This is how I responded to the nasty email (below) from Director of Author Support. Apologies (bolded) were made from Production Manager too (below) but when I was told that I "will NEVER know if the books meet your satisfaction" and was accused of criminal fraud, that was the last straw. Please never use Outskirts Press...I do not want you to go through the same heart ache and waste of money!
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I no longer want to do business with your company.
I am proceeding with credit card dispute and have an exhaustive paper trail.
You may also want to check your records, please advise when/where I confirmed receipt of 150 books when I only ordered 20? I am not contesting that bill for $150.58 as I did receive the 20 books (even tho that was weird too---I have the emails)
I am following through with the dispute and not paying for anything else except the 20 books. I tried to resolve this seemly simple issue in good faith, giving you the benefit of the doubt....even to the point of paying for shipping to return bad books to you.
While a professional and honorable company SHOULD check the facts (ie: I only ordered/received 20 books), a professional and honorable company, that wants to maintain customer trust, should NEVER accuse a customer of criminal fraud.
Jami Lin
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris@outskirtspress.com [mailto:chris@outskirtspress.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 5:53 PM
To: 'GP@Jamilin.com'
Subject: RE: qutoresponders, quality control, and non resolution
Jami,
The short answer is that the autoresponders come from a different IP address than my emails and email providers block based upon IP. I understand Karl has spoken with you on the phone and resolution is underway. So, in other words, we DID call you to advise you of the email difficulty. I'm not sure why you are suggesting we didn't. If you left 3-4 messages with me, I haven't received them.
As I advised in a previous email, the 4 replacement books are unrelated to your ordering more books. Order them as you see fit. During our conversation on the phone I advised you of the nature of print-on-demand. You will NEVER know if the books meet your satisfaction. But you will know that they fall within the 1/16 of a inch variance that is outlined in the publishing contract you signed.
You'll always get personal calls from a sales person of our competitors. They're trying to sell you their services. That's not related to how they will behave once you're a customer; you should know that. It's like comparing apples to oranges.
I do agree that you're spending an inordinate amount of time worrying about 4 books. Once I get a chance to review them, I'll let you know what we will do. During our call I told you it would take a while. Let me reiterate that; it will take a while.
Please be advised that contesting a legitimate credit card payment in which we delivered your product will result in our refusing to sell you any more books and perhaps terminating your contract. We would consider that a criminal activity and would contest your contestion, particularly in light of this email in which you confirm your acceptable receipt of 150 books.
I understand that you are frustrated, but let's remain professional and honorable. Please feel free to order more books; I'm not sure what you're waiting for, we already talked about the nature of on-demand printing and seeing your 4 books won't change that conversation. When I get a chance to review the books, I will let you know. You can probably rest with confidence that I will have them replaced at our expense, if for no other reason than to demonstrate good faith to you (although, even if I do that, I will notify you if I don't agree with your assessment that they were faulty, for your edification).
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Chris Kline
Director of Author Support
http://outskirtspress.com
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Hi Jami,
I received your email and am currently waiting on the replacement information from printing then will forward to you. Again, please accept our apologies and we have addressed this with quality control
Thank you for your patience!
Sincerely,
Cheri Reinhar
Production Manager