Quality Control Check

Your Name Is On The Line!

Have you ever received something you ordered and were left wondering if there was no quality control check on the company’s end? And I’m not referring to items damaged in shipping, but obvious defects in the product itself. It can be disappointing and sometimes maddening on the part of the receiver. But what about products we send out as artists?

Photo Credit: 123RF.com

If we’re sending out original work, we can be certain as to the quality of each piece. Packaged properly, we can be pretty confident that the piece will arrive to the buyer in great condition. But what if you are using a third party company to handle your printing needs? Are you checking each print to ensure that each one is as close to the original as possible? Is the print clean and resolution clear? Is the color correct and as you intended? Are the margins even? Is the paper or canvas quality what you expected?

In this instance, you are both the artist and a customer.

If the printing company isn’t delivering what you paid for, you need to take the issue up with them. Most artists I know can’t afford to lose money, so you need to make sure your money is well spent. One reason is, you shouldn’t be wasting your money. But perhaps a more important reason is that these prints are also what your customers are buying. Send them a substandard print and your name is suddenly on the line.

Sure, you can send another print and make it right, but you’ve heard the saying about first impressions, haven’t you? Case in point…I ordered a Wonder Woman movie poster recently. Now, I know this wasn’t a specific artist’s work per se, but go with me on this. The piece I ordered is full of vibrant color and my childhood hero is dramatically posed in the center.

The poster I ordered (Wonder Woman – DC Comics)

What I received was anything but vibrant or dramatic. It was somewhere between sepia tone and black and white. The image is distorted. And the piece de resistance…Wonder Woman is missing her head!

The poster I received (Headless Wonder Woman – DC Comics)

I was less than pleased, to say the least. I didn’t see this until I got home from work. The company that sent it was already closed for the evening so there wasn’t a thing I could do about it until morning. I could not understand how someone saw that print, thought it was okay, rolled it up, put it in a plastic sleeve, put a barcode on it, stuck it in a shipping tube, and sent it off like that.

The company apologized and said they would send a “free” reprint immediately. I say “free” because there’s nothing free about it. I’m still waiting for the product I paid for. It’s not free and they aren’t doing me any favors.

Send me the product I paid for.

So at this point, even though they may make good on this business transaction, I seriously doubt that I will order from them again. In other words, their failure to do a quality control check lost a customer.

I use this example as a cautionary tale. Some artists, including myself, use third party companies to not only print our work, but to ship our orders for us. The quality control check has been completely removed from us. We are assuming, hoping, and praying that the company has as high a sense of standards as we do.

That being said, I suggest you do your research. Check each company’s ratings, policies and guarantees, reviews from other artists, BBB (Better Business Bureau) ratings, etc. Again, this is serious business. Your business! You may choose to have another company handle your printing and shipping, but ultimately it is your name on the line. You only have one chance to make a first impression!