Shutterfly, Inc.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation.  I'm very sorry [redacted] had a bad experience with her Christmas card order from last year.
I checked our records, and I can't explain why [redacted] received her cards in [redacted].  She placed her order on Saturday, [redacted] 19,...

[redacted].  It consisted of 35 cards mailed directly to her recipients, and 5 cards shipping to her address.  The order was completed and all items were shipped by Tuesday, [redacted] 22, [redacted].  The shipment of 5 cards was sent via [redacted] and should have been delivered by Wednesday, [redacted] 23.  The direct-mailed cards should have been delivered to her recipients over the next week, as they were sent via [redacted].  I can understand the direct-mailed cards arriving after Christmas, as our recommended cut-off for direct-mailed cards had already passed when [redacted] placed her order.  They should have arrived soon after, though, as everything was shipped by the 22nd.  The [redacted] shipment is more concerning, as I can see no reason why it would arrive 8 months late.  [redacted] no longer has tracking details for the order, so it's impossible to tell what happened or who was at fault.  Ultimately, it doesn't matter, since [redacted] placed the order with Shutterfly and we failed to deliver her order as promised.
The portion of the order that was late totaled about $23 (which was mostly the rush shipping fee).  To reimburse Ms. Noldan, and as a token of our apologies for the problems with the order, I have added a $25 gift certificate to her Shutterfly account.  This gift certificate is ready for use, doesn't expire, and will be automatically applied to any orders placed through www.shutterfly.com until it is used up.  (It won't apply to orders placed for in-store pick-up or through our mobile apps.)  I hope [redacted] accepts this gift certificate along with our apologies and is willing to use us again in the future.If [redacted] has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.Sincerely,Mike LandrethDirector, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-610-5256

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation.  I'm very sorry [redacted] had a bad experience with the charges on her recent order.
To provide some context, Shutterfly requests an authorization for the amount of an order at the time the order is placed.  This results in the...

bank or credit card issuer putting a hold on the funds, pending the eventual charge, but no funds are transferred at that time.  We process the charge (and receive the funds) only after the order is completed and shipped.
I carefully reviewed the order in question and can find no sign of any error, either in the initial authorization or the eventual charge.  I can assure [redacted] that we didn't double-charge her, and we certainly didn't receive anything more than the $[redacted] we authorized for this transaction.  I will be the first to admit if something in our system resulted in an excess authorization or charge.  While excess charges are extremely rare, we do see occasional cases where an authorization gets duplicated, but there is no indication of any kind that a duplicate authorization was requested here.  When I check the details I see one authorization on July 3 and the eventual capture of funds on July 10, with no indication that anything unusual happened with the transaction.
I hesitate to suggest that any other entity is to blame for this situation, but it's not unheard of that the credit card processor or bank fails to properly clear an authorization when the charge gets processed.  If that's the case here, the authorization should expire after a period of time.  The exact amount of time depends upon the financial institution's policy, but it is typically about two weeks.  Hopefully this means any authorization that wasn't properly cleared has already expired.
I understand [redacted] request for us to refund the excess amount, but there simply is no duplicate or excess transaction in our records that we could refund.If [redacted] has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.  If the excess amount is still being deducted from her balance, I encourage her to contact me.  I may be able to reach out to her bank and assure them that our transaction has completed and that any funds still being reserved can be released.Sincerely,Mike LandrethSenior Director, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-610-5256

Initial Business Response /* (4000, 7, 2015/12/03) */
Thank you for the update. I'm pleased to see the situation was resolved without further intervention.
According to our records, both orders were refunded on December 2. I'm sorry this situation was so frustrating for Ms. [redacted] and I...

hope she is satisfied with the resolution.
If Ms. [redacted] has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 9, 2015/12/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/02/01) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm very sorry Ms. [redacted] had a bad experience with her photo book orders.
I have added a free 20-page 12x12 hard cover photo book to Ms. [redacted]'s account, along with a free...

Economy shipping credit. These credits are good through 4/1/16, and can be used to order a replacement 12x12 book at no charge (after removing the skull background, of course).
I will need to do some digging to understand why we refused to replace both books. The problem was the same, and Ms. [redacted] wouldn't have had a chance to notice and correct the problem since the books were ordered within a day of each other.
It's probably the case that the agents were considering this to be customer error, although we do have an exception for cases where the customer wouldn't have reasonably been aware of the problem. The background does appear in the preview, but in fairness some of our backgrounds are very subtle and difficult to see on some monitors. I'm sorry the agents involved didn't properly evaluate the situation and address it appropriately.
If Ms. [redacted] has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/02/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Thank you for your reply. I've been very satisfied with Shutterfly products in the past and plan to remain a loyal customer.

