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John King
17th December 2014, 10:05 AM
Does anyone know what has happened with the Silverprint company? I have been trying to get their website and all that come up is that the browser cannot establish a connection. I would like to call them but don't have their number - errrrr.....it's on the website!

Can anyone else help please.

(even the link on this site doesn't work)

big paul
17th December 2014, 10:19 AM
i think that they are having problems with there website try shop.silverprint.co.uk


www.essexcockney.com

Bill
17th December 2014, 10:21 AM
I googled them and managed too get onto the shop page but it has the same message if you go further although strangely enough I can get to the film pages so it looks like some work and some don't.

As it happens the phone number was on the page I managed to get to and it is 0207 620 0169.

Bill

John King
17th December 2014, 10:37 AM
Thanks for that I have managed to get as far as th shop too. It may be their website is being repaired.

B&W Neil
17th December 2014, 10:45 AM
I have just been on Silverprint's site and it was easy (as per normal) to order a few boxes of paper up to the payment stage. I didn't buy them as I made a largish order a week ago, I was only testing for this thread. So it may be OK now - if not that's very strange.

Neil.

Richard Gould
17th December 2014, 12:50 PM
I have had the same problem when I tried to get onto the website this morning, although their phone ordering is fine, I ordered some film and paper late in the day last wednesday and all arrivied on Monday, two days as per usual, but over the weekend their site failed to appear when I tried, simply got error timed out, Monday tuesday all fine, then this morning nothing, but I have just tried it for this thread and all is back
Richard

dsallen
17th December 2014, 02:41 PM
All working fine when accessed from here in Berlin.

Bests,

David.
www.dsallen.de

big paul
17th December 2014, 02:41 PM
Richard they are having trouble with there website ,i should imagine that when you lively hood depends on the INTERNET it can be brown trousers day when its not working ???. if you have trouble again try shop.silverprint.co.uk .......


www.essexcockney.com

Argentum
17th December 2014, 03:40 PM
whatever it was it seems to be working now.

Jimmy
11th February 2015, 06:11 PM
I just bought some stuff off of silverprint, it went through and i was expecting a 2 working day delivery as stated on site, but nothing came through for a week or so, i called they said it was a stock issue. fair enough, but they didnt let me know. got an email few days later said they would deliver next day service. cool. but it didnt arrive till the day after and i couldnt be in. had to send it to my moody neighbour.

is this usual service with silverprint? seemed a bit sloppy.

Jakecb
11th February 2015, 07:02 PM
I'd say they are normally very reliable.

Tony Marlow
11th February 2015, 08:30 PM
I have just ordered goods from Silverprint and it took a week for it to arrive but with one item missing, Ilford Classic paper. A friend of mine is waiting for Delta 400. I spoke to them today and both items are out of stock and due for delivery this Friday and will be sent to us either Friday or Monday. It does appear that they and I guess some other dealers are keeping very little stock and rely on Ilford to deliver promptly when the dealers receive our orders. I would agree that communication with Silverprint has been difficult these past few weeks.

Tony

alexmuir
11th February 2015, 11:10 PM
It's pretty surprising that a UK specialist darkroom supplier can't get Delta 400 and the Classic paper out to you immediately. These must be among the most popular B&W products available, assuming you're not after an unusual format or size.
Alex.

Lostlabours
11th February 2015, 11:56 PM
I placed a large order with Process Supplies, they had to get some of my order from Ilford, we'd missed the cut off time on Friday for Ilford to dispatch that day.

The order is on it's way for overnight delivery tomorrow. I was very impressed with the friendly efficient service, plus the called me back as they said they would, very rare these days. They would have sent most of the order on Friday and no extra cost for the rest but it wasn't that urgent and so I said no just send it all at the same time.

