Alternate to “Light Impressions”

[bruce terry]

As mentioned, LI freight charges are INSULTING, and I'm glad to find so many other good/better suppliers are about.

Talked to them about this by phone a month or so ago and it was like talking to an unplugged vacuum cleaner.

 

[nsurit]

I've purchased precut Nielsen Bainbridge mats from Iconusa.com and most of my framing comes from American Frame. There are some local frame shops that can be competitive. Bill Barber

 

[hortense]

I have been having trouble also.

In reading through the NaturePhoto1/Peter and RobertHall comments on Light Impressions I can smell what really is happening or has happened. This appears to be a battle between distributors and high volume discount OEMs.

I require more than frames and mats i. e., a broader line of photographic and art products. Some sort of management/marketing/ownership change is/has taken place.

Any suggestions for an alternate source, preferably west coast would be appreciated.

 

[naturephoto1]

I have been having trouble also.

In reading through the NaturePhoto1/Peter and RobertHall comments on Light Impressions I can smell what really is happening or has happened. This appears to be a battle between distributors and high volume discount OEMs.

I require more than frames and mats i. e., a broader line of photographic and art products. Some sort of management/marketing/ownership change is/has taken place.

Any suggestions for an alternate source, preferably west coast would be appreciated.

Hortense,

At this point, almost all my supplies are coming from rather local suppliers, M&M Distributors in NJ, United Manufacturers in NY, and LeWinter in Pittsburgh. My custom wood frames continue to come directly from the maker with an exclusive arrangement here in PA and my metal frames come from American Frame. At this point, after the drastic change in the Light Impressions methods of dealing with individual photographers they will probably only supply me with special Tyvek tape and corners. But, that is their problem. They will have lost thousands of dollars a year from me alone and like amounts from many other photographers and shops.

Rich

 

[hortense]

NaturePhoto1/Richard- I require a West Coast source.

 

[naturephoto1]

NaturePhoto1/Richard- I require a West Coast source.

Hortense,

No problem, I just read your posting and was just reporting how I was dealing with this major change in Light Impressions as my supplier.

Rich

 

[Travis Nunn]

NaturePhoto1/Richard- I require a West Coast source.

How about Redimat. They are out of Santa Rosa, CA
http://www.redimat.com/

 

[kswatapug]

Another comprehensive vendor is HK in South San Francisco. They are stricly a wholesaler. Dead Link Removed

 

[tim atherton]

For me, this will probably be the last digital project that I do on Ilford fine art paper, the search is on for a replacement, it will probably be Lysonic which I can pretty much get on demand via inkjetart in Utah.

ctr

(digital aside...) do you mean Ilford Fine Art paper? or were you just using the term "fine art" generically for a number of their papers? Because for the longest time Ilford Galerie Fine Art was actually Hahnemuhle paper (William Turner I think?). Not sure if it still is

now, back to normal programming...

 

[timothyhyde]

I have begun ordering most of my frames, mats, and plexi from Metropolitan in the Twin Cities. Their quality is great, turn-around reasonable, prices competitive, shipping costs in line, and service superior. They were recommended by an APUGer on a thread a year or two ago when I gave up on LI.

Dead Link Removed

 

[RobertP]

From what I've been told LI will no longer ship full sheets of mat board UPS. It now must be shipped by freight. This prices me right out of their product. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. A good alternative may be Conservation Resources. They also carry Alpharag board with reasonable shipping prices. I will probably give them a try on my next order.

 

[Michael Kadillak]

Custom Cut Mat Board

I have begun ordering most of my frames, mats, and plexi from Metropolitan in the Twin Cities. Their quality is great, turn-around reasonable, prices competitive, shipping costs in line, and service superior. They were recommended by an APUGer on a thread a year or two ago when I gave up on LI.

