ComplaintsforSignWarehouse, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 12-7-2023, I ordered a new MUTOH prism jet 54 gen 2 printer to replace my old MUTOH after 10 years of good service. After setting the printer up and trying to print jobs, I discovered several issues with the machine, profiles and LXI software that I purchased for this printer. I spent over $13,000.This purchase has been a nightmare with increasing loss of revenue, lost customers and mental distress to the point of losing my business. I have reached out to Sign Warehouse requesting a refund. They consistently say to try this, try that, its a learning curve, your media, your ink, your electrical system, our demo prints perfectly, I, finally after weeks of problems and lost business, made the decision, at my expense, over $1000 in total, to travel to their facility from my address in SC, 1100 miles, 17 hours of driving, to meet with their tech and manager, desperate for a solution. While there, they realized their demo along with another onsite printer had the same problems, after nearly 2 days of troubleshooting, along with my input, this particular problem was alleviated to an acceptable degree. I discussed the software program issue and their tech said someone is working on it. II set the printer back up, using ICC profiles and settings they suggested and started a print. Then other issues arose. I cannot have confidence in this printer or their tech support and cannot continue testing and tweaking as they said. It has cost thousands of dollars of lost business, revenue and has damaged my reputation for providing my customers a superior product. I have requested a refund of this printer and have been told, too bad, no refund, keep working on trying to get it to work, or hire a very expensive firm that can produce custom profiles for you that might make it work. We cannot invest even more money into making this lemon work as it should. This has caused much mental distress for me and my business partner. We are facing bankruptcy due to this

  

  Business response

  03/04/2024

  This is a bit of a disappointment. ********************* issues have nothing to do with the quality of his machine. He is simply dealing with a lack of expertise in color management.

  ***************** contacted us about some issues he experienced with a specific file. During conversations with our product support technicians we learned that he was using an 'off brand' third-party print media for which we do not have the essential ICC profiles. (***************************************************************************************************). So we sent him some premium quality print media at no charge so we could eliminate this variable. When he used this media with the profiles we have supplied, most of his issues were resolved.

  He had one particular file that exhibited a separate color shift issue and felt that there was a mechanical flaw with the printer. We invited him to bring it int to be examined with the promise that we would replace or repair it under warranty. It should be noted that the terms under which we scheduled this visit with ***************** were misrepresented by his parents who arrived with the incorrect expectation that they were bringing the printer in to be replaced with a new unit. I reiterated to them that my agreement with ***************** was that we would have the printer for two days and examine it thoroughly, and replace it if we found any defects that warranted a warranty replacement.

  When we received the printer, we examined it thoroughly and found no defects. We did however find that the file in question had defects that were causing some of the issues, so we consulted with him extensively on how to manage the design process and software settings to resolve these.

  During this visit, we spent a full day with the customer during which time he had access to our printer technicians, product coordinator, and director of product, all of whom offered advice on how to manage the software and settings to address his concerns. 

  We also sent him home with a full set of ink cart and a full roll of media. This amounts to over $640 in free supplies.
  The following week, he contacted us with another color management problem which our technicians addressed.

  Throughout this process, ********************** parents were aggressively intruding into the support process and demanding that we replace the printer and/or offer them a full refund. We have consistently advised them that there is nothing wrong with the printer, and that these issues are part of the process of learning to run a commercial sign company.

  It is our belief that the lack of understanding of these processes is the root of the customer's problems, and that the pressure and impatience coming from his parents is the source of this complaint.

  We continue to offer the customer the full support he needs to better understand and master these processes.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  11/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Nothing but problems.I put all the vinyl in my cart during checkout I clicked on the "shop app" for payments. It sent me to that page, I set it up, continued with checkout, selected the payments. It didn't give me the new customer coupon because while I set up shop all the coupons were used so I lost that. I hit checkout, it took all $200+ out of my account, not the payments. I get an email green was on back order, when messaging them most were. This should have been made clear before checkout. They guaranteed I would get all of it by the 28th (the day I needed it). I was told o would get a gift card for all my troubles (never got that) all my vinyl did not show up it took multiple emails to get my refund. I mentioned the gift card several times and every time they ignored that question. I never did receive it. Very disgusted.

