2008/11/18 @ 5:34 EST
I'm a Blogger | I'm a Happy Person | I'm a Reviewer of Things | I'm writing 365 Posts in Oh-Eight
Tags: blog contest, blog giveaway, holiday cards, holidays, Minted.com, parent bloggers network, PBN, photo, photos, product review, review
The holidays are stressful, especially for those of us who have kids + a bazillion other things to think about. This time of the year adds office parties, get-togethers with family, and childrens’ pageants to our already full schedules
Oh, and did I mention I’m getting married in three less-than-three weeks? Ack! Extra holiday stress!
Last year I blogged about how stressful preparing and sending holiday cards was for me. This year I jumped at the chance for a little customized help by reviewing Minted.com for the Parent Bloggers Network. After all, how crazy could I be to pass up the opportunity to review personalized holiday cards from a new site with “the freshest designs on paper“?
The Minted.com website was a real joy to visit and use. I loved the minimalistic site-design that incorporates just enough color on the page’s crisp, white background to make the real stars of the show - the designs, themselves - really ‘pop’. Navigating the site was exceptionally easy and I was impressed that my session didn’t once time-out… no matter how many times I clicked forward and back while looking at designs multiple times.
It was nearly impossible to choose only one design to order - Minted has over 150 sophisticated flat and folded holiday photo card designs, not including the wedding and birth announcements, too! The designs offered can be customized to fit every occasion, no matter what holiday one might celebrate. They offer both flat and folded designs with a choice of blank, “year line,” or “letter” formats. One can order as few as 25 cards for only $67 or as many as their heart desires. Minted also offers add-on services, including custom design, calligraphy, and hand-addressing of envelopes.
I finally chose the Simple Charm Holiday Card by Guess What? (a flat card) because I liked having the ability to customize the greeting in the embellishment above the photo, as well as the salutation below. Since the photo I used of The Kidlet on the card isn’t a very ‘typical’ holiday image, the wispy lines and colors of the Simple Charm card went together perfectly, making the card unique and sweet in it’s simplicity.
Selecting quantities, entering my shipping and billing information, and finalizing my order was a breeze. Having placed my order over a weekend, I received prompt confirmation on the following Monday and a proof of my card to approve. What awesome service and a quick turn-around time to get a jump on the holiday card season!
However, after having not one single problem to this point (the usability of the site and the beauty of the designs were such a dream) I ran into a big “oops”.
After 3 weeks (and my scheduled review of Minted upon me) I still hadn’t received my order, or any further communication from Minted. It took several emails between myself and PBN and several added days before my cards were ‘found’. They were quickly over-nighted to me, only to arrive in a 12″x9″x8″ box, stuffed to excess with packing material, my small order of 25 cards nestled deep in the middle.
The cards themselves were beautiful, but even though they were printed on “100% post-consumer recycled paper” the amount of waste in the shipping and packing material cancelled out any “green-er” value they might have held.
Not wanting to ruin a review over a problem I might not fully understand, PBN put me in direct communication with Kate, the Merchandising Manager at Minted. Kate personally called me and talked me through what had happened. She followed-up with an email to me, giving permission to quote her explanation of how Minted dropped the ball, what they did about it, and what they were willing to do to uphold their promised “100% satisfaction guarantee.” Kate said,
“We recently switched to a printer who can accommodate printing on thicker (130lb.), eco-friendly paper. Unfortunately the day we posted your order to press was the day we switched to a new system. It seems that your order didn’t post correctly, and neither [Minted] nor the printer realized that it wasn’t placed in the printing queue.”
“[To prevent this from happening in the future] we are now printing order receipt confirmations to ensure this doesn’t happen to any new orders.”
“We hired trained graphic designers to ensure the end product is a fresh, high quality card you can be proud of. I would appreciate an opportunity to make this mistake up to you…”
Because of the excellent response I received once the flap was discovered, I can’t help but feel as though my experience with Minted was a unique one in that I don’t feel my order was misplaced or forgotten on purpose.
Had I been a paying customer, Kate at Minted would’ve offered to give me some additional cards or other add-ons for free to make good on the 100% satisfaction guarantee. In fact, even though I wasn’t a paying customer, Kate still offered to give me more cards or customized address labels on Minted’s dime.
Due to the restrictions I have regarding reviews and monetary or product compensation, I had to politely decline. However, we worked out a sweet giveaway for you, my blog readers, instead!
Minted will give away 100 holiday cards to 1 reader of my blog!*
To participate, all you need to do is
1. Click here,
2. Visit Minted’s holiday cards and
3. Tell me (by name!) which card you would customize for your family, and why.
Leave your answer in a comment below, include a valid email address, and a link to your blog (if you have one.)
Awesome! Way to save the day, Minted - you can bet I’ll be back next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and…
* Giveaway does not include shipping charges. If your entry is chosen, it will be your responsibility to order cards within an appropriate time frame to receive them for holiday mailing, etc. Please contact Krissi should you have questions. Giveaway will close to entries at midnight Eastern on Tuesday, November 25th.
Comments (16)
