Those "Self-Publish" Book Sites?

I had some calendars printed from lulu.com for christmas presents. The proof i ordered didn't come in time and my wife insisted i order 8 to be shipped to michigan for the gifts. It was black and white and their standard calendar size. The blacks lost alot of detail but the images are close to what i had on my calibrated monitor. I sent them in jpeg format. My main comlaint is the vertical pattern in each image. There's banding in each image from top to bottom, in my proof and all eight copies. No one but me noticed though. I will contact them about the problem. They also don't have a phone number for support that i can find.
I saw a book from mypublisher.com over christmas that looked really nice. The printing quality was very good and colors were accurate.

Yeah Vinnie, on the Lulu site it states there is no way to contact them via phone.
Kinda sucks.

Were you guys happy in the end with your Lulu calendars or have we settled on a better printer for such things.
-Rob skeoch