Shutterfly

Update again: They finally refunded me a portion of what I paid. It took a long time after refusing «credit» to buy more things. But, finally a refund on what was messed up. Will still NEVER use them. But need to let other consumers know that if you let them know how they wronged out, EVENTUALLY they will finally try to make it right. Just avoid the headache and don’t try to start.

I had to create my photobook several times because shutterfly kept NOT saving my work. Then when I ordered the photobook, they never shipped it (they created a tracking number but UPS never received the package from shutterfly). EVENTUALLY someone decided to start my order over again, but no rush was put on it. This was a horrible experience and i still don’t have the photobook that i originally ordered about a month and a half ago. Customer service was garbage, someone in india who refused to say anything that wasn’t on their sh*tty corporate script.
I will NEVER EVER use this service again and i HIGHLY recommend you look elsewhere if you’re considering ordering from them.

Don’t use Shutterfly. What a horrible experience! I tried to order canvas prints for my non-​profit job, and they refused to take off the tax. They said it would take as many as 10 business days to take off tax (and that’s insane as it is), but after 10 days, they still hadn’t. Their explanation? I have to turn in paperwork (again, I already had). It kept going in circles. When I told them they were about to lose my business, they did not care. I reached out to them multiple times, and it was the same run-​around every time. There are other less expensive places anyway.

Shipping takes longer than stated on their website. Shipping says it will take 6 – 10 business days to deliver so I ordered it 10 business days in advance to get it in time for the gift date. The estimated ship date said it would come in the 6 – 10 day window when I placed the order. Turns out it’s coming 13 business days later and ruined my gift. So I paid for shipping that did not deliver on time. Great. Just use a different photo service

I believe my complaint to shutterfly will sum up my experience. I advise you order from Mpix or elsewhere and mail them out yourselves.
Shutterfly,
I am very disappointed on how my order was handled. I spent a significant amount of time preparing my graduation card and trying to make it memorable. I was happy to see that you made the process easier by allowing me to ship to multiple addresses but the result was far less than desirable. I was outraged, after one of my family members told me that they had almost thrown away their package because it did not have my name anywhere on the packaging. The package was Attn: to shutterfly and had shutterfly written all over the packaging. No one will ever willingly purchase from you knowing that when they send out their invitations it may as well end up in their recipients dumpster. Secondly, had they journeyed far enough to open the packaging, it was loaded with so much advertisement that the card was unnoticeable. I am glad that a family member warned me about this and will do a Facebook invite instead. Furthermore, I will write reviews about my experience and make sure others do not fall into the same trap. This company chooses advertisement over happy customers.
I encourage you to read what your customers are saying and try something different. Perhaps, one day this review will be irrelevant but as of 5÷8÷2016 this is Shutterfly.

Shutterfly ruined Mother’s Day!
I was promised delivery of the mothers day photo book on May 6 when it didn’t come on May 6 I called and they said I would get it Saturday the seventh now on Saturday the seventh it’s shutter fly tells me that it’s still in production very disappointed mothers day is ruined by shutter fly. Now they say it’s going to ship on the 9^th. B. S. !!!
The guaranteed delivery on May 6. Now it’s coming the 10^th or 11^th. Maybe I can use it for next Mother’s Day in 362 days.
They say they guarantee happiness forget it!

I spent $ 60+ for rush service in order to get the photo cards received by my son’s teacher’s appreciation event. However, I only received partial order by the guaranteed date. The rest of the order will be further delayed and definitely received after the teacher’s appreciation week is over. The worst of worse is that the original plan was to present the photo cards to all teachers in the classroom. Since now only cards for some of the teachers are received some are not, I will not be able to use the cards that already received so the teachers that do not receive photo cards would not feel left out…
Shutterly would not give me full refund of the rush shipping and handling fee claiming that I received partial order. Although the partial order is useless to me now.
Willl not use Shutterfly anymore.

