"The frustrating part about online reviews is that the people who write these reviews are often the ones who feel they got ripped off - it's far less likely for those who had their order go off without a hitch to review them.
Personally, I have ordered from them twice and been very happy with the results. The colors are very good, and the turn-around is quick. I ordered 500 postcards for less than $20 through a deal they had, and I had them within a week. The hidden charge of 4.95 or whatever it was for "custom artwork" was a little odd, but whatever, it's still a GREAT deal.
The shipping prices are a little on the expensive side, but what so many people who don't deal with shipping a LOT is that you're not paying for just the shipping. You're paying for supplies, shipping costs, shipping labor, etc. Just because something costs $4.95 to SHIP doesn't mean it only costs the company that much. There are many costs associated with shipping and packaging that most consumers never think about.
To those complaining about slow turn-around time, pay for faster turnaround. They have multiple options, and if your package took 21 days to get to you, most of that time it was sitting around not being printed because people paid to have their order put in front of yours. Don't be cheap then complain about it.
Personally, I would not hesitate to use them again. I don't order postcards a whole lot, but I like how simple the system was. I had everything ordered within 10 minutes, and everything in hand within a week.
Some people have unrealistic expectations of what they are going to get for a cheap price. If you go into vistaprint with realistic ideas about how fast the turnaround will be, and the good but not AMAZING quality you are getting, you'll be more than satisfied, as I was."
"1. ordering is SO confusing. Like everyone stated the prices start out really low then they magically grow in your cart!! Free stuff was going to cost me $10 and my business cards doubled in price.
2. Adding coupons evidently takes away any other discounts they offered. But they don't say this anywhere. I found a coupon online for $40 off an order and it ended up being more expensive that way.
3. Shipping prices are ridiculous!! You are shipping me a box of small items and it costs me $20 to get it here in 21 days!! Are you kidding me??
4. In their favor- for first time customers they do have good deals and free offers. Like rubber stamps, business cards and return address labels. I suggest putting in an order with them- getting those free things then switching to a company that is consistently cheaper- and easier to deal with.
5. I just put in an order and had to have three windows open with my total order in each and I literally compared which let me get my free products free- which charged me double for the business cards etc. I don't have time for that!!!
Take my advice- Save yourself time and money and BUY SOMEWHERE ELSE!!"
"Vistaprint really sucks. Their customer service is the worst I've ever come acress. Their phone number or customer service email adress is very hard to findm and the one place I did find it, it was missing one number.... had to track it down.
I never received my order (€50 worth) and they won't reimburst me, won't even call me back or email me back, abismal. So, €50 down the drain.
I agree with other reviews: they keep the costs artificially low in the beginning of your order, only to add lots of costs towards the end!"
"Thank you to the people who wrote the reviews on VistaPrint. I was going to place an order for business cards but I got skeptical when I saw the price nearly double as I arrived at the order page. It's obscene to charge $13 dollars for shipping 250 cards within seven days. Anything less than 13 ounces is less than a couple of dollars using First Class mail. All during my search I saw "free" offers that magically disappeared as I continued shopping.
And the worst part - some customers have complained that the company gives away credit card information and spurious charges. That is illegal, no different from forging a check, and it assures me that I will NEVER buy a thing from this company! I am so glad that I didn't purchase. There are no savings in a shell game."
"I ordered my wedding invitations on VistaPrint and was so happy with the outcome. They are beautiful and cheaper than anything I could have purchased anywhere else. There were so many designs to choose from and they came before the expected ship date! It was a relief when I got them and they were perfect. My maid of honor ordered the shower invitations on there too!"
"I tried out Vistaprint for business cards and was horrified by the results. It was a black card and they printed it with a white line across the top and bottom. I even paid for for the better quality paper, printing,etc and it is garbage. I would be embarrassed to hand these to anyone!
Their 100% Satisfaction Guarantee is BULLSH*T, they state there is nothing they can do and are keeping my payment.
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY, you will regret it."
"I've ordered from VistaPrint lots of times and have no problem with how they operate. Sure, you have to go through about seven screens of them trying to upsell you on everything under the sun, but you can just keep clicking continue to bypass all of that.
The one thing you have to keep in mind with VistaPrint is that their business model is to profit off of shipping charges, so just plan ahead and select their cheapest shipping option which is 21 days - and yes, it really takes that long.
I regularly get 500 business cards for around $10, which beats any other place I've ever researched. My most recent order was for 300 business checks for a total cost of $25, which is half the cost of everywhere else I looked."
"I ordered 50 invitations for my baby shower March 13th, 2011. I, like many others, was lured to the website by their EXTREMELY low prices! I fell in love with a design they had and immediately ordered them. Funny thing is: they aren't really that much cheaper than anyone else. They get you GOOD with their shipping prices. Keep in mind these are paper invitations and paper envelopes being shipped, and my shipping cost was $13.49 for 7 days. They were already made on the 14th, however because I didn't pay $33.99 for three day shipping, they held on to my order for an additional 7 days. I think they are able to charge so much for shipping because they sent my invitations in one package, and plain white envelopes in another. Okay so that's my first complaint. Second: when I FINALLY received them, they had two smudges of green on the brown paper invitations, on every single invitation. I really needed to ship them out, so I wasn't about to exchange them and deal with any BS, or wait an additional 7 days to receive them. I would probably of received them the day of my baby shower ;). So that's all I have to say about them. Other than the smudges, I do love the design of the invitations, if they improved on their shipping costs, and checked their items before shipping them out, I would have ZERO complaints. Hope this helps someone else out!"
