Awkward Styles Print on Demand

This one star review is specifically about my very disappointing and shocking experience with Awkward Styles regarding their newly available Mesh Foam Trucker Hat.

As a startup I've been working with AS for nearly a year and for the most part have enjoyed them as a POD partner, so I decided to expand my brand with their other products. There have definitely been hiccups and disappointments, but I've been able to resolve them with AS and have been met with professionalism and respect throughout. I've spent substantial money with them to test products, and never before filed for a refund request.

Until yesterday, when my intelligence, awareness, savvy, and expectations for high quality were quickly insulted, dismissed, and disregarded and it looks like it's more about wanting to keep my money than be fair. And now I'm left feeling frustrated, unheard, unappreciated, and losing trust and reassurance from AS as a partner I want to continue with in the future. I filed a refund request for a clearly dysfunctional mesh trucker foam hat I bought for promotional use by my brand. By industry standards the hat I received would NEVER be bought/worn by any customer (we got additional opinions and were confirmed), and quite frankly, I'm bewildered that it was even cleared by "quality control" to be boxed and shipped to me. It's atrocious. First, it was just thrown in the box with no protective bag, as my previous orders were, and it had a brown smudge on the white foam. But that wasn't anwhere near the dysfunction that was the reason for my refund request. A simple Google search CLEARLY shows all pictures of mesh foam trucker hats with SMOOTH foam finishes and clear crisp designs. No matter how big the design is, whether it's a stand alone picture or a model wearing it. I/nor anyone has ever seen a foam trucker hat with big, visible, irreversible, unsightly and permanent line marks, raised bumps, and uneven foam across the entire design area spanning the entire foam front of the hat. It's supposed to be a smooth front, every time.

The second foam trucker hat I ordered had this dysfunction: big creases, visible, irreversible, unsightly and permanent line marks, raised bumps, and uneven foam across the entire design area spanning the entire foam front of the hat. The first one I ordered came with nice, smooth foam finish across the entire front of the hat/design area. The design was vibrant and beautiful and I was very pleased, and excited to begin selling the hats. But this second order was so egregiously variable in terms of poor quality that it made me concerned to begin selling, and I'm incredible frustated.

So I submitted a refund request for the unacceptable quality of the second order. I sumbitted a side by side comarison picture of the first, well done hat order with smooth finish and design next to the unacceptible hat with irreversible bumps, lines, and imprints all over the front so that they could visbily see the evidence o the fact that they themselves have printed and delivered a high quality hat to me already therefore there's no excuse for this substandard, unusable hat.

I got a near- immediate next day rejection: the exact words of the AS rep who responded: "After checking with our team, they mentioned the marks are normal right now for hats since they are using more temperature on the press so the colors can be enhanced and look more vibrant."

What?? This makes absolutely no sense, on many levels.

What does “normal right now" mean, specifically? That the press technique is of a lower quality for the moment until AS implements a better technique, and can’t render images vibrantly unless lines and bumps are left behind on the foam? That I can only expect to deliver creased and bumpy hats to my customers? And if this is the case, why did all my previous hat orders come out perfectly smooth and bump free? Why is there a large difference in foam quality rendering between the two consecutive orders (image 1 & 2 in the claim), if the team is saying that it’s standard and normal for the heat press to leave foam marks/lines/bumps on every order?

Also, what gumption to insult my intelligence to be told that bumps and line marks on the foam that render the hat aesthetically unusable/unwearable and unsellable are the standard. Again, a quick Google search never shows that customers should ever expect this level of severe deformity in foam finish for their hats just becuase the design in vibrant...

How can I reasonably deliver a hat with bumpy foam/lines to my customer without them wanting a refund? How can a tell customers to *expect* lines, marks, and bumps on a product they pay for? For me as a store owner promising /reassuring high quality, that’s unacceptable.

Further, the foam hat mock-ups that are generated in both the Awkward Styles product catalog, and the AS mock ups that are generated for my store clearly show images of a smooth hat with a smooth foam finish everywhere on the hat—no lines, no bumps, no marks anywhere. Giving the impression that the final product is a *smooth* foam finish with no lines/marks/bumps: so that’s the type of foam rendering both I and my customers are expecting.

Nowhere in the file guidelines are we given resolution requirements and told that more color saturation and vibrancy will render the hat with “normal lines, marks, and bumps” that should be expected throughout the design area’s foam. Instead, I had to find that out the hard way without forewarning *after* spending my money with AS.

Furthermore, that just makes no sense. Who's believing that it's normal for a foam trucker hat to be disfigured as a rule of thumb because of design "vibrancy"??

