Chatbooks

Buyer Beware of constant change

The books have turned out well. They are durable in the hands of my grandchildren. They delight in viewing them each time they visit. BEWARE! Many processes and prcedures were "changed" Throughout my paid subscription. My hopes for a consistency based on first several books became impossible. A current paid subscription should not be changed mid stream. Simple contractual policy. I just sent my last mini monthly to print and I am deleting my account. Most responses about said changes was "sorry". If I could title or date my first few books... I should have been able to finish my whole subscription in such a manner. Beware. Otherwise, if you do not mind constant uncommunicated change... the books will reflect the time you put into them and the quality of your original photos. I am looking elsewhere.

Do Not Recommend, LOOOONG Delivery Times

I decided to use Chatbooks and sign up for an annual subscription and built my book on Feb. 4th. On the 6th I got an email stating it was done, shipped and should receive by the 14th. (This is per standard delivery) I checked a couple days later and it now said the 19th. I went to the website and chatted on the 12th for an update. NOW, I was being told it should be there be here by the 25th! Today, I went on again to ask for a tracking number. Per Standard Shipping, they do NOT give you a tracking number. AND, I am now told that if I don't get it by March 5th (one day shy of a full month from the date it shipped) to please follow up. I have ordered many items over the years via Stan Shipping and always gotten a shipping number and NEVER had to wait a month. If you look at their website under Stan Shipping, it states up to 5 days to print the book and up to 5, yes 5, days in transit. Well, then when it shipped the 6th, I should get it (not including Sunday) yesterday, the 12th. I guess you get what you pay for, but I will never use them again. The worse shipping policy I have ever encountered. BUT, if the price is good and you can wait a month.......then yes, choose Chat.

A Decade of My Family logged!

I have been making individual 6x6 hardcover photo books with chatbooks now for 10 years. What can I say about their products and service? The books are printed on lovely heavy stock and it takes the ink well. I love the sturdy little hardcovers. It's easy to reprint old projects.. It's never been easier to make a project that multiple family members can enjoy... Best of all Chatbooks stand behind their books. If a new book comes damaged they replace it lickety split. Remember to photograph any damaged packaging prior to opening, just so problems are documented. Recently I used their new live chat for customer service. I was amazed at how fast and responsive it was. I had a problem and they got back to me and sorted it out in 5 minutes tops. They took the time to make sure it was properly sorted out and I definitely was not chatting with an AI bot. They have support available during Monday-Friday. The customer service I received was exceptional. Recently I finished up a bunch of books that were waiting in my drafts... I was a little worried that they might arrive dinged just because that was my experience in the past. Their packaging has improved 100%. They now ship their photo books in a specially designed mini corrugated book sleeve. My books arrived in perfect condition. They are more expensive than Walmart but the quality of the paper and materials used is far superior... I've never subscribed to their monthly books. I've only ever made my own baby books and travel books.. I love the minis just because they are so forgiving to cellphone snaps... They also are easy to store in decorative boxes too. In 10 years I've made 26 books. I love having little minis that highlight a year's special times. It's easy too to get things chronological and nicely dated if you are pulling images from your Google cloud. Highly recommended.

Extremely Restrictive Printing Options

SCAM The subscription does not allow the flexibility you think it will and that it is advertised as. If you are a busy mom who would like to go back and have books of all of the precious moments your infant had, THIS IS NOT THE APP FOR YOU. You are only allowed to print the last 2 months and then FUTURE months with Chatbooks. If you try to go back to prior months it will not let you change the book title. So for example if you wanted to print photos from October of 2024 the book will have to be titled October of 2025 and you cannot change it if you have the monthly subscription regardless of what the help center claims you can do. So only buy this as a subscription if you intend to log FUTURE photos only. Don't get scammed into thinking you can print a backlog of photos.

Always super easy to order

Always super easy to order. Love the books.

Great customer service !

Very poor customer care

I decided to try Chatbooks for the very first time. It was a promo for $10 so figured it was a good time to try it so I did. Postal strike happened but I already submitted my order. So I waited and after a few weeks the majority of businesses were giving customers either a refund or a reshipment by a courier service. I asked at Chatbooks and they flat out said wait until the postal strike is over. Then because it was the end of the month they charged me for another book. I contacted them and asked to cancel my subscription which they did and o asked for a refund because I did not receive my first order due to the strike and I don’t want another book and she said no I have a credit that I have 90 days to use. The thing with Canada post is if I dont receive my shipment then the business can put in a claim and get refunded for the item. So if they put in a claim and don’t refund the customer then they can get double payment for an item. So there’s really no reason the business can’t refund the customer. Overall I would say this is terrible customer care given the circumstances. I even asked if I could change the address to another location so it could be shipped by a courier in operation then this way I could still receive my book. That was refused.

