Shutterfly
Reviews and Complaints

I created several new albums from my Shutterfly photos. After creating these albums, I sent the original photos to trash, thinking that there was no need for duplicates in my photos. Little did I know that once I deleted these photos from trash, they also deleted from the albums that had been created. I just lost 4 years of photos, because I did not realize that once you delete a photo from trash, you also delete it from a created album. This is not clarified on the website. The wording of "Orders, projects, and shares that contain permanently deleted photos will no longer work". This is a very differnet message from "you will lose forever any photo from any album that was created once you deleted it". This is a ridiculous policy. I am sure that I am not the only user to lose photos. I will NEVER use this site again.

I used to LOVE Shutterfly but after not using them for over a year they have even more fees tacked on. I was already annoyed by their extra fees before but found ways around not using them and still making some really cute books. Now I’m realizing you can’t make much without having to pay extra. Don’t get me started on their shipping. It’s ridiculous! Ive ordered my last book from them. I’ll find another company that doesn’t charge me for every little thing!

I ordered a 24x36" metal print to capture a special moment with my daughter. The price for this product was $19.99. When the item arrived, I noticed that two corners were bent. I contacted the company and they agreed to redo the product and send me another one. However, the second print also arrived with bent corners. I explained to Shutterfly that while I understand the shipping company is responsible for the damage, the packaging was not sufficient. They only used thin cardboard and a small fragile sticker to protect a 3-foot aluminum picture. Adding a small foam corner protector would have prevented this issue. Shutterfly assured me that they would fix the problem and improve their packaging if I wanted another redo. So, I decided to order a third print. Unfortunately, it also arrived damaged on two corners and had the same inadequate packaging. I am only giving them 2 stars because Shutterfly was easy to contact, they processed my requests quickly, and they are now giving me a full refund. However, I will not be ordering from them again. Now I have three damaged large photos, and it has ruined the memory of trying to get something nice.

Every year I order school photos to share with friends and family. This year since students are online I figured the photo package I was being sold would be a snapshot of my child from her computer and I was fine with that given the circumstances. To order, I had to select the school, select my child's grade and name so I figured we were all good. The day before I get an email reminder from Shutterfly Lifetouch that picture day is tomorrow! My child is excited and gets all dressed up for the big occasion! What do you know, no picture at the time stated. I think okay maybe it's taking longer than they thought. Now school is over and she never had a photo yet I bought a portrait package? So, I call the school and they tell me that months ago they confirmed they would not hold a picture day yet we were still sold one. We were offered gifts to purchase as well. This was truly disappointing and I should have been contacted loooong in advance especially when the school confirmed, or I should have been refunded without having to play detective and get my kid's hopes up!

Ordered 8x8 metal tile. Very pleased with it. Packaging was good, arrived with no damage. Happy customer.

I ordered a few items as gifts for the holidays and everything was PERFECT. Came on time/as promised. I am so happy with the quality of my fleece blanket, my pot holders, and my coffee mugs. Thank you shutterfly!

I think people only get on these sites to complain. I think for every one complaint, there are 100 satisfied customers out there who love Shutterfly. I have been a happy customer for over 20 years. I've never had ANY problems and if I did, they were quick to fix. I give Shutterfly a solid A+ rating.

I have to say I do LOVE shutterflys products and the fact that theyre constantly giving discount codes. Their products ALWAYS come out nice and if theres any issues they resolve it quickly. Id admit the products do sometimes take forever to ship out to you but guess what? STOP BEING CHEAP AND PAY EXTRA FOR SHIPPING! Your order is last priority when you choose free shipping which is like with any company. I did have my issues in the past with Shutterfly bc I was being cheap and always chose free shipping hahah now I pay more. I ordered 2 custom kid books and I paid for shipping and Omg got it within a week! Talk about aaaaamazing! The books are really cute. Shutterflys customer service is always quick to resolve any issues so people people be patient and more good will come. Im talking from experience. Patience is a virtue after all. Thanks Shutterfly.

As someone deeply passionate about preserving memories through photographs, I understand the importance of choosing the right platform to bring those moments to life. Shutterfly, a renowned name in the industry, offers a wide array of services to turn your memories into tangible treasures. While some customers have expressed concerns about issues with orders and customer service, it's essential to consider the vast positive experiences shared by many. Shutterfly's dedication to helping you create personalized gifts and keepsakes shines through in the heartfelt stories of satisfied customers. Remember, every experience is unique, and Shutterfly continues to be a go-to destination for those seeking to share their stories in a special way. Let your memories come alive with Shutterfly, where every picture tells a story worth cherishing.

