Be a fly on the wall - Listen in on one of our Amazing Customer Support team members helping a customer over the phone!

Mike: Thank you for calling Print Peppermint. This is Mike. How can I help you today?

Sheila: Hi, Mike. This is Sheila.

Mike: Hi there. How can I help you today?

Sheila: Mike, do you want to hear the good or not so good?

Mike: Whichever works best for you. Let's start with the not so good and we'll work from there.

Sheila: Okay. The not so good is my order that I received, some of the cards were damaged. And the reason they were damaged is because somebody folded all my cards. I did not want them folded. I only wanted them to be scored in the middle.

Mike: I think I remembered specifying that and I find, because I did a little order details here.

Sheila: Okay. So that was one. But I'm not worried about it. I wanted to know for the future to tell your shipping department to watch for that because the corners of them are damaged.

Mike: And was this done in shipping? Was it like the package itself was damaged during shipping?

Sheila: Yes. What they did was they folded the cards, put it in a great big clear bag, put the clear bag in a cardboard box. And, you know, when UPS or the postal service have a corner of boxes get damaged, that's what happened there. Okay? So that's one. The other thing is...

Mike: Go ahead.

Sheila: So I'm not worried about it. I just wanted to let you know for future. Okay? The second thing is I asked them to not fold them. They folded that. Well, I've already spent the time unfolding them. So, that was the second thing that I wanted to tell you.

Mike: Well, I am very sorry [inaudible 00:02:03] in there. In regards to the damaged cards, if you're able to send us a picture of the ones that got bent up on the ends and just let us know about what percentage of the cards were damaged, we can let our production team know and we can see if we can have those replaced for you here and count it off as a UPS.

Sheila: Sure. It's about half of a percent. So, okay. I ordered 500 cards, right? So I'm going to say maybe 50 cards. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Let your shipping guys know so this way they'll keep an extra eye out now.

Mike: Certainly.

Sheila: Okay. Your name is Mike, right?

Mike: Yes.

Sheila: Okay. Mike, here's the thing. Okay. I told you about the fold. I told you about 50 cards being damaged. But here's the big, big kicker. I ordered 80-pound stocked paper. This is not 80 pounds of stocked paper.

Mike: Let me see here.

Sheila: Let me tell you what the problem I'm having here. They're not fitting in my machine. They're not fitting in my printer. So this right here is, I believe, it's thicker than 80. So if it's thicker than 80, I've got a serious problem. And like I said, it's not fitting in my printer. So...

Mike: Okay, let me see here.

Sheila; You want to hear the good news?

Mike: What's that?

Sheila: Oh my God, this is so amazing. The power of the paper is perfect. The texture of the paper is perfect, the printing is perfect, the raised lettering is perfect. The gold is perfect. It is in every way perfect. In all of that sense, I am so happy and you guys said don't do the border because [inaudible 00:04:44] perfectly. I actually think you guys would have made the borders beautifully.

Mike: I know. It's a lot of risk so we don't usually like to go that way. Just to make sure we have the best thing.

Sheila: Well, I think you guys would have done a good job. Hang on, Mike, my doctor's office is calling. Hang on.

Mike: Okay. Certainly.

[00:05:04]
[silence]
[00:05:27]

Sheila: Are you there?

Mike: Yes, I am.

Sheila: Okay, thanks. Mike, I'm going to tell you something. When it comes to printing, oh my God, you are like the best, the best, the best. I'm talking flawless because, remember, I had to personally unfold all 500 cards. I had to manually...I wore a pair of gloves, washed my hands then wore a pair of gloves and manually, because I didn't want to damage the cards or get them dirty. I manually unfolded every one of these cards and I'm going to tell you it is flawless. It is...I mean, I can't begin to tell you. Because the printing was so bad. I mean, the printing was so good part. The bad part of the folding and the about 50 cards being damaged at the corners didn't even faze me. Okay? I mean, I can't, I don't know how to thank you. You guys did everything that I wanted and it was perfect. And I'll tell you, I inspected all 50 cards. I held all 50 cards because, remember, I had to unfold them. So every one of them were checked by me. And every one of them, and usually what happens is when you order raised lettering, some of these companies nowadays, they cheat on the ink.

Mike: Yes, for sure.

Sheila: Yeah. The saturation of the ink for the raised lettering, they tend to not put as much ink and it looks like third-grade quality, you know?

Mike: Yeah. It looks like it's something done out of a home printer basically.

Sheila: Correct. Yeah. It looks like, "Oh, we're running out of ink." But yours is just, oh, my God, Mike, you have no idea. So the folding, okay. The scoring, I mean, the 50 that were damaged, okay, no big deal. I got a situation because they don't fit in my printer. Now, we're going to keep these, we're going to use these. Okay? But I need some that I'm going to be able to run in my printer. So I've got, yeah, because...