Dead Link Removed

After a long process of comparing prices for custom cut mat boards, I came across what I believe is THE best price for over mat and custom cut mat board. Let me give you an example of the pricing for you to compare;

13x15" mount board with a 13x15" Over mat custom cut to 8 3/8" to 10 1/4" (for 8x10 contact prints) with both mount board and over mat Bainbridge 100% cotton rag PH balanced 4 ply priced out at $3.26/set (mat and over mat) when you purchase 100 sets. You could do 50 horizontal and 50 verticle when 100 total are ordered. Shipping to Colorado was $43 - not bad. If anyone can fine a cheaper price for this good a mat board in 4 ply, please let me know. These are cut with a computer and my first order was incredible. Packaging and customer service as well as the turn around was incredible. I am going to order a bunch more I was so pleased.

Contact John Schofield at Schofield and Vose Framing in Hamden, CT. at (203) 230 2019. Just a hard working great guy trying to develop a client base and succeed. After pricing Superior and a host of other service providers, this was the best combination of a top product and a great price.

 

[greybeard]

I'll second the recommendation for American Frame. Although I usually buy only frames, and cut my own mats, a few months ago they had a promotion offering free mats with frames. The web ordering system allowed me to specify "no opening" , but the company called me before shipping the order to make sure that I hadn't just forgotten to specify the openings.

What I'd like to find is a source (Northern California) where I can buy full boxes of Crescent #2960 board, undamaged, without paying $10/sheet retail!

 

[don sigl]

I'm not a dealer, but have done all my framing and my wife's (she's a pastel artist) for years, and I've always used Light Impressions. But I've noticed a severe slide downhill ever since they moved from Rochester to California, and I have told them that. Freight on my orders now runs around 25-30% of the cost of the merchandise, about double what it was from NY. And on a recent order of some large frames, the freight was in the 50% range!

However... I have not yet found anyone who has their combination of quality merchandise and reasonably priced frames. But I may try some of the sources mentioned here.

--Eddy

I used to live down the street from Light Impressions in Rochester, NY. Back then I could walk over and get what I needed. No shipping expense. Recently, I went to their site to order resealable plastic sleeves. I compared exactly the same sleeves at freestyle. There was less than a 1$ difference. However the shipping costs for light impressions was about 5 times as high as the shipping costs charged by freestyle. I now buy at freestyle.

 

[Earl Dunbar]

Bill Edwards, the original founder/owner of Light Impressions, now runs Dead Link Removed in Rochester.

 

[PhotoArtNW]

Looking for alternatives to Light Impressions

Like others who have commented on Light Impressions, I have seen a gradual decline in service over the last few years.

Now the situation has reached the point of no return for me. On July 14th I placed an order -- nothing fancy -- a couple of types of tape, clear corners, crystal clear bags, cotton gloves, burnishing bone, etc. I was told that several items were on back order, but that the others were available.

On August 14th I received a letter stating that "some items" from my order were out of stock, but they were trying to ship them as soon as possible. As it turned out, everything I wanted was now backordered! They gave me the options of cancelling the order or contacting their Customer Service Center to discuss alternatives if I didn't want to wait. Since I didn't have a pressing need for the items, I decided to wait.

Then I received another form letter dated August 30, which said: "Unfortunately, we are unable to fill your order as this item is no longer available." They indicated they had cancelled my back order and that my credit card had not be charged. You can be sure I'll be checking my credit card statement.

It appears to me that Light Impressions is going belly up and/or is in the process of committing organizational suicide. In any event, I won't be placing any further orders with them, as I simply won't put up with such poor service. Moreover, I will advise my photo and artist friends to look for other vendors. It's a shame because Light Impressions was an excellent resource for me for many years.

Al Flory

 

[ann]

similar story just recently.

i have been doing busy with LI for many years, and have come to the end of my rope.

i talked to several people last week to resolve a 3 week backorder for an order and talk to them about the decline i have noticed and that they were getting a lot of "bad" reviews on serveral photo sites.
For the most part they didn't seem to care.
So a little more research and work will bring about busincess for other vendors as I am like many others "finished".

 

[PhotoArtNW]

In my previous message, I forgot to thank everyone for their suggestions concerning alternatives to Light Impressions.

One more I would add to the list is Documounts: www.documounts.com. I've had positive dealings with them, particularly for metal frames and matboard. Their selection of other products isn't as good as Light Impressions, but then a great selection doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you can't obtain the products in a timely manner.

