Retro Photographic

[Akki14]

I know Heather, but still too far for me to travel. Not such a big deal though because their mail order is a superb service. I ordered on this Thursday just passed and received my goods on the Friday. They never fail to please.

R.K are closer to me and I regularly pop in to pick stuff up. Great people, really friendly and they know their darkroom stuff as well. Trouble is I'm like a kid in a Candy store and come out with far more than I went in for

I will not bother to add to whatever has already been said about Retro (though I do have a few stories to tell), only just to agree that their social skills and telephone manners do need to be cleaned up a bit.

Stoo

You should pop in to see me! I'm very close to RK, only a few miles down the road RK seem shocked at me coming in "so often" (not really that often, honest guv!) but they also seem to like me ... last time I came in, they gave me 4 rolls of T-Max samples they had been given. I'm nicely inbetween RK and Silverprint. Awful bus service from here to RK means it's nearly equal travel times for me.

 

[ITD]

still no joy

I've still had no response from Retro, I emailed nearly a week ago and nothing. Just left a voice message to try to get a response.

It's looking like the few quid I saved using this supplier were a false economy.

 

[keeds]

Hmmm, I've just had my order for some HP5+ 8x10 cancelled saying they don't stock this item anymore... Just ordered some from Morco

 

[Jarvman]

I just came on here to rant and saw that I'd been beaten to it! You're right ITD. I still haven't recieved my parcel today. It's perfect weather and I'm stuck in cause I don't have the materials. It's cheaper yes, but not worth the headache and time wasted. Silverprint would've had it here over a week ago, albeit at a slightly higher cost. Retro should seriously sort there communications out otherwise they'll be losing a customer if it keeps up and to think they link to APUG. >:|

 

[mealers]

I wont be ordering from them again, it seems as if their heart really isnt into running a business.
I'm sticking to SDS and Silverprint from now on.

 

[pentaxuser]

I hope that the hiccup is temporary. Retro has a good range of chems and some material which seems to be unique to Retro and no minimum charge. The problem with a min charge is that if you suddenly run out of an item, you may have to overstock on other bits to get it. It's Agfapan 100 and 400 prices beats others by a mile but if it can't be bothered with customer service then it's going to die.

Waiting a week isn't necessarily a problem. If you know, then you can factor this in but it's uncertainty/unreliability that kills a busines.

pentaxuser

 

[ITD]

I hope that the hiccup is temporary.

Problem is, how will we know? I'm not going to throw money at them again and risk having to put up with long deliveries, no communication and the downright rudeness of failing to even acknowledge my mails or calls.

I still have a choice of suppliers and people who can't treat their customers with even a basic level of service should not be in business.

I have now sent an email demanding a call to offer a firm delivery commitment or a full refund by close of business on Tuesday or I will contact Visa to get my money back via their processes.

 

[Fanshaw]

Problem is, how will we know? I'm not going to throw money at them again and risk having to put up with long deliveries, no communication and the downright rudeness of failing to even acknowledge my mails or calls.

I still have a choice of suppliers and people who can't treat their customers with even a basic level of service should not be in business.

I have now sent an email demanding a call to offer a firm delivery commitment or a full refund by close of business on Tuesday or I will contact Visa to get my money back via their processes.

My one experience with Retrophotographic was so bad it was unbelievable. Two out of 3 items were substantially older than the manufacturers recommended use by date (the film by 2 years!). No apology and had to get advice from Trading Standards to get all my money back.

 

[Jarvman]

I'm a bit wary about my box of paper, on arrival it had already been opened and re-sealed with sellotape. :-|

 

[Mark Antony]

I find this strange, I use Retro fairly regularly, have spoken to Nigel several times and he seems polite and helpful.
I must confess I haven't ordered for a month as I'm stocked up for a project so if Nigel has been in hospital that might explain some of the problems, I guess they must be a small outfit.
Some of the items they stock are hard to find elsewhere.
YMMV
Mark

 

[ITD]

Well, my earlier email at least got a response - a short email saying that a refund has been made today.

At least I can go and buy the stuff elsewhere now and I'm not out of pocket.

 

[Shangheye]

I use Retro for my Adox and they have always been quite efficient. Last used them in September. Package came well wrapped etc.....If they are a small team, they could well be on holiday etc....and understaffed. I usually make big orders and place them before I run out...that way I can afford some delays...but I never suffered any.K

 

[ITD]

Holidays, understaffing, been in hospital - these are all perfectly good reasons for a temporary drop in service, and ones which I would be perfectly happy to accomodate under normal circumstances.

I am not in a tearing hurry for my stuff most of the time (and I could have waited for this order if I'd known approximately how long I had to wait).