Retailers change, Silverprint has gone the way of another once excellent retailer Robert White and changed under new ownership. I felt it was time to change, I'd dealt with Martin on & off over the years I must have met him when he worked for Roy's (RK Photographic) father :D

Ian

Richard Gould
12th February 2015, 08:55 AM
I've had one or two problems with Silverprint in the last year in that delivery has taken a lot longer than the normal 2 or 3 days, but they recently changed their carrier, with a reduction in carriage costs, to dpd, and certainly from then up to December last year, the last time I ordered from them, there has not been a problem, But I will say tha when I have ordered from Process Supplies things have arrivied promptly, and they are easy to get along with, and prices are about the same as Silverprint, so if I get problems with Silverprint then I will go to either Process supplies or Firstcall, another supplier with whom I have had very good service from was Morco, again very keen prices
Richard

Richard Gould
12th March 2015, 02:45 PM
To revieve an old thread, I ordered some film from Silverprint 10 days ago, it was supposed to be in stock, the money went out of my account the day I ordered, I am still awaiting delivery, I am now getting low on film so ordered some from Process supplies, same price, ordered 4 P.M. yesterday, film arrived today. You know where I will be going to for my supplies in future
Richard

Jakecb
12th March 2015, 07:34 PM
Yes after this thread I tried Process Supplies for some bits and pieces and was greatly impressed by their speed, so thumbs up there. Shame about Silverprint... I had no idea they had changed hands lately. One would think new owners would be more keen not less keen.

Graeme
13th March 2015, 11:31 AM
To revieve an old thread, I ordered some film from Silverprint 10 days ago, it was supposed to be in stock, the money went out of my account the day I ordered, I am still awaiting delivery, I am now getting low on film so ordered some from Process supplies, same price, ordered 4 P.M. yesterday, film arrived today. You know where I will be going to for my supplies in future
Richard

Me too Richard, it's been very disappointing. Firstcall for me from now on.

Richard Gould
13th March 2015, 12:34 PM
Me too Richard, it's been very disappointing. Firstcall for me from now on.

Firstcall for some things for me, but they don't stock my prefered Fomapan 200/400, so Process supplies for some things and Firstcall for others
Richard

John King
13th March 2015, 04:52 PM
Have you tried Morco, They sent me 10 x FP4 and the service ensured it was the next day delivery and not the ususal high postal charges from some of the others. This is the 1st time I have used them and may not be the last, but AG take some beating.

Richard Gould
13th March 2015, 05:12 PM
I have used Morco at times and can highly reccomend them for their service, I have used AG, and the were very good. but since their move I could never get them on the phone, and if I can't order over the phone then I don't order, I won't order via the net, i like to talk to a person, and Firstcall, Process supplies, Morco all have order lines. Silverprint used to but lately it takes so long for them to answer that I can make a cuppa while I am waiting, sadly.

Richard

Bob
14th March 2015, 06:21 PM
And to show the other side, I ordered from Silverprint for next-day delivery ('cos I forgot I needed more film for Cornwall <doh!>). Ordered @ lunchtime - arrived next day @ 9am. Can't say fairer than that.

Bottom line is that when you deal with hundreds or thousands of sales per week, sometimes things go pear-shaped. The only times I can recall having issues with online sales from any company it has been sorted it - to be honest, I can only think of a couple.


Cheers, Bob.

youngrichard
21st March 2015, 10:14 AM
I am retired, live in Greater London, and have a bus pass, so I can hop on a train to Waterloo, take a bus to Silverprint, shop, and come home same way, all for free apart from the shopping. I am surprised how little stock they seem to keep these days, so always phone before I go. Firstly the phone is never answered promptly, if at all, And when it is too often they are out of HP5 35mm and/or MG1V glossy 5x7 and/or 10x8 - which I would have thought were pretty much bread and butter stock.
When I enquired why stock levels are so low, I was told that Harman are very slow to supply stock to UK retailers and/or only partially fulfil them; they fulfil orders to the much more lucrative US market first.
Doesn't make much sense to me, sounds more like a cash flow problem, which isn't going to get better if the on-line market goes elsewhere.
I would prefer to stick with Silverprint so that I can hop on a train. They were so much better before the move from Valentine Street a year or two ago.
Perhaps Silverprint might respond - I can't believe they aren't aware of this negative publicity?
Richard

