Quality of the Product/Service?
The Dibond sign is very nice. It looks great! The magnetic sign worked out well, too. Unfortunately, we have documented revisions where we indicated that the printed "Main Office" door sign needed to be die-cut and that we would pay an additional charge. The sign arrived standard vinyl stickered on one-side. It's not attractive at all, has to be applied to the exterior of the door (what we did not want), and looks like a rectangular white blob. If we had wanted it to be standard, single sided adhesive vinyl, we would at least had it look identical to our sign with the black background and green border. We are currently commissioning a competitor to make us these correctly. Additionally, the customer service was inefficient and lacking in every way. Communication regarding the lengthening status of our project was completely absent. On one occasion when I called I was told I would be getting a return call with an update and I never did. Additionally, the project was completed, our sign installed when we were told we needed to pay the balance of the invoice. 1. We never received an invoice. 2. No one ever asked us, or made us aware, that we needed to put 50% down up front (so we hadn't). 3. Per our corporate Accounts Payable Manager, she received a call from Sign-a-Rama that was exceptionally rude and telling her that we needed to hand over payment immediately or else the sign installers were not leaving our premises (our physical location is in a different city). She was livid and very offended. We run a reputable ISO certified business with locations nationwide. We are currently in the process of launching a new website this week that this facility has written and created. We're also spearheading the marketing materials overhaul and thought this small project would be a great trial run for an on-going working relationship as we re-design and print large quantities for all of our shareholder's businesses. To our dismay, that will not be the case as we sat down with a local competitor yesterday morning.
Value for money?
We chose only a 3 star rating because it took nearly 5 weeks to complete the small project and then it was not completed per our revisions. In the end, the initial value was as good or slightly better than the competitive quotes I received. In the end, however, it would have behooved us to partner with a competitor with significantly faster turn around time, where we could have anticipated our order being correct and any improvement in customer service. Time is also money in the world of business. We spent what was our value in this deal on administrative footwork, headaches, and delays.
Timeliness of service?
We all agree, we only gave this one star because we had to select at least one star to create a comment. In our industry backlogs occur. At this very moment, we are inundated. As an Account Manager, it is my job to continually stay in contact with our customers, provide them with updates on the status of their loads, and to set realistic expectations for them. I personally take the initiative to always maintain this as a priority on my daily tasks, even when we are overwhelmed, because only our customers can put us out of business. We were told on December 4th, 2013 that our project completion date was 1 week. On December 20th, 2013 we were told it was still "in production" for the second week in a row, then would need installation. We called 3 times regarding installation. We only learned that the installation would be the next morning on January 5, 2014 because we placed the call to inquire in the later afternoon. It seems to be a poor expectation of a national company that they can simply show up to other national corporations, unannounced, and receive immediate payment. It had been explained before the start of the project that we do not handle payment in house; that payment is a deferred responsibility of our corporation. We stated that billing was sent elsewhere, hence why Sign-a-Rama knew to call the Accounts Payable Manager to demand payment. We are not a small "mom & pop" shop, so to speak. There is no checkbook and no cash on the premises. We run our payments through invoicing, sent to our Accounts Payable Manager, as we directed.
Sign-A-Rama Brand Rating?
Overall, we will never reach out to forge a working relationship with Sign-a-Rama again. The overall experience was at best disastrous. At almost any point, someone could have reached out to us and treated us as a valued business partner. Even after the fact, knowing how upset we were with the service and manner with which we were treated, we never received a follow-up call. Above all, NEVER ONCE did anyone offer an ounce read more
