06/30/09

Bad Service

by CyroMo

I am unsatisfied with the service I received at this branch.

I often make small batches of business cards. I usually just give an electronic document on a flash drive to someone behind the counter; they print it out and copy it onto card stock, then I cut the cards to size myself using the self-service paper cutter. It is quick and cheap -- a classic example of the services Kinko's was created to provide.

When I tried to make cards at this branch, however, I was told that I'd have to make the printout myself using the self-service computer. That seemed inefficient to me because there were several workers idle behind the counter, any one of whom could do the printout for me in an instant, but I didn't complain. I used the self-service computer to make a printout, and I gave it to someone behind the counter who made copies onto card stock and charged me. Only then did we discover that the self-service computer had inexplicably resized my document when printing it. The scaling was off by only a fraction of an inch, but it ruined the business cards. In essence, every penny I had spent -- on the self-service computer, on the printout, on the card stock, and on the copies -- was wasted. I complained, but the staff claimed that they bore no responsibility for the miscalibration of the printer, and they suggested I try again.

It seems to me that Kinko's has lost its focus. The workers there didn't seem to mind at all that they had charged me for services that were worthless to me; and they didn't express any interest in figuring out why the computer had misprinted.

Instead of trying again with Kinko's, I went home and ordered business cards from an online service. The online service was so good, I don't expect to ever go back to Kinko's for business cards.