Entered CNET Catalog: 04/26/2002
SKU: CNETSNAPFISH
Manufacturer: Snapfish
Product summary
The good: Clean interface; excellent print preview; handles TIFF, GIF, and BMP images in addition to JPEG files; image editor works well.
The bad: Prints are slightly pricier than the competition's; upload is occasionally sluggish.
The bottom line: In a sea of high-quality online photo services, Snapfish swims near the top.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 05/30/2003
Make one-touch tweaks with Snapfish's handy editing tools. |
If you need to clean up your shots, simply download Snapfish's editing utility, which features effective tools for one-touch color correction, red-eye removal, and quick crops. You can also make fast fixes, add captions, and organize your photo library using Snapfish's online tools, which work quite well. We especially like the site's excellent print preview, which shows exactly how your image will be cropped for printing, and the well-organized user-account page, which lists credits, orders, and other account information.
To invite others to view your Snapfish photos, click a photo or an album, select Share from the right-hand menu, enter the recipients' e-mail addresses, and compose a message. If there's a particularly embarrassing image that you don't want anyone to see, you can restrict access to it. Click Send, and within minutes, your friends receive a fun, colorful invitation to check out your pictures. Once they click through to the Snapfish site, they must enter their own names and e-mail addresses before they can view your shots.
Snapfish's print quality ranked among the best in our tests. Standard print prices are a bit on the high side--39 cents per 4x6 and $3.79 per 8x10--but you can buy prepaid bulk packages that reduce your costs to as low as 25 cents per 4x6.
Support is well integrated into each step of the registering, uploading, and printing process. Snapfish's online FAQ is excellent, and if you can't find what you're looking for in there, e-mail support is superb. Customer service is also available by telephone Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55out of 55 user reviews
Never had a problem with orders. Using SF for 4 years.
Pros: Easy to understand. The Help section is very detailed and is actually helpful.
Cons: Receive too many promo emails.
out of 55 user reviews
Charged my checking account for services I didn't want
Pros: That I could order my prints and pick them up at a local store
Cons: I contacted the company about the charges to my account for services I didn't request. They told me I must have"accidently" requested it and was not due a refund. I would not "accidently" select yes to have money removed form my account.
out of 55 user reviews
Order never arrived - no explanation offered
Pros: Good selection of photo albums and calendar templates
Cons: Orders get cancelled without warning, absymal customer service
They had absolutely NOTHING in way of any explanation - except that they lost the order - and would be willing to offer me a 20% discount on my next order.
Have you ever eaten at a bad hole in the wall - gotten sick - and had no recourse since no one there grasped the concept of customer service? This is the online pictures equivalent of the hole in the wall...
out of 55 user reviews
STAY AWAY FROM SNAPFISH...!
Pros: umm?can?t think of any! Well, the collage print I ordered was nice.
Cons: VERY BAD customer service-Quality on travel mug sucks-too pricey- hate you can NOT Choose picture order when making collages
I wish I would have read the reviews before I ordered! I got sucked in by the $25 restaurant coupon?now I guess I shouldn?t have assumed, but these restaurants are NOT chain companies which I found weird. ON TOP of that?they send you an email have you go to restaurant.com and see what is available. I can tell you, not much, to top it off, listen to this; there are STIPULATIONS to using the GC. You have to spend way more than the GC, tell you what you can or can NOT drink, and hit you with 18% gratuity, NOT A CHOICE. It?s all typed in red on the GC, and OH, did I say, you have to print it out yourself, how cheap is that!?! DO NOT USE SNAPFISH?I would recommend to USE SHUTTERFLY, OFOTO, OR IF MAKING A BOOK MIXBOOK IS A SUPER COMPANY. I ordered a travel mug with collage pix on it, you can NOT choose the order of your collage pix, and not only is it a piece of junk, the rubber bottom piece won?t stay on, the lid won?t open, the handle is flimsy, and the pix on the mug has little bubbles in it. What a waste! I bought it as a gift for my husband, and I really hate to give it to him.
