Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Octavia Company

Category: QSL printers; callsign badge engravers; etc.

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Octavia Company
Reviews: 122MSRP:
Description:
Russian printer with custom graphic art - 5 Stars. NOTE: Long delivery times to be expected for foreign shipments.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.octavia.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001223.5
EI2JC Rating: 2001-05-09
Vy good cards Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received my cards yesterday(May 8),proof approval was on Feb 23 so as you can see,a bit of a wait !
The quality of the cards is top notch however,they look great,much better than the emailed proofs.Emails were answered quickly and with courtesy.
Top quality and very good value,I think Valery(perhaps as someone else said a victim of his own sucess) should say it will take 10 weeks so people won't be getting anxious(myself included!),but look at it this way,you'll have your credit card bill paid and forgoten about by the time they arrive!
You can see the front of mine @ QRZ
73 de Noel Ei2JC
KC1YR Rating: 2001-05-07
Very good quality, excellent to work with on design, slow shipp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Pretty much the same experiences of the last few posters. The cards are excellent quality and a very good value. It was a pleasure working with Valery on the card design -- I e-mailed him the idea I had for my card and a digital photo, he sent back the proof in a couple of days, I requested a few changes which were made promptly.

However, the production part of the process was a bit slower. Occasionally, my e-mail queries would sit for days or a week when I asked for the status of my order. I also was one of the customers caught up in the packages he'd mailed out that got returned to him.

But the results were worth it.

Conclusions:

If you're just back from a DX-pedition and want cards quickly to answer the QSLs flooding into your mailbox, this probably isn't the printer for you.

If you are nervous or impatient about ordering from a company you haven't worked with before, this may not be for you either.

But if you're low on personal cards and are planning to re-order soon, or you're generally not in a huge hurry, and want to get a high-quality custom card with photo at a reasonable price, I'd recommend them.

Sharon KC1YR (also T99YR)

Note: I wrote an article about my ordering experiences with Octavia for computerworld.com at

http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/community/story/0,3201,NAV65-665_STO59976,00.html
W4BVD Rating: 2001-04-30
Worth The Wait! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My QSL order took the better part of 2 months, but the result was beautiful! The cards are great! My emails were returned quickly and with good explanations. Octavia is the best quality around. Quality is worth the wait!
N8KR Rating: 2001-04-28
Inexpensive, good quality, and very slow Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Placing the order online was a snap - a deed done the last week of January. Little did I know, though, that I wouldn't receive the cards until the last week of April!

While we had some minor problems with the digital picture, we managed to make it work and Valerie was most accomodating during the process. I had no problems with emails not being answered. Shipping out of Russia to me took approximately 3 weeks so the printing process took about 9 weeks.

If you're in no hurry, It's the place to go! The quality is very good. For a DXpedition, though, I might think twice . . . or get the order in the day you get back!
W6EI Rating: 2001-04-25
Very satisfied customer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Octavia did a terrific job on my cards, and I am very pleased with their service. I expected high quality results, and they delivered. The lead time - from order to receipt - was pretty long, but I expected that, too, when I placed my order back at the beginning of January.

Like others who have posted here, my cards were held up in shipping. Valery was diligent in working around the problems, and my final shipment arrived today (April 24) in excellent condition. He also was very good at keeping me updated via email.

Having purchased print services of various sorts in the past and having been involved in the pre-press process, I appreciate the complexity of turning out high quality work at low cost. Based on what I see with my cards, they have mastered it.

When it comes time to re-print my cards, I will happily use Octavia again. Thanks, Valery!

Also, I want to thank the eHam team for this site - the reviews I read here led me to Octavia in the first place.
KB0CY Rating: 2001-04-22
Good product but slow delivery Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently did a mini-DXpedition (KB0CY/C6A) to The Bahamas and I debated about whether to get a really nice custom QSL card or just go with a stock card. I only needed a couple hundred cards, which is on the low side for custom work. I found the octavia.com web site and was very impressed with what they have to offer. Check it out, if you haven't seen it. (Now, why WOULDN'T a QSL card printer have an awesome web site these days?)

After getting a very reasonable quote, I went with Octavia. They did a nice job designing the card (using a digital photo I supplied), giving me a couple of choices of layout and responding well to my edits. They do a good job of using their web site, e-mail, etc. to conduct business.

The only problem area was that it took a long time to get the cards (as others have noted). Valery mentioned some issues with customs getting in the way of shipments. Specifically, my order was confirmed on Jan 7th. I received electronic proofs by Jan 15th and received the actual cards on April 15th. So it took over three months after the order was placed. But the cards look great and the price was right. I would have spent about the same or more on a stock card with any other vendor.

I would use them again....with the understanding that it will take some time.
N5IF Rating: 2001-04-17
Got my cards - Cool Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ordered cards in late January after a couple of changes to the proofs that Valery sent. Cards were originally sent on March 12, Russian customs returned my cards along with boxes for 15 others to Valery for no specific reason at the end of March. When this happened, I received an email stating the return and delay in shipping. Along with the note, Valery stated that he sent a registered letter with about 50 QSL's included to prove the cards were done. The letter and reboxed QSL's were sent on 4/2. I received the letter via registered mail on 4/10, the box with the remaining QSL's arrived 4/13. They look great. Communications from Octavia via email was good, no more than a couple of days wait for a response. If you want speedy service, don't order, but if you know that it's going to be slow going in...Octavia has a great product for a great price.
Daniel R. Dorsey Jr Rating: 2001-04-06
Good Value Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After much delay I received cards, and must say that they are a good value with respect to cost. Much of the delay was due to issues which "Octavia" had no control over. Cards were returned (within Russia) due to customs issues. After order cleared customs I received 7 days later. Will consider using again, however it may well be years before I need additional cards.
VE1KY Rating: 2001-04-01
As Promised Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I did business with Octavia and have been very pleased with service and price. Samples were promised within 2 weeks and they arrived on time. A recent review suggested samples were promised within 2 days. This doesn't happen in the U.S. anymore. How could they come from Russia in that time?
E-mails were returned promptly, questions answered, changes made as requested and the cards were delivered within 6 weeks.
There are many very good QSL printers in the U.S. and other parts of the world who I'm sure would do as well, but I decided to give these people a try and have not been sorry.
Credit card information does not go to Russia but to a secure server in the U.S.A.
Before we trash a company maybe we should actually do business with them so that we can speak from experience.
WD0GVH Rating: 2001-03-27
Great Card's Great customer service Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Valery's cards are first class. I e-mailed a picture to him and the cards came out just great. Customer service is second to none. Granted shipping from Russia is slow but you are willing to work around that you will receive a great card at a great price. Would I order from Octvia next time? You bet. A credit to ham radio.