Disappointing quality of latest delivery of 12 spiral bound copies of iami1 blogbook from Delhi online printer

Last updated on 28th May 2018

I think it was day-before-yesterday (25th May 2018) evening that I received the latest delivery of 12 spiral bound copies of iami1 blogbook from Delhi online printer for a total price (including shipping charge) of around Rs. 1008, which comes to around Rs. 84 per copy.

This time around, each book had thick colour front cover page and back cover page as per my provided pics and instructions. That is the good news. I had received a phone call from the Delhi online printer's production guy I think, who confirmed that I wanted it to be this way.

However, inner content print quality is not satisfactory. The problems are as follows:

1) Many pages had a slight dark patch indicating a problem in laser printer drum (if I correctly recall my laser printer usage days in industry and academia).

2) The text content also seems to be slightly compressed as compared to earlier book copies this online printer had provided. But as I do not have the older delivery books to compare physically, I am not sure about this.

3) The left margin size is not consistent. It is less in some pages and more in some pages. This may have to do with imprecise cutting of each A4 size page print output into two A5 size pages print output.

4) A few pages have very visible dark patches & lines.

I have given pics of relevant pages of a few of these book copies below.

[To open pic in higher resolution, right-click on pic followed by open in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

Above pic shows text which seems to be slightly compressed as compared to earlier delivery from this Delhi online printer. But as I do not have the older delivery books to compare physically, I am not sure about this.

Above pic shows lesser left margin in left hand side page as compared to right hand side page. Note that this is not due to any tabs/indentation of content in the pages (which is the case for a few other pages). I suspect the reason to be incorrect cutting of related A4 pages into two A5 pages.

Above pic shows clearly visible dark patches and lines.

Above pic shows slight dark patches on first inner content page. The problems is that such slight dark patches appear almost throughout two book copies. I have kept those books aside to ensure that whoever I give those copies to, I first tell them about the slight dark patches almost throughout the book.

The above two pics show the good thing about this delivery which is that the colour thick cover pages are provided correctly and look decent.

I am disappointed with this delivery of the Delhi online printer. I will have to explain to each and every person that I provide (for free) one of the these copies, about these problems in the copy. Then I will leave it to them whether they would be interested in having the copy or not. This will be embarrassing and I would like to avoid having to do such explanations in future, while I am providing free copies of the book.

Overall, most people in Puttaparthi understand these price issues. So they know that laser printer output and spiral bound copy will be lesser quality printing than a regular paperback printed book copy that is sold in bookshops. Slight patches here and there, light printing of a few words are understood to be part of the economy price deal. But this delivery of the Delhi online printer goes into poorer quality than that and gets into the range of unacceptable for some people at least.

I think I get better quality than this particular delivery quality, from Puttaparthi laser printer people who provide such A4 size spiral bound book printing services. One Puttaparthi laser printer person charges me Rs. 107 per copy (Rs. 62 for 123 A5 size pages inner content + Rs. 25 for ordinary paper colour printout + Rs. 20 spiral binding & lamination sheet for front and back ordinary paper colour cover protection). The earlier delivery from the Delhi online printer had much better printing quality (superior to Puttaparthi laser printer services shops). Here's my post (with pics) related to that delivery:  https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/05/received-delhi-online-printers-12.html, dated 12th May 2018.

I think in future if I want less expensive spiral bound copies I will use the Puttaparthi laser printer shop services, paying Rs. 107 per copy. It is not worth saving Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 per copy by ordering it from the Delhi online printer as there is more bother involved in both the ordering process and the delivery, and then there is a risk of poor quality output based on my experience with them.

I intend to let the Delhi online printer know about my dissatisfaction (today being Sunday would be a holiday for them and so I plan to call them up tomorrow). But due to the distance involved I don't think my complaint would really make a difference. Whereas if I had received such dark patches and lines from a Puttaparthi laser printer services guy, I could have ensured that future orders get better quality output unless he could not fix his laser printer problem in which case I would stop using his services. I mean, I can get to the root of the problem if I use Puttaparthi laser printer services shop and know whether he can fix it or not.

In contrast, so far at least, all the copies that I have received from Pothi.com, over multiple orders (16 book copies over three separate orders made on 27th April (1 copy), 7th May (9 copies) and 14th May (6 copies)), have consistently been of good quality in terms of cover page printing and thickness, inner page printing, decent inner page paper quality etc. Their packaging of the books too is much better than the Delhi online printer (which is to be expected as the Delhi online printer provides economy price services), though in one Pothi.com order some book copies did get a little bent due to the packaging being rather tight.

So its boiling down to two standard choices for printing iami1 blogbook:
1) Well printed and bound (Soft cover binding): Buy from Pothi.com web store, https://pothi.com/pothi/book/ravi-s-iyer-ultimate-existential-reality-answer-vedanta-god-and-science, paying Rs. 159 per copy + shipping (Rs. 50 for 1 copy shipping to South India). [Total cost at Puttaparthi for 1 copy: Rs. 209]

2) For less expensive copy: Get spiral bound laser printer printed copy from Puttaparthi laser printer services shop at Rs. 107 for 1 copy.
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Update on 28th May 2018: I had a phone discussion today afternoon with a person X (name withheld) of printonweb.in who seems to be a senior person, about the printing quality problems in this delivery. I had earlier sent a mail to them with pics showing the printing quality problems. He explained that the patches problem was not due to laser printer drum problem. They use some sophisticated digital printers which automatically spots repeated errors, he told me. I don't know anything about sophisticated "digital printers" and so I did not get deeper into that matter. He also said that the excess margin for some pages was due to manual cutting of A4 pages into two A5 pages.

I told him that I was very satisfied with the printing quality of earlier orders that I had placed with printonweb.in. But this delivery had shaken my confidence. I asked him whether he could resolve my shaken confidence problem.

He said that for future orders I should speak to him or if somebody else answers the phone, ask the person to refer the order to him (X). X said that he will see to it that the order will be done properly.

So I intend to place one more order in future, when required, with printonweb.in and contact X when making the order. If that delivery comes out well then I intend to continue using printonweb.in so long as I get decent quality printouts at economy prices.