JMHPhotography
9th of October 2007 (Tue), 10:35
Hey guys... anyone who knows me here knows that I'm pretty picky about my prints. I remember telling a story a while back regarding the lab I used for my school/group business and the problems I had. Without dragging anyone trough the mud, I'll just say that while the product variety was amazing, the print quality was not! In fact it was downright poor. So poor in fact, I'd actually prefer to deliver inkjet prints to my customers instead of the prints I received from them. So I searched high and low for a new lab to use. I was given a few names and yes they are great labs with good prints. However I've never been able to find a lab that offered both the extensive print product lineup, AND the excellent print quality. Until now that is.
I joined the PPA a couple of months ago, and with the membership, a magazine subscription to "Professional Photographer" is included. While thumbing through, I found several ads that caught my eye. One of those ads was to a company called CPQ Professional Imaging (http://www.cpq.com/). I checked out the website and was floored with all the product offerings. They have so many options, they need to have several different ROES order programs for each aspect of my business. It's pretty awesome.
Now... here's where they become my new favorite lab. I set up an account with CPQ to try them out. But prior to this discovery I had submitted the envelopes to my preschool and dance groups from my older group lab already, and to my dismay, a product called the "game day" print was ordered in both classes. I was going to fill the order with normal package prints, and do my own magazine cover designs and such but the playtime print wasn't possible since it needed some die cutting. CPQ had something close called funpacks and there were several themes to choose from. This was fine for the preschool, but the dance group.. not so much. I called my rep at CPQ and told her what I needed and she put their designer on it right away. They have the game day print now slated for next years catalog offerings since they'd have to get a new die cutter fabricated for the product. In the meantime, while this was fantastic for next season, it didn't really help me for this year's dance class. I asked my rep if it was possible to just do another theme layout with the current "fun pack" product, for my particular situation and here we are like 3 days removed from that discussion, and there are now two new funpack designs especially for me already in their ROES catalog. I had placed only one order with them at this point..(it's been a few more since then). This is what I call customer service... it's the best I've ever experienced. And what's more... the prices for the group pacakges are AMAZING!!!! So there you have it. CPQ is my lab of choice. There are others out there that I've used and have had great service and products from.... but nobody has ever treated me like I was their most valued and only customer before now. You should really check them out if you want the same service. Oh... and I sent away for their sample pack, and submitted my 3 8x10's for evaluation and their print process is PERFECT! It's the same quality I've grown accustomed to at other high end pro labs. Same paper... same colors... same workflow. I love it!!!
I joined the PPA a couple of months ago, and with the membership, a magazine subscription to "Professional Photographer" is included. While thumbing through, I found several ads that caught my eye. One of those ads was to a company called CPQ Professional Imaging (http://www.cpq.com/). I checked out the website and was floored with all the product offerings. They have so many options, they need to have several different ROES order programs for each aspect of my business. It's pretty awesome.
Now... here's where they become my new favorite lab. I set up an account with CPQ to try them out. But prior to this discovery I had submitted the envelopes to my preschool and dance groups from my older group lab already, and to my dismay, a product called the "game day" print was ordered in both classes. I was going to fill the order with normal package prints, and do my own magazine cover designs and such but the playtime print wasn't possible since it needed some die cutting. CPQ had something close called funpacks and there were several themes to choose from. This was fine for the preschool, but the dance group.. not so much. I called my rep at CPQ and told her what I needed and she put their designer on it right away. They have the game day print now slated for next years catalog offerings since they'd have to get a new die cutter fabricated for the product. In the meantime, while this was fantastic for next season, it didn't really help me for this year's dance class. I asked my rep if it was possible to just do another theme layout with the current "fun pack" product, for my particular situation and here we are like 3 days removed from that discussion, and there are now two new funpack designs especially for me already in their ROES catalog. I had placed only one order with them at this point..(it's been a few more since then). This is what I call customer service... it's the best I've ever experienced. And what's more... the prices for the group pacakges are AMAZING!!!! So there you have it. CPQ is my lab of choice. There are others out there that I've used and have had great service and products from.... but nobody has ever treated me like I was their most valued and only customer before now. You should really check them out if you want the same service. Oh... and I sent away for their sample pack, and submitted my 3 8x10's for evaluation and their print process is PERFECT! It's the same quality I've grown accustomed to at other high end pro labs. Same paper... same colors... same workflow. I love it!!!