Resolution of a scandal

As you recall, I recently had a terrible experience with Qualex. In a

previous thread I told you that 13 out of about 50 rolls were

destroyed (actually miscut) two months ago. I protested and we

finally reached an agreement: I received 55 rolls of "film" in

compensation. Initially they wanted to give me Elitechrome but I

held my ground and demanded... Kodachrome 64! They caved

and I received it today. Needless to say they will NEVER have the

pleasure of developing these rolls! I will use Color Edge in NYC

in the future unless... someone has a horror story about these

people. Justice triumphs....

Go get 'em Albert!!!!!

this is how a business should be run. they shouldn't have been so reluctant to making you happy. had they gone the mile without hassle to help you, i'd hope that you'd return the favour, by giving them more business (we'll call it another chance)

 

i recall a couple years ago. i bought 1 replacement guitar string from d'adario. cost, 79 cents CND. it snapped before it was even up to tension. needless to say, i was peeved and had to play the gig minus 1 string. i wrote the company a letter the next day. president responded very appologetic and offered to send a pack, free of charge to my residence. he asked if i play other guitars. i said yes, classical and acoustic. he'd send those as well.

 

a week later and a box arrives. in it was over 30 packs of guitar strings! that's a lot of playing! boy was i impressed. if i ever NEED to buy a pack of strings again, it'll be d'adario. :)

Qualex (as a Kodak sort-of-spinoff) is still recovering from insular "we're a monopoly" approach to dealing with customers. Kodak was once pretty darned close to one, and anti-trust action was taken against them back in the 1950's.

 

It's also clear that Qualex is struggling to deal with employee attitude problems. "They can't fire/layoff me..." (Or maybe it's "why give a damn, they're going to lay me off in a year or two...") Well, I don't know if Qualex is shrinking as fast as Kodak proper, but that sort of contraction is a real morale buster.

 

At least you know the K-chrome will be processed by Dwayne's, who appear to have employees who care. (No matter WHERE you bring it in the US, it's going to Dwayne's.)

As one who urged you on, I'm glad something was done.

What did it take to get them to fold? They grew tired of hearing from you or some sort of reasoning? A little bit of both?

Once upon a time, I sent a roll of Velvia through Qualex, and had it cross-processed. Eventually, they kicked through by giving me replacement film, and printing and making duplicate slides from the cross-processed film.

 

But what really irked me in that case was that when I first got the film back, it had a note from the "Quality Control" department advising me that the film had been over-exposed! Obviously, the QC department was either totally incompetent, or just plain dishonest, and hoped I didn't have the sense to know any better. And of course, at that time, Velvia was the single biggest thorn in Kodak's side, and they appeared not to even know what it was.

 

I've used lots of Kodak products, and wouldn't like to see them disappear off the market. But I can sure tell you that if Kodak went belly-up, there wouldn't be many tears at the funeral. They have done everything in their power to make their customers hate them, for years and years.

Had I known...

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Last December I went to San Diego with my Leica (its maiden voyage). I shot a pretty series of photos in the area near the zoo (can't remember the name of the place) where lots of palaces and nifty places are... in Kodachrome.

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Of course, I sent it to these guys in NJ, only to receive it all blank, without marks or frames, with a note saying the film never hitched the spool, hence, it was never exposed.

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By then, I knew a bit about loading a Leica and <b>I had seen the rewind knob rotate</b> when I loaded it, so they were wrong and I was right.

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How could I prove them wrong?

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I did send them two or three more rolls of K-chrome (trip to Barcelona... gulp!!), and apparently, luck was on my side and they didn't screw them.

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But, to be quite honest, when I tried the service of Dwayne's... I just used up my mailers and forgot about these people in NJ.

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Al, I'm glad you can tell a story with a happy ending. To make it even happier, just send your brand new 64s to Dwayne's, or Happy D!

Albert

Does ColorEdge in NY process Kodachrome ?

or do they send it to Dwayne's?

Last rolls of K'chrome I've sent to Kodak came back in a white envelope from somewhere in MD {??}

GaryP

Francisco, I once had a roll of film come back from processing completely blank, even though I saw the rewind knob rotating on advancing the film. My lens cap was on! Best regards, Bill

Gary, York film labs has white envelopes and a location in Maryland. I have sent them 10 rolls of print film so far with very good results. Best regards, Bill

Thanks for all of your support. In fact, the reason that Qualex

caved was simple: I told them that I would broadcast the details

of their screwup ALL OVER the 'net. This was enough. When they

agreed on the 55 rolls and initially offered Elitechrome, I retorted

and by doing the math showed them that I still would lose money

on the deal. They panicked adn said "any Kodak film you want..."

hence Kodachrome!!! Now here is the ironic part: I told the

camera store which had initially sent the film to Qualex that they

had to accept the Kodachrome and give a credit, which in this

case is $9.99/roll x 55 = $549.45. I will apply this to the purchase

of Velvia and provia 100/400. Justice and irony reign supreme!!

Years ago, like 20, Fuji here in Japan would scratch my slide film. When I complained I'd get the standard notice. It's your camera. In Nobeoka, Kyushu my friend (an MD) was freinds with the local director of Fuji. The man personally came to my apartment, apologized and gave me some replacement film. When I moved to Nagoya it was back to scratched film and the same stupid standard notice. (When you shot with 5 cameras and can line up the scratches on the slides from all 5 you know it ain't your camera.) I had no friendly connection and so switched to Kodak. Kodak never once screwed up any of my film. Ever.

 

Today, I shoot color negative film and my lab is King Camera, Okubo, just 5 minutes from home on foot. The manager, Mr Sato, is a Leica photographer, my friend and a good guy. His sister, who works there part-time, is neat too. In fact, his whole family is delightful. Cannot ask for much more.