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Crown & Paw Review: 5 Star Product, 1 Star Shopping Experience

About a month ago, Ryan showed me an ad for a site that takes photos of your pets and turns them into printed regal looking portraits. My friend Michelle’s birthday was coming up in the next month, so I thought I’d try it out and order a portrait of her cat, Penny.

The site has lots of great options, with the different portrait types split by gender. Counts, Colonels, Dukes and Heiresses, oh my! I perused the sample photos and decided on the “The Ambassador“, mostly because there were a lot of cat examples in the sample photos, so I had an idea of how it would turn out. I thought Penny would look particularly dashing in this simple choice.

It’s pretty simple: you upload a photo, select the size, and then move on to checkout. Unfortunately, you can’t see a mock up of the finished item. You just have to hope that it looks okay. Frankly for the prices they’re asking – $60 – $100, I wish they could email you a proof of the item. I mean, Minted does it.

I’ve catsat Penny a few times back when Michelle was living in SF, but I didn’t have any great photos of him. So I scrolled back through Michelle’s Instagram feed, ohhhhh about 5 years or so.

I screenshot this photo, which follows the suggested Crown & Paw guidelines of having the animal facing either to the left or right, looking away from the camera. There were a few other photos that I wanted to use, but the photo guide said that the animal’s entire head had to be visible. The photo I originally wanted showed his beautiful orange markings well, but it cut out half his ear. Damn.

So choosing and uploading was fun. Then the experience got complicated.

I entered Michelle’s shipping information, and my billing information. Three times I tried to checkout. Three times I got a screen with an infinite spinner of death 0_0. Eventually I had to close out the browser tab each time. I started to get worried, did I just buy three cat portraits????

Two days later on May 27th I shot Crown & Paw support an email. In these screenshots I’ve removed names & order numbers, and replaced our addresses with fakes that still illustrate the issue.

The response

OK, it didn’t go through, confirmed that on the 28.

I tried again to purchase the portrait, with the same spinner of death plaguing me on checkout. Finally, I tried something different. I went through checkout paying via my Paypal account instead. It worked! Yay!

I got a confirmation email and thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until about a week later that I decided to check on the status of the item via a link sent in my confirmation email. There was an unidentified problem, so I looked back again at my confirmation email. The shipping address and the billing address were both addressed to Michelle, using an address that was a mash-up of both of our addresses!!!! It had her full name and Portland street address, and my San Francisco city, state and postal code. What??? Come on, this e-commerce system is buggy.

I sent another email to customer service on June 6.

I got an instantaneous auto-reply from a dog customer service bot.

Ummm, that’s really cute, but let’s talk to a human about this. Also, I’m not Michelle. Sigh.

Ok, I realize now looking back at this that maybe the person did not understand. They never say in the email THAT THEY ARE CHANGING IT TO THE CORRECT ADDRESS. I thought that it was clear what was going on from my initial correction email, but it was not, as you will soon see.

The next day I went to check the order screen again, and it said that my order was printing and shipping! I would receive a shipping notification soon. Ok I thought, they must have fixed the address issue. Cool.

I checked in again 9 days later on June 17, and shit, the addresses under shipping and billing are still the incorrect nonexistent address. I write back again:

The next day at 1:34pm I get an email that my order is on the way!

One minute later at 1:35 I get a delivery update:

Also at 1:35 a second delivery update:

At 1:37 I get an email response to my email from the previous day.

Goddamn it. This is annoying. Also, I’m not Michelle. I write back:

At this point I am a bit flustered and angry. My friend’s birthday has come and gone by several days. Based on the timing, Crown & Paw are within their delivery estimates, but this extra BS adds several days to get the present to her.

I call UPS, argue with them about the mixup, then take a Lyft to UPS pickup, argue there, and finally get the package. Wednesday morning I relabel the package and mail it via USPS. I receive an email response to my previous email expressing disappointment.

Damn it, I’m not Michelle. I’m Tracy, ugh. So this email is basically like hey, it was picked up. “I hope everythings good now.”

