The 4 Letter F-Word: FREE!

The 4 Letter F-Word: FREE! 250 FREE BUSINESS CARDS! FREE WEB DESIGN!! FREE HEADACHES!!! ALL IT WILL COST YOU IS TWICE THE NORMAL PRICE!

Over the last 2 weeks I have been in contact with close to a dozen of different people who have come into my business to get their business cards reprinted. All clients, in these cases, were former patrons of online print services and big box stores. Three of these clients, in particular, have used an online service that offered 250 free business cards to prospective clients with an option of 42 template designs to choose from. What a great deal you say? Here are three examples of those customers experiences.

Brian just dealt with the cards he was given even though the design had nothing to do with the business that he was in or the fact that his personal email address was spelled incorrectly on the cards. Brian said “Oh well, they were free and I can always write my real address on the back of the card”. Brian tried to get this change fixed by the company but they said that they were going to implement a charge for the changes and charge for the re-shipping. Brian decided to live with the error for now and got us to do the redesign for him for next time.

Alex, like Brian, had a similar experience but wanted the company to fix the errors. Alex was aware of the extra charges and didn’t care. The issue that had Alex disgruntled was the fact that the 10 business day turnaround time turned into 20 business days, nearly one calendar month, to get his desired result.

Carrie was happy with the template design that she was offered and loved the colors that showed up on the screen; the issue was the fact that the cards that came back were on a thinner card stock than what was expected, the colors on the screen didn’t match what the print produced and the font was so small it was hard for a person with 20/20 eyesight to read. Carrie, deflated from this experience, came to us for the reprint as the changes, adjustments and re-shipping would have cost her more money than what she was willing to spend and she really wanted to be proud of what she hands out to her prospective clients.

Here are two dirty little secret that most online and big box printers wont tell you:

1. The value added incentives and that great (sometimes free) price that you are being offered isn’t necessarily going to be the same when you reorder your product. Some printing companies put on rock bottom prices that are designed to get clients through the door (this is called a lost leader). When you go to reorder your price is sometimes doubled.

2. Sure you may be getting a super price on a set of big box business cards from the big box store but did you know about the hidden costs that come with it? An extra charge for a heavier card stock, extra charges for turnaround times within 3 days, extra charges for design alterations, plus, plus, plus...you get the idea. Also, they rarely ever print right there in that particular store. They are shipped there from another location. So much for reducing your carbon footprint!

When you are given a FREE service or FREE product, you have to really be careful that you are actually getting a VALUABLE product or service. In a lot of cases, you get what you pay for: Nothing for Nothing!

Be careful using the 4 letter F-Word!

Lyle Doucette