The Print Refinery of Vernon Hills — Local services in Vernon Hills

I have been a regular customer of the Print Refinery in Vernon Hills for over two years. At first I used them to print my photographs but I have expanded into using them for so many other products that they offer. While cleaning out a relatives house that passed away I discovered a treasure trove of old family photos that I never knew existed, some nearly 100 years old. I brought them into the Refinery and they were able to create two incredible family albums from the photographs I provided. Some photos although old and not stored properly were able to be restored preserving the memories from years past. I was amazed! Recently I decided to create a book of photographs for two nieces that enjoy photographs of wildlife and flowers. With the help of Samantha's ideas and suggestions we created photo books for my 5 and 7 year old niece's that they cherish because they were created especially for them. The best thing about Print Refinery is the excellent customer service which I have received whenever I go into the store. Yes, they provide great products but it's also the feeling that you are a valued customer. So many places will just conduct sales transactions but at Print Refinery I feel they are listening to me about how I want the finished product to look and then delivering excellent results. I have had an outstanding experience using Print Refinery in...

I used to be a loyal customer of this print shop, regularly printing 100–150 photos each month. In January, I placed an order of over 700 pictures. Upon pickup, I assumed I received the entire order. Later, I noticed some photos were missing, but I thought I might have omitted them when ordering. Since the order history only displays a sample image, I couldn't verify the complete order.

In my recent order of over 500 photos, I included the previously missing images. When they called to tell me that my order was ready, the staff mentioned they still had an unclaimed order from earlier this year. It was surprising to learn that part of my January order had been sitting there for four months without any follow-up. I don't know why the orders weren't packaged together or why I wasn't contacted about the incomplete pickup.

Anyway, this oversight led me to pay twice for the same photos. When I addressed this with the staff and manager, their response was indifferent, offering no apology or compensation. As a frequent customer, I expected better service or at least a gesture of goodwill, like store credit or a coupon to use for a future order.

I chose this local business over big chains like Walgreens or CVS to support the community. However, experiences like this make it challenging to continue doing so. I won't be coming back because I don't feel...

Nick and the staff did a wonderful job transferring old slide photos to digital images. They included the dates in the meta-data for each slide, so the images retained the original dates of when the pictures were taken. This "date retention" was vital for my use of these pictures as part of a Ancestry project I was working on. There was an issue with the Thumb-drive that was provided, but that immediately was resolved by giving me a link to download the digital images. The store is well lit, clean, and open. I recommend visiting the little "art dispenser" in the store (it's an old cigarette machine that was restored and it dispenses art from local artists). It's a great way to support local artists. The store in on the 1st floor, and handicapped parking is available. There is also ample parking. I would definitely recommend their services to anyone who has to do transfer media to a newer format or digitize it. Nick and the staff are a joy to work with. I'll be bringing them any future projects I...