"I was lured into ordering from VistaPrint as the cheapest (initially) option from a short list of services to buy - a hook - in order to receive FREE another, more expensive, item; some software to download (which turned out to be rubbish). I disagree with others who claim that the ordering is "a breeze"; I found it to be a lengthy and frustrating process. I chose FREE options as I went along, but found that they would disappear when going through the specific information input process for items chosen, and coming back to the list in my cart. Trying to negotiate back to find and retrieve the FREE OFFERS was a lesson in frustration and I suspect designed to prevent customers from taking advantage of them. When I found that I had been scammed with the free software offer, I went back to Vistaprint within a few minutes of placing the order, clicked on CANCEL MY ORDER and it popped up that I couldn't cancel as the order was already processing - impossible! Due delivery date was 21 days, and couldn't be printing within minutes. I then tried to cancel by using the Contact Customer Services link on their website and another email addy, and got supposed "automated reply" responses that stated that I had emailed an "unmanned address"! That has got to be illegal to refuse to cancel an order. Why have a "Cancel Your Order" option at all? Under their "Can I Change My Order" link it claims that you CAN cancel your order as long as it is not already being processed; I say, beware of their highly questionable practices."
"This is another RyanAir-style business with low headline prices and extortionate add-on charges when you're ready to orde. On top of that your details are not only registered but you are also automatically presumed to have given consent for their newsletter and for your details to be released to third parties - unfair, dishonest and I guess borderline illegal!"
"I had to come back and write another review of Vistaprint after their customer service department contacted me after I tweeted my disappointment in my first order of networking cards. They were very polite and handled the situation quickly and efficiently. They took it upon themselves to read my feedback carefully and make the necessary changes and reprint them. this all happened via twitter and email, I never spoke to anyone. They were very proactive. I received the cards just 3 days after receiving the email that the cards would be reprinted. The cards look much better. The print is perfectly centered and I am proud to distribute these cards to prospective employers."
"I was looking to order some window clings for my daughter's softball team. So, I told my friend Google what I was looking for and he came back with quite a few options. I researched all, even reading the reviews, and decided to go with VP. Price was a huge factor since I needed a couple dozen printed. Just as important was the turnaround time. Since I was new to VP, I had no basis to judge on quality, workmanship, and customer service (other than what I read on reviews).
The online order process was a breeze... very straight forward and idiot proof. After uploading my image and placing the clings in my cart, I decided to add a few more items... keychain, mousepad, 2 shirts. I placed the order on Monday and, since time was important, I chose to pay extra for 3 day rush shipping. Well, everything arrived today as promised. The clings are cling to our car windows perfectly... the keychain and mousepad are perfect... and the t-shirts are actually pretty heavy (something I wasn't expecting). The only thing I didn't get was some type of packing list or invoice (which is not that big of a deal).
All in all, this was a great first order from VistaPrint. Will I be back? You bet! Thanks VP!!!"
"I got seduced by their introductory prices. I ordered business cards. I had to pay twice the advertised price, as during the checkout somehow price kept increasing. I got my box of cards in awhile and they were a shame to look at. They looked so bad - my homeprinted cards look more professional than vistaprint's ones. Colors were bleak and faded, not sharp and just crappy all the way around. I wish I could just throw them away but they have my info on them. "
"We couldnt even read the address! Hardly address labels if you can't even see the address! The biggest waste of money, and they won't even print us new ones! Why do you even offer this design if they can't be printed dark enough to read!! Thanks for nothing! I will never shop at VistaPrint again! Not to mention that their shipping rate is the biggest rip off of them all! It arrived in the smallest package, and somehow cost over $17 to ship everything! "
"I needed sticky labels with just a URL printed on them. VistaPrint was the only site I found that allowed me to fully customize them (ie- blank label, I choose the colors, font and what goes on it) for a reasonable price. When I got them, the color was definitely off. They were supposed to be lavender, but they are bubble gum pink. It's not my monitor, because I shop online very frequently and have never had this problem. Also, it's obvious that they are not high quality labels, but I'm okay with that, because they were really cheap. Overall, they look great and will serve their purpose. For 150 customized labels, delivered in under a week for only $5 shipped, I am thrilled.
Really my only complaint is that they kept sending me emails saying "Delivery Notice: Your expected arrival date is today." But they were sent USPS, so there was no tracking, and it took about 3 days from the time they started sending the "Delivery Notice" emails. This made me a little uneasy, but they did arrive quickly. I personally think they should just do away with these emails to avoid confusion. I have to wonder how many angry emails and calls their customer service gets, because people are wondering where their stuff is??
I would order from them again, but not for anything important like wedding invitations, due to the off-colors and low quality materials. For small jobs, it's fine. You can't beat the price!"