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Reviews For: Octavia Company

Category: QSL printers; callsign badge engravers; etc.

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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
KA1I Rating: 2002-04-26
Print Quality is Good But...... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Print quality is good and delivery is very slow, as you know.

But.....
In my second order of 4000 prints, they gave me a special discount (1000 prints free). So I proceeded to send the payment of 3000 prints.

But finally, I could only get 3000 prints. I asked them about their discount. They answered "Checking" but no further answers. They have no system for customer service. Yes, I know it is family business. Even though very small business, the customer service is very important, I believe.

It might be Russian way. I will not order new QSL to Octavia any more.

DE KA1I Ayumi
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The above is the comment before I found this eHam.net.
But there are so many similar problems not only eastern Europe but also US. Hi.
You would be better to check the delivered quantity at first.
KC5BG Rating: 2002-04-16
Great Cards/Good Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Nothing much more to add. Great cards, excellent web site, good communication, good prices, but as stated in other feedback, delivery took 3 1/2 months. Still rated a 5 however due to excellent product, good communication, etc. They can print whatever you want/need and provide an outstanding product. Will use again when time to reorder-I'll just need to reorder sooner due to the time involved.
KF6IIU Rating: 2002-04-05
Not fast, but a good value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Octavia had a nice web site with US-based credit card billing, and they came up
with a great design from one of their stock photos, so I jumped at the chance to
order a thousand. It took 9 weeks for my order to arrive: 6 weeks for the printing
and 3 weeks for the shipping, so Octavia is not for those in a hurry. But the cards
themselves are very handsome. A good value; a full-color one-sided card at about
9c per card.
K2MRK Rating: 2002-04-01
Great Product and Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted to recreate a QSL design I had back in the early 1970's. Octavia's quote was the lowest I could find. I placed an order for 1000 custom "Antique" cards. The process of reproducing the original artwork was tedious. The final proofs were exactly what I had hoped for. When my order arrived, there was a minor blemish on the cards. Valery quickly rectified the problem and sent an additional 1000 cards gratis. Octavia provided me with a quality product at a good price. When a problem arose, it was dealt with quickly and professionally. If you want a quality card at a good price and are willing to wait a little longer in order to get what you want, Octavia is the way to go. I will not hesitate to order again when I start to run low on cards.
WL7M Rating: 2002-03-30
Exceptional Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just placed a second order for 2000 more custom cards from Valery - can't beat the service, quality or price! Valery and Olga worked with me to get exactly the card I wanted, changing typefaces several times, relocating text on the card, and all done very patiently. I submitted a digital photo I had taken one early Alaska morning, and what they did with it is amazing! You can see the result at QRZ.COM. Plan ahead, it takes some time to arrive, but WOW are they worth it!

73,
Joe
WL7M

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by WL7M on 2000-06-12

I priced a local company to print my QSL cards - they wanted $1000 for 1000 cards. I checked the review feature on eHAM and saw the comments on Octavia. I checked their web site and discovered that Valery had a beautiful color picture of Kachemak Bay, Alaska, where I live, as an option on the QSL cards. I sent him and e-mail, ordered the cards, and after a few e-mail exchanges, finalized the order. The cards arrived today, about 4 weeks after ordering them, and they are GREAT!! Excellent quality, excellent service. And Valery charged a MORE than reasonable amount of $145 for 2000 custom, four color, photo quality cards. Air mail postage from Russia and insurance included in the price. You can't go wrong with such excellent service and quality products. I know where I'm buying my next batch of cards! Thanks Valery! 73, Joe WL7M
KR4CR Rating: 2002-03-30
Anticipation..... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
It took nearly 4 mos. to get my batch of 1000 cards but they got here and they are some of the finest quality cards I have seen and nothing I could get at that price domstically was even close to what Valery offers in his QSLs.
W2CZ Rating: 2002-02-23
Superb! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
They took 3 months to arrive but as advertised they are the best!!
KC8LTL Rating: 2002-02-12
SLOW but good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A bit over a year ago I was running out of qsl cards and needed to order more. My old cards were rather boring and so I tried shopping the net. When I went to the Octavia web site I was quite impressed with the outfit. They had many interesting designs and also quite impressive prices. I picked a design and made an order. The design and ordering process went quite smoothly and the result is quite appealing to the eye.

About 2 1/2 months later, my cards arived. This was a bit slower than I expected, but I was quite pleased with the resulting cards. They are not quite as good as, say QSLSHOP in Berlin, but they are much cheaper. I have received many unsolicited compliments on my cards and think they are at least as good as any of the standard US QSL card printers.

When dealing with Octavia, they always keep the customer first and try to keep in touch with us. For example, they sent emails when they went to Dayton, they invited us to see them. When the September 11th tragedy happened, they said how they supported us. They realize that word of mouth is some of the best and cheapest advertizing out there.

This October I was running low on cards again, and as soon as I realized that I had no where near enough to make it through the contest season, I sent in for another 1000 cards. I asked for a minor touch up, but basically the same card. They had a returning discount for me and I thought that I was all set.

The problem is that I ordered these cards in the middle of October. They finally got here almost 4 months later. They blame this on the Russian Post office... They say a package sent to me in December didn't get here. The package that DID get to me took a month to get here.

Of course, the cards are quite good, but I was not expecting to have to wait four months for them, and so I had run out. Also, I noticed that it took longer for them to respond to my email questions than it had last year. I simply think that they are busier now...

It would be unfair to blame Octavia for the Russian Post Office, but since this is the way we deal with them, this must be taken into account.

Will I order from them again? The deal is so good that it will be hard not to, but they do have limitations. The way things stand now, I would not recomend them for anyone needing cards relatively quickly, be it a new ham or a dxpedition or whatever. For someone who wants a new card and can wait for the months it will take, they can do a very good job.

About half a year ago, I told them that I was not happy with going though their post office. They certainly understood and said that they might be moving to another country with more dependable postal service. If they are able to do this without becoming too much more expensive, I would be pleased.
ES7AAZ Rating: 2002-01-09
A choice NR 1 in the future Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I did get the cards in 9 Jan, 2002. Yes, it took about 2 months to wait but... it was really worth to wait for. The cards arrived in very good shape and the printing quality is really the best.
AI9X Rating: 2002-01-07
Excellent Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I looked around at the usual US QSL Card makers. I didn't see anything that really stood out (actually nothing changed in over 20 years). After using the reviews from this site, I chose Octavia and exchanged a few emails from Valery to get it just right. It took about six weeks or so, but they are worth it. I definately will be ordering again from them.