 

[colivet]

After a long process of comparing prices for custom cut mat boards, I came across what I believe is THE best price for over mat and custom cut mat board. Let me give you an example of the pricing for you to compare;

13x15" mount board with a 13x15" Over mat custom cut to 8 3/8" to 10 1/4" (for 8x10 contact prints) with both mount board and over mat Bainbridge 100% cotton rag PH balanced 4 ply priced out at $3.26/set (mat and over mat) when you purchase 100 sets. You could do 50 horizontal and 50 verticle when 100 total are ordered. Shipping to Colorado was $43 - not bad. If anyone can fine a cheaper price for this good a mat board in 4 ply, please let me know. These are cut with a computer and my first order was incredible. Packaging and customer service as well as the turn around was incredible. I am going to order a bunch more I was so pleased.

Contact John Schofield at Schofield and Vose Framing in Hamden, CT. at (203) 230 2019. Just a hard working great guy trying to develop a client base and succeed. After pricing Superior and a host of other service providers, this was the best combination of a top product and a great price.

Yep, I am in the same boat as Michael. We combined orders to make use of the great discounts this company offers.
The material is as good as it gets, as is the craftmanship, and the attention to detail.
Packaging was a work of art and my mats are flawless even after a long trip to Hawaii.

I got no affiliation with this company but would really like to see people from this forum ordering from them. We got to support those small businesses that are willing to go the extra for the customer.

 

[Michael Gordon]

I also had a wholesale account with Light Impressions, and when they fired my account rep and became just another idiotic corporation run by bean counters, I, too, ended my business with them. The fact that I rejected a large percentage of the frames they cut for me made it even easier (QC went waaaayyyy down). I say screw LI for good.

I now get my frames from Documounts and all other materials from United Manufacturers. For the person who required a West Coast supplier, UM has a warehouse in Las Vegas. Shipping costs even for full cases of 32x40 boards is very reasonable.

Bye bye, good riddance to Light Impressions.

 

[jp80874]

Thanks Pete for the thread, all of you for your thoughts and especially Paul Sorensen for mentioning American Frame’s no charge rush service. http://www.americanframe.com. After some delays with Light Impressions I decided to try a change. As a trial I ordered two complete Nielsen frames, mats, etc. for one vertical and one horizontal print, 20x24 inch images. When I asked about delivery they said if there is a rush (this is 2 PM) we can ship tomorrow at no additional charge. I will pay sales tax because they are also in Ohio, but not ship 2/3s of the way across country. The rush was to submit two prints next week in a group juried show. Ground service from Light Impressions would be five days after shipment. Any delay would miss the entry day.

There is a peculiarity in American Frame’s on-line software that caused me to stop my order, but a call to customer service brought me back. The mats for this size print require UPS oversize charges of $25 each frame. When questioned why they couldn’t package together the customer service person said they would and the second charge will be deducted. I don’t see why they couldn’t program around that, but their IT people must have higher priorities. All should go well from here, but I will add another post if not.

Thanks,

John Powers

 

[Tom Haxby]

Light Impressions

I am a struggling photographer trying to make it in this tough economy. I ordered supplies from Light Impressions in January and after not receiving my order for almost a month. To make a long story short, no delivery, no refund, no response from Light Impressions. Contacting the BBB did not help either. They just ignored them. What a lousy company that treats customers like dirt. Good riddance.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Hi Tom,

Welcome to APUG. At least as a first-time poster. Sorry it's regarding such a bad experience. You might want to read through the following recent APUG thread, if you have not already done so. It's a pretty sorry tale..

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ken

 

[Jon Shiu]

I am a struggling photographer trying to make it in this tough economy. I ordered supplies from Light Impressions in January and after not receiving my order for almost a month. To make a long story short, no delivery, no refund, no response from Light Impressions. Contacting the BBB did not help either. They just ignored them. What a lousy company that treats customers like dirt. Good riddance.

Contact your credit card company and they can do a chargeback to get you your money back.

Jon