Ok folks, get ready for a blistering post. If you aren't into a major
rant, skip this message.
I had about a dozen slides taken to a place in Des Moines, IA called
Multi-Media. They "specialize" in "quality" printing. Mistake number one:
I was out of town so my wife took the pictures in and they must have
assumed that we were just the "average joeblow" that they could screw over.
When the Ilfachromes were picked up they were all at least a stop too dark
uncropped, and blurry. HUH?
I took them back in (my wife picked them up) and requested that they be
reprinted correctly. I left specific instructions on the exposure,
cropping (don't get me started) and what was expected regarding sharpness.
I even allowed them to remove the trannies from the mounts to make sure
that they were as flat as possible.
When I went back to pick up the corrected prints yesterday, only half were
finished and even though they corrected the exposure and cropping (more or
less), the fuzziness remained and in a couple cases was even worse.
The moron at the front counter said "must be your slides that are blurry."
Grrrr. I picked up the 8x loupe at the counter, slapped the sheet over
their lighttable and said, "look at them and tell me that they are blurry."
He said, "well, I guess they look sharp, but when enlarging, you never
know." I asked that the printer himself come up and talk with me. The guy
came up and gave an explanation of "well, your slides are really dark, and
I had to open up a whole lot to correct for that. Besides, they are very
contrasty and Ilfachrome has a tendency to "balloon" and get fuzzy with
high contrast items." #1. My slides weren't too dark--every single one of
my slides in my library of 15,000 is within a half-stop of each other--and
if anything, they are bit on the light side. #2. If that "ballooning" was
true, how come it wasn't the case throughout the entire picture? #3. I
have spent enough time in the darkroom to know when I am being screwed and
lied to. I have experience with Cibachrome and I can produce better prints
with my Omega condenser enlarger and CC filters in the lightpath than what
garbage they were producing.
I'm furious, as these were supposed to have been in the gallery by Friday
and I missed the deadline. Had I known that they were going to rip me off,
I would have gone elsewhere right from the start. Evidently, Multi-Media
has a few corporate clients that they service and everybody else is "in
their way."
Monday morning I will pop back into Des Moines, pick up a bunch of supplies
and print up a bunch of B&W pictures for the Gallery. Hopefully, I can
recover this a bit.
I will make sure that every other photo related business in the Des Moines
area is aware of what happened and that Multi-Media be taken off of their
"referral" list.
I am a professional, and have been for a dozen years. I grew up in the
darkroom and know how to do printing with my eyes closed (well, almost).
How they could misinterpret me or my expectations is beyond explanation. I
am a really easy going guy and not much cheeses me off, but this pushed me
over the edge. I was offended (I'm never offended), insulted and just
plain lied to. You know that I don't flame people, either on the list or
in private. This incident went beyond anything I've ever experienced in
the photo industry.
Oh, and the real kicker: "The guy who does the printing has been doing it
for over thirty years so he must be right."
Ken (going postal) Norton
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