Liffey Valley FUJIFILM minilab - bad experience no. 2

ThOnda

I had problems that they had cut my negatives. The owner of the minilab promised and swore that it couldn't happen again.

And it happened. About one third of cuts are in the picture.

I am going there tomorrow to say good bye forewer. Ubelievable.

I have to tell it to everybody. Quality of prints is suficient and also prices are nice. But not for me anymore.

Btw, which minilab could you reccomend to me for developing films (C-41) and scanning negatives? West or South Dublin preferable.

ThOnda

For love of Jezus!!! I have just seen the scans. Oh my got. Everything is lost. Not to mention my patience.
They are scanning it before cutting, however the scans are so dusty...

And I don't believe, that I have incorrect exposure of most pictures. After shooting at least 100 rolls of the same films.

I'll go there tomorrow and he is going to hear something!!!

I am going to post one bad picture on my flickr, wait a minute, please...

magicbastarder

have never had a bad experience in gunns - however, that's as far south as i've had stuff developed.

ThOnda

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thonda/456860376/

Here it is. As it has been given to me. On CD. As their best quality scans. 20 Euro per CD. Three films per CD.

Shiny

Thats quere bad.

5uspect

FFS thats a disgrace. Fair play to you for giving them the benefit of the doubt first time around, but thats just downright lousy.

Ciaran500

What do you mean they cut the negatives?

ThOnda

When putting the negatives into the plastic "housings" (sorry, I don't know exact word in english), the have to cut roll of film into the sections per 4 pictures. And almost half of the 4th pictures (negatives) had been cut. Sometimes it is just a dark line, sometimes it is almost 2 milimeters.

I am very angry although I had a shower recently. I know, it is not saturday, but I wanted to have a shower. Water is the only thing which is for free here in Ireland!

Seriously, I am very angry and I'll go there tomorrow and I want my money back. And my back is the only thing they are going to see ever more!

Ghost Train

ThOnda wrote:

Water is the only thing which is for free here in Ireland!

The ppl in galway mightn't agree

that scan is awful, the amount of crud in it, hope you get get a refund or something although after cutting the negs they can't really make up for that. Obviously a place for people to avoid

rymus

read em the riot act... then come back and tell us how you got on.

From that photo you posted on flickr, I can only assume someone is trying to clean their scanner by dragging a cat across it...

daenis

That is terrible. I have never seen such bad dust on photos. I have worked a minilab before and would never let my machine get that dusty. Did they develop you pictures or just scan them? If they developed them then it's even worse because the photos go straight through the machine in most labs and so don't have a chance to get dusty. Although some old fuji machines have two seperate parts for developing and printing.

sineadw

I've come to the conclusion that you can't do anything bad to negs that the bloody labs won't do before you. And unfortunately that includes Gunns (IM most humblest O). This is about 80% why I forked out on the digital. If someone is going to FUBAR my shots I'd rather it be me. I have forked out ridiculous amounts of money in the hopes that it'll be done 'right' and been disappointed again and again.

Grrr...

ThOnda

Only developing and scanning - no prints this time.
The developing machine, scanner and printer are separate machines.

I'll let you know. I hope I will not use words learned here :-)

TelePaul

ThOnda wrote:

Only developing and scanning - no prints this time.
The developing machine, scanner and printer are separate machines.

I'll let you know. I hope I will not use words learned here :-)

I gave my laptop screen a wipe with a screen cloth to amke sure I wasn't imagining that. When you say your negatives were cut...was that reflected on the prints?

Valentia

Desperate carry on. Feckers!

DaireQuinlan

sineadw wrote:

I've come to the conclusion that you can't do anything bad to negs that the bloody labs won't do before you. And unfortunately that includes Gunns (IM most humblest O). This is about 80% why I forked out on the digital. If someone is going to FUBAR my shots I'd rather it be me. I have forked out ridiculous amounts of money in the hopes that it'll be done 'right' and been disappointed again and again.

Grrr...

Totally. If colour was as easy to develop as B&W I'd probably never see the inside of a development place again. I toss my B&W stuff into the tank in my wardrobe, develop with only a shaky grasp of concentrations and times, wash them using washing up liquid as a wetting agent, leave them hanging in my dusty bedroom to dry and then hack them up with a scissors.

