I have used Allegra on maybe four occasions. I never was thrilled with them, but the work I require--music printing in irregular sizes--is not done by many other firms. They always seemed a bit overpriced, the copies were never quite clear, and they were never done when they said they would be, usually about a week late, but I lived with it. Until now. I gave them a fairly substantial job, at least for me, about $700 worth of work.
They used to have a woman that worked there, I think her name was Shelly, who would go over the job very carefully with me and write down my specs to be sure she got it right. I didn't see her last time I was there; I was stuck with Frank. He wrote no details down beyond the number of copies, and then verbally gave instructions to a kid whose name I never caught and who I first laid eyes on after the job was "completed". So it was a game of Telephone--I talk to Frank and Frank talks to the kid, on a fairly complicated job. Gee, what could go wrong?
They promised to have it ready on a Monday, naturally it wasn't ready until the following Friday. I was running between appointments and had no time to check it. It was hermetically sealed in plastic wrap for some reason in any case, so I would have had to borrow scissors or a knife to get at it there. I got home, and when I had a chance to look at it, it was pretty thoroughly botched. One issue that particularly irked me was that several scores were bound backwards, last page first and first page last. It is inconceivable that anybody bothered to check it.
I'm buying a scanner and binding equipment. Allegra clearly doesn't care about my music, but I do. If you use them, be sure and avoid Frank. read more
