max speillman - lost honeymoon photos

[JSchoey]

Hi guys

 

Need some advice. Took my honeymoon photos to Max Speillmans to develop cos I had 2 of those wow cameras. When I collected my photos, they had given me correct set and one set belonging to someone else. I went straight back and they said they would look for my photos. To cut a long story short I still haven't had my photos 7 months later. I have written to them to complain but they say all they can offer me is £10 worth of reprints.

 

Can I take it any further.

[Sidewinder]

Unfortunately probably not. Most photographic developers have a liability limited solely to a replacement for the lost or damaged film and will not entertain a claim against the value of the material recorded on it. A bit upsetting for you though.

 

I am surprised that whoever received your set of prints (possibly the person whose photos you got?) did not return them to the company - your pictures must have been much more interesting to them than their own!

[sequenci]

i know this won't help at all but: i used to work in the photo section of boots, the machine chewed up a guys photos from his trip to the top of everest. i think he did persue it and got some sort of compensation. it might be worth looking to go to the media, the threat of doing something like that usually does the trick with regards to compensation.

 

i'm sorry about the photos, hope it was a nice wedding/honeymoon.

[JSchoey]

I work in a firm of Solicitors and although I haven't asked for legal advice I have threatened Max Speillmans with it but they don't seem interested. They say that they are only liable for the replacement cost of the film.

 

What good is that to me.

 

You would have thought the people who have got my photos would have returned them wouldn't you.

 

Maybe I will go to the newspapers.

[blacksheep1979]

I work in a firm of Solicitors and although I haven't asked for legal advice

 

I'm sorry - and no offence to anyone here, but if I worked in a legal practise I know my first stop for legal advice wouldn't be strangers on the internet.

[dave]

....ahhh, but strangers on the internet don't cost an arm and a leg....

[BankFodder]

I have only just come accross this thread.

 

Yes, of course you can sue for more than the value of the film and you should do immediately.

 

It is clear that the pictures are worth more than the film media.

 

I would suggest that you consider very carefully what you consider are your losses in terms of the trouble which you went to to take the photos, loss of enjoyment and so forth.

You want to find some way of describing the fact that these photographs have an important and special significance for you and that they are irreplaceable.

 

The fact that you have some of them will help if they are of good quality and you can show the judge that they are carefully considered and well worked out shots.

 

You need to write down a listed description of your losses - specific money - which won't be much, and general which will be all of the difficult to quantify "sense of value " sentimental losses.

Make sure that the description of your losses is moderate and well reasoned and arguable.

Then come up with a value for the losses. Keep that realistic as well. You are not on a money spinner here - in fact you will ultimately be dissappointed at the judge's award although you will have taught Speilman a lesson.

 

Keep a very well documented account of Speillman's pattern of behaviour towards you when dealing withyour complaint. If it was generally unhelpful then that will help to form the judge's impressions.

 

Let me know the figure you come up with along with your particularisation of your loss and damage.

 

Once you have a realistic figure, write to Speillman give 7 days then a further 7 days then bring your action.

 

This notion that you are only entitled to the value of the film is nonsense and any contractual term which seeks to exclude liability for negligence is unenforceable at law.

 

Exactly the same rule applies for holidays or anything else where it is clear that the purpose of the contract is to supply more than the ascertainable face-value of a non-repeatable benefit with no market value.

 

You work for solicitors? Why do they not give you this advice?

It confirms my view that most solicitors are very poor, unimaginative and not "up for it".

 

Also I don't understand why you have waited 7 months to sort this out - and I certainly don't understand why Speilman's lack of interest in your predicament makes a hoot of difference to you. Whose side are you on, your's or Speilman's?

 

You're not French are you?

 

 

You will have to pm me with a link if you want me to follow this up

[BankFodder]

A final comment is that the idea of the media being interested in this is risable. Can you imagine shock horror story "Honeymoon pictures lost by processor"?

I don't think so.

 

However, I can fully expect that your local paper might be interested in a success story which reported that you were awarded proper compensation by your local county court.

[sequenci]

A final comment is that the idea of the media being interested in this is risable. Can you imagine shock horror story "Honeymoon pictures lost by processor"?

I don't think so.

 

 

i dunno, have you seen some of the junk the daily mail prints hahaha.

 

[sorry to any mail readers out there!]

[JSchoey]

Thanks Bank Fodder. Your comments are very helpful.

The Solicitors I work in deals with everything but this kind of thing and I wouldn't really know who to ask (being a mere secretary).

 

I will post my correspondence between Max Speilmanns.

[JSchoey]

This is my first letter to them.

