My experience with DR5

[jovo]

DR5, you brought this on to yourself...fear Google! This is my opinion.

Yikes! I thought being in business for one's self would be far less contentious than working for someone else. I guess not. SilverGlow, you're pretty harsh!

 

[hrst]

As a complete outsider regarding this battle I have to say;

Well, after this shitstorm --- towards the OP --- I know that I probably would never want to send anything important to DR5. Not that I wouldn't believe it's a really good service, but because I have never used it, IF, just 0,1% chance, IF anything were to happen and the communication wouldn't work, I couldn't discuss it here but would get bashed by many forum actives and get publicly called liar by the shop owner -- no matter how well I would put my words.

I just can't trust anymore when I see the way this "good reputation" is maintained -- by violently silencing unwanted opinions by a relatively large bunch of people, turning it into a fight. No thank you! This does give a REALLY bad image -- even if the service was first-class and even if the OP was really a liar. As an outsider, I would like to see and hear examples of this good work instead!

It's not difficult to see who started a shit tsunami here. OP was gentle and business-like from the beginning. It's of course possible that he's a liar and haven't tried to communicate, but that should be pointed out with reasoning. Now the image is very bad to any outsider, be it APUGer or random googler. And it's not the fault of the OP. Everyone is responsible for his/her own words and reputation.

I feel very sorry for all of you. And I would like to continue to believe in the excellent reputation of dr5! Some random commentary can't much shatter the image, but what the owner himself and a lot of people using his service say, do matter.

Please, give this a thought.

 

[SilverGlow]

Yikes! I thought being in business for one's self would be far less contentious than working for someone else. I guess not. SilverGlow, you're pretty harsh!

I guess I see this from being a business owner myself. I also see this from being a customer too. The OP either told the truth or lied, I cannot tell you which, but really this is irrelevent.

Regardless, the owner of DR5 needs to stop with this deadly course of maintaining that he is "right". He may well win the battle but surely lose the war.

He could've actually turned this around and made DR5 look fantastic but he chose the wrong road.

In my business, a few times the client got on my arse about "bad work"...now the client was actually wrong, however I am there to make $$, and generate word of mouth, and not to damage a relationship. So I have a meeting, I give billable hours back, the client feels like he got something, he feels like he won. For me it's not about right or wrong, it's about keeping the good name going, the word of mouth, the reputation intact...and without admiting wrongdoing I give a little, and in the end, my six figure contract gets extended and I get calls from the clients golf buddings looking to throw more work my way...

And my God, you NEVER get into a pissing match on internet pages that are scraped by Google, Bing and others....stupid, stupid, stupd...

 

[railwayman3]

@ hurst - I'm an outsider in this too, but have to agree that your summary above is exactly how this correspondence has left me feeling!

And @ SilverGlow - I too was in business for some 30 years and absolutely relate 100% to you experience and views above! Sometimes things go wrong in the best business, or sometimes we get an a*****e client, but, handling it right and civilly, giving a little, these things can more-often-than-not be turned round into further work and recommendations, with no damage to reputations.

A friend of mine sells second-hand quality cars. Some time ago a customer brought a car back (after a year!) swearing and shouting-the-odds that the battery had failed. He was being unreasonable, of course, but my friend didn't argue, just replaced the battery at no charge. Since then that customer has bought two further cars and recommended three other customers!....as my friend said, that few $$ for a battery was better than any advertising.

 

[mark]

It's not difficult to see who started a shit tsunami here. OP was gentle and business-like from the beginning.

Totally have to disagree with you here. Posting this on a forum was not at all business like nor was it gentle. The motive of the OP was to smear the name of the business, nothing less. I don't care what he says. He was WARNING people. The OP was unhappy, had an ax to grind, felt he had to tell someone about it and the internet was right there at his finger tips. He knew he could tell a hell of a lot of people about it. So he did.

Is the guy a liar or telling the truth? Who cares. He did what he did and got what he wanted. By posting his woes here, and god knows where else he stopped a few people, maybe more, from going to DR5. He saved them. He should feel good about himself.

The OP looks like a jerk to some, the business owner looks like a jerk to some, and the world moves on.

IMO there was no way for DR5 to come out smelling like roses. The damage was done as soon as the OP hit submit.

DR5 opened the door for the guy to call. There was nothing else he could have done. If the guy calls he calls. If he doesn't he doesn't. From that point on it was between them. Now, if the guy calls and things work out, will he edit his original post, will he post an all's well on page 6, or go about his happy business and say nothing?

Unless the original post is edited to represent all is well, the bad review of DR5 will stand for as long as APUG is around, no matter how it worked out. Search DR5 on this website and that post will come up.

I see nothing business like or gentle about this post.

 

[alanrockwood]

Not to comment specifically on the merits of the original poster or the reply from DR5, let me ask a related philosophical question. Is it reasonable to make posts at apug regarding negative experiences with specific vendors?

Clearly, to many here the answer is "no".

My own answer to this would be "yes".

For those who take the "no" position, what would be your position on posting positive comments on vendor experiences? If the answer is "yes", and if that point of view were enforced, then would that not lead to a situation where there all vendors look stellar (because they only have positive comments about them), regardless of the true merit of the vendor?

 

[Bob Carnie]

Good Question

Strictly speaking for my company Elevator Digital and our relationship with APUG , I am here to learn and help, not to find new business.
Therefore unsolicited good or bad comments would come as a surprise, just as it may for you.
My company's banner is here basically because of Sean's good will. I do not pay to be on this site. At one time , when our economy was much better and Sean need some help we did, then at a certain point, other vendors came on board and helped , which allowed us to back off.
I am not clear on DR5 and its relationship with APUG, but he was here before me and always willing to help with his knowledge , so I feel he is a good contributing member.
You are only as good as your last print or roll of film develop in this business , we are able to make mistakes , and these public thrashings are hard to deal with, I believe a better way of handling these kind of threads should be implemented.
l

Not to comment specifically on the merits of the original poster or the reply from DR5, let me ask a related philosophical question. Is it reasonable to make posts at apug regarding negative experiences with specific vendors?

Clearly, to many here the answer is "no".

My own answer to this would be "yes".

For those who take the "no" position, what would be your position on posting positive comments on vendor experiences? If the answer is "yes", and if that point of view were enforced, then would that not lead to a situation where there all vendors look stellar (because they only have positive comments about them), regardless of the true merit of the vendor?

 

[mark]

I say post away good or bad, just lock the thread until the vendor has a chance to respond. Once Vendor has responded lock it for good.

 

[Ian Grant]

The APUG 2010 Salem Witch Hunt

Only two people participating in this thread know the facts, they need to talk resolve issues and post the outcome themselves.

But any other comments are a cynical witch hunt, the thread puts David (dr5) in a Catch 22 situation.

Just in case you think I'm biased - quite the contrary David and I have had many acrimonious tangles in posts on Reversal Processing, but personal attacks like this should not be part of APUG.

Ian

 

[coigach]

Am a bit late to this thread, having been off on a photography trip for a few days rather than being online (imagine!).

I've used dr5 for years and send film over in batches from the UK. I've used many types of film and they have processed many hundreds of rolls for me, everything has always been top-notch quality. David has been very helpful over the years too - I've never had better customer service from any other lab.

I really disagree too with the public airing of issues like this - a public forum is not the way forward and it's unfair too, as Ian Grant says above.

Cheers,
Gavin