Kodak PK Mailers

<p>In January I shot several rolls of E6 slide film in FL and then mailed them to Kodak (Dwayne's) for processing. The mailers were long expired but I had read somewhere on photo.net last year that Kodak would honor all of the outdated PK mailers until December 31st of 2009. Based on that I accumuated PK mailers of various vintages. Some of them were PK-24 mailers but 24 exp. slide film is not easy to find and might not even be made any more. I called Dwayne's and was told that a PK24 + $1.90 could substitute for a PK-36 and that a PK-36 could also be used for processing 120 E6 film. Last week I sent a roll of 36 exp. E6 film in an expired PK-36 mailer to Dwayne's. The film came back today unprocessed with a note from Kodak that the mailer was expired. When did Kodak change this policy and how were we notified of this change? I understand that if you have a really old PK mailer with no expiration date that Kodak must still honor it but that too may have changed. I read that several photo.netters whoc are still Kodachrome shooters have been sending that film to Dwayne's but through Walmart and at a lower price. Is there a price advantage to sending E-6 film through Walmart to Dwayne's?</p>

<p>I believe that these mailers could not be used after qualex closed March 27. You can send E-6 and K-14 out through WalMart for $5.49 for a 36exp. roll. It may have went up a dollar but I am not 100% shure. Drop it off at WalMart and is should be back a week later.</p>

<p>I too just had this happen to me but with a Kodak Print mailer. I have used Kodak mailers for decades. I received one back on April 2 and all was a usual. No notice of service changing. On April 9 I got the next roll I sent off returned undeveloped. The note said ,<br /> SERVICE NOT AVAILABLE Kodak no longer provides processing services...<br /> Well I would never have purchased more Kodak mailers if I knew Kodak was going to stop honoring them WITHOUT NOTICE. <br /> <br /> I have called Kodak and they confirmed that my mailers are no longer good. I have written Kodak as a long term loyal customer asking them if they will let Dwaynes honor them. No reply.<br /> All I can say is Kodak took my money and if they will not offer the service I want a refund. <br /> If I hear nothing back from them then I an off to another company like Fuji. This not a wise idea Kodak had to stop honoring mailers without notice. I spend between $500 and $1,000 a year on Kodak products. And have done so for decades. I am not going to continue to be a loyal customer to any company that treats me so poorly.<br /> <br /> If Kodak wants to end mailers service it will be fine with me but they MUST GIVE NOTICE. Perhaps till the end of the 2009 so I have a chance to use up my mailer supply. I will buy Kodak film to do that so they will still make money.<br>

That will be a real shame because I just tried out their new EKTAR and was going to buy a lot but now I will wait for a reply form Kodak first.</p>

<p>This past week I emailed Dwaynes in regard to this. Bottom line: they will honor undated Kodak mailers until Kodak pulls the plug whenever that is. Youre out of luck on the dated 1's. Try calling customer service :1 800 242 2424 & complain. They should have some sort of reimbursement plan. <br>

FWIW, Fuji will be handling the disc. Kodak pickup service @ Target. Return times according to the posting in my local store will be longer. Price for C41 processing seemed reasonable but I wasnt too satisfied w/the results from sending thru a local Rite Aid. All goes to the same lab. I called Fuji in Albany NY ( also home of the most disfunctional state govt. in the US) & was told they would also handle slide film routing it to Dwaynes. No idea of the cost as yet.</p>

<p><em>"This past week I emailed Dwaynes in regard to this. Bottom line: they will honor undated Kodak mailers until Kodak pulls the plug whenever that is."</em></p>

<p>That makes me nervous about the pile of Fuji mailers I have with "<strong>Valid through: 12/31/09</strong> " on them. I emailed Dwayne's about it awhile back and got very prompt replies to my questions, but in the end the person dealing with me suggested I contact Fuji directly about the expiration date. Her final answer was "Basically, we will do whatever Fuji tells us to do".</p>

<p>While I didn't really get the answer I was hoping for (that Fuji mailers don't really expire), I do appreciate her candidness at the end of the exchange.</p>

<p>According to one of the websites, I think it was the B&H site, the Fuji mailers are good through the end of 2009. At 5 for $24.95 the price is still right but the mailers could be worthless the day after you buy them. I sent an e-mail to Dwayne's to ask about both the expiration date and whether Dwayne's would allow us to use the mailer for 120 slide film too. There is a difference of several dollars between the cost of a Fuji mailer at $4.95 and what any established lab will charge for processing a roll. The envelope I got from Kodak Film Processing shows a Dallas, TX address but the postmark shows that it was mailed from Parsons, KS. The local camera store owner here in NJ told me that he thought Kodak stopped honoring the mailers as soon as the last Qualex lab closed. What I don't understand is how Qualex was even involved. The film I sent with PK mailers in January had nothing to do with Qualex. Dwayne's processed it.<br>

