Ilford Tech support -- nonexistant, at least in the US

I kn ow Ilford is restructuring and coming out of receivership, but a

little tech supoort for their products would be nice.

 

Their website contains the basic product information flyers and

nothing more. I tried to submit a question to tech support their

their on-line form, and never got a response. I called their US

offices at the telephone number listed, and tried to get tech support.

Tech support for B&w and photography products are simply refered to

their web site, and 2 other products catagories are refered to

different phone numbers. There is no option to talk to anyone, and no

way that I found to reach anyone.

 

Come on Ilford. I'm a loyal and current customers at least respond to

the rare question when I might have one. Customers are kept not only

by good products, but by having good customer support when needed.

You don't want me to switch to Foma, Bergger, Fuji or even Kodak, do

you? Nurture the customers you have or you won't have them for long

-- especially in a declining market with many competitors.

 

Does anyone know how I can get through to Ilford with a simple question?

You might try posting your simple questions here, since this is a photography forum.....

What is that old proverb about lighting one candle instead of cursing the darkness?

"There is no option to talk to anyone, and no way that I found to reach anyone."

 

That's because there is no tech support necessary for film. Most questions you have about Ilford film can be answered by their data sheets and their web site.

How do you figure out if 12 x 16 paper is available in the USA? Yada Yada.

 

The Ilford website is terrible. I think David Carper and Wendy Erickson used to be in Ilford Tech support. Maybe David can answer you question or give us some insight as to what's going on at Ilford.

 

David used to drop in here every once and a while.

Photo.net = tech support.

ILFORD Imaging USA Inc

West 70 Century Road

Paramus, NJ 07652

1-201-265-6000

E-mail address:

us-techsupport@ilford.com

so what else is new? they've had lousy tech support for years.

I ran into the same problem with Polaroid. Never could get any answers from the horses mouth about archival properties of their 4x5 instant prints.

I think I read that the building Ilford had in Paramus, NJ was becoming a school next year.

I couldn't disagree with DK any more. I am not sure what his/her experience is, but every

time that I called or e-mailed, I got a very thorough and well thought-out response. That

is until they downsized. I am not really sure what DK is talking about with "years of bad

service" David was always VERY responsive. He still is seen on the boards...

David Carper was extremely helpful. I think Ilford's website gets mixed reviews.

 

But in his absence there isn't much to fall back on.

 

I'd say photo.net and apug.org are your best bets.

<p><i>"Their website contains the basic product information flyers and nothing more"</i> At <a href="http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html">http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html</a>

they have what I call datasheets on their products and also tutorials.

As Russ suggested, if the answer to your question isn't in the datasheet, try asking here.</p>

 

 

<p>"<i>How do you figure out if 12 x 16 paper is available in the USA?</i>" You go to <a href="http://www.ilford.com/">http://www.ilford.com/</a>, then you click on the words <i>"Monochrome Product Availability List"</i> to reach <a href="http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/monopal0505.pdf">http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/monopal0505.pdf</a>, from which you will learn, for example, that Multigrade IV Fiber-based paper is available world-wide in 30.5 x 40.6 cm sheets.</p>

Michael,

 

That's the point. They say it's available "worldwide" but no one carries it. A few years ago I was told that it was a special order item and to see a dealer. After three dealers told me they couldn't get it I gave up. B&H doesn't have 12x16. So where is it?

 

What's needed is accurate information on what products really are available in each country (for me that is the USA). I just think Ilford could do a better job if they put forth a little effort.

oh, my exeperiences are rooted in about ten years of service contracts with the company

in regards to their roller transport processors....not nickle & dime questions like "how long

do I develop my film for" etc. More along the lines of "why has my machine quit working in

the first year?" I won't bore you with the details as someone oncee posted here that

photonet was for "enthusiasts" when I made some similar complaints. "Enthusiasts" seem

to be in wholehearted agreement that Ilford has, and will always have the best customer

service and support ever, but I guess I'm not an enthusiast, rather a working

photographer...I have some long, rambling rants on the processor self-destruction

episode here if you're really interested...

btw---it is possible, or at least was about a couple of months ago--to still talk to someone on the phone from Ilford US. Only problem is they aren't of much help--last time I called about a part for our machine, I was told they quit making the parts a couple of years ago (first I heard that, up untill that time they claimed the machine was still supported and still in production). They also routed the phone call to a new service provider--GEI--who were taking the place of the previous contract vendor, SERCO--which was made up of Ilford techs the company farmed out to Serco about 4 years prior. These would be the same techs who worked for Ilford for many years handling phone support and service calls.

 

I had two calls into Ilford around this time--one I learned that the company had terminated it's contract with Serco, but they failed to contact the people holding service contracts--so our contract ran for about a month with no way of support and then died a quiet death with no notification from Ilford. Until we needed a part--then they inform us of a pending contract with GEI. Problem is that GEI has no parts for the machine, and Ilford claims the parts are no longer made at this point. Now, an interesting twist is that a former Serco tech has a source for these parts that are apparently still being made, even though the Ilford phone support techs claim the parts haven't "bveen made in years".

 

So--this is what I'm talking about. Endless rounds of phone tage with useless, conflicting answers that goes back years. Back to the early 90s when they acted like they had never seen a machine like the one they sold us--when in fact they had a recall on them, but never notified the customers. It was a special touch the way they sent field techs out to make repairs in excess of several thousand dolllars over the course of a year and a half--only to show up to check the machine out for a service contract and declare that we needed a "new processor" because we had "one of the soft molds". They even had a little code for it on the invoice. Funny how the same techs never knew this when the customer was paying the bill.

 

It seems they have great customer service when it comes to queries not problems.