The FearLess Knight

Review of FASTSIGNS (Chelmsford)

Friendly staff but very disappointing service. I ...

Friendly staff but very disappointing service. I needed some of my artwork digitised so I could sell prints. After the first attempt all eight images were unusable and worse than a basic photocopy in quality. The designer asked me to bring my originals back in for another try which I did. Once again the quality was dismal and no better than I had managed with my own camera.

They said they couldn't do anymore so I was all ready to try a different avenue. I then got an email saying that due to the time put in to it all they could only return 25% of what I'd payed.

Bearing in mind I had nothing to show for the money I felt this was outrageous. If I work on something for a customer where I need to 'experiment a bit' (Fastsigns Designer's words), I work on one example until I get it right, not work on all eight illustrations...twice. That was their decision not mine.

It was also Fastsigns decision to try the second time. I was simply asked to bring my original pictures back in. At no point was I told this would mean very little money back if it didn't work.

I complained and they agreed to return 50%. Again I think this is ridiculous. If I'm asked to draw a commission for a customer and the end result isn't to quality I don't and can't charge them for half the time. If I can't meet the agreement I don't get paid. Fastsigns have got a great racket going getting money for no quality result.

As a small, local business I'll never use them again and wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
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An update since my review above ... I had to go in today with my card to get my 50% refund. Whilst in, a manager came out and asked me to justify my above review. I was a bit taken aback. She seemed to think that getting 50% of my payment back didn't deserve the review.

Let me leave this as a comment to FastSigns...next time any customer comes in with an unusual request that your team needs to experiment with to see if it's possible, keep a note of the time spent and let me know. I'll pop in and pay for the time even though what's produced is nothing I can personally use. After all, that's what I've just had to do.