The trend does not look good for anyone who wants to shoot slide film. As the number of labs running E6 gets smaller and smaller there will eventually be film which can no longer be processed commercially. When that happens you will be able to but E6 kits, probably not from Kodak, and when the kits are gone, shooting slides will also be gone. I also like shooting color print film but shooting and projecting slide film is the one thing that is most difficult to approximate with digital equipment. Now I really have to wonder whether Kodachrome processing will make it into 2010. With the film at $8 or more per roll and $13 or $14 for the Pro film and another $14 + shipping for processing and mounting there just won't be a big demand for it. </p>

<p>From a conversation I had a few days ago with a Kodak rep, the slide film mailers are still valid until an unkown date. </p>

<p>Supposedly, the C-41 mailers are expired, but I sent a roll off so I could get a "Service Discontinued" note and raise hell with Kodak, due to the cessation of a contractually agreed upon service without official forewarning of the cessation of service. </p>

<p>At this point, unless Kodak will disappear over the weekend, I don't see why Kodak can't stick with the original plan of allowing the PK mailers to be used until the end of this year. If they pay Dwayne's for each roll processed I don't see why Dwayne's should object.</p>

<p>I have heard that some states it is not legal to just let a prepaid service expire. This covers things like prepaid gift cards. Usually the company can start to charge a service fee of X dollars (or percent per month) until the value of the item is reduced to zero. But that takes time and there is notice. I live in Ohio and do not know if that is the law here but somwhere in one of the 50 states there maybe a law to help us. Does anyone know of any?<br /> PS I an not just upset about 4 or 5 mailers expired. I use them all the time and have a lot. I love Kodak products but will not continue to support a company that shows no respect for their long term good customers.</p>

<p><em>If Kodak wants to end mailers service it will be fine with me but they MUST GIVE NOTICE.</em><br>

<em></em><br>

Do your mailers have an expiration date on them?</p>

<p>Some of my mailers have a date some don't. I contacted Kodak BEFORE I purchased those with a date on them and was told that Kodak would still honor them. I also have (or maybe had) a photocopy of a letter from Kodak that arrived with some mailers I purchased online that said the same.</p>

<p>I called the Kodak number which was on the note I got on Saturday. I was connected to a gentleman in Manilla who was reluctant to give me his name. He told me that when Qualex closed, all Kodak processing mailers ceased to have any value. I asked him about the mailers which have no expiration dates. He said he never heard of any such mailers. I then told him that Dwayne's was processng Kodak slide film and not Qualex. He told me he never heard of Dwayne's. He then offered to give me a single use camera or an unspecified roll of film to replace the mailer which I had recently sent in and which did not result in the processing of my film. I declined the offer. He then said that I could "escalate" my complaint to a supervisor and gave me a case number. When I asked whether the supervisor would be calling from Manilla he told me that person would be calling from Kodak in Rochester.<br>

I then called Dwayne's. Dwayne's told me that the expired mailers would no longer be accepted either at the Kodak P.O. box address in Parsons, KS or at the Dwayne's direct adddress. What about the unexpired mailers? Dwayne's said that they would still be honored, for now, and should be sent directly to Dwayne's and not to the old Kodak P.O. Box address in Parsons, KS. Dwayne's then gave me another number at Kodak to call. The woman I spoke to at that number did not even know whether unexpired mailers should be sent to Dwayne's directly. What about some kind of credit for the unexpired and/or expired mailers? She didn't know anything about that either. As it stands, I am still waiting for someone at Kodak in Rochester to call me.<br>

Over the weekend I sent an e-mail to Freestyle in Los Angeles. Freestyle is still selling the Fuji slide mailers and these mailers show an expiration date of 12-31-2009. The gentleman at Freestyle thought that Fuji had its own lab and did not know that Dwayne's is processing film sent in these mailers. Could the 12-31-2009 expiration date for the Fuji mailers also be cut short? Freestyle didn't know anything about this and neither did Dwayne's. What Dwayne's did say is that unlike the old Kodak PK-36 mailers, which could also be used for 120 slide processing, the Fuji mailers are only good for 36 exposure 35mm rolls of E6 slide film. As long as Dwayne's is still operating there is no obvious reason that Kodak can't simply pay Dwayne's to honor the expired and unexpired mailers. I'm sure the sticking point is that Kodak spent the money it got for the mailers a long time ago and Dwayne's can't be expected to process the film for free. Kodak must have thought that by changing its policy on the expired mailers, no one would notice. At this point I hope Kodak will offer coupons for other products, like film, in exchange for outstanding mailers. If Kodak is unable to do this we will have to wonder how much longer the company will be around in any form. I will keep you posted. </p>