Mike: I'm so sorry to interrupt. But there's a slight delay here. But, I was just double-checking here and I see that we did, they do have this lifted as the 80-pound paper. However, maybe we can go a little thinner. But there might also be a setting on your actual printer. I know my home printer is that way, where there's actually in the settings menu, you can set it for a thicker paper and it'll actually adjust for that. Oh, you did it? Okay.

Sheila: Yeah. I adjusted it for card stock.

Mike: That should do well then.

Sheila: And it still will not take it back. I do have cards stock here at my house that is 100-pound card stock. And now I'm not an expert, but the card stock that I received from your company, I'm pretty sure it's about 100-card stock that I have here.

Mike: Oh, okay. Got you.

Sheila: Yeah, because see the card stock that I have here at my house, let me pull up the card stock back out again so I can see the name of it. Hang on. She filed it back in this...let's see. Let me find that so I can tell you. Because I do have it, I'll tell you who makes this particular card stock that's in my file folder or in my bookshelf here. Let's see. So something happened. Now, are you able to print this? Maybe they use a thicker card stock because it's not able to print on the 80-pound that I wanted or needed. Do you think that's the situation?

Mike: Now, with the hot foil, that's not an issue, but with the embossing, it very well might be. So I would need to double-check on that.

Sheila: Okay. Now I want to tell you something else. There is thermography and there is embossing. Okay. So the card that you sent to me, it has the gold foil. Thank you. But for our name, it has ray embossing and thermography. It has both. Did you know that?

Mike: Okay. Because I know I don't think we specified to have it glossed on that with the kind of gloss texture with the thermography.

Sheila: No, no, no, no. Hold on. My logo is in gold, which is perfect. It's perfect. But down below where I have our name, our name is thermography and embossed. So somebody put this in the machine and embossed it first and then put it back in the machine and put thermography on top of it.

Mike: Oh, that is strange.

Sheila: Because when I turn it to the other side, it has the dimples. So the only way you would have dimples is if it was embossed, correct?

Mike: Correct. Yes. Yeah, just regular thermography would not leave that imprint on the back. Yeah, exactly.

Sheila: So that's what happened. So somebody puts the dimples and then on top of the dimples they did the thermography. Or maybe it's not thermography, maybe it is just little orange paint, but because it was orange paint put off the dimple that it looks like thermography.

Mike: And actually now that you mention it, this was used doing Pantone inks to get the exact shade right. And Pantone inks do have an almost, it's not quite glossy, but you do kind of see the shine from light on it. So that is the quality of the Pantone ink itself that was applied over the emboss.

Sheila: Okay. Then that's what they did, they did not use thermography. They used Pantone ink on top of embossing.

Mike: Correct. Yes.

Sheila: Okay. So that mystery is solved. And I will tell you, I have card stock in my hand and it's called white...it's 110-pound that I'm holding in my hand and it's made by a company called Georgia Pacific. And what I'm holding in my hand is 110-pound, but what you sent to me is way thicker.

Mike: Okay, I see. Yeah. Even though we specify...you know, especially if we're holding it in your hand, you would definitely be able to tell the difference.

Sheila: Yeah. What I'm holding in my right hand is what came from Peppermint, and Peppermint is way thicker than the Georgia Pacific acid-free white 110 pounds. So, it is definitely, definitely, definitely a lot thicker. So this is what I need to do. I need to order about 100, maybe 200, the same thing, lighter weight paper. And I noticed that you did the embossing and the thermography, you can just do thermography and the gold. I don't have to have the embossing. Pantone ink, because it is the shinier... Well, no, I mean, not Pantone ink, do the thermography.

Mike: Okay. So you do still want it to have the raised texture to it?

Sheila: Correct.

Mike: Okay. Perfect.

Sheila: So, how much will it cost me to get about 100, 200, the gold on top on my logo, the thermography for the name, and a lot lighter weight paper because this will not fit at all?

Mike: Okay. So what I'll do, I'll need to get this custom quoted through our production manager just to make sure we're using the right stock this time and let him know about the situation here. And I'll make sure we can definitely compensate you in regards to the issues here regarding the next set and try and get that sorted out. Now, did you want to hold on to that current set or did you want to send that back?

Sheila: No. We're going to keep it.

Mike: Okay. Got you. Perfect.

Sheila: We're going to keep it and we're going to use it. I'm going to keep it, I'm going to use it, but I still need to get a box of 100 to 200 that I can fit to the machine. And let me tell you what we're doing with these right now. Because it's not fitting what we needed, I am using white paper, running it in the machine, and I'm using the special scissors that makes wiggly lines when you cut. I'm cutting the paper off on the side and I'm folding the paper in half and I'm gluing it inside this card and sending it like a Hallmark card.