Richard Gould
21st March 2015, 10:33 AM
I have been with Silverprint for a few years now, up until late last year they were good, phone always answered within a few rings, never out of stock of Harman, at least never more than a day, but since January you can sit for minutes before the phone in answered, they take your order, but you wait forever for delivery, they never tell you on their website what the stock position is, something they always used to do, and at times you get passed though a few people to get an order taken, It seems to me that they miss the guiding hand of Martin Reed, sad to see a once good dealer going down hill, but I have completely given up on them now, It is Process supplies and Firstcall for me from now on, It would be nice if Silverprint would respond to this, if there was a good reason or if things changed for the better it might persuade me and others back, but until then I have gone elsewhere
Richard

big paul
21st March 2015, 11:17 AM
I used RK photographic , I ordered some film on the 17 march mid day it came the following morning 18th now that's fast.....



www.essexcockney.com

Lostlabours
21st March 2015, 12:23 PM
I have been with Silverprint for a few years now, up until late last year they were good, phone always answered within a few rings, never out of stock of Harman, at least never more than a day, but since January you can sit for minutes before the phone in answered, they take your order, but you wait forever for delivery, they never tell you on their website what the stock position is, something they always used to do, and at times you get passed though a few people to get an order taken, It seems to me that they miss the guiding hand of Martin Reed, sad to see a once good dealer going down hill, but I have completely given up on them now, It is Process supplies and Firstcall for me from now on, It would be nice if Silverprint would respond to this, if there was a good reason or if things changed for the better it might persuade me and others back, but until then I have gone elsewhere
Richard

I placed a large order for Ilford paper and some film quite recently and 2 suppliers both said they could get the materials in 24hrs from Ilford. I bought through Process Supplies in the end and everything arrived promptly as promised.

Ian

Mike O'Pray
21st March 2015, 12:29 PM
This is why a forum like this is so valuable these days. If enough of us can give our experience of a retailer and if the findings by and large are consistent then it indicates who is good and who is not so good for the rest of us.

Since Martin Reed went I have seen no other presence from Silverprint on FADU so I had concluded that it had concluded that FADU was not one of its mainstays and didn't warrant a presence here which of course isn't to say that it doesn't want our business, simply that we are not important enough to have a presence.

Nothing I have heard so far fills me with confidence either.

If I were to be within bus pass distance then I'd certainly want to make the point to them about telephone answering and stock levels.

If that produced no concrete response then I'd draw my own conclusions and move on.

Only Silverprint can run Silverprint's business and if it is happy it is going what it needs to do, even if it doesn't meet our requirements then I fear we are not going to change things.

Mike

B&W Neil
21st March 2015, 01:41 PM
This is why a forum like this is so valuable these days. If enough of us can give our experience of a retailer and if the findings by and large are consistent then it indicates who is good and who is not so good for the rest of us.

Since Martin Reed went I have seen no other presence from Silverprint on FADU so I had concluded that it had concluded that FADU was not one of its mainstays and didn't warrant a presence here which of course isn't to say that it doesn't want our business, simply that we are not important enough to have a presence.

Nothing I have heard so far fills me with confidence either.

If I were to be within bus pass distance then I'd certainly want to make the point to them about telephone answering and stock levels.

If that produced no concrete response then I'd draw my own conclusions and move on.

Only Silverprint can run Silverprint's business and if it is happy it is going what it needs to do, even if it doesn't meet our requirements then I fear we are not going to change things.

Mike

Silverprint are of course one of our sponsors and have been right from they start. So they do have a presence on FADU, and pay for it, as do our other sponsors. Without this generous sponsorship FADU would not be free to its membership. I would also suggest - it would not exist if its membership had to contribute to its running costs.