I am so pleased with this company! They have outstanding customer service! I recently placed an order for a couple of customized coffee mugs for my father & step mother that were lost in transit and unable to be located. I was heartbroken that this had happened and contacted Shutterfly's customer service via chat. The representative was extremely sympathetic to my situation and assured me that another order was submitted but was unable to ensure the package would arrive before Christmas. I just received BOTH of my coffee mugs in perfect condition with two days to spare before Christmas! Thank you so much for an outstanding job! You have absolutely earned my business and as life time customer!

I've used Shutterfly to print hundreds of pictures and dozens of personalized gifts for holidays and birthdays. Uploading pictures to Shutterfly is easy and straightforward. It keeps track of which pictures on my phone are already on the site so I don't upload them twice. Using the app I can get free 4x6 prints. I just pay shipping, which is very reasonable. I think the prices on some of the personalized gifts, like the picture blankets and pillows are a little high, but the quality is better than cheaper sites, like Personalization mall. Not to mention I can always find coupon codes to make it a little cheaper. I always recommend Shutterfly when people ask me where to get pictures put on stuff.

Shutterfly the one and only cheap place to get high quality prints... Have them mailed too your home or just pick them up at your local Target store... For high-quality prints of your favorite digital pictures, choose Shutterfly. For special celebrations or everyday moments, we offer digital photo prints in all standard sizes (wallet, 4x6,5x7 and 8x10) as well as large format prints (11x14,16x20 and 20x30). Create a scrapbook one page at a time with our 12x12 and 8x8 square prints. Arrange up to 30 photos onto one large print with collage posters. Choose from one of our high value print savings plans to enjoy great prices when you order your digital photos from Shutterfly. 20x30's are only $22.99 nobody can beat that price...

I love Shutterfly! I recently made a photo book for my mom's birthday and, after researching other similar websites, decided to go with Shutterfly because it had the most options while allowing me the most freedom and creativity, all for a reasonable price. After applying a coupon I got from Burlington, I paid $25 for a priceless BEAUTIFUL book. Shutterfly always has some kind of promotion going on (i. E., free shipping on orders over $30) and coupons are very common and easy to come by. They say to allow 5-10 business days for processing and shipment, but I received my order just 3 days later! The site is very user-friendly and customer service has always been cheerful and helpful. Love Shutterfly and my photo book - you won't be disappointed!

Okay so i ordered a book for christmas and of course it was very busy and it was going to be late. Tracking just kept saying "package acceptance pending" and it was annoying and after the package was delivered i was given the reasons it was delayed for so long. It went to west virginia and before that it was in Pennsylvania, where it was supposed to be delivered in the first place. It was all UPS's fault they missorted it and sent it to the wrong place. I then noticed the address was old and my person moved. I chatted with shutterfly and they immediately reordered the purchase at no cost and sent it! I will use them again no matter what because of this outstanding customer service. Shipping is not their fault. So i was wrong when i wrote a bad review earlier.

I ordered 2 albums for my sons high school Grad. The layouts and options are incredible. I am in Canada and I received my albums (from the US) in just 4 days! Incredible quality, shipping, packaging and gift boxing. There was an error on the cover of one album. I did see a warning sign when creating it, but could not see any text it was referring to. Blank text boxes don't print. I guess there was hidden print and in the final project, you could see a very faint name (girl!) on the cover! I was horrified. Sally at customer service was incredible. Despite it technically being my fault, it was a very difficult text box to find. She immediately sent out an entirely new album (with correction) and I just had to pay for shipping! SO appreciate such amazing customer service especially when it is for a special occasion coming up! Advice: don't ever leave a warning sign despite looking blank. Reach out for customer help! Thank you Shutterfly. I will be a repeat customer and spread the great word.

