Snapfish Drives One Customer to the Snapping Point

My wife is a demanding, yet fair, customer. She’s willing to give service providers the benefit of the doubt—unless the service provider in question makes it virtually impossible to engage in a dialogue.

At issue is an order that my wife placed with Snapfish, the online photo sharing and printing service that is owned by Hewlett-Packard. She has been a loyal customer for years; indeed, she regularly receives special offers via email as a “special thank you for being such a loyal customer.”

The problem is that on the last two occasions, Snapfish’s “special offer codes” were not recognized by its order entry system. The error was not registered until the credit card was already billed. The first time my wife just let it go—the dollar amount was small and the customer service process onerous. When it happened a second time, however, she was irritated. Again, the dollar amount was small (at issue is a $2.99 credit toward an 8x10 print) but no longer did she feel like such a “special customer.”  It got worse when she tried to send an email to customer support.

The company makes users choose from 12 pre-determined customer service categories. None of them apply directly to my wife’s question, i.e., “Why don’t your special offer codes work?”, yet she had to choose a category in order to proceed. Next, she was forced to choose from one of 5 pre-determined customer service questions. Again, none matched directly but she tried to pick the closest one. After typing a lengthy explanation of the problem at hand, she hit “enter” and a big red message appeared: “Please limit your text to 240 characters.”

At this point, she had already invested 30 minutes of her time. Now she spent another 10 minutes trying to edit her question down to 240 characters. Once the email was sent, she received an auto-response saying that someone would be in touch within 48 hours. Well, 48 hours came and went and she didn’t hear anything back from Snapfish’s customer support team—although she did receive yet another offer as a “special thank you for being such a loyal customer.” Instead, she’s thinking about moving three years worth of digital photos over to another online service.

What are the lessons? First, customer support should be for the convenience of the customer—not the convenience of the company. Snapfish’s email support system is the online equivalent of getting trapped in voice mail purgatory. Second, you don’t win customer loyalty with a $2.99 coupon. You win it through good products and great customer service. Third, a $2.99 coupon will cost you a lot more money in terms of lost revenue if you cannot execute it properly, so make sure your systems can keep the promises you make.

Comments

[Dean Cookson]

Patrick,
You're exactly right. We delivered a lousy customer experience to your wife and I'd like to apologize for it. Let me tell you what we're changing so we won't keep doing so.

Last week we patched our coupon code to fix a bug that caused the "One Free X" class of coupons to break when a customer's order contained only one of X. We had a big problem with this bug during our Mother's Day promotion for one free 8x10 (I'm sure it's the same problem your wife ran into). Our response has been to isssue a refund to any customer that paid for an 8x10 on Mother's Day, whether or not they tried to use the coupon or contacted us with a complaint. We've also extended the free offer to all customers who placed an 8x10 in their cart on Mother's Day, but didn't check out, to make sure that people who were deterred by the pre-"submit this order" error message are able to take advantage of the offer. For future coupon offers we've expanded our QA process to include a review of each coupon's test results by our CS department, since they're the ones on the front line when a coupon breaks.

On the email form topic, we're completely revamping that page with an eye to a July release. The new page will allow us to easily add to and edit the pre-populated lists (and we will include "other" in both of them) in response to customer feedback. The 240 character limit will just be tossed out the window. While we're waiting for that to launch you can reach us via online chat from the site, via phone (1-800-634-4500) or on Get Satisfaction (http://getsatisfaction.com/snapfish).

None of this is an excuse for your wife's experience. We didn't deliver the service she, and the rest of our customers, deserve and that's just not acceptable. I hope it does demonstrate though that we're serious about fixing things when we screw up.

Best regards,
Dean Cookson
Director, Systems and Support Operations
Snapfish, a service of hp.

[KT]

IT's funny how you blogged about customer service with Snapfish.com when i too experienced some lousy customer service from them as well.

Because of this, they've lost a customer. I refused to get into an argument with a service rep.

[Ylice Golden]

Patrick:

I think it is interesting that Dean Cookson posted, and when I went to GetSatisfaction.com, there is NO SnapFish account. Ugh!

Here is my experience:

My friend, Jim, hired me to download all his pictures off of SnapFish in order to make a cataloged set of CDs and DVDs as a gift for his wife. I was able to download FOUR sets, then started getting errors, and just like your wife, they give me no room to explain the issue and then blow me off. I complained, got the 48 hour message, then got an email a few days later. The email says that there may be an issue with their system and that I should try again later. I have complained FIVE times now, with NO resolution, just repeatedly told to try again.

