I'm a designer with 20 years in the industry and have dealt with every kind of printer out there. I've printed business cards and postcards with Dynamite Express Cards recently and have been VERY happy each time. The price is astounding and the print quality is just fine. It's not gold class, but I don't 'expect' high-end quality when I'm paying just over $100 for 500 postcards!

The thing is, businesses like these (just like pre-press bureaus back in the day) are best dealt with by design professionals who KNOW how to set up a print file properly. This isn't something you can 'take a stab at'.

Most of the problems people here have encountered (except for the odd customer service glitch) can be traced back to their own lack of experience. Some of the most common beginner errors are: setting up colours poorly; exporting low-quality PDFs and using amateur software; having files with printable artefacts on hidden layers that they don't see; not understanding trim/bleed issue; not understanding trapping or how ink can 'fill in' tiny type or details and not using proper fonts (and not converting them to outlines!).

In my experience, if you set up your files correctly, you'll rarely have an issue, but even then, you MUST realistically expect at least 5% of your print jobs to have 'some' sort of problem. It's just the nature of the beast.
cheers,
Matt
www.matthk.net

Printing of a variety of commercial print jobs: folded brochures, business cards, swing tags, flyers. 46 jobs over the past year. For standard CMYK business cards these guys are the best. Turnaround time is excellent.

I made a large order of Business Cards & Bookmarks
With consideration to the type & qty, the price was fantastic.
Service is lacking however - their profit is driven by high turnover. You are expected to submit files perfectly ready as they will not come back to you with questions or queries. It is up to you to follow up with them.

Approximate cost: $330

Problem with these guys is the absolute lack of common sense. Yes, they are cheap but they sometimes print absolute crap. They don't seem to care much if someone doesn't send them exactly what they can print quite easily... they're very unlike other printers who sometimes bend over backwards to help you. These guys will not service the customer at all, I guess the 3% cheaper is what keeps them in business

Approximate cost: $90

Not being from an art background, my initial artwork was wrong, I was contacted almost immediately to be notified there was an issue. Not sure of the girls name I spoke with but she was very helpful and assisted me to get my art correct. I have since reffered a number of people to them and am yet to get any bad feedback.

Approximate cost: $960.00

I'm just starting out in my own business and thought I'd try this company because they're cheaper than others. I ordered 3 jobs from this company: business cards, stickers/labels and compliments slips. Before ordering I read the terms and conditions and took note of the fact that returns are only accepted if they arrive at their office within 3 days... which I thought rather far-fetched but...

At first the proofs were too large (although I was told when I uploaded them that the upload was successful). I emailed the images to them but got no confirmation of them being received. About a week later I got an email saying the cards would be sent within 24 hours.

The cards arrived a week ago at about 9am local time. I opened the package to find two cardboard boxes (containing 500 cards each) wrapped in corrugated cardboard. The boxes and cardboard each had one of the cards taped to it, which I thought was odd (I paid for 1000 cards... had they used 3 of my ordered cards?). After the initial shock of the cards being wasted on the packaging, I noticed that they all had a 1mm black spot in the upper left corner. This was definitely not on the proofs, and showed up starkly against the white background.

I immediately took photos of these cards and the ones in the boxes (all of which have the spot) and emailed them (marked URGENT) to the manager, Suzie Youle, asking how to proceed as I wanted replacement cards. I didn't get a reply. 24 hours later I emailed their enquiries people because I thought I'd get a response, considering the web site clearly states that EMAIL ENQUIRIES WILL BE REPLIED TO WITHIN 24 HOURS. But no reply.

The following day I got tired of waiting and looked up their office number in the yellow pages. I called and asked for the manager by name. I was told she was taking another call, so I left a voice mail message for her. She didn't call. She did reply to my email, however... but this is what it said: Hi Rebecca, Hmm weird one! Is it on all of the cards? Let me know. Thanks Suzie.

There was no apology.

I sent a reply within 30 minutes. That was last Friday. It's now Wednesday. I called her again twice this morning and left another message on her voice mail, somewhat more annoyed sounding this time. I explained that I needed a replacement URGENTLY and I'd been waiting a week. I don't expect her to call.

It only cost $65 for 1000 cards, which is very cheap. But that's $65 wasted and I'm just starting out. I now have to order cards from someone else because Dynamite Express Cards is so incompetent, meaning the new cards will cost far more than I can afford when I factor in the wasted $65 and the lost time... I ordered these cards on January 25.

In the star ratings I've put a 2 for value, because while they're very cheap, they've lost me money and wasted my time. Overall, the value isn't as great as I initially thought.

(The other jobs arrived without any problems.)

I had some business cards printed for a client with Express as I have used them once before and the result was fast and to standard. The reason I tried them was that my usual printer doesn't print the style required for these jobs, and after my first experience, I thought I would try them again.

Firstly, the file didn't submit properly, apparently there was a virus in their system, which I understand happens. So when I resubmitted, I heard nothing for a week. Turns out there was a numeral missing on the print job which put it on a completed list or something along those lines. That was OK, I talked to a member of staff who was helpful and assured me the job would be done.
By now my client was getting annoyed with waiting, which then looks bad for my business.
Finally the job arrived, 7 days later.
The quality was shocking. The cards were off colour, instead of yellow they were almost khaki green, with faint black streaking throughout the gradients. My customer was desperate to have them, so I heavily discounted them and lost out on money (there was no way I could charge them full price).
I contacted Express 3 times about the issue (I even asked if there was a problem with the artwork supplied) and heard nothing for a while, and then finally received an email response and was asked to send some samples.
I sent the samples in November (it is now January) and I still have had no response. I am disheartened at the amount of time wasted, and I just don't have the time to keep chasing them, hence why I am here instead.
I am extremely disappointed in the lack of professionalism, and will not be using their service again.

Approximate cost: $250