Atmaraya: 1 of 5 stars

So here's why I don't recommend Atmaraya to you good people out there. Or is it Atma Raya?

Sometime in September, we finalized the deal to print 600 invitations with a bonus of 700 thank-you notes with Vian, one of their marketers, I suppose, since he's always at the front desk serving the customers. After negotiating, we settled a price and a deadline, all written in the bill.

Vian wrote that by Oct. 5, our invitations would be ready. Since it was a weekday, we agreed to pick up the invitations on Oct. 8, while the thank-you notes were scheduled to be taken later.

Fast forward to Oct. 3, when I called Vian to tell him I had just sent an email of the design for the thank-you notes. I asked him casually about the invitations since Oct. 5 was two days away. And he answered, even more casually, that they were yet to be printed, and that “hopefully” it would be done by Oct. 8.

I asked, “Lho kan nulisnya selesai tanggal 5, Mas?”

You know what he said?

“Ya kan itu nulis doang, Mbak.”

…

From there, everything was going downhill. A hundred phone calls later, I went to Pasar Tebet on Oct. 8 to get the invitations with Bangun's mom. They told us the cards would be ready at 3 p.m., but when we arrived, the shop looked like a mess and my invitations were far from ready.

In the end, the finished at 8.30 p.m. Eight fuckin thirty. Gak enak yaa sama camer yaa. Plus, I and (what we assume was) the manager yelled at each other because he wanted us to pay the full bill while the thank-you notes were still unclear. I mean, seeing how slow they work, how could I get a guarantee that they would work on the notes?

However, we are satisfied with the result. Their quality is not bad, although I think the envelopes could have been improved.

In short, Atmaraya is not recommended because the way they handle customers is beyond awful. Too bad because they do have the skill to produce high-quality cards, but it seems that they don't try to impress their customers at all. The way they talk with half-smiles, the way they answer questions half-heartedly, the way they seem to think that customers have to follow the way they work..it's not worth the price, nor your time.

Look around more. I believe most vendors in Pasar Tebet are better, although their prices might be higher. According to my survey though, do consider Batang Printing in the left side of the basement. They offered us a very nice price but we had to reject because they couldn't meet our deadline.

Well at least someone's being honest about it.