Dear Sirs

 

I am writing in respect of a complaint that I have raised via the Customer Services telephone service and via the Richmond Street, Liverpool City Centre store.

In August this year I got married and subsequently went on honeymoon to Mexico. I bought 2 Wow cameras to take on honeymoon. I returned from honeymoon on 20 August and took the cameras into the Liverpool store on 26 August. I returned the following Saturday, 2 September to collect my photos.

I left the shop and went to do some more shopping and whilst still in town I started to look at my photos. I realised that I had been given the wrong photos so I took them back to the shop immediately. The girl that I spoke to said that the correct sticker was on the envelope and the packet of photos I had received. I told her that even so, I had received the wrong photos. She told me that I would have to wait until the person who had received my photos returned them and she took my phone number and told me to wait and they would call me when they had my photos.

After a couple of weeks I had not heard anything from the store so I went in one morning and the lady, who I presume is the manager, said she was not even aware of the situation. She asked me to complete a form with details of the photos (which should have been done in the first instance) and she told me she would look into the situation.

Another couple of weeks went by and I had still not heard anything so I returned to the shop again and she said that she had been trying to work her way through the photos but as there were so many she had forgotten what I looked like and asked me to bring a photo of myself in so that she could compare it with the photos they had in store. I did this and again another couple of weeks passed.

Now, 11 weeks later, I am still waiting for my photos. I am not happy at all with the way I have been treated since this happened and I am extremely upset that I do not have my honeymoon photographs.

My husband and I have not been on holiday for about 10 years and so we decided that as it was our honeymoon we would go somewhere special. We paid a lot of money to go to Mexico and I only bought Wow cameras because I did not want to take my digital camera on holiday with me because I had used it on the wedding day and did not want to risk losing the photos I had taken. I therefore decided that it would be safer to buy Wow cameras. I am extremely angry that I have lost my photos in this way.

I only got an apology from one of the shop assistants because I pointed out that no one had even apologised to me about the mistake. She then apologised to me but by then it was meaningless because I had basically had to ask for an apology.

I have been told by Customer Services that because the pictures were developed in store that they have to compensate me. I have also been told that the compensation I am entitled to is the replacement media ie, a new film. This is wholly unacceptable.

I had been saving for 2 years for my wedding and honeymoon. It was obviously a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to go to Mexico on our honeymoon and there is absolutely no way that a new film can compensate me for the loss of these pictures. In fact, nothing can compensate me for the loss of the pictures, but I find a new film to be an insult.

I feel that I am not going to get my pictures now after so long. I have had to phone up Customer Services numerous times and have been into the store on numerous occasions. I am not getting anywhere. The attitude of the staff there is not very helpful.

Obviously, I would like to receive my photos and put an end to the matter but I cannot see that this is going to happen after such a long time. I would like you to investigate the matter and see that the necessary people are trained correctly for the future and if necessary I think somebody needs to be disciplined.

I would like you to make me an adequate offer of compensation for the loss of my pictures and the distress and upset this has caused to me and my husband over the last 11-12 weeks.

I hope to hear from you within the next 14 days as a matter of urgency with something constructive.

 

*****

 

this was sent last year and I have written to them on 2 further occasions since. I will post their replies too

[Movingon]

A replacement film is utterly irrelevant to your problem, as it was not the film that was lost, it was the photographs.

[BankFodder]

Yes, post their replies but it really most important that you follow the suggestions I made in my earlier post.

Complete it by this weekend.

I would then send them a preliminary letter - 7 days, then an LBA - 7 days followed by The Good News at the expiry of the LBADon't mince around. Don't waste any more time. Start getting serious.

 

As for your employers not doing this kind of work, it's not rocket science and it sounds to me as if they need a go and get a few more CE points.

Tell them from me.

[JSchoey]

1st reply from Max Speilmann

 

Dear....

 

Thank you for your recent letter received 20 November with our customer services dept.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of all the team at Max Speilmann.

 

As you are probably aware, we have been offering processing services for over 50 years with 100% commitment to our customers. It would seem in this instance that usual high standards have not been met causing inconvenience and upset to yourself.

 

When an order has not reached the customer we do endeavour to locate your film in as short time as possible. However in a very small amount of cases this can take some time. The shop has informed me that they are doing daily checks against the picture you gave them and also we do checks on a daily basis in the laboratory for any crossed orders. Once your order is successfully located it of course will be returned directly.

 

Please be assured we do keep all customers details on file and proactively search for their work. If at anytime in the future it is located this will be returned to you directly.

 

I must however draw to your attention an express term of our contract with you as evidenced by tear off customer receipt handed over at the time the order was placed, this states that in the unlikely event that work is lost or damaged we accept liability for the materials involved and not the monetary value of the images.