OK, since Martin retired no one has stepped forward from Silverprint to fill his shoes but I would not read too much into this. Martin was very experienced with all things analogue so he was able to contribute talking from some considerable years of both making images and being in the trade. The lack of communication from Silverprint could be simply put down to the fact that no one there has the time or feels experienced enough to take part in tech discussions. And they certainly wouldn't want to discuss their personal business affairs on any public forum.

As far as getting orders on time is concerned I had some items from them a few weeks ago and the orders arrived as usual - in good time.

After all - how much communication do we receive from Harman UK :slap:

Neil.

Mike O'Pray
21st March 2015, 04:31 PM
I have no problem with no presence from Silverprint and accept for the reasons stated that it may not be worth their while. However Silverprint is a sponsor for what I assume to be good business reasons and hopefully will remain a sponsor but if it's service can be improved then for good business reasons it makes sense to improve it. It's a win-win then

Mike

Richard Gould
21st March 2015, 05:34 PM
I would have thought that it would have made sense for silverprint to come on here and answer the critics, as for it not being worth their while, a majority of the posters on this thread are critical of the current state of service, and I would not have thought that they would want or need such adverse publicity, after all, it is an open forum and many more customers or potential customers may be reading this, and looking elsewhere for their supplies, which will, in the end, affect their (Silverprint's) bottom line, I can only think that no one at Silverprint has actualy read this thread, I hope that they continue to sponsor fadu, and there must be a reason for things appearing to go down hill, so something from them would be nice.

As regards no input from Harman on Fadu, that has been a long time ongoing complaint, They seem not that interested in their UK and European customers, just the USA.
Richard

B&W Neil
21st March 2015, 05:45 PM
I would have thought that it would have made sense for silverprint to come on here and answer the critics, as for it not being worth their while, a majority of the posters on this thread are critical of the current state of service, and I would not have thought that they would want or need such adverse publicity, after all, it is an open forum and many more customers or potential customers may be reading this, and looking elsewhere for their supplies, which will, in the end, affect their (Silverprint's) bottom line, I can only think that no one at Silverprint has actualy read this thread, I hope that they continue to sponsor fadu, and there must be a reason for things appearing to go down hill, so something from them would be nice.

As regards no input from Harman on Fadu, that has been a long time ongoing complaint, They seem not that interested in their UK and European customers, just the USA.
Richard


Maybe they have had some 'key' staff leave lately - these things can happen.

We are certainly under no obligation to buy and they are under no obligation to come on here and explain things. People will make their own minds up what to do from their own experiences. As far I can see nobody has lost any money and there has just been some inconvenience in the supply of some items.

Neil.

TonyMiller
21st March 2015, 06:25 PM
As a business I think they are interested in all their customers tbh. In fact I think the current discount offer on Harman Express is applicable to UK customers only and a damn good deal it is too. I saved £35 on my order last night and it stocks me up nicely for the next few months. Probably the other thing to remember is there are numerous social media sites now and Ilford, Silverprint etc are very active on them so it isn't as if you haven't access to their customer services people to complain to - and they probably take complaints on social media pretty seriously these days as they like to be seen to responding.

.....They seem not that interested in their UK and European customers, just the USA.
Richard

Richard Gould
21st March 2015, 07:16 PM
Maybe they have had some 'key' staff leave lately - these things can happen.

We are certainly under no obligation to buy and they are under no obligation to come on here and explain things. People will make their own minds up what to do from their own experiences. As far I can see nobody has lost any money and there has just been some inconvenience in the supply of some items.

