Complaint Review: Teamup Gallery - Team Up Sports

We received the Teamup Gallery pictures package yesterday. It's well done with quality like I expected. Thank you Dennis of TeamUp and RipOff Report. I also see that TeamUp is responsible enough to reply to the RipOff report.

However, I am still concerned that many of my son's T-ball friends still have not received their pictures yet and that the long-term process will not prevent this problem in the future. It's evident that their time-tested process is not fail-safe. Please take the following as constructive criticism:

One of the tools I use at work as a Systems Engineer is the Crosby Five-Step Problem Elimination Process
(1) Define the problem.
(2) Fix the problem.
(3) Identify the root cause.
(4) Take corrective action.
(5) Evaluate and follow up.

Let's see how it's been applied to this problem so far, and what can be done to further remedy this problem.

I see so far that Teamup has
1) Defined the problem as the independent contractor not having distributed the codes according to their process and

2) is starting to fix the immediate problem with
a) Additional customer service agents
b) Additional phone personnel
c) Phone system upgrade

But Teamup Gallery still needs to
2) Continue to fix the current problem
a) Teamup needs to make sure that all the people that paid for pictures, get their codes and in turn can oder their pictures.
b) For those people that don't have Internet access, you need to make sure that you send the standard package out to them; they don't need the code.
c) The additional phone personnel should call back to respond to messages left on the voicemail.
d) A voice-mail tree could be established for people calling from the northwest to distribute information about this particular problem. The voice tree could then provide an update to the process and provide a mechanism by which people receive their code.

3) Identify the root cause
What I see is that the current process involves human action by TeamUp, the subcontractor and coaches in order to get a code back to T-Ball players. It's not clear if the subcontractor did not get the codes back from TeamUp, or if the subcontractor failed to get the codes to the coaches, or if the coaches failed to get the codes back to the parents. Somehow, the chain of code distribution was broken. Either way, the distribution of codes is a very cumbersome process and subject to flaws. It may have worked in the past, but it has a lot of human dependencies.

The form did not collect enough information from the parents as to how to get back to them in case the process failed. TeamUp is obviously still having problems in distributing the codes since they can't reach any of the parents.

4) Take corrective action
a) TeamUp needs to take responsibility for mis-managing the subcontractor. They need to put measures in place so that the quality of the subcontractor's work is checked along the way. Subcontractors are not part of TeamUp and for that reason probably only care about their field of expertise - taking pictures, not running TeamUp's business.
b) TeamUp needs to take responsibility for a process that may have worked many times in the past, but failed this time. It may have been a training error or oversight. Either way, it looks bad to blame the affair totally on the subcontractor.
c) The process should be changed to that Teamup, the contractors and the coaches don't have to mess with distributing the codes after the picture shoot. Teamup could have have a random code could be pre-printed in two places on the form, one part is kept by the company, the other by the parents. As the payment is processed, the issued code is enabled so that the pictures can be viewed and ordered. All codes not accompanied by a payment or a shoot are inactive. Codes accompanied by a shoot, but no payment are reminded that their payment has not been received yet.
d) require additional information of the form so that you can get back to the parents should the process fail.

5) Evaluate and follow-up
Just like the commercial for Bank America, try the new process once and make sure you can do one transaction properly. Once the new process is in place, follow-up with subcontractors, coaches and parents to make sure the process really works.

Perhaps challenging your company to become ISO-9000 certified would re-enforce the understanding of the processes. Part of ISO-9000 certification is to ask that your subcontractors do it too.

We received the Teamup Gallery pictures package yesterday. It's well done with quality like I expected. Thank you Dennis of TeamUp and RipOff Report. I also see that TeamUp is responsible enough to reply to the RipOff report.

However, I am still concerned that many of my son's T-ball friends still have not received their pictures yet and that the long-term process will not prevent this problem in the future. It's evident that their time-tested process is not fail-safe. Please take the following as constructive criticism:

One of the tools I use at work as a Systems Engineer is the Crosby Five-Step Problem Elimination Process
(1) Define the problem.
(2) Fix the problem.
(3) Identify the root cause.
(4) Take corrective action.
(5) Evaluate and follow up.

