Blurb Reviews 4,628

Terrible. Worst customer service around.

Hello,
I'm very happy with the most recent order I received on April 29, 2025. However, because I ordered 21 books I wanted to make sure by ordering one first, which I did. The test book came out with tons of errors. I followed what I thought was the instructions to PREVIEW the doc. But after I sent the first book out for testing and received it back, I realized there was no PREVIEW button next to the UPLOAD button after you previewed.
I had to drill down many areas to find the Preview button. The PREVIEW button should be right beside the UPLOAD button. That's my feedback

Update. 6/8/25Note that I entered 2 reviews and they responded with exact same canned response. Blurb contacted me with links to more articles.
I published elsewhere with real support
Previous
Isigned up to publish my book. I uploaded my book and cannot understand why there are a few words on each page. My 80 page book is 175 pages long. I contacted customer service several times. My project is now frozen. It will not advance and I cannot advance or minimize it. My multiple emails to customer service are met with articles to reads, with stuff that has nothing to do with this concern. More emails and responses are more articles

I've ordered books previously up to 2 years ago. All were good. I received my photobook today. The paper was a dreadfully poor quality, I was so disappointed, I just wanted to sit down and cry. I thought that is what I previously ordered. It was nothing like the lovely paper in my previous books. I made a mistake in ordering standard paper. I did check my previous orders on Blurb website and the order emails from Blurb. There is no mention on the paper type. Other companies such as Cewe put the paper type on the order confirmation email. That way, if you liked a paper type on a previous book, it is on the order. If Blurb sent more comprehensive details of orders, I would have ordered the premium paper. There is also a noticeable indent in about the first and back six pages. Not in the covers or the grey pages inside covers. It is like a machine mark, maybe from holding the book while the cover is being attached or something similar. All in all a disappointing day. I feel I've wasted €50. Delivery was fine and on the expected day.
Note: When opened on a two page layout, the paper is so thin that the photos and text from the two previous pages on each side are visible. This makes the white margins and spaces unattractive. Even for standard paper, this is unacceptable.

This is the first time I've used Blurb. I really liked the software they provide (BookWright) and the book was easy to put together. I didn't have any issues until I uploaded the book, added shipping and payment, once I hit place order I got an error message saying to refresh the page. I did and nothing happened. I figured the payment didn't go through and I would try again. I checked my bank account and they charged me! (ordered 20 copies so the charge was $170 with they express shipping). In my Blurb portal there is no book in production. The project lost. Basically I paid for the books but it wasn't recorded. I've been emailing customer service all day and they've only responded once. I'm a Graphic Designer and this project is for a client who needs the book delivered in time. I'm still waiting to hear back from them so I can at least get my money back rather than trying to purchase the book again and risking another failed attempt. Their customer service needs major improvement. They don't do phone calls which is a shame because this sounds like a really simple website glitch and it could of easily been handled over the phone quickly but now I am stressing about getting the project done in time.

Very disappointing experience. My order was delayed without any notice—I had to reach out myself to find out what was going on. After multiple follow-ups, they suddenly canceled my order without my consent, blaming an internal error, and told me to reorder instead of just printing and shipping it.

Poor communication, zero accountability. Wouldn’t recommend if you need reliable service.

Ordered a photo book. It was some of the worst printing I've ever seen. The colors were far off. The exposure was wrong. I took this $85 dollar book and threw it right in the trash.

The postage is ridiculously expensive - and not very clear how much until you get to the end of your order- almost the same price as the printing & binding.

Ordered a book, express shipping as well on December 19. Was supposed to be delivered December 26 no problem.
I got the tracking number but it only ever said "label created" for the entire week, I asked for my shipping money back as it was past the date and asked why I still haven't received my book. Their reply? "Oh fedex never picked it up." What?

They ordered me a new one and covered the cost of express shipping on the 27th of December, estimated arrival on January 6th. It is now January 6th, fedex tracking number has said "label created" since December 29.
Is this a joke?
Regardless, the fact that this was a Christmas and anniversary gift, and they STILL charged me for the insane amount, after all the back in forth I've had to do. Had I not messaged them I'd still be waiting for them to tell me "oh fedex never picked it up" what does that even mean. And is that whats happening again? Like just give me a refund and go somewhere else.

Absolutely insane, not worth it, as another review said, express shipping is a lie, and it's over expensive for these problems.

Go somewhere else

I ordered two separate photobooks and paid over 40 Euros for express delivery for them to be delivered “no later than 18 December” and “no later than 20 December”.
The photobook that was supposed to be delivered before 20 December was delivered on 27 December which meant no Christmas presents under the tree for my parents.
The delivery of the other photobook (that was supposed to be delivered on 18 December) turned into a farse. When I was made aware that the book would not be delivered in time for me to take it home to my home country I managed to change the delivery address to my friend’s house so she could bring the book with her for Christmas. According to Fedex tracking the book has still not been delivered, 13 days later! After 20 messages with blurb.com staff they claim the book was delivered sometime after Christmas which means I will have to wait until my friend gets back to see if it is really there.

