Nationwide Disc Report Card
Categories: stuff I like
Written By: Jeff
I posted recently about being featured on the homepage of NationwideDisc.com.
Since then, I’ve had a few people get in touch to ask how I felt about my experience with them. The answer is pretty simple, they were quick, professional and the best deal I could find. This was my answer prior to being featured by them and continues to be my answer now.
I haven’t told this story before, but when I ordered my discs, they were aware that I had a CD release party on the calendar. The day they shipped the discs, they told me they realized that the CDs had a minor shrink-wrap issue. Honestly, it was barely noticeable to me, but they went ahead and shipped 200 CDs so I’d be sure to have something for the show. Then they held onto the rest, repaired them, and shipped 800 perfect CDs to me the next day.
Good prices, great people and excellent service.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
What a crock. I also decided (unfortunately) to have my discs done by Nationwide. My experience was very different from yours. The discs arrived with pathetically botched printing on the disc face with unreadable print (I guess they thought I wouldn’t notice). The shrink wrap on most of them was very loose. When I contacted them about the problem, I was given the brush off for several days. Finally, after threatening to take action, they agreed to take the CDs back and replace the defective discs. I was told UPS would pick them up today. Nobody from UPS showed up. It’s now over a week past my release date and I’m still sitting with worthless CDs. Going with them was the biggest mistake I ever made.
October 31st, 2008 at 8:51 am
OK, now I have to eat my words and a couple of slices of humble pie. Since making the above post, Nationwide has bent over backwards to correct the problem. They paid to have the discs returned for replacement and even gave me free new artwork that was much better than the artwork I submitted. They’ve called me personally to assure me everything would be taken care of to my satisfaction.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:47 am
Hey, glad things worked out, Robert. I know nobody’s perfect, but I’m glad they are working to make things right for you.
Best wishes on a successful release!
November 25th, 2008 at 10:59 am
do you know the name of the Boss/Owner at Nationwide – I wanted to talk to him/her about their services now & in the future. but I can’t find any names, besides Blue Richardson. thanks
November 25th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Sorry, I don’t know anyone there besides Blue.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Just wondering…did Nationwide design your cd cover and graphics, or did someone else?
January 15th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Kim: Luke Flowers designed the graphics on the CD. I got a very reasonable deal from him and I’m having him work on my second one. Check out http://www.lukeflowers.com.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
They messed up my order pretty badly. They failed to mention that the 6 panel digipak requires two huge chunks to be taken out of the artwork. The proof they sent me did, in no way, indicate that the artwork in that area would be cut out.This despite them trying to point out that another part of the artwork went a 16th of an inch past a fold on the other side. This 16th was by design-I work in print and understand the play in machines and i designed so that certain areas would not have a variance at all. They claim there is no way to print on the inside fold area, and that no digipaks have print on that spot. Of course my Rio grand blood and DJ Acucrack digipaks would indicate otherwise. I guess they never realized you could print on the back of the sheet too. Regardless, they admitted that if there had been type instead of just art where the pieces got cut out they would have said something so obviously they should have realized something as artwork is just as important. In addition to this procedural error, the finishing job was VERY sloppy. The glue to hold the panels once they were folded wasn’t applied consistently so the panels aren’t adhering well and where the edges meet, opposite the fold, there is uneven white visible-obviously no face trim was used when it absolutely should have been. Since making my complaint, mainly of the shoddiness of the job and the fact that it did not match my proof, they said they would see would they could do to make it up and I haven’t heard from them since. Maybe they’ll call after the credit card charges get reversed. So don’t trust their proofs as they aren’t indicative of the final product.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Matthew: a few things to your negative attitude. I work with designers and printers constantly, and have used Nationwide Disc several times with great results. Bottom line: If you do not want to use them, that is fine… but go find a local printer that would give you a proof and do everything you want them to, and you will pay 3 – 4 times as much. They are a gang run print shop (and if you do not know what that means, then you should not be posting an argument anyway) which means they run several jobs at one time, and color sometimes vary. I would get your facts strait before harping on a business for doing exactly what they are there to do… for a price that is unbeatable.
March 6th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I know what a gang run print shop is. I work in print, have worked in print for 15 years and I can tell you right now that I base my expectations of a printer on what is expected from me. It wasn’t a color variance. It was two huge chunks removed from the image area. They ADMITTED that if there had been text there they would have alerted me that those areas would be removed, but since it was only artwork, they didn’t feel the need to. The finishing work was also sloppy-this job would never have made it out of my shop.
Unfortunately we don’t do CDs or I would have done this job in house. I don’t think my attitude is negative. I simply expect that if someone wants you to pay them for work, that they do the work to the specifications agreed upon. In this case the proof and the final product did not match. As far as price dictating quality, there is still an unacceptable margin of error at any price. Nowhere on their website does it say “we’re cheap but crappy”. They claim to have the best prices and best quality. I won’t do business with nationwide anymore, and every city I stop at on tour, I let people know why.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I use datadisc – they were less expensive and faster and I love the product. The sales guys are WAY helpful and always take the tme to answer my questions for all my jobs and concerns whether it was 100 discs in digis or 2,500 in Jackets. Sorry your job got messed up. btw- datadisc is a Christian owned company (according to one of the guys I talked to) for like 20 years… that’s way cool…
June 18th, 2009 at 1:15 am
The website made it easy to order 1000 CDs. They were glad to take my $600+. That’s about all they have done for me. There has been NO correspondence in 4 days. I have e-mailed them 3 times and called twice. The first time I called, I was told that it would take up to 48 hours for a “project manager” to contact me. Well, 96 hours later, still nothing from my project manager. My e-mails went unanswered.
I am playing phone tag to get my money refunded. Next stop is the credit card company to dispute the charges. It’s a shame in this economy folks aren’t more eager to get business. I have 5 more projects each requiring 1000 CD’s each. They have lost $3000 worth of business. Hopefully, you don’t get burned if you use them.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Follow-up. I was contacted by Blue Richardson and he took full responsiblity for the lack of communication. My order should have been handled by someone on is staff while he was on vacation. It wasn’t and he didn’t try to make excuses. That was refreshing. He promised the order would arrive based on the timetable of when i orginally ordered it, and it was. I truely do believe this was out of the ordinary for them and would use them again.