  

  Business response

  11/09/2023

  Thank you for letting us know the problems you experienced with your order from SignWarehouse. I am so sorry to see from your review that you have experienced these issues with our CS department. 

  We have sent out the gift card that was promised you today. It was created on October 10th, but it was not sent.

  Thank you again for bringing this to our attention, and again, our apologies.

  Sincerely,

  SignWarehouse CS Department.

• Initial Complaint

  11/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My order showed delivered by ****** The picture ***** provided was not my porch.I contacted Signwarehouse. ************ replied and told me to stop working and go walk around looking for it that she could not do anything for 72 hours.I asked ************ to do what I do for my customers, call ***** and ask for the *** location of where it was delivered. ***** will not do this for the customer before 72 hours, but they will do this for the shipper while the shipper is on the phone. **** refused to, said that was not their policy.After several unhelpful exchanges she told me they would contact me in 3 days. 3 days later I was able to get the *** information from ****** It was not delivered to my house but at this point it had potentially been sitting on someone's porch for 3 days and it had been raining.So, 3 days after my problem started, I walked to the address, that person does not even use their front door, they go in and out of their house through their side entry garage. *** was not there.I asked the homeowner of they had it, she did not but said she would ask her teens when they got home.I called; I informed the lady that ***** had confirmed it was not delivered to my house.Then a few minutes later I received an email from Signwarehouse saying they were closing the case since the order was delivered.I no longer need the product, **** refused to help me with replacement material while a search was done for the original shipment so I asked ****** to send me material out since I needed it for an order and could not wait 3 days.

  

  Business response

  12/03/2023

  After filing a claim and receiving no relief from the carrier, we authorized a full refund for the customer.

• Initial Complaint

  07/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased a cutter from them (6/17/23) that when turned on for the first time ever 3 days after receiving it did not work. (Received 6/22 and turned on for the first time on 6/26. The control panel did not then when buttons pushed and one of the pins springs did not work to move it up or down. The company said they would replace the machine but I would be paying to ship it back to receive the replacement. I already paid shipping once and did not receive a working machine. Their answer was once I sent a receipt showing the shipping they would reimburse in the form of a gift card. I already paid and who is to say I want anything else from this company to use a gift card on? They stated they insured the product with their shipper so then I said this must be a way to make money for them as now I have to pay again and I am sure they will go back to their shipper and demand funds for damaged product they are replacing. And also acting like it is them doing me a favor replacing a product that came in a non working condition.They should reimburse me the money I have to spend on shipping in the form of money not a gift card. I didnt pay them in a gift card form to ship me a product that doesnt work. This is their shipper issue and they should go charge them not the customer who received the broken product. And I was told since I wasnt home when it was received they cant track that is was damaged. I would not have plugged it in and tried it when the shipper dropped it off to know right then and there either. the package did not look damaged and I believe this product has not worked since before shipping to me. The company is taking no responsibility on their end to make the situation correct for a new customer that will not be a long term customer at this point nor will they be getting any good reviews or advertisement passed along by me to other business partners or individuals. I simply did not want to pay more for something that came broken. They should pay shipping.

  

  Business response

  07/12/2023

  The customer's complaint is mostly factual. She did receive a defective product. She purchased a MUSE Artisan vinyl cutter. We test all of these prior to shipping, so we know that it was in good working order before we shipped it. However, for reasons we do not fully understand, the pandemic has caused a much higher incidence of damage from our carriers, both *** and ****** Because of this, we have begun insuring all equipment. That has reduced the problem, but not eliminated it. It is likely that the product was damaged in transit. But, since the customer did not note this upon delivery, we cannot file a claim for damages. This is contrary to her assumption that our return policy is based on a desire to recoup funds from the carrier (please see attached).
  

