Blurb’s earns a 1.4-star rating from 30 reviews, showing that the majority of self-publishers are dissatisfied with publishing services.
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Disappointing Customer Service and Website Design: A Review of Blurb
Blurb's customer service is totally terrible, just like everyone says. I tried to find a phone number to talk to a real person, but I couldn't find one. You have to send an email if you have a question, which is a total bummer if you're in a hurry and need help right away. It's like they don't even care about their customers!
Also, the website isn't as easy to use as Word or Pages. My daughter was making a book for school, and she had to keep re-centering everything and guessing where the margins should be. There's a pink border that's supposed to help, but it's not as good as the margins in Word or Pages. The pages don't look the same, and it's kind of annoying. The pictures don't look as good as I thought they would, either. They're okay, but not amazing.
But, I have to say, Blurb did get my daughter's book to her before they said they would, which was pretty cool. The book was in great shape, too. No rips or anything. So, I guess they're not all bad.
Overall, Blurb is okay, but it could be better. I'll probably use a different company for my other daughter's project next year.
Frustrated with Blurb: A Review of the Custom-Book Service
I gotta say, I was pretty darn frustrated with Blurb. I mean, I was ready to throw in the towel on my project multiple times. I can't really recommend it, to be honest. But, I should mention that I never actually got a final product, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Here's what I found to be the biggest issues with Blurb:
First off, you can't change the size of your book once you start making it. That means if you spend hours selecting and uploading photos, only to realize you need a different size book, you're out of luck. You'll have to start all over again. That's a major bummer, if you ask me.
Secondly, the bookify interface is just not very user-friendly. It took me ages to figure out how to delete a photo or move a page around. I mean, come on, it shouldn't be that hard, right?
Now, let me tell you about my experience with their customer service. I bought a groupon that said I had $45 to use towards any custom-book project on the site. But, when I went to check out, they tried to charge me for shipping separately. That wasn't mentioned anywhere on the groupon. I tried to sort it out with their customer service, but they were pretty weasely about it. They insisted that shipping wasn't covered by the groupon's value. I wasn't satisfied with that, so I ended up calling Groupon for a refund.
All in all, I can't say I had a great experience with Blurb. But, like I said, I never actually got a final product, so maybe it's not all bad.
Disappointing Experience with Blurb: Poor Quality and Lack of Customer Support
I gotta say, I was pretty disappointed with my experience using Blurb to create a photo book. I spent hours laying out over 70 pages of photos, only to realize that the files had been compressed and the quality was seriously lacking. As a pro photographer, I was pretty upset that my work was being misrepresented in such a way. The night photos looked dull and murky, and even the day photos were poor quality. I can't imagine anyone being happy with the finished product.
To make matters worse, I couldn't get in touch with anyone at Blurb to address my concerns. I understand that a lot of businesses operate this way, but there were certain stages in the process where a quick question could have saved me a lot of time and stress. Reading other reviews about people having trouble getting mistakes fixed only added to my frustration.
I was really hoping for a better experience, but I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for a book making option. It's a shame, because I had high hopes for Blurb. But I guess you live and learn, right?
UPDATE: So get this - I left a review expressing my disappointment with Blurb, and they responded with some seriously infuriating nonsense. They claimed that representatives were available 24/7, but the reality was that I could only communicate with them via email, and it took them a day to respond to any of my queries. They didn't even address my main concern about the compressed photo files! And to top it all off, they offered some fake sympathy about how frustrating it can be to spend hours on something and not get the results you want. Um, excuse me? This was not my fault - it was a direct consequence of their crappy Bookwright software. And don't even get me started on the fact that you can't reach anyone by phone or internet chat. Honestly, I would have preferred no response at all to the BS they tried to feed me.
Blurb Review: Hit or Miss with Terrible Customer Service and Print Quality Issues
I gotta say, I've had mixed experiences with Blurb. One book I had printed was pretty decent, but the other one was a total disaster. I was so embarrassed to have it up for sale online. And when I tried to get the quality issues addressed, it was a total nightmare. It took them like four months to even respond to my complaints, and when they finally did, the customer service person tried to blame me for the problems. Like, come on, man.
Anyway, they reprinted the order, but the second batch was even worse than the first. The covers had this weird magenta tint, and the spines were all wrinkled. And the interior pages were all messed up too - the margins were all wrong, and some of them were slanted. I mean, I'm not a perfectionist or anything, but this was just ridiculous.
So I complained again, and they did another reprint. But the covers were still messed up, and only one of the books had acceptable interior pages. I was so frustrated at this point. I asked if they could give my book to a different "print partner" since the one they had been using was clearly doing a terrible job. But they never answered that question.
And then, to top it all off, the customer service person told me that the issues I was upset about were just "within the range of variation that we can expect." Like, what? That's not what they told me before. They said that 1/16 of an inch was "acceptable variation," but the errors in my book were way bigger than that.
I write science books, and I was really worried that the terrible print quality would make me and my coauthor look bad. So I asked them to remove my book from their Global Distribution Network. But it's been two weeks and they still haven't done it. Ugh.
Overall, I'd say that Blurb is hit or miss. If you're lucky, you'll get a decent book. But if you're not, you're in for a world of frustration. And their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. So if you're thinking about using Blurb, just be prepared for some potential headaches.
Mixed Experiences with Blurb: Manual Ordering Helpful, But Unauthorized Sales and Poor Customer Service
I've been using Blurb to sell my books for a while now, and I have to say, I've had some mixed experiences. On the one hand, their manual ordering system has been really helpful for me in getting my books out to customers. But on the other hand, I recently discovered that they've been selling my book to the Global Retail Network without my permission.
