My Ridiculous Notebook Printing Fiasco

Strap in pals, this is a bit of a long one...

At the beginning of March I opened up a preorder for this super cute bee notebook... Now, I rarely do preorders. I've only done a couple in the 6 years I've been in business. I don't do preorders for the following reasons -

• I worry that the product will arrive late and/or not great quality or printed wrong, or something along those lines
• I worry they won't sell at all and my self esteem can't cope with that amount of rejection - it's why I've never done a kickstarter either
• What if I die and people have given me their money and no one can fulfil the order? Okay, this one is a bit of a joke and is me catastrophising but it is something I think of quite often running a business...

Irrespective of the above, I did the preorder. These notebooks were not only a totally new product type to me, they were also expensive to make. I didn't want to order too many, or order any at all if there wasn't anyone to buy them!

In this case, one of my worries came true. They arrived and they were wrong. NoOoOo. The print was misaligned. There was no way this was my fault. Absolutely cannot be. I spent so long making sure the print was right, and I am such a stickler for details that I don't often make these types of mistakes, so obviously it's the printers fault, right? I emailed them immediately and asked if this could be looked into. I hadn't been able to check my artwork over yet because it was on my laptop at home, but I was convinced it wasn't my fault. 

I returned home from my office, checked my artwork, and my blood ran cold. It was my fault. Unequivocally my fault, 100%, no question about it. I felt sick. 

I stewed for a couple of hours, and then emailed the company back and apologised. 

"Hi there,

I’ve checked my artwork (didn’t have it on my office computer) and it’s totally my fault - I’m sorry! I don’t even know how I’ve managed it because I spent so long making sure it was aligned for this very reason.

So sorry to bother you
Thank you"

I sucked it up, emailed everyone who purchased a notebook in the preorder to let them know what had happened and quickly placed a second order to make sure there was no additional delays in production. 

I then had a reply from the lovely people (Danni, specifically) who printed my notebooks - Colour Digital Print. They surpassed all customer service expectations. I won't go into total specifics because this is a public blog and any old Tom, D!ck or Harry could read this and somehow find a way to take advantage of their kindness, but they were amazing. I paid for my reprints in the end, but the offer was there to get them reprinted for free. 

And that is how one printing company restored my faith in humanity. I mean... Maybe not all humanity. But definitely in businesses bigger than me.

If you want to buy a now completely PERFECT, gorgeous quality notebook... Click here :)

This is not an ad by the way - they didn't ask me to write this. But, if you're interested in trying out Colour Digital Print and fancy a discount, drop me an email via my contact page. They have a referral scheme, and let's be honest, I could do with recouping some of the money I lost being an absolute IDIOT.