Evaluating customer service before you experience it

Many online printers claim “superior” print quality, customer service, and turnaround times. Print quality is easy to evaluate. We can request samples. Turnaround times are usually stated, so those are easy enough to compare.

However, customer service is unknown till after we’ve done business with any company, not just a printer. Horror stories are plentiful. To designers who manage the printing of their client’s important marketing projects, customer service is not something to be taken lightly.

If you have no previous experience with a vendor, how do you determine how valid his customer service claims and guarantees are? All else being equal, what is the deciding factor that would most influence you to take a chance with a untried vendor for the first time?

Please take our poll. But your comments will be appreciated even more since they offer the clearest insights. Every comment will receive a response.