I had actually requested that they remove my book from the system, since I wasn't familiar with it yet. But despite my request, they continued to sell it to retail stores and even Amazon. And to make matters worse, I wasn't receiving any royalties for these sales, since the profit section hadn't been filled out.
I was pretty upset when I found out about this. I had made 80 sales, which would have amounted to around $1000 in profits. But because of Blurb's neglect, I didn't see a dime of that money. And what's worse, they didn't seem to care about my concerns.
When I contacted their customer service, I was met with a very cold response. Mary, in particular, was not very helpful. I escalated the issue to her, but she didn't offer any resolution. In fact, she seemed to be putting the blame on me for not checking my Sales Overview more often.
But I don't think that's fair. Blurb should know better than to approve books without a set profit. After all, no author would just give their books away for free. And yet, they allowed my book to be sold without my permission, and without any profits going to me.
Overall, I think Blurb's system is not foolproof. If you're going to sell with them, make sure you set your profits and keep an eye on your Sales Overview. And be prepared for some cold customer service if anything goes wrong.
Blurb Book Printing Service Review: Terrible Customer Service and Unreliable Delivery
Blurb is a book printing service that has left me feeling very disappointed. I am extremely upset with their service and would not recommend them to anyone. I ordered several books for two very important clients on September 10th, and was promised that I would receive them by September 20th. However, it is now September 23rd and my books are still in production. This is unacceptable!
To make matters worse, there is no direct phone line for customer service. Instead, you have to go through their website and contact them through email. I have contacted four different people and still have not received a confirmation for my request to update my shipping address. This is incredibly frustrating, especially since I needed these books for a very important business meeting in LA.
I will be flying out to LA in a few days and the books will not arrive to my home in Denver in time. I ordered these books 18 days before my flight, and the fact that Blurb has not even preemptively notified me about the delay is a testament to their terrible service. I cannot believe that I won't get my books in time before my flight when their website said I would get them a while back!
The third customer service rep, Corey C, said that he could update my shipping address. However, when I responded back to let him know that I would like for him to send it to a new address, he hasn't responded back. That was three days ago! I need someone to immediately get back to me. Like right now!
My order number is *** and ***. I cannot believe that I'm even having to go through a third-party website to ask for help. This is ridiculous!
I have searched for reviews of Blurb's customer service and found so many unsatisfied customers. I wish I had known this before I spent over $400 on three books for a very important business meeting. I am beyond angry and unsatisfied with their service. Do not trust Blurb for on-time documents. They are very unreliable. Use another book printer instead. They are terrible!
Unprofessional and Unresponsive: My Frustrating Experience with Blurb Publishing
So, I had a bit of a problem with Blurb. I ordered 21 books and they never showed up. I tried to contact them through Facebook and email, but no one ever got back to me. I had other issues too, like not being able to see my Amazon sales and my book's price increasing without my permission. But every time I contacted Blurb, I just got generic emails that didn't answer my questions.
After a week passed and I still didn't have my books, I had to cancel my book signing. I had promoted it all over social media, so it was really embarrassing. I disputed the charges, but Blurb deactivated my account and took my book down from their bookstore. I still haven't received any information about my Amazon sales or my royalties. It's like they don't care about their authors at all!
I'm really frustrated with Blurb. They're so unprofessional and they don't seem to care about their customers. I don't recommend publishing with them unless you want to be taken advantage of. It's really disappointing.
Avoid Blurb for High-Quality Photo Books: A Disappointing Experience and Poor Customer Support
My experience with Blurb has been really bad. My wife and I are into photography and we love taking pictures. We have been on National Geographic photo expeditions and learned from some of the best photographers in the field. We use top of the line Nikon full frame DSLRs with professional grade lenses. We shoot raw images and when we do a book we process them into jpegs using LIghtroom and Photoshop. We thought Blurb would be a great tool to assemble a forty-four page book after our recent trip to Africa, but we were wrong.
The book they printed was really bad. The pictures were not sharp and the colors were off, especially green. We told Blurb about it and they asked us to photograph the book and send them images. We thought it was silly because matching for white balance would be difficult and photographing full pages (as they requested) would make it hard to see details. We sent them four images and Blurb agreed they had not delivered an acceptable book. They offered to print a new copy for free.
The second printed book was just as bad. Sharper, yes, but pages were incorrectly aligned: tops of photographs cut off and a white strip on the bottom because things were out of alignment. And the colors were still awful. We asked Blurb for a refund and they asked for photos again. We sent them four. We sent in the photos and got a message that, yes, once again the book was unacceptable and it would be forwarded to appropriate people for consideration of a refund. We waited ten days and were told that Blurb never gives refunds and that the problems were with our images. They offered us a coupon to pay for our next Blurb book project.
In the meantime, we redid the entire book using the Adoramapix cloud program, submitted it, and they returned a beautifully printed book using the same image files that Blurb has been unable to print well.
Our advice to anyone who cares about image quality is to avoid Blurb and use Adoramapix. Blurb's print quality is really bad and their customer support just wastes one's time. We see enough bad photos posted on Facebook and Instagram to know there must be a market of people whom Blurb can satisfy, but for those of us who take pride in creating high quality images Adorama is the way to go.
Mixed experience with Blurb.com: Good color, but poor customer service and issues with cheap options
I recently ordered a test book from Blurb.com and was pleased with the spot-on color, so I decided to order three additional big books. However, I noticed that the website would automatically fill in the cheap choices, even though I had ordered the proline options. I had to triple check everything to make sure I was getting what I wanted. But, in the end, I thought, "Who cares about the color of the liner? A book is a book."