STAY AWAY FROM SNAPFISH if you want good quality, and reliable service!
out of 55 user reviews
Not a member
Pros: Not a member
Cons: Not a member
out of 55 user reviews
terrible customer service
Pros: Easy to use and the prints turn out great. They have frequent deals and promotions, so it's easy to get cheap prints.
Cons: They add you to their mailing list and there is no way of unsubscribing. You will receive tons of offers.I've been in touch with their customer service three times about getting off their list and they have yet to do it.
out of 55 user reviews
great selection and coupons can be used!
Pros: Prices are good, customer satisfaction is also very good.
Cons: ability of their customer service people to understand me. Many middle eastern accents and they just don't understand my problem a lot of the time.
But in the end it works out.
out of 55 user reviews
Useless customer support
Pros: If all goes well, the arrival of prints is accpetable
Cons: If something goes wrong (like they billed my credit card for a non order and won't communicate or agree to make a refund, though I never made an order at all) you have no chance of getting a reply.
Updated on Oct 23, 2008I must add that eventually, after getting quite fierce with them, they agreed to refund the credit card, so all is well enough but I am not going to let them store my credit card details any more.
out of 55 user reviews
Low quality customer service and product quality
Pros: I put together a photobook, the process was relatively simple at first.
Cons: I ordered two pictures books and the products they sent me were not what I had ordered. They failed to respond to my request to send me the CORRECT items.
I will never shop at Snapfish again, and I encourage others to do the same.
out of 55 user reviews
Poor quality control -- again!
Pros: Being able to upload a photo instead of standing in line at a store.
Cons: POOR quality control, substandard photo paper, weak customer support, problems uploading photos, slow turn around time.
out of 55 user reviews
The worst service ever.
Pros: Prices are OK.
Cons: Unresponsive customer service
This has been a very frustrating experience!
out of 55 user reviews
Worst company I've ever dealt
Pros: They apologize very well - don't correct the problem - but apologize very well
Cons: The worst customer service in the history of customer service
out of 55 user reviews
14 days to Ship. 7 Posters Low Res Print from high Rez email. Yuk!! Yuk! Yuk!
Pros: The estimated delivery date is estimated. Just ask them, 2 days means 10!
Cons: Since it is promised for Christmas, Delivered 7 days after Christmas, Yuk Prints
Quality 4 out of 10, Flunk . Good Paper, bad Printing.
Information 0 out of 10, Total Failure, "I don't know when your photo will be done, that two day estimate is just and estimate".
Process from order to Ship:10 days= 1 out of 10, Flunk, 1 only because they did ship it, It would be 0 if they lost it completely.
I usually print color at Costco, they use Fuji Frontiers machines and provide you with Printer Profiles so you can print exactly what you see on your screen. Needless to say, photos are always phenomenal. Plus the employees at Costco have are always helpful, provide accurate information and my favorite, if they don't know something, they will look into it and call you with the best information they can find.
Costco Rocks, Snapfish Sucks!
Snapfish, lets
I usually print at Costco.
What makes this a wonderful b&w photo is the shadow detail. Sent in a black and white image 30X20 inch 300dpi image using their email as the upload program limits the file size.
The images look like they have been down-sampled and someone decided to play with the histogram. Maybe an auto levels adjust.
The result is a photo that looks like it was reduced to a 6 level of gray gif.
The original photo can be viewed: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ioja/370058913/" title=""castelul huniazilor, hunedoara castle" Corvin or Corvinesti castle by night Transilvania Authentic Gothic Dracula Castle Cristian Ioja © by the_fstop, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/121/370058913_f208492e92_t.jpg" width="100"
out of 55 user reviews
Does NOT uphold to their promise of photos
Pros: ease of upload
Cons: no pictures..charged my credit card
Huhhh...no pictures and no website to share with family...just a charge to my credit card! They ripped me off..
out of 55 user reviews
Total Failure Promised delivery by Dec. 24, Dec 26, not shipped yet!
Pros: They don't supply a something we cannot live without.
