Black’s is not photography, apparently
Posted by lynnontop on October 3, 2009
I needed to print off some photos of my son so I could show them to my mother when I visit tomorrow. I’ve missed a few visits, either in anticipation of delivery or because the baby had arrived. So now will be the first time I’ve visted in quite a while. I planned on bringing photos of her grandson, since S isn’t ready to be on the road for that long and therefore I can’t actually bring the baby to her yet (hopefully next week).
Black’s offers what seems like a relatively simple and straightforward service. You upload photos, say how many you want printed and whether you want them matte or glossy… then pick them up an hour later at the store of your choice. Sweet. So at 3:11 I completed my order and was shown a splashy page giving me my order number and indicating that my prints would be ready in about 1 hour (weirdly, it didn’t quote a particular time). I could print that screen, but chose to just write down the order number to avoid the hassle of hooking the laptop to a printed for that.
A couple of hours later, I arrive at the Yonge & Dundas Black’s where I provide my order number, my phone number and my name. They have no record of my order. Their lab closed early because of technical issues. Did I receive BOTH confirmation emails?
Confirmation emails? There was nothing about any confirmation emails. The screen seemed very clear that my order was submitted and I could pick the prints up in about an hour. They called it their “express” service.
Apparently, in this case, “express” means “when we get around to it — you know, in a day or two”. And in this case, it also means no pictures for my mother. I’m sure she doesn’t really care. But I care. I want my mother to have pictures of her grandson, and not have to wait for-fucking-ever to get them.
I’d show them to her on the laptop, but considering she tried to destroy my sister’s computer, and settled for simply burning the packaging – thereby getting both of them evicted all those years ago… I’m loathe to have his face shown to her for the first time on a computer. I’m not sure how she feels about computers today – but it didn’t seem so good a few years ago. I don’t want the negative association to extend to the Peanut.
Anyway – bottom line is Blacks has severly disappointed me.
