ComplaintsforBlurb, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  02/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I ordered a book from this company on 11-13-2021, it was to printed to order and would allegedly take a couple weeks to be processed and delivered. I received a shipping notification a couple weeks after ordering. However the book never showed up, and upon checking the shipping notification it said label created but item never received for shipping, and to this day it still days that same thing. This book is a book that my father wrote, so i asked him about what to do with the issue because hes the one who contracted them to print the book he contacted them about the issue, by email because they have no other way of contact, and he got an apologetic response with a promo code to re-order the book. Of course the code didnt work! So i begin my own email to them about the incident, i too get ab apology and a promise that they will reprint and send me a replacement book asap. Weeks go by again, nothing happens. I finally gey fed up with it and demand a refund since they clearly just cant complete my purchase. They reply with a claim of transferring me to the department that handles refunds. Shortly after i get another email with yet another promo code!! Im over it, i dont want to deal with them anymore, and i reply to that email again, immediately with a demand for a refund. That was about a week ago and now, still jothing has happened, no book, no refund, no response so 3 months ago they ripped me off and refuse to refund me.

  Business response

  02/25/2022

  Hello,
  
  
  I'm sorry to hear that you didn't receive your order as expected. I was able to find several interactions with your father but I couldn't find most of your personal interactions with us that you mentioned in your complaint. I'm wondering if perhaps you contacted us from a different email address. 
  
  
  I was able to find your support request #*******, where our Customer Support team offered you a free replacement on the same day you contacted us. However, we asked you to verify your shipping address, but we never received your reply, therefore we couldn't proceed with your free replacement order. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.
  Then I was also able to find your support request #******* where you were offered a refund and a code to apply to a future order.
  
  
  I believe at this point you were offered the solution you requested and the problem should be solved. If you have any further questions about this order, or you need help with anything else, please feel free to reopen your support request.
  
  
  Best,
  
  

  Customer response

  02/26/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *********

• Initial Complaint

  02/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I ordered a personalized book on Jan 23, 2022 as a gift for my mother's 80th birthday. According to the Blurb site, my order would be delivered by Feb 4th. That did not happen. It is now Feb 10th, 2022 and the book has not arrived. The difficulty I am facing, is that there is no customer support access other than email to remedy the issue. I have emailed and received four email responses, none have offered a solution. There is some question as to whether *** lost this book in transit or whether Blurb shipped this book at all (*** only shows a label created). Pls provide some resolution by re-printing this book and/or refunding the original amount. Attached screenshot was taken on Feb 10th -- now, there is no gift for Mama.Sincerely,*******************************

  Business response

  02/18/2022

  Hello,
  
  
  I'm sorry to hear your order didn't arrive by its estimated delivery date. Our records show that it was shipped in time but then there were some delays in transit. I know that our Customer Support team offered you a free replacement that is currently in production. However, I see that they also gave you the address of the *** Access Point where your original order was delivered last week. When we spoke with ***, they told us that you requested delivery to an Access Point, rather than to your address. Your original order will remain at the Access Point until February the 22nd, in case you want to go to pick it **. ** any case, we're going to ship your replacement order soon.
  
  
  Best,

  Customer response

  02/19/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ******** and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I appreciate your support in this matter.
  

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  11/21/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  One of Blurb's businesses is to publish customers' photo books from digital downloads. The first photo book I ordered from Blurb in 2021, dated 6/25/21, was satisfactory. I ordered another, which was not satisfactory--the cover, intended to be black and white, has a greenish cast. As instructed by ***************** I e-mailed photos comparing the colors of the two copies. This has been repeated at least three times. The response to each of complaints has been, "We're sorry for the inconvenience. In order to process your complaint, we need new photos". I have sent them new photos every time.As of today I have a pile of books with greenish covers and one book with a black and white cover. These people are in the printing business, for heaven's sake! As the first copy I ordered was satisfactory, I would like a replacement of the second copy--a black and white cover, or course.

  Business response

  11/22/2021

  Hello,
  
  
  Im sorry to hear that youre not happy with your book. Could you please provide your latest order number? I was able to find your account and see that we offered you multiple free replacement books. However the most recent free replacement was shipped in August and Im unable to find any recent orders. I'm also not seeing that you sent us a complaint about that free replacement order.

  
  Alternatively, could you provide your Blurb support request number? Your last email I see that is associated with the email address you provided here dates back to August. Following that email, we sent you a free replacement order, and it doesn't look like you reached back to let us know if you were happy with it. Im really sorry but Im unable to find any recent interactions in which you were asked to send pictures and then you were not offered a free replacement order. Any help you can give me to find the order youre complaining about is greatly appreciated. 
  
  
  Thank you.

  Customer response

  11/24/2021

   
  Complaint: 16168329
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  Blurb has yet to provide me with the black and white cover to the photo book in contention for many months. See my latest message to Blurb support dated 11/22/2021 and Blurb's response dated 11/22/2021. I have sent many photos of the defective cover and still new books are returned to me with the greenish cast. Blurb needs to send my book to a printer who can handle black and white covers, since the printer who has printed my cover is clearly not capable of the job.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Business response

  12/06/2021

  Im sorry to hear the customer rejected my request to provide some details about her problem. Unfortunately, she didnt contact us after receiving her replacement order back in August. Therefore, we didnt know that the reprint didnt meet her expectations.
  She then contacted our Customer Support team after filing the ******************** complaint. When she reached out to us, we were able to order another free replacement book for her. Were hoping that shell be happy with her new order. The customer can contact us at any time if she needs any further assistance.

