I recently started buying equipment/film from a major US store, shipped to the UK. It's been successful so far, and I've spent a couple of thousand dollars already this year. I was concerned about an order for 3 boxes of 50 sheet 8x10 film I put in Monday lunch time last week, for which the UPS tracking code only became active on Thursday. By Thursday morning, I had emailed asking why there was a delay, as I couldn't believe this store would take three working days for in-stock items (I checked when ordering) to leave the store, and that this time frame could cause problems. No reply.
Today I received the film. The boxes are dated 2005-3, 2005-1, and 2004-3. I telephoned and spoke with Customer Service, who acknowledge a mistake has occurred in sending out expired film, and offered a $40 credit (returns aren't practical). They said they spoke to their buyer, who felt there would be no problem with the film.
Now, I'm pragmatic - I think it's highly likely there are no problems with this film. This store is typically reliable enough to cold-store, and my experience of seriously out-of-date cold-stored film is positive. Nevertheless, I still feel furious at being given what should have been a significantly discounted item (in my experience, discounts of 1/3 are more typical for just-expired film, and sometimes 1/2). Even so, I would have bought it with the intention of using it in a slightly different context to the more demanding use to which I intended putting it.
I haven't named them yet - if the consensus is they've behaved below expected standard and their proposed remedy is inadequate, I'll name them. If not, they needn't receive the bad publicity.
What do people think?
(btw - there doesn't seem to be a category dealing with retailers; and this is a cross-post from the film and processing section of photo.net).
Bookmarks