Self publishing trap, one design company to avoid

Green Hill are an Adelaide based firm who specialise in book design and production for authors wishing to self publish. Their promised 4-6-week project took over 12 weeks with repeated and unnecessary delays, failures in communication, inability to conform to my original manuscript, unwillingness to acknowledge their errors, failures in cropping pictures and inconsistencies in type-setting. The print cost nearly tripled from original estimate, and an unexplained surcharge of $126.53 was added to their final bill which they insisted must be paid in advance. Several services promised were not delivered. They made dozens more errors. I can provide a detailed list of their failings should anyone wish it. Please investigate this mob before they cause others the harm that I have suffered.

Welcome to the community @Nostro

Choice periodically review some services such as photo books but I could not find anything about self publishing services.

Since you claim that Green Hill have not delivered a service per the contract, you may have rights under the Australian Consumer Law to seek a refund or compensation as services as well as goods are covered.

If you have a good record of the contract that specifies what was to be delivered, their claims about quality and so on, what was delivered and how it did not meet the T&C of the contract, and all subsequent communications you initiated toward resolution, you might consider sending them a formal ‘letter of complaint’. Use the community search function for ACL, Australian Consumer Law, Letter of Complaint and you will find posts including links to the Choice and ACCC web sites, as well as considerable advice how to write one and links to tools to assist in doing so.

If no resolution can be reached, you can then make a formal complaint to your state fair trading office using the letter of complaint and their response (or non-response) as your initial ‘evidence’ to seek their assistance.

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