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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. Folding the announcements
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 :
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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 our chart
on this page for more information about the fulfillment
time on diplomas and the optional RUSH option.
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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 that would ship with it from our office. (See
this page to determine what items are "stock"
items.) 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 label?
A.
It is up to the school issuing the diploma to set the
standards for what the honors designations are. These
labels 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 final screen you see when you check out is
your receipt. 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 $4.50. 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
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.
3. "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. 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 busy season of February
through June. 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.Not
everything that I ordered is in the box.
. A. If it seems that you are missing
items, pay close attention to the fact that items
which will ship separately will be highlighted in
yellow on your invoice. The items highlighted in yellow
will be coming directly to you from the printer or
one of our other vendors. If you've gotten the announcements
first and you are wondering where the diploma or cap
and gown is, take a look at this
page to understand what items are shipped separately.
Announcements are shipped directly to you from the
printer via UPS, and most other items are sent directly
from our office via Priority mail. You can use the
"Check order
status" e-mail address to check the status
of the rest of your order.
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.
I am part of a homeschool group and we are interested
in placing a group order for accessories. Can you
send me a catalogue?
A. We will be happy to send you an accessories
catalogue with an order form. Please see this
page for more information.
Q.Our
church would like to distribute information about
your business to the parents of our graduates. Can
you send us a bunch of brochures to pass out?
A. Yes, we do this regularly for schools,
churches, homeschool groups, and people who give seminars
to homeschoolers. Just contact
us and let us know what you are doing and approximately
how many brochures you would like.
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