Unfortunately, my second order went to a different print house, which they confirmed, and the new books had a green color cast. I sent a picture to customer support, but I received no response except for a canned auto-reply. I waited for a long time, but I never heard back from them. So, I decided to place a new order and triple check everything to make sure I had the CHARCOAL grey liner and cover. The colors were good on these, so I sent them out to customers in New York, Florida, and Boston.
Now, I'm on hold trying to get my $600 back. They said they sent it to "the team" that handles this, but I never heard back. My bank will take up to six months to get my money back through a snail mail process, which I started because wrong is wrong, and they basically stole money from me. If I had used my personal Am Ex card, I wouldn't be out $600.
Blurb.com is a pretty good company when they respond with customer service, but be careful with all the choices for liners and covers. Don't get the mid-gray ones if color matters at all. For the price of a latte, get the good stuff. And definitely lower your expectations. Customer service isn't what it used to be; it appears to be non-existent. I would be fine with a credit for my next order, but right now, they have simply stolen $600 from me that I need to run my struggling small (minority-owned) business. I have three bad books, and they don't give a crap. They used to have a phone number to talk to people, but I'm guessing they must have had too many complaints.
So, it's a good place if you know all the right choices and don't have high expectations, but I'm vetting other companies moving forward. I told them the printer who makes the cheap mid-gray liners has color problems, but what else can you do?
Unleashing the Power of Creativity: A Review of 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield
Dear California Attorney General,
All I am trying to do is make a few books to earn some extra money.
Not only did blurb try not to pay me for the $30.42 profit check by claiming they mailed it when they never did. Now I find out that they have sold several more books with no intention of ever telling me about those sales or paying me any profit for those sales.
In blurb's reply they must have forgotten to mention to you is that the check for $122.42 was from my book sales that they skimmed. These are book sales that they made without any intention of telling me or had no intention of paying me for any of those sales, until they were contacted by an attorney. As soon as the lawyer contacted them and they knew they was caught they promptly admitted to the skimmed sales and paid for the book sales that they sold without my knowledge or permission. This act alone by Blurb.com is an indication that they do this by default. This caused me to then wonder why Blurb.com does not require any tax documentation like all of the other publishing services do. Writers are supposed to pay Uncle Sam taxes, but not with blurb. After contacting several other authors that no longer use blurb.com they all relate a similar story on how they could never sell more than $600 worth of books in a year even though they have a popular book that will easily sell $600 worth each year. After conversing with these other authors it was apparent that blurb.com skims so many sales that the author will never seem to quite sell $600 worth of books in a year. These other authors who now use other publication services all indicated that their books are selling far more than $600 each year since using other publishers and they all have to fill out tax documentation with those publishers to get paid. From my conversations with other authors blurb.com does this by default to those who use them.
After being lied to multiple times blurb finally paid for $72.30 for book sales but at the same time did not tell me about the other book sales which equaled $122.42. They sold these books while I had an active account and sold my books after I closed the account. I can have other authors contact you if you would like further proof of blurb.com skimming the sales of their books. My case is not an isolated incident.
Facts
Blurb tried not to pay the initial profit payment by claiming it was mailed when it wasn't.
Blurb then sent a replacement check which never arrived because that wasn't mailed either.
Before I closed my account blurb deleted the sales and profit pages. Why? They were trying to cover their tracks and not pay me any profit payment.
After closing my account blurb continued selling my books without any permission.
Blurb.com Does not have a valid phone number and only one email address. Why? Every reputable business that I know has a valid phone number you can call.
Blurb has been so dishonest in every email communication with me I refuse to communicate with them any further. It's pointless.
Blurb does not require any tax documentation unlike all other publishers. Why? It is clear to myself and several other authors that they have no intention of you making $600 in book sales in a given year.
Blurb is to this day continuing to sell one of my books on Amazon UK as print on demand.
Blurb.com needs to be investigated. They are ripping off authors who publish with them as well as not paying taxes on the money that they are skimming from those authors. From my experience and the experience of several other authors I have talked to Blurb.com is engaging in fraud against the consumer and the United States Government.
Paperwork is attached proving all of this.
Blurb Complaints 20
Unauthorized sales and deceptive practices by blurb.com
Blurb.com has continued to sell my books without my consent or permission, nearly four years after the books were deleted from their website and account was closed. When I deleted the PDF file from Blurb.com website in early 2020 they they forfeited any rights to print further copies anywhere, yet Blurb.com has never stopped selling them to this day. Any copies printed after I deleted the PDF and closed the account are stolen. Furthermore Blurb.com is now claiming publishing rights to my stolen book. More details of Blurb.com deception are below;
In 2019, a private investigator uncovered evidence that Blurb.com had been skimming 2/3 of my book sales, a clear violation of my rights as the author and copyright holder. This discovery already raised significant concerns about Blurb.com's business practices and their disregard for intellectual property rights.
Following the investigation, I personally observed my books still available for sale on Amazon.com, even though Blurb.com denied in writing selling my books on any platform and claimed they were not being sold on any platform. Despite waiting for several months to over a year, my books remained listed on Amazon.com without my authorization. In an attempt to regain control over the situation and have my stolen books removed, I signed up for a publisher's account and successfully had the books titled The Sad Reality: Christianity and Islam removed from the platform. However, to my dismay, my books continued to be sold on all other Amazon platforms without my permission or consent.
Repeated requests to Blurb.com to stop selling my books have been met with further deception and lies, leaving me with no choice but to discontinue my attempts to contact them directly. It has become abundantly clear that Blurb.com has retained the PDF files of my books and has been selling them without any legal right or consent. As a result, I firmly believe that their actions constitute a violation of copyright laws and intellectual property rights.
