P3D FW from Allan Carrano: Horror Story

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This message from Allan (been gone a long time) Carrano bounced 
(because of HTML code in it) and I forwarding it to the list:

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My bad experience wasn't the clerk behind the counter or the dumb 
irritating customer (especially since the latter was me :-)).  No, it 
was the Great Yellow Father Himself.  At least that's what my local 
Ritz outlet is telling me.  Here's what happened:  

Two weeks ago, I brought five rolls of stereo slides to Ritz for 
developing only.  I, as always, would do my own mounting.  The slides 
were from a wedding I photographed on the weekend --- professionally. 
 I would be paid.  When I picked up the 5 rolls, my heart sank.  They 
looked overexposed and washed out (goodbye pay/goodbye reputation).  
My first assumption was that somehow I blew it.  Did I use 400 speed 
film by accident?  Did my flash go on the fritz?  Was my Realist set 
incorrectly?  After checking all hypotheses out (flash meter, etc.), 
I found the answers to all my self-incriminating questions were three 
No's.  Therefore, my new assumption was bad film or bad processing.  
   
I went back to Ritz to get a refund and let them know what had 
transpired. I showed the young clerks (one of each gender) the blown 
out frames and pointed out that the unexposed areas at the beginning 
of each roll showed a "lack of density" in comparison to a properly 
exposed roll (which I brought along to make my case).  To the credit 
of the Ritz employees, they were knowledgeable about film development 
and even stated the problem was more likely the processing than bad 
film.  I received my refund. 

Unfortunately, the story gets worse.  Apparently the "kids" got in 
trouble for admitting fault.  The "Kodak Lab" that Ritz uses does not 
own up to botching the processing.  "The customer overexposed the 
film" is the official stand..... BULL......!!!....  Now I know where 
the YELLOW in Kodak comes from.

Epilogue:  Last week I brought one roll to Ritz from the next wedding 
I did.  No problem.  So, I dropped off the remaining three rolls from 
the same wedding.  Two rolls were perfectly exposed/developed.  The 
third roll was not.  I am looking for a new processor. 

Allan (been gone a long time) Carrano