Paper Source

I ordered some Valentine’s Day gifts for my daughter on February 9^th from the Paper Source website. I paid $ 20 for 2-​day shipping. The shipment did not arrive in time for Valentine’s day and was in fact scheduled for the following week (even though I had ordered 2-​day). When I called Customer Service, they refused to refund my money, they refused to let me talk to a manager, and they hung up on me. I called back several times and was put on hold for egregiously long periods of time. I never spoke to a manager. I am going to have to get the purchase refunded through my credit card company as I never received the package ($ 63 + $ 20 shipping). This is borderline fraud and definitely theft!

This isn’t your ordinary hallmark store! The Paper Source in this location is gigantic, and has so much more volume and variety than most other stores in the franchise.
In addition to the usual gifts and ornaments for the home, this store has toys, a small book section, candy, jewelry, and accessories. You can also get t-​shirts and other insignia for Boston professional sports teams and there’s a small selection of other clothing, mostly for women. They carry Crabree and Evelyn soaps and cancles. The merchandise is also a little more high-​end than what you would normally see in a Hallmark/​Paper Source store, or maybe I should say that there’s more than the usual variety of price points. For example they carry wallets and a few bags from Vera Bradley, Baggalini, and Spartina; and at the end of the season the items go on sale for very good prices. They also carry small inexpensive items (keychains, bookmarks, picture frames) that your kids can afford if they are looking for presents for babysitters and teachers.
Located in a strip mall just off 95 near Reading, the store has plenty of parking.
Definitely this store is a recommended stop on a holiday shopping spree. Maybe at the end when you’re looking for the last gift for the person who has everything. You’ll probably find something for them here!

We ordered customized wedding invitations. Or rather, we are trying to. We have had nothing but problems from beginning to end, and I still don’t have my invitations.
First of all, they told us in-​store that we could customize styles and motifs pretty much any way we wanted. It took them forever to work out the pricing, they kept changing what we could and couldn’t do with certain paper stocks and printing styles. After a few hours, we finally got everything right, and we chalked their confusion up to being a new store location with new employees so certainly they were still training. We were told we had to pay in full then (about $ 800). They processed the order and we went on our way, thinking all was well.
About a day later I got an email from their production dept stating that the paper we wanted didn’t allow for our type of printing (thermography). After letting them know that was unfortunate, because the associates told us in the store that it was fine, we changed the paper stock. We received the first proofs several days later, and I requested a few changes in wording and also requested a border around the text. We were told it was not possible. (Again, after being told in-​store that it was!) After going back and forth with their production dept via email, all of a sudden they were able to add in the border. I approved the final proofs, supposedly they go to print for 3 – 5 days and are then shipped out to you.
Nearly two weeks go by and I hear nothing. So I call their customer service dept inquiring about our order. The person on the line tells me the order was only placed a couple of days prior. I was confused because I had approved the proofs almost two weeks prior and had received confirmation that they were on their way to print at that time. The person said they would call the store to straighten it out. An hour later I get a call from the manager of the store in Lynnfield, saying the order hadn’t shipped yet because they had messed up the printing on our response cards. (Good thing I called, I guess? Were they planning on telling me?) They could either give us a $ 100 discount for us to keep the messed up order, or they could correct the mistake, which would take another week, but as a make good they would overnight mail the invitations. I chose to correct the print, wait another week and accept the overnight shipping. I was super irritated at this point, but at least they sent the envelopes so I could get them to our calligrapher on time.
A week goes by, and I get another call from the manager of the Lynnfield store, stating the invitations were in transit, but they had neglected to overnight them, and they had actually shorted our order (they had printed fewer than we ordered, so the the rest would come later). For all the inconvenience they would issue us a $ 100 gift card. (Great.) I’m still irritated, but what sent me over the edge was the email I got 20 minutes later from their customer service department saying we still owed the full amount. We thought we had paid in full up front since they told us it was required, and we had gotten a receipt. Turns out they only hold the funds and officially charge your card when the shipment goes out. Since their whole process was pretty messed up from the beginning, 30 days had lapsed before the shipment went out, and their policy is they are unable to charge the card no matter what after 30 days. Rather than communicate this policy to us up front, they sent a generic email stating our card was declined. Also, the total on our confirmation order was different than what this email stated we owed.
If we had the time to do so, we would cancel this order and be done with it. Unfortunately our wedding is coming up and we don’t have time (or energy) to order invites from another vendor.
I do not recommend this store to anyone, particularly for custom print orders. What should have been a simple and fun thing to do for a wedding was turned into a massive headache.