I would like to emphasize that Blurb.com is not the rightful property rights holder of my books. When I deleted the PDF files from the Blurb.com website in early 2020, they lost any legitimate right to print or distribute any further copies of my books. Their continued sale and distribution of my books without authorization is both unethical and illegal.
Desired outcome: Stop selling my stolen books and pay me for the stolen sales over the past 4 years
Disastrous Experience with Blurb Magazine Printing: Poor Quality and Customer Service
I gotta say, Blurb is not the best place to get your magazines printed. I ordered 10 of them for my photography business and it cost me a pretty penny, around $130. But when I finally got the product, it was a complete disaster. The magazines were late, and when I opened them up, I saw that some of the text was missing and all of my images were washed out. I can't even send these to my clients, it's that bad.
So, I reached out to customer service and it took them over a week to get back to me. When they finally did, they told me that I should have gotten their more expensive magazine. Like, seriously? I submitted multiple pictures of the defective product and explained why it was so bad, but they didn't seem to care. I even asked if I could get credit for the defective magazines, but they said no. Other photographers I talked to said they had the same issue and got credit, but not me.
To add insult to injury, Terry, the customer service rep, offered me 25% off my next order. Are you kidding me? Why would I want to waste any more of my money with this terrible company? I'm so disappointed and frustrated with this experience.
Blurb Review: A Mixed Bag of Self-Publishing with Terrible Customer Service and Pricing
I gotta say, I used Blurb a couple years back to publish my books and it was a bit of a mixed bag. Some things were clear as mud, like whether or not the "global distribution" included big places like ibooks and Google Books. I've been emailing them non-stop for years now, asking the same questions and getting some real disrespectful folks on the other end. I mean, come on, if I'm asking where else besides Amazon my books are gonna be sold, obviously I know they're on Amazon, right? But no matter how many times I asked, I never got a straight answer. And forget about getting my books published - they just wouldn't answer my questions and treated me like I was a total idiot.
And don't even get me started on their pricing. They charge over $60 bucks for books that aren't even textbooks! Meanwhile, the same book on Amazon is less than $10. What a ripoff, even for buyers! I get that they gotta make their money somehow, but this is just ridiculous. And the worst part is, you only get a measly $1 in royalties per book. No wonder nobody's making any money off this!
Overall, I'd say Blurb is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, they offer a pretty decent platform for self-publishing your own books. But on the other hand, their customer service is terrible and their pricing is way out of whack. If you're looking to publish your own book, I'd say give Blurb a shot - but be prepared to deal with some real headaches along the way.
Is Blurb Legit?
Blurb earns a trustworthiness rating of 91%
Highly recommended, but caution will not hurt.
We found clear and detailed contact information for Blurb. The company provides a physical address, phone number, and 2 emails, as well as 2 social media accounts. This demonstrates a commitment to customer service and transparency, which is a positive sign for building trust with customers.
Blurb has received positive review on our site. This is a good sign and indicates a safe and reliable experience for customers who choose to work with the company.
A long registered date for blurb.com can be seen as a positive aspect for Blurb as it indicates a commitment to maintaining the website and its domain name for a long period of time. It also suggests that the company is organized and has taken steps to secure its online presence.
The age of Blurb's domain suggests that they have had sufficient time to establish a reputation as a reliable source of information and services. This can provide reassurance to potential customers seeking quality products or services.
Blurb.com has a valid SSL certificate, which indicates that the website is secure and trustworthy. Look for the padlock icon in the browser and the "https" prefix in the URL to confirm that the website is using SSL.
Blurb.com has been deemed safe to visit, as it is protected by a cloud-based cybersecurity solution that uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to help protect networks from online threats.
Several positive reviews for Blurb have been found on various review sites. While this may be a good sign, it is important to approach these reviews with caution and consider the possibility of fake or biased reviews.
We looked up Blurb and found that the website is receiving a high amount of traffic. This could be a sign of a popular and trustworthy website, but it is still important to exercise caution and verify the legitimacy of the site before sharing any personal or financial information
Blurb.com appears to have online shopping features, it's important to know that the platform supports an extensive range of payment methods, making it convenient and easy to complete your transaction. The payment procedure on the website is also relatively simple and straightforward, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free experience for buyers.
However ComplaintsBoard has detected that:
- While Blurb has a high level of trust, our investigation has revealed that the company's complaint resolution process is inadequate and ineffective. As a result, only 10% of 20 complaints are resolved. The support team may have poor customer service skills, lack of training, or not be well-equipped to handle customer complaints.
Blurb's Publication Interface is a Nightmare: A Frustrating Experience
I gotta say, Blurb's publication interface is a real pain in the butt. I mean, come on, give us some information! I found two different places that said different things about publication and cover sizes, and it ended up giving me a 5x8 book. And then, get this, it only let me choose hardcover and not softcover. What the heck, Blurb? I had to scrap my whole project and start over. And then, to add insult to injury, it wanted to charge me $28 for my book. No way, Jose. I had to scrap it again. And don't even get me started on the fact that there's no way to put the ISBN on the copyright page. That's just basic stuff, people.
But wait, there's more! I had some serious issues checking out with Paypal. I tried twice and the orders got stuck, and they're not even showing up on the Blurb site. So I reached out to customer service over 36 hours ago and haven't heard a peep. I guess they don't care about my measly $200 order. Next time, I'm gonna give Lulu, Cafepress, or Createspace a try. What a waste of time this was! And seriously, this site is so hard to figure out. There's no guidance, no customer service, nothing. It's like they don't even want my business.
Blurb Review: Easy Book Creation, Terrible Customer Service
I ain't no tech genius, but I know my way around a computer. I stumbled upon Blurb and thought it was the answer to my prayers. I mean, who doesn't want an easy way to create a book, right? But let me tell you, it's too good to be true.