Let's see how it's been applied to this problem so far, and what can be done to further remedy this problem.

I see so far that Teamup has
1) Defined the problem as the independent contractor not having distributed the codes according to their process and

2) is starting to fix the immediate problem with
a) Additional customer service agents
b) Additional phone personnel
c) Phone system upgrade

But Teamup Gallery still needs to
2) Continue to fix the current problem
a) Teamup needs to make sure that all the people that paid for pictures, get their codes and in turn can oder their pictures.
b) For those people that don't have Internet access, you need to make sure that you send the standard package out to them; they don't need the code.
c) The additional phone personnel should call back to respond to messages left on the voicemail.
d) A voice-mail tree could be established for people calling from the northwest to distribute information about this particular problem. The voice tree could then provide an update to the process and provide a mechanism by which people receive their code.

3) Identify the root cause
What I see is that the current process involves human action by TeamUp, the subcontractor and coaches in order to get a code back to T-Ball players. It's not clear if the subcontractor did not get the codes back from TeamUp, or if the subcontractor failed to get the codes to the coaches, or if the coaches failed to get the codes back to the parents. Somehow, the chain of code distribution was broken. Either way, the distribution of codes is a very cumbersome process and subject to flaws. It may have worked in the past, but it has a lot of human dependencies.

The form did not collect enough information from the parents as to how to get back to them in case the process failed. TeamUp is obviously still having problems in distributing the codes since they can't reach any of the parents.

4) Take corrective action
a) TeamUp needs to take responsibility for mis-managing the subcontractor. They need to put measures in place so that the quality of the subcontractor's work is checked along the way. Subcontractors are not part of TeamUp and for that reason probably only care about their field of expertise - taking pictures, not running TeamUp's business.
b) TeamUp needs to take responsibility for a process that may have worked many times in the past, but failed this time. It may have been a training error or oversight. Either way, it looks bad to blame the affair totally on the subcontractor.
c) The process should be changed to that Teamup, the contractors and the coaches don't have to mess with distributing the codes after the picture shoot. Teamup could have have a random code could be pre-printed in two places on the form, one part is kept by the company, the other by the parents. As the payment is processed, the issued code is enabled so that the pictures can be viewed and ordered. All codes not accompanied by a payment or a shoot are inactive. Codes accompanied by a shoot, but no payment are reminded that their payment has not been received yet.
d) require additional information of the form so that you can get back to the parents should the process fail.

5) Evaluate and follow-up
Just like the commercial for Bank America, try the new process once and make sure you can do one transaction properly. Once the new process is in place, follow-up with subcontractors, coaches and parents to make sure the process really works.

Perhaps challenging your company to become ISO-9000 certified would re-enforce the understanding of the processes. Part of ISO-9000 certification is to ask that your subcontractors do it too.

We received the Teamup Gallery pictures package yesterday. It's well done with quality like I expected. Thank you Dennis of TeamUp and RipOff Report. I also see that TeamUp is responsible enough to reply to the RipOff report.

However, I am still concerned that many of my son's T-ball friends still have not received their pictures yet and that the long-term process will not prevent this problem in the future. It's evident that their time-tested process is not fail-safe. Please take the following as constructive criticism:

One of the tools I use at work as a Systems Engineer is the Crosby Five-Step Problem Elimination Process
(1) Define the problem.
(2) Fix the problem.
(3) Identify the root cause.
(4) Take corrective action.
(5) Evaluate and follow up.

Let's see how it's been applied to this problem so far, and what can be done to further remedy this problem.

I see so far that Teamup has
1) Defined the problem as the independent contractor not having distributed the codes according to their process and

2) is starting to fix the immediate problem with
a) Additional customer service agents
b) Additional phone personnel
c) Phone system upgrade

But Teamup Gallery still needs to
2) Continue to fix the current problem
a) Teamup needs to make sure that all the people that paid for pictures, get their codes and in turn can oder their pictures.
b) For those people that don't have Internet access, you need to make sure that you send the standard package out to them; they don't need the code.
c) The additional phone personnel should call back to respond to messages left on the voicemail.
d) A voice-mail tree could be established for people calling from the northwest to distribute information about this particular problem. The voice tree could then provide an update to the process and provide a mechanism by which people receive their code.