Do not pay for express delivery, it does not mean a thing!

Do not rely on blurb.com for Christmas presents!

The frustrating part was also that after paying for the express delivery with the words “delivery no later than…” the blurb user account changed the words to “estimate delivery” which is not the same thing at all!

Had I known about the late delivery I would have shipped the book to my home country so that we could at least give a delayed Christmas presents and saved myself countless e-mails and frustration. I will now either have to ship the book myself or bring it next summer when I travel back home. That is if the book has been delivered as blurb.com claims (not supported by fedex).

Four days in a row that FedEx say unable to deliver, despite us being here the whole time, and I’ve had no response to my messages to blurb’s support team.
It’s a shame as the books are good but FedEx seem to be completely useless - they don’t really provide any meaningful tracking on their website/app, and they don’t seem to have the gumption to call if they can’t find you.
What a waste of time.

I am still waiting for my book..so I cannot comment on it yet. This is the fourth time that I have used this company as I like the ease of navigation around the software.

However, every, single, time.... The delivery is appalling with a capital A!!!

If the rest of the world and other large companies can get delivery right, why can't Blurb??
Don't bother waiting in for your package as it will be a day wasted.

I'd like to know of another company in the UK where you can make good quality photo books and add as much/little text as you like with ease. I would then consider going with them.

This is also the first time there's been a production issue too...

Blurb, you are seriously letting customers down.
Get a grip and do it right!!

NB 18 Dec 2024

Parcel finally delivered! It's actually 6 days late as FedEx leave containers hanging around at the Belgium port.

I'm essence, this is down to FedEx and not Blurb though. I just wish Blurb would shake things up with FedEx or use a more reliable courier.

The book, as usual is beautiful and I guess why I use them. The delivery choice is the issue.

I was provided an adequate solution from BLURB.
But UPS never again tho.

I ordered photo-book for 170$ and more than 40$ for delivery, UPS were not capable to delivery the package to the address where they were delivering from 2017 (i ordered some books before). There is no way to change/update delivery address or contact them directly. Not saying blurb collected my phone number and nobody contact me - and on the UPS website its announcement that they are contacting the shipper - BLURB.

I’ve used Blurb for several years and never had a problem until now. I placed an order on 2nd December and was informed delivery would be on or before 11th December. I heard nothing from them and when i checked my order status yesterday it was “in production”. I requested more information and have now been told that they can not give me an estimated delivery date. They say their printing department is “very busy”. However, they are still advertising aggressively for new business and giving optimistic delivery times. If anyone wants their books any time soon then don’t use this company.

Its now 15th December and they’ve told me my books have been despatched via Fedex and said I should get it by 24th December. They’ve given me a tracking number but Fedex doesn’t recognise it. I’m very doubtful about it.

I have been a customer for 15 years but a recent change in the software caused me a lot of work by changing the fonts and line spacing. This happened once before but I was producing an image heavy book so not so much of a problem. I am now producing new editions of older books and one new book, all heavy on text, all nearly ready for printing. After going to great lengths to get the layouts to fit the pages, I had to start again. Again I am close to submitting my product and I am again asked to update the software. I declined. What is going on?

Terrible book production.
Terrible customer service. There is not even a way to call and talk to someone
They promised a delivery date and after paying for express delivery , days later the supposed delivery date of the re make of the book , it has not even shipped …
No answer from them via email either . I do not recommend using blurb if you are a picky or professional photographer . It really is very bad

I am absolutely disgusted that after working hard for many hours on a 32 page 12x13 photobook, then uploading it for delivery, I was charged AU$64 for shipping presumably from Australia to New Zealand. My long labour on this work meant I felt forced to pay it, or start all over again with a different publishing company. When complaining about it to customer service, I was told this was because the Australian office doesn't print, and the thin book was sent from USA. This is dishonest on two counts: 1, Blurb shouldn't parade an "Australian" office choice to order from as it doesn't produce anything there and may just as well be an online function, and 2. even from the USA to New Zealand that price is absolutely exorbitant for one slender book.
I have made many photo books with Blurb over the last decade or more, and have recommended the company to friends and family but will not be doing so in the future

Blurb’s response below doesn’t address the exorbitant cost of shipping, whereever the item is posted from. Buyer beware.

My order never arrived. I contacted customer support and they cancelled and refunded my order instead of fullfilling the order and speeding up delivery. The whole process of ordering was difficult and support are not really helpful.

I was concerned that my delivery wouldn't arrive in time and Céline from Customer Services was just fantastic. Tracked my parcel over a couple days and made sure my parcel made it in time. Once arrived, the books are completely perfect. Very satisfied and will use Blurb again, thank you!

Paid 18.00 for expedited shipping. The site said it would take 3 days to print. I ordered it on the 16th. It is now the 23rd and no shipping email. No way to check my order status. It is one of the most backward sites out there. Why can so many other sites do it so much better?