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  #21  
Old 13th March 2015, 05:12 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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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
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  #22  
Old 14th March 2015, 06:21 PM
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Bob Bob is offline
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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.

Last edited by Bob; 14th March 2015 at 06:27 PM.
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  #23  
Old 21st March 2015, 10:14 AM
youngrichard youngrichard is offline
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Default Has anyone at Silverprint been following this thread?

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
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  #24  
Old 21st March 2015, 10:33 AM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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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
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  #25  
Old 21st March 2015, 11:17 AM
big paul big paul is offline
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I used RK photographic , I ordered some film on the 17 march mid day it came the following morning 18th now that's fast.....



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  #26  
Old 21st March 2015, 12:23 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Gould View Post
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
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  #27  
Old 21st March 2015, 12:29 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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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
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  #28  
Old 21st March 2015, 01:41 PM
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B&W Neil B&W Neil is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
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

Neil.
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  #29  
Old 21st March 2015, 04:31 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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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
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  #30  
Old 21st March 2015, 05:34 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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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
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