Just like any company, some people have bad experiences, some have good. Felt like I should share the good.
I have ordered from Shutterfly SEVERAL times to say the least. Most recently, I orders various print sizes of images from my honeymoon. I got all my photos, they were exactly as they should be, all the right images and sizes, EXCEPT one order of 2 12x12 images. The box had clearly been injured and taped back up, but not before putting a dent and a scratch in both images. I immediately took pictures of the box and the photos, emailed Shutterfly to explain what happened, and figured I would have to wait for awhile. I got an email confirmation for a reorder of those 2 images (no charge) within a half hour of submitting my email. Then got the follow up from their customer service apologizing for the inconvenience and letting me know they were replacing the photos.
That kind of customer service you can't get just anywhere anymore. Very happy with my experiences with Shutterfly, don't know that I will order from anywhere else.

I guess people only take to the internet to write a review when they have an axe to grind. To be completely honest, that is how I found this Sitejabber site, I'm here to complain about SammyDress (Chinese clothing company) censoring deserved negative reviews on their site. So I guess I'm guilty of same. Anywho, stumbled on these Shutterfly reviews while I was here and I am shocked to see so many negatives with so few positives to round them out.

Well, let me be a positive. I used Walmart's photo processing services for probably close to two decades just out of sheer holdover habit from the days of 35mm film as they were the cheapest and physically closest option for me. I had seen ads for Shutterfly, but they always seemed spendy compared to what I was paying at Walmart. But since the transition to digital I have noticed problems with Walmart's processing. Photos were bizarrely cropped, cut crookedly, colors were dark and the finish grainy. As if I printed out the pictures myself on a home printer. One of my orders disappeared completely and took months to get them to replace it. The final straw was when I received a stranger's photos in the mail from them - and it dawned on me what must have happened to my missing order!

So, coupon code in hand, I bit the bullet and tried the seemingly expensive Shutterfly. I'm so glad I did! I never knew what I had been missing all these years! Bright, Crisp, Vibrant! And the surface finish is like glass. I've never gotten a bizarrely cropped photo from them, I've never gotten a crookedly cut photo from them. I have reprinted dozens of favorite photos with them that I originally had done at Walmart and the results are superior every time. It's like looking at a whole new photo.

As others have complained, they do take a long time to process orders around Christmastime, but that is to be expected. They wouldn't be any good if they weren't busy, right? Plan ahead, people. They have other customers besides you, you know.

I did have to deal with customer service one time when two 8 x 10's I ordered arrived damaged (not their fault - victim of mailman rage). I opted to address the issue in a chat session and they immediately offered to replace free of charge, and I received the replacements in a lightning quick two days. So you people that had trouble getting them to respond to issues via email, I recommend you try chat. The entire chat session took less than 5 minutes start to finish.

As for their keepsake items, I can't comment on them as I've mostly only used Shutterfly for prints. But I did get a wall calendar from them and I was absolutely thrilled with it.

Also I just have to mention they offer a photo finish option they call "Pearl", and it is GORGEOUS! It gives the photo a metallic sheen that makes it look like it has been printed on a highly polished solid surface. Some subject matter/colors benefit more from this option than others, but I highly, highly recommend it for your most cherished photos that you intend to frame. Bright outdoor landscapes really leap to life when processed in Pearl. Yes, it is an expensive option, but wait for coupon codes in your inbox, and it is worth it!

Shutterfly is my favorite photo processor! Five stars for sure!

So, I go to (edit) a book in my que (I have 5 plus a calendar), to find out that my pics have been scrambled throughout my book or no longer on the pages. I make books for my family for Christmas presents and start on them in December/January throughout the whole year, ending in December. This book was for my mother, so it is full of her Children, Grandchildren/Great-grandchildren. She loves these books so much and talks about it throughout the year. I spend hours upon hours on these books, looking up quotes to go with pics, embellishments, etc to go with the pics. I contacted Shutterfly the day I found it, they were going to send it to their production people and I would get a email back within 4 days. It has been 7 days, no email, contacted Shutterfly again. They told be they couldn't do anything, it was lost. Told me they could compensate me. How can you compensate this much hard work, and it is October. No way I can go back and re-create my mothers book in 2 mths. Before that, they changed the fonts that has always been used. The fonts they changed it to, I had to go in and correct them and still haven't gone through all my books. Shutterfly has always been wonderful to work with, but right now, I am devasted on what has happened and feel like I have been blown off and they haven't done their best on this situation.

