Last year I was in charge of developing an apparel line for our company and got in contact with DTLA based off their extensive list of clientele.
I worked with Michael. We did an initial meeting where I brought in samples and explained very clearly what I needed. Simple heat presses on athletic fabrics. He assured me it could be done and told me everything I needed to hear.
We put down a deposit to get the process started. Scheduled another meeting where I brought in production samples to him. After he had already said that it would be an easy job, now he sees the samples and changes his tunes, asking us to give him the cut pieces before production is complete and to change the printing method to accommodate.
We put our production contract on hold, I deliver the pieces. Michael is nowhere to be found for 2 days. I call his cell, no reply, no replies to e-mails, call in and the office tells me he called out sick. We had just agreed to meet that day the night before...
This was typical from Michael, very bad communication, which was great before we paid our deposit. I asked if he had left any instructions for another rep, no one had any idea about our project.
Project gets pushed back. I finally meet with him with all the cut pieces and he acts like he has no idea what to do with it. At this point he basically does not want to do the work to sort through the pieces and work with the print team to make sure the print location is right. He takes advantage of me as a first time client and spins me a bunch of talk about how it needs to be done another way at production before they take it.
I comply, spending 6 hours setting everything up the way he asked. I bring everything to him, we're now 2 weeks behind production schedule. I drop everything off and hear nothing from him.
We were originally going to have some hoodies heat pressed and some athletic shorts and yoga crops heat pressed as well. We canceled the shorts and yoga crops because we were so behind in production we were about to take a serious hit from production fees.
At this point I can't get in touch with him so I call to ask to speak with a manager. The reply i get is that he is the manager, no one will help me and they basically hang up on me. In other words Michael has done this to many other clients and they are drilled to make sure you will not reach anyone above him to express concerns.
At this point I contact Michael to let him know we are 3 weeks behind production, I want my materials back and to forget the whole project.
He tells me they had already made the materials for the shorts and yoga crops, even though we had canceled them a good 2 weeks prior. I explain to him he did not have approval to run the job so the materials are not on us.
He holds our hoodies hostage and tells me until we pay the remaining balance he won't give us our product back.
So let's rewind, he hasn't completed any of the work in the agreement, the agreement has been changed, we're 4 weeks behind production and he won't give us back our product unless we pay for work that has not been done and some materials we did not approve to be made.
You're reading this right, he basically is extorting us. We contact American Express, file a claim, pay the remaining deposit, get our goods back and are on our way. American Express handles everything and gets our money back.
This was a horrible experience. in 9 years of working with printers, production and design I have never seen a business run this way or an account rep handle a project like this. It was very clear Michael is irresponsible, smooth talker who will tell you what you need to hear to get your deposit and then blow you off completely until he feels like getting the work done.
You can not trust DTLA. I have read other reviews and they did have a separate Yelp account, with a ton of 1 star reviews. They changed the name to something else and then registered this account to cover it up.
Stay away from this business and especially Michael. If you are not a huge name in the industry they will seriously put a kink in your operations and charge you a ridiculous amount to do it.
Here's a final word:
300 Pieces
1 Color Print
2 Locations
$11.90 a piece.
DTLA..... read more