WHOA WHOA WHOA!!! Before you decide not to pay, make sure you are not confusing the issues. If you don't pay because the work is shoddy, that's one thing (and I agree they shouldn't be payed). You will also need to return the books. All of them. But you can't not pay him because he charged you when most parents wouldn't have or because of how much he marked it up or try to get out of paying because he doesn't have a P.O. Sucks, but there it is.

I can tell you that I would not charge my sons school $1000 for typesetting/layout/design and typesetting... not because it's not that amount but because it's MY SON's school and bascially it's my time as I already own the equipment. You can bet his mark up was 50% so if i was you I would sit down with him and tell him that this committee should not have made these deicisions and the PTO is not going to pay this bill. Tell him YOU ARE NOT going to pay then negotiate a lower price,,, perhaps he could break even,,,

take your book to Kinko's and get a bid and see what the cost is, use this price as a negotiating tool... and if he won't come down then simply tell him you are rejecting the whole order and not paying or any of it because he doesn't have a OP, purchase order, and the President didnt' sign off on it!

Sounds good in theory, but in reality you simply can't do this. Your group gave the guy the job. Your group gave him a budget. With or without a P.O. or the president signing off on this, it sounds like you had at least a verbal contract. One that he fulfilled, even if it was a terrible job. You yourself said that you were glad to have someone do it. Is it possible that in the moment of gladness, that your group didn't do it's normal homework and check this guy out? Been there, done that. It's a hard lesson to learn, but a good one. Even when someone offers to do something for free, we check them out as though we were handing over the keys to the farm.

We gave her the budget and started collecting candid photos. In May we began proofing. All the while receiving BW copies to make our corrections. We were just thrilled not to have to try and find someone and to a lot of legwork.

You cannot now try to renegotiate the deal for less money. Either the books are good enough for the year, or they aren't. Paying less money doesn't change that. You can pay what you agreed and keep the books or you can return everything with no payment and explain why.

Ask the guy if he wants them back (he may not, I mean what the hell is he going to do with them now?). Tell him you are willing to try to sell them, but that you expect most families to reject the work. If he agrees, leave it up to the families. Explain to them what happened and let them judge for themselves. If he doesn't agree to go this route, return it all lock, stock and barrel. Make sure you get any agreements in writing from this guy.

Pay him what you agreed (the money originally agreed on from your budget) or return it all.

Good Luck!

I agree - don't pay the price. It is the responsibilty of ANY agency/printer to provide a "commercially acceptable product" by law. And, his son charging you $1000 and he making $1600 on top of that is insane. Did he provide you a witten estimate? If not, pay the cost of the printing only to start the negotiations. Then, at most, I'd pay half of their fee - if it gets ugly. I have never charged our PTO for any of the work I have done - this past year if our agency billed my time (some of which is while I am at work no less) it would be in the range of $35-50,000 in service time. I have created a newsletter template, graphics and writing for it monthly, designed the PTO website, the school web site and maintained them until just recently - someone else is doing it now, attended seminars, bought books, made all the flyers for events (and printed them at no charge to the PTO). I'll stop now - I'm frustrated by this guy and it's not even my problem.

The printer should be embarssed... does he think he will get more work this way? I do typesetting and broker out the printing and I can tell you that I would not charge my sons school $1000 for typesetting/layout/design and typesetting... not because it's not that amount but because it's MY SON's school and bascially it's my time as I already own the equipment. You can bet his mark up was 50% so if i was you I would sit down with him and tell him that this committee should not have made these deicisions and the PTO is not going to pay this bill. Tell him YOU ARE NOT going to pay then negotiate a lower price,,, perhaps he could break even,,, but he needs to understand that this is not up to the quality of the school or the PTO and it is not acceptable. If you have anyone local who is in the printing industry have them sit with you in this meeting and take your book to Kinko's and get a bid and see what the cost is, use this price as a negotiating tool... and if he won't come down then simply tell him you are rejecting the whole order and not paying or any of it because he doesn't have a OP, purchase order, and the President didnt' sign off on it!

I always say "people never cease to amaze me," and I'm right!

I feel so badly for you, and can only imagine how incredibly frustrating the entire experience has been . How this family can walk around town and not hang their heads in shame is beyond me. While I'm all for compensating people fairly, this lot was out of control!

Our board and principal spoke to the guy (whom we have now found out is a print BROKER) and he said sorry but the printer won't re-print and I'll try ONE MORE TIME to see if he'll give you a 200-300 refund. He said he has shown it to several people (family and friends attending his daughter's graduation party) and they really liked it! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE I ASK!

He made the mistake of showing me the invoice from the printer for $1200+ then told me he paid the desinger (his son) $1000 for his work. So that means the print broker took home approximately $1600!!! For making some phone calls and sending photos to his son in California. I guess postage has gone UP!

That is maddening!

We are sending the books home tomrrow with the kids with a note about volunteers for next year and placing the print broker's name, company name and phone number on the inside cover. There is no company mention printed on the book anywhere so it gives the appearance that we "the pto" printed it. I'll tell you, if I printed that thing it would turn out A LOT better.

. . . as I charge the beach in Normandy I can smell my fate. . .

Here we go . .

Daddio - we used Kaiser Studio in Troy, Michigan, but they are local to us. Don't know if they work outside the MetroDetroit area. We had our regular school photographer take the fall student photos and he agreed to let Kaiser use them for $100.