Ingram Content Group Reviews 4

To uphold bigotry and keep employees enrolled who lie online about an author to keep their books out of publication is abhorrent. Your company should be ashamed.

I wish somehow publishers could gather enough influence to get Lightning Source’s attention to the horrendous customer service, the lack of response to the needs of those it’s in business within. There is no phone call service. And email takes days to receive a response. Now with e-commerce options for customers to drop ship a single book there is no way for the customer to get help with an order. I guess they figured out that this business model of limited customer help is cost effective. But we’re looking for other print options.

Years ago, I joined what used to be called Lightning Source Inc. (LSI)—a company that was later integrated with Ingram Content Group—to ensure all my author's books would have the opportunity to be available through bookstores worldwide, including Amazon. Their service was quite good for a while; although, I don't recall for how long. All I know is that, ever since Ingram took over, that service has gone downhill every single year. This year has been the worst so far.

My company's latest book project, for a brand-new author of ours, has experienced so many inexcusable, unbelievable issues this time around, that it is shocking. It has been so shocking, in fact, that I am compelled to write this one-star review. I wish I could give Ingram Content Group ZERO stars; that's how terrible they have been this time around.

There isn't enough room in this little box for me to fully detail all the crap Ingram's Lightning Source has put us through over the past couple of months, so I'll try to just stick to the worst of the worst points. Unbelievably terrible customer service.

For starters, I uploaded my author's book files to Lightning Source several weeks ago. Normally, it takes only 2 to 3 business days for them to respond with the soft proofs for me to approve so that I can order the hard proof for shipment to my proofreader. Well, a week went by without any response. I tried calling customer support to question the delay. But guess what? When you call their toll-free number (the only number that is available to call), you receive only a voice message that states they no longer answer the phone; they prefer, instead, to deal with clients by email.

So, I emailed once, twice, maybe even three times. FINALLY, I heard back from Naresha. She informed me that "the book and metadata information are being reviewed by the Catalog Integrity team" and gave this as the reason for the delay. But she could not (would not?) provide any further details.

When the Catalog Integrity team FINALLY approved the book to move forward with the proofing process, I asked Naresha to explain why there had been a more than two-week-long delay. Her only response to me was, "Please be advised that the Catalog Integrity team is separate from our Client Support team. That team does not share their decisions or reasons with us about this matter."

HUH? You put us behind schedule by over two weeks, and you won't even provide a proper explanation as to why? This is unacceptable.

Then there was the whole back and forth regarding which courier they would use to send our hard proof to Canada. I know, from much experience with Ingram Lightning Source, that certain couriers are terrible to use because our books always get stuck at customs for several days whenever these couriers are used. But rather than put my mind at ease by using the courier of my choice, Naresha informed me that I had zero say in the matter. They will use whatever courier they choose to use. Too bad for me.

FINALLY, we received the hard proof. I had been expecting the usual perfect bound print-on-demand hard proof that we've always received in the past. Instead, what did we receive? We received a complete garbage copy of a book with the back cover copy completely squished over to the left, almost running off the page, and the spine held together by a big piece of white tape or something. ??? ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME AT THIS POINT, LIGHTNING SOURCE?

It is so clear to me that Ingram Content Group (e.g., Lightning Source, IngramSpark, and all its other subsidiaries) don't give a crap about their customers. They know they don't have to care. We're all forced to use them because Ingram's bookstore database is proprietary and the only way that we can get our books into all the bookstores worldwide. The company clearly takes full advantage of this opportunity to provide garbage service, knowing full well we'll keep coming back for more abuse from them.

I truly look forward to the day when a strong competitor arrives on the marketplace and takes back all of Ingram's business by actually providing proper support to people. My author is so distraught right now. This is her first book. She was hoping to have a book launch in March. That has now been moved to April due to Ingram's delays. And now that she's seen the garbage hard proof Ingram produced for her, she's terrified of investing any money into ordering extra books for her launch. I have blind copied her on every single correspondence I've had with Ingram regarding her book, and she is appalled by what a bumpy ride this has been, filled with hundreds of excuses that are never properly explained.

I'm so disgusted by you, Ingram. I'm so disappointed in you. This review doesn't even begin to describe how appalled and offended my entire team (and my authors) are by your company right now.