My Horrible Vistaprint Experience

I had been a contented Vistaprint customer for several years.  While they don't make the highest quality business cards in the world, they're inexpensive, and their online design tools and templates are swift and painless to use.  However, after the following abysmal experience, I've vowed never to use them again.

Here's what happened in a nutshell...
- I ordered some business cards.  Vistaprint said they were shipped.  They never showed up.
- So I checked the website for the tracking number.  Nope, no tracking number.  Great (sarcasm).
- Next I contacted them through their website.  No reply.
- I contacted them again.  No reply.  Hmmmm...this is getting frustrating.
- Fearing that Paypal's dispute window would soon close, I opened a payment dispute with Paypal.
- I checked Vistaprint's site to send yet another email and noticed their customer support chat service was online.  I got a person!
- In short they said I have to follow up with Paypal.
- Paypal said that Vistaprint has to respond to the dispute via Paypal's website.  At this point I sided with Paypal's explanation because they actually replied to my email, and their "dispute resolution center" echoed this course of action.
- Chat with Vistaprint again.  They said I have to release the payment hold (and cancel the dispute) so that they can issue a refund.  So I have to irrevocably give them my money so they can (fingers-crossed) give it back to me?  Oh, hell no.  This sounds like scammer talk.  Pay us an "advance processing fee," and we'll happily send you a million dollars from the recently-deceased Nigerian king's estate.  After the tortuous time-consuming effort required to simply juice a misinformed reply from Vistaprint, my trust in them was less than zero.
- I check Vistaprint's profile on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website.  Despite their A+ accreditation from the BBB, negative reviews and complaints have been piling up lately.  Ut-oh--looks like this company is a sinking ship.
- Time to abandon ship!  I escalate the Paypal dispute.  They get involved and issue a communication to Vistaprint.  They have a week to reply.
- Not surprisingly, Vistaprint fails to reply.
- Paypal refunds my $18.

All that for $18.  Thank you Paypal, and burn in hell Vistaprint.

Learnings
- The true test of a company is when things go wrong.  Before this experience I would have given Vistaprint a 5-star review.  I understand if an order gets lost, but let's sort it out.  Don't ignore me.  I really hate that.
- The Internet is merciless, but it's a place where one voice can and will be heard.  Companies with any online presence can't survive without stellar customer service.  Vistaprint doesn't belong on the Internet.  Get out!