Ordered 13th Nov 2024
#[protected]-9000024
Was misplaced going to Austria instead of Australia spoke with helpful chat and was reordered
#[protected]-7000036 due on the 26th November still waiting for this order. Have received a photo book to my Australian address yeah.
Checked Christmas card order is going to Austria tried to contact on chat line both times - you timed out.

Last person offered a reorder with arrival on the 26th December. Again these are Christmas cards. I ask for a refund she said 50% I said no full refund.
Again at this stage the chat timed out. The system knows my name but does not retain any information so each time have to retype it all.

I wish to confirm that I am going to receive a full refund.Do not want a voucher
Thank you
Toni Eyles

In January 2020, I deactivated my Shutterfly account which had my wedding book in it. According to Shutterfly's website, deactivating the account does not delete photos or order history, especially if you have shared images with other accounts. However, it does not mention that if you live in California and select a privacy option, everything will be deleted regardless. Unfortunately, this happened to me. When I contacted Shutterfly to address this issue, they initially promised to revive the two books or provide two free replacements if we ordered new ones. I specifically requested that the new books have the same special features as our old ones, such as no Shutterfly logo. However, they later informed me that they could not fulfill this promise and would only offer one free book as compensation for the inconvenience. They claimed that I was at fault for deactivating my page, even though I only did so following Shutterfly's instructions. They even mentioned problems with California's privacy act, when my actual concern was the lack of notification regarding the deletion of my project under the privacy act. Dealing with this issue has been incredibly time-consuming, and Shutterfly has failed to honor their written and verbal promises without facing any consequences. If this is how they choose to operate their business, I will consider starting my future projects elsewhere. They escalated my complaint, but I simply asked the two individuals I was escalated to if they could inform me in the first email if they were not going to take any action so that I could file a complaint. However, they never responded to me again. I am disabled, sick, in pain, and exhausted, and it is the holiday season. None of this should have been necessary, and it has caused me emotional distress and will require practical work to recreate the book. Shutterfly needs to fulfill their promises and improve their communication. I would like to receive two free books as compensation for the time it will take me to recreate them, along with free prints for the amount of time I have spent trying to resolve this issue. This is a small request considering the circumstances. The original order number is ***-7000036.

Fui socia de Kodak Gallery por mucho tie.mpo, como saben transfirieron las memorias de todos a Shutterfly, durante mucho tiempo tambien puse fotos y videos de mi familia y amigos en mi cuenta de Shutterfly, vivi muchos anios en Miami y desde alli me inicie en estas dos empresas. Lamentablemente un dia trate de ver las fotos y no habia nada, me comunique con alguien en Shutterfly y la persona tenia tanta mala voluntad y no me ayudo en nada. fue una burla y una gran falta de respeto a mi persona. Luego volvi a llamar y la misma historia hasta que me dijeron que ya estaban las fotos en mi cuenta, habian 5 fotos actuales, y de las 5 una es completamente negra. Ahora ha tratado de ayudarme el copilot pero me ha confundido mas. Soy una abuela de 77 anios y ademas de querer mis fotos y videos debo ser respetada y alguien debe hacer su trabajo, recuperando mis fotos de donde las tengan y pongan en mi cuenta. Son mis memorias que han sido creadas en mucho tiempo. Gracias.

I have purchased several ceramic photo coffee cups - one per year. The color on the photos is coming off - particularly bad on the white cups. The black cups seem to be better.

Contacted Shutterfly and their suggestion “ place an order to replace” at my own expense. Seriously, that was their solution.

No thanks.

Will not be buying any additional cups. The quality has certainly deteriorated on recent orders. They must have new supplier.

Do not recommend buying their ceramic cups IF you plan to use the cups.

have not received pictures order no. [protected]-9002274. they were due nov.2 2023. they are sitting at the post

office in st.paul,mn . they received package acceptance pending. so what is wrong here. please check into this asap. or make a new order asap ship by fed ex. i am hoping u can help me out.

sincerely yours

linda neumann

[protected]@hotmail.com

I have two $25 gift cards gifted to me with codes that when inputted state “invalid”. Shutterfly customer support has indicated that there is nothing they can do and I need to reach out to the seller company - Target- to report invalid codes. Per Target, they have limited ability as they are only the distributor, as the gift cards are for shutterfly. Shutterfly customer service is refusing to honor the gift cards becuase they cannot find the codes even though I have uploaded pictures to show proof of physical cards and gift card numbers. I am being told that I need to have receipt of purchase, although they were gifted to me several months ago by a deceased grandparent.