Cons: Not trustworthy, total failure to deliver per contract.
valid 12/18 only) Get expedited shipping upgrade on orders placed on Dec 18th to ensure delivery by Dec 24th. I ordered on Dec. 18 Order#22398089
I was told that the shipping date is estimated, I can have a refund, they cannot say when I will receive my order. $68 charge will be refunded.
I do not want the money, I want the Christmas gifts I ordered for Christmas eve.
The word ensure does not mean estimated in my dictionary. Here is the email from Snapfish, "Thank you for calling in reference to your order we have received your request for a refund do to your order not being shipped by date requested Per your request"..
How Snapfish ruined my Christmas...seems to be a popular title this Holiday season.
out of 55 user reviews
Ordered on Black friday...still not here Dec. 20th
Pros: none... they've sent me nothing.
Cons: everything... they've done nothing for me!
out of 55 user reviews
Fast processing and shipping and good customer service
Pros: Easy to use interface; error-free uploading; good customer service
Cons: friends have to sign up with Snapfish just to see my photos online
On one occasion, an order had not arrived ten days after Snapfish said it would so they sent me another set of photos which I received a couple of days later. Fifteen days after that, the original order showed up. By the postmark date (same date as what Snapfish said it was mailed on) and the condition of the package it had apparently been lost by the USPS and was not Snapfish's fault. And despite the beat-up packaging none of the photos were damaged.
out of 55 user reviews
HORRIBLE SERVICE
Pros: CHEAP PIRCE
Cons: SHIPPING SLOW/ NON RESPONSIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE
out of 55 user reviews
Not worth the trouble, there are better services out there
Pros: lots of options, easy to use, group rooms are great!
Cons: site is often really slow and/or down, horrible customer service, they 'accidentally' delete your free offers, worst of all they deleted a photo album I'd been working on for months.
out of 55 user reviews
I'm very unhappy
Pros: nice photo albums
Cons: very slow uploads
out of 55 user reviews
Slow, Slow, Slow
Pros: Cheap Prices!!!
Cons: Uploads are unreliable
out of 55 user reviews
Poor response
Pros: a cheap service
Cons: nonresponsive
Specifically, when an order is placed, even if its own promotional offers are not adhered to, when a charge card is entered, the order is "locked in". It may not print for 3 days, but since it is in the "automation process" it can't be changed. What rubbish.
You can get better service at a CVS or Walgreens. At least there you deal with humans, not automated/canned responses.
out of 55 user reviews
Burned and learned
Pros: member of fatwallet
Cons: too numerous to mention
To add insult to injury, I sent a reply to Snapfish stating the above inaccuracies and my frustration on 1/25/07 and received no response. So, as well as promising inaccurate delivery times, customer service, in my experience has been unhelpful and non-responsive. This is my first order and will be my last.
out of 55 user reviews
Stops communication, refunds less than you paid
Pros: They are cheap
Cons: Absurdly poor customer service
I sent them film - yes there are a few of us out there still! The prints came back poorly done, so I was instructed by Snapfish to return the negs AND prints for reprinting. I did. They refunded only part of my total and told me to reorder the pictures from their website. The refund didn't cover doing that, so I asked them via email just to reprint the order. They stopped responding and they still have my negatives. It's been weeks.
How does a company with such lousy support stay in business?
out of 55 user reviews
DON'T USE SNAPFISH!!!
Pros: Fast Service
Cons: May delete your account whenever???
out of 55 user reviews
Awful Service - Did Not Fulfil Order - No Response
Pros: No Pros If You Can Not Get A Product After You Pay For It!
Cons: No Customer Service At This Company
No communication to me at all about when it will be delivered the website said estimated ship date Dec 19th. I emailed Cust Serv after that date for tracking number.
I received an email on Dec 26th stating that I may not receive some or any of my order by Christmas which is a little late to let me know this.
I have sent several email very slow response still with no real information. Last I part of my order shipped Dec 23, I still don't have it.
I have asked for a complete refund and no response yet. They have $175.00 of my money and my family does not have Christmas presents to open.
