CVS ruined my wedding pictures.

first of all- im sorry your photos didnt come out. i develop so many
kodak photos when i work. They are so much nicer then the cheapo
brand. when we develop your photos, we run them through the machine
and whatever is on those negitives...will be on your priints. Many
times we do see very over or under exposed photos. A lot of the time
it really is due to the lack of lighting and the poor flash quality.If
you took pictures from a wedding- chances are it wasnt a small room to
light up and the camera only catches whats 8ft in front of it.
However, there have been some times where if your photos have gotten
stuck in their shell ( the film roll) we have to manually go in and
take them out (which isnt easy at all). Most of the time that isnt the
case. AND...just so you know...CVS is contracted with kodak and we
have to use their photo machines...let me tell you they are AWEFUL ON
EVERY LEVEL! THEY BREAK DOWN EVERY OTHER DAY AND THE TECHNITIONS ARE
HARD TO GET OUT TO THE STORE. so we end up calling kodak to fix ours
multiple times a month. its not our fault---we just have to do the
best we can. I would advise you to complain to kodak about the quality
of their photo processers. and i agree with you on one thing- CVS
should have called you to update you on what was going on. Thats one
thing i always do with our customers. and if we really ruin your
photos (which we try not to as best we can) then we give you free film
for life and a new camera...so its not like were lazy or bad photo
developers...we just cant fix everything all the time.

There are so many problems in the world. Kids starving and being
abused and you choose to use your voice to whine about pictures! Did
you stop and think maybe you can't take a proper picture or you should
invest in a real camera....you have money to have the internet. True -
retail employees are not always the most polite and service in some
areas can be negative, but the empolyees reflect how there community
raised them. I see your community raises rude children! Next time look
at you own mistakes before throwing blame around.

The pictures were not dark. That would have been too little light etc
as some of you have said. They had white all over them. Over
exposed. I am a camera bug and my brother is a also. I was using the
disposable because my sister in law had by mistake taken my digatal
home with her. When I left to head out of town the next morning for
the wedding I had no camera to take with me to the wedding. The throw
away was a last minute deal. However I spoke with many other people
who used the same type and brand cameras I did. One of whom used a
CVS in another city to develope and thier film came out fine. I had
asked for the CD's before I had seen the film and how it turned out.
I did not pick up the CD's after I saw the film and for that matter
never have been called by CVS to know rather they made them or not.
As for my ill manners in not getting names you are correct about that.
I usually do and this time was too upset to do so. Also I never
meant to mislead my subject. I was truely referring to my pictures
not my wedding when I wrote the subject. It never occured to me how
it sounded. As for some of you thinking CVS is so good in customer
service read the reply I recieved from them. Ms. Gibbons did not even
bother to ask me what city and state I had visited this store in. (I
am in a rural commuity. There is not a CVS where I live) Ms. Gibbons
also didn't bother to change names from the previous person she had
sent it to in the second paragragh. Read on:
Dear Ms. Romine,


Thank you for contacting us regarding the service you received
CVS/Pharmacy.

Please accept my apology for any inconvenience we may have caused you.
I assure you that we will be addressing this matter with the District
Manager and front store/Photo staff. This input will help our efforts
to ensure that your future shopping experiences are more pleasurable.

Again, Ms. Prestigiacomo, thank you for shopping in our store. CVS
has a commitment to service, and we appreciate the opportunity to
address your concerns.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me
at 1-800-746-7287.


Regards,



Kelly Gibbons

Customer Relations Representative

Those "one-time-use" cameras are notorious for lousy pictures. When
they are returned for developing, the film is removed and the camera
is reloaded, repackaged and shipped back out to stores for resale.
Those cameras could have been used 5 or 6 times before you got them.
It is hard to tell what previous users had done to them. I have seen
those cameras dropped in punch bowls and everything else. You can buy
a cheap 35 mm camera that you can reload and use over and over for
about what a 3 pack of disposables costs. I see those things on tables
at weddings all the time. The manufacturers of these cheapos started
this as a way to sell more cameras. I have seldom seen a decent
picture from one of these things. I took one of these apart to see
what it would take to reload it myself and was really surprised as the
camera label said ASA400 but the roll of film inside was ASA100, big
difference.

I don't believe that CVS owes you anything. One time use cameras, no
matter what brand, are junk and they are not a good idea for anything
important. You gambled and lost. I don't know very much about
photography, but I don't think only five pictures would come out of
three rolls and the remainder of them "over exposed" as a result of
the developing process.

I also have a problem with the title of your post - - it was not YOUR
wedding and to not make that clear is misleading.