I'm sorry for the delay in our response.  Our mobile orders are handled by a different team, and I'm checking with them regarding this situation.  I'm very sorry Ms. Earich had such a frustrating experience, and I'm sure we will be able to reach an acceptable resolution.  I will reply...

with full details within the next day or two.
Regards,
Mike Landreth, Director, Customer Experience

Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 6, 2015/12/01) */
I spoke with an online Shutterfly customer service rep this past weekend and she credited back my credit card for the shipping cost so you can close this complaint

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/07) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm very sorry Mrs. [redacted] had such a bad experience with her print order.
According to our records, Mrs. [redacted]'s order was shipped in three packages. All were shipped with...

plenty of time to be delivered within the original estimates. I'm sorry to hear that 2 of the three had not arrived by 12/22, when the original estimate was for everything to be delivered on or before 12/21.
I should point out that the shipping estimates we provided were just that - estimates. Mrs. [redacted] selected Economy shipping, which does not provide guaranteed delivery dates. We do our best to ensure that the vast majority of shipments are delivered within the estimated dates. And we upgrade the shipping method on orders when we are late shipping them to ensure that they still meet their original estimate, even when the original method selected wasn't guaranteed.
Unfortunately Mrs. [redacted]'s order was delayed after we shipped it, so our options were limited.
Regardless of why the order was late, we do take responsibility and will provide accommodations for late orders. If Mrs. [redacted]'s prints were more than a day or two late, I can provide shipping refunds or other accommodations. If she can let me know which prints were late and when they arrived, I should be able to offer a refund or other accommodation.
Once again, I'm sorry Mrs. [redacted]'s order was not delivered as expected. If she has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/25) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm sorry Ms. [redacted] was unhappy with the promotion she received.
Unfortunately, I am unable to accommodate Ms. [redacted]'s request. Our promotion system is designed to apply any...

$-off or free promotions prior to any %-off promotions. The promotional discounts were applied as promised, with the 50% (or 40%) discount being applied to the net price paid after other discounts.
While it sounds like this resulted in a lower discount that Ms. [redacted] expected, it often results in a benefit to customers. Applying the %-off first often results in orders no longer qualifying for additional discounts (like $-off or free shipping promotions).
Ms. [redacted] has been a long-time loyal customer, and I don't want this experience to leave a bad impression. I noticed that Ms. [redacted] had a previous $20-off promotion that expired, so I am adding a new $20-off promotion to her account, good through 3/31/2016.
If she has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation.  I'm very sorry [redacted] had a bad experience with her recent photo book order.
I checked the correspondence between [redacted] and our agents on this issue and I do apologize for the tone of our initial response.  To be fair, I...

believe the agent was reacting to [redacted]'s assertion that the photo on the back cover was cropped.  Unfortunately the cropping on the back cover is a problem with the customization of the book rather than any manufacturing problem.  The agent correctly diagnosed that simply reprinting the book wouldn't solve this problem, as the photo is cropped in the saved project.  That said, the agent should have addressed the numerous other problems [redacted] mentioned (such as excess glue and poor binding) and not simply dismissed the problem as [redacted]'s fault.  The appropriate response would have been to apologize, explain that a reprint wouldn't solve the problem, and provide free product credits so [redacted] could adjust the cropping to her liking and reorder the book.  Ideally, the agent would have noticed the disconnect between [redacted]'s description and the saved project from December and gotten more details about the apparent change.
It appears that the second agent [redacted] spoke to provided the appropriate product credits.  These credits will allow [redacted] to review the saved project, adjust the cropping to her liking, and place a new order for the corrected book at no charge (including the memorabilia pocket and free economy shipping).  These credits are good through August 14, [redacted].
I would appreciate hearing back from [redacted] regarding the cropping on the back cover.  When I look at the saved projects for the December order and the June order, they both show the back cover photo being cropped just above the sunglasses.  If the printed version was different (either in December or June) I'd like to know about it.  It's unusual for a book to print differently than shown in the saved project or for a saved project to change without customer intervention.  There are some things that would affect the cropping in a saved project (like if the book was converted to another size or migrated from an old photo book path), and I'd like to understand what happened.
Once again, I'm sorry for the frustration we caused.  If [redacted] has any further questions or comments, or if she needs any guidance regarding adjusting the cropping, she can feel free to contact me directly.Sincerely,Mike LandrethSenior Director, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-610-5256