Mike: Perfect.

Sheila: But that's a lot of work.

Mike: That is a lot of work. Hopefully they show that you're putting some extra elbow grease and love into the situation here when they receive them. But that is an awful lot of work, yeah.

Sheila: It is. It is a lot. So we're going to keep these, we're happy. We love your print shop. So, you've got the new stuff for the new price, right? The 100 to 200, right?

Mike: Yes. And I'm going to run this by our production manager to see how much cost and make sure we absolutely get the right stock for you this time.

Sheila: Yeah. You have to. Because this time, if it's not the right stock paper, I have to send it back because that'll be an overkill on my side. Because I can't be doing that. You know what I mean?

Mike: Definitely.

Sheila: Okay. So put that down on your bag. Now I've got something else I need from you. Here...there's a business card that I like. It's a heavier card and it has color on the edges, on the sides, on the... It's a thick card. Does that make sense?

Mike: Yes.

Sheila: It's a business card and it's thick and the edges of it have a collar on it. You know what I'm talking about?

Mike: Yes.

Sheila: You do?

Mike: Yes.

Sheila: Okay. So here's... Mike, I can't describe this on a chat. So this is what I need help with. It's got to be a thick card. It's got to have color on the four sides. And then I like the suede. On one side, suede, and then on the other side I like spot UV, I think is what it's called, the gold spot UV.

Mike: The spot UV is the clear glossy application, so the hot foil thing, I believe, is the one you're looking for here.

Sheila: So can we have the suede and the hot and then the... Is it spot UV? No. Is that the right word? No.

Mike: Yes. Spot UV is for if you want the gloss coating. A foil stamp is when you have the metallic gold or silver or whatever color you want pressed into the card there. Let's see. And what color did you want the edges to be?

Sheila: Well, that's what we have to decide.

Mike: Would you also like it to be gold?

Sheila: Is it possible or no?

Mike: So you have two options for that. One is a gold edge paint. So it's actually like a paint. It looks like a sharpy kind of gold where it's the sparkly kind of metallic shine to it. We also have foiled edges, that costs a bit more. But with that, just like the foil that stamped onto the front and back of the card, we have it applied to the sides of the card. So it's kind of reflective a lot more, well, more mirror-like and also shiny. So there's a couple of ways we can go about that depending on what exactly you're going for.

Sheila: Okay. But what about that suede?

Mike: Absolutely.

Sheila: Is it called...? On one side of it it'll be like, it's so soft and smooth and, I mean, it feels like you're running your hand on a leather or sofa or a suede sofa.

Mike: Yeah. And the same uncoated card stock underneath, but it's the coding that we put over it. And what's good about that is that, since we print the card first and then put the coating on it, it helps seal in the ink so that they don't rub off or fade. So it really definitely improves the card a lot.

Sheila: Okay. So when I say suede, do you know what I'm talking about?

Mike: Yes. I have some right here with me.

Sheila: Now, if I pay you guys, you send me a sample kit. Is that what you do?

Mike: So, yeah, we do have a sample pack that has a various selection of what we have to offer. And it has a...yeah, we definitely have some suede, some silk, some uncoated, even some crafts like cardboard cards. I can have a free pack sent over to you if you'd like.

Sheila: Could you?

Mike: Absolutely. It takes about three to five days to arrive. It comes through postal mail. But we can have that sent right out for you.

Sheila: Okay. And that's the different kind of business cards, right?

Mike: Yes. There's a few other things thrown in there too, like stickers and postcards. But for the most part it's just going to be business cards.

Sheila: Okay. What I'm interested in is the shiny stuff, the heavy stuff and suede, those are my two main interests. I'm not...I guess thermography and foil is what I'm interested in, and suede. It's suede, is that the correct word?

Mike: That is. Yes.

Sheila: That is?

Mike: Yes. We do have another option that's called silk. It's a little different, but it's a similar process. We have a suede gives it that soft, fuzzy feeling that you were describing, like running on a couch kind of feeling.

Sheila: Yeah. When you put your hand across a leather sofa, that's the one that I like the most.

Mie: Okay. So what we can do is we can send you the pack that will have all the different offerings we have so you can get a feel of the different variations that we have available.

Sheila: But, Mike, do you get to pick what goes in the envelope?

Mike: So it's a pre-sorted batch of about 24 cards.

Sheila: That's what I'm afraid of, because I didn't want to get samples of everything.

Mike: Okay. I can let our sample distributor know to take some of them out. I believe Wendy, you're working with her earlier, she's actually the one who's in charge of our samples production here. So, I can have her get a special order for you here, including just those instead of a full run.