Sure, there's a glimmer of hope with their product, but their customer service is a joke. They talk in a language that only tech wizards can understand. I lost my book content twice because of their poor instructions on their site. And when I reached out to their email support, they beat around the bush and didn't answer my questions directly.
To make matters worse, my computer crashed and I lost all my data a second time. Thank goodness for Carbonite, a lifesaver of a product! But when I tried to retrieve my files, Bookwright wouldn't recognize them. Hours of creativity down the drain.
I asked the Blurb people a simple question on how to copy my files so I could keep them safe off their site. But they couldn't give me a straight answer. And now, I have no files left. Not even the ones saved on Carbonite can be read.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend Blurb to anyone. It's a waste of time and energy. Stick to the good ol' fashioned way of creating a book.
Frustrating Experience with Blurb.com: Charged Twice and No Order Confirmation
I just tried to buy a book from Blurb.com, and I gotta say, it was a pretty frustrating experience. I needed this book for my college children's book class, and I was willing to pay the $45 price tag for it. Everything was going smoothly until I got to the checkout page. I entered all the correct information for my debit card, but then I got an error message saying that the zip code was wrong. Now, I know for a fact that I entered the correct zip code, so I tried again, thinking maybe I made a mistake with the card number or something. But nope, I got the same error message again.
At this point, I was starting to get pretty annoyed. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, though, until I checked my bank account and saw that there were TWO pending charges of $45 each. What the heck?! I didn't even get an order confirmation or a receipt or anything to show that my order had gone through. Now I'm worried that my book won't arrive on time, and my partner and I won't be able to give it to our young children like we planned. It's just not fair that they'll be left without a book while their classmates get to enjoy theirs.
Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed with Blurb.com. They really dropped the ball on this one. Their communication methods are seriously lacking, and I don't appreciate the fact that they charged me twice without any explanation. I'm definitely taking my business elsewhere from now on. If anyone from Blurb is reading this, my complaint number is *** and I expect to hear back from you ASAP.
Hit or Miss Quality and Mixed Customer Service: My Review of Blurb Printing Service
Blurb is a printing service that I've used for a variety of book projects, but I have to say that the quality is hit or miss. I've had some books turn out pretty good, but others have been downright mediocre. If you're planning on mass producing books, I wouldn't recommend using Blurb because the quality just doesn't cut it. I've printed with other print houses and my personal work has turned out much better.
Their customer service is also a mixed bag. I've reached out to them a few times and sometimes they're responsive, but other times they're completely unresponsive. For example, I contacted them three weeks ago and never got a reply. Out of nowhere, they closed my request as solved. I messaged them again and again, but never got a reply. I even tried direct messaging them on Instagram, but still no response. It wasn't until I publicly posted on their Instagram post that they finally replied back to me. It's frustrating when you have to jump through hoops just to get a response.
That being said, if you're just trying to print a book for your family or friends using your iPhone photos, then Blurb is "alright". I've printed a total of four different types of books with them, but I don't think I'll be using them again. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but unfortunately, my experience with Blurb has been more of the latter.
Disappointing Customer Service: My Experience with Blurb
I gotta say, Blurb's customer service is seriously lacking. I mean, come on, they don't even have a phone number to call? You're stuck with email, and good luck getting a response in a timely manner. And if you need to cancel a book order, forget about it. You have to do it within an hour or you're out of luck. That's just not fair, man. What if you order it at 6 pm and then realize you made a mistake at 8 pm? Tough luck, buddy.
And don't even get me started on the disclaimer thing. I had to find out the hard way that you have to agree to some terms before you buy your book. Why isn't that made clear from the get-go? It's just frustrating, you know?
And the response time for emails is way too long. I've had issues that they just closed without even responding to me or letting me know what was going on. That's just rude, man. I'm beyond disappointed with this company.
Oh, and to top it all off, my book came damaged. Not even from shipping, but with marks and rips. And they won't even issue a refund? That's just terrible customer service. If you're only going to offer help via email, at least have someone checking it every hour or so. Don't waste your time with this company, folks.
Disappointing Experience with Blurb: Poor Customer Service and Quality Control
I recently had a book printed by Blurb, a 239-page hardcover photo book. Unfortunately, when the book arrived, I noticed that 56 pages were put into the book in reverse order. Additionally, there was a defect in the cover, with a ripple across the middle of the front and back, as if there was an extra piece of cardboard underneath the cover image. I immediately submitted a support request with detailed explanations and several photos documenting the issues. I was hoping to hear back from Blurb within a few days, with an offer to either reprint the book or give me a full credit for use in the future. However, it has been two weeks, and my support issue is still open with no response from Blurb.
After waiting for a week without any response, I decided to have the book printed again at further expense to me. At this point, I am no longer satisfied with having this book reprinted. It is too late for that. The only fair resolution I can see now is for Blurb to refund my money or, at the very least, to give me a credit for the full amount I paid, which I could use in the future for another book. Unfortunately, after discovering this site and seeing what kind of customer service others have experienced, I am not holding my breath. I am currently looking for another printing company.
Overall, my experience with Blurb has been disappointing. I understand that mistakes can happen, but the lack of response from their customer service team is unacceptable. I hope that Blurb can improve their customer service and take responsibility for their mistakes in the future. Until then, I cannot recommend them to others.
Blurb Review: Lack of Communication and Payout Issues Ruin the Experience
Blurb used to be an okay place to print self-published books, but now I'm not so sure. They do make decent ebooks and a digital book preview and magazines, but there are a lot of issues that ruin the Blurb experience. For one, don't expect to get your revenue from Blurb from orders customers purchase directly from the site. It's been two years and I still haven't received a payout for the purchases made. TWO YEARS! That's a long time to wait for money that's rightfully mine.