NO KATHLEEN EVERYTHING IS NOT GOOD NOW.

Maybe I’m spoiled by Amazon or Wayfair, but how about saying a real sorry for the mixup, not “our apologies for the inconvenience.” That phrasing is a non-apology apology. Hate that.

How about some empathy? Around the same time, I lost my Ally debit card. I called Ally, and the customer service rep was sorry that I lost my card, but he was gonna get me another one right away. I almost did a double take when I heard that – what, good customer service? It still exists?

Oh, and also, Crown & Paw, how about offering solutions to FIX the problem??? Jeeez. If this were Wayfair, they would have already printed that portrait out again and sent it express to my friend’s house. Is $80 really worth pissing someone off?

I fire back:

They write back a whopper, once again confusing the issue.

Let’s look at the circled part closer…

Once your item is with the courier we no longer have a control over it and we can only base as well the whereabouts of your package through the tracking information that is provided as well with the courier. I also see here that the courier was also making sure they deliver it to the address that was provided. So I think initially Michelle should have address this package to your address instead of her’s to avoid certain issue like this to happen or delays to happen.

Michelle should have addressed the package that was a surprise present that I bought for HER to MY address in San Francisco, instead of hers in Portland, so that this would not have happened? WTF. That makes no sense.

At this point I’m laughing hard. I realize that I’m never going to get the real apology that I want, nor am I going to get any sort of reimbursement for my time and shipping costs. This person just doesn’t get it. And they’re still blaming me for this mixup. I write back:

Response:

Did you see the little dig at the end? Just some advice, double check your info.

FUCKKKKKK YOUUUUUUU CROWN AND PAW.

FUCKKKKKKKKKKK YOU.

EAT A DICK.

I FUCKING HATE YOU.

Anyways, that’s what I’ve spent the past few weeks doing. Moving, and emailing Crown & Paw to correct what was most likely a database error. To be honest, I’m really really shocked that they didn’t offer me ANYTHING to make this experience better, no promo code, no comped order, nada. They just kept writing me sassy clueless emails where they blame me for their fuck up.

After showing all my friends and having a good laugh, we’ve decided that based on the reading comprehension, Crown & Paw must outsource their customer service to somewhere where English is not the primary language. Also it’s been suggested that perhaps it’s not “Kathleen” responding to me each time, but a different rep. That would explain the lack of context and the cluelessness about the situation. But who knows, who cares. I’m done with this company.

Oh, and before I end this review, the actual product is great. My friend Michelle is very happy. Penny was not amused.

I will scream to the heavens however that no one I know should use this service, just on principle. God forbid there are any errors with your order, even if they’re not your fault. This company does not care. There are so many other pet portrait options, just google “royal pet portrait.” Here’s some on Etsy, here’s some place called Renaissance Pet.

39 Comments to “Crown & Paw Review: 5 Star Product, 1 Star Shopping Experience”

  1. Thi

    Thanks for posting this review. I’ve searched around and haven’t found any lengthy reviews on their shipping. I ordered June 21st, and sent out an email asking if it would be shipping soon. So far, nothing. It was supposed to be a birthday gift for my boyfriend, but it’s since passed. Feels like a month already and it’s irritating, let alone not even know what it looks like with no proof options ! 🙁

      1. Thi

        Hey Tracy ! Yeah ! I probably overcheck it several times a day, hoping each time I check that something will change. Lol. It changed to “your order is being printed, you will receive a shipping notification via email within a couple of days. . . ” etc. for about a week now. I don’t have any power over the situation, aside from emailing them again saying, “YES. Thanks for copy and pasting the same status that I see when I check order status.” but I don’t think that resolves anything. . . :\

      2. DB

        GODDAMMIT! I just ordered 4. It’s been 2.5 weeks and both the Tracking link and Order Status link give me an error. This is HORSESHIT. I knew I should have gone through Etsy. #RIPchristmasPresents

        1. Tracy Author

          Noooooooo!!!! Well you’ve got 3 weeks till Christmas, it could work out. Definitely email customer service to figure out what’s up with the error. I imagine if you don’t the order might be stuck in limbo for weeks

          1. Susan

            Yeah, no, One year later and they are still the same shity company with horrible customer service. There’s actually a Facebook page devoted to how bad they are. Expensive lesson for me.