I will not use this service again and I hope you don't think service will be better for you as I confident it won't be.
out of 55 user reviews
decent product, bad customer support
Pros: online tools, product options
Cons: terrible customer support
The phone reps in both cases were impatient and unhelpful. The first rep promised something (changing the shipping address) that he did not do. The second rep barely seemed to be able to hear me over the noise of several other reps impatiently dealing with other customers. He kept saying, "It's been delivered! Look outside!" and trying to get me off the phone. I had to repeat my question "Where has it been delivered? What address?" several times before I got the answer. At one point I heard a woman in the background yell out, "I'm tired of dealing with these damn people on the phone!"
Snapfish seems promising, but they don't have their act together well enough for me to bother with them again, especially not for anything that needs to be delivered on a deadline.
out of 55 user reviews
Don't trust Snapfish for your holiday
Pros: interesting logo
Cons: cannot trust them for anything
fulfill all orders and get them delivered to you by December 24th, including expediting shipping free of charge."
Next email received Friday before Christmas 12/23 syas nothing about MY ORDER and nothing about the expedited shipping. The email simply says "it's possible some or all of your order may not arrive in time."
So now, do I buy MORE presents to replace these? How do I know??? Snapfish knows NOTHING about my order and has provided ZERO help to me.
I will never use them again.
out of 55 user reviews
Do not use Snapfish
Pros: cheap but you get what you pay for
Cons: unreliable shipping, poor quality prints; customer service
The print quality on the book was poor and there were lots of artifacts in the photos.
There are better online photo services to choose from. Do not use Snapfish if you want good quality and reliable service
out of 55 user reviews
I'd never pay to use them again.
Pros: occasional specials. Quality paper and speedy delivery.
Cons: Many prints came back dark and badly cropped.
The prints I got back, However, were dark and badly cropped. (you get what you pay for?) Your miliage may vary. When I got those prints, I just said 'thanks for not taking my money' and then swore to never use them again. Now I have a Wallgreens down the street that'll do the job for 15 cents a print and they'll do small orders while I wait.
On the positive side, placing the order seemed easy and it shipped pretty quickly.
The prints really were darker than I wanted. I have used 3 other services and they never had that problem. Maybe my experience was a fluke, but before you use this service for something important, try them out with a small order, first.
out of 55 user reviews
Took my money and ran
Pros: Absolutely none
Cons: Never delivered
Despite numerous attempts to contact them through their website, I've had no response. Nor have they responded to my refund request.
I plan to dispute the charge with my credit card company.
out of 55 user reviews
best prices, excellent quality, easy to use
Pros: best website, secret weapon
Cons: i am new to the internet but this website is easier to use than others.
out of 55 user reviews
Beautiful prints & easy to use for newbies
Pros: great uploading tools, greeting cards and gifts, gorgeous prints, best prices
Cons: the website is designed in bright silly colors
Fortunately, I had a great experience and will continue to give them my business. The photos were easy to upload even for a newbie like me. The tools made it easy to add cute borders and organize my photos. It uploads very quickly if you don't need huge poster-size prints (it's still high-res). I shared the photos in albums with my friends by simply emailing them. Snapfish maintains your address book so you don't have to keep searching for your friend's email addresses.
The print prices were spectacular. So much cheaper than my local stores and much more convenient. When I received the photos, the quality was outstanding.
This week I am going to order my New Year's greeting cards with photos on them through Snapfish. This site is a gem!
By the way, I heard about this site in the first place when I saw in the news that Snapfish was donating prints to Hurricane Katrina victims who had lost photos in the floods! I like supporting companies such as these.
out of 55 user reviews
Unordered Prints, Excellent Quality, Expensive Shipping
Pros: Quality Excellent, Shipping Fast, Many Options, Easy to use Site
Cons: Shipping Costs, Customer Service, Unordered Prints
I decided to try Snapfish out. Their website is great - easy to use, tons of options, real easy to understand. I prepaid for my prints and ordered them. Then, I got hit with a $35 shipping charge for 350 prints. Now all of a sudden, the photos are more like .20 cents a print; still not bad, but not what you expected.
