I went to ACI to get an invitation printed... price seemed good and it wasn't a super important job so I selected them for the work. I provided an Illustrator file as requested, marked with bleed and crop marks. I should say that I am a graphics professional and a digital art instructor, so I know may way around things like this.They sent me an electronic proof for approval, which seemed ok, though I did have a question about the bleed... which they said would be corrected. When I went to pick up the job the pieces orientation was totally wrong. It isn't clear to me how this was possible as the file clearly indicated the dimensions... they had to force it to fit the new orientation... plus the eproof they sent didn't indicate anything out of the ordinary. I brought this up to them, but they still charged me for the incorrect printing, as well as the correct one... said it was because I had approved the proof. I have been in the design business a long time, and this was definitely their error... any designer would say the same... the dimensions of the file alone make that abundantly clear... so they should have eaten the cost, approval or not.
Needless to say I won't use them in the future.
Find a different printer or be really explicit with them, as they don't seem to know what they are doing. read more