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

[BrianShaw]

At least she politely listened to you! I would not be expecting a reply or compensation. Who knows if they will make any changes or not.

 

[MattKing]

Thanks for following up.

 

[Huss]

At least she politely listened to you! I would not be expecting a reply or compensation. Who knows if they will make any changes or not.

To illustrate good customer service - no, outstanding - I dropped a 110 cartridge off at Mike's Camera. When I went to pick it up, for some reason the film (uncut but in a sleeve as I always request) was not put in box but just an envelope!
It wasn't damaged, but there was a risk of damage so they apologized and comped the processing!
The kicker - I didn't even complain about it, they did that proactively.

 

[tballphoto]

its

Well y’all can sit around and stress over whether or not to be sued. I’ll be busy posting my opinions if bad service is received and no attempt is made to correct it.

somewhat hard to ugh, correct bad service in the film world. Are they going to try to redevelop for you?

 

[Kino]

its

somewhat hard to ugh, correct bad service in the film world. Are they going to try to redevelop for you?

The lab should at least acknowledge the problem, assure the customer it won't happen again and either refund the processing fee or offer a discount equal to a portion of your improperly processed and/or damaged film.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

It is a lot more subtle than that Alan.
Saying that their service is terrible may be actionable, if the service was actually good, and the reviewer knew that but intentionally and falsely posted a bad review.
Probably only matters though if the reviewer is someone well known whose opinions are relied upon by others.

"Good" and "terrible" are opinions and non-actionable. How do you define those words? So you go out on a date and tell your friend: she was "terrible". Someone else might think she was "great". I mean, come on. Now if you said that she went into your wallet when you weren't looking and stole $20 bucks, and she didn't, that would be actionable as slander.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

OK, so I called the lab and spoke to the service representative. First of all, I thanked them for returning my 120 spools and backing paper as requested. Then I told her about the dirt, dust and hair in the film sleeves.

She listened to my complaint and promised to "check it out". When I inquired what that meant, she said she would talk to the "people in the back" to see if she could determine what happened.

I then told her I would be reluctant to use their service again if this would happen again and asked her what would be her suggestion to rectify the situation. She then told me to send "another roll" to process and they would be sure it was clean when it was returned, but the offer was not explicitly a "make good" roll and no mention was made this roll being processed for free.

When I asked if she would call me back to let me know what she found out she basically kept repeating that she would "check it out" and did not offer a return call or explanation. Actually trying to be helpful, I stressed that she really needed to determine how this happened, as if they processed a lot of film that day, they might get a lot of complaints. She once again repeated that it had never happened before and she would "check it out".

I said thank you, exchanged good-byes and ended the call.

Fulltone Photo, 2824 N. HWY 53, La Grange, KY 40031

I will post photos of the film sleeves tonight when I get back from work and let you all determine if this is a lab you would consider using in the future.

Now that it's Spring, it's time to dig-in and finish my darkroom. I have a Jobo; no need for this anymore...

When you get into a situation like this, you may be speaking to a clerk who doesn't have much authority or know how to handle it. Ask for the manager or owner.

 

[VinceInMT]

Look into the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016.

 

[Kino]

As far as I am concerned, the issue is settled.

If I run into future problems with other labs I will simple do as others have suggested and post factual information on the situation in the area of Photrio that is inaccesible to search engines and let others determine if my problems are a valid reason to avoid an certain lab.

Caveat Emptor.

 

[BrianShaw]

As far as I am concerned, the issue is settled

Good for you. That shows a high level of emotional intelligence!

 

[tballphoto]

Th

The lab should at least acknowledge the problem, assure the customer it won't happen again and either refund the processing fee or offer a discount equal to a portion of your improperly processed and/or damaged film.

Thats an asshat answer by the way, none of that is going to help a person deal with rolls of film that were developed wrong, or mangled in the developing machine. OOPs dont cut it.

ITs like a girlfriend who only "partially cheats on you".

 

[Down Under]

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.

Too right. This was a classic case of "if they had cleaned up their act"...

All the young'uns I know have dabbled in films but then returned to the big D for the convenience and the 'quick fix' of seeing the images on the spot. Also good color quality. My Nikons D700 and D800 produce as good if not better images than what I shot on Kodachrome. A sad fact but there we are in the 21st century.