This hat cannot be worn anywhere in public with confidence with these line marks, so it won’t be worn any wager/used for any purpose. Therefore the money I paid to fill the order has lead to an unusable hat for my intended client. So now I’m out the money I paid AND have an unwearable hat that can’t be used functionally? That’s not reasonable, fair, and is very disappointing. I don’t want a reprint for this order.

For the most part I enjoy having AS as a POD partner, and have spent a substantial amount of money all year with AS as a 2023 start up testing products. I’ve enjoyed most of the print experience and I appreciate most of the price points offered to us store owners. So I gave AS priority as a POD partner for the foam trucker hats, and overall I do want to keep AS as my main printing partner.

But this rejection is upsetting.

Where I’ve had print issues in the past, I’ve asked for a reprint instead of a refund, and some renderings I haven’t been happy with and still kept them without asking for a refund. This is the first time I’m asking for a refund and it’s because the product is irreversibly dysfunctional - no one is open to wearing this hat and I do not need or want a reprint, because I have another hat on the way and just paid for another sample due to being originally confidnet that AS would deliver a consistently quality product based on my previous hat order. So now AS has double my money and I’m at a loss with a dysfunctional hat.

This experience is making me lose faith and trust in AS when it comes to investing my start up money in new products from AS and in trusting the POD quality experience I will have with AS in the future. How can one of my hat orders come out perfectly, make me excited to sell them and trust I can sell them, and another hat order be so dysfunctional, then be told that that’s “normal”, so that now I’m questioning selling them at all? It’s a very stressful experience on the store owner end because of this wide variability in my product quality experience.

I've been using this platform for half a year now and the whole process with their team has been super easy. They get back to all my responses within the day & fix all issues with any orders when my customers change their sizes or addresses. Awkward Styles saves me so much time handling my orders and fulfillment while I focus on my two other businesses. This platform makes my brand almost automated in a sense while I build my revenue streams elsewhere to have multiple streams of income. I would like to also give a shoutout to Wendy if she see's this. She has been the most helpful representative i've had with a company in a very long time so I truly thank her for that!

I AM UTTERLY SHOCKED AND DISSAPOINTED with my experience with this company. Since January, I have encountered numerous issues with undelivered orders, and despite their promises to resolve the situation, they have failed to take any meaningful action. I strongly advise against using their services and feel compelled to share my negative experience with others.

From the start, their delivery process has been a complete disaster. Multiple customers, including myself, have not received their orders. The most frustrating part is that their proposed solution is to provide a refund, but only in the form of store credit. This is unacceptable, as it shows a complete disregard for their customers' preferences and fails to address the inconvenience and frustration caused by their poor service.

To make matters worse, my attempts to seek assistance and resolve the issue have been met with constant disappointment. Despite my efforts to communicate through video calls, emails, and phone calls, their staff has been unresponsive and unhelpful. It is incredibly frustrating to receive empty promises and false assurances without any concrete action being taken to rectify the situation.

I cannot emphasize enough how strongly I discourage anyone from using this company. Their lack of accountability, poor customer service, and failure to deliver on their promises have left me with a negative impression that I will not soon forget. I intend to spread the word about my terrible experience to prevent others from facing similar frustrations and disappointments.

In conclusion, if you value reliable and efficient service, I implore you to steer clear of this company. Their track record of failed deliveries, refusal to provide proper refunds, and overall lack of concern for their customers' satisfaction make them an unreliable and untrustworthy option. Explore other alternatives that prioritize customer satisfaction and ensure a hassle-free shopping experience

I have been using Awkward Styles since around September 2022. I have used a few other POD companies to experience their interface, review their quality, and get a sence of what company I prefered to use. I quickly decided on Awkward Styles. I have only had one issue out of 100+ items printed. The issue was very minimal and was easy to miss in quality check. But the customer insisted and Awkward Styles took care of it no problem. They responded within 24 hours and had a new tracking number with a reprint for me within 48 hours. That was AMAZING! I will say I have had a handful of issues with their site and syncing to Shopify. I have worked with Max, Hande, and Hiram and they have all been extrememly helpful, quick to respond, and always nice and understanding. Their interface is lacking a few features that I liked from other POD companies, I have made customer service aware of these and they sent them to the team, I hope to see those improvements in the future. I forsee me using Awkard Styles for a long time, they are exceptional in quality, customer service is quick and helpful, and the over all experience is great.

Have not been doing this for too long but this app has made things EASY!!!!!
Mock-up generator works very well and from what I have received as samples for my store, very accurate. All the printing has been great!!!
If I ever had any questions or problems the team at awkward styles was very good at responding and working through it.
Love Awkward Styles