My PSA of the year: Never Use Shutterfly.
Dec. 12th, 2018 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crazychicknladyEvery year M's parents make the long drive out to our house for Thanksgiving. Since we still exchange gifts with that side of the family for Christmas, Oma and Opa use that trip as a chance to haul presents out to us and haul ours back with them. This arrangement is very convenient, it saves on shipping, and it forces me to get my Christmas shopping done early.
This year, however, we didn't have a present ready for Oma, so she talked us into using a coupon she had for a "free" photo book from Shutterfly. It seemed an innocent enough request and I figured a few hours putting one together wouldn't be too hard. Keep in mind, I'd never used Shutterfly before.
Starting from about 4pm on, I was sucked into the hell that is Shutterfly. Twelve hours later, I never will again.
After the debacle with the Key lime pie during our marathon pie making the night before Thanksgiving, S and I started saying, "Well, it's not as bad as the key lime pie". Since S was by my side for the majority of the Shutterfly experience, that saying didn't last 24 hours before being replaced with, "Well, at least it's not as bad as Shutterfly".
One of the reasons I stuck with finishing the book, was I thought my sister-in-law had taken advantage of the same coupon. Oma showed us her book, all pretty and finished, as motivation to make one of our own. No, yeah, after going through hell for that book, Oma told us, M's sister didn't use the coupon. Instead, she made hers on Snapfish (insert mental agonizing screaming and head smashing here).
I recognize the marketing technique of offering a free or discounted experience to entice a new customer to show how awesome your product or service is. This was instead an epic fail for Shutterfly. They just managed to demonstrate how torturous and painful their service is. Plus, our "free" book still cost $10 in shipping. If we'd added the "free" $4 magnet M got for making an account with them, it would have added $3 to the shipping costs. Needless to say, Oma didn't get any magnets with her book.
Next time I'll skip the coupon and either try Snapfish or just go to Walmart. Neither choice could be as bad as Shutterfly.
This year, however, we didn't have a present ready for Oma, so she talked us into using a coupon she had for a "free" photo book from Shutterfly. It seemed an innocent enough request and I figured a few hours putting one together wouldn't be too hard. Keep in mind, I'd never used Shutterfly before.
Starting from about 4pm on, I was sucked into the hell that is Shutterfly. Twelve hours later, I never will again.
After the debacle with the Key lime pie during our marathon pie making the night before Thanksgiving, S and I started saying, "Well, it's not as bad as the key lime pie". Since S was by my side for the majority of the Shutterfly experience, that saying didn't last 24 hours before being replaced with, "Well, at least it's not as bad as Shutterfly".
One of the reasons I stuck with finishing the book, was I thought my sister-in-law had taken advantage of the same coupon. Oma showed us her book, all pretty and finished, as motivation to make one of our own. No, yeah, after going through hell for that book, Oma told us, M's sister didn't use the coupon. Instead, she made hers on Snapfish (insert mental agonizing screaming and head smashing here).
I recognize the marketing technique of offering a free or discounted experience to entice a new customer to show how awesome your product or service is. This was instead an epic fail for Shutterfly. They just managed to demonstrate how torturous and painful their service is. Plus, our "free" book still cost $10 in shipping. If we'd added the "free" $4 magnet M got for making an account with them, it would have added $3 to the shipping costs. Needless to say, Oma didn't get any magnets with her book.
Next time I'll skip the coupon and either try Snapfish or just go to Walmart. Neither choice could be as bad as Shutterfly.
