I received product from InvitationBox.com for my review. All opinions are my own.
It’s that time of year again…time to dig through photos from the previous 12 months in search of the “perfect” photos that capture the spirit of our family so we can put together our traditional family Christmas card. Time to get stressed because I can’t find what I’m looking for in a photo or I’m disappointed with the photo card selections. Why do we do this year after year? Because it really is a fun tradition and a nice way to tell others that we are thinking of them this holiday season.
This year, I decided to start the Christmas card process early. I chose outfits for myself and our daughters. Then I made a few suggestions to my husband. We decided one September weekend to venture off to my mom & step-father’s river house where we would take the “perfect” family photos with the “perfect” backdrop of nature! Well, it was raining, my husband wanted to focus his time on the fish jumping in the river behind us, the girls wanted to play games with their Gigi and I was coming down with a cold. “Perfect!” We gathered all our energy and prepared for a quick family photo opt. My step-father was running the camera and my mom was set for comic relief and getting the girls to smile. When all was done, we had about 10 pretty darn good photos.
I sat down on the computer and logged-in to InvitationBox.com. I had some trouble getting the website to load properly, because of this; it took me about a week to place my order. Each time I logged in, my cart had been emptied and I would need to start the process over. These website hiccups caused me to miss out on a great offer for a free thank you card with every card purchased. Then one day, everything went smoothly and I was able to place my card order. That was it. The website said it would take about a week for the cards to arrive so I sat back and waited.
Today I got at least 6 email messages saying my cards were going to be delivered today. With every vehicle that passed our driveway, I wondered if that would be them. Finally, they arrived. I tore open the package and found “perfect” Christmas photo cards! The photos look great, card stock is of high quality, the wording is just right and the colors are beautiful. The Damask Black Photo Cards are all that I had hoped they would be. I am very pleased with them.
I think our Christmas photo cards are “perfect” and I am sure that those who receive them will too!
You can connect with InvotationBox.com on facebook and pinterest.
Related Posts:
Hello, my name is Laurie. My family and I live near the Oregon coast. When we aren’t at work, in school, or on the volleyball court, we enjoy traveling, cheering for our favorite sports teams, playing outdoors, and checking off items on our bucket list. We are lucky in that both sets of our parents, as well as our siblings and their families, live within an hour of us. We get together often to help one another out, celebrate milestones, and go on adventures together.
This post currently has 45 responses.
-
Aww, those are such cute pictures! And a really great backdrop for them too! This sounds like such an easy service. Christmas cards can be such a frustration!!
-
-
Terrible company and service! If you get your products, you are lucky! Ordered cards for Christmas by their deadline and nope, not getting them! They wont talk, respond to messages, you cant call them because they are “too busy.” They put a generic, “We are sorry” message on their FB wall. Think they’re happy to take your money and run and fulfill your orders maybe by Easter! I went to Costco and got cards made so I could send them out this morning.
-
-
see my review of invitationbox:
Horrible company. Ordered xmas cards 11/2. Received them on 11/11 defective. Contacted them and they promised to replace them within 2 weeks. waited until 12-2 and called them. Woman took info and promised to get back to me later that day. No call received. Tried to call them but message says they cannot handle the volume and to leave an email and when they can, they will respond. Still waiting. Tried online chat all day but not avail.
-
I am sorry to hear that. I am going to share all of these comments with my rep. I don’t know what if anything will be done, but I will try.
Thank you for sharing with me.-
Just an update. I received my cards on 12-12-13. They look good. They have a nice product. Now they need to fix their poor customer service.
-
-
-
Not the best company. They did a promotion through Groupon and I don’t think they could handle the volume, however, that should not become the customers problem. The voice mail says that they are not accepting calls because of high call volume and it took two days to receive an email response to the email I sent. Our card turned out okay. I hate that they put their logo on the back of the Christmas card. I didn’t see that in the sample; I don’t like to advertise companies but now I am forced to but it will be a negative for them. They cut off some of the M in Merry….
-
Scott
Horrible experience with Invitationbox.com. We placed an order for our cards on 11/30 and have had no follow up contact from them. We have tried calling and email and no response. They are no Shutterfly or Snapfish that’s for sure. Buyer beware!
-
Goodness. I am so sorry about about all the headaches. I will see if their is anything I can do.
Thank you. -
Hi Scott,
I am very sorry for the frustration this experience has caused. I’ve alerted the customer service management team. Please email them directly at support@invitationbox.com with “Attention Kitty” in the subject line. She will be looking for your email.
