearly a great vote of confident for his own business. After much prodding and emails, the owner finally contacted me and said I could pull out the erroneous issues. Though they qualified this with the caveat: “We will be willing to reprint those books that are defective up to a point. First we have to determine the quantity and then a subjective quality standard.” In other words, they were going to scrutinize our own scrutiny before actually proceeding with any reprints. Alternately, they said they would give a full refund if we shipped back all of the issues to them—at our own expense. They also apparently sent us 107 issues (we only ordered 100), and would only give a refund if all 107 issues were returned. Based on the printer’s unreliability and the myriad reasons they’ve given me to not trust them, we counted this project as a loss and ceased any further efforts for them to rectify this situation. Completely frustrating, a total waste of time, and now a case study in extremely poor communication and customer service. I do not recommend this business to anyone.
• BW

  Ben Wofford

  Aug 26, 2021
  1.0
  I did not see hours on the door. Google says they open at 9am today. There was no one there at 9:30pm. Also, no one answered the phone. I think this business may have shut down.
• AA

  Apowell Audio

  Mar 12, 2021
  5.0
  I finally used their services for a basic card. They were very helpful with title, name, email, etc placement. Hundreds of printed example cards to choose your perfect style. At a great price too! Will definitely use in the future!!!
• JM

  Justina Mulzac

  Nov 20, 2019
  5.0
  Great customer service. I told Micheal what I wanted and he brought my vision to life. Love the bouquet.
• JB

  Jessica Brown

  Jun 21, 2018
  5.0
  The service from staff at Alphagraphics downtown D.C. is nothing less than exceptional! They exceeded my expectations and the turn around time was very quick! I am looking forward to fulfilling ALL my print needs at Alphagraphics!

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