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Frequently
Asked Questions
We
have tried to answer everything we can think of in this section. We appreciate
your taking the time to look here before calling us with your questions.
Thank You!
Questions
About Ordering Diplomas
1. How
long does it take to get a diploma order?
2. How can I expedite the order?
3. I never gave my child a diploma -- can we order one that is backdated?
4.Should I give my student an honors label?
5. I want to make a change to the text of
the diploma. Is this possible?
6. The diploma order form only goes back to 1995 for the date. Can
I get an earlier year?
7. I don't like the looks of the diploma my daughter got from the correspondence
school. Can you make a diploma for us that has the
name of another school?
8. My son does not live at home and he needs the diploma. Can you send
it to him?
9. What do I do if there is an
error on the diploma?
10. Which paper do you recommend?
Questions
About Ordering Announcements/Invitations
1. How
long does it take to get an announcement order?
2. When should I order announcements?
3. I have waited too long. Can I get the announcements printed
faster?
4. How can I expedite the shipping?
5. What does "Vellum" mean?
6. When should announcements be sent?
7. Announcements for twins
8. Limited space situations
9. Getting a proof of the announcements
10. Special characters in the name
11. Non-english wording
12. What if there is an error?
13. Preparing
the announcements for sending out
14. What if I need more after I've placed my
order?
Questions
About Shipping
1 .How much does shipping
cost?
2 . Do you ship overseas?
3 . Do you ship APO or to Alaska or Hawaii?
Questions
About Our Shopping Cart & Payment
1. I checked out last
night. Today when I look at my bank card statement on-line, it looks like
my order was charged twice.
2. I do not want to use my credit card on the web site. How can I get
the web price without paying for my order on line?
3. My card was declined, but I know that I have
money in this account. Why did this happen?
4. Do you take checks by phone?
5. I ordered as a "Mail-in payment" but I want to give a
credit card instead of mailing the payment. How do I do this?
What
To Do if Your Order Isn't Right
1. Not everything
that I ordered is in the box. I seem to be missing
some items.
2. There is a mistake on the order. What do I do and how long will it
take to correct the mistake?
"Can
You Send Me a Catalogue?"
1. I do not have internet
access at home. Can you send me a catalogue?
2. Our group is interested in placing a group
order for accessories. Can you send me a catalog?
3. Our church (or homeschool co-op or school) would like to distribute
information about your business to parents of graduates. Can you
send us a catalogue?
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Ordering
Diplomas :
Q:
How long will it take to get the diploma once
I place the order? |
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A:
It depends on the options on the diploma you are ordering:
1. Any diploma
without hand calligraphy, 23kt gold, or a stamped
cover:
These are shipped on the third business day after you place the
order. For example, if an order for a diploma without any of these
listed options is placed on Wednesday (any time up to 11:59 pm Central
Time), it will be shipped on the following Monday. Normal Priority
Mail delivery time means that you would have it on Friday or Saturday.
HOWEVER, if your order also contains items that need to be printed,
such as address labels or personal notes, the diploma will be held
until the printed items are ready. See our page about order
fulfillment time for more details.
2. Diplomas
with hand calligraphy, 23kt gold, or a stamped cover:
Each of these options will add one day to the normal 3-day fulfillment
time on a diploma order. For example, if an order is placed on Tuesday
afternoon and has hand calligraphy and a personalized cover, the
fulfillment time would be 5 days, not counting the day it is placed.
This order would be shipped on the following Tuesday. Diploma cover
stamping adds one day regardless of whether we are stamping the
school name, the student name, or both. See
this page for more information about fulfillment time and the
optional RUSH.
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Q. How can I expedite
my diploma order?
A.We offer a
RUSH option on all diploma orders. This option
is offered on the final page of the diploma form, where the item
is added to the shopping cart. The
RUSH option adds $10.00 to the diploma order.
Important
Notes about the RUSH option:
- The RUSH
option does not change the shipping time; it changes the
time it takes us to make the diploma. If you need a faster
shipping time as well, select that option in the shopping cart
or call us if you don't see what you need.
- If you place
a RUSH order for a Personalized Diploma, we will begin working
on it immediately. For this reason, we do not accept changes
to the text on RUSH orders for Personalized Diplomas.
- The RUSH
applies to the diploma order and any stock items(non-personalized,
off-the-shelf items) that would ship with it from our office.
It does not change the shipping time on items such as printed
announcements, name cards, address labels, or personal notes.
If placing a RUSH diploma order, any non-stock items must be placed
as a separate order.