  As noted in the complaint, we have offered to repair or replace the product  under warranty. There will be no charge in parts or labor to the customer. However, we require that she return the product to us so that repairs can be effected by our technicians.  We certainly understand and sympathize with her objection to paying for return shipping, but -as noted in the complaint - we have offered to reimburse her for this expense in the form of a gift card or store credit.
  

  In years past, we offered a courtesy of  return labels to customers in these situations so that they could return equipment at no cost to them. Unfortunately, that option does not allow the product to be insured on return transit and we have experienced several cases where returned equipment is damaged beyond repair by the carriers. This of course takes a bad situation and makes it worse. So we have updated our return policy to require insurance for equipment being returned. This reduces the likelyhood of further loss or damage.

  We feel that we have treated the customer fairly by offering to repair her product and to reimburse her for the cost of return shipping. In our opinion, she is simply being unreasonable and this claim should be dismissed.
  

  Customer response

  07/12/2023

  I am rejecting this response because:   I am not being unreasonable. I am asking to be reimbursed the MONEY for shipping I spent. Not given a gift card for you to make another sale to be of your product. Also makes it appear youre selling more things that you arent. I may never buy another thing from you but now I will end up purchasing $75 worth of items to get my reimbursed shipping costs. So I am out another $75 CASH VALUE and your sales are increased revenue by $75 because of your generosity.

  you can keep your policy and change the reimbursements to **** cards or checks paid back to the consumers but instead make them continue to buy from you because to get my $75 I will use the gift card but nothing will come to $75 exactly and I will have to pay shipping yet AGAIN on those items. So it still looks like a win win for you and I still have had to spend $75-100 more CASH money than my original purchase.

   

• Initial Complaint

  06/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered one roll of white printable vinyl from this company. I use this to print several large sunflowers two out of five randomly were defective. I cant see this being my machine because it didnt happen every time I sent the pictures for you to see. I want a refund on the vinyl and my shipping. This is not usable for me. When I spoke to customer service, they said that it was my machine And not their problem.

  

  Business response

  06/28/2023

  The customer is using a desktop inkjet printer for use on a print media designed for large-format, commercial grade printers. The media is intended for use with solvent and eco-solvent inks. This is clearly indicated on the product page on our website.Here is the product description online, which can be found at ******************************************************************************************************.

  "PrismJET 201 is one of our top-selling printable vinyls. PrismJET 201 is a matte calendared printable vinyl that is ideal for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications. This 3.4-mil intermediate printable vinyl is ideal for high resolution photorealistic prints and graphics. Supporting rich vibrant color, PrismJET 201 features a bright white face film, a clear permanent acrylic adhesive, and is top-coated for use with solvent, eco-solvent, screen printing, Latex, and UV curable inks..."

  Desktop printers do not have solvent based ink (see link below for a blog article from our website that explains this in detail). They use aqueous (water-based) inks that require top-coated media. This media is not top-coated and is not suitable. The fact that some of her prints worked does not logically indicate that all of them *should* work. Therefore, there is no defect here. She simply made a poor choice based on her lack of knowledge of the limitations of her equipment.

  ************************************************************************************************************

   

• Initial Complaint

  03/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On January 12, 2022 I purchased a cartridge of eco-solvent printer ink. It was one of the few remaining 3A inks in stock for the Mutoh 1624X. It was a cyan color cartridge. My Mutoh takes a Cyan. When I received the package, I w received a light cyan which is not compatible with my printer. For some reason they had cyan and light under the same item/ part number. Whether I ordered the wrong one or whether they sent the wrong one, the fact of the matter remains that they would not take it back. They told me that it went against their return policy and that they would not be able to help me. I've been dealing with this company for the last 15 years and this is the worst it's ever been.