 

Taking into consideration all the available information surrounding your complaint. in the interim, we are conscious of the upset this incident has caused we woudl be happy to offer a full set of reprints up to the value of £10.00 of any other images you can obtain ro alternatively enlargments up to the value of £10.00.

 

Once again, please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in returning your order and inconvenience caused.

 

Yours truly

[JSchoey]

I then wrote to them telling them that their offer was an insult and that i wanted to hear back from them with an adequate offer of compensation.

[JSchoey]

2nd reply from Max Speilmanns

 

Dear Mrs..........

 

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of all the team at Max Speilmann.

 

It would appear that your photographic order had unfortunately come out of synchronisation on our automated machinery. This means that your photgraphs have been unintentionally placed into another packet and vice versa. This is a crossed order. If a crossed order occurs in one of our stores as other films are processed in batches of 500, potentially this could mean that other customers from the same shop would also receive incorrect photographs.

 

The store is required to follow procedures to resolve these crossed orders. This includes filling out a description form with customers. However, in a small amount of cases this can take some time. Please be assured that every effort is being made to locate your order and once successfully located it will of course be returned immediately.

 

I must however draw to your attention an express term of our contract with you as evidenced by tear off customer receipt handed over at the time the order was placed, this states that in the unlikely event that work is lost or damaged we accept liability for the materials involved and not the monetary value of the images. This is why a replacement film and a free processing voucher have been offered initially.

 

However, taking into consideration the nature of your prints and the upset this continued delay has caused we would be happy to offer a reprints up to the value of £15.00. Perhaps you may be able to obtain similar prints which can be copied directly in store. Alternatively we do have the facility to copy from other formats cd, memory card, negative or goods to the value of £15.00. Please present this letter to any branch to receive your chosen offer.

 

Once again please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in returning your order and inconvenience caused.

 

Yours truly

[JSchoey]

I again told them that this was unsatisfactory and I have no intention of using Max Speilmann again. I told them that I would be seeking legal advice. I have not heard from them since January.

[JSchoey]

Bank Fodder what do you think of these quantifications?

 

Replacement film - £5.00

Telephone calls & postage - £20.00

7 months (to date ) of upset and inconvenience - £250.00

Loss of photographs of honeymoon - £250.00

 

????????

 

I find it very hard to put a price on it as obviously to me they are priceless.

 

In my opinion I would like a replacement holiday etc in order to take more photos but I know that that is not going to happen.

 

I was considering writing to them to confirm that I would accept £500.00.

[rosiecotton]

It is hard to quantify and ultimately it'll be down to a judge on the day. Whether a judge would award £500... well, I'm not sure about that. Bear in mind if you go over a total claim of £500 in the small claims court the process will cost each party £80 instead of £50.

 

Courts don't normally award at all for distress or disappointment, however as BF says there are exceptional circumstances - I know of damages being awarded for cases where there is an emotive issue, such as holidays or wedding photos. So this is what you are going for, makes sense to me. I will see if I can find an example of the sort of damages that have been awarded in cases like this.

 

Are your telephone calls and postage costs really as much as £20? Just make sure you're dead on with this figure and can prove it, as a random figure which seems quite high won't be a great start if you're wanting a judge to be sympathetic.

[JSchoey]

would it be the small claims court that I would issue with?

[rosiecotton]

Yes it would.

[JSchoey]

Do I actually have a legal right to make a claim? As Max Speilmann keep stating they are only liable for the replacement film so they must have a clause in their contract to stop people claiming against them for things like this. If I issue a court action and the Judge throws it out then that means I will lose my court fee - will I then have to pay costs too if I lose?

[Movingon]

1. Yes - everyone has a right to raise a claim; regardless whether there is any basis for the claim or not it is your right. If there is found to be no basis for the claim it will be struck out.

 

2. The fact that there is a clause in their contract does not make that clause lawful or binding. Only a court can decide that.

 

3. In Small Claims (i.e. under £5000, more than £1) you are NOT liable for costs - your only costs are the court fees (which could be as high as £220 but only for claims in excess of £1500)

[David T Wells]

Having had my own photographic company you will find they are responsible for the cost of the film only, I never did agree with it and still don't but it is a fact. If you can get more take it.

[Movingon]

Having had my own photographic company you will find they are responsible for the cost of the film only, I never did agree with it and still don't but it is a fact. If you can get more take it.

 

Is there a Law which states this? Cos if there isn't, it's only their terms and conditions that say this and they have no legal Authority. Only a Court can decide if that is a reasonable term in a contract.