- If you have
more than one diploma on your order, but only one of them is a
RUSH, your order will be held up while we contact you to see whether
you want to pay extra shipping for two separate shipments, or
add the RUSH option to the other diplomas so they can ship together.
To avoid delays, all the diplomas in one order
must have the RUSH option. If you need RUSH production on only
one, place the others as a separate order.
See
the
chart on this page for the details about RUSH fulfillment time.
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Q.
I never gave my child a diploma -- can we order one that is
backdated?
A. Yes, our
order forms for the diplomas have a drop-down box for you to select
the date. They go back to 1995. You may select a month, day and
year -- OR -- if you prefer, just give us a month and year rather
than a specific date.
Q. My son does not
live at home, and he needs the diploma as soon as possible. Can
you send it directly to him?
A. Yes,
we can ship to him -- the shopping cart has room for a billing address
as well as a shipping address. BUT please remember that the diploma
is not going to be signed when it arrives. Sending it directly to
the student means that they will have an unsigned diploma. You might
want to have us ship it to you instead. You could sign it and then
fax a copy to him while he is waiting for the actual signed diploma
to arrive in the mail.
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Q. Should I give
my student an honors seal?
A. It is up
to the school issuing the diploma to set the standards for what
the honors designations are. These seals are normally used to indicate
a level of achievement based on grade point average. We have listed
a couple of common systems for determining "honors" designation
if you would like to use on of them. They are on this
page.
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Q. I want to make
a change to the text of the diploma. Is this possible?
A. Not on the
Standard Diploma, but you may make a small change to the text on
any Personalized Diploma. If you wish to make a change, we ask you
to submit it to us on-line. We have a special page for wording changes.
It allows you to give us your changes in a form that we can copy
and paste from. Here is how it works:
- The receipt
page has a link at the bottom of the page called "Make changes
to your Personalized Diploma." The link will also be at the
bottom of the confirmation e-mail that you receive from the shopping
cart.
- Use this
link to go to our special on-line form and give us your order
number and the details of your wording change. Please let us know
about changes as quickly as possible. Changes must be submitted
within 12 hours of the time your order is placed.
- Because
we start working on RUSH orders immediately, we do not accept
changes to RUSH orders.
- If we have
questions, we will call or e-mail you immediately.
- There is
no charge for customizing a small portion of the text as long
as it does not change the layout. If the change you want to make
means we have to move all the text on the diploma around to accommodate
it, the charge is $5.95. The form asks if you are willing to have
us charge you this fee if it is necessary.
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The diploma order form only goes back
to 1995 for the date. Can I get a diploma for an earlier year?
A. Yes, please
place your order by selecting 1995 for the year, and then once you
have an order number, call us immediately and let us know what the
correct date is.
Q. I don't like the
looks of the diploma my daughter got from the correspondence school
she graduated from. Can you make one for us that has the name of
that school?
A. In certain
circumstances, we may be able to help you with this. First, be aware
that the diplomas we sell are not signed. You will have to forward
it to the school to have the signatures put on it. We ask that you
check with the school to find out if they will do this, and if so,
call and let us know what you intend to do. We will ask you to place
the order through our normal forms for the diploma you want. Once
the order is placed, we will want to have a copy of the original
diploma faxed to us. You are responsible for getting the necessary
signatures from the school.
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Q.What do I do if
there is an error on the diploma?
A. When you
go through the diploma order form, we ask you to print the confirmation
screen showing your final submission. If the diploma you get doesn't
have the information you submitted, we will correct it as soon as
possible without charge! The invoice that is shipped with the diploma
will have our phone number and your order number on it. Please call
us right away with the order number and tell us what the error is.
If the phone is answered by a voice mail box, please leave a message
telling us the order number and describing the error. We
will resend the diploma out immediately, without the cover. We strive
for accuracy, but we are human and sometimes an error is made.
If you realize
after you get it that YOU made an error, call and
let us know. We can send a replacement diploma without the cover.
The cost is $10 and includes shipping. Calligraphy and 23kt gold
are not included in this price.
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Q. Which paper do
you recommend?
A. The paper
is a personal choice, though people often ask for a recommendation.
The parchment paper is the most popular, and our customers love
it. The cream-colored cotton paper, though, is more "traditional"
in the sense that most larger schools use a solid color paper for
diplomas. The choice is yours. If you are purchasing the 23kt gold
option, we recommend the cream-colored paper, simply because the
solid color allows the gold to "shine" a little more without
the visual competition of the parchment paper's "patterning."
