Dugal, bait and switch.

[Tim Stahl]

Jorge, You are probably correct that it was a new employee or something. I was both stunned and very unhappy that this happend, and that the employee who called me was unwilling to fix the problem (other than 10%, after ten minutes of discussion). When I call tomorrow to inform them of this thread, I'll see what the lab manager says.

Li-hsia, I have used Dugal in the past (periodically sence 1997/8) and never had a problem with them. They have always done good work. My problem is not with their quality. Metallic can be done from either a digital file or optically from a negative, it cannot be done from a transparency. The quoted price was from a negative, as the one done from digital was more money (like I said, the person I spoke with understood that it was from a negative on metallic).

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

Sounds about right fo the new metalic paper as it is more spendy. Maybe the first quote was for regular paper.

[Eric Jones]

I don't get the price difference. Kodak Endura Metallic paper is 0.44 per 8x10 sheet retail and it runs in normal RA-4 paper processors. $45 for an 8x10 contact print is off the charts, in my opinion. Did you already send the negative? If not, move on and look elsewhere. It seems they had a chance to make good and lost a potential long term customer. Did you get ahold of a manager, someone a little more up the food chain?

[David A. Goldfarb]

Duggal is a great lab, but they are known to have customer service problems, particularly if you're not a big client. If you don't need something that only Duggal does, and you're looking for a New York lab, I'd recommend Modernage. Their website isn't terribly informative, but you can get their phone number from www.modernage.com, call them, and ask about what you need. I'm sure they do contacts on metallic paper, if you want them. I'm also fairly confident that if they quote you the wrong price in your favor, they'll stick by it.

[Dave Schneider]

Tim, I'm curious, you picked this lab because it was less expensive than the others. Were the other labs quoting something closer to the $45 price? That should have been a clue that you maybe there was a communication problem.

[Eric Jones]

A&I, in Hollywood, is a good "standard" for pricing info. They charge $5.00 or 8x10 C-41 processing and $8.50 for an 8x10 Contact Print. Even "Exhibition" 8x10 prints are only going for $36.00.

[Henry Ambrose]

I don't know what's happened today with your film but next time try these guys:

chromatics.com/film-processing.htm

8X10 color film is $5 to process and $10 to contact.
They can even handle 11X14 and 16X20. I've used them for years with never a problem. Chromatics is a first class operation.

[QT Luong]

$45 sounds awfully expensive for a contact. I could get a 20x30 lightjet for that price.

[Andre Noble]

$48? That's what you get for trying that trendy "metallic" shit.

K.I.S.S.

[Jon_2416]

I always try to get the price in writing...

That "trendy metallic shit" is great--I love it.