Printing Books with @IngramSpark: the Problem Persists

Update: I have finally received a correct shipment! Read on for the whole story.

I question the intelligence of writing this post, because as authors, we're so often told to keep any problems—rejections, bad reviews, etc.—under wraps. But this problem I've had with getting correctly printed books (through IngramSpark) has gotten ridiculous. And it's been pointed out to me that readers, and other writers, like to see behind the curtain, to know what's happening, and to see the less-than-smooth road. This post is for people like that. If you prefer to leave the author's life & the ups and downs of the behind the scenes kept out of your view on a book, you should stop reading.

Okay, for those of you who are still with me, you probably know that I've written before about why I originally chose IngramSpark over CreateSpace (the two biggest POD providers), and about the first time I received incorrectly printed books in January. To recap: 

Originally, I chose IngramSpark because:

• They are known for better quality.
• They have a more fair earning structure for all book sales outside of Amazon, including for international distribution. And the earning structure with Amazon is still comparable.
• They offer the trim size I like (5x7), which CreateSpace does not.

Two out of three points are still true. But what has happened to the quality?? Here's a recap of my experience this time around (Mortal Musings didn't have these problems):

• Early January, I ordered two test prints. These came with horrendously messed up margins, tiny on some pages, huge on the others. Unacceptable, but it was two books. So, I filed a claim with Ingram Spark.
• Mid January, I received two correctly printed test print replacements. Problem solved, right? (That's the update in the last post on this topic.)
• Soon afterward, I ordered a large shipment of print books to have on hand, for giveaways, in-person events, etc. 
• Those books came with the exact same problem as the first ones. So I contacted Ingram, filled out the forms, explained that I had release events coming up and I needed correctly printed books ASAP, etc. It took a while, but the customer service rep & I seemed to understand each other. They placed a replacement order and eventually sent me return shipping labels. (There was actually more drama and delays in there, but I'm trying to be concise.)
• Replacement books came a few days before the book release not only with the same problem, but also with a new one!! The cover was now wrapped incorrectly, with the front cover going onto the spine.
• Let's not forget, at this point I had received two correctly printed & bound books! I know it is possible, they just can't be bothered to do it correctly.
• So I went through the same claim process again. And though Ingram Spark has drastically stepped up their customer service game in recent months, implementing a live chat feature and such, it still takes days for anything to actually be done, because no one there seems to understand that this is a time-sensitive issue! 
  
  
  By the time I heard back, it was after the release. Same spiel: send us a claim form, and photos of the problem, and we'll send you shipping labels to return the books to us, and then we'll place a replacement order. Not okay. So I convinced the rep to send me the replacement order without waiting the 10 days for the books to arrive at their office. I also sorted through the books I had & just in case chose the least messed up ones to have on hand for the event planned at the library, because Ingram left me no choice. (I'm actually a little relieved those didn't end up being necessary.)
• Friday, I received the third batch of books. Now, remember when I said this was a big order? Already, thousands of sheets of paper have been wasted, not to mention time, shipping costs (on their end, at least), etc. And guess what? This newest shipment has a third problem! So now I have books with:
• Noticeably uneven/inconsistent margins.
• Covers wrapped incorrectly.
• And weird air bubbles trapped under the top layer of the cover:

Pretty, right? (OY.) So much time spent on the interior layout and the cover design, and the printers can't seem to do their job! I've been through the spiel of IngramSpark customer service reps trying to blame me for these problems, too. But each time they send the files to their techs, those confirm that the files I uploaded are correct and these are printer errors. Meanwhile, they keep telling me that their quality assurance reps check these orders. Really??

Literally, each round of books shipped has had a new problem. And it's incredibly infuriating and frustrating. The part of me that's an author who's spent so much time bringing this book into the world wants to cry. The part of me that's an entrepreneur is at a loss. Who has absolutely ZERO pride in their work like this? How can they be okay with wasting not only my time, but also all of that paper and all of that money (theirs) on reprinting equally problematic books?! 

And I have no way of knowing if books printed at a different facility are affected, because apparently (as I found out Friday), the system automatically puts each shipment in at the most geographically proximate printer, and therefore all of these problematic books—and the two good ones—were all printed by the same place. So I can't even get new books printed somewhere else with the hope that this is only one printer having these problems. I'm stuck.

Honestly, I don't know what to do. I wouldn't blame any of you for holding off on ordering print books, though I hope other printers won't have the same problem. If you have ordered a book through any retailer, please don't hesitate to return copies that have problems like this for replacements. 

Because all I can do is keep fighting, and keep insisting they actually do their job and send me correctly printed books. I have no idea when that will actually happen. I am so unbelievably disappointed in this experience with the Ingram Content Group. It's ridiculous—especially because I have two correctly printed books that show if someone just gave half a damn, they could have gotten me properly printed books a month ago.

So there's your glimpse at the "glamorous" life of being an author. While this is being sorted, I have also started looking into local printers who can do a short run for me to have on hand, even though that will likely mean spending money on revamped interior and cover files, not to mention the money for the print run itself. Money I've already spent at Ingram, for this nightmare. As one friend put it, it seems Ingram's new motto should be: 

Lowering your quality expectations with every shipment.

Update: As mentioned at the top of this post, the issue has finally been resolved. So if you've been waiting to order your print copy, now's the time!

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In happier news, there's still a little bit of time left to enter the Mending Heartstrings blog tour giveaway!