Best Holiday Wishes,
Jill-
They won’t respond to a commoner…maybe responding to you because you are a blog. Sorry to be so negative. It has just been so disappointing. If it was too much to handle, I understand but refund the money and tell people so we can get our cards out. 🙁
-
-
-
Same here, purchased through an “amazon local” offer. Thought I was eligible for a folding card but when I ordered I was limited to a few flat photo offerings that I could have easily ordered from Walgreen, Costco, Shutterfly or any other number of companies. It’s been 2 weeks since I ordered and a week since I contacted them and have not received a response. Looks like I will be sending out New Year cards. Never using this company again, unless the cards – should I ever receive them – blow me away.
-
I am so sorry to hear this. It sounds like a few people are having issues. I do know that they are a young company; perhaps they were just completely overwhelmed with orders…not that this is any excuse for not answering calls and/or emails. I will check in with my rep to see if anything can be done.
Thank you. -
Hi Frank,
I am very sorry for the frustration this experience has caused. I’ve alerted the customer service management team. Please email them directly at support@invitationbox.com with “Attention Kitty” in the subject line. She will be looking for your email.
Best Holiday Wishes,
Jill
-
-
Kim
I’m not sure how my own experience will end up, but so far – I’m really unhappy with this company. Ordered 110 Christmas cards through an Amazon Local deal on 12/2. As of today, 12/13 and ten business days later, I have gotten no updates, and three e-mails have not been acknowledged. My order online says “Pending.” The voicemail says that they’re overloaded “because of the holiday” and the website this morning was simultaneously not working and offering 30% off Christmas cards.
If I receive my cards after 12/20, I’m going to put a sticker on each one warning my friends and family against ever using this company.
-
Wow, I am sorry to hear that. I ordered straight off the website. As I noted in my review, I did have some problems with the website, but once my order was placed my cards arrived fairly quickly. I will send a message to my rep and see if he can help.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. -
Hi Kim,
I am very sorry for the frustration this experience has caused. I’ve alerted the customer service management team. Please email them directly at support@invitationbox.com with “Attention Kitty” in the subject line. She will be looking for your email.
Best Holiday Wishes,
Jill
-
-
I am sorry to hear that so many are having issues with Invitation Box. I had a good experience ordering off their website. It sounds like maybe they were caught off guard with all of the orders. Hopefully they will make things right soon.
I have shared your comments and concerns with my contact. I will let you know what I hear.
Thank you for bringing the issue to my attention.
LaurieUPDATE: I heard back from my contact. He is glad we brought these issues to his attention. They are working to correct any and all issues. If you would like to contact them, please send an email to- socialmedia@invitationbox.com.
Thank you!
-
I just received a response to the e-mail I sent on 12/9. They explain that they have received a lot of holiday orders, their processing and shipping is backed up, and I should expect processing to take 10 to 14 business days (instead of the 2-3 days advertised when I placed the order). At that time, I will get an e-mail telling me that the order has shipped.
I responded and asked for courtesy Overnight shipping, since if they ship my order on 12/20, I won’t receive them in time for Christmas.
-
Laura
Same as all the rest — and almost identical to Kim’s experience above. Terrible/nonexistent customer service. Placed my order two weeks ago and have tried many times to contact them via phone and email, to no avail. Since placing that order I have placed 3 separate orders for custom/photo items with other companies (Vistaprint and Shutterfly) and have already received one order and the other two are en route to be delivered Tuesday via FedEx. There is no good excuse for taking this long to ship standard Christmas cards but it’s even worse that there is a total lack of customer service response.
I also purchased mine from an Amazon Local deal. I called Amazon Local today and was tole that there have been many complaints about INvitation Box recently. She also interestingly told me that when she looks them up on her computer, they are shown as “closed for the holidays.” What the heck does that mean?????? She didn’t know either. However, their website still shows them as taking orders.
Assuming I ever receive my cards, they will be going out with a note saying they are late due to this company and urging them never to use them. If I don’t get my cards, well then I suppose I’ll be going the Facebook and email route to spread the word.
-
Jennifer
I would not recommend Invitationbox.com to anyone!!! I placed an order on November 29th and no cards or updates. I have emailed and called and no response. Very disappointing.
-
Colleen
I would not recommend Invitationbox.com to anyone! I placed my order on November 24th and have yet to receive any cards, updates, or any real response from customer service. I was hoping that if I placed the order early I would get the cards early. I really question whether I will even get cards now. Very disappointing…
-
Charlotte
Similarly horrible experience with Invitationbox.com. We placed an order for our cards on 12/2 after purchasing a deal through Amazon local and have had no follow up contact from them. We have tried calling and email and no response. So disappointed and will never place an order through them again. Will definitely return to ordering through Shutterfly or Snapfish for sure. I was so excited to have placed my order so early this year and to have made all my address labels well in advance, only to be disappointed to have friends wait until after Christmas to receive these cards. Caveat emptor!