<p>I spoke to two more people at Kodak and one at Qualex. The last answer I have from Kodak is that even mailers with no expiration dates are no longer good. The person at Qualex said she was told to have any callers contact Kodak's chairman because no one else at Kodak would answer questions or take responsibility for anything. </p>

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I have decided to write a letter to Kodak regarding this. This is the address I used:<br /> <br /> Mary Jane Hellnar<br /> President, Film, Photofinishing & Entertainment Group<br /> Eastman Kodak Corporation<br /> 343 State Street<br /> Rochester, NY 14608<br /> <br /> <br /> I urge anyone who owns Kodak mailers to write a letter to this address and maybe they will honor them for the rest of the year.

<p>In the UK Kodachrome has always been sold with the processing and mailing enveloopes included.</p>

<p>A few months ago I used some Kodachrome dated 1986 and sent it off to Switzerland (one of their old labs and now the European centre from where it is all sent to Dwayne's).</p>

<p>It came back fine and there were no queries about the validity of the mailer.</p>

<p>Nicholas,</p>

<p>The person you are referring to is Mary Jane Hellyar, not Hellnar.</p>

<p>This is an outrage. These are contracted services that the Eastman Kodak company is legally obligated to provide (at least those mailers which have no expiration date or have not yet expired). I personally might settle for the list price in CASH for this obligation, certainly not for a couple of single use cameras. </p>

<p>In this Internet age it would be easy to spread this information and find a lawyer to initiate a class action lawsuit for the thousands of people who have these mailers (PK's DP's ESP-1's). The publicity generated alone would not be favorable for EKC...<br>

Any lawyers out there?</p>

<p>Someone in Rochester has not thought this out very well....</p>

<p>Adam Lang</p>

<p>All. It seems the LH doesnt know what the RH --( Kodak customer service)is doing in regard to this. I just called Dwaynes & the nice lady there told me that if the date on the mailer was expired, Kodak would NOT honor it. But if the date was 5/09 & up, they would. She also said there should be no probs w/UNdated mailers.</p>

<p>What about all the people with DP mailers? WIll Dwaynes process c-41?</p>

<p>I got my Certified letter off to Ms. Hellyar earlier today. I hope she is still working for the company when the letter arrives. It looks like Kodak tried to sneak this one by. It's unfortunate that Dwayne's has to be dragged into the whole thing. It's also unfortunate that Dwayne's is telling me one thing while Kodak is telling me something completely different. I sent the returned roll of slide film to A&I. The A&I website states that its mailers will be good for as long as A&I offers the service shown. When A&I closed its K-Lab so it no longer processed Kodachrome it still allowed the mailers to be used for E6 film. If you use a service like A&I or Denver Digital Imaging (The SlidePrinter) for E6 processing you can save some money by mailing in more than one roll at a time. </p>

<p>Thanks soo much for that adress. She is big with film from what I understand. I will get to work on a letter all about Kodachome and other films!</p>

<p>I will also add that I think they should bring them back!! They must have been easy to use!</p>

<p>FYI it is Mary Jane Hellyar not Hellnar. You may also want to try to write to Paul Walrath who is the CEO of the film division. I don't have an adress for him. </p>

<p>Greetings Everyone!!! I have been following this thread with much interest,as i have a good supply of "PK24" and "PK36" slide film mailers.I contacted Dwayne's Photo by phone yesterday,and was told that if the mailer had a expiration date on it then it was NOT valid,but if it did not have one then it would be accepted.So i have to ask-"What is the difference"??? I have purchased these mailers with the understanding that the "Cutoff" date is the end of 2009,which i presume is the date that Kodak and Dwayne's Photo agreed on when all Kodachrome Processing was moved there.However,a mailer is still a mailer.I bought these mailers with the understanding that i was purchasing a service.A service that may be denied to me simply because it has a date on it.Thats not fair,to me or anyone else out there that has these mailers.<br>

So i took it a step furthur.I tried contacting Kodak via their website,and gave them the story as i know it.I gave them detailed info about the mailers,Dwayne's Photo,Kodachrome etc.they wrote me back and asked for more detailed information.That was yesterday afternoon.I keep checking my "In Box" but so far i have yet to recieve a reply...I hope we find out about this rather soon as this is becoming a very frustrating,at least to me.I do have several mailers that do have a expiration date on them,so the (K)64 Dollar question is:Are they valid or not? Can they be redeemed somehow? I feel that we should be allowed to use them until the end of 2009 expiration date.Another item worth mentioning as there was no notice given about this policy change.And-oh yes, i will be firing off a letter to Kodak about this matter as well.Comments Anyone???</p>

<p>How much did a PK-36 mailer cost right before they were discontinued?</p>