  

  Business response

  04/20/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/25) */ On 1/12/2022 you ordered a Light Cyan ink cartridge. It was delivered to you on Friday, 1/14/2022 at 11:08 A.M. Sixty days later you informed us that you had ordered the wrong ink. We are not able to accept returns beyond the 30 day return window, especially on toners and inks. If you had informed us within the 30 day window, we would have been able to accommodate you. Additionally, you abused our Customer Support team by calling them "stupid" and "Nazis". That abusive behavior is intolerable.

• Initial Complaint

  10/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered in July 29th of 2021 and was told part of my order was on back order, even though it was listed as available/in stock, they said it shouldn't take long to get in, so I told them I could wait. I just got it 10/18/2021 and when I went to open the package, the vinyl was wrinkled and unusable, I was told it is called 'tunneling' which is frequent to happen to this type of vinyl, which ive ordered this brand for the past 3 years and I have never had this happen. Once I took it out of the package I realized it was NOT the vinyl I ordered, it was actual red glitter under a clear layer of vinyl. I ordered Red, Blue and Gunmetal, gunmetal was exactly how all of the other vinyl I have purchased is, no actual glitter, just the vinyl with the holographic flake printed on, the red and blue are the only two that have actual glitter under a clear layer of vinyl, all 3 colors were purchased from the same product page, they told me in an email "We do not believe you got the glitter gunmetal" but as I said, however, I sent them picture PROOF of what I got and if you search their website for 'gunmetal' their is only ONE product available in that color, which is the one I ordered! so how would the I have received the wrong gunmetal when it is the only one available? gunmetal was NOT the wrong thing, the BLUE AND RED were.. When I contacted the customer service they told me that basically, "it is what it is" and I was not offered a refund, replacement or any sort of amendment to their mistake. I spent $330.80. I have not used the vinyl yet, so I offered to return these rolls for the correct rolls, or return them for a refund and they declined my offers and kept shutting me down every time I said the product was incorrect. They have plenty of other bad reviews for similar issues. They do not take responsibility for their mistakes. I have been going back and forth with them since it delivered, almost 2 weeks... no resolution.

  

  Business response

  01/24/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2021/12/09) */ If ******* ***** will return the all the items in the order back to us in like new condition we will be pleased to refund to her the order amount. The order amount was 330.42. She is responsible for the return shipping. She should return the items back using this RMA number: XXXXXX

• Initial Complaint

  08/20/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I bought a Software program from this company and I recently had to reinstall the software. After reinstalling the software I suddenly had a issue with a certain part of the software program being to big on the computer screen. So I filed a tech support ticket in the afternoon and got a response the next morning. The issue is with the program software I purchased through Sign warehouse. The tech asked what cutter I had . Me being honest told them it was a cutter I bought off Ebay. Once they seen this in the message they told me they couldn't help me with the issue as the cutter wasn't purchased through them. My problem with this answer is that it's not the cutter I have the issue with. It's the software LXI that I purchased from Sign Warehouse. Yet after repeated times trying to explain this they just kept telling me they couldn't help. I called the company and got the same results from the ladies on the phone. They basically called me liar saying I hadn't sent new Tickets but I did.

  

  Business response

  11/01/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/08/23) */ ***** ******** AKA Riverside Banners has LXi software that he insists he purchased from SIGNWarehouse, but he can't provide a SO# showing the purchase nor can we find a SO# in our records. He is using an HP Laptop computer based on a picture he had sent to use. The screen resolution on his laptop is not adjusted (or cannot be adjusted) high enough to see the entire Cut/Plot Screen. This appears to be because of the limitations of the display on this laptop/notebook computer. Simply put, he is using a laptop that does not have high enough screen resolution. This problem will not be solved until he has a laptop with high enough screen resolution. This has been explained to him in at least two emails to him. When he did not get the answer he wanted, he began to repeatedly call the Customer Service personnel using foul and abusive language. Because of his repeated foul and abusive language, we will not provide him with further support.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