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/22) */
Thank you for contacting us regarding this situation. I'm sorry that Ms. [redacted]'s request to cancel her Groovebook account wasn't handled promptly.
Unfortunately I don't have access to the tools necessary to handle Groovebook complaints,...

but I can help coordinate this situation with the Groovebook support team.
I will send Ms. [redacted]'s details to them and ask them to verify that Ms. [redacted]'s account has been cancelled and issue credits for any charges that were billed in error or after the initial request to cancel was received.
I will post an update to this complaint once a resolution has been reached. In the meantime, if Ms. [redacted] has any questions or concerns she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2015/06/25) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm sorry Ms. [redacted]'s order wasn't printed to her liking and the process of getting the problems resolved was so frustrating.
I checked our records, and it appears that we issued...

site credit for the 4x6 prints and free shipping based on subsequent conversations with Ms. [redacted] after she filed this complaint. It also appears that some of the prints were reordered using the site credits on June 15.
If Ms. [redacted] has any further questions or concerns, she can feel free to contact me directly at the number below. If she's interested, I'd like to discuss her ordering experience. (We recently introduced a new print ordering path, and I'd like to see if that was a factor.)
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 12, 2015/06/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/30) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm very sorry Ms. [redacted] had a bad experience with her photo book order.
I'm a bit confused about this complaint, as the text that Ms. [redacted] refers to is the name of the album...

that was used to create the book, and it was prominently displayed in all of the previews of the book prior to ordering. I'm also confused by the fact that Ms. [redacted] mentions a long history of ordering books, but this was the first order placed through her account.
In any case, it's obvious that Ms. [redacted] is quite dissatisfied with her order. I have added credits for an 8x8 book and economy shipping so Ms. [redacted] can remove the text and replace her order at no charge. (She should also check the spine to make sure it is as desired.) These credits are good through 2/29/16. If Ms. [redacted] no longer wishes to order the book due to the timing, she can feel free to contact me.
Once again, I'm sorry for any frustration caused by this situation, especially since the order was intended as a Christmas gift.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX

Totally understandable that [redacted] would like to receive the check before closing this complaint.  If the Revdex.com could please keep this complaint open it would be appreciated.
As mentioned, I provided our Accounts Payable department with the check request last week.  We should have cut and mailed the check this week.  I will confirm and await [redacted] confirmation that the check has been received.
Sincerely,
Mike

Unfortunately it seems [redacted] and I have been playing phone tag.  She has left me a couple voicemail messages, and I've tried contacting her at the school office, but we have not successfully connected.  Her last voicemail included her cell number, which I will try going forward.  (I attempted to call her at the school number today and was advised that she was ill, so I will wait until later this week before trying again.)
As I stated previously, I'm sure we will be able to reach a satisfactory resolution.
Regards,
Mike LandrethDirector, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-610-5256

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation.  I'm very sorry [redacted] had a bad experience with her photo magnet order.
It appears that the agents handling [redacted] complaint believed the cropping error that occurred on her order was avoidable, and thus offered to split the...

cost of a reorder by issuing a 50% discount code.  This was likely the result of the fact that we display a preview of the product in the app and allow customers to adjust cropping to get the desired results.  The cropping tools are accessible using a long tap (tap and hold) on the preview image.  Thus they believed that [redacted] would have had the opportunity to see and fix any cropping issues prior to placing her order. 
Our policy allows for exceptions, and I think one is justified in this case.  We don't want [redacted] to pay for items she's unhappy with. To compensate her for the order, I have added a $50 gift certificate to her Shutterfly account.  This gift certificate is ready for use, doesn't expire, and will be automatically applied to any orders placed through www.shutterfly.com until it is used up.  (It won't apply to orders placed for in-store pick-up or through our mobile apps.)  I hope [redacted] accepts this gift certificate along with our apologies for the difficulties she encountered.  If she would prefer to receive product and shipping credits so she can reorder the magnets, I'd be happy to issue those credits instead.I'd be interested to hear more about the problems [redacted] experienced when placing her order or answer any questions she might have.  If she has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.Sincerely,Mike LandrethDirector, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-610-5256

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/07) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm very sorry Ms. [redacted] had such a bad experience with her calendar order. It is extremely unfortunate that we weren't able to provide better guidance and resolution for Ms....

