Disaster...!

[bill]

Those of you who have read my ramblings in my use of IIIc, IID etc, will remember that I have been happily and successfully using the Persil dry cleaners franchise at my local Sainsburys for the past couple of years. Cheap, clean, fast, even sending me a text when the job is done.

Sainsburys have been undergoing a revamp for weeks. A couple of weeks ago the dry cleaners was removed. Not a problem, I thought, given the other changes that were in train. Then the fun started. Three rolls of film shot on May Day in Guildford... I dropped them into Snappy Snaps in Guildford, for a one-hour service. One hour later I went to pick them up.

"Sorry" said the girl "I put them on the wrong pile - they haven't been done."

Not amused.

That same day I went to Boots in Camberley. They took my films, and my mobile 'phone number.

One hour later, I returned.

"Ah. We haven't done your films. There's a problem. They are all thin."

"What do you mean, thin?"

"The film is half the width it should be. Your camera must have ripped it."

I refrained from asking them why, when they had asked for my 'phone number, they DIDN'T THINK TO BLASTED WELL USE IT to call me straightaway.

I had of course trimmed the leaders, to feed my IIIc and IID. They had pulled out the first couple of inches, panicked and gone no further.

No problem, I thought. The Persil concession will be back shortly.

Today I went to Sainsburys. No dry cleaners. I asked.

"No. They are not coming back. No dry cleaning, no photo services."

I am bereft. I am banjaxed. I am not a cheerful cuniculus.

I am now faced with finding another processor.

Anyone who responds to this thread with a cheery "do your own processing at home" will get a slap, ok? That will be swiftly followed by a kick aimed at anyone who suggests mail-order.

That is not what I want. I want the service I had. Fast, efficient, clean, reliable processing of 400CN, locally.



Regards,

Bill

[andybarton]

Sign of the times, Bill.

It's going to get more and more difficult.

[MPerson]

Bill I sympathise, both the Sainsburys in my neck of the woods have shut down their film section. I only use them occaisionally when I have had to use the emergency roll of XP2 I always carry.

I have been fortunate to find a guy in Ruislip who will scan in TIFF format and at whatever resolution I ask for, so I am feeding him to stay onside

It may take some hunting/detective work but I hope you find somewhere that comes up to scratch.

[Peter D Lux 2]

Hi Bill,

sorry to hear this. Indeed, as Andy says, it's a sign of the times.

Nevertheless it's too bad if this happens to the lab, near you.

In Holland I have HEMA, a kind of Walmart, one our sevice do the job for me. They're not exactly close to my house, right in the middle of the busy touristic centre of downtown Amsterdam and they get lots of anonymous customers. I take the time to talk about the weather, and tell them what's on the rolls I'm going to let them take care of.
I beleve that because of this, they go the extra mile in keeping everything clean and scratchfree.

One day, they may close down, and I'll have to find another lab.

I guess what I'd do is make a list of all the labs that are reasonably closeby, go there and get to know the personell. Let them know you're serious about getting your films developed with care and make sure they know you, and enjoy doing the developing for you! Pick out the best lab you can find, and start from scratch... (no pun intended)

Good Luck!

[spylaw4]

I fully sympathise Bill! It is difficult to find a service that is reliable and that consistently does not provide a processed film covered in dust blobs and worse - scratches and dried on "hairs".
I though I had found a 'new' one just down the road - 5 mins walk away - but alas after a promising XP2, a dreadful PRO106S - almost ruined with dust and scratches. Grrrr! No more business to them!

[brianv]

So the next time, just leave the leader out of the cassette and cut the excess off so that it looks like everybody elses.

I never had this problem with Polaroids.

[earleygallery]

Bill,

I have used Snappy Snaps a lot in the past and was very pleased, they also have a good range of services (B&W and slide processing etc) and would develop and scan without insisting on prints.

I had a couple of films scratched though which was annoying to say the least, so I tried the local Boots service. They do insist on making prints but their scans are higher res than Snappy Snaps, and its cheaper to boot. I'm not sure about the B&W C41, if they'd print it or not, you might have to pay the same price for D&P/Scan and forgo the prints.

I still prefer Snappy Snaps overall, because their staff (usually) know what they're doing. At Boots I always get the feeling that my order will be stuffed up because the person on the counter can be the person who was on the till or the sandwich section. But so far they've been fine.

