How do you warn others about a bad lab without getting sued?

Kino

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It's a dilemma...

I sent 14 rolls of film to a lab I have never tried and it came back... filthy.

Processed only and wrapped in clear cellophane strips, it is chock full of dust, dirt and even hairs; cat if I am correct.

While the lab did everything I asked, and more, like returning all spools and backing paper, the amount of dirt and debris in the cellophane strips around the negatives and slides is horrific.

Now, I will confess that about 3/4 of this film was a write-off anyway. It consisted of film found in cameras I bought or film I had shot years ago and kept in the fridge WAY beyond time to have it processed, but the other 1/3 was recent.

The actual processing appears to be good.

But...

Wow. What filth.
 

MattKing

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Google reviews?
But first, give them a chance to respond.
As you no doubt know, unpredictable things can happen!
And sometimes, they can involve cats!
 
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Kino

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Cats don't belong within 10 miles of a photo lab, nor do dogs unless they are shaved bald.

Seriously; WHO thinks animals belong anywhere near a film processor or where processed film is handled?
 

MattKing

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Ever had a neighbour's cat get in where it didn't belong?
 
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Kino

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In a personal lab, OK.

In a business... no. If they couldn't see this amount of dirt, they are blind or don't care.
 

MattKing

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You still need to raise it with them.
 

BradS

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Enlighten us. What lab?
Why would you get sued?
Truth is truth and deserves to be known / shared.
 

ChristopherCoy

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You can say what you want without getting sued. It's free speech. Your opinion isn't subject to lawsuit.
 
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Kino

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It's not Yelp they are suing; it's the reviewers. Regardless, you may get stuck with legal fees...
 

BrianShaw

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If you’re worried about speaking your experience then just don’t use them again.
 

ChristopherCoy

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Kino said:
It's not Yelp they are suing; it's the reviewers. Regardless, you may get stuck with legal fees...
Click to expand...

legal fees schmegal fees... life’s to short to worry about that. 150 million people bash businesses every two minutes on social media. Google reviews? I mean... I’ve seen some doozies. And really, any business that’s going to sue over an opinion really isn’t a business anyway... it’s someone trying to gravel for anything they can. If they truly had a real clientele of any sizable measure, one bad review wouldn’t bother them.
 
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Kino

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BrianShaw said:
If you’re worried about speaking your experience then just don’t use them again.
Click to expand...

I think this might be the most safe option.

BTW the lab is NOT a Photrio sponsor; that much I can say and maybe it was horse hair, as that state is well known for this animal...
 

MattKing

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Reviews can be actionable, but truth and good faith are good defenses everywhere.
I'm not saying don't post a bad review. I'm saying that you should get their response before you do, and if it isn't acceptable, include that in the review.
 

BrianShaw

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So.. what lab are you not going to use in the future... but don’t tell us why.
 
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Kino

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MattKing said:
Reviews can be actionable, but truth and good faith are good defenses everywhere.
I'm not saying don't post a bad review. I'm saying that you should get their response before you do, and if it isn't acceptable, include that in the review.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I'll contact them.
 

Down Under

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Word of mouth is the safest and (legally) the best way to go about this.

That said, let us spare a tear or two (not crocodile ones) for film labs. Many have almost no business now and they are desperate to save money any way they can, so they cut corners.

When we lived in Tasmania I used one in Hobart (now closed) for my C41 processing. I was using up my stock of expired films and let the processed rolls pile up for about a year, until I had about 20 to scan. Imagine my annoyance when I put them on the Plustek and all sorts of dirt and grit showed up, also animal hair. A loupe check showed fine scratch lines on the emulsion side of every film.

I cornered the lab owner and we had a somewhat heated discussion. to resolve the issue (= shut me up) he offered me free processing for six roll of my choice, B&W, C41 or E6. After my experience with this lot I did not take him up on that. Now I did not want the lab to get away with this mess and thought carefully about how to deal with the situation. I was then a member of (and mentor for) three camera clubs and school photo groups still using film, so I decided to do a word-of-mouth campaign as and when talk of processing films came up. Which I did.

A year later the lab closed. Somewhat further down the track I met a young man who had been the last technician there. He told me how the owner and his wife cut corners. To save on electricity they would hang finished but still wet films in a plastic clothes 'cupboard' to dry overnight. If the work one hour processing they used a woman's hair dryer directly on the film. At the end they had so little work they were leaving the films to dry on the reels. No Photo Flo, it was too expensive, ha!

What cats were doing in the lab I never found out as I forgot to ask. Maybe the owners were using a spare bedroom at home for processing. They no longer did enlargements as nobody wanted prints.

Sad that once thriving photo businesses would have come down to that. One has to feel a little sorry for them, but it does not excuse sloppy work.
 
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4season

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Document the messy results and just stick to the facts, and I think you'll be fine.
 

nickandre

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I had a lab in southern Florida return film that looked like it was covered in Dorito dust or something. Utterly horrifying.

Thankfully I found an amazing lab (Thackers Film Lab) in Fort Lauderdale that'll do 120 processing plus full res TIFF scans for $14/roll (and for C41 the results are same day!!!). So I just decided to leave them a good review and posted one of the scans.

FYI they don't have cause to sue you if the information was inaccurate. You could, for example, post a scan of one of the pictures and simply write "processed film here, let the results speak for themselves..."
 

Dusty Negative

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ozmoose said:
Let us spare a tear or two (not crocodile ones) for film labs. Many have almost no business now and they are desperate to save money any way they can, so they cut corners.
Click to expand...

Certainly sounds plausible. I wonder, if this fellow had held on a bit longer, if he might have scaled down and returned to some sort of profitability. While I think it’s obvious that film will never be more than a shadow of its former self, I am constantly amazed at how young folk (teens and twenties) express the desire to get into film. There’s money there.......somewhere.
 

wiltw

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ChristopherCoy said:
You can say what you want without getting sued. It's free speech. Your opinion isn't subject to lawsuit.
Click to expand...
But you CAN be sued for libel or slander!

In an court cases for libel or slander, the fundamental legal principle taught to all law students in US is, "Truth is it's own defense!"
 

nickandre

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Local camera store confirmed that some inordinate percentage of their online orders are for film. The lab in FL seems relatively new, advertising primarily mail order service over Instagram. They do great work.
 
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