Secondly, this last order they shorted me 2 books! I reached out about it, and I haven't got a call or an email response. Additionally, many of the books are damaged. When I reached out about that, no response AT ALL! When you call the phone number, it rings but no one ever answers. It's frustrating to not be able to get a hold of anyone to help with these issues.
So essentially they stole money from me on two different fronts. From the sales I have made, they never payout. And they shorted me in my order. It's not fair to the hardworking authors who are trying to make a living off of their work.
I am very angry. I needed these books for a show, and now I don't have enough books to meet the RSVP requests and I will have to present damaged goods. It's embarrassing and unprofessional.
The Amazon process is also a joke. There is no clear explanation as to how the books get on Amazon or with Barnes and Noble. It doesn't appear to be a solid process, so it makes no sense for them to advertise it. It's frustrating to not know how your book is being distributed and if it's even being sold.
Overall, I'm disappointed with Blurb. They used to be a decent option for self-publishing, but now I'm not so sure. The lack of communication and payout issues are unacceptable. I hope they can improve their processes and customer service in the future.
Blurb BookWright Review: Slow, Unreliable, and Frustrating to Use
So, I was in a bit of a pickle when Apple decided to drop Aperture support, which meant that I could no longer create photo books using it. I was looking for an alternative and stumbled upon Blurb BookWright. I must say, it was a bit of a bummer.
Firstly, importing around 170 photos took me a good half an hour, which was a bit of a drag. But I thought, okay, I can live with that. However, when I started adding images to the album, it took another 20 to 30 seconds for each image to be added. I mean, come on, either the import should be slow or adding images to the album should be slow, but not both.
Then, I decided to create my book. On the first page, I wanted to add one image and two text boxes. But guess what? The app crashed. I mean, seriously? I wanted to add three columns of text, but I gave up on that.
A week later, I decided to give it another go. I started adding text and tried to link two text boxes so that it would flow like two-column text. But when I tried to save the book, it refused to save because "there were errors". I mean, what kind of errors? Thanks a lot, guys!
I closed the application and restarted it, hoping to continue where I left off. But when I started adding a few more images on page 2 and 3, it wouldn't let me save the book again, "because of errors". I mean, seriously, what is going on here?
Overall, I would say stay away from this app. It's just not worth the hassle.
Not sending my profit payment checks to me
I have published a book on Blurb and the book has sold 21 copies on Amazon.com. My profit from that sale comes to $ 290.58 which Blurb must send me a check of.
On November 15, the Customer Service Manager, named Lena, sent me an email saying that she has "sent in a request for the check to be processed and mailed to me." She later sent me another email saying that she would send the check with a tracking number through the Post Office, to which I replied saying that it is a good idea to add a tracking number to it. But up to this day, close to a month later, she wrote me and said the check is still not ready to be sent.
I am beginning to think there is something wrong going on because after about 10 days, I inquired and she said the check was still processing. Then, more than 2 weeks later, I inquired again as to why such a delay, and she replied and said she checked again and found that there was a "formatting error." I don't know the kind of formatting error she was referring to.
Now, the whole thing is heading to 1 month and I inquired again, and she wrote me 2 days ago saying the check is still processing (see attachment of her email statement).
One month to write or fill out a check is too much time and I doubt that she wants to send me my profit payment check, in view of the many complaints I have seen about them on the Internet — including not sending payment checks to the author who painstakingly wrote the book!
Desired outcome: She needs to put my October profit payment check of $ 290.58 in the mail to me immediately.
Blurb Photo Books
Horrible horrible service. I have contacted them many many times to finalize my book project and they never responded. Over the course of several months. I have uploaded my project after 4months of work, and there is no usable link after it successfully uploads to Print Project. Book does not appear in My Projects or My Orders, and there is just no way to print the order. Very very frustrating. Do not order from Blurb.
Desired outcome: Well if they want to contact me with this simple issue, it's up to them. 45 page book is ready to print They don't seem to care about my $400...
refuses to actually send profit payment by check as per agreement.
Blurb claims they sent the profit check Sept 12, 2019. After over a month of not receiving the payment I contacted Blurb through the website.
After a week of playing email tag, I was told a replacement was sent October 19, 2019 and if it don't arrive by Friday October 25, 2019 they would send another.
No profit payment was received. By not receiving either mailings indicates either the USPS stole both of the profit payments and did not cash them and just threw them away, or Blurb never sent them in the first place.
Since the odds and common sense indicate Blurb never sent them, on October 27, 2019 I asked Blurb if profit payments was just a scam and if they never had any intention of sending any profit payments.
Now they will not respond to repeated requests to resolve this matter through the website.
I then tried to call them directly because they wont respond to repeated requests through the website to resolve this issue but Blurbs phone number is fake and leads nowhere (415) 364-6300
Blurbs other number (415) 362-2067 has been disconnected.
Both more indications of deception by Blurb.
Horrible horrible customer service. I've been trying to order/print my book for weeks and weeks. Uploads fine from Booksmart, but then there are no clickable links to Print Project or continue. I have filled out their contact form many many times and they never respond. Do not order from Blurb. They obviously could care less.
Horrible!
ok, blurb, where's your customer service? Do you have issues in recruiting people? Or you only have a machine that sends automatically generated answers and doesn't help at all? And needless to say, my question was simple, I didn't have a hard issue, but I got a copy-pasted answer that had nothing to do with my situation. Are there real people working for you at this department? So disappointed with this.
I only wasted time on your useless service.
Customer service is extremely ridiculous!
