Terrible experience with Retro Photographic. Don't know how to proceed. Help needed.

[jnanian]

sander -

you might want to send a link to this thread to the fellow who runs retro.
so he knows he will be not only losing you as a customer, apug folks and
perhaps others who may google the name and wonder about the service.

[mcgrattan]

I also had a less than perfect ordering experience with them just before Christmas. I ordered film which was listed in stock. After a week of not receiving anything I contacted them and it turned out they hadn't shipped my order because they didn't have enough stock to satisfy it.

Now they did send me out a different film when I complained, and they did that pretty quickly, so they did make an effort to rectify the problem. However, the basic initial service wasn't good. If I hadn't contacted them I would have had no idea if my order was delayed in the pre-Christmas post, or what.

[sandermarijn]

sander -

you might want to send a link to this thread to the fellow who runs retro.
so he knows he will be not only losing you as a customer, apug folks and
perhaps others who may google the name and wonder about the service.

Done!

[sandermarijn]

I'd contact Ilford/Harman. They have a vested interest in seeing that end users are well served by retailers. If enough people complain I'd have thought that Ilford would have a quiet word in Retro's ear. Otherwise, vote with your feet. Thank you also for taking the trouble to warn everyone on APUG of the potential problems when dealing with this firm.

Steve

I hope that my warning is fair. Perhaps many others do have positive experiences with Retro. On the other hand, Retro treated me so poorly that they deserve nothing less. A customer (especially foreign) doesn't have much power against a company once payment has been made. The internet is very useful in this respect.

I could warn Harman/Ilford, but probably they have had enough warning already. Unpaid bills for example.

[sandermarijn]

I also had a less than perfect ordering experience with them just before Christmas. I ordered film which was listed in stock. After a week of not receiving anything I contacted them and it turned out they hadn't shipped my order because they didn't have enough stock to satisfy it.

Now they did send me out a different film when I complained, and they did that pretty quickly, so they did make an effort to rectify the problem. However, the basic initial service wasn't good. If I hadn't contacted them I would have had no idea if my order was delayed in the pre-Christmas post, or what.

This is exactly what happened to me. Retro sent me less than my full order and they did not reply at all (email, ordinary mail) to my pointing this out. Only when I called them did the guy tell me he had refunded the value of the missing item. When I politely (!) asked why he had not responded to my emails and my letter, he just hang up. If I had not called him this morning, I would still be in the belief that he was working on it somehow, nor would I have known of the partial refund without calling VISA.
Plain terrible service.

[Gary Holliday]

I've already discussed my feelings before, but Retro did correct a wrong order and I was glad when it was eventually sorted it. When you are in business, you don't have time to deal with delayed and missing orders, so having a professional dealer is vital in my books.

The business relationship between Fotoimpex and Retro was set up after Fotoimpex had lots of difficulties with UK mail, so the partnership was set up to deal with UK orders. I can see the advantage at the moment for you to buy in the UK as the exchange rate is favourable!

There are lots of dealers and there are plenty of boxes of Kentmere around so just move on to the next supplier. I wouldn't waste any more time trying to negotiate free postage. You paid for one box and got one box.

RK Photographic, Silverprint and Process Supplies are all good dealers in my experience.

[sandermarijn]

There are lots of dealers and there are plenty of boxes of Kentmere around so just move on to the next supplier. I wouldn't waste any more time trying to negotiate free postage. You paid for one box and got one box.

RK Photographic, Silverprint and Process Supplies are all good dealers in my experience.

You're right Gary, I should get over the loss of free postage and move to another dealer. I have already in fact. Silverprint are my new heroes. They are a bit more expensive than Retro, but much, much more professional.

FotoImpex (Berlin) is also a great shop. I love their catalogue (most recent one in German only). It's almost like a good book (if you care for analogue photography that is). Mine is pretty much covered in drewl now.

The pity with FotoImpex is that they are very expensive for Kentmere FB. They charge 16 euros for a 10-pack (no 50-packs available). Silverprint charge 56 euros equivalent for a 50-pack. Quite a difference.
I am reluctant to try Foma FB or ADOX FB. I love Kentmere and am very much used to it. I don't like to change.

I will check out RK Photographic and Process Supplies, also for their shipping rates to the continent.

[TheFlyingCamera]

As someone who was a serious addict to Bergger papers before the Forte factory shutdown, I have tried the Foma fiber papers and liked them very much. Frankly, I liked them better than Kentmere, which I find too contrasty. Give the Foma a try - it handles very well, and they have some surfaces that are unavailable from anyone else to boot.

[Adrian Twiss]

My own experience could best be described as satisfactory. I orders some £250 worth of stock and the only problems were a) the roll film had to be sent in two packets due to stock problems and b) the packaging on two boxes of paper was damaged (but the paper was not fogged). His business practices seem to be somewhere between casual and down right relaxed. The extended period of having your telephone calls dealt with by an answering machine is also my experience. On balance I would be reluctant to use them again. I wonder if Fotoimpex fully appreciate the knock on reputational damage occasioned by being associated with a company that attracts such negative feeling?

[Adrian Twiss]

As someone who was a serious addict to Bergger papers before the Forte factory shutdown, I have tried the Foma fiber papers and liked them very much. Frankly, I liked them better than Kentmere, which I find too contrasty. Give the Foma a try - it handles very well, and they have some surfaces that are unavailable from anyone else to boot.

Lovely paper but Fomatone is awfly slow