photodom. NYC — Local services in New York

Really wanted to support this local black-owned business but they lost my prints twice. Luckily, they did not lose my film before they scanned it. After the whole ordeal, I left my name and phone number and asked that the shop owner reach out to me so we could discuss what happened. No one ever contacted me so I am leaving my experience here.

The timeline:

April 3rd- I placed an online order for scan and print of 4 disposable cameras.

April 8th- I personally dropped off my film to the lab to one of the workers, Devin. He tells me I will get an email with the scans in a few days and a following email when the prints are ready for pick-up.

April 14th- I send an email to the shop inquiring about my order. No response.

April 16th- I send an email to a different email address inquiring about my order. No response.

April 18th- I’ve received no emails or communication from the shop. I checked my spam folder and everything. I call the shop and am transferred to “the lab.” The worker asked if I dropped my film off or mailed it in. Now I start getting worried that my film is lost. She “finds” my film and tells me there was an error processing my scans but she sends them over asap. She says she will complete my prints and they will be ready for pick-up in a few hours. I get an email saying my prints are ready for pick-up a couple hours later. Since it has been 10 days since I dropped off my film, I was out of town and could not pick-up my order that day.

April 22nd- I go to the shop to pick-up my prints and negatives. I check in with Devin and he says my order is downstairs in the lab. We both walk to the lab and Devin looks through a bunch of orders for my prints. After about 15 minutes, he tells me that my order is actually upstairs. He returns upstairs to get my order while I wait on the first floor. Another 10 minutes pass but I remain waiting patiently. Devin returns without my order and tells me that my film had been “misplaced” but “it’s somewhere in the shop.” He asks me to give them 2 hours so they can locate my order. I only live a few blocks away so I say I can return later in the day. After 30 minutes, I leave the shop without my order and process what has happened. I came to the conclusion that I could not trust this shop as they misplaced my order twice and would rather just get a refund. I return to the shop and Devin had left to get food so there was another worker there. I explain the situation and ask for a partial refund since I already received my scans digitally. He says he’s unable to process a refund but I can leave my name and contact number. On the way out of the shop, I bump into Devin on the stairs and explain that I’m uncomfortable with the shop processing my prints and would like a refund. He apologizes and says that he can process my partial refund. I thank him and I leave. About an hour later, I check my email and they processed my refund incorrectly. I was only refunded for 1 set of prints when I had dropped off 4 disposable cameras. I had to call the shop again and have them fix my refund. Overall, this took about an hour out of my day and I didn’t even receive my prints.

Wish things turned out differently but I also saw a few similar reviews so it doesn’t seem like my experience is out of the norm for this shop. You can’t replace film so I am extremely lucky and grateful I still...

This review is specifically for C41 development and to warn anyone looking to develop film here - I went to Photodom for about 2 years for development and didn't have any notable issues, but late last year I dropped off 12 rolls from 3 different cameras, including really special photos that I wouldn't be able to recreate (friends' weddings, international travel). 9 of the 12 rolls came out under-developed and streaky, and after getting the camera and film looked at by multiple professionals in the photo space independently and 3 different repair shops, they all agreed it was a development issue; two people also validated having similar issues at Photodom and no longer going there.

The real crux of the issue is that when I tried to communicate with them about it via email they deferred blame to me/my camera and said that I over-exposed 9 rolls, the film was bad (it was all less than a year old, and from completely different lots) or that the camera was broken and needed serviced - at no point did they apologize, offer to look into it, or offer anything to make up for the error.

I have had my main SLR camera for 20 years, have shot 300+ rolls of film on it, and am deeply versed in shooting with it in manual, so there's no chance I over-exposed 9 full rolls of film (I'm also well-versed in B&W development, and exposure/metering techniques). It's worth noting that the 9 rolls that were developed wrong came from 3 separate cameras including two point-and-shoots, and some rolls from each camera came out fine while others didn't (from various dates - e.g. first roll would be bad, next one from the following month would be fine, then the one after that bad again), all pointing to development errors, not camera errors.

I gave them one more chance and took another single roll to Photodom this summer (after being so bummed to lose ~$500+ investment in the film itself + development costs last fall that I stopped shooting for several months) to see if the same issue would happen, and it did. I then took it to yet another repair place who confirmed the camera was working well and had no issues, and that the issue was with the film development. I shot another roll and took it to LTI earlier this month, and surprise surprise! it came out without any issues.

Overall, I'm really disappointed in Photodom's approach to customer service. I understand that things like this can happen, but to completely shift any blame or responsibility off themselves without addressing the issue or acknowledging there may have been a problem, especially for the high cost I invested, and for it to happen two times in a row, has completely turned me off to using them for any...

I hate to leave a bad review but the lack of care I’ve received with my last order was disappointing by their standards. I dropped off one roll of film for processing in September and was notified that the turnaround time would take longer than usual because they had to be sent to their sister location. I understood, and waited for the email that it was ready for pickup. I never received the email that it was ready, and was very busy with work and school so it was in the back of my mind to call and ask if it was ready. I was recently reminded by my friend to check for the email saying it was ready for pickup, but I wasn’t notified. I checked my spam and my priority, and the last email that I received from Photodom was notifying me that they received the order. I called the establishment, and explained the situation to an employee. He explained that they’re discarded after 15 days, sometimes 30, and that he’d call back after he checked to see if my negatives were still there. We hung up, and then I didn’t receive a call. I had to call back after an hour to see what was going on, and he told me that they threw away my negatives. I understand that they receive a lot of orders for processing and that they discard them after a certain amount of time, but I should’ve been called or notified if they were about to throw them away. Both my email and phone number were on file for them. Now photos from an important event in my life and my friends’ lives are gone. I don’t think the situation was handled correctly, and I don’t feel as if the employee I spoke to was empathetic to my situation, or even believed that I didn’t received the email that it was ready for pickup. I feel far from respected as a returning customer, and disappointed that I feel that I have to prove that I’ve never...