Adding myself to the chorus of dissatisfied voices. The only way this experience could've been worse is if I had to fight even harder for a refund. Buckle up.
I placed my order of one ornament on 12/9, and PhotoBarn promised Christmas delivery on all orders placed by 12/10. By 12/15, I still hadn't heard anything, so I reached out. I was concerned by how their website was STILL promising delivery by Christmas to customers even as their site said current production times were 10-12 days. I asked how they planned to honor their promise to customers. They took three days to answer and simply said that if they said it would be there by Christmas, it would be. By then, I had seen their Yelp reviews and knew what I was probably in for.
On 12/21, I received an email promising that my order would ship that day or the next and to expect a shipping notification email then. On 12/23, I still had no email and nudged PhotoBarn for the status of my order. That was the Friday before Christmas. Come Christmas morning, still no ornament. I asked for a refund. They promised Christmas delivery three times over! After three business days, still no response. I emailed again. I got a response the next day making excuses for themselves. The rep blamed the weather, she blamed a labor shortage, and for some reason she stressed how this hadn't been intentional. She ignored my request for a refund and said, "I can submit a request for a gift code to be sent to you." I answered the next day saying I'd like my request for a full refund to be honored. That was December 30.
January 5: Still no response. I emailed again. They answered on January 6, stressing again how the delay was not intentional. They refunded me all but one penny; they said that way, the order would still be processed. I did want to see the state of the craftsmanship at that point, so that was fine.
On January 7, I asked for a status update. I nudged them on January 12 after hearing nothing. On January 17, they blamed a labor shortage again, said AGAIN how this wasn't intentional, and said my order was being packaged and would ship out "in the next few days."
Ten days later, I still had no shipping notification email. I nudged again. The next day, my order shipped, though I still haven't gotten acknowledgment of that lag and my question.
I received my ornament on January 30--nearly 40 days behind schedule. On top of it all, the ornament is poor quality. I got the oval double-sided with a burlap bag and green ribbon. I love the ribbon and bag, but the ornament is terrible. The photo printing is ridiculously grainy--it looks nothing like the photos on their website of their ornaments. It's also comically thick, and there's ink staining its sides.
PhotoBarn: Your Yelp makes it clear that you've been unable or unwilling to serve customers for a long time now. It's the same story over and over. Stop overpromising and underdelivering; you know your situation. Your word and your follow-through are YOUR responsibility. This was a truly shameful and embarrassing process to be a part of, and it felt dishonest at every turn. I fully believe they filter out bad reviews on their website, given how their website reviews seem strong while they have no opportunity to post reviews through Google or their Facebook page. Not to mention, look at Yelp here. I will never order from here again. I wanted an ornament to commemorate my husband's and my first Christmas together. Thanks to PhotoBarn, I did not have that experience. And the process has been EXHAUSTING. read more