What's happening at SheetFilm.be?

[Jiri Vasina]

Hi guys,

I'd like to ask if someone knows what is happening at Geert van der Boeck's shop, GVB Groundglass at www.sheetfilm.be?

At the end of May 2009, I have placed my order for Wephota films (which as you might have noted I use recently), but have not received it yet. Unfortunately, I have already paid for the films, and not an insignificant amount of money.

Geert does not react to my emails (which is unlike my previous experience with him), and his site has changed (see the attachment for a screenshot).

So please, does anyone of you know what is happening, whether I'll either my ordered films, or my money? Is he gone bankrupt? Should I reclaim my money? Or should I give him some more time?

Thanks a real lot

Jiri

[Joanna Carter]

If you can read French, there is a discussion at Galerie Photo http://www.galerie-photo.info/forum/...50&t=29850&v=f

[Schaubild]

Have a similar experience.
Ordered 4 groundglasses beginning of April. No answers to any mails after 8 weeks and now the site has changed.

[Jiri Vasina]

Joanna, thanks a lot. I can read only a bit of French, but the Google translate does sufficient job to allow for proper understanding. From what I understand, it's more likely that I'll not see the film neither the money.

Well, there is another possible solution too: Belgium is not that far (~1000km), he has a real-world address published on the web. I have always wondered what Belgium looks like, there surely will be quite a lot of photo opportunities. And now it seems I'll have to plan such a trip, not just as something possible in the distant future, but something with clear purpose...

Jiri

[eddie]

belgium would be a great trip. let us know how the shooting goes....and i do not mean to shoot geert!

[jnantz]

from what i heard there were nightmares regarding things getting lost in the mail
and he is trying to get that straightened out ...

[Sevo]

He always has been slow to deliver, three to six months wait was not unusual, and wasn't much faster at communicating. But so far he always has delivered.

And I don't have the impression that he is bankrupt - his photography site and blog are up and running, and if he can do that, he can hardly be too broke to continue such a microbusiness. My guess is that his (very secondary) side business suffered a web site crash - there recently have been many worms attacking CMS based sites, and many of my bookmarked sites went through outages in the past weeks. And given that he (obviously) only attended to it every month or two even at the best of times, it will not be high enough on his order of priorities to fix immediately.

Sevo

[Ralph T]

If you paid using a money order you may be out of luck.

If you paid using paypal or a credit card, and you paid less than 60 days ago, you may have some success by pursuing a refund through paypal or the cc company. Pursuing it also may help ensure that this practice doesn't continue.

In my case, Geert didn't stop communicating until the 60 day period had passed.

[IanG]

Just remember it's extremely easy to make your own screen.

I had intended to buy 5 screens from Geert, but then found I needed a screen in a hurry, and 20 minutes later had made my first. I'm in a bit of a difficult situation in that I need to measure the camera backs to determine screen sizes, and they are in the UK, & I wasn't there long enough to order & have them delivered.

Now I have no hesitation in making more, the abrasives & glass are cheap and you can experiment with grit sizes to see which suits you best. The hardest part is cutting the glass accurately

Ian

[Jiri Vasina]

Thanks a lot for all the info. It seems I should have checked the info on his webshop more, but since I have already bought from him with no problems (he was quick to answer and quick to deliver in my first case), I did not think there was no need to look for any info. Well, new experience...

Ralph, thanks for the suggestion. I have paid using PayPal on 19th of May 2009. So I'll wait till Monday for him to react, if he does not, I'll claim refund with PayPal.

Jiri