Well here's a good one for you...I just had an "order cancelled prior to shipment" the other day. The order was placed on July 23, the cancellation "prior to shipment" came in on August 7, more than 2 weeks later. It was for a framed 8x10 print. To me, it shouldn't take 2 weeks to ship. Now maybe...just maybe...the cancellation just wasn't noted on my account for 2 weeks for some reason. Or maybe, the buyer cancelled because 2 weeks went by and the order had not been shipped. Who knows.
As for returns, I agree, it would be nice to 1) be notified via email we have had a return come in (just like we are notified when we have a sale) and 2) if the customer has stated a reason for the return (I know some don't), it would be nice to know what that reason is, so if it is something we have control over, we can fix it on our end.
I'm getting ready to test order several items from ALL the POD's I do business with. Products that don't cut it quality-wise will be deleted from my offerings. And I honestly have no patience for companies that don't ship timely. I realize the POD's are farming out the printing on lots of these products to other places, though, and they don't have control over that end of it...they just have to trust they company they are farming the work out to does their job properly. But I'd like to think if a company the POD deals with doesn't ship timely, or ships poorly printed merchandise, the POD would choose another supplier to work with who has a better handle on things.