[redacted]'s concerns, particularly given the way the situation played out.
When Ms. [redacted] placed her order, the estimate was that it would be delivered by 12/23 at the latest. She took advantage of our free shipping option, which unfortunately provides less tracking information than some of our other shipping options.
Ultimately, it appears her calendars were delivered on 12/24, a day after our estimate and hopefully in time to be of use as Christmas presents.
I share Ms. [redacted]'s frustration in how this situation was handled. We didn't have enough information to reassure her that her order would still arrive, although a day late. And the option of placing a reorder that would arrive in time in case the original order didn't wasn't handled appropriately.
While I can't reimburse Ms. [redacted] for her time, I see that we issued a full refund for the calendars. Ms. [redacted] should see a refund of $61.38 on her account statement.
Once again, I'm sorry for this situation and the frustration it caused. If Ms. [redacted] has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX

I'm a bit confused as to why [redacted] rejected our response.  Her desired resolution was to receive a replacement calendar at no charge, and we have added credits to her account so she can fix the start month and order a replacement at no charge.
If she's upset that we didn't offer that resolution when she initially contacted us, it's because the agents who handled her request felt that she had ample opportunity to set, confirm, or correct the start month prior to placing her order.
Given [redacted] assertion that changing the start month is not clear, I double checked a couple scenarios on our site.  The page where you start a calendar on our site displays the calendar size and start month and year prominently, and our on-site previews show the month and year for each calendar page.  To avoid problems when editing an existing calendar, a warning appears if the start month is in the past, prompting the customer to set a new date.  I really am sorry if [redacted] didn't notice these attempts to ensure she received the calendar she wanted.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I am happy to report that the refund check for $[redacted] was mailed on [redacted] and cleared the bank (deposited) on [redacted].
Once again, I'm very sorry for the delay in getting this issue resolved.  If [redacted] has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.Sincerely,Mike LandrethDirector, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-**0-5256

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation.  I'm very sorry [redacted] had a bad experience with her address label order.
It appears that the agents who handled [redacted] request were following a policy regarding orders affected by customer error.  They believed...

that [redacted] didn't add her address to the address label properly before checking out.  The policy in this case allows for replacement of the free product but doesn't cover the shipping charges.
Given that [redacted] obviously wasn't aware of the problem with the address labels when placing her order, I think it's appropriate to modify the policy in this case.  I have added 4 sets of free address labels and a free Economy shipping credit to her account so she can place a reorder at no charge.  These credits expire on [redacted] 2, [redacted].
[redacted] should add her address to the address labels and preview them to make sure they meet her expectations prior to placing her order.  If she experiences any problems with the order, or feels that there was a problem with the website on her original order, she can feel free to contact me at the number below.  She can also contact me if she has any questions or if she would prefer a refund of the original order, rather than credits toward a no-charge replacement order.Sincerely,Mike LandrethDirector, Customer ExperienceShutterfly650-610-5256

Initial Business Response /* (4000, 8, 2016/01/14) */
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this situation. I'm very sorry Ms. [redacted] had such a bad experience with her Christmas card order.
I can understand Ms. [redacted]'s disappointment and frustration, but after examining the details of the...

situation, it appears that the cards she received printed similarly to the way they previewed on the site. The font on the printed cards is small and difficult to read, but it appears that way in the preview, and the font and/or font size could have been adjusted prior to ordering. The defects described in the images appear to be in the source images, with many of the black lines Ms. [redacted] refers to being shadows from the flash used in the photo.
The agents who interacted with Ms. [redacted] likely reached the same conclusion and applied our policy of providing credits so the order could be adjusted and replaced or issuing a 50% refund in cases where the errors were avoidable.
That said, we allow for exceptions to this policy in cases where the issues were not obvious. And it certainly could have been the case that our system enhanced some of the undesirable image features.
Given the situation, I am issuing the remainder of the refund Ms. [redacted] requested. She should see a refund of $23.15 on her next billing statement, which will bring the total refund to $46.31. I hope she accepts this refund along with our apologies and considers using our services again in the future.
If she has any further questions or comments, she can feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director, Customer Experience
Shutterfly
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Final Consumer Response /* (3000, 6, 2016/01/04) */
I JUST RECEIVED ANOTHER EMAIL FROM SHUTTERFLY SAYING THAT THEY ARE NOW REFUNDING ME HALF OF WHAT I AM OWED - $23.16. AGAIN, ACCORDING TO THE POSTED 100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE AND WARRANTY, I AM DUE A FULL REFUND. THIS WAS SHUTTERFLY'S ERROR, I RETURNED THE FULL ORDER, AND IT WAS RETURNED WITHIN THE TIME FRAME FOR A FULL REFUND.