I have been the SCRIP coordinator for St. Margaret Mary Parish in Milwauke WI for 7 years now. During that time we have used Great Lakes Scrip Service to purchase nearly all our certificates, with the exception of a few local retailers.
In those 7 years, and we order weekly from Great Lakes 52 weeks a year, there has been perhaps 1 small error that was quickly corrected by them. They have an excellent website with information about their ever-growing retailer list, backorders are rare, and their email information service let's you know ahead of time about backorders, denomination or discount changes, etc. When peak times or holidays arrive, they alert you with recommendations or requirements for shipping changes so that your scrip arrives on time.
For those of you who have been duped by Scrip Advantage, I would strongly recommend that you consider using Great Lakes. You will not be disappointed. Contact them directly to discuss their service.
HV: I can't believe they took an unauthorized debit from your account. Can your bank do anything about this? Its outright fraud if you did not authorize it.
This is all great information. I just found all this information in the last few days, and am glad to have a community to share information with.
I have a specific question, and that is if anyone reading has any information about United Scrip. As luck would have it, I just 2 days ago sent a packet out to 500 families which is geared to using United Scrip, and now I am reading all these great things about Great Lakes. I've spoken with United Scrip a couple times over the past 2 weeks, and they actually gave me the heads up about ScripAdvantage, as they are also receiving orders from SA customers. Anyone with personal experience with UnitedScrip? THANKS!
I've been running our school's scrip program for 6 years. I found out about Great Lakes from a mailing packet they sent to me. I have always been nervous about putting too many eggs in one basket so I gave them a try. They've been great! I was order from all three scrip companies for a while(back when National was still in business) but began using Great Lakes more and more because they were so reliable. Our scrip programs runs through the summer and at the first signs of Scrip Advantage's backorder routine I stopped using them all together. We've been very lucky not to get caught in Scrip Advantage's collapse!
Northwest....you're right about SA's wasteful shipping of back orders. Sometimes, I would get multiple overnight packages on the same day from them. I wondered why they couldn't combine them. I have had only one small back-order from Great Lakes (from a brand new merchant). It shipped the following week with my next order. Yes, it's an adjustment, but I tell my customers that they will have to wait a week or two for back-orders...so it's fine by me if it helps keep them solvent!
As a new and satisfied customer of Great Lakes Scrip Center, I e-mailed them this morning with dual concerns. 1) Is Great Lakes prepared to handle all these new customers at peak holiday time with the same minimal back orders?
2) How can those who lived through NSC's downfall and now SA's problems trust that the same won't happen with Great Lakes?
I got an immediate personal reply from the President of Great Lakes Scrip that was very reassuring, similar to what the above guest posted. It mentioned the fact that they have been profitable every one of their 11 years, which was not true of NSC and SA.