I ordered 700+ prints from them, which as you can imagine costs quite a bit. The photos arrived with smeared ink and weird cropping that cut off people’s heads, which I had not cropped any of the photos. I had just uploaded them, selected the ones I wanted print, and paid for the prints (which took me 5 attempts because their system kept logging me out). I contacted Shutterfly to find out what happened once the abomination that they call photos arrived and how they planned to fix it. They told me that they cropped my photos and that if I wanted them fixed I had to go in and redo all of the cropping myself and reorder prints. They said they would give me a whole 50% off of the reprint cost. EXCUSE ME!!! No. You messed up printing them. You smeared my prints and cropped the non-​smeared ones in weird ways and you want ME to go and fix it and then PAY YOU AGAIN for the job that I already paid you for?!? HELL NO. That is NOT okay. So I told them no and that I wanted a full refund. They decided to ignore me for a couple of days until I contacted them yet again. This was the third time I had to contact them about this. They finally answered and said that they would give me a 50% refund if I sent them the photos back but that’s it. So I’m supposed to pay to ship back my 700+ photos so I can get half of my money back?! I told them no. That I wanted a full refund because THEY are the ones that messed up here, not me. None of my uploaded photos were weird shapes. They were all your standard photo size and did not need any sort of cropping to print 4×6 photos. They chose to crop them on their own, without my consent and without ever telling me they were going to do so. Plus, none of my images were of smears. They were crisp, clean images. So the smeared photos I received were, again, their fault. Not mine. I’m still fighting with them over this but I won’t stop until I get my full refund. Save yourself money, agony, and time. Go with another photo printing service.
DO NOT TRUST SHUTTERFLY TO ACTUALLY GIVE YOU WHAT YOU PAY FOR. GO WITH ANOTHER SERVICE. ANY OTHER SERVICE WILL BE BETTER THAN THEM.

Terrible terrible «BEWARE» photos look blurry although they advertise it being so convenient with cell phone photos. Then you can’t even return it for full refund they will only give you 50% back and I’m guessing you pay you’re own shipping a real RIP OFF. Then I was offered 15% back and keep It I choose that. But seriously will be taking by business elsewhere!!!

Beyond amazing customer service. I had an issue with my invitations and Andy from customer service made my day. He completely listened to me and came up with a solution. He went above and beyond my possible expectations.
I have been ordering from Shutterfly for the last two years and I love it! They always have great deals on invitations and are so very affordable.

I figured for my 10+$$ shipping cost I would at least get half decent pictures. But that was too much to ask for. Apparently when you order 4×4 they just take ANY PART of the photos and crop it. Or maybe these idiots just think I don’t want my daughters head in the pictures. Or if the could just lighten the photo a little or something. Walmart has better quality.

Not really sure what all the bad reviews are for. I’ve used Shutterfly for a photo book (cute and easy) and their associated site Wedding Paper Divas for my wedding invitations. Will be returning for my thank you’s, too.
I thought that my representative was quick and extremely professional, the pricing was very reasonable, and the list of options to customize was extensive. Overall, we loved the service and we have received a lot of compliments on the look and quality of our invites.
And, both sites frequently offer coupons and deals. I think it’s great and would recommend.

