Another transfer stuff up

[Patrick]

I was reading David's thread with interest and it reminded me of something odd that happened with a local transfer business a few years ago. I had about 200 feet of super 8 (mostly time lapse) transferred to vhs (don't laugh cos vhs was all I had in terms of video back then) within one day. I picked up the reel of film and the tape within about half an hour and overall I was pleased with the quality of the transfer, except for one sequence where the machine the guy was using couldn't handle white clouds and blue sky.

Several weeks passed and I was reading the newspaper. In the classifieds, there was one entry from a married couple saying that they had sent their wedding film (captured on super 8 in the 1970s) to a place to get transferred and the operator had mixed up their reel with someone else's. The operator had given the wedding reel to someone else - someone who had come in to have their own reel transferred. The entry also said that this person was an enthusiast who shoots super 8 currently. The business that was listed was the same business where I had my super 8 footage transferred.

I was pretty sure that this had nothing to do with me. Afterall, the spool on the reel I got back was the same as the one I brought in. I viewed the contents of the reel just for the sake of it and to my amazement, I saw a 1970s wedding! I rang the phone number in the classifieds and got on to the husband and told him that I had his film. He said that my film was back at the transfer place. The operator (who was also the manager) had not been telling the couple the truth about their missing film for the first few weeks. He told them that it had been sent out for cleaning. Though eventually, he told them the truth. There was no way that the manager could have contacted me because he didn’t have my contact details. I arranged to meet the husband at my place to collect the film.

I later rang the transfer business and I told the manager that I was the person who he had given the wedding film to and how I found out about the stuff up. He was amazed that I found out from an entry in the classifieds of a newspaper. He told me that I could return the wedding film to him but I told him that I had already arranged with the couple that I would give the film directly to them. He insisted but I said this was not possible. Obviously, he was not prepared to miss out on making money on a potential transfer.

A few days later, the husband arrived at my house to collect the film and he was very thankful. He also thought that it was interesting that I was shooting on super 8 as a hobby. I actually tried to persuade him to buy a super 8 projector to view his wedding film in all it’s original glory. He wasn’t really sure about this! I think he was very much in tune with the modern age. I didn’t know whether he took the film back to the same place to get transferred or whether he chose some place else.

I later collected my film from the transfer business – the manager hardly said anything when I picked up the film.

I think it’s quite incredible that the only way I found out about this whole thing was stumbling across an entry in the classifieds of a newspaper. I don’t know what the chances are of that occurring. This was a few years ago and to be honest, I have not projected that particular reel of film of mine since before the transfer. So if I had not seen that entry in the paper, it would have been an extremely long time before that couple would have been reunited with their wedding film. Who knows, they could have been wondering if it was gone for good.

[Patrick]

To all the owners of transfer services on this forum, do you reckon anything like this is ever likely to happen with your business - the mixing of reels and giving a film to the wrong person? I guess if this has happened to any of you, you may not want to admit it. If such a mistake did happen, how do you think you would resolve the matter? Would you do anything differently to what the manager did in the above post? What specifically would you say to the people whose film is in another person's possession?

[david]

good one!

luckily there's a happy ending, losing wedding shots is quite a serious thing.

I was asked to do some wedding photography often but I was really afraid because it's such a great responsibilty. I do all kind of works but I stay away from this.

A friend of mine was working as an assistant photographer for weddings. Once, after the ceremony, he somehow managed to forget all the rolls in a bag outside the church. Unluckily it started raining so all the rolls got wet and unusable. They had to redo a fake wedding a few days later...

Even if you pay great attention there's always something that could go wrong, and I would never be in that kind of situation, arguing with an army of parents and relatives...so scary.

[Uppsala BildTeknik]

To all the owners of transfer services on this forum, do you reckon anything like this is ever likely to happen with your business - the mixing of reels and giving a film to the wrong person?

Hell no! I keep all my clients reels all nice and separated.
Unbelievable that they mixed up the reels!

I guess if this has happened to any of you, you may not want to admit it. If such a mistake did happen, how do you think you would resolve the matter?

I would contact all the clients I had during the time and find the missing reel. I always have contact info to everyone so this would not be a problem. A telephone number to everyone (and a name of course) is all you need.

And IF it would be totally impossible to find the original film there would probably not be any reason for a total loss, I always keep a copy of everyones films until they have had their transfers for a few weeks. So I could just make a new digital version of the wedding film, the digital version would not be lost.

This is why I need my huge huge setups of harddrives! Setup as failsafe RAID 5, so that IF a clients film would get lost (in the post or something) and IF a harddrive in my computer would fail at the same time, I would still not loose the digital backup that I have in my possession.

Would you do anything differently to what the manager did in the above post? What specifically would you say to the people whose film is in another person's possession?

I would probably begin with "It is somewhere here, I will contact you later today when we have looked really carefully" and then I would turn my whole house upside down within 2 minutes and find the damn reel!

If it had already left the building I would tell them the truth and continue the hunt by contacting all the other clients I had during the time the reel got lost. If it wasn´t in any other clients posession I would seriously begin to doubt that they even had the correct reel to begin with...

What a nightmare! 8O

[david]

To all the owners of transfer services on this forum, do you reckon anything like this is ever likely to happen with your business - the mixing of reels and giving a film to the wrong person? I guess if this has happened to any of you, you may not want to admit it. If such a mistake did happen, how do you think you would resolve the matter? Would you do anything differently to what the manager did in the above post? What specifically would you say to the people whose film is in another person's possession?

I'm clearly not a transfer service owner but maybe writing down name and adress of a person is a good start, and that's probably what most peolpe do.

Personally I wouldn't get mad about it, IF the transfer service manages to sort it out ASAP. It could happen, even if it doesn't look very professional.

I think getting a bad transfer or developing is much worse than that (as long as you can get your film back).

[mercyboy]

That actually brings up the issue of how film is being handled immediately before and after the transfer by any "professional" service. I have a feeling many reels are left piled up next to an open window, plate of half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a cup of old coffee, etc., etc..

I know the odds are relatively slim of catastrophic disaster striking when YOUR film is in somebody else's possession for just short while, but nevertheless, except during the actual transfer process, all of my client film is kept in a water-proof and fire resistant (2-hour rating) media safe along with my personal reels of film and DV tapes. That's also where I keep backup copies of the digital transfer files while the originals are in transit to the owner. I let my clients know this ahead of time...and also that my responsibility stops there. (I'm not a superhero, after all!)

[David M. Leugers]

As in all things, honesty is the best policy. I can understand the dilema of having reels mixed up with customers. I would not be happy about it, but I would understand the situation. Then all manners of attempts to recitify the situation can be explored. Being lied to, I would never do business again... why would anyone?


David M. Leugers

[wado1942]

I'm very bewildered at transfer houses right now. I've had several people tell me I do a better job on my home-made telecine than MOST guys in town do on their "proper" machines. It's not that my system is top notch by any means but I simply take the time to clean the film, clean the film patch of my projector and properly frame the transfer. I made a lot of money simply because I CLEAN MY EQUIPMENT! My first paying client showed me a transfer done at a "pro" place and there was so much dirt you could hardly see anything on the bottom left corner. He was also upset because they cut off the heads of some of the people. I got a very loyal customer who is now referring other people to me.