What is worse is that the system they have is clumsy at best! When you want to download your images, you can only get 50 at a time. There is no option to select all. You must check box each of the 50 pictures one at a time. I cannot tell you how frustrating that is when this exercise fails daily for 3 darned weeks!

The only work around is a very expensive choice of ordering CDs of off all the pictures, which would run hundreds of dollars in Jim's case. I truly think the error I am experiencing is done on purpose! I believe it is how they force you to pay them for a more expensive option, whether you like it or not!

When I called the 800 number, I got India! Go figure! The operator was very nice, but instead of fixing the problem, he had me reset my browser, which deleted all my cookies, history and passwords. I even had to reinstall Java after he was done! I still can't download the photos, and it appears that the operators have no power to do anything more than apologize. I even proposed that we be given a discounted price for the CDs, and all he could do is promise to pass my request on. That isn't customer support! That is an answering service!

I have no idea how this is eventually going to be resolved, but it sure is the worse online service I have ever dealt with!

Ylice Golden
Virginia Beach, VA

[Debra Hunter]

I have to echo the distressing comments about Snapfish here. I love to create photo books and gifts, and am a pretty big customer, having spent probably over $500 on these in the past year and a half. Last Winter, hen I had spent probably 20 hours working on a book that was a gift for my daughter's coach, I was suddenly unable to access my projects. I wrote to Snapfish's customer service many times (over about a year), and NEVER got a response. I have written an dozen emails to ask for help,and still I can't access my projects. I have moved all of my business over to Shutterfly. They do a much better job, with online customer support, and better options for photo books. And they actually answer their customer service emails. My frustration is that since I started with Snapfish, I have a base of shared photos and it's been a slow process of moving all of my photos and family/friends to a new site.
Mr. Cookson, are you still out there? Is there anything you can do to fix this?

Debra Hunter in San Rafael, CA

[Karen garner]

I agree with these comments -- it is pretty much customer "no service". Last night and this morning, the whole site is down. Go figure. I am weaning off this mess and going with Winkflash.

[Paul]

I've also had terrible customer service with Snapfish. I ordered 100 photos on Sept 7, and Snapfish sent me 50 photos printed at the wrong size, 4 X 6, rather than 5.3 X 4. (Digital photos have to be printed at 5.3, or the pictures will be cropped.). Some of the heads in my photos were cut off.

Snapfish had me mail back the photos and credited my account, rather than just printing the photos at the correct size. I had to go back and pick out 50 photos.

Yesterday I got the 50 photos, and the are the wrong size again! I emailed Snapfish, but got back a response telling me my email was not specific enough. This angers me. I don't feel like I am talking to a human, but to automated system with fake understanding. I had 500 photos uploaded to Snapfish to print, but now I will have to upload them to Kodak, because I simply can't trust Snapfish do print them right, and can't seem to speak to a human who will give me anything other than a pat response.

It took snapfish a full 24 hours to contact me today. Now I am given yet another pat response.

"With our new 'TrueDigital' print size, our system detects whether you have photos in your cart that might benefit from that new size, and a popup screen will give you the option to choose the TrueDigital aspect ratio, instead of 4x6. You will not be able to choose that size if the page does not popup automatically."

I did see the window that Snapfish says didn't exist and in fact got a receipt after I placed the order indicating that I would get the 5.3 (digital size). I wrote this in *each* of my previous two emails. But the customer service hasn't read the emails carefully.

Worse, the customer service isn't acknowledging the anger I expressed in each of the previous two emails. It as if I had just asked them a question, rather than expressed anger (though in a reasonable way) at the way the situation was handled. Snapfish is brushing aside my concern.

It has now been nearly a month since I ordered those photos. I still don't have them. I still can't speak to anyone who will realize that a customer has been made angry.

I'm middle aged, and I would have to say that this is the worst customer service I have ever received.

[Paul]

By the way, in the above post, Dean Cookson, a representative from Snapfish, states that the 240 character limit will be eliminated; he also gives a link to a page to get customer service.

The 240 character limit is still in place.

The link leads nowhere.

[Christine]

I ordered a free photo book that was a promotion from the Oprah Winfrey Show. They sent me 4x6 photos instead of the book. Now they are refusing to honor their free promotion. They are also refusing to refund my money that was paid towards the photo book. I will never do business with Snapfish.

[Russell]

Snapfish=FALSE ADVERTISING. Their webpage says pre-paid bundles are the lowest prices. They are not and customer service tries to tell you the price for the bundle is irrelevant.