Sheila: Yeah, because that will it be a waste. Okay? Yeah. Wasting materials and postage and all that.

Mike: Now, some of the...

Sheila: As long as you know what I'm interested in, it's foil, suede, heavy card thermography, that would be good. So we've got that one ordered. Now, here's the other thing. Now, you guys have somebody that designs stuff for you. Is that what you have?

Mike: Yeah. We have three or four designers. One of them is kind of a web designer. But we have Taro, our lead designer, and then Jimmy and Natalia who both work on our general proofing. So I think you worked with, in your last order, I think you may have worked with Nat, I believe, Natalia.

Sheila: Is that Natalia or Wendy?

Mike: Oh, so Wendy is our...she's in charge of the production end of things. Natalia, she's our designer that you were working with. But we do have other designers that you can get assistance with as well.

Sheila: Okay. So how much does she charge?

Mike: So it depends on what you're looking for. A lot of our design work is included free with the product, but certain options, if you're like looking to have a logo designed or have something that you need to turned into a vector, some of those can have a cost anywhere from $25 to $99, depending on how elaborate and detailed you're looking for.

Sheila: No, all I want is a Texas star. You know what a Texas star is, right? It is in the Texas flag, the state flag.

Mike: Oh, yeah.

Sheila: So all I want is a star and the company name, but I don't know how to draw that.

Mike: Oh, no worries. Yeah, we can do that for you. If you have an idea of the thought you want it to be in, otherwise we can send you some suggestions. But since it's such a simple shape, we would not be charging very much for that at all. If anything, it would be a $25 charge, but it would likely be included free with your purchase of the cards here.

Sheila: Okay. So, let me draw it on a paper and send it to you.

Mike: Honestly, that does work a lot. I know it sounds a little silly, but that really does help our designers and then to give them the ideas, you know, what kind of shape they're going for, how it should be positioned on the card and such. So that would be very helpful. And you can just send that in as a reply to the last message you emailed us with and I can pass it along to our designers and we get that set up for you.

Sheila: Okay. Now, if this is for a business and we have a business that I send it, do the business cards separate than my personal?

Mike: Oh, and, like, a different account or...?

Sheila: Are we want to open a different account?

Mie: Okay. Absolutely. So you would just...I'll register it as a different email username. And we can still CC your current ones so you can get all the messages as well.

Sheila: No, I don't want that.

Mike: Okay. Perfect. Okay. We can have that done. That way you can have your customer go in and make payments that way and have it separate from your personal account. But either way, whichever way works easiest for you, we can absolutely work with you here.

Sheila; Okay. You got it. Let me get this dog for you and you'll check on the other one and let me know, right?

Mike: Yes. I'm going to have that looked into now. I'm going to both look at the pricing for the thinner stock and make sure that we're using a thinner stock on this next option here and, you know, kind of help get that sorted out. I'm going to have the sample pack sent out to you as well and let me know which of the cards you would like included.

Sheila: Okay. Thank you so much.

Mike: My pleasure, Sheila. And if you need anything else, feel more than welcome to call us again.

Sheila: Okay. You got it. Thank you. And you're going to get back with me after you talk to your printing department, right?

Mike: Yes. Well, they get pricing back. I'll get back to you and let you know, you know, how much it'll run and then see also talk her about the issue with the first set of cards to see if we can kind of probably give you a discount in some way to help compensate for the misinformation.

Sheila: Well, you know what? Let me tell you what it is, Mike. See, the problem is, because the card is so heavy and then I have to put a piece of paper, insert a piece of paper in there, guess what?

Mike: That's a lot of work.

Sheila: Since the card... We tried to send a picture, you know, like a school...

Mike: Oh, yeah.

Sheila: Guess what? t makes too much weight for the post office.

Mike: And I know that...some people I know may appreciate having a thicker stock, so maybe our production team thought they were doing a favor... Even though it's kind of uncharacteristic of them, they just kind of switch things up, but maybe they thought it would be...

Sheila: Yeah. I think that's what is was. I think they were trying to be... It's kind of like handing a bowl of sugar when someone have an ice tea and saying, "Here's a cup of sugar for you." But they don't realize they're serving sugar to a diabetic.

Mike: Exactly. Yes. They mean well, but yeah.

Sheila: I know, they meant well. I mean, this is fabulous, but I do want the thermography.

Mike: Okay. Wonderful.

Sheila: Yeah, I don't want the Pantone one. I want thermography. But the new one, the one that I'm doing 100 to 200, I definitely want thermography.

Mike: Okay. Perfect

Sheila: Okay. I'll wait for your call back.

Mike: All right. Sounds great. Have a wonderful day, Sheila.

Sheila: You do the same, Mike. Thank you. Bye.

Mike: My pleasure. Bye-bye.

Sheila: Bye.