This site is horrible, but their customer service is extremely ridiculous! You cannot get an actual person on the phone. You can write tons of emails, but there will be no response. I sent them many emails, but only after almost a month I got my first reply from Blurb. But there was nothing useful there! They only sent me a link where I could find the answer to my question. They also mentioned that I can send them emails if there will be any problems. They told “We are always happy to help our customers”. I messaged them again, but the same happened – no response. They have obviously gotten too big to care about the individual customer anymore.
Awful customer service
I only have horrible comments about Blurb's Customer Service team. My two main issues are: (1) Blurb continually prints RED too loud. The REDs are never close to the original pictures. Despite multiple attempts with customer service at resolving it; they did not care; (2) after an order, I asked Customer Service to inform the printer to go outside the standard spec of 20 pages for a SmartBook, but Bruce from Customer Service did not care; he was not willing to entertain contacting the printer for an adjustment; too much effort to place one call and help a customer; he has too many orders to allow for an exception...
We've got our ebook price being changed without notifying us
We've not had a great experience with Blurb. We spent over $700 to install Adobe InDesign, and then had to reformat our book to fit the specs. Then there were multiple problems with the uploads. Very frustrating! Now, we've got our ebook price being changed without notifying us! Our $14.99 Ebook, went to $12.99 last week (we didn't do it). We reset it to $14.99. This week it jumped to $16.99 (we didn't do it). We've reset it to $14.99. There's no consistency with Blurb. We have to post separate widgets for the Ebook, and Ipad version. Customer's can't click on a full menu of our books multiple-versions. We wouldn't recommend this site.
Hey Eborce,
I work at Blurb. I'm sorry you've run into this problem – it's not something I've heard of happening before. Please contact our Support Team so they can look into this for you: http://blur.by/Teoa6W
Kent from Blurb
Duping customers
Blurb.Com is billing me for two photo books due to an error in their online order form. This error was not because I did not check my work. It was because their order form gave me an error message of failure on the next screen after I entered my credit card. This indicated to me that the order was not placed and it had failed. I resubmitted the order using my PayPal next. I now have two books coming and not one. This is FRAUD! It's easy to see that they are intentionally giving folks a failure message in order for them to place a second order.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Blurb bound the wrong parts of my three books together. They obviously never bothered to check the products before they shipped them. Worse, Blurb never admitted any possibility of their having made an error. Their e-mails said they were sorry that I HAD A PROBLEM with the quality. They placed the blame entirely on my not liking the results and would take no responsibility for having bound the books completely wrong. They acted as if I am lying and demanded scans or the books themselves. I sent scans, but I rather doubt I'll ever get this corrected, despite all my effort, time, and money.
Bad service
I just created a book of one of my daughter’s collage stories using Blurb's software, and ordered one copy: looked great. Got excited and ordered 10 copies: looked great too, and friends, family and co-workers all wanted one. When I ran out of the 10 copies, I ordered 10 more. YIKES! Should’ve read the comments on the Internet earlier and counted myself lucky to get 11 copies that were not messed up.
These last 10 copies are terribly finished, with the hard cover improperly glued to the body of the book (the white paper that glues onto the hard cover–front and back–is full of bubbles, as if my 4 year old had glued it).
I promptly contacted customer support and they agreed to send me a new set… and asked me to return the deffective ones to them! HUH?! What are they going to do with them? It makes me feel that, even though I sent them photos of the issue, they do not believe me. Also, this is the first time EVER that, when ordering something that is custom-made and having an issue, I am asked to return it to the seller/manufacturer. It is just a TERRIBLE policy. Makes the company look cheap and distrustful of its customers. Plus, even though they will be sending me a UPS label to pay for the shipping, who is paying for my time to take the darn box of books to the UPS store?!
That’s it for me, I will NEVER do business with Blurb again. I will start looking into other online printing services, which seem to abound... something else I learned when I started looking into the complaints that folks have about Blurb.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Customer service is non-existent. Phone number is eventually answered with a message that you've received "an auxiliary number and call back on another number (not given). Then "for better and faster service our email is open and manned 24 hours" Two days later and I am still not getting an answer to my questions.
I have had an awful time with blurb. Trouble with their software, changes in their policies since I began. what I was promised is unavailable after spending 6 months researching and writing the book. Technical issues are only dealt with by email so take forever and rarely get fixed. I cried more tears over frustration with them than you can imagine. There is no way to contact their board or directors. Awful!
I have published three books with Blurb. I love their BookSmart program as it allows complete freedom to create YOUR book YOURSELF. They offer no editing, no comments, no suggestions. All they do is print what you create. I love this system myself! I have had none of the problems that others have voiced. My only complaint is that the copies cost so much. That is my sole complaint. I realize this is not a mass market publisher and that the books I create are one-of-a-kind type specialty books, but still, $50 for a hardback w/jacket 120-page book is a little steep. I am thoroughly satisfied with Blurb's quality. In fact, that's what drew me to them in the first place. A friend of mine sent me a draft copy of his book from Blurb to review and I was very favorable impressed with the quality. When I was ready to have mine published, I chose Blurb for this reason. I purchased the PDF rights for $10 and have sold a couple of dozen disks with the PDF copy on them for $5.00 each. It's true that the author has no control once you release it to Blurb for printing. It's up to you to make sure it is as you want it. That's the beauty of BookSmart. You can SEE what it's going to look like, the colors, the fonts, the margins, the layout. I always order a couple of drafts and hand them out to friends for review before I have the final version printed. When I get my own copy of the final version, I order the special paper. It is BEAUTIFUL!
BLURB software has no SAVE AS nor EXPORT in any readable format such as PDF or MS Word done on purpose the book can be only printed by BLURB. Writer has no control of file once released to BLURB
No security nor guarantee that book will be not copied and sold without writers approval.