Dissapointing

Disappointing. Chatbooks use to be so good. I have happily spent hundreds over the past 10 years using chatbooks. Iv recommended them to everyone I know but everything has changed this year and I'll be looking for a new photo book printing service. - the new subscription service sucks. Id like to print a book and pay for that book only. Sometimes I have 5 books to print and at other times I have none to print. I'd like to have full control of when I spend money on a book and this new subscription set up does not give that to me. Chatbooks. Your greediness is losing you customers. I have many other friends who are disliking the new subscription service too. The app has never been great. Always some issues but especially this year its laggy. Has error messages when trying to update payment or send a book to the printers. It's such a shame but I think its time for me to move on.

Absolutely awful

Absolutely awful. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. Firstly, I subscribed and paid at the end of November. Filled my November book out, sent it to order, and noticed I was charged another £9. I emailed to ask why, and they said it was because I had ordered the November book early, the October one was what my subscription payment had just paid for. But I didn't want to make an october book... So why they couldn't just start my subscription off using my November book I do not know. I had to email them to get my address on their system as their app has loads of bugs, and it wasn't saving my whole address. AND THEN, when my book finally arrived, it was terrible. My book preview clearly shows the photos fitting the page, and I have screenshots of my order to prove this. The book turned up with pictures printed small, in random corners, not filling the page. The quality of the image also isn't even that good, high res images shouldn't look so blurry when printed. Overall just not worth the money at all.

I sign in 3 years ago and never paid…

I sign in 3 years ago and never paid attention to how they operate, my mini books are cute, but lately I see they charge me 3 times , I got into the account and noticed books that weren’t send, and the way of communicating is through texting, it took me hours to make sure my books were finished and send, also closing all the accounts I had without me understanding why. I spoke to 4 different people, thanks God the last one at 11:55pm finished fixing everything and sending me emails with explanations. But it was to late after all that I had going through since May 2024 . Before I could speak to them , but now is an insult to humanity with those AIs.

Chatbooks sucks now

Chatbooks used to be great. I used them for years to print my Instagram photos. However, they’ve apparently silently discontinued the Instagram photo subscription option due to a change in Instagram’s API. While I understand the API change isn’t their fault, no communication was made to customers about this development, and they have continued to charge for this subscription under the guise of “photo book credits.” I only found out when I contacted their customer service (AKA chatbot) to “fix” what I thought was an error when I noticed my camera roll photos were being added to and unable to be removed from my photo books. I have cancelled my subscription and requested a refund. Very disappointed, Chatbooks. This is just deceptive.

Very nice and fast customer support

The book turned out very nice. Had some issues with customs, but customer service (Shannon) solved it very quickly and was very sweet. Would recommend!

Disappointed in service change

Changing the payment method messed it up for me. It was very convenient to have in the background knowing every time I took 60 pictures I'd get charged and receive a book. Credit systems are scammy and built so people forget and endlessly get charged for things they don't actually need. Really disappointed this was the approach they adapted and didn't leave room for previous users to continue how we have for a good decade now. I'll be looking around for a service to provide what this one use to and switching. Quality went down and price went up over that time anyways.

Overall wish i hadnt bought it

The books are cute if and when they come out correctly. I spent hours customizing them and a few still came out shit. Customer service is overall unhelpful if you do have an issue. If you dont finish books in time be aware they will send them unfinished or the credits will expire and books will be paid for but lost.

Too frustrating and poor communication

Too frustrating and poor communication I first thought it was great but whatever changed ruined it for me. I'm out!

Long-time customer at breaking point…

Long-time customer who has hit breaking point...For some time, I have had issues with books failing to reconnect to Instagram. It has been annoying but ultimately I was able to resolve it each time. With the shift to the new billing model, now everything is complicated. Customer service is very hard to access and hard to respond, but if you don't respond quickly they close the ticket. I'm getting duplicates of books I've already received and can't print books I have created. Credits come and go without reason, and I can't seem to get it all sorted out. Every piece of advice from customer service now requires multiple fixes and multiple tries to make those fixes. I am so sad and so frustrated!

We lost our beloved Gilden Retriever…

We lost our beloved Gilden Retriever suddenly August 22nd. I put together a Chatbook of his memories. The quality is outstanding.

I had some issues with shipping and…

I had some issues with shipping and printing and all of the customer service was very helpful in making the situation right. Thank you!

Chatbooks' customer service used to be…

Chatbooks' customer service used to be second to none. There was always someone patient and helpful who dealt with a problem efficiently and quickly. Afterwards, they would check that you were happy and we, as customers, could reward good service with a treat for the person who had dealt with us. Now, emails about issues go unanswered, replaced instead with a series of messages about checking a book that has already been printed, sent and received. And I won't mention the new book credit system...

Easy to put together the book

Easy to put together the book. Fast processing and shipping. Excellent quality