  Best regards,

  Customer response

  12/10/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  Even though it took many months and many complaints to Blurb, they finally sent me a satisfactory product. I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  11/03/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  After ordering and receiving a large quantity of magazine products from Blurb, I contacted customer support after realizing that the product that I received was defective and not to standard quality. The details within the pages of the magazine were that they were darker than how they appeared when I manually edited them on their software and some pages bled through others. I ordered exactly 100 copies of custom print magazines split between 2 orders (50 on each) for my business and placed said transactions from 07/06/21 to 07/07/21 with a total of $609.66 and requested from their customer support for a refund. After getting ahold of someone named **** on Blurb support, she requested I take pictures of the product and send them to her as a reference as per their refund policy. She was not able to work with the pictures I sent her and eventually she contacted her manager, who stated that they approved me of a one-time refund as a courtesy. They requested that I send the products back in order to continue with the refund, to which I did and they received it on 09/07/21. I have not heard back from their customer support since my last message to them on 10/05/21 and have not received my refunded payment. It has been hard to get ahold of anyone on their end because they also have no phone number that I can contact in regards to support. The order numbers of the transactions are ******* and *******.

  Business response

  11/12/2021

  Hello,

  I apologize for the delay in processing your refund. I was able to find your support request and see that you were explained the reason for the delay. I'm glad that this was clarified for you. I also see that the team didn't know that the order had been returned because they were not provided with the return tracking number. However, I'm glad that both orders were refunded. If you could reconsider using Blurb for a future project, we're here for you and happy to help.

  Best,

   

• Initial Complaint

  09/16/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Blurb sent out books to my customers with the wrong content. My cookbooks had another person's family pictures in and many of the recipes were missing. They cannot tell me how many of these books have been distributed and will not offer any restitution for having made the error, including a refund of my money.

  Business response

  09/24/2021

  Hello,

  Im terribly sorry to hear of the problem with your customers order. This is a very rare production error that is usually caught internally, before the book ships. Normally such books wouldnt actually ship out. Im really sorry the defective book was not caught before shipping, and I can certainly understand why this caused so much inconvenience.

  This is an error that Blurb takes very seriously. Therefore, we required that the defective book be returned to us.

  I was also able to verify that the original order was refunded, a free replacement was offered to your customer, and this is the only defective copy that shipped out.

  Please note that you dont need to try to find any other books. What was mentioned to you is that, if any future customers have any issues with their orders, they can reach out to us directly. I hope this helps clarify, and rest assured that you don't need to do anything else on your end.

  
  If you have any further questions about this order, please feel free to update your support request.

  Best,

  Customer response

  09/25/2021

   
  Complaint: 15874356
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Blurb is offering no restitution for the embarrassment and inconvenience this has caused me not only for the one purchaser that caught the error but possibly others who have not said anything about the error.  I contracted with Blurb to deliver a product that cost top dollar both to me and to my fan base. They breached that contract in that they did not edit the book or books before shipping them. I even did final reviews of the product and gave my okay to ship.  This is a careless mistake and it has caused me embarrassment and a lack of credibility.

  Regardless of whether they made what they feel MIGHT be a one-time error, this has caused me a great inconvenience having to notify other of this possible error. My time is valuable and I am asking Blurb to pay for the time spent in having to follow up with my fan base.  Time is money and I want $200 for the time spent in having to contact others.  This will no doubt cause a decrease in my sales as people are reluctant to buying something that has a risk involved.
  

  I am certain that the family that has their personal family pictures scattered throughout my cookbook are not happy either.  This was not a minor mistake....this was a major error and Blurb is minimizing it and not taking it seriously. I sell these books online on my blog and my ******** page to support my Save A Life Program that feeds the hungry and saves the lives of dogs and cats in shelters. This has impacted my reputation and caused people to hesitate to buy.  Blurb can pay me for my time at the rate of $200 or they can donate $500 to my Save A Life Program.  Choose one.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  08/04/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  6+ Months and products are still not being properly printed/handled. Over 4 faulty/damaged orders of the most recent (50) units and they have been promising reprint for 3+ weeks. Company has failed to deliver multiple orders and blatantly lied in documented email to customer. Company has failed to properly update content /Bio/ categories on ****** after repeated submission. We have asked repeatedly for legal teams contact information for fraud on Blurbs behalf- and no one has provided. Publishing company is of our own and they have yet to rectify as WE are the publishers with ISBN for the book and they acknowledged this and the need to be done (3+ months now). Everyone we talk to is a manager and no one does anything but blame the other person or spin another web of lies and exaggeration. No direct point of contact or ability to reach anyone for anything. This IS a publishing AND printing company (allegedly); yet its being ran like a scam. No excuse & completely unacceptable

  Business response

  08/13/2021

  Hello ****,
  
  I'm very sorry to hear of the problems with your orders. I know that making beautiful books require a lot of time and effort, so I can totally understand your frustration, given the situation.
  
  I was unable to verify some of the information you provided in your complaint. For example, I see that all of your orders were delivered. I'm also seeing that you were asked to provide your ISBN to allow us to update the content, bio and categories of your book, but I was unable to find your reply. I think that could be the reason why that information wasn't updated. Finally, I can assure you that only the manager introduced themselves as the manager. 
  
  However, these are just details. Your free replacement order was delivered extremely late, and I'm truly sorry about that. I can only imagine the trouble and inconvenience this must have caused. I'm glad that our Customer Support manager was able to offer the solution you requested, so I'm hoping that, going forward, everything will go smoothly for you. We're still here, ready to help, if you have any further questions, or if you can consider using Blurb again in the future.

  Please do reach out to the Customer Support manager if you have any more concerns, and they'll be happy to assist you. 

  All the best,

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