  2. Kiki

    Oh man. SO relieved to have found this right before placing an order for Xmas – looks like I’ll take my business to your Etsy rec’s instead! Thank you for taking even more time to share this time-suckingly ridiculous experience, so the rest of us don’t have to!

    1. Tracy Author

      Hi Kiki – Glad you dodged a bullet, especially for Christmas! So many people are going to be disappointed by this company soon 🙁

  3. Wendy Woods

    Oh how I wish I’d read your post before I disappeared down their wormhole too! Hilarious how they can regurgitate the info you’ve already copy/pasted to them, back to you! Only today I sent them another email asking for an update: “In two weeks it seems my parcel has disappeared into the ether. It has left your establishment but not yet been received by the shipper. What could have happened to it? Sitting lonely in a cupboard somewhere waiting to be discovered? Or perhaps you gave it a bus ticket and it’s getting to me under it’s own steam???” As you say in your post, Tracy they are crap with customer service but bombard you with follow up emails if you ever look at their site without actually purchasing. I really hope it’s worth the wait but I will definitely be leaving them a shit review….

    1. Tracy Author

      Ugh I feel your pain Wendy!!! They are way too expensive for this sad level of customer service. It’s so annoying that they have plenty of time to post on Instagram, but not to fix their ordering system/tracking. I’ll cross my fingers for you. If the portrait ever comes, you’ll probably love it.

  4. Jennifer

    I too am in the Customer Service Wormhole. Ordered my print, submitted my photo & paid two weeks ago. I received an email stating I needed to submit a better photo. I replied to that email with a new photo. No response to that email, no response to the additional 3 follow up emails I’ve sent, no response to the messenger message & my order still shows on their web site as “having issues with the photo”. Now I am stuck in some sort of limbo because there is no contact number (which is more than likely by design based on the number of angry people) & I am out the money I paid. I will be filing a complaint with the BBB to get this resolved if I do not receive a response & an update.

      1. Jennifer

        Yes, I used Pay Pal. I filed with the BBB & they have until 12.28 to respond to the BBB, so I want to give them that chance (although I’m sure they’ll ignore it too) to either refund me on their own or actually produce my order before I file with Pay Pal. It’s unbelievable to me that this company is still in existence given the number of complaints of this nature. Their BBB rating is an F if that tells you anything. I’m so good about researching anything online before I buy it & this time I was just so excited to get this for my BF for Christmas that I just jumped in. Now look at me. 😀

      2. Jennifer

        I finally received TWO emails from them & my order now shows being prepared to be sent to the design team. I thanked them for responding, advised I would close my BBB file only when my product is received & post an update on their FB page. I did tell them that I believed that they were extremely overwhelmed & needed to hire more customer service people because while their products seem adorable & cute, their customer service is giving them a black eye. I will keep updating here as I receive them. 🙂

  5. MB

    I, too, am experiencing what a lot of these folks have experienced. It’s been over three weeks and no portrait. Interesting that even back in June they were “overwhelmed” with orders. They seem to be blaming it on the holiday rush now. I wish that back on 12/4 when I placed the order, they had something on their web site stating that it would most likely not be received by Christmas. They responded to my inquiry that there was a 3-5 week delivery time. I wonder if I will be able to return with a full refund if I receive it after the 5 week timeframe has passed. I’ll keep you posted…

  6. LJH

    I ordered a Christmas present on December 1, using a Black Friday code and receiving emails telling me about my “holiday order,” and to allow a cushion beyond the usual 10 days of processing during the holiday season. Which I did by ordering on Dec. 1. Christmas passed and they never completed or sent my item, despite telling me on Dec. 7 that they were just adding the final touches and would ship soon. So I had to buy a different present to have something to give on Dec. 25 and am left with an unwanted item that they refuse to cancel. I also repeatedly got template answers cut and pasted when I tried to resolve this with customer service, rather than getting to the root of the problem of why my item was stuck and not moving through the system. All in all a terrible experience. 🙁

  7. M. davis

    Well, I just posted a review on the California Better Business Bureau and contracted my credit card company to dispute the charges for FIVE canvases that were to be Christmas gifts. No one answers the phone and they do not answer e-mails. Maybe all of you would like to contact the BBB … I wis I’d seen your reviews before ordering.

