Colourstream

I’ve been shooting on film stock for a while now and have been to a bunch of local and non local photo labs to get my film developed and put onto CD.
My thoughts and experiences on Colourstream are quite mixed, so I’ll just go with the most prominent ones.
For the most part, they actually do really great work here. The staff all do seem to really know their stuff, and clearly shoot on analog. The sizing of their basic CD images are 1,500×1,000px at 400DPi, which is really good for most domestic sized print needs.
Sadly though, my negative experiences vastly out weigh my positives. On a few occasions when I’ve been in, there have been queues, which to be honest I’m fine with. I like to see independent businesses busy. However, I’ve noticed when they are done with one customer, they seem to go straight for people looking to buy frames or get large prints made up. As much as I understand the mark-​up on this service will be much higher than a dev and scan, surely the sale of a one time purchase to someone buying a gift over a regular who spends about £10 every two weeks seems a little off.
On many other occasions the staff have been quite rude and off with both myself and my friends, which to be honest, just isn’t cool.
My partner went there last month to some Ilford developed. She got a phone call a few days later to say that her film had been accidentally put through the colour film processor, therefore has wiped the emulsion off of the slides. They told her they’d give her a credit note for the film, but didn’t seem to really care about it and where both rude and passive about it, saying «these things happen». She was offered the credit note with a really flat, non apologetic tone. As much as I get these things happen, its really down to how you deal with the situation. I know that at Kodak Express, in the very off chance of this happening [hasn’t happened to me], they replace the film and give you free development of a future purchase along with dealing with it correctly and in a personal manner.
Altogether, I’m really disappointment with both my experiences and that of friends and family. Its a big shame, as a little change in tact and how they deal with people would make such a massive change.

On Tuesday I took some 35 mm slides in to have them transferred to Disc. They were to be collected on Thurs. at 9am. On Weds afternoon the Manager phoned me and explained that a big order had come in and asked if I could help by collecting my order later in the day. There was no rush so I offered to go back on Friday and give them an extra 24hrs. He was very grateful. I went in on Friday and not only was my order not ready, they hadn’t even STARTED it. I was not very pleased. The woman serving me said I «was unfair to complain because they had been very busy». She offered NO APOLOGY and I had to remind her that I COULD have collected them the day before. I told her that her attitude was «Unbelievable» and left.
In fairness they offered to give me a discount. The manager (?) phoned and left a message offering to deliver them which I heard on BT Answer that evening.
On Saturday I finally collected the Disc. As soon as I put it in the DVD I knew they had blundered. There were 95 Slides and the Disc said it contained 647 images. In total disgust I went back and asked for a refund.
If you want a discount then go there. If you want politeness and a professional service with no risks then find somewhere else. Nice Manager but rude incompetent staff.

Always busy but excellent service.