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Ordering
Announcements:
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A:
It depends on the type of announcement you are ordering:
1. Classic
and Deluxe, and Budget Announcements:
These are shipped 3 business days after the printer gets the
order from us, and it normally takes a day for us to enter the order
into our system and look it over. For example, if you place an order
on a Monday afternoon, we would have it to the printer on Tuesday,
and it would most likely be shipped on Thursday, though occasionally
it may go out a day earlier or a day later. With regular shipping
methods (UPS ground directly from the printer in Minnesota), you
can use the map below to determine shipping time. If you have a
post office box address and are ordering announcements, please give
us a physical address, since they are shipped UPS. The product page
for the particular announcement you are looking at will give the
production time.
2. Custom
Department Announcements:
These are normally shipped on the 4th or 5th working day after the
printer gets the order from us, and it takes a day for us to enter
the order into our system and look it over. This means that it would
normally be shipped by the printer on the 5th working day after
you place the order. For example, if you place an order on
Monday afternoon and we have no need to contact you about the order,
it will go to the printer on Tuesday and would be shipped on Friday
via UPS ground. Use the map below to calculate the shipping time.
The product page for the particular announcement you are looking
at will give the production time.
3. Foil
Panelcard or Foil Tassel Announcements:
These are shipped 3 business days after the printer gets the order
from us, and it normally takes a day for us to enter the order into
our system and look it over.
4. "Semi-Personalized
Announcements:"
The announcement itself is already printed and in our office waiting
for your order. The matching foil name cards are printed at our
office in 3 business days.
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Q.
When should I order announcements?
A. We recommend
ordering about 6 weeks before you need them. This way you have plenty
of time to address them and for your guests to have them in hand
3 to 4 weeks before the event. It also allows time for any unexpected
errors on our part to be corrected. See our etiquette
page for more information about mailing and addressing announcements
or invitations.
Q.
I have waited too long. Can I get the
announcements printed faster?
A. Yes, we do
offer a RUSH on announcement production, but only on those found
in the Social Division of our site (Classic, Budget, Deluxe and
Photo announcements.) The RUSH on announcement orders is not offered
on those in the Custom Department. A RUSH speeds up the production
time on the order by one day, and it costs $15.00. This option is
offered on the order form for announcements for which it is offered.
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Q. How can I expedite
the shipping on my announcement order?
A. If you would
like to upgrade the shipping from ground to overnight, the shopping
cart will allow you to choose a number of options. It calculates
the cost based on your zip code. If you decide after finishing an
order that you need expedited shipping, call us. We can re-bill
your credit card for the extra shipping if you ask us to. Note that
this does not speed up the production
time on your order; it simply means that the shipping will take
less item once it leave the printer.
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Q. What does the
word"vellum" mean where it is mentioned in descriptions
of the announcements?
A. The word
"vellum" is confusing because it means different things
to different people. Those involved with scrapbooking or paper crafts
are familiar with the term "vellum" as it refers to a
translucent paper, often used as an overlay. This is not the meaning
of the word in the world of printers and stationery papers. The
word "vellum" as we use it refers to the finish on the
paper. It means that the paper has a smooth finish, as opposed to
a "recycled" paper, which is textured, or a "parchment"
paper, which has a mottled appearance. "Vellum," whether
it is ivory, ecru, white, or any other color, is simply a "smooth"
paper -- it is NOT transparent or translucent.
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Q. When should I
send announcements of my son's graduation?
A. If the announcement
is being sent as an invitation to the ceremony and/or a graduation
party, they should be sent out at least 14 days before the event.
Three weeks ahead of the ceremony is ideal. If it is just being
used to announce the accomplishment of graduation, it is still proper
to send it up to two or three weeks after the ceremony. See our
etiquette page
for more information about sending and addressing your social items.
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Q. We have twins
graduating. What is the normal way to handle this as far as sending
invitations?
A. The easiest
way to do it is to send one announcement that comes from the parents
and includes both names in the text. Each can be on a separate line.
If you wish to use a name card because the text does not contain
the student's names, both names can be printed on the name card,
one above the other. There is no extra charge for this; simply put
both names in the space on the order form. It is also possible to
buy a name card for each student and enclose them both in the same
card. We can give you suggestions for doing this if you give us
a call. It is not uncommon for families with twins to send an separate
announcement for each student. If this is done, they should also
be mailed separately.
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Q. Our daughter will
be graduating with a group, but there is limited space at the ceremony.