  8. Jennifer B.

    This is 100% my same experience with them. Their customer service MUST be outsourced. Something is not right. They don’t seem to actually read thru any of my emails before responding. None of their responses ever address the actual question I have the first time. Back & forth, back & forth. The portrait they shipped me so far for a cat was a complete joke as far as the artwork and quality. Just terrible. Nothing like my pic, and nothing like their examples either. The other portrait I’ve had them working on for a month (still haven’t received) they sent a proof for after a lot of complaints from me, and they for some reason made my clearly snow-white poodle mix brown instead. The photo I sent doesn’t even look remotely like she has brown fur. And yes, they are very argumentative, defensive and difficult. And this isn’t even the half of it. Too much else to type here. I am about to LOSE MY MIND.

  9. I wish I had read this earlier. I have had a similar exprience.

    I ordered 3 posters (simple order) 10 weeks ago. Yesterday after chasing as much as you, with similar issues, only one of the posters arrive.

    When I emailed customer service, they reply by sending me a small preview of the remaining two posters, thus ruining the main aspect of the shopping experience – opening it. It’s so important that you promote customers opening their poster and seeing it for the first time.

    I’ve now seen the posters before my wife, and now the whole experience has made the product not as special. I’ve asked for a manager 3 times and never been forwarded to one.

    1. Tracy Author

      Ugh yeah it’s like once they get your money they don’t care anymore. I hope your two other posters get to you soon – 10 weeks is too long!

  10. A Jensen

    So I should have checked outside reviews of Crown & Paw!! Ordered two prints with “stand up” backs. The portraits are very well done, however, while one is done perfectly the other canvas is “installed” upside down so any attempt to display it has poor Spooky standing on her head!! I sent email and waited for the 24-48 hour response time. I have since emailed daily, several times a day and have received no response. Spending $60 per picture I would expect they would at least respond with something like “sorry about your luck”, “take it apart and fix it yourself” but all I’ve gotten is a request for review on product. I did review, after a week of no response, and included picture of upside down Spooky and of course it didn’t make it to their review page. Contacting paypal now and will also file complaint with BBB. Thanks for the laugh with your reviews, I really needed to laugh at this point

  11. I am in crown and paw hell right now. No one responds. ever. well, they did respond one time stating that they never received but one of my 3 emails. Now we are back to no response. I was actually trying to upgrade a blanket I was order to the next size up. You would think they would be responsive since it would mean more money for them. The worst customer service ever and I would recommend never using this company. Save yourself the absolute mind numbing pain and use another vendor.

    1. Tracy Author

      Oh no, sorry to hear you’ve entered the C&P customer service black hole. If this is for a Christmas present, hope it comes in time!