Neil.
I would not argue with this, for me it is just dissapointing that after a few years of good service all of a sudden this year the service suddenly, and for no apparent reason, service drops off, If I was the only one and it was just one order then fine, mistakes happen, but it seems to happening a lot from them lately, If things change then I would happily return to them but until then I, and many others I am sure, will go somewhere else.
Richard

Richard Gould
21st March 2015, 07:22 PM
As a business I think they are interested in all their customers tbh. In fact I think the current discount offer on Harman Express is applicable to UK customers only and a damn good deal it is too. I saved £35 on my order last night and it stocks me up nicely for the next few months. Probably the other thing to remember is there are numerous social media sites now and Ilford, Silverprint etc are very active on them so it isn't as if you haven't access to their customer services people to complain to - and they probably take complaints on social media pretty seriously these days as they like to be seen to responding.

Tony, yes the Harman Express service looks very good if you use a lot of Ilford products, but I don't, I use Fomapan film, which I prefer, I use mainly Rodinal or D76 developer, fixer and stop bath is Champion, the only thing I would use from them is my favorite Kentmere paper, and the only time I ordered from Harman Express they did not remove the VAT from my order, something that should be done as Jersey is not part of the EU and is VAT free, every where else I order from takes the VAT off, so I can get my Kentmere paper a lot cheaper from other sources, and these days every penny counts,
Richard

Barry
2nd April 2015, 01:39 PM
Just to let you know that Silverprint were not able to respond to your comments previously as their fadu login was lost in their management changes. They now have a new login and I'm sure will reply to your concerns soon.

youngrichard
15th April 2015, 09:05 AM
Pleased to say I went up to Silverprint yesterday, courtesy of my Freedom bus pass. Phoned the day before, answered promptly, yes they would put my order aside for collection next day, and all went as planned. Hopefully they are getting back on their feet, which is good news for me, for one.
Richard

Richard Gould
15th April 2015, 01:00 PM
Maybe they will get sorted out, but in the meantime they may well have lost a good few customers, a lot of people will have gone elsewhere for their supplies, gotten good service and will stay with their new suppliers, I for one will stay with Process supplies and firstcall in future, and I won't be the only one, sadly
Richard

MartyNL
15th April 2015, 08:47 PM
Silverprint answered my email very promptly too.

Silverprint
21st April 2015, 10:59 AM
Many apologies in taking so long to respond to this thread. Barry recently alerted us to your comments. We had some login issues, now clearly sorted out (thanks to Barry).

We are sorry to hear that some have been less than happy with our service recently. We appreciate these frank comments and take them on board. We recently taken on a new member of staff to join the customer service team. We are now able to respond to customer queries quicker, as hopefully some of you may have noted.

Stock levels on the website are updated manually, as we have always done. We aim to keep this as up to date as possible, however it can happen that stock sells quicker than we can update it.

We did have lower levels of Ilford stock last year, we think you will find this has been rectified.

We will now check in regularly, but feel free to contact us directly or through comments on our website, Twitter and Facebook. These are all monitored daily.

We are continued sponsors of FADU and see it as a valuable resource.

Hopefully this helps explain some of the issues you have raised.

Silverprint Team

simonhall
20th May 2015, 01:35 PM
We will now check in regularly, but feel free to contact us directly or through comments on our website, Twitter and Facebook. These are all monitored daily.

They are indeed monitored daily. When I complained on your facebook page that you closed up shop on a bankholiday Monday after advertising that you would be open you deleted my post. Twice! I made a special visit so that I could use my student discount which isn't available online.

A simple apology and an explanation would have worked wondered but instead i've been going to other suppliers wherever possible since then.
:mad::mad::mad:

Mike O'Pray
20th May 2015, 03:49 PM
I was about to say that from another thread it appears that both Silverprint and AG have solved their communications/ordering issues then I saw Simon's posts.

Hopefully Simon's experience is now the exception.

Mike

Silverprint
20th May 2015, 03:56 PM
They are indeed monitored daily. When I complained on your facebook page that you closed up shop on a bankholiday Monday after advertising that you would be open you deleted my post. Twice! I made a special visit so that I could use my student discount which isn't available online.