After chatting twice, replying to a Shutterfly Support (which was a worthless FAQ) email and not being able to save the chat transcript, I'm about over it. Shutterfly has gone out of their way to disallow people from properly communicating with the company and have left us hanging without any support at all.

I emailed Shutterfly with all my details and below is the automated response I got, directing me to their worthless chat bot.

Trying to reach us? We’d love to help! Use the link below to launch our Help Center and click ‘Shutterfly Assistant’ on the lower-right. We’ll match you with the right specialist based on what you’re looking for.

https://support.shutterfly.com/s/

This is a copy of an email sent to [protected]@cs.shutterfly.com. I sent it on two times, 7/10/23 and 7/16/23 a return email said to handle it through their web sight which I tried before I sent the following email.

On Sunday, July 9 at approximately 5 PM I attempted to place an order on shutterfly.com. I got to the pay section, filled out necessary boxes to pay with a gift card. After typing the card number and the pin number in the appropriate places it stated that my balance due was zero. I attempted to place the order, but it came back and said I needed to add credit card information as a security measure. While attempting to fill in the requested information my laptop battery failed. When I booted it back up, I couldn’t find my order anywhere. I decided to wait till the next morning Monday, July 10 early in the morning to try again. Monday morning everything went fine until I entered the gift card information and the system said the card had been redeemed. It was an unused gift card that I pulled off the cardboard backing and uncovered the pin number Sunday morning. So somewhere between the gift card Sunday evening and Shutterfly.com Monday morning $50 vanished from the gift card.

This is the card I was using.

Gift Card Number [protected]

Pin number 6175

Thank you for any help you can give

Brian Murray

[protected]@gmail.com

Ordered photo books for a high school sports team. 10 days later the books arrived but 2 books were missing. I was not able to reach customer service by phone through Shutterfly so was forced to use their digital messaging service. It was very clear that it was either a computer responding to my complaint or a person that was not reading my message, for it took me 4 hours and 3 tries through their digital messaging service to finally get Shutterfly to acknowledge the 2 books were missing. They had me reorder the books but would not give me express mailing nor a rush order even though the mistake was on their end. 10 more days later I still had not received the 2 missing books. On my own I had to do some researching to discover the books went missing. Again, I had to go through digital messaging. This time they ordered the 2 missing books but again would not rush the order nor give me express mailing. Now these books will come after the banquet - leaving me with the embarrassment of these 2 boys not having their book while the rest of the team receives one and having to drive to their homes and hand deliver the books when and if they do finally come.

I placed an order for graduation invitations over 2 weeks ago. The expected delivery date kept getting pushed back, so i contacted Shutterfly this weekend and was told that it is “delayed in transit” but they placed a reorder and put a rush on it. The reorder is not supposed to arrive for another 5 days. Several others we know placed orders with other companies at the same time and received their cards within 3-5 days, and their invites were mailed out over a week ago. I have been a long time customer of Shutterfly, but this will be my FINAL order!

Shutterfly has not given their clients enough time to respond to termination of services, MS has had a deadly tornado with many lives lost and data outages, I was only able to open up my email today that was last dated I've been a member of their free photography sharing and have purchased their content from time to time but as early as 2005 is my estimate and had 1000's of photos from my life, births, graduations, proms, old scanned photos sadly I lost the original photos in a house with water damage, my sister, and mother have this service as well and Shutterfly has a official FB page that their reps state "Shutterlfy never deletes photos" so I woke up today to get my daughters baby pictures for graduation and to my surprise there are no photos I called their customer service surely with that much intellectual property they have back ups in place or can grandfather in their older clients they would not offer an suppport at all, none, was hung up on. They have multiple BBB reports that have no resolution, they lied. They have taken our elders and made them hostage. They did not provide certfied letter? Why not

I have submitted the same book multiple times with specific instructions which are completely ignored. After each failed attempt I have been told to resubmit the book which I have done. Finally I got a passable book which I paid for, Immediately I got an email from Kiara Smith trying to,upsell me but she was unable to provide the cost difference, claims they are t provided with that information, I told her that I did not want what she was offering and to process my original order which I paid for. She says she can’t do that and I have to resubmit the book. What happened to my orogninal payment? No answer. I have two more photo books to process. I will need another vendor. Who could eat with these incompetents. I want to know what happened to my payment.

