Dutch Quality: still not okay
I ordered a book (hardcover) with many pages (over 220) and the first book (printed in The Netherlands) had loose pages within an hour. The (free) reprint for the US was perfect. I was told the problem in Europe was solved and ordered 12 books (a big order! expensive!) that were printed in the Netherlands (since Blurb confirmed the problem of binding was solved). However: the product is still NOT OKAY: the binding is very, very tight. I am at loss: what to do next?
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Hello Mirjam; Mmmmm – that’s a little disturbing… I just ordered a 300+ page large format book! I deliberately left it for quite some time while Blurb supposedly resolved the printing / binding problems in The Netherlands… Anyhow, there’s not much I can do about it now… BUT, in Blurb’s defence, I do have COMPLETE faith in their continuing undertaking to resolve any printing / binding issues that we caome across – as annoying as it is when we do so! I suggest you file another support request. You can do so here (Click on link) and select "Quality Concerns" from the "Type of Issue" drop-down box… Good luck; Lee
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I just sent the following reaction, Lee: I recently ordered 12 hardcover books again, after I received a book of which the binding was horrible (done in the Netherlands). This book was reprinted in the US anId the quality was perfect. Blurb confirmed that the binding problem was solved for the European customers, so I ordered the above mentioned 12 books.
However, the binding is NOT OKAY.
There are several main problems:
1. The binding is very, very tight, which means the book cannot be opened properly.
2. When you open the book somewhere in the middle, staples (!!) are sticking out, leaving a hole in the pages.
I ordered 12 books (€ 827,30!) for a client of mine, and I feel ashame delivering this bad quality work. The books are with my client at present, so I cannot send you a photo immediately, but I can do so in a few days.
Please send me a reaction ASAP.
I will let you know what the outcome is. Good luck with your book.
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Hi Mirjam, just read your concern and found that other thread which seems related (quality concerns with binding regarding prints issued from Netherland). You might be able to find further info there. Hope it helps Cheers
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oops, adding the link would help I guess http://forums.blurb.com/forums/5/topics/2246#posts-10303
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Just for a bit of balance, I ordered a 180-page hard cover, printed in the Netherlands, and the binding was flawless. I will be ordering the final version of about 360 pages, maybe as much as 400 soon, so fingers crossed!
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Hi Guys; An update.. My latest 13×11 book, 300+ pages, printed in The Netherlands just received minutes ago… First impressions… OUTSTANDING ! I am absolutely DELIGHTED with it… Printing looks good, binding is a little on the tight side (better than loose!), but otherwise looks AOK at this point… I’ll be going through it with a fine tooth-comb later this evening… Cheers; Lee
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I recently ordered my first book with Blurb…. its arrived in a timely fashion and i opened it to find and amazing looking coffee table type book (its a photo album of my trip to india) I started to flick through it and i was delighted i tell you – absolutely delighted witht he print qaulity and page thickness and the cover and everything…. simply AMAZING!! Then i hit a snag – it seemed that two of the pages had major printing defects across the pages…. so i contacted blurb support and they were kind enough to send me out a replacement. The second book arrived shortly afterwards but with exactly the same defects. I should add at this point that these books were printed in the US so the binding was brilliant also!! Anyways i contacted support again and they suggested i reload the two pages into the book and re-upload the enitre book again.. which i did!! no problems!! So i receive the a new book again last weekend… open it and flick to teh pages i know had defect…. Hooray, the defects are gone…. however now i have a problem… before even noticing where this thrid book had been printed i can see signifcant print qaulity differences, so i get my first book to compare, and i’m right, the third book is grainy, the contrast is darker and its has an overall unpleasant feel to it. The binding on this book is also quite tight…. and i’m relcutant to continue to flick through it incase pages start falling out. Guess what?? Yup – the third book was printed in the Netherlands!! Darn!! I’ll be getting in touch with support again today – so i hope i can keep you guys updated!!!
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First of all I would like to say that Blurb handled my complaints really well and reacted fast. That’s good service! But I do believe that the Dutch binding quality is still far from okay. I am very reluctant ordering new books for my clients, knowing they will be printed in The Netherlands. I hope the quality here will improve the soonest.
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Hello RupT30; As a matter of interest – whereabouts are you located? I was under the impression that books published in the Netherlands were ONLY available to non-US/Canadian/S. American clients, and that likewise, those of us who are "international" could NOT get books published in the USA, so I’m interested to hear how you managed to get a mixed-bag of printers! As an aside, I noted above, my last book (and the one before) were both large volume, large formats, and the binding is absolutely AOK… Cheers; Lee
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I just received my first book from Blurb, a 220 page 13×11hard cover photo book. I am not a professional photographer, a professional graphics person or a professional publisher so my expectations were modest but I was still disappointed with my book. I thought the thickness of the pages was poor and was expecting a more professional looking gloss on the pages. Most of all however, the binding began pulling away from the cover by the second day I had my book. Not what I expected for my $115 + shipping charges. I have seen this problem on these posts before but always from a European publisher. My book was published in Buffalo, New York. I’ve sent an email to Blurb and am awaiting their reply.
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Hi ikb-28 I’m actually in the UK, so yeah you’d think that all the books would have been printed and shipped from the europe printers. not the case though – and the main reason i know this is because i was checking the Delivery progress when my first to orders were shipped. Both came from Philly i think it was…. so therefore i assume they were printed in the states. The second book was shipped from the Netherlands….. why this was i have NO idea!! Blurb are currently dealing with my new issue and have ordered a new book…. my fear is that its being printed in Europe… and i’m gonna get EXACTLY the same quailty again!! its very difficult to put the differences in pictures quality down in words – its something you really have to see for yourself!! Lets see what happens!!
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Dear Mirjam, This all is most disturbing. The problem started 10 months ago. Many threads on this subject on this forum since last September. I was just checking in to see if the problem was finally solved. It seems NOT. Dear Blurb; what’s your reaction this time? More of the same? Gerlach Baas (The Netherlands)
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just received my first Blurb books, printed in Netherlands. Binding on my hardcover (160p A4 landscape) book looks sturdy but very tight. Spreads don’t work well this way and I don’t understand all the fuzz about getting the two pages of a spread to line up exactly, because you can’t see it anyway :( I previously did a book with another company (with more pages) that proved to have great binding and opens ‘flat’ compared to the Blurb hardcover. Also there seems to be a bit too much space between the stack of glued pages and the hardcover compared to the other product. My Blurb softcover only had 80 pages, so it is a bit difficult to judge binding (cover looks very nice IMHO, but also very vulnerable). I’m not really unhappy about the Blurb binding but there clearly is room for improvement.
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