A simple apology and an explanation would have worked wondered but instead i've been going to other suppliers wherever possible since then.
:mad::mad::mad:

Hey Simon,

Im sorry that we weren't open when you tried to visit.

The notice on Facebook actually said we were closed for the bank holiday and open again as normal on the Tuesday. We are always closed for bank holidays, but we always list this on our website and social media.

We never delete any comments, so I can only assume that it must have been a techincal glitch when posting. We never recieved your comment, which is why there was no response.

Regards

Silverprint Team

simonhall
22nd May 2015, 03:07 PM
I'm sorry but I dispute this, although I must correct myself. It was the Saturday of the Easter weekend, rather than the bank holiday Monday itself that you closed earlier than advertised. This was last year when you were open at the weekends.

You had put out a facebook post saying that you would be open til 4pm and the same time was displayed on your website. When I got their at 2.45 the store was shut. Having made a special trip so that I could use a student card to get a discount on what would have been a large order I was pretty annoyed to find the store closed, especially after I checked your website before leaving.

When I checked the facebook post https://www.facebook.com/silverprint/posts/750035865041918 you can see that it was edited several days later to amend the time to 2pm. Unfortunately this is ancient history in facebook terms so there was no way I was going to see an edited post three days later, especially when your website still said 4pm.

I complained via your facebook page but it disappeared shortly afterwards. When I got home, I complained again via facebook and double checked that it had been posted. Again it was deleted shortly afterwards. I then complained through the contact webform on your website an received no reply.

I understand that changing opening hours are your prerogative. But after you have publicised one set of opening hours I think it is only right that you correct your website and make a similar effort on social media to let people know that they have changed. It is also reasonable to expect people to be annoyed if they make a special trip only to find the store closed.

Anyway the issue I had was more to do with the fact that you deleted the complaints from your FB page and didn't even reply to my emailed complaint. I felt this was shocking customer service and could easily have been averted with a simple 'Sorry for your wasted journey, we'll make sure we publicise any changes better next time'.

I would love to support Silverprint, it is great to have such an amazing resource for the photographic community but I go elsewhere for my film supplies wherever possible now.

big paul
22nd May 2015, 07:50 PM
I have had to Wait from time to time and I have complained from time to time ,but my order has always tuned up in the end ,I have never been fiddled or lost my money using our sponsors they may get behind with there orders sometimes but they are honest and get there orders out in the end ..we have a great selection to buy from, Our sponsors carry a wide variety of products ,and I feel that they have a love of photography and always seem very knowledgeable about there products and traditional photography ......


www.essexcockney.com

B&W Neil
23rd May 2015, 05:54 AM
I have had to Wait from time to time and I have complained from time to time ,but my order has always tuned up in the end ,I have never been fiddled or lost my money using our sponsors they may get behind with there orders sometimes but they are honest and get there orders out in the end ..we have a great selection to buy from, Our sponsors carry a wide variety of products ,and I feel that they have a love of photography and always seem very knowledgeable about there products and traditional photography ......


www.essexcockney.com

Well said - no one in this world is 100% perect all of the time.. Our sponsors are in this business because they share our passion for photography and I suspect none of them will be able to retire early with a pot of gold made by retailing photographic materials.

Apologies have been given and and there is no point in carrying on whinging - get there and make some images instead , it will make you felel better :)

Neil.

Silverprint
23rd June 2015, 01:33 PM
Anyway the issue I had was more to do with the fact that you deleted the complaints from your FB page and didn't even reply to my emailed complaint. I felt this was shocking customer service and could easily have been averted with a simple 'Sorry for your wasted journey, we'll make sure we publicise any changes better next time'.

I agree that is unacceptable and this is not how we expect customer complaints to be handled - my apologies for this.

We now have a completely new team managing social media and we aim to maintain an active presence over a range of social platforms.

Thank you to Neil and Paul for the continued support.

Silverprint Team

simonhall
30th June 2015, 08:07 AM
Thank you, that is good to know.