3) Identify the root cause
What I see is that the current process involves human action by TeamUp, the subcontractor and coaches in order to get a code back to T-Ball players. It's not clear if the subcontractor did not get the codes back from TeamUp, or if the subcontractor failed to get the codes to the coaches, or if the coaches failed to get the codes back to the parents. Somehow, the chain of code distribution was broken. Either way, the distribution of codes is a very cumbersome process and subject to flaws. It may have worked in the past, but it has a lot of human dependencies.

The form did not collect enough information from the parents as to how to get back to them in case the process failed. TeamUp is obviously still having problems in distributing the codes since they can't reach any of the parents.

4) Take corrective action
a) TeamUp needs to take responsibility for mis-managing the subcontractor. They need to put measures in place so that the quality of the subcontractor's work is checked along the way. Subcontractors are not part of TeamUp and for that reason probably only care about their field of expertise - taking pictures, not running TeamUp's business.
b) TeamUp needs to take responsibility for a process that may have worked many times in the past, but failed this time. It may have been a training error or oversight. Either way, it looks bad to blame the affair totally on the subcontractor.
c) The process should be changed to that Teamup, the contractors and the coaches don't have to mess with distributing the codes after the picture shoot. Teamup could have have a random code could be pre-printed in two places on the form, one part is kept by the company, the other by the parents. As the payment is processed, the issued code is enabled so that the pictures can be viewed and ordered. All codes not accompanied by a payment or a shoot are inactive. Codes accompanied by a shoot, but no payment are reminded that their payment has not been received yet.
d) require additional information of the form so that you can get back to the parents should the process fail.

5) Evaluate and follow-up
Just like the commercial for Bank America, try the new process once and make sure you can do one transaction properly. Once the new process is in place, follow-up with subcontractors, coaches and parents to make sure the process really works.

Perhaps challenging your company to become ISO-9000 certified would re-enforce the understanding of the processes. Part of ISO-9000 certification is to ask that your subcontractors do it too.

First of all we sincerely apologize for the trouble and inconvenience that our Pacific Northwest customers are experiencing as a result of the team picture process.

TeamUp Gallery hired an independent contractor to manage our photo process in the Northwest. Although we have developed a proven process over the last several years, this local contractor decided to change the process of supplying codes to the consumer upon payment at photo day. TeamUp Gallery did not authorize this process change and only learned of the issue after it had occurred.

As a result, many customers have not received the codes they purchased and have been unable to order their online photos. This has resulted in hundreds of email and phone calls which have overloaded our phones and email response capability.

We are doing everything possible at this time to respond to customers requesting assistance or full refunds at this time. We maintain a 100% money back guarantee.

The steps we have put in place to respond to the issues include the following:

Additional customer service agents with email monitoring 7 days a week.

Additional phone personell to respond to immediate questions.

Phone system upgrade to decrease voice mail overload.


All photos are online for a period of 3 months. We will extend the time period for an additional 3 months or until all customers receive their photos.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience to all customers involved. This has created an incredible disruption in our high quality of service and immeasurable amount of time to correct issues created by the independent contractor in the Northwest.

All questions or inquiries should be directed to support@teamupphoto.com for the quickest response.
Please provide your league, team division information in your message.

First Name Dennis
Last Name Ransdell
Telephone 925.837.4703
Email dransdell@teamupsports.com

I found the VP of Marketing's home phone number on the web. Giving him a call got me the needed e-certificate and an upgrade to a $39.99 package, which was very generous on their part. His explanation - the outsourced contractor did not follow their procedures. So far, thank you very much Dennis.

However, it would behoove TeamUp Gallery / TeamUp Sports, Inc. to get the rest of the e-codes out to the hundreds of teams out here in the Pacific North West.