I can live with that. Then, I get the photos in the mail. They look great! Quality really excellent. Unfortunately, all 350 prints are completely out of order. They arent' even roughly ordered. I don't think I had two in the right direction. I called Snapfish and complained, and the lady told me I should go to the site, look at the pictures in the order I uploaded them, and rearrange them.
In the end, I had to do this, and it took me almost 3 hours to organize all my photos properly, a job that should've been 20 minutes.
Snapfish is probably OK if you are ordering less than 50 prints at a time. I will have to experiment with some other companies. Sharing photos online is really easy as well though.
Their customers service is attrocious. When I had the issue with the prints out of order, I had originally asked for a refund. She said I would have to mail all the photos back and then request a refund. It wasn't worth the shipping costs in the end - I will use my 1000 prints and probabaly try something else.
out of 55 user reviews
Good pictures but outlandish shipping charges.
Pros: Good pictures + quickly shipped.
Cons: Shipping charges enormous, appear to be based on dollar amount of order, not actual size & weight of shipment.
out of 55 user reviews
Beautiful prints + best prices + best tools!
Pros: Cool borders & products, backed by Hewlett-Packard
Cons: New tools are perfect but old ones were stodgy
Now they have a really nice slick upload tool (you can also upload by sending an email) and they have a slick slideshow presentation for your prints.
Now that they're owned by HP, I feel they are even more trustworthy. On top of that, they have the lowest prices. Also, they use the silver-halide process, which is important to me as a photographer because this makes for outstanding photo quality. They also print on Kodak paper.
I also use snapfish to send cards (by choosing a photo and making it into a greeting card through the website). This makes for a very thoughtful card. For example, I send a thank-you card showing me using a house-warming gift. The price is the same as you would pay for an impersonal cheesy card at the drugstore. Grandma loves the photo postcards too.
Also, snapfish has some awesome borders that you can add for free around your photo (unlike ebay, which charges 10 cents to add a border to your auction!). They have some very cute ones and some very elegant. Try the scrapbook corners!
out of 55 user reviews
I am a Big Fan of this Website
Pros: Love having easy access to all of my pictures, and can easily create gifts such as calendars and photo books, as well as order copies.
Cons: Occassionally run into sluggish site, which takes more time.
out of 55 user reviews
Poor Quality of Pictures, Pictures were sent out of order, one picture was missing (127 out of 128).
Pros: Cheep Price, but unfortunately very cheep quality
Cons: very very poor quality
out of 55 user reviews
300 copies of 200+ images delivered in random order - no help from customer service
Pros: decent quality prints
Cons: 200+ different images (8 months of life), came delivered randomly, even multiple copies of the same image were not together
Here was part of my email to customer service "To my great dismay, what I got was 300+ prints scattered in 4 different envelopes in COMPLETELY RANDOM ORDER. Yes, that is right, 2 prints of one coffin (taken 3 weeks ago), followed by may baby at 4 months (4 months ago), then my older daughter, then 1 more of the same coffin picture, and a couple more of the coffin, followed by my baby at the hospital after her birth (last December), etc etc etc.
RANDOM, both in terms of groupings (all copies were NOT together) and in terms of DATE ORDER!!!!
THIS is unacceptable to me. What did your team do for the $18 handling charge - drop them all on the floor and then gather them up????? "
And here was Snapfish's response: >>>>>>>>>>>>
Dear N T,
We are sorry, but we have no way to guarantee the order in which your prints will be packed into the prints envelopes. Unfortunately, the order of photos in your online account has no bearing on the order that the prints will be in when your order arrives.
Please accept our sincere apology for any inconvenience on this matter.
If you have any other questions, please reply to this email.
Sincerely,
Alan Snapfish Customer Care >>>>>>>>>
Customer Care? It is completely impractical to try and sort 300 prints back into 8 months of order, particularly when multiples of the same picture don't even arrive together. Perhaps this is standard fare for the online photo developers, but it is completely pathetic in terms of customer experience.
