slides.com order

I need some advice from you experts. I sent in my first order to http://www.slides.com on Dec. 30 to have several slides made from digital files. These were black/white and were to be used for competitions. They advertise one day turn around on the orders. I put a note in the comments section that I needed the slides back no later than Jan. 12, just to be safe. I rec'd the slides on Jan. 5 but they were more sepia toned than b/w. I contacted slides.com and they told me they would redo them. I did not receive them by the weekend so I emailed them again. They responded that they would recalibrate the machine on Sunday, do the slides on Monday and I would receive them on Tuesday (which would really be a day later than when I told them I needed them). I did not get them. I emailed them again and just received this reply

"We had hoped to recalibrate the film recorder on Sunday, but I had a bad cold that day and did not do it. I will try to find a hole in my schedule and recalibrate it as soon as possible. In the worst case, I can recalibrate it next Sunday."

That, of course, will be too late for me to submit my slides. Any advice (other than never use slides.com again)? Any other service you can recommend where I can get these slides done QUICKLY and correctly?

Thanks.

For those of you interested in a follow-up on this thread (sorry, this could be long but I want it to be accurate) ...

I called slides.com this morning and was told someone would call me back in approx. 10 minutes about this order. An hour and a half later I phoned them again and was told they were re-calibrating the equipment. Dave (the owner?) said he saw no reason why he wouldn't be able to have the slides done today and in my hands tomorrow. He wouldn't guarantee it but he stated it should be done. I asked that they call me if there was any problem with the order and I stressed how badly I needed the slides tomorrow. He had a very nonchalant attitude and only apologized for their mistake as we were hanging up.

I just received a phone call that they did not do my slides. He did not get the equipment recalibrated. This is an order of 7 slides, not 70. They seemed to be very outdone that I wanted my slides! In the end, they stated they would refund my money and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they are able to at least do that. However, I still do not have my slides, have missed one deadline, and have two more looming.

Their website states they have 24 hour turnaround and delivery dates guaranteed. Please be very careful should you choose to use this company.

Sorry for the rant.

Jenny,

I had a similar experience with slides.com (though they did pay for overnight shipping at their expense). In the end though I was unhappy with how the colors came out in the slides.

Since then I've been using http://www.imagers.com. I have had great service AND great image slides from them. Every time I've sent files in the evening I find out they've already shipped them via fedex around noon the next day. I've used them 8 or 9 times now for orders ranging from 10 - 60 slides.

The first time I used them I had them do the same slides I had sent to slides.com to get a direct comparison - what a difference.

One note about imagers though. You have to deliver files in the TGA file format which doesn't save a profile. They don't tell you this in the documentation steps but I found out by calling. Convert your image to the Colormatch color space first, then save it as a TGA file.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Scott

Thank you for posting this Jenny. I have been referring people to their site because it is easy to remember in getting slides done. I don't think I will be doing that anymore.