And I have YET to scratch a single negative, or put enormous thumbprints on the emulsion (I'm looking at YOU, camera exchange !), or cut into a picture whilst slicing them up.

-sigh-

Rojo

Riddiculous!! I hope you give 'em an earfull!

Calina

ThOnda, I think you should consider complaining to Fuji Ireland as well. When I was getting film processed, it systematically went to a Fuji agent in Swords because the guy who did it was just the best that I had come across and it has everything to do with why my preferred choice of printer now is a Fuji agent.

By the sounds of things, this lab is letting down the brand massively. I'd also add that the negative cutting is absolutely appalling and is completely careless and unforgivable. I would not have given a second chance on that.

ThOnda

I have been there today after work and the owner was not there. Already. He is going to be thre on Monday from 10 to 17:30. So I'll be lucky to meet him. I hope he won't be lucky enough to miss me. Monday is the last possibility to talk to him. If not, I am going to Fuji Ireland.
I am so angry... :-(

DaireQuinlan

ThOnda wrote:

I hope he won't be lucky enough to miss me.

I'm actually scared :-) But, Yeah, totally rip them to shreds, then complain to fuji ANYWAY and good luck with that. I have to admit, I never would have given them the second chance in the first place, but if you're constrained for whatever reason as regards places to develop then I guess you don't have much of a choice. I'd suggest next time maybe saving them up and finding a good one hour place in the city centre ( for the negatives it doesn't make a blind bit of difference) because ANYWHERE sounds better than that place !

ThOnda

I was there today. I have to release the steam first, then I am going to write it down here and after it (with your help) I am going to write an email to Fuji Ireland.
You can guess what happened today...

sternn

Im sorry to hear of your experiences in negative cuttings, its discraceful that that happens, but did it happen to one frame or most of the cut frames??...iv worked in fuji shops before (dalkey and shankill) and i can say that cutting the negs is the most careful process of our service, while also correcting colours on the pics etc... I would recommend both of these shops to you, I still go there myself even though I dont work there anymore, its excellent quality and gud prices.

Im still interested as 2 how the conversation went....when you release your steam!!!

rymus

do not under any circumstances document your experience in an email.. They're far too easy to 'forget about'. Printed words on paper, in envelope, signed and dated, registered. The last part is optional. Find out exactly who deals with customer complaints and address the letter to them. Request a reply, either by post or phone. Follow it up if you dont hear anything back within a decided amount of time.

ThOnda

Well, I have released some steam from my iron. It had to be done, eventualy.

So I went there. When he saw me with all the bag (6 rolls of film) he lost his smile. I showed him the negatives and he just replied, that I couldn't be serious complain about the same problem again.
Then I had mentioned the dust. He said that he did his best and it was really hard to make him see the pictures on the CD. He was repeating that he was scanning it one hour. But I paid him to do it!
He gave me 20 Euro back for one CD he kept (I had copied the files yesterday, of course) and he started to raise his voice.
The end of conversation was when he asked me, if the tiny bit of picture he'd cut (on negative, about 1 mm) is so important. And he was absolutely serious about this question!!!
To be honest, I wanted to say something not nice. It does not matter, how big part of picture he had cut. He cut negatives in pictures!!!

I left home, did what I had to do and now I am going to summarize all negatives and I am going to write a snail-mail.

Thank you for advice and I promise, I will keep you informed.

Oh my god, I have bad mood again...

Edited: No. of cut frames: 19. Not to mention that there are few slices of negative in one bank...

sternn

A letter is definately the way forward. I dont know what they will do about it...i would say it would just be a quick phonecall to the fuji shop saying "Just to let you know, you have a very upset customer" or just explain that you should watch your quality standards.

A cuple of things i can tell you about the negative cutting process....

1. It can be either manual or automatic

2. The manual ones take time, but make sure that no mistakes are made (you have to match up the gap in between with the negatives with a line

3. The automatic ones feed themselves into the cutter. However there are some problems....some cameras/films leave slightly more or slightly less space between pictures (sepecially the cheap disposable camera, which are almost touching). If this is the case, edges of the frames may be cut off.