How do we let people know that not everyone is invited to attend?
A. You may send
an announcement of the graduation that does not actually "invite"
the recipient to attend. Use corner copy to say "Admission
by ticket only," and enclose the tickets in the announcements
of those few whom you are inviting to attend the ceremony.For those
that you do not give tickets to, you might enclose an open house
card or party invitation to let them know how they can honor the
graduate if they are not invited to the ceremony.
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Q. Can I get a proof of the announcement
sent to me?
A. Yes, if you
are ordering from the Classic, Deluxe, or Photo, Budget, or Foil
sections of our site, or quantities larger than 150 in the Distinctive
section. (Proofs are not available for items in the Custom section.)
We can fax or e-mail you a proof before printing the order. The
charge is $7.95. Once a proof is sent, you must contact us with
any changes or with confirmation before the order will be printed. For
this reason, the process of approving a proof usually adds a day
or two to the total production time.
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Q. My daughter's
name is French and includes a cedilla under the "c."
Can you do this correctly on the announcement?
A. Yes, if ordered
from the Custom or Social Divisions. We have 9 special characters,
including the cedilla, hacek, breve, tilde, and others. There
is no extra charge for special characters. Please use the text box
at the bottom of the page where you type your announcement text.
It asks for any "additional information" that we might
need to know. This is where you should mention any special characters.
If we have a question about it or don't understand it, we will call
you!
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Q. We are part of
a Spanish-speaking community, and would like the announcements to
be in Spanish. Can you do this?
A. Yes, but
there is a $10 charge for non-English wording, and we will need
an e-mailed or mailed copy of the text, since we do not read or
speak Spanish. Sorry, but we do not provide customer service
to non-English speaking customers.
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Q. If the order is
incorrect, who pays for the re-printing?
A. It depends
on who has made the error. When you provide your announcement text
you are given a confirmation screen so that you may proofread the
information. You are asked to print this information. If
the order is not printed according to the information you submitted,
we will replace it for you immediately at no cost to you. But
if you miss a problem and approve an order that has an error
(an incorrect date, for example), you will have to pay the wholesale
price for the replacement of the announcement itself. (Obviously,
non-printed items such as blank envelopes would not need to be replaced.)
In other words,
you are responsible for your own errors and we are responsible for
ours. We do everything possible to be sure that your announcements
come to you exactly as you want them, and if we spot something that
looks like it could be an error, we will not submit it to the printer
until we ask you about it. Our experience has been that any
occasional errors made by the printer are resolved quickly, and
replacements shipped the same day.
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Q. Do the announcements
come ready to mail?
A. Announcements
are shipped flat and are scored so that you will need to fold them
along the scoring lines and put them in the envelopes. They stay
fresher-looking if they are not folded before they are shipped to
you. The exception is the "Semi-Personalized" announcements,
and the Distinctive announcements. Those arrive folded, and banded
in packages of ten.
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Q. What if I need
more announcements after my initial order?
A. It is far
more cost-effective to get the larger quantity to begin with than
it is to re-order. However, if you find that you must have more,
we can give you a 10% discount on the second order. The printer
does not save the set-up so we have to begin over again as a new
order, and it is priced as if you were placing an entirely new order,
minus the 10% discount. The best way to do this is to call us! Because
the expense of reprinting is substantial, we suggest that you order
more than you expect to need the first time... or count your list
very carefully!
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Questions
About Shipping
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Q. How much does
the shipping cost?
A. It depends
on what you are buying and how much it weighs.
You can check
the shipping cost by putting the items in your cart and then going
to the first page of the checkout. If you give your zip code and
state, the cart will calculate the shipping costs for your zip code.
The shipping costs and options range from first class mail (on small,
light items) to priority mail to overnight service.
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Q. Do you ship overseas?
A. We do not
ship outside the Continental US during the first half of the year.
We just don't have time to navigate the labyrinth of costs and services
and customs forms. However, we serve many missionary families who
have the items re-shipped to them from a contact inside the US.
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Q. Do you ship to
APO, Alaska, or Hawaii?
A. Yes, we do
ship Priority mail to all of these places. Depending on what you
are ordering, we reserve the right to charge a fee of $5.00 on top
of the cost that the shopping cart shows for shipping. Our cart
does not calculate this fee; we will contact you and rebill you
for it if it is necessary. Announcement orders and anything that
is over 3 pounds or valued over $100.00 will incur the $5.00 fee.
