P3D Qualex (Kodalux)

["Andrea Blair" <asblair@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I send all of my film through Costco (used to be Price Club), which goes 
to Kodalux. I (almost) always highlight the processing required 
(prints/slides and 35mm format). When I send stereo shots in, I mark in 
two places: PROCESS ONLY - DO NOT MOUNT; once above my name and once in 
the special instructions on the back of the envelope. I also highlight 
both areas. I NEVER mention "stereo" at all. From what I've seen, this 
just confuses them. They don't need to know what it is, just that you 
don't want it mounted. I've NEVER (knock on wood) had any problems yet. 
Every roll has come back processed and unmounted just as I instructed.

Should I have to highlight everything to make it real obvious what I am 
sending in? No. But I would rather take a little extra time to ensure 
the best possible care of my images. Mistakes happen to us all. If 
anyone out there has ever worked in a commercial lab as big as Kodalux, 
I'm sure you can vouch for how hectic it gets. I can't even begin to 
imagine how many of those little canisters are handled every HOUR, much 
less all day. If you expect 100% accuracy, don't send it in. Do it 
yourself.

My Sad Story: Several years ago I had a visitor from Australia. She took 
about 6 rolls of film while she was here. We took the film to Giant 
(grocery store) for quick processing. Fortunately all of the pictures 
were printed, but when we looked at the negatives every single negative 
at each end of the strip were cut were cut in half. On all 6 rolls. We 
got no compensation from Giant at all. Needless to say, I was upset and 
she was heartbroken. But we were just the unfortunate victims that day. 
But overall service must be good because they still do film processing.

On another note with Costco: I have had problems with the paper envelope 
mailers. Since I shoot mostly slides, I am getting back boxes which 
stress the envelopes because of the corners. Almost all of my envelopes 
are torn in the middle where the corners rub. I have had 3 envelopes 
actually rip open far enough that the box of (you guessed it - UNMARKED 
slides) fell out. Twice I had to claim them at the photo counter (and 
describe what was on the rolls - try that when you put in about 12 at 
one time!) and once I found the box floating in the claim bin where 
anyone could have picked it up. Talk about HOT! Costco wouldn't do 
anything about it. They said Kodalux provides to printed envelopes. So I 
called the 800 number on the envelope. I was given another 800 number at 
a different facility. After about 3 days, I finally spoke to a live 
human being. I explained the situation, which prompted the response "Oh. 
Hmmm. I see. Well, we'll look into it and see what we can do. We do 
appreciate your call." YEAH, RIGHT! I urge everyone who uses this 
service to put a complaint in to your Costco and to Kodalux for stronger 
(Tyvek) envelopes. In the meantime, I am not putting two strips of 2 
inch packing tape on the front and back of the package in an "X" 
pattern. So far I have not had any more problems with the envelopes 
tearing anywhere else.

Should I have to do this? NO. But, again, I will continue to do so to 
help ensure that I get my images back. This is the trade-off for 
discount processing, I guess.

Andrea S. Blair
asblair@xxxxxxxxxxx 

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com


------------------------------