I'm an author with Blurb. So far all of my books have been very nicely done. I noticed that while preparing my book it stated on how I wanted my books to be cut. I made sure it was well done on my part.
All of my books are great. I'm sorry yours weren't.
I wish that I had done my homework on Blurb, and checked the BBB and sites like Complaints Board prior to uploading my project, I most probably would not have done business with them.
I concur with MaryRC, Blurb's quality control is nonexistent. I placed four orders with Blurb; the first one was fine. The second order contained books that had barely 1/16” on space left on the vertical cut, they cut that far past their own template cut lines. On my third
order, all of the book covers were not bound properly. They were rotated slightly clockwise, with part of the cover layout on the spine, and part of the spine now showing up on the back cover. My last order, for one book, was fine.
Now, if Blurb can get my first and last order right, they can get them all right. I sent 150 and 300 d.p.i. scans via PDF to Blurb to illustrate the problems, comparing these to books from previous orders that were fine. At first, Blurb acknowledged the problem, for customer service asked me to let them know how many books “had this trim problem.” In a subsequent email, Blurb attempted to blame-shift by telling me that the problem was on my end and my using their program “BookSmart.” Only problem is, I wasn't using their program, I was using Adobe InDesign CS4, with their templates and their pdf export plugin.
Secondly, that excuse does not explain why orders one and four were fine. Thirdly, Blurb totally ignored the covers being bound improperly by not even addressing my complaint in follow up emails.
In my final response letter to Blurb I wrote:
“I find it telling that Blurb has complaints lodged with Complaints Board and the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California Better Business Bureau, twelve complaints alone for defective product.”
I am now forced to address this nonsense through the California Attorney General's Office and the Northern Coastal California Better Business Bureau.
If you are reading this OR know of someone considering doing business with Blurb, my advice is to stay away, FAR away. Don't be fooled by the the glitz and polish of Blurb's website, they are unconcerned with customer satisfaction and produce slipshod merchandise. They do have the ability to make a decent product, but they are staffed with people who do not care about the quality of the products that they produce. Additionally, their customer service is sub-par. They make you jump through hoops to prove a problem with THEIR workmanship, yet they then recant a prior admission of fault and error in order that they absolve themselves of any and all negligence.
Blurb has no quality control. The second time I ordered from them, my three books were bound together wrong. They had attached the wrong half of each book, so that they were mixed up — all three books. I explained the problem, but Blurb would not believe me and demanded that I send a scan of the problem.
I explained that I did not have access to a scanner and gave a detailed description of the error they made. They replied that they would not accept my word for it and that I would have to prove there was an error by either giving them a scan or by returning the books.
Since I didn't trust Blurb with my only proof of their error, I decided it wasn't wise to return the books. So I borrowed a scanner and spent nearly two hours scanning in three 30-page books which had been put together wrong.
I did not want Blurb to say my scans weren't good enough, so I made high-quality ones. After a long and difficult upload, I e-mailed the 300 dpi PDF files to Blurb proving that I am not lying about their error. But despite all my efforts, I have no confidence that Blurb will admit their error and send replacements. They have no respect for their customers' word, their customers' money, their customers' time, or their customers' satisfaction.
By the way, the binding is already falling apart. So much for the quality of their work in that respect as well. Besides all this, Blurb never admitted any possibility of their having made an error. Their e-mails said they were sorry that I HAD A PROBLEM with the quality. They placed the blame entirely on my not liking the results and would take no responsibility for having bound the books completely wrong.
Until this happened, I had planned to complete several more projects with Blurb. I had also told several of my friends about Burb and was helping one of them complete a wedding book for her son. Now, however, I am sorry I ever did business with Blurb. I hope my friends, once they have heard what Blurb put me through, will decide not to do business with that company, either.
About Blurb
One of the key features of Blurb is its user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for anyone to create a professional-looking book or magazine. Users can choose from a variety of templates and layouts, or they can create their own custom designs using Blurb's design tools. The platform also offers a range of printing options, including hardcover, softcover, and ebook formats.
Blurb is not just a platform for self-publishing, but also a community of creators who share their work and ideas with each other. The platform offers a range of resources and support for authors and designers, including tutorials, webinars, and forums where users can connect with each other and share their experiences.
Blurb has gained a reputation for its high-quality printing and production standards, which have earned it a loyal following among photographers, artists, and other creatives. The platform also offers a range of marketing and distribution services, including the ability to sell books directly through the Blurb bookstore or through other online retailers like Amazon.
Overall, Blurb is a powerful and flexible platform that empowers individuals and businesses to create and publish their own books and magazines. With its user-friendly interface, high-quality printing, and range of resources and support, Blurb has become a go-to choice for anyone looking to bring their creative projects to life.
Overview of Blurb complaint handling
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Blurb Contacts
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Blurb phone numbers+1 (415) 364-6300+1 (415) 364-6300Click up if you have successfully reached Blurb by calling +1 (415) 364-6300 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached Blurb by calling +1 (415) 364-6300 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached Blurb by calling +1 (415) 364-6300 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached Blurb by calling +1 (415) 364-6300 phone number
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Blurb emailssubmissions@blurb.com98%Confidence score: 98%Communicationsupport@blurb.com97%Confidence score: 97%Supportpress@blurb.com96%Confidence score: 96%Communicationcustomquote@blurb.com94%Confidence score: 94%jobs@blurb.com93%Confidence score: 93%Hr
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Blurb address580 California St Ste 300, San Francisco, California, 94104-1024, United States
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Blurb social media
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Checked and verified by Rachel This contact information is personally checked and verified by the ComplaintsBoard representative. Learn moreJun 13, 2024
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