Ford Graphics

I have requested printed 22×34 drawings (total 30 sheets) three times in the past two months. The first time: 30-​minutes late. The second time: 40-​minutes late. Currently: 50-​minutes late… and counting. Asking for 30-​sheets to be printed and delivered within 3.5-hours WITH INSTRUCTIONS ASKING FOR A PHONE CALL IF THE DEADLINE COULD NOT BE MET is apparently too much to ask for.
If you want printed drawings delivered, go somewhere else.

Ford Graphics is owned by American Reprographics Co which has about 100 repro companies. ARC typically owns the major competing operations in each metro area and lets them compete under their own names.
They also offer the nice Planwell service for online storage and ordering which is generally pretty good and organized.
Ford is like any graphics place doing architectural work; busy, under pressure and not well paid. Stay in touch as your order goes and you should be fine. They are usually very fast. Dean at the front desk is the normal guy and good — people filling in might not be so knowledgeable.

I think i’ve figured out the rating discrepancy for Ford Graphics.
Their service for small/​large businesses is excellent. They always deliver floor plans for resizing/​copying on time, sometimes even when we call ahead only by two hours and need it the same day. They pick up and deliver speedily, and although almost everyone there speaks English as their second language, i’ve never had problems with any employees.
That being said, not the place to go get a couple of 10 cent copies or bind 10 – 20 pages together. Try any Fedex instead.

I work in San Antonio and my client had drawings that needed to be printed and delivered in San Francisco the same day. Marco took the call and quickly took care of me. Everything arrived on time, without a hiccup. I know there are several reprographic companies in the area, but I pick Ford Graphics every time.

I had a job that included mounting 5 oversized posters on gator board and a fairly large number of custom sized color prints. I first got there after normal business hours and was greeted by an employee on his way out for the day. He was somewhat skeptical of me at first as most business orders are sent by courier, but he was soon filling out the request form for me and taking plenty of notes on my custom order. He pointed me towards a particular paper for my large job (since it had to be folded) and was understanding when I explained that I needed to get these back asap.
Since the large order was crucial, I asked for a proof print, which they said would be ready by 9:30 am the next day. But somehow they had forgotten to do that. After a phone call they got on it and I showed up to check it out. Unfortunately the paper turned out to be far too low quality, and the printing from that particular printer was even worse!
I’m glad I got that proof, because when it was clear that it wouldn’t work they took me down to their production rooms downstairs where they walked me through several options and printed out several more proofs on different printers and papers. The production assistants were extremely nice and helpful and the business reps seemed to be concerned in getting my job done right.
The cost seemed a little much by my standards, but I have very little to compare the price on in this category of printing (I’ve done small runs under 10, and large runs over 10,000). But they did do some negotiating and I feel alright about where I ended up. Ultimately my company absorbed the costs, so I guess it works.
When the jobs came back they were well packaged and very quality. The large run turned out great and was a huge success. Just be sure to get proofs… and it doesn’t hurt to know a bit about printing before you head in there.
5 for quality
4 for customer service (would have been a 5 if it hadn’t been for the proof snafu)
3 for cost

I wanted to mount a few posters on gatorboard — pretty simple right?
I walk into Ford one foggy morning — ok I RUN because I’m being charged a quarter for every 5 minutes at a nearby meter. I think I’m going to drop off my posters, sign some papers, and run back out — wrong.
I tell the man behind the counter I’m in a hurry and he ignores this and goes on to answer phones and fiddle around with things. He then takes forever to give me quotes on my request — which were astronomically high — and doesn’t seem to understand his own business very well.
I really need these posters mounted but I’m not sure which option to go for so I leave the posters with him and go to work to consult my boss. We decide to go elsewhere for our mounting needs (BPS = godsend) so I need to return to Ford to pick up my posters that are still sitting at the front desk.
The entire area surrounding Ford doesn’t allow you to stop after 4 so I call them to have the posters ready so I can just grab them and go.
An hour and a half later — and many circles around the block — the moron at the front desk finds my posters (the only ones sitting at the front desk!) and I finally get out of there to continue on to BPS that took a cumulative 2 minutes of my time and did a perfect job.
So, I really don’t like you Ford. Hire customer service reps that service your customers!
UPDATE: I actually received an email from the Sales guy at Ford apologizing for the incident and assuring me that they are working to improve their customer service. I appreciate this gesture and so I will remove the layer of hatred I had developed and perhaps even try them again some day.

Well, I usually get the feeling that the employees here can’t be bothered to fill a request or answer questions. However, if you have a man on the inside (Marco kicks ass), its a whole lot easier to make things happen.
Overall, I’m satisfied with Ford Graphics but the overall customer service could use a little ship-​shaping up.