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Questions
About the Shopping Cart
Q. I checked out
last night. Today when I look at my bank card statement on-line,
it looks like my order was charged twice!
A. If you submit
your order more than once because it doesn't go through the first
time, it is likely that an "authorization" will be created
each time you make an attempt. An authorization simply means that
the funds are "on hold". Usually it happens when a critical
piece of information (like the correct zip code) is not submitted.
The hold is there, waiting for that missing piece of information.
It will not be completed because we don't monitor those unsuccessful
attempts.
An authorization
that is not used will drop off your account in a few days. Some
cards show authorizations as "pending" transactions. Unless
you successfully checked out, your card has not been charged, no
matter how many "pending" sales you see on your bank statement
the next day! Please do not call and ask us to remove the "hold"
on the funds. We have tried to do this for various customers and
it can't be done through the merchant account service we use. This
is the reason we have instructions on the shopping cart NOT to try
again and again to get the sale to go through. If you don't succeed
on the second try, there is no point in continuing. If you get so
many authorizations on your card that the credit limit is reached
or the available funds on a debit card are all on hold, you may
run into trouble trying to use your card elsewhere until the authorizations
have dropped off.
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Q. I do not want
to use my credit card on the web site. Can I get the web price
without paying for my order on line?
A.
Yes! You may shop online and receive the web price without using
your credit card. Our shopping cart offers a "mail-in
payment" option. The very first check-out page,
where the shipping cost is shown, has a box to select "mail-in
payment" or "credit card payment." This means that
you can shop, see what the shipping cost is, actually place the
order, and then mail us a check or money order. We simply
ask that you include the order number when you mail your payment.
No goods will be shipped until we have your payment, and no bill
will be sent to you. If you plan to mail a check, please read
our check policy
first. OR if you'd like to place the order on-line as just
mentioned you may also call to give us a credit card number for
the order. See this
page for more specific instructions about ordering on-line
without using a credit card in the shopping cart.
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Q.My card was declined,
but I know I have money in this account. Why did this happen?
A.
There are many reasons why a credit card is declined. The most
common thing we see is that the address you give us must match
the address on your credit card bill EXACTLY. Something as simple
as the difference between "PO BOX" and P.O. Box"
can cause a problem. The card code also must match exactly, and
if it does not, the transaction will be declined. Sometimes there
is unusually heavy traffic on either our server or our merchant
service provider's server so that the request times out and ends
up being "declined" because it couldn't' connect.
If
you card is declined and you don't know why, you may use the "BACK"
button to return to the checkout page and check all the information.
You can resubmit it, but you MUST wait at least 2 minutes after
the first attempt, or it will automatically be declined. If you
can't get it to process after two tries, back up and select "call
in a credit card." You will be able to finish the order without
paying for it, and then you can call us with the order number
and your credit card information.
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Q. Do you accept
checks by phone?
A.
No, we do not. We accept MasterCard, Visa, and Discover, both
credit and debit cards. We also accept money orders and cashier's
checks by mail.
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Q. I placed a mail-in
payment, but I want to have the order charged to my credit card.
How do I do this?
A.
Call the phone number listed on our contact page and provide us
with the information. We will need your ORDER number, your card
number, the expiration date, and the 3-digit card code from the
back of your card. If you get our voice mail system, you may leave
that information -- it is password protected and erased daily!
If calling and leaving the number on voice mail, please also give
us your phone number and name.
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Q. There is a mistake
on my order. What do I do?
A.
If your order is missing items or a correction needs to be made
to the diploma, please call us immediately. Your invoice will
have our toll-free phone number on it, as well as your order number.
Call us at the number on the invoice, give us the order number,
and describe the problem. If you get the voice mail when you call,
leave the above information and someone will call you back the
same day to be sure the problem is understood correctly. We will
make every effort to ship any missing or corrected items as soon
as possible.
Q. I do not have
internet access at home. Can you send me a catalogue?
A.
We will be happy to send you one of our full-color brochures with
an order form. Because we want to keep the prices as low as we
can for our customers, we do not print a complete catalogue of
all that we offer. We are a web-based business and everything
we offer is on the web site. The brochure, however, does show
about 2 dozen of our most popular products and allows you to order
them by mail. Use this e-mail link to request a brochure:
(Be
aware though, that you can save 10% by ordering on-line. If you
are using a public computer, we suggest that you place the order
on-line without paying for it and then call us with a credit card
or mail in a payment. This
page gives more information about this option.)
Q.Our church would
like to distribute information about your busine
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