On 12/11/08 I prepaid a 5x7 50 print bundle for $24.50 (that’s 49¢ each) because their website http://www3.snapfish.com/bundle/t_=15915146 said "Lock in the lowest prices by pre-paying for your prints…We'll automatically apply them to your future print or film developing orders.” After that I immediately uploaded my 50 prints and proceeded to buy them. I noticed the price per print was showing 39¢ each ($19.50 total). I was thinking they wouldn’t use my prepaid credit on this order since they said the pre-paid price was the lowest. If it did use my credit, I could tell customer service what happened and surely they would refund the difference. It did use my credit. I just paid $24.50 for 50 prints that should have cost me $19.50. I immediately sent an email to customer service. 3 days later they responded with this bs..

"Hi Russell

Thank you for writing to us.

We're sorry if the checkout was confusing when you redeemed your prepaid prints. The debiting of your prepaid prints is on a per print basis - it has no relation to the individual print price shown on your order details page.

When you purchase 50 prepaid prints at a discounted price, you'll get all 50 prints from that, regardless of the price shown on the order details page when you order (redeem) your prints. It is only the QUANTITY of prints which are deducted from your prepaid "bundle"; not the value of the prints in your individual orders.

Please note that the cost of the individual prints is refunded in your order's subtotal.

We hope to make this clearer in the future, but rest assured that you will only be debited for QUANTITY of prints you purchase.”

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.”

They "refunded" the 39¢ per print but used my 49¢ per print credit. That is not a refund! What kind of company would try to pull this s**t on their customers and think they can get away with it?

[Dr.Vladimir Naroditsky]

Regretfully, it is "Deja Vu". We have been loyal customers of SnapFish for many years but today is my last day. We have placed an order for the portrait for an important occasion. The order has never arrived (even though it was stated that it had been shipped). After 5 business days, I tried to reach the Customer Service. After being put on hold for 40 minutes, and then the next day for 50 minutes, I was able to reach an overseas person. He said that he is re-ordering the print which will be shipped overnight. This was on December 18th. I checked the website a couple of times for the order status, and on December 21st the new print was shown as "shipped overnight." My simple calculations forced me to expect its arrival on December 22nd. When the order didn't arrive, I called again, on December 23rd (today), and talked to a customer service supervisor named Ritu. She told me that the package was shipped by Fedex. I asked for the tracking number, but she could not provide it. Then, I opened my email, and discovered the following message:

"Thank you for expressing your concern regarding the status of your order 209894972.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Our records show that your order was shipped on 12/21/2008 . You should receive your order in 3-5 business days."

I called again, trying to figure out how the order shipped overnight on December 21st by Fedex could arrive in 3-5 business days. No answer.

The entire experience is very frustrating. Of course, Snapfish will lose me as a customer. I just wanted to share this experience with everyone who reads this blog.

[rylan]

Here's how to download the photos from Snapfish to your computer without paying for them.

On SnapFish, view a slideshow of the photos you want to download. It doesn't matter which photo of the slideshow you have enlarged when you do the following, as long as you know the title of the photo(s) you want to download. View the page's source (View: Source, in Internet Explorer). In the source, search for the title of the photo you want to download. Look for the first URL that appears above the photo's title, it should start with ""http://images1b.snapfish.com/". Copy and paste the entire URL into your web browser and hit enter. If you did it right, the image will appear by itself and you can right click it and save it to your computer.

[Jamie]

I ordered 3 calendars as gifts. Today I got an email notice that my credit card was being credited for the amount of the order. No explanation, had to log into my SF account to find out the order was canceled.

Spent 10 minutes trying to find the customer service phone number. Reached a rep and was told that there was a technical problem and probably some of the pictures were either bad or corrupted. Seems silly to me to cancel an order rather than trying to fix the problem. Guess they have enough money, which is good because they won't get any more of mine.

I found this site by searching for Snapfish Problems. Its a shame that a technology company has service and technology so bad that the search returned so many results.

[Vicky R]

Snapfish has struck again. Both my husband and I ordered 2009 Mother's Day cards from Snapfish for our mothers this year. Wish I had read this blog first. They did not even ship the cards until AFTER Mother's Day. What screw ups they are. I then get an email from them blaming it on one of their vendors.(Why not the computer?? that is usually the excuse) Then they tell me that all the cards were received by Mother's Day. They lie too. They gave me a refund, but can they give me back Mother's Day for our moms. Both of our mothers are out of state, so it's not like we can just run to the store and purchase a card and drop it off at the last minute. We only found out late Saturday afternoon that the cards had not shipped.I will NEVER deal with this company again. I have been a loyal Shutterfly customer in the past and they will have ALL my future business. I have asked nicely for Snapfish to mail letters of apology to our moms. Think that will happen?