Minor Rant on Photo Customer Entitlement

[pbmods]

As with most photo labs around the country (to my knowledge; possibly the rest of the world, too), we offer [at least] two services: one-hour (same day) and next-day (24-hour) services.

It works like this: Next-day orders are not available for pickup until at least 24 hours after drop off. Anything that you need before the 24-hour mark is considered a one-hour service. I wish we called it 'same-day' service, but corporate likes to maintain a sense of urgency among our customers.

Anyway, so this really bugs me. A customer will take one-hour service, and I ask when she wants to pick up her order. So she'll say, "In an hour."

So I add it to the list of orders with a due time of 60 minutes from then. Sometimes, it's really hard to get the order done on time (our lab goal is 95% or more on time), and I have to perform some really delicate workflow juggling.

And then the customer doesn't show up until the next morning.

Well, thanks a lot. Why didn't you just tell me that you wouldn't be in until tomorrow morning? Woulda made my life a lot easier.

I would blame customer ignorance for this problem, but then... what is so hard to understand about, "What time do you want to pick these up?"

[Reyneth]

Yeah, I hear you on that.

I used to work at a One-Hour place (Original one-hour company, actually) and that was all we offered. Because we were also in a "Lifestyle" center, most of our orders were one hour. However, there were the gems that insisted it be done quicker than that (no can do, buddy because there are others in front of you) yet weren't back for days.

Now I'm at a place that has one level of service = when we can do it. It's no longer officially one hour, because we are doing portrait and other commercial stuff also. Varies between 2&3 - we were stressed to get the three hour one done last week now, 2 hours is certainly the norm for what we tell them.

It doesn't stop the people from complaining. It doesn't stop them from insisting that they need to have it back sooner than 3 hours, but not picking it up for a week or more. It doesn't stop them from complaining that we don't have cheaper prices for slower services (hey, we're going to have work tomorrow for other customers too - it's not making our lives easier and you still get the same quality). Essentially it doesn't stop them from complaining, period.

Tomorrow I get to send notifications to customers whose photos have been waiting in our bins for them for at least 2 months. The same customers that 3 hours wasn't fast enough for.

[Becks]

Wow. I'm not sure if this qualifies as an "if it makes sense, it's not allowed" moment, a "can't win, don't try" moment, or a minor -a-thon.

Anyhoo, people like that both suck AND blow.

[DesignFox]

Oh I used to get crap like that all the time at both portrait studios I worked at. We had a lady throw a total curse-a-thon FIT because our camera went down (we had to cancel all appointments that day) and she absolutely HAD to have her pictures before christmas. We managed to turn around hers and all the other customers photos by Christmas Eve. This bitch's photos sat in our bin until well past New Year's....
At the other place, we had a one hour turn around service- people would bitch and moan if we got backed up and their photos were even 10 mins late...or god forbid our printer went down and they needed to wait until the next day... or the one guy who showed up at closing time on Christmas Eve and threw a fit about not having the photos that night (hey buddy, we have families too!)... all those people would bitch and moan about having their photos RIGHT NOW! and then not show up to pick them up...for days, or weeks. Well Dammit! Then why did you make me rush in the first place!?

I can relate...

[Monica]

I can relate. At at photolab that I work at, we have pictures from about 6 months old. Every 6 months or so, we call the people, given that they gave a phone number, and tell them that they have a week to pick up their photos or they get tossed.

We get alot of people in after we give them that call. The ones with no phone number, we figure had more than enough time to get them , and toss them. We write the ones we toss down, for inventory and paperwork.

It seem s like after that, we may get one or two people come in and ask for thier pictures, and this is after we had tossed them. I always cringe at there reactions.

[sld72382]

Film? What's that?

[pbmods]

I always cringe at there [sic] reactions.

If they put it in as one-hour service, I sure wouldn't!

[JustAGirl]

Anyway, so this really bugs me. A customer will take one-hour service, and I ask when she wants to pick up her order. So she'll say, "In an hour."

So I add it to the list of orders with a due time of 60 minutes from then. Sometimes, it's really hard to get the order done on time (our lab goal is 95% or more on time), and I have to perform some really delicate workflow juggling.

And then the customer doesn't show up until the next morning.

**guiltily raises hand**

I've done that. Drop off film for one hour photo, shop, register, pay, leave, home. OH CRAP forgot the film. Then I'm either too tired or too busy to go back and get them, so I wait till next day on my way to work.

but lately now I just drop it off and even though its the one hour, I'll ask them when they'd be done (they've always let me know if they are busy or whatnot) or I'll pick them up tomorrow.

[Linda]

Oh, I hear you! Oh yes!

Now we offer a free notification service via text message when a film is ready for collection. If we are quiet and on the ball, we can get a film from start to finish done in 20 minutes. So "lady" today decided to take our notification service, asking my colleague for the 1 hour service. This was at 11.30am. My colleague put the film through, completed it, then scanned the barcode to instruct the computer to send the text. Which it did.

At 3.15, lady came back ranting and raving about her photos not being ready, and insisting she pay the 48hr price as her photos "weren't ready in an hour". And totally because she didn't receive the text mesage. According to this lady, she sat in the restaurant waiting for her text so she could collect her photos and go home. She sat there for over 3 hours, awaiting a text message from us.

Not only are we in the same building, we are next door to the restaurant. So close I can call to one of the baristas for a coffee if I so desired.

My colleague informed her we were not responsible for any network problems she was experiencing on her mobile phone, and it would be full 1 hour price. Lady demanded to know when the text was sent. My colleague doesn't have access to that menu...but I certainly do.

I go out, pull up the correct information on the screen and turn it to face her, pointing out the relevent information.

"Mrs. XXX - your message was sent at 11.55 am and 48 seconds to 07XXX XXX XXX with the following text. Message confirmed as sent. Message confirmed as received. Therefore your photos were completed within 25 minutes of drop off. As we don't offer a more expensive half hour service, the 1 hour price will apply in this case."

My colleague processed her (full) payment, and wished her a cheery goodbye. And while customer was still in earshot, turned to me and said:

"Who sits in a restaurant for 3 hours waiting for a text?! All she had to do was pop her head around the corner!"

It was worth it all for the look of evil from said customer!

[Geek King]

Film? What's that?

Film is the stuff you use when you want to blow up a picture to make a high quality, no pixelation poster. A 15 Megapixel camera is still no match for someone with a good (nay, great!) darkroom who know what they're doing when you talking feet instead of inches.

Geek King, Lord of the eye-candy wallpaper and wierd friends

[Reyneth]

Film is the stuff you use when you want to blow up a picture to make a high quality, no pixelation poster. A 15 Megapixel camera is still no match for someone with a good (nay, great!) darkroom who know what they're doing when you talking feet instead of inches.

Geek King, Lord of the eye-candy wallpaper and wierd friends

That's one heck of an enlarger and developing sink you have there, my man!

[ahanix1989]

Ultimate developing sink: Garden hose.

[Bella_Vixen]

I would blame customer ignorance for this problem, but then... what is so hard to understand about, "What time do you want to pick these up?"

Slighty OT, but a couple weeks ago, I dropped of a prescription for my Mom. THEY asked when I wanted to pick it up. I told them, "About an hour." OK. One hour and 30 minutes later, I went to pick it up. They hadn't even started it yet.

If my hour wasn't a long enough time frame, I wish they had told me so. Mom could have picked it up herself on her way home from work 5 hours later.