The point is not that the order can't get out the door for whatever reason, it's that the proprietor of the company will not communicate with me and give me the choice.

It would take very little time (and would take a lot of pressure off) if the guy just sent out a blanket email to all his customers with outstanding orders, saying 'sorry, but I've got behind for whatever reason - I'll try to get your stuff out to you by xx date'. I'd have been happy to accept that. Granted, some poeple would cancel their urgent orders, but the rest would probably give him a break.

As it is, I can't rely on him to be straight with me so I'll go somewhere else in future.

woo hoo - 100 posts - do I get a badge?

 

[mealers]

woo hoo - 100 posts - do I get a badge?

No. But you get a free box of paper from Retro Photographic.......

You should receive it sometime soon........

 

[Jack Lusted]

Retrophotographic seem to be like the 'little girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead'. Sometimes they are very very good - good prices, quick delivery, good products. Other times they are horrid - useless out of date developer, wrong good sent, right goods sent repeatedly to the wrong address, non reply to e-mails, phone calls and letters. For some reason I thought it was just a bit of bad luck on my part - clearly, however, it is not just me.

I doubt if I'll be using them much more.

Jack

 

[Ian Grant]

There's nothing to stop you ordering direct from Fotoimpex in Berlin, don't be fobbed off by anyone saying you have to buy through Retro if yor in the UK. EU laws mean you can buy from where ever you like in the UK.

Personally I've always found Nigel Dear at Retro very helpful, it is a very small business, before he moved to Shropshire recently it was just Nigel and his wife, working from their home. My only gripe has been excessive postal charges.

In contrast Silverprint offer free delivery on orders over £100, which means I always spend at least £100 Not very difficult with film & paper prices these days. Also if there is a problem with an order Silverprint go out of their way to help the customer. I placed an order 6 days before leaving the UK, plenty of time for delivery but unfortunately they were out of stock of the items I really needed. They aren't perfect and I wasn't notified but as soon as I contacted them they rectified the problem and I had the items here in Turkey a week later. That is excellent customer service.

Ian

 

[Adrian Twiss]

Ian

The only problem with ordering direct from Fotoimpex is that they simply refuse to ship. I wrote to them less than 4 months ago asking if the would deal with me direct, citing a more exenstive range compared with Retro Photographic. I got a one line reply that simply said "Try Silverprint". I replied saying that Silverprint's range was even less extensive and they did not reply to that mail.

 

[Ian Grant]

Adrian, I can't understand the Fotoimpex reluctance to ship to the UK. I have bought direct from Berlin in the past and still have a significant amount of film & paper left so am not in a hurry to re-order at the moment. Perhaps Mirko would like to comment about this.

Ian

 

[kraker]

Maybe the difference is in "asking if they would" versus just placing that order?? This is the EU, as Ian mentioned a few posts back, there isn't any reason why you shouldn't be able to order your goods in another EU country.

 

[Ian Grant]

EU free trade laws mean that you have the right to buy and sell without impediment from any member state. This is why Fomaphoto in Norway can claim to be the European distributor of Foma product.

Silverprint & other UK companies will sell to Germany and the rest of Europe so there's no reason at all why Fotoimpex can't or rather won't sell direct to the UK. I only received my last order after a discussion with Mirko who at the time said there was no problem buying direct.

Ian

 

[Martin Reed]

New Silverprint Website

.......
Also, Silverprint is very, very busy. I've been there in person; they are constantly rushing around filling orders besides trying to run the counter and the phones. They are trying their hardest to keep everyone happy so it's not surprising they can get stressed at times. Give'em a break if it's a bit hard for them to do service with a smile.

Phew, I've chosen one of the nicest ones to announce our new Silverprint website went live today! With a proper e-commerce setup built in as well. There's bound to be teething troubles, but Laura here has been working like a Trojan all year to bring it in for the start of our financial year.

Please have a look and report back how you find it, if there are problems with your browsers etc, all comments gratefully received.

 

[Ian Grant]

Fast work Martin, I was only looking at the old site an hour or so ago

Looks fine with Firefox & IE7, a vast improvement.

Ian

 

[delphine]

Looks good... nice revamp.

I am on IEv6 and I am finding that the layout of the middle column is overlaping the right end side column where the shopping basket and the brand names are.

I like the new look of the website !

Best

Dee

 

[Martin Reed]

Looks good... nice revamp.

I am on IEv6 and I am finding that the layout of the middle column is overlaping the right end side column where the shopping basket and the brand names are.

I like the new look of the website !

Best

Dee

Thanks for the positive response. Laura has told me she is sorting out the problems with IEv6 and it should be working soon.

 

[mrtoml]

Looks great in Firefox 3