4. The shops i worked in (fuji in dalkey and shankill) both use manual feeders, which you cant really go wrong with, unless you are not paying attention. We have never had a problem like this before.

Its something seriously wrong if it has happened to so many of your rolls, and you really deserve a better service.
Just thought i would give you a little insight into how the negatives are cut

Spyral

FGS I've cut my own B&W negs with a fekking scissors and they were good, so if they had a machine they REALLY must not have been giving a toss.:mad:

rymus

Places I've worked at in the past have always used manual cutters. Is it possible that the volume of work in the liffey valley shop would warrant an automatic cutter? How many people work on the minilab(s) out there?

Even some very busy labs I can think of with 3/4 minilabs and several operators are using manual cutters, possibly for the very reason that they don't want to screw up negs.

The whole thing smacks of negligence by either staff or management tbh and yermans attitude when the OP went back only compounds that theory. Hopefully Fuji will be prompted to pay them a visit to do some careful auditing...

pete4130

I worked in fuji in Stillorgan. Usually the problem with cutting negs happens when the machine thats used to cut negs doesn't work properly. The way it works is you feed the negs in and after you slice between the frames it automatically moves the roll of neg holders up and pulls the negs in another 4 frame and you chop again with no worries....or at least thats how its supposed to work. the one in our shop was a mess. we didnt even have it turned on because we knew how bad it was. We loaded the negs manually, moved to the next line of neg holders and pushed in the negs manually to the right point and then cut. it was a bit slower but better than negs being cut all over the place. I'd say this could be one reason for the negs being cut in the wrong place but its no excuse for it. Couple a badly calibrated neg cutter with inexperienced staff and you'll have problems.
Sorry to hearabout the negs though.

Pete.

sternn

Any more news on your letter??

ThOnda

I have been a little busy recently. I am going to write it today. But it is going to take some time, english is neither my native nor second language. I must have it typos-free and in correct english.

ThOnda

I have written that letter. Some trustworthy proof-reading wanted!

DaireQuinlan

well post it up so !

ThOnda

Sorry. I think that it will be polite to send it first to the "tgird party" which doesn't know about this problem so far.

If somebody has 5 minutes to check it, send me PM, please.

Thank you for your advice and support.

ThOnda

Proof reading has been done, the letter is going to be printed and sent tomorrow.

I will keep you informed. Hopefuly Fujifilm Ireland are going to do the same...

DotOrg

ThOnda wrote:

Hopefuly Fujifilm Ireland are going to do the same...

fujifilm Ireland can't and probably won't do anything about it. they simply are the suppliers of the paper, chemicals etc. they don't own any part of any of the shops which have fuji branding.

obviously they don't like fuji being given a bad name but they can't do anything apart from tell the owner of the store in question that customers are complaining about them.

ThOnda

I hope that Fujifilm Ireland is going to inform me - reply to my snail-mail.

There's nothing to be done - the negatives had been cut. I just want to prevent it from happening in the future.

I had asked the owner of the minilab to be more careful and there were not.

It's simple. Customers are complaining about my work directly to my boss! I won't be different! I know, that I am only guest in this wonderful country, but I am paying customer and as a customer I do have some rights.

Fenster

In a completely unrelated experience, the last B&W film I had developed has a two inch slice through it when I got it back.

DotOrg

ThOnda wrote:

I just want to prevent it from happening in the future.

I am paying customer and as a customer I do have some rights.

fujifilm ireland can't stop it happening, they have no power to do anything to any lab apart from stop selling them paper and chemicals

your rights as a paying customer are with the shop, not with fujifilm, they own nothing to do with the shop sadly.

ThOnda

I meant my right to get reply from them.

Spyral

Then I had mentioned the dust. He said that he did his best and it was really hard to make him see the pictures on the CD. He was repeating that he was scanning it one hour.

In the agfa lab in blanch I paid them 70 quid for 5 rolls in the hour it took 2. I didn't think it was right and the manager was that whingy that I wasn't about to start with him tho I do belive that if it says 1 hour it means one hour