Perhaps this will help someone else avoid a very frustrating experience. Go to Costco, pay $.16/copy (uploaded online or dropped off in the store), and they'll be beautiful quality in less than 1 hour!
out of 55 user reviews
Item never arrived, customer service won't even respond
Pros: There are no pros
Cons: Expensive shipping, item never arrived, no customer service
This time, I placed an order for three mugs and two mouse pads to be shipped to Japan. I have placed many on-line orders from US companies to Japan, and with the efficient US / Japanese postal services, things usually arrive promptly. Gymboree is extremely efficient, and usually arrives 3 days after placing the order. Amazon, BHPhoto, and others usually take no more than a week or 10 days at the most.
Two weeks after the supposed ship date, I contacted customer service to find out why the item had not arrived, and I was told that it takes up to six weeks for a package to arrive in Japan via air mail. That is a ridiculous assertion ... even surface mail almost always gets here in less than six weeks, and I have never had anything sent via airmail take longer than 10 days. The shipping charges were very high ($40) ... high enough that it could have been sent Global Express Mail which takes only two days.
Anyways, there didn't seem to be much that I could do, so I patiently waited for the six weeks to run out and the item still has not arrived.
I have sent four messages to customer service (all mostly polite and the last three begging for at least an acknowledgement that they received my message). The first message was sent 10 days ago. All I have received in response is their automated email saying that I should receive a real response within 1-2 days. My spam filter is turned off, so I know that they have not responded.
I'm not sure what happened to their customer service, but I am no longer giving them the benefit of the doubt. I will avoid their service like the plague, and I am now contesting the charges to my credit card.
Next time I will stick with Ofoto from whom I have always received stellar service. (their website says that international orders take 4-8 days to arrive!!!).
out of 55 user reviews
Snapfish lost 11 rolls of film
Pros: A sound concept
Cons: Incompetent personnel foil good concept
out of 55 user reviews
Horrible Service
Pros: An online photo service
Cons: Storage, Developing
1) If they tell you that the film you sent in to develop was blank then that means they lost your pictures. (I know this since I a close friend of mine knows the CEO of Snapfish)
2) Your pictures are deleted forever if there is no use of the account for one year unfortunately they do not always send out an email to notify you of this fact.
Truly a horrible service for those of us that would like to keep our pictures.
out of 55 user reviews
Defrauded by Snapfish
Pros:
Cons: On October 1, 2003 Snapfish charged me twice for the same order. One and a half months, later they have still not returned my money. It's only $22.50 and no big deal but I'm telling you this because they have have repeated lied to me. I finally phoned my
out of 55 user reviews
By far the worst online photo service
Pros: cheap (you get what you pay for)
Cons: I'd have to say that Snapfish has the worst customer service of any company, online or regular, that I have ever dealt with. Certainly top 3, and I'm in my late 30s, so I've dealt with a lot of stuff in life. Few features, and clearly they sucker you by
out of 55 user reviews
Had to Uninstall Software
Pros: Good looking software, makes photos larger than windows view.
Cons: Downloaded software would not let me use my camera's software to upload photos from my camera to PC. Snapfish software kept popping up and up and up and up. Finally I had to uninstall their program so I could upload my photos to the directory I wanted (n
out of 55 user reviews
don't recommend
Pros:
Cons: Snapfish charged my checking account and didn't send me a confirmation email or the pictures.
out of 55 user reviews
Best for film; OK for Digital
Pros: I have read all the reviews on this service and have ordered both film and digital prints. I Loved my film print the price is only a third of photoworks film developing prices and found the quality to be much better. i will continue to use snapfish. thos
Cons: Reviews with compliants are short and lack detail so i take their word only with a grain of salt. but the lack of a 1-800 costumer service number is a big negative (and the only one).
out of 55 user reviews
great support - average quality
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
They've been good for me.
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
This fish stinks!
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
Only Good Experiences with Snapfish
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
Excellent Processing, Very reliable
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
Great service and support
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
A Great Deal for the AVERAGE User
Pros:
Cons:
out of 55 user reviews
I have always been pleased
Pros:
Cons:
