Ken Hough in 2003

[S. Preston Jones]

I am so sorrry to hear of the kind of unhappiness many of you have experienced with Ken. I have deal with Ken over the past 25 years and , while he is slow, I have had great work done by him. He refinished a 5x7 Deardorff that looked new when it came back; He put a lens in a Copal shutter ; took a lens that had baslam separation, cleaned it and put new baslam in and it too looked great. I have gotten lensboards and also bought a refinished back. He has also been a wealth of information on many photographic processes. I talked to him last night and I hope he will get all of your equipment back as soon as possible. I have had good service from him and even though I have never met him, I would still send work to him. I am not attempting to make light of your concerns but wanted you to know of my personal experiences. I hope in the end you will get all of your equipment back in the condition you desired.

[Michael Mutmansky]

Individual reports of good experiences with Mr. Hough are completely irrelevant to the question that QT Luong has asked. What is important is whether his business practices have changed enough to warrant the removal of the caviat in the static pages.

In business, there will always be people you cannot satisfy, and people you can. There are several people in the LF world who seem to have a preponderance of unsatisified customers, and I think it is worthwhile that the static pages address this fact. In fact, in most cases with the people in question, the issue isn't so much regarding the long delivery times, as it is about their bold-faced unethical statements overstating the level of completion of the product or grossly optimistic delivery promises in order to secure payment or complete an order.

I don't own a Deardorff, and I have never used the services of Mr. Hough, but I can assure you that the static pages have given me the knowledge to make an informed decision if I do ever need the services of someone like him.

The static pages and this forum has a bit of a feedback and policeing role on the nature of cameras and lenses, filmholders, etc., and the business practices of the people in the LF community. As consumers, we have much more power than ever before due to our ability to 'get together' in these forums and through the static pages. It is the responsibility of the moderators to ensure that everything that is posted is fair and truthful in that respect, to ensure that a person with an axe to grind does not unfairly use the forum for this purpose.

In this example, it appears that there is still evidence to warrant the continuation of the original statement regarding the questionable business ethics of Mr. Hough. As I said, there will be many satisified customers and some unsatisfied custiomers for even the best and most honest businesses out there, but until people no longer pop out of the woodwork with stories of promises not kept, and payment made with no delivery of product, I think the static page should remain as it is.

---Michael

[Michael J. Kravit]

Recently I purchased a number of parts for an 8x10 Deardorf refinishijng project from Ken Hough. Ken was cordial, offered very good advice, and shipped the parts on time.

With all the negative feedback, I felt it only fair to post a positive experience.

Mike

[Kevin Crisp]

I've mentioned my extremely negative experiences with him on forums before. I shipped the camera (I swear) the day before I stumbled onto lots of negative comments about him. I was hoping my experience would be better, but it was not. Deadlines were not met, promises were not kept, and I was misled on several occasions. Only when I made a credible threat of litigation (recommended by another forum member) did I get my camera back. Unfortunately, it came back very badly packed, allowing Ken to make a $300+ claim with the USPS for fixing the damage which was inevitable when you pack a wooden view camera so it rattles around in the box. And returning it for those repairs was a convenient time for him to do other things to the camera which had been paid for, but forgotten about in all the excitement. Yes, he is a nice guy on the phone, I agree. And of you like talking Deardorffs, it is enjoyable conversation. When the work ultimately was done, it was done well. But this is an issue of integrity, and it appears repeatedly with real life experiences from people who have used him. (Your issues with parts don't explain how you can promise to get something done in a week or two, if you've got unfinished jobs going back three years on your shelves.) If his request for modification of his well earned red flag had acknowledged this issue, and not made excuses, that would be one thing. But there is no recognition of what has gone on and without that I think deleting a warning I wish I had seen before I shipped the camera is not appropriate. This isn't a matter of someone well intentioned getting a little behind, folks.

[lee\c]

I have bought several parts via ebay for my Deardorff 5x7 camera. I have had a pleasant experience with Mr Hough each time. The parts were shipped properly and arrived without damage.

leec

[clay harmon]

The common thread here is that it seems you might have a painless transaction if all Mr Hough has to do is round up some parts and put them in the mail. Having him do actual work, on the other hand, is definitely a risky business, in my experience. One of the posts in this thread says that they have talked to him in the last few days. I have called about six times over the last three days at different times of the day, and I have gotten no answer. And I can assure you that I am not abusive or rude on the phone. The guy is just dodging the call.

[Bruce Barlow]

Why use someone questionable when you can get great work at reasonable prices with good turnaround from Richard Ritter??

[Eric Wagner]

My first experience with Ken was a good one. He restored a "Baby" for me in 1993, and did a nice job on it and returned it in a reasonable length of time. I sent a 5x7 to him in 1995. He submitted a bill for the work two years later, which I promptly paid even though it was 75% higher than his 1994 estimate. But then he did not return the camera. He had my camera for eight years and my money for six. My records show he promised 18 times to return the camera, the length of time ranging from "tomorrow" to a "month." I finally hired an attorney last March and the camera was returned in early May. He did a fine job on it and the camera looks and feels like a new one.

In a 5/5/03 email Ken wrote: "I still have a couple of new boards to lacquer for you. I started to last week and it triggered my asthma." More than seven months have passed and he has not sent me the lens boards, so I have my doubts that he has turned over a new leaf. Clay's recent experiences confirm those doubts.

"Several" is defined as more than two, but not many. So, if the comment on the Resources page is changed at this time, "several people have complained . . ." should probably be changed to "many people have complained . . ." It will be time to change your comments on the Resources page to positive ones whenever Ken cleans up his act and goes for several years without generating new complaints about unethical business practices.

[Kevin Crisp]

Well said, Eric. Note that MANY of the people having problems don't have issues which can be explained by a shortage of parts, even if that excuse is real. That means the proffered explanation of why the forum's caution should now be changed (i.e., parts are more available) does not explain the long delays. The only glimmer of hope seems to be that he does seem sensitive to criticism. Note that in his Ebay history he started using Ebay, got slammed a few times, then self-corrected and seems to be following through. The problem with a small group of widely scattered enthusiasts of an extinct breed of wooden camera is they don't have this kind of information when they do a Google search and find his very informative website.

[Patrick Troccolo]

He may have "turned a corner", but you can't prove it by me. I've been waiting a long, long time for lensboards. He will not respond to emails or return phone calls, he's just non-responsive after he gets your money.