Please pardon this interruption in the 12 Days of Christmas posts! You will see these posts in their entirety.
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The hard part was done...or so I thought! I picked out my photo for the few Christmas cards that will actually go in the mail. I uploaded it to Shutterfly who sends it to Target with my order for 20 photos. All I have to do is go to Target and pick up my photos. Easy, right?
WRONG!! When I got to the photo desk at Target yesterday, I had my money ready. I handed Photo Guy the money at the same time he handed me the photos. HUGE mistake! Always look first! This is what was in my package!
When I pointed out that half of our greeting had been chopped off, Photo Guy said, "I printed what Shutterfly sent me. You'll have to talk to them." Then, he turned around and walked away.
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Oh, my blood pressure is shooting up again as I write!
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I could feel my resolution to smile through any of the dramas or inconveniences of the holidays hiding behind the bitch-hulk that wanted to bust out of my jeans and rip Photo Guy to shreds! Deep breath! Deep breath!
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Instead of creating a scene, I went to the customer service counter and asked for a manager. I showed her my photos and told her about my experience with Photo Guy. She talked with him, obtained a phone number to Shutterfly and suggested I call them. No offer of money back! No apology for bad behavior! Blame! Blame! Blame!
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Breath, breath, I think I'm going to hyperventilate!
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When I got home, I dialed the number to Shutterfly, was informed that they were experiencing a large amount of phone calls and my wait would be at least 20 minutes. Knowing that an e-mail would be ignored completely or poo-pooed with insincere apologies, I decided to wait. Then, the tin-can music started. Not only do they make you wait forever, they try to make you hang up by playing the most horrible music ever at very loud volumes. Their goal is to make you say, "Forget it (actually, I'm thinking a much harsher f-word)" and hang up.
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I suffered through my 25 minutes of waiting only to be greeted by a bad connection to India. I explained what had happened. Mr. Shutterfly apologized and asked for all kinds of numbers to verify my photos. The only pleasure I got from this whole episode was making me Mr. Shutterfly wait while I found the e-mail with all of the numbers he wanted. Joy of joys, Will was practicing his trombone, so I let Mr. Shutterfly be entertained by the joyful sounds.
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Once I gave him the numbers, he pulled the photo up, looked at it and said, "Oh, the top got cut off." To my credit, I did not say, "DUH!" He said he could have the photos reprinted and I would have them by December 23. I pointed out that these are for CHRISTMAS CARDS which is on the 25th. The 23rd is too late.
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Oh my God, I thought the vein in my temple was going to rupture!
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"May I please speak to your supervisor, " I said. He started backtracking. "Well, I can send them express and you'll have them in 3 days." Why wouldn't he offer that from the beginning to make everything right since they screwed up! I made sure they did not expect any payment from me. We'll see if I have these photos by Friday. I'm not putting any money on it.
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When I checked my e-mail later, Shutterfly had the nerve to send me a "HOW DID WE DO?" survey. They got a "ya'll suck" response. I sent the same information to Target and received an e-mail back stating that the Photo Center is leased to another company and isn't officially part of Target. Again, let's pass the buck and blame somebody else.
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The really crappy part...if Photo Guy had just said, "Wow, these photos are really bad. I'm sorry," I probably would have tossed the photos in the trash and started over.
Bah Humbug!