I am so disgusted with this company and will never do business with them again.
I was sent an email advertising FREE UNLIMITED 4×6 photos. BUT apparently their definition of the word UNLIMITED means limited to 250 photos. … SOOOOO there IS a limit. After I had spent over an hour editing and uploading my «unlimited» photos.
I very much expected to pay a shipping fee. Makes sense since I would be getting my FREE UNLIMITED (250) photos. BUT then to see a bill for over $ 25 for shipping!!! Whhaaaaaa! What are my photos sealed in? Special wrap made from the tears of newborn babies … from Guatemala? I’ve had furniture delivered for less. And it was standard shipping.
Talk about serious price gouging.
So, being a disapointed customer, i put in a complaint. An hour after I put in a complaint, i scoured their sight looking for answers to my questions. Their definition of unlimited and how did they come up with their shipping fee?
Found their definition of unlimited (250 items per order). Very misleading to the customer! So you CAN get unlimited photos for free, you just have to pay $ 25 a pop for shipping per order … cuz THAT makes sense. But, I never did find how they come up with that ridiculous shipping fee.
Finally, the next afternoon I get a, very generic, reply from their customer service. Which didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already find myself the previous night. I responded again with questions about shipping and they responded with «we’re sorry, our records show that this email is not on our file. Due to security reasons we cannot provide you with information … blah blah blah…»
What??? They answered my first email. I logged into THEIR site with my email.
After a LOT of just back and forth nonsense. … nothing got resolved. Their customers service could be better run by hamsters.
I complained on their Facebook site and they blocked me from commenting, removed my complaint and blocked me from leaving anymore complaints??? Seriously, all I said was their advertisement for unlimited photos was misleading and their shipping was outrageous. All true. And they continue to mislead their customers.
Anyway, this was really the last straw! I had been considering switching to another photo company. The truth is; their quality had been lacking for sometime. I was only ordering because“free and unlimited” caught my eye. But after this … Never. Again.
I went over to Snapfish. 100 free prints each month. $ 8.99 SHIPPING.
IN SHORT: Use a different photo company. Shutterfly is just the worst.

I really should have read the reviews here before choosing SF. They really do have THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I’ve dealt with in a long time. And that is saying a lot.
I deal with customer service departments all the time due to the nature of my job, and I am typically very polite and patient. But I was ready to burst after hours of trying to solve problem, dealing with automated «help» and a live supervisor (Kia) who was combative, unsympathetic, and gave me incorrect information. Overall nothing was resolved. They stole money from me and refused to refund anything. Except I could pay return shipping for a refund, but the refund wouldn’t include the promo code discount I received which makes the return pointless.
On top of that, their website is confusing. They add lots of charges without you knowing so your $ 20 photobook turns out to be $ 35 by the time you get to checkout. And on top of that, if you have a credit card saved their checking basically becomes a 1-​click-​purchase, and you have 30MINS to cancel your order! If you try to contact customer service to cancel the order, it won’t happen. You’ll have to pay to ship it back.
I had ordered once before with no issues. So if you want to roll the dice on nothing going wrong with your order, go ahead and take the plunge. But good luck if you need to deal with customer service for any reason.

4.25 Stars
I just ordered a huge metal collage print from Shutterfly displaying my family’s annual photo shoot. I LOVE it!!! BUT it did come slightly damaged in one corner due to shipping. I e-​mailed customer service and am waiting for a reply. UPDATE: They sent me a replacement free of charge.
Besides this, the metal print looks AMAZING!!! Wait till they have one of their 50% off sales. Subscribe to the e-​mail list, so you know their specials.
I would give 5 stars for the metal prints and photobooks, but some of the other home décor I have ordered from them is not 5 star quality. Still, they are my go to print shop.

My issues typically are a result of poor customer service. They have a 30 day return policy, so if I wanted I could return the New Years cards that just arrived to me. Instead, I asked for a partial refund for a promo that they’re running right now. Here’s their answer, «place a new order (for the exact same thing), get it $ 50 cheaper, and send those back and we’ll give you a 100% refund.» So I get my $ 50 back but I have to wait 10 days for the new order to arrive? They make more, throw these away, just because they won’t match their own price? I’ve always been pleased their work, but customer service is a nightmare.
If you decide to use them, I hope you pray that you don’t have an issue. They won’t help you out.

Shutterfly has been my go to site for holiday cards, calendars, photo books, and miscellaneous gifts for years. They have a growing selection of gift ideas and decorative pieces, but I’ve noticed the quality has diminished over time.
The site has crashed several times the last two years while I’ve been working on a project or ordering cards. I’ve learned to be meticulous about saving my project after every couple steps, which is tedious but necessary.
Items have always arrived packaged securely and on time, but the quality is not the same. A key chain had air bubbles, spine of photo book arrived ripped, price has crept up while quality has gone down.
Unless you’re printing black and white or casual small prints, I recommend ordering elsewhere. We had a large print printed by Shutterfly to save money and the color was way off from the original we had printed at a pricier site. I realized it is worth paying extra if printing for framed color photos. Black and whites are fine.
Other than those issues, they are still one of the best sites for holiday cards and calendars. They have a nice selection and it’s easy to create and order.

