I am a designer at a photography studio, where quality, high-impact marketing materials are a must in the competitive world. I designed some full-color brochures for an upcoming bridal fair, in CMYK mode, according to each and every one of the City Graphic's specs, and the printing came out terrible and extremely cyan in color. Now I know that as all monitors are not alike, there would be some color shift, but this was extreme. My boss had to take the job elsewhere (which the printing turned out perfect at the other place) and rush it, at 3 times the cost to have them ready for the fair. We sent a copy of the good-color brochure as a reference of what its supposed to look like for City Graphics to reprint the job. It took about two months, at the fault of both parties. When they printed the second time around, they did not send us a proof, and went ahead and printed all 1000 brochures. The color shifted from being too cyan, to too yellow, but in the same extremity, and equally unusable. When approached by my boss, the owner pretty much told her to take her business elsewhere, that he was tired of trying to please her, and that it wasnt their fault, it was the designers (myself).
Pros: Reasonable prices
Cons: unfriendly and unhelpful staff, poor print quality, flimsy print stock
more