-
Bob Smith
really awful company. customer service is terrible, I will never order from them again. bad news.
-
Morgan
I will never use them again. It is days before Christmas and I still have not received my order from them that I placed on Nov. 25. I will use Shutterfly in the future again. I used them last year during the holidays and received my orders with days of placing it.
-
Ansie Philip
Wow I’m reading all these messages and realize I’m not alone. I placed my order on Dec 3 using a Groupon I bought. And numerous emails to their customer service are unanswered and their phone is not accepting calls. I’m upset because I could have just ordered from snapfish or vistaprint for maybe a few dollars more because of all the deals they have. It’s my 2 month old daughters first Christmas card and it looks like it will be a bust. 🙁
– Ansie
-
Stephanie Holder
Guess I am just going to get on the “what the he**” were they thinking not hiring enough “seasonal employees” to handle calls, emails and the WORKLOAD needed to keep people happy with the “BARE MINIMUM” amount of customer service that we deserve by choosing to put our trust into a company. We assumed that their standards were comparable to all the others that we have used over the years. Its pretty bad when good old Walmart can out customer service and deliver better than a this fly by night company. I can maybe excuse being a little behind, but no contact and leaving customers stranded with no way of knowing what is going on or what can be done to rush it (paying more) is beyond “UNEXCUSABLE”. If they can’t deliver I can order from somewhere else but I have no clue when to estimate it so Im left hanging wondering what “pending” means in terms of delivery date. When I place an order its needs to have a box that says “up to date” or running few days behind or week behind and so forth that gives estimated date of completion so I know what the estimated delivery should be. Then I can choose to make an educated decision. Do I want to rush the cards or rush delivery. Or, Ill just use another company. At least the choice is in my hands and in my control. Get a better ordering system, get seasonal employees that email, answer calls and do the work, and learn better business ethics or this will be your last Christmas season in business!!!!!
-
Update: I did contact InvitationBox using the subject line “Attention Kitty,” and got a response a few days later. They pointed out that the fine print in their deals DOES include (and it does – I checked both deals this morning):
Amazon: Products usually ship within 2.5 weeks of redemption; orders must be placed prior to December 2, 2013 to receive before December 25, 2013
Groupon: Most orders ship within 2.5 weeks from the redemption date … order by December 2nd for delivery by December 25th.
Of course, if they would answer the phone or an e-mail, or use their own Facebook page, they could have reminded their customers of this in two seconds rather than leaving behind a group of angry people giving them bad reviews. Very bad customer service.
Although it’s my responsibility to read the fine print, and this was my mistake here, those qualifications really are inadequate for this sort of product. You’re not advised anywhere during the purchasing process that you should spring for overnight shipping, for example. RECEIVING Christmas cards “by December 25” isn’t terribly useful.
Good luck, all! I got an e-mail yesterday that mine were shipped. I’ll come back to report on the quality of the cards.
-
Kim,
It is nice that you are sticking up for invitationbox, but I would be careful. What you may not be aware of, is that on 12/06 they sent an email to their customers saying:
————————————————————–
we have put together the following information to show the estimated date of when your order will ship:Orders Placed the week of:
November 11-November 17- most orders have shipped
November 18-November 24- orders shipping this week
November 25-December 2- shipping out week of December 9
——————————————————————to my knowledge they have not hit any of those ship dates. certainely not mine (ordered 12/25 – 12/02). then they promised a ship date of 12/17 and missed that.
so I would be careful for trying to stick up to such a company. FYI they have not removed their phone number from their website.-
should read “(ordered 11/25 – 12/02).”
-
-
AC
I just wanted to jump on the bandwagon and share my dissatisfaction to invitationbox.com. I put in my order on 12/2 and even paid extra to have my cards shipped between 3-5 business days. It is now 13 business days, and I have sent multiple inquiries asking when I should receive my cards, and still, today, have not heard back from a single person. Then they forwarded me an email today that was from FedEx.com with my tracking # on it saying I’m suppose to receive it on 12/23. I can’t even thank them for finally getting in touch with me because what am I suppose to do with the holiday cards at that time. Not only that, but my family and I are going to be out of town all next week visiting family. So if we are on schedule for what invitationbox.com is telling me, then I’m not going to see my cards until the end of the year – which by then is pointless.
