fred aspen Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Ordered a 100' roll of Ilford FP4+ from Freestyle Photo and received it today with an expiration date of 11/06, a little over 60 days from now. They charged me full fare for the roll! I emailed my disgust but no response. Beware! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_drew4 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 I feel your pain! One of the drawbacks of ordering via the internet is that you have limited ways to express your concerns over freshness & quality. I have also been disappointed by a few, well-known, major film retailers other than Freestyle by receiving bricks that expire in as little as 30 days. When it comes to film I intend to hold for a while, I will make the phone call and try to deal with a sales person and ask specifically for expiration dates etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred aspen Posted August 23, 2006 Author Share Posted August 23, 2006 Thanks for your input, Jeff, I will do that in the future. I have dealt with B&H for 30+ years and never have received anything less than a year out. Of course, they do a land office business in photo goods and have fast inventory turns. Live and learn, and trust no one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photojim Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Roll it off and freeze the rolls... it'll keep. I agree that you should have been provided fresher film, but at least the expiry date has not yet passed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchell_kirschner Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 In my experience, Freestyle can be slow to respond to email. But try calling them. Their phone support/service is excellent. Chances are they want to make it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leicaglow Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Ron, that's kind of disappointing to hear about a well respected vendor. Given that they must be somewhat of experts on how to store film and paper products, one would hope it might at least have been taken care of in its life, as opposed to some outfit that stores it next to the furnace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_mckeith Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 The other side of the arguement-- *it's not expired *the expiration date is more of a "sell by" date, than a "use by" date. *even if that was a "use by" date, there is a large "fudge factor" built in. if selling film within 3 mos. of expiration date is not acceptable,what about 4 mos? 6 mos? 9mos?--- a year?-- what's the limitation? the limitation is the expiration date. kept in the fridge, I'm sure you could document the end of the Mayan Calander(2012) without any problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_mckeith Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 I agree 100 % with the previous poster- (did I post that?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_mckeith Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 'so why haven?t you called them?" about what? being shipped *in date* film? Hey man, what's up with the in date film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_mckeith Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 drwood- "I would say this is a good warning for all film sellers to beware of you, which there are becoming fewer of by the day. I dont see why they would even help you now after this.. " dw this is just what we need--- fewer film sellers I just got off the phone with Ilford, they have their emmisaries out scouring the cozy, if somewhat grimy, Victorian town of Melton Mowbray in the Vale of the Belvoir in Leicestershire ,to find the perfect Stilton to go with your whine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_mckeith Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 btw- at what point does dr5 start discounting their processing when their chems are 30 days old?-- 5 days? six hours?-- do you mix a new batch of chems for each roll of film? Caveat Emptor!,Caveat Emptor!,Caveat Emptor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip_oxenstein Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 To Dr. Wood - I respectfully disagree with your idea that it is somehow uncooth for Ron to have brought this to the forum without seeking redress from the vendor. I visit this forum to take part in a thoughtful colloquy about my craft with others so engaged. I have found it is perhaps as important to learn from other's challenges and mistakes as it is to learn from their successes or advice. My conviction is moreso informed by Ron's posting having cued an important realization: I have shot 50 rolls this year so far (more or less) and have not looked at a single expiry. Seems like a good idea huh? I just picked up a 10 roll brick of HP5 from a large national retailer. I assume that because it is one of the big ones (one of the Big Houses, wink wink, nudge nudge) that the expiry of these English emulsions is well...distant. But is it. Hold on. Let me go check....Ok. I'm back. Well it turns out the expiry is January 2010. Whew. That is a great relief. However, I have now added a new behavior to my repetoire of behaviors vis-a-vis photography and I am better for it. Thanks for posting this Ron. A much needed wake-up call for some of us. Let us know how it turns out. Thinking Freestyle will do you right, but let us know. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 You could try returning the film. Freestyle has great return policy even with materials such as film and paper at least so the sign in their store states. A quick shout out to Dr Wood - You gotta come back to LA! I need my Efke film! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Jeepers, Freestyle has always had good deals on film for the last 5+ decades for me, usually it is just overruns, movie short rolls, surplus, dead stock. I ordered fom them when Alben Barkley was VP.<BR><BR>Food has been sold cheaper before it is useless for many thousands of years.<BR><BR>In 4H club our grade school bought WW2 surplus tri-x sheet film from Freestyle. <BR><BR> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 In the 1950's when shooting sports with an Exakta, we would have several 100 ft rolls handy, and be bulk loading and shooting many 36exp rolls per game. A 100 ft roll was like a case of cokes, often gone in a week or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 I got 100 feet of outdated Pan-F+ from them I rolled it froze it and it is still fine... I liked it so much I got another 100 feet just for freezer fodder. It was short dated not outdated...... I have a bulk roll of APX 400 that was only celler stored before I got it and it expired in 2004 .. it is still real fine... Well as fine as APX 400 can be... Larry<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donald_ingram1 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Out of principle, send it back, and if you have any trouble freeze payment with the credit card company. 6 months is a reasonable minimum unless you agreed otherwise in advance. However, fresh stock should have more than a 2 year ahead date on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred aspen Posted August 24, 2006 Author Share Posted August 24, 2006 UPDATE! Received a telephone call from the Purchasing Manager at Freestyle who advised me there was a system glitch that had film actually dated 11/06 in the computer system as 11/08. Their software is designed to catch shipments of short dated film and prevent this type of problem but failed in this case for reasons yet to be determined. Bottom line: Fresh roll will be coming dated 11/08. Freestyle is working very hard to dispell their early image during the 70's and 80's as a fogged paper and short dated film house. They want to emerge as a respected house carrying traditional film/wet darkroom products. All's well that ends well. They did the right thing. Kudos to Mr. Joseph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Freestyle was actually a 3 decade old company when Ford was President. It has historically sold new and out of date films too. They have been a source for oddball extra films stocks for 16mm movies when folks used 16mm for home movies, 1/2 century ago. In the 1970's they sold new in date and expired films too, clearly advertised as such. They had gobs of lith films after the major NYC dealers ran out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirk_teetzel Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Wait a sec. Larry, are you telling me you gave me 1999 film?! I demand my money back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrydressler Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Kirk If I remember I even gave you free shipping with the free film. LOL Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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