Good Idea, Horrible Service. Review on Lulu

The original idea for online self-publishing companies was great and the fact that they give thousands of writers the chance to see their works in print is great. Lulu.com, like iUniverse.com, is overpriced, however, due to the fact that they aren't really doing anything except providing an online community for the writers. They outsource the print-ready work to printers elsewhere, and they take a cut on every sale regardless of where its sold. Lulu.com does have a nice shopping cart and ranking system for books within lulu, but it takes them forever to get a book to you once you order it (two weeks if you order regular mail). If there's a problem with the print or the book they have live online help and email support (I haven't found a telephone number). These help methods take forever too. If lulu.com was in the medical field, all their customers would be dead from neglect. I've had two substantial errors in my books and neither problem has been solved and it has taken over 2 months! This is not the way to go with self-publishing. Unfortunately, I don't know of another company that can get your ISBN, submit to online stores and put it up on their website for you. The only alternative is to do it yourself, which isn't so bad, and it's cheaper. The distribution is the main hurdle, but lulu.com doesn't offer that either.