  12. Megan Lange

    m so surprised by how many good…
    I’m so surprised by how many good reviews this company has. I was very excited to get a portrait of our dogs as “peaky blinders” for my husband for Christmas as he loves the show. I sent Pictures in and placed my order a week before thanksgiving. Two weeks before Christmas they sent me the product for review and oh my gosh it was not what I expected. I was under the impression it was going to be a painting or something digital that looks like a painting according to the other finished products they show on their website. It literally looked like they cut out the heads of my dogs and just pasted them on another painting, the hats were off centered the head wasn’t lined up with the body it was terrible. I emailed them asking if there was a way to revise the painting I also asked if I should send better pictures but really needed to know if we did revise it would it be delivered by Christmas. I heard nothing from this company there is no phone number no live chat just email. I lost my cool as I was exploring the site and saw there is no refund available to customers. So at this point I’m really upset because it spent $78 dollars on this picture with no way of reaching any customer service and no way of getting a refund no one to talk to and placed my order a week before thanksgiving. So I wrote them a “Karen” email which I never do on the 18th of December usually it takes two weeks for them to respond even though their site says they respond in 72 hours. Well surprisingly I got two emails on the morning of the 19th one saying please fill out this revision form, no link to this “form” second email sent on the same day and same time saying “this is out 2nd attempt to reach you to fill out your revision form” are you freaking kidding me. So now it’s less then a week before Christmas and I have a screwed up disappointing painting that hasn’t even “gone to print” and no possibility of a refund and it won’t be here by Christmas I’m assuming and no way of talking with anyone. I’m so disappointed this company is a rip off with the worst customer service I’ve ever seen I will be telling anyone and everyone to be ware before ordering and I’ll be doing better as far as thoroughly looking at the website and company before I do some like this again

    1. Tracy Author

      Oh no, that’s really disappointing. It won’t fix your Christmas problem, but I would try to do a chargeback if you paid by credit card. If they’ve passed their delivery window and they’re not offering you a refund, you could pretty easily dispute the charge. Good luck!

  13. Cheri

    Oh my lort. I wish I saw this before I ordered a Christmas present on Dec 4. Today Dec 21… it still has not shipped. I keep getting emails addressing Chelsea (my daughter, I am not Chelsea) letting me know it will be just a few more days. So they are exactly the same, apparently.

    I just hope it ships to HER and the portrait is good, at least.

    1. Tracy Author

      Eeek. Fingers crossed for you. If you paid by credit card, hold off as long as you can on paying the bill, in case you need to dispute the charge. Good luck!

  14. So glad I found this review! Crown and Paw reached out through Instagram to my pet’s page with an offer a free portrait and a discount code for any of our followers that wanted to use it. After your review of this shit show I am not going to go forward with it. Thanks!

  15. Mary P

    I purchased the largest canvas picture for my dog last week. It arrived quickly, but the back of it was upside down. I’m unable to hang it with the hangers provided because they’re at the bottom instead of the top of the picture. Also, there was a Walmart Photo sticker on the back. I did some digging and apparently there is no “in house” facility and the orders do not receive a final “in house” check before they ship. Employees (I’m guessing that they’re contractors) are making these from their homes, having them printed at Walmart and places like Kinkos. I emailed them and received a response asking for photos of the back of the picture. I sent them to them, but I haven’t heard from them since. The picture itself is adorable, but I wish I’d read unbiased reviews about them online prior to ordering. The BBB gives them an F rating.

  16. Okay. I’ve read all the reviews and mine takes the cake.. Here we go.
    I ordered through crown and paw a few years back. It took a lot of emailing and stress on if I was even going to get my order. It arrived 3 months later. The picture was awesome, but the customer service was horrid.
    I went to order with them again thinking its been a few years, maybe they improved. WRONG. I feel it’s even worse.. I ordered my canvas and I immediately started having issues. They sent me the order dashboard link so I can check my order status. First time I tried to use it it said “order does not exist”. So I emailed the customer support team and their response was that I must have been forwarded to their old platform. Okay, so how do I check my order then? All I got was a reply telling me that their team is working on my canvas and I will receive tracking soon. The rep emailing me had so many typos in the email, which made me real confident in their business…. Fast forward after I got my tracking. (I never got a preview like they promised by the way, which was a huge red flag) My package arrived yesterday and get this, when I opened my package it was a BLANK canvas that said in big blue words across the whole thing that read “REMOVE AND REPLACE THIS”. Is this a joke? Where is my canvas I paid for?? Am I going to get my money back? Is this a freaking scam? I’ve been reading that hardly anyone gets a refund.. So there goes $80 from my bank account. SHUT THIS BUSINESS DOWN.

    1. Tracy Author

      Oh no, that is just comically bad. I’m sorry, hope it wasn’t a present and maybe you can somehow get your money back. 🙁 They charge too much to be so shitty.

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