Dunco? Anybody have contact lately?

[sepiareverb]

I've been trying for a couple of months to get some response from Dunco. I'm looking for a part for a used easel which arrived with damage. The seller gave me a partial refund, but getting any response from Dunco either by email, their web form or by telephone has proved impossible. Anyone here have recent contact with the company? Anyone here know someone at Dunco?

 

[AgX]

There was no news here in Germany about any disturbances at Dunco, in fact no news at all.

 

[sepiareverb]

I understand how bad my German is, but this is a lot of attempted contacts gone ignored. There is a saying "no news is good news"...

 

[andreios]

If I read the description of the auction where I bought the easel I'll be needed to contact them soon as well. Reading this maybe I'd better simply call them by phone...

 

[pentaxuser]

OP Try contacting someone called Martin Reed who owns Silverprint in London. He still sells Dunco easels and has always expressed great faith in Dunco. He will certainly have contacts with Dunco.

His number is: 02076200169. If you are not in the U.K. you need to add the U.K. code in front.

Best of luck

pentaxuser

 

[sepiareverb]

Thank you pentaxuser!

 

[sepiareverb]

Just off the phone with Silverprint, Martin is no longer there, and they've not had any Dunco easels for a "very long time". Sigh. No contact info.

 

[miha]

That strange, they still list various Dunco easels. What part do you need to replace? Maybe someone here can help you.

 

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

For what it is worth, when I contacted Dunco by email, about a year ago or so, I had no replies at all. I'd suggest trying to phone someone there, in Germany.

 

[sepiareverb]

I've tried another contact through the Dunco site, which is freshly updated in he last few weeks.

One of the brackets, the one that holds the rear blade, is cracked. It does work, but is not very secure.



I have called several times over the last few months, leaving messages in English and my barely passable High School German.

 

[pentaxuser]

Just off the phone with Silverprint, Martin is no longer there, and they've not had any Dunco easels for a "very long time". Sigh. No contact info.

Sorry about that. Yes I have just checked with another U.K. site I belong to and it seems that Martin Reed has handed over ownership to someone called Clive Matlock but as of last April/May Martin was still employed in a consultancy capacity. It may be that Silverprint is selling off its stock of Dunco easels and hasn't renewed contact with Dunco for many weeks/months, I suppose.

It may be that the new owner, Mr Matlock has decided to drop the Dunco line although this seems strange so soon after taking the business over. Certainly Martin Reed was a big fan of Dunco.

It might be worth asking to speak to Mr Matlock, explaining the situation and asking if he will contact Martin Reed on your behalf.

Given the long association between Martin Reed and Dunco then if anyone can help you to make contact with Dunco it would be Martin

I suppose we may have the face the possibility that Dunco has simply gone out of business, in which case you may be stuck but if this were to be the case I'd have expected someone to have heard about this. At the very least Martin may know the full story of what has happened at Dunco.

Equally I'd have thought it important for Silverprint to know what has happened. If someone buys one of Silverprint's remaining stock of Dunco easels and it breaks within the normal guarantee period then what does Silverprint do to help the customer???

pentaxuser

 

[sepiareverb]

I'll give Silverprint another try in the morning here (eastern US), and see if I can get ahold of Mr. Matlock. The Dunco site has been freshly updated recently, my old link no longer worked and I had that sinking "oh no they're done" feeling, but no, www.dunco.de brings up a whole new site, with easels shown. It might be quite new as links to pdf brochures are not working.

 

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

I'll PM you Martin's email address. He is a very helpful chap, even if he does not work for Silverprint anymore. On the other hand, I hope Silverprint would continue selling darkroom equipment. I've just managed to buy a couple of their excellent print washers, on a sale, only to realise that once sold out, those items would not be making their way back into their catalogue in the future.

 

[AgX]

www.dunco.de brings up a whole new site, with easels shown. It might be quite new as links to pdf brochures are not working.

-) pdf's are working

-) there is special form to fill in to request an offer on spares

 

[apasz]

I searched for pdf's last week, didn't work.

Still doesn't work:
http://www.dunco.de/apparatebau/vergroesserungsrahmen-904-pro-905-pro-906-pro-und-907-pro/

Enlargers pdf's works only.

 

[pentaxuser]

Not strictly relevant to this thread but when I checked the prices of the Dunco easels on Silverprint's website now compared to maybe 6-7 years ago I was astounded at how much they seem to have risen in price since then.

When I first became familiar with Silverprint Martin Reed's comments on Dunco 6-7 years ago he made it clear that they weren't cheap but then again in Martin's words "nor is a Rolls Royce". However my memories of the prices suggest that in real terms the easels were much cheaper than they are now

If Silverprint's prices reflect the market price of these easels then it may be that price has killed volume which in turn leads to a greater price and less volume and so forth into a vicious spiral which eventually kills all sales and thus the product.

I hope not

pentaxuser

 

[miha]

I have always found easel prices to be skyrocketing - do see Kaiser prices ! - but a good 4-blade easel makes one's life so much easier. That said I was never able to afford a true pro easel until a couple of years ago when I was fortunate enough to found a brand new 4-blade Dunco (branded as Kindermann) for 200 €.

 

[sepiareverb]

The request form for spare parts would not send, no matter how many times I entered the code at the bottom it was rejected. I did get through on the overall site contact web form.

Pricing is what sent me looking for used. I've had saved searches on ebay for a year plus on the Dunco. This is the second one I'd seen. Like a Rolls Royce, they seem to stay in the family.


Check your pm's Rafal, many thanks.
-Bob

 

[apasz]

Bob, you missed a few, for sure:

http://ebay.eu/KhnLPZ

 

[ath]

That's the contact info attached when I bought a replacement gas spring in 2011:

DUNCO Apparatebau GmbH&Co.KG
Innungsstr. 60
13509 Berlin
Fon +49(0)30/414 28 22
Fax +49(0)30/411 54 81
www.dunco.de
bestellung@dunco.de

The emails came from info@dunco.de

HTH.

 

[ath]

Still doesn't work:
http://www.dunco.de/apparatebau/vergroesserungsrahmen-904-pro-905-pro-906-pro-und-907-pro/

Works here.

 

[sepiareverb]

I'm in the US, so sadly many are out of reach.

I've considered a repair, but a botched job will eliminate using this at all, so some insurance in having at least the ability to replace the part should I completely screw up a repair. And it is plastic, so a much less simple fix than if it was metal. I may just have my machinist fabricate a replacement in metal, and I'm wishing I'd just done that from day 1 now.

pdfs are still dead for me.

 

[apasz]

Works here.

Andreas, you mean pdf's?

 

[ath]

Andreas, you mean pdf's?

Sorry, the link worked, but the linked pdf's seem to be in work.

 

[andreios]

My easel arrived yesterday, in nice shape, it needs a new gas spring though.
I've just tried the contact form on their website and will see...