Finally, I agree with the previous poster who thought you were rude
for not finding out the names of the employees you were dealing with
and repeatedly referring to them as "boy" and "girl". The fact that
the employees called the manager says volumes about your attitude
towards the situation. This is yet another case where I would love to
hear CVS's side of the story.

. . .but this is definitely NOT a CVS issue.

First, you wrote this letter with the implication that the pictures
were yours (CVS ruined MY wedding pictures). Well, that's PARTLY
true. They were YOUR pictures and they were of A WEDDING, it just
wasn't YOUR WEDDING.

That leads me to believe that you were trying to exaggerate the actual
damage that was caused to you. However, overdramatizing doesn't make
the situation any more valid.

Secondly, as much as I hate to say it, if your niece's wedding was so
important to you, why on Earth would you use a disposable camera?

Regardless of what speed film they use or the fact that its a Kodak,
the mechanicals of a disposable camera are ALWAYS crummy. As someone
else mentioned, garbage in, garbage out.

Thirdly, I'm not sure why this bugged me, but the way you kept calling
the staff "boy" and "girl" was rather rude. You weren't really
concerned enough to find out their first names (which would have
seriously helped your letter) and you disrespect them by reducing them
to simple nouns. Whether you are older than them or not, that's just
simple manners that you don't refer to people as "boy" or "girl."

So may I suggest the following? For around $100, you can find a
really nice digital camera that will take BEAUTIFUL pictures and will
leave you a lasting record of the events in your life.

You can see the pictures on the digital screen as soon as you take
them, so you will know immediately if you got a good picture or if you
over or under exposed it and need to take it over. You only save the
ones you like to the card. No more wasted images!

And processing the digital images is pretty easy too. You just pop
the little smart card out, take it to CVS (or wherever you'd like) and
you can print out JUST those images that are your favorites.

Afterwards, you transfer the digital files to your PC and you can save
them forever.

Then you can use the card again and again and never have to buy film
or flash bulbs or pay to process a whole roll of film for just a few
pictures again!

It seems that CVS is having the same problem many other companies and
people are having these days. Poor Service from Repair People who
promise they'll be there at a certain time and not show up till later,
if at all. So how is Kodak's repair faux pas within the control of
CVS, a chain of pharamacies that contract out to Kodak to handle
problems with Kodak products, film, and processing?

While I'm by no means a "shutterbug" I do know that those disposeable
camera's, no matter what brand, are highly unreliable. I can honestly
say that I've gotten all the prints from one camera all of decent
quality maybe once every ten times I've used them. But that's just my
experience.

I've been to functions, such as weddings and bar mitzvahs and bithdays
where these cameras were on the table and found it a nice touch.Rarely
have I gotten good prints. The people who had the parties actually
asked around for people who took pictures, went through them, and
managed to salvage some decent "memories" from negatives or discs.

If it's something like a wedding and pictures of decent quality are
an issue, perhaps a better course of action would be to hire a
professional photographer as well as supply the one time use cameras
as well, but not depend soley on them for quality prints.

While I agree it could have been handled better, the fault dosen't lie
with CVS and I doubt it's their responsibility to refund the money. It
may lie with Kodak and their service, so maybe a letter to them as
well may lead to some resolution.

"Garbage in, garbage out."

I was actually told this by a Kodak representative. The printer just
prints what is on the film. It doesn't do miracles.

The fault lies in your film. You may have thought the lighting was
fine, but that was to your eye. The camera has a different
perspective.

You asked for film to be developed, you got that. If you admit there
were only 5 pictures that turned out, why do you want CDs of them? The
overexposed pictures are still going to be overexposed on the CDs. You
don't deserve a refund, but if you still want the CDs I would hope
they wouldn't charge you for them.

CVS has no control over when the repairman will get there. They told
you what he/she told the store. If the technician couldn't fix it at
that time and needed to order a part. Machines break. Yes, it is an
inconvenience, but I'm sure there were other stores in your city that
could process film if you needed them in that big of a rush.

I'm sorry your photos didn't come out. However, your photos aren't
ruined because of CVS. If the problem were from the developing
process, all of the photos would be ruined. The machine develops
every negative on the roll the same way.

The pictures may have been underexposed or overexposed at the printing
step. I say both, because I think you mean they were dark (based on
the flash and high speed film statement). Dark photos are a case of
underexposure (not enough light). Check the negatives and if they are
in bad shape, then the problem lies with the camera and or lighting
conditions.

I think the way you were treated was a little unfortunate, but I do
have to take the side of CVS about the state of the pictures.
Unfortunatley, those one time use cameras aren't very good sometimes
and I don't think that CVS should be held responsible.