My account was flagged by VP of Customer Support Corey Conklin to prevent me from making new orders, any support from the Customer Support - all referred to email VP, and effectively deeming the account unusable. On top of all that, they also took back/stole the promotions I had.

While this has been taking place from December 2022, the last action by the company canceling my order and taking away the credits/promotions was on February 17, 2023. All emails to Corey went unanswered. They were not just ignored, they were retaliated.

Unbelievable!

My Christmas cards have been sent back to you. They Cwere delivered Jan 5. We had left Michigan by then and are in Naples Florida now. Originally they were suppose to arrive on the 29th. We were home until the 31st. The tracking number I called at ups said they were delivered January 5th. My housekeeper was there the entire day and no package arrived. Where are my Christmas cards. I was billed and B paid $215.00. And I still do not have my cards. Judy ward. PleAse send my cards to Naples Florida. 425 Dockside Drive. Unit 1004 Naples Florida 34110

Hello,

My name is Anesti Panagiotidis, and

on Dec 24-2022 I placed Order #[protected]-8000048.

Since then, I have received the 2 coffee mugs but not the 30 pictures and envelopes. When I track the order, it shows delivered, but this is not the case.

I went around the neighborhood asking if it was delivered elsewhere by mistake, but I had no luck. Please investigate and let me know.

By the way, I have been trying to contact your company via your customer service on your website, but your links are not working-this only adds to the frustration.

Thank you

Anesti

Ordered 12/04/22

Order #[protected]-7000186

A 12 x 2 2023 calendar was ordered on Dec.4, 2022 which was intended to be a gift for Dec. 25, 2022. 'Inclement' weather was the EXCUSE for the delay in delay on December 10th. Then it was December 23, followed by December 26th and now onto January 2nd and presently, it is just listed as 'on its way' from Carrollton, Texas. I personally have driven twice to Carrollton in the the last 2 weeks with NO 'inclement weather issues' as my sister in law lives there. What has happened?!

I am greatly disappointed in Shutterfly as this is not the first time. I doubt seriously I will not be recommending you in the future. You have lost me.

I spent all day trying to upload for prints. and no matter what I did the print order was not there at the end. I tried to call but your automated voice was not helpful but did say have a great day. I am on west coast so expected to speak with live person. I am long time customer and have never had any trouble until now. For some reason the prints that I wanted did not show up and the basket was empty I spent almost all day trying to get these prints ordered. I suspect there were too many people wanting to order also. The price was right but worthless if I can't actually order. It used to be so easy but now your website is having problems and not easy to use. Can't order the prints I tried to order at least 5 different times today. Please let me know if your web site is having trouble and also let me know how I can get the best price.

I ordered prints over and over but then got message basket was empty. I spent almost all day working on this and still no success. I have ordered many times and never had a problem until today. Is your website overloaded? Please advise so that I can finish this order. I wanted to order all together instead of in sections paying shipping each time! What is the problem?

I ordered a mouse pad on Nov 29th, it was shipped on Dec 6th and I still don't have it. The tracking information hasn't been updated since Dec 7th. You would think when a package doesn't show delivered by the date its supposed to be, that someone would follow-up and reship or overnight. This was a Christmas gift and now it won't be here in time. The customer service rep seemed to not really care and I had to ask for a refund in addition to it being resent. I ordered this in plenty of time to get it here before Christmas. I spend alot of money with Shutterfly storing my pictures, for what? poor service? I'll be looking for another provider to handle my pictures.

I purchased a calendar from Shutterfly and all went extremely well. I was pleased with the product and speedy fabrication. After I received the item, I received an email stating that if I give a review and enter the sweepstakes code "#sweepstakes" I would be entered into a $1000 contest. I clicked on the link, gave a great review, but there was no place asking for the code. I hit the submit button thinking that it would ask for the code on the next screen but it did not. So basically, Shutterfly asked for a review promising to enter me into a contest, yet there was no entry location to enter the code. I called customer service and they told me that the code had to be entered "somewhere" in the review. When I told them that there was no place to enter it, they told me that there was nothing that they could do. This seems to me, a sneaky way to get reviews, promise something but not being obligated to provide. I think this is totally misleading and I want to be added into the contest for $1000. Please help if anyone can - thank you