Here in Australia far better labs have gone under and closed down because they were too big. In my travels across North America I found many small at-home labs run by mostly older photographers who had retired from shooting but wanted something to do to keep busy and keep them in beer money. They did mostly excellent work and also liaised with customers to ensure the processed films were what the shooters wanted. Most (not all) were very clean. I found those set up inside the owner's home were dust and dirt free. Those in garages or outside buildings tended to gather dust. But in Arizona and New Mexico where I mostly hung out, there was a lost of dust everywhere...

I thought quality control would be a big issue with these small operations, but that was not always the case. One poster on a photo site (maybe this one) recently wrote about problems they had with home-brewed developers for client work. Now to me, anyone who mixes their own chemistry for processing films for client work is asking for trouble. Good branded photo chemistry is available everywhere and not expensive. Anyone out to cut corners on costs by home-mixing is headed for trouble and I would definitely avoid the lab in question.

Wherever I travelled I asked at a local camera shop or library for information on labs. The shops usually wanted me to give them the work (which always took several days so it was no go for me), but the librarians know their community well and always sent me in the right direction.

As in 99% of almost everything in life a little effort made will usually bring good results. As for bad processing, well, when one is a tourist as I was in the USA there isn't much I could do about shoddy darkroom work - other than to go back and reshoot the images which I did a few times.

Digital has changed almost all of this, of course, but we won't go there today. Suffices to say we live and we learn.

 

[Kino]

Th

Thats an asshat answer by the way, none of that is going to help a person deal with rolls of film that were developed wrong, or mangled in the developing machine. OOPs dont cut it.

ITs like a girlfriend who only "partially cheats on you".

All labs have a disclaimer that states you might be reimbursed for the cost of the film and processing at best. It's a chance we all take, but the more responsible labs actually do offer to replace the film or do something to make it up to the customer.

 

[unwantedfocus]

I will post photos of the film sleeves tonight when I get back from work and let you all determine if this is a lab you would consider using in the future.

As far as I am concerned, the issue is settled.

I think you handled this terrible. Why did you not just post the images with the hairs and sleeves from the get go so people have a reference and go from there. I prefer seeing proof if available.

 

[Kino]

I think you handled this terrible. Why did you not just post the images with the hairs and sleeves from the get go so people have a reference and go from there. I prefer seeing proof if available.

I think it's not your place to tell me how to act AND I just posted a picture in the area of which I spoke of on post #63.

I work for a living; 10 hour days, so I don't get to post until later in the evening.

 

[unwantedfocus]

I think it's not your place to tell me how to act AND I just posted a picture in the area of which I spoke of on post #63.

I work for a living; 10 hour days, so I don't get to post until later in the evening.

You posted an allegation against a lab and provided no proof when you could've just posted the images. Terrible might be a too harsh word for it, I could've worded it better.

 

[AgX]

Thats an asshat answer by the way, none of that is going to help a person deal with rolls of film that were developed wrong, or mangled in the developing machine. OOPs dont cut it.

But a refund of the processing cost, maybe added by the cost of film roll, neither would bring back lost photographs.

 

[AgX]

I think it's not your place to tell me how to act AND I just posted a picture in the area of which I spoke of on post #63.

To be fair to that other member:
I myself did not look at that forum for a photo you posted, as you stated that you would use that forum in case of "future problems with other labs".
I only was aware of this photo posting by your quoted explicite reference to such posting.

 

[Dusty Negative]

I found many small at-home labs run by mostly older photographers who had retired from shooting but wanted something to do to keep busy and keep them in beer money.

Sounds about as good a motivation as any.

 

[MattKing]

Sounds about as good a motivation as any.

Your screen name makes your participation in this thread particularly appropriate!

 

[Dusty Negative]

Your screen name makes your participation in this thread particularly appropriate!

I swear it wasn’t me!

 

[Adrian Bacon]

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.

Raise it with them. Give them a chance to address it, if it's a first time it's happened. If their response is "meh" or worse, leave a bad review on as many public places they're listed that lets you leave reviews.

 

[MattKing]

And I'm sure Adrian will agree with the following:
A good lab will appreciate it when you draw their attention to a problem that they missed.

 

[Adrian Bacon]

And I'm sure Adrian will agree with the following:
A good lab will appreciate it when you draw their attention to a problem that they missed.

Oh Yeah. Big time. I'll be the first to admit that I'm only human, and despite my best efforts, mistakes do occasionally happen. If somebody brings something up, I'm a lot more interested in making them happy than looking good. All that being said, it's not that hard to keep the inside of a lab clean. No service animals allowed in the back. Run a very large HEPA filter in the lab area. Glove up!!!

 

[George Mann]

But again, TRUTH is the ultimate defense against any claim of libel or slander, in the US.

Good luck with that!