Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Where Are The Yearbooks?

Some have paid $130.00 or more for a yearbook. So where is it?

Even those on the committee are strangely quiet.


22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who do we need to take J2 out on??

Anonymous said...

Is a 5 yr old yearbook even relevant any longer? Like everything there, the simplest tasks end in a convoluted cluster of obvious gross incompetence.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Dekalb Co. FL. haha. In any case, glad no innocents were harmed today at school shooting. Stay safe guys/gals.

Anonymous said...

Here is the company that took our photos-

http://www.hsphoto.com/

Here is their phone number-
(770) 457-1839

Here are their reviews on Yelp-

http://www.yelp.com/biz/hs-photo-processing-inc-atlanta


Maybe a few hundred phone calls from some unhappy DeKalb County Police Officers and some more bad reviews on Yelp will get them motovated!

Anonymous said...

A few hundred... are there that many officers who actually bought them?

Anonymous said...

And this is why most of us did not buy them.

Anonymous said...

Please please please someone that was suckered into buying one: file a report with your local screening officer. that will get the ball rolling. the department will be forced to look into it.

Anonymous said...

This is Sgt Garber, I emailed them and this was their response to me:

I hope you are doing well. The DeKalb County PD yearbooks are in the proofing stage right now. We have sent the department the first draft of the book (on 7/26/13). They are looking over the pages to make any necessary corrections and/or changes. We are planning on meeting with the department tomorrow to go over these changes. Once the changes are made we hope to have a final approval from the department so that may produce and deliver the books to the department.


I hope this gives you a decent timeline. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.



Thank you,



Ashley Wicker

Peachtree Portraits

Customer Service

2675 Peachtree Square

Atlanta, GA 30360

770-934-2277 x 310

Anonymous said...

sounds like the same answer they gave LT Stewart when he asked a few months ago

Anonymous said...

Here is the first response I got from them.

---------------------------------
Officer F. While I understand your frustration, there is nothing we can work on at this time. We are waiting on your coordinator (who works at the Dekalb County Police Department as an assistant Chief NOT for our company). We cannot assemble a book without the information that your department provides us, and until the proof that was sent to your department has been approved, we cannot proceed.

Unlike a yearbook, where a yearbook staff who attends the school takes their own candid/group photographs and already has the verbiage and material needed for the book, we rely on your department to submit what they want in their book and we design the finished product. Without your department supplying history, images, retirees, fallen members, letters, special events, vehicles, etc. your Legacy Album (not a yearbook) would be nothing more than a directory with images and who would want to pay for that?

The complete content for the Dekalb County Police Department Legacy Album was not submitted to us from your department until February of this year. Your assistant chief requested a meeting to verbalize the direction and look the department wanted for the album. Unfortunately, he was unable to meet with us until May. After the meeting with your assistant Chief and our head designer, we were given a clear vision of how the department wants their album to look. At this point our head designer began designing your book and completed a 150 page design in less than two months.

Nothing would please me more than to give you a time frame of when to expect your book, however it would be unprofessional for me to promise something that is out of our control. As soon as your department has approved the content, I assure you we will expedite your Legacy Album.

I'm sure it would be much appreciated by your department, for you to understand that while the heads of your department wanted to offer this program to all of its' members, it is an additional task for those at the Dekalb County Police Department who were assigned this project. Those individuals assigned have to maintain their previous job responsibilities as well as compile all of the information for your Legacy Album. It is no easy task and we are certain that your department will get back to us as soon as they are able.

I have forwarded your complaints to your Chief so that he may address your issues directly. Hopefully, after speaking with him you will be reassured that we have no intention of stealing your money and are very close to completing your Legacy Album.
----------------------------------

Here is the second response after I told her it shouldn't take 14 months to make a yearbook.
----------------------------------
Hello Officer F.

We apologize that the delay in the Dekalb Police Department book has created frustration. Your book design was assigned to our head designer in March, after receiving all of the content for the book from your coordinator in February. Your coordinator was able to meet with us in May to go over the design and outline of the book. At this time, our designer began working on your album. The design was completed in July and a proof was sent to your coordinator for corrections/changes to be made. We are currently waiting on them to return these changes so we may print a hard cover proof for the department to approve. Once that has been done, we will move to print.