-
Lynn
Emily – so sorry that your website has been overrun with all these negative invitation box reviews…however I think the fact that they have turned off their phones, only send automated email responses, and shut down their Facebook comments has left all the (hundreds? thousands? not sure) of people who are rightfully angry with this company nowhere to vent. My story is the same as everyones else’s, ordered in Nov…finally arrived today. (with blotchy printing, ugh.) Tried contacting them multiple times with no success. I have a lot of family overseas, so I’m super upset that they’ll be getting cards in January that say “Merry Christmas” on them. Was almost willing to give invitation box some slack on getting overwhelmed with all the groupon & amazon local orders…until I started reading reviews and realized that they pulled this same stunt last year. Cannot understand why this company is still in business.
-
emmy
Hi Lynn,
No need to apologize. We share experiences with companies and products based on our experiences and while we generally feel like our experience is representative of that of customers for the company in most cases, that isn’t always the case. We never want to mislead people so when our experiences differ from those of “regular” customers we are happy to have people share them whether that is positive or negative. I am disappointed to learn that they had a similar situation occur last year. It’s one thing to get overwhelmed with orders from a lack of predicting the amount of orders that would come in but its another to not respond to customers to keep them informed…that part isn’t cool and if this has truly happened more than once that just makes it so much worse.
-
-
I’m not sticking up for InvitationBox at all – just saying that in my own case I should have done more research before complaining.
In any case, yesterday I received an apology e-mail with a code for free New Year’s cards (same amount of cards I purchased for Christmas).
My Christmas cards arrived on Friday and are already in the mail, and I obviously don’t want to send NY cards to the same people, but I guess that might be useful if you get your Christmas cards late and would rather send NY cards, which at least look intentionally late.
-
I share the same bad experience on InvitationBox as many of the other customers here. I placed my order for my holiday cards by 12/1 and, to date, I have still not received my order (despite the fine print stating that I would get them 1.5 weeks prior to Christmas). It is very disappointing and upsetting to not be able to send holiday cards in time. If InvitationBox is not equipped to handle so many orders, they should have been more upfront and stopped accepting orders from customers. What a terrible company! I only get an automated response when I tried sending them an email with my complaint.
-
Sarah
Same issue here. I ordered my cards on November 25 and didn’t receive them by Christmas. Luckily, I purchased through amazon local and was already refunded when I told them of my problem. I don’t expect a thing from Invitation box given their reputation. So SO bummed especially since we were using our cards to make an announcement prior to Christmas that we won’t be able to.
-
Do NOT order cards from Invitation Box!!!! I ordered Christmas cards from this company IMMEDiATELY after Thanksgiving and they did not arrive to my home until Dec. 26. The WORST part is that I emailed and called many times to get an ETA on the cards, as had I known they would have such a poor turn- around time, I could have ordered from a more reliable company. I was not at all impressed with the cards when I received them. Paper Stock was good, but that’s about it….. DO NOT order from this company. I even followed up again two weeks after Christmas to voice my concerns and still they have not had the courtesy to respond back. My neighbor also ordered Christmas cards from this company and her turn-around was the same. She actually received her cards on Christmas Eve… Such POOR Customer Service….
-
Laura
I purchased an Invitation Box stamper through Amazon Prime on 3/14/. The turnover was 2.5 weeks to make; I needed it within 6 weeks, so I assumed I was fine.
About 4 weeks after ordering I still had not received or heard anything about my stamper- I contacted Invitation Box via email. I got an automated email saying I should hear a response within 1-2 days. A week goes by and I still have not heard from them. I found a contact number and called. The lady informs me that my package was shipped that day (4/21) and I should receive it the next day.
When I receive my stamper, I notice it says “Skylar & Laura”. My fiance’s name is “Skyler.” I looked to see if I typed it wrong and in clear letters it shows I did not. I have to send my invites out by 4/26. I contact them and talk to a woman named “Lisa.” I assume they can rush make and deliver me a new stamper- no. They outsource through a company in Canada and they can’t rush order I should be able to get a new one in 5 weeks.
Clearly, that is not an option because my invites need to be sent out. “Lisa” offers to have the company make me envelopes with our return address stamped on them. I was quite hesitant about this because we paid a lot of extra money for high quality envelopes and invites. She ensured me that the envelopes would be great quality and said they SHOULD be lined. I told her the envelope size (5×7) and she said they would ship next day.
Today, I received the envelopes and they are literally transparent- you can read every word on my invite through it. I call to see if they can send me labels or do something else and “Lisa” informs me that they, “…have done enough on our end and you’re out of options.” I asked about their “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” they have posted and she said they’ve tried… Great guarantee!
Now I am stuck with Dollar Store quality envelopes to send my custom-made, high quality invitations in. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY! Read all the other reviews!
Your pictures are adorable and they made the perfect card! I love it!