The box has arrived and something is off
Most online print orders arrive and are fine. When one is not, the difference between a quick resolution and a long argument comes down to what you do in the first hour. Print problems have a short useful window, because evidence disappears the moment the job gets unpacked, split up and sent out to a team.
This is a practical guide to that first hour and the days after it. It covers how to tell a real fault from a normal variation, how to document what you have, what to ask for, and how to reduce the chance of it happening again.
First, separate faults from variations
Not every difference between your screen and the delivered job is a defect. Print has tolerances, and a supplier is not obliged to deliver something outside what the process can do. Knowing where that line sits saves everyone time.
Usually a genuine fault
- Wrong quantity, wrong product, wrong stock or wrong size
- Pages out of order, missing pages, or the back printed upside down relative to the front
- Visible streaks, banding, smudges, scuffs or ink marks across the sheet
- Text or images cut through where the artwork had adequate margins
- Folds, creases or binding that do not line up from copy to copy
- Damage in transit, including crushed corners and water marks
Usually within tolerance
- A small colour difference from your uncalibrated monitor
- A slight shift from a previous batch printed months earlier
- Trim position varying by a fraction of a millimetre across the run
- Paper shade differing a little from a sample viewed under different light
- Colour looking different on coated and uncoated versions of the same design
If the issue is in the second list, the fix is usually in the specification rather than in a reprint. Batch differences in particular are explained in why your reprint does not match the last batch.
Document before you do anything else
Stop distributing the job. Every copy that leaves the box is one you cannot show anyone. Then take five minutes and record what you have.
- Photograph the packaging before opening further, including any shipping labels and visible damage.
- Photograph the fault in natural light, straight on, with a ruler or coin in frame for scale.
- Photograph several copies to show whether the issue affects the whole run or a portion of it.
- Count the affected copies. A precise number is far more persuasive than the word most.
- Note batch identifiers printed on the packaging or the delivery note.
- Keep the physical samples. A supplier may ask for them back, and photographs cannot show a scuff you can feel.
Then find the file you approved and the proof you signed off. If the artwork itself contained the error, that is a different conversation, and knowing it early saves you from making a claim you cannot support.
Report it clearly and early
A good report is short, factual and specific. Suppliers deal with these daily and respond faster to a message they can act on immediately.
| Include | Example |
|---|---|
| Order reference | the number from your confirmation email |
| What was ordered | product, quantity, stock, finish |
| What arrived | the observable difference, described plainly |
| How many are affected | a counted number, not an estimate |
| When it arrived | delivery date and time |
| Photographs | packaging, fault, scale reference |
| What you would like | reprint, partial reprint, credit or collection |
Write it in a way that describes rather than accuses. Something like the trim on approximately 180 of the 500 copies cuts into the text on the right edge is more useful than the job is ruined. The first sentence tells a production manager where to look.
What to ask for, and what is realistic
Reasonable outcomes depend on what went wrong and how badly it affects the use of the job.
- Full reprint when the whole run is unusable or a specification was not met.
- Partial reprint when a defined portion is affected and the rest is usable.
- Credit or partial refund when the job is usable but not to standard, or when a reprint would arrive too late to help.
- Expedited replacement when a deadline is at risk. Say so at the start, because it changes how the job is scheduled.
Be clear about your deadline in the first message. A supplier who knows you need copies on Thursday can often solve the problem in a way that is impossible once Thursday has passed. If the timing cannot be met, ask whether a smaller urgent batch can be produced first with the balance to follow.
When the artwork was the problem
Sometimes the review shows that the file itself carried the fault. Missing bleed, text too close to the trim, low-resolution logos or a colour built for screen rather than print. In those cases a supplier printed what was approved, and the commercial position is different.
That is not a dead end. Many printers will offer a reduced rate on a corrected reprint, particularly if the setup is unchanged. It is worth asking directly and without drama. To avoid repeating the situation, the underlying causes are covered in export a print-ready PDF and image resolution for print.
Check the delivery before the courier leaves
The easiest problems to resolve are the ones spotted at the door. Transit damage in particular is far simpler to claim when it is noted at the point of delivery rather than discovered two days later, because after that nobody can say whether the crushed corner happened on the van or in your storeroom.
A thirty second check is enough. Count the boxes against the delivery note. Look at the outside of each one for crushing, tears, staining or a punctured corner. If anything looks wrong, photograph it before signing and write a short note on the delivery record describing what you can see. Signing an unqualified receipt for a visibly damaged box weakens a later claim more than most people expect.
Then open one box while the packaging is still intact and check the top and bottom copies. Faults that affect an entire run are usually visible immediately, and catching one at that moment means you can report it the same day.
Storing the rest properly
Once a job passes the initial check, how you store it affects whether it stays in that condition. Keep boxes flat rather than on edge, off the floor, away from radiators and out of direct sunlight. Paper takes up moisture from the air, and a humid storeroom will curl a laminated sheet or make an uncoated stock feel limp within weeks. If a job is going to sit for months before it is used, that detail matters as much as the printing did.
Large or repeating orders need a check routine
For a run of a few hundred, checking every copy is realistic. For thousands, it is not, and the sensible approach is a structured sample instead of a vague flick through.
Pull copies from the top, the middle and the bottom of several different boxes rather than taking twenty from the same place. Faults on press often affect a continuous stretch of the run, so twenty consecutive copies can all look perfect while a problem sits three boxes away. Check the same set of things on each sample: trim position, colour against your reference, fold alignment, page order and finishing.
If you order the same item regularly, keep one approved copy from a good run as a physical reference and store it flat in a folder. Comparing a new delivery against a real previous copy is far more reliable than comparing it against a memory or a screen, and it turns a subjective disagreement into something both sides can look at together.
Keep the paperwork tidy
Keep everything for the job in one place: order confirmation, the approved file with a date in the filename, the proof you signed off, the delivery note, your photographs and the message thread. If a claim runs longer than a couple of exchanges, this folder answers most questions without anyone having to reconstruct events from memory.
Note the dates of each message as well. Many suppliers have a stated window for reporting problems, and being able to show you raised the issue within it removes an easy objection.
Reducing the chance of a next time
Most repeat problems trace back to one of four habits, and all four are easy to change.
- Approve proofs properly. A rushed approval is the single biggest source of avoidable reprints. Use the proof approval checklist and give yourself an hour rather than five minutes.
- Order a sample for large runs. One copy before a thousand is cheap, as set out in order a print sample before a big run.
- Specify finishing precisely. Fold direction, binding edge and lamination type are frequent sources of misunderstanding. See finishing options when ordering print online.
- Build in buffer time. A deadline with no slack turns a fixable problem into a crisis. Planning is covered in print turnaround times.
How we handle it
If something arrives wrong on an order placed with us, tell us early and send photographs. We check the printed result against the approved file and the specification, and we say plainly which side the problem sits on rather than leaving you to work it out. Where the fault is ours, we reprint. Where the file carried the error, we explain exactly what happened and what a corrected version needs, so the second attempt is right.
You can reach us through the contact page, and there is more about how we work on the about page. General guidance on ordering sits under general printing guides and across printing services.
The short version
Stop distributing the job, photograph the packaging and the fault with something for scale, and count exactly how many copies are affected. Work out first whether you are looking at a fault or a normal variation. Report it with the order reference, a plain description, the count, the photographs and the outcome you want, and state your deadline in the first message. Keep the approved file, the proof and the thread together. Then fix the habit that caused it, because most reprints trace back to a rushed proof approval rather than to the press.