Unfortunately, designing a book of this caliber does take a great deal of time for both the departments we work with and our designers. We are doing everything in our power to move this process along and assure you that when you receive your Legacy Album, you will be more than satisfied. Please contact me directly if you have any further concerns.

Thank you,

Amber Stokes

Office Manager
H.S. Photo Processing, Inc.
Peachtree Portraits
2675 Peachtree Square
Atlanta, GA 30360
(770) 457-1839 office
(770) 910-3450 cell
(770) 458-3805 fax
-------------------------------

red said...

That yearbook is like getting one after the junior,senior classes have graduated and gone away,or a real old family album,"Who in the hell is that"?

Anonymous said...

We should all just ask for a refund!!

Anonymous said...

I went by the office today of Peachtree Portraits. I met with a manager of the parent company and had a long discusion with him and other employees. I was able to look at the yearbook that was designed for the Dekalb Fire Department. Those have been or are about to be delivered. Without pointing fingers as who is to blame for the delay, I do believe that we will get the yearbook soon. A command staff employee also had a meeting scheduled with Peachtree Portraits later today after I left. The empolyees were very open about the process and gave me comfort that we were not being defrauded.

Sgt. Stanfield

Anonymous said...

It's been almost a year and a half. That's unacceptable. I have been in communication with the owner thanks to my Yelp complaint. She's very good at not accepting any responsibility for the delay and she's very eager to point her fingers at our department for the blame. That bullshit. The fact of the matter is, they are the ones who took our money and have failed to deliver a product or an explanation to us, their customers, as to why we have nothing after almost a year and a half. If you go to Yelp, you'll notice someone else complained in June of 2012 that this company didn't deliver a product on time and failed to communicate with that customer as well. Is anyone else noticing a pattern here?

They are the ones with our money. They are the ones who should have set deadlines for getting the work done. They are the ones who should have communicated with us, their customers, as to why after almost a year and half we still have nothing. They already have our money, so what is their incentive for getting it done? There is none! Whether they finish the yearbook next week, next month, or next year, they already got paid!

The so called owner I have been speaking with told me she was supposed to have a meeting with our department coordinator on Friday. That's only because people are finally threatening to hold them accountable! They were fine with just sitting on their asses enjoying the money we paid them for nothing until now. She told me she would be updating all of us today on this blog as to what happened during that meeting. Did anyone else see a message on here today from her, cause I sure didn't! Once again, their company has failed! She'll probably blame that on our department too.

I encourage everyone to bombard this company with negative reviews and phone calls until we get some results!

Anonymous said...

Sgt. Stanfield,
Thanks for your initiative. After we get the yearbooks, the bitchers/complainers can move onto another topic.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sgt. Garber for looking into it.

Anonymous said...

I think when I've lost over $100, I have a right to bitch and complain. I'm not bitching about the color of our uniforms, or the patches. I'm bitching about money out of my pocket.

old warhorse said...

The last time we had yearbooks,they were bulk ordered,hoping they would sell.I think that the only ones who actually purchased one were the yearbook organizers.So,it was a big flop. Burgess sent out a "bobby gram" begging everyone to buy one,so they could at least pay the bill.This particular publisher was stupid enough to contract the county on a credit/billing method.(poor dumb bastards).They wound up sueing the county,just to get their money! More typical/embarrassing county fraud. They had the in-service instructors "hawking"the damn things like girl scout cookies.(JT got his ass chewed for placing a pile of them in the shitter,to use for toilet paper). The way folks are quitting around here,they better start using the 24 hour photo mat,and xerox the damn thing next time!!!

Anonymous said...

There has been so many officers come and go since the Legacy Books were ordered including the demotion and promotion of many others including new Chief's and the closing of a precinct that who in the hell would want them now.... At this point I don't even want the damn thing. It's going to be so out dated before it even arrives that the best use it will have is for drying your hands in the bathroom since there is never any paper towels.

Anonymous said...

I have been in contact with the staff throughout the entire process. Much of this falls on DeKalb County, trust me.

The command staff cant make decisions on anything, let alone yearbook designs.

The first proof was sent to Chief Conroy in January. They are on their fifth minor change because after its approved someone wants more of their photo in the book

Anonymous said...

We'll all be together again at the old 34 on Mem. Dr. under one precinct very soon at the current rate of annexation in this county. We can make a new yr book then.

red said...

We are all going to be back at the "bobby dome",before much longer. The condition of that building is a mirror image of the state of this department,as well as this entire county!