Route 1 Print - Rotherham

Dan B.

This is absolutely the best printing company out there for businesses at the moment. Not only do they have a huge range of top quality products and consistently the best pricing but the customer service is second to none. Having used them for my print needs for around 10 years now (for a marketing company I worked for previously, and now as freelance designer) I can't recommend them enough!

Alex M.

Awful. After years of being good, they are now consistently unreliable and causing no end of problems with clients on more or less every order for quite some time. I’ve finally given up after yet another order is delayed with the blanket “we’ve had a technical issue”

I can only advise you find a better company if you require print work delivered on time.

Account closure will follow when I finally receive this last basic order. No amount of vouchers or refunds fixes the headaches that you cause.

Au3r P.

Be careful... don't buy from them if you need the goods. Would give zero stars if I could.
Ordered £240 worth of print on a Wednesday and paid for a next day delivery. On the Monday the goods still haven't turned up. Customer services are patronising and make you hold for ages and then offer a £30 voucher on the next job without an apology on the current delay.

stuart M.

I feel compelled to share my disappointing experience with Route 1 Print after multiple frustrating interactions, poor service, and total lack of communication. Over the course of three jobs, I have been let down repeatedly, and I cannot recommend this company to anyone who values reliability or transparency.

First Job (Business Cards):
The first job was simple—business cards. They arrived fine, though nothing remarkable, just basic cards. This went smoothly, so I thought my future orders would be safe with them.

Second Job (100 Wiro Bound Books):
This is where the trouble began. I placed an order for 100 wiro-bound books, each 278 pages long. I selected the 278-page option directly from their website, and everything seemed in order.

However, just before the scheduled delivery, my client called to say the job hadn’t arrived. I contacted Route 1 Print and learned that the books had been sitting in production for FOUR DAYS, unbound, with no one informing me of the delay. Apparently, a "new machine" was the issue, and only a few staff members knew how to operate it. After some back and forth, I was told the job couldn't be completed on time. They offered to bind the books in two halves, which was completely unacceptable for the job.

Eventually, the issue went to management, and after further delays, the books were reprinted and bound correctly, arriving three days late—just in time for my client’s conference. For the trouble, I received a £10 Costa voucher. This experience, though stressful, was eventually resolved. I accepted that mistakes happen with new equipment, but I was left concerned about their communication and internal processes.
Third Job (106 Brochures):

For the third job, I thought the company had ironed out their issues, so I ordered the same job—106 brochures with the same specs. This time, the delivery was scheduled for December 16th, needed for a product launch. On the delivery date, my client informed me that only 48 brochures had arrived. After calling Route 1 Print, I was told there had been issues, and they delivered half the job while reprinting the rest. The problem? I wasn’t notified in advance, and the shipping label didn’t reflect the actual delivery.

I spoke with a manager who promised the job would be dispatched the next day (Friday, December 20th). I stressed how important communication was, yet the manager’s response was that they’ve been struggling with this issue “since COVID.” It’s baffling that after four years, they still can’t get basic communication right. The next day, after numerous calls, I was told the job was still in production and had to be reprinted. Later that day, a completely different person called to tell me the job couldn’t be completed due to a shortage of binding wire, and that it wouldn’t be available until January. This was just DAYS before Christmas, and I had already made arrangements based on their promised delivery.

What Happened Next?
I requested that the job be delivered to a holding location so I could find another binder to finish it. The response? A part refund with no solution offered. I was then told that only 16 of the 58 brochures were salvageable because they had already started to “bin” the rest. What an incredible waste of paper! I was left scrambling to find another printer on a Friday night, just two working days before Christmas, to fulfil this order for a major client.

Conclusion:
This company is unreliable, and their lack of communication is inexcusable. They are unable to handle jobs they claim to be able to fulfil, and they continually make excuses instead of offering real solutions. In my experience, Route 1 Print simply cannot be trusted to deliver on time or with any semblance of professionalism.

I’m sure their response to this review will either be inaccurate or dishonest, claiming that I have not given a true account of events. However, I stand by my experience. I feel it’s important to share this feedback to help others avoid the same frustration I’ve faced.

Nick A.

I really don't like to write negative reviews or knock another businesses but in this case it might help to sort themselves out. Unfortunately the head doesn't seem to know what the tail is doing.
I ordered some DS business cards, (a small job I know) after arriving a day late the registration was awful, not only up and down but skewed I could not deliver them to our customer so had to make an excuse that our laminator had broken. I spoke to Route1 and was told they would speak to their production manager to make them aware of the issue and arrange a reprint. Waited another 4 days (another late delivery) and to my amazement the registration was off and they were all skewed yet again.
Im all out of excuses to my customer at this point and requested a refund. Luckily I have the facility to print in house something I will be reverting back to.
I used to really like Route1 and appreciated the quality but something has happened over there and unfortunately you just cant rely on them anymore.

If anyone from Route1 reads this: To run a trade service you really need to think about the people representing you and there basic requirements. It's not good enough for you to spew corporate BS and tell us about "procedures" we're pretending to be a printers and customers are with us in person or on the phone needing answers. Also, as cheap as Amazon may be you cannot use them for business deliveries, I nor anyone else is anywhere near their print shop at 10pm to receive a delivery from them.

Alistair L.

What can I say, I have been using Route 1 since they started around 2014, they were one of the reason we sold our litho press. Generally price, quality and delivery have been good and we must of spent thousands with them, but this year.....
We were told delays were due to new machine, election and that once election was over all would be fine but we have had nearly 6 months of delayed jobs and they are just getting worse.
I have been very forgiving even when it meant we may have lost a client through delays but this week has been it for me. We booked in a A4 booklet, knowing they have problems I phoned to ensure they could meet delivery and was told that job would leave 48 hours before I needed it(a week after it was booked in). To cut long story short I phoned on the day the before delivery was told booklet in finishing but when I phoned again that appeared not to be true and was still at plate. Anyway the job is cancelled and we managed to do it in house on our machine, just took 3 hours.
That's not all, UV embossing! Route1 have done loads of UV printed metallic cards for us over past few years been great but this year they have been terrible, we have one job that after 3 weeks has been rejected 4 times, they don't seem to check the printing for quality and send out rubbish to a point where we stopped promoting these cards a few weeks ago.
I get the impression there is an element of chaos at Route 1, maybe caused from a high turn over of staff so I am told.
Problems caused by new machinery should not become problems for Route1 loyal customers, this situation is very unprofessional and I sadly say that my route forward is not Route1

mai L.

The absolute worst printers in the entire world. There is an issue with almost every job I send to print. No spot check or quality control. Trim issues, print issues repeatedly

They will also send you less than what you ordered and won't even say a thing. Customer service is a joke. They never stick to their delivery dates.

Rory S.

Terrible customer service, was let down time and time again. I explained the importance of recieving my order on time but they failed to deliver 3 days running without any warning or care that this would massively impact our company that was doing a show in Singapore. I used Riverside Printers in Corby who saved the day and turned it around for us. Before ordering from this company i would look at local firms. You pay for what you get and Route 1 you pay for a poor service.