Terrible Quality; Waste of Time
Ordered holiday cards from Shutterfly and paid for the premium option for print. Received the cards and the print was hazy and grainy — even the regular black color on the holiday cards on the borders was greyish and whitish in places. The original photos were taken by a professional photographer at a very high resolution. Called customer service — the first rep was impatient and rude and asked us to upload the photos online. No problem — we were in the process of logging in and uploading the pics to Shutterlfy and rep kept asking if we were done yet. She hung up in the middle of the process — we were at home, so it wasn’t a dropped call. Called back again, and got a rep after being on hold for 10+ minutes which we finally decided to return the cards to them. Extremely disappointed — my color printer at home prints higher quality. Steer clear of Shutterfly and save yourself the trouble.

I have always been the one to take pictures… wherever I go. Since 2007 I have been uploading all of my pictures to Shutterfly. I have nearly 300 albums with probably an average of 100 pictures in each, so we’re talking about around 30,000 photos. I never have to worry about losing my pictures again. I can also share entire albums with my family and friends, and they love it! There is unlimited storage available and best of all it’s FREE!
They do make some money though. You can make prints of your photos which I usually do a couple of times per year. That way every year I have a couple of hundred of my favorite photos of the year. You can also by customized gifts with your photos. I use the app for the iPad and iPhone and every week or so I get a notification for a free item, all you have to pay is shipping. I usually always get these and use them for Christmas presents for my friends. Speaking of Christmas you can make your holiday, thank you or other cards on the site too. The quality of the prints and gifts is quite good. Far better than you will get at say Walmart or CVS.
I actually sent all my old photos to be digitized (at another company because shutterfly doesn’t do that) and saved all of those on Shutterfly too.
If I had to make a recommendation for improvement I would suggest having a search bar so that you can look for a particular album. When you have that many albums it can take a while to find the one you want. Also, if you could place tags on your photos and search all albums for particular tags that would make my life easier.
If you love your photos and never want to have to run into a burning house to get them… try Shutterfly. You’ve got nothing to lose!

Such lackluster customer service! I ordered a product on August 25 and everything before, during, and post checkout stated that I would get the product between 9÷1−9÷5, which was fine as I needed it for a birthday on ⁹⁄₇. The package shipped on ⁹⁄₁ and the tracking stopped on 9/​3, so after not having it for the birthday party, I wrote their customer service on ⁹⁄₈ to get some help in finding my order.

The representative told me that tracking may not be available since my package was economy and only available for orders shipped via Expedited or Rush Delivery (but I had a tracking number for my package), and that «The estimated date of arrival at the address specified is between Sep 4, 2015 and Sep 10, 2015» and to inquire after the 10^th if I still hadn’t received it. I have receipts telling me that arrive would be between 09/​01/​2015 — 09/​05/​2015, so that response was the first that I had ever heard about Sept 10.

Anyway, it’s ⁹⁄₁₁ and I still do not have my order, nor any idea as to its whereabouts.

I used to have great experiences with shutterfly. They’d offer lots of promotions so you’d end off paying only the cost of shipping and getting a normally great deal on items.
However, my last experience proved to be absolutely horrific. I spent over 3 hours arranging and creating a wonderful photo book as a gift to my boyfriend. I was super excited for the package to arrive. When it finally did, I was disappointed to find out that one of the pages had photos cut off in the middle due to them not laying them down correctly (see image attached).
Normally, I would just contact customer service about this issue and they are usually great about resolving it. Instead, I contacted customer service this time who simply told me that I shouldn’t be using the 2 page spreads because photos can get cut off. What the crap is that? If I shouldn’t be using these 2 page spreads, why are they offered? I never got offered a free reprint or any advice to actually remedy the issue.