As for taking numbers, its just typical shoddy service. I nearly always have to make the phone call to the garage say to find if the car is going to be ready to collect (oh yes we finished that a couple of hours ago!!!), or the Bank who put a stop on all of my cards because they thought my spending pattern was odd and assumed someone had hacked my account (why not phone me to ask??!!!) GRRRRRR

[bill]

Originally Posted by brianv

So the next time, just leave the leader out of the cassette and cut the excess off so that it looks like everybody elses.

Why should I? Not had this problem for the past two years. I always wind the leader in so as not to run the risk of double-exposure.

Regards,

Bill

[Rona|d]

Bill, become a home-developer and you can blame yourself for all the mistakes I developed two rolls of Delta 100 this morning and hey, the scanner LOVES the dust and scratches,
it´s spring, a lot of pollen in the air. No, the bathroom window was closed.

Some years ago i stopped giving my b&w films to a local lab, they ruined them in 95%, now they are "dead".

Ha, yo´re using girly-film (C-41), the easy way, but that´s not real b&w, everytime i use a BW400 i get crazy about the poor blacks and overall impression. But it´s easy with ICE, biggest advantage!

Good luck!

[jejuneje]

Originally Posted by bill

I am banjaxed.

Sorry to hear about the film...but thank you for this word. Banjanxed. I have been banjanxed before, often times, without knowing it...I thought my banjaxed days were over with respect to finding labs for my film when I moved out of Bogota and came back to Chicago. WRONG. WRONG. Banjanxed again. Yesterday. Got a roll back only to find a long scratch though the middle of 31 of 36 frames. Now that I have a word to shoulder the pain it doesn't seem so bad. Thanks again Bill.
Jonathan

[Rona|d]

Scratches? It´s always the camera, don´t you know? Just ask your local lab! They even blamed my Leica for the water stains on the last rolls they "developed"

[masjah]

Originally Posted by Rona|d

Scratches? It´s always the camera, don´t you know? Just ask your local lab! They even blamed my Leica for the water stains on the last rolls they "developed"

Strikes a chord that does. It's why I don't go to my local Boots. There was once a very ugly couple of scratches near one end of my film, perpendicular to the direction of travel. The technician at the photographic service of the university where I used to work said ot was caused by gross carelessness loading the film into the processing machine. Boots insisted that it was my camera, and added insult to injury by offering to clean it out for me!. Next time I was passing I saw half a dozen newly processed films awaiting printing just slung over the edge of the machine. I pointed this out to the assistant and told her that that was exactly why I would never ever use them again. She just shrugged.

Fortunately I have since found an excellent local independent lab.

[}{B]

I can't recommend a processor but I can tell you that my local Boots store wouldn't even consider taking a roll of XP2 Super off me. It's Black and White they said and we no longer send B&W away for processing ( no 1 hr service in this store ). After explaining that XP2 could be treated as a colour film and asking them to confirm by phoning the lab they told me they were too busy and could I come back another day.

Upon returning some days later I was informed that they had phoned the lab and been told XP2 couldn't be processed. Not believing a word they said I drove to a Boots store some miles away who rang the lab while I was there and they were told XP2 could be processed as a C41 film as I had been telling them all along. But how to convice my local store? Back home I found Boots customer care phone number on the internet and had a delightful time explaining to one of their managers the difference between a C41 process film and 'true' black and white. After about four days and another phone call I finally got an E mail from Boots confirming that I could hand my XP2 Super in at my local store and have it sent away on their three day service for processing.

I'm going to take great pleasure in producing the E mail but of course if Boots had only listened in the first place and shown bit of customer care I woudn't have had to go to such lengths to get a film processed.

Oh by the way hello this is my first post.

[Rona|d]

Congratulations! You managed to get a C-41-film processed as C-41 and posting here for the first time. What else can be more difficult in life (except loading an M-camera as a lab-technician )

Originally Posted by }{B

Oh by the way hello this is my first post.

[Rona|d]

Bill, a genius always starts as a disaster

[spylaw4]

Originally Posted by }{B

<snip....>
I'm going to take great pleasure in producing the E mail but of course if Boots had only listened in the first place and shown bit of customer care I woudn't have had to go to such lengths to get a film processed.

Oh by the way hello this is my first post.

Welcome to the forum!
Your perseverance is to be commended!
Not I feel that it would make any real difference to the quality of the end result.
I am resigned to the fact that I"l have to do my own processing eventually, which I did in my youth (oh so many years ago ) but I need to re-learn a bit more about what developers/fixers etc to use for what films and buy the gear of course.

[rob_x2004]

Originally Posted by Rona|d

Bill, a genius always starts as a disaster

Man there was just that once I didn't f up. I could have been genius.