DS Colour Labs

My laser printer dies, I've bought a Canon Pixma A3 printer because of some of the diagrams I do makes it easier in A3. It has the advantage of being able to print images better but I've yet to get some paper. I must get around to that. It does seem to eat the cartridges though.
 
Byker28i said:
What was the delivery, just first class? I tended to use recorded so I knew where they were, but then all my prints were 12x10's. They came ok, but I then checked and sent them to my tutor, which then with the packaging either just fitted through the post office size checker so was cheap, or was just too big so cost a lot more.
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All the prints were competition sizes, 15" x 10" and 14" x 11" never had a problem before, prints have always arrived next day. It's just the two recent orders that have taken a lot longer than normal.
 
Ordered some prints over the weekend. Arrived today which I suppose is next day (paid for P&P) but there's two missing. Quality is still really good though!
 
Have ordered thousands of prints from DSCL over the past 5 years or so. Was yet to order any this year so thought it would be interesting to see if they had changed. Placed the order first thing Monday (Standard size c-type prints), first class royal mail post has gone up to £4.16 (was £3.99 before), order was shipped Monday evening. Order arrived Tuesday morning. So as far as I can tell the price has gone up 17p and everything else is still very much the same as it has been for the past 5 years.

Really not sure what the fuss is all about.
 
Jimmy_Lemon said:
Have ordered thousands of prints from DSCL over the past 5 years or so. Was yet to order any this year so thought it would be interesting to see if they had changed. Placed the order first thing Monday (Standard size c-type prints), first class royal mail post has gone up to £4.16 (was £3.99 before), order was shipped Monday evening. Order arrived Tuesday morning. So as far as I can tell the price has gone up 17p and everything else is still very much the same as it has been for the past 5 years.

Really not sure what the fuss is all about.
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The Royal Mail increased the price of a first class stamp by 2p today.
A 17p increase in the cost of mailing quite a large package is hardly excessive, and it seems like the service is still good.

I'd agree, what is all the fuss about?
 
It would seem the "fuss" is about:

A change in their standard next day service not being as good as it used to be.
The fact that someone else had to wait for 16 days for their prints to be ready and he was a collection not even a delivery customer.
Some metallic prints of the person waiting 16 days had some defects.
Another poster quotes huge flaws and then being given an excuse they were "end of roll", I'd say thats poor, very poor quality control before shipping as it should have been picked up.
Another talks of being charged £1.50 for prints being put in a plastic sleeve when he collected.
Another's order has 2 missing prints.

Now, i know that people will say that it's a very small sample given the thousands of prints and probably customers they have served, but it does not detract from the fact there appears to be a significant change and not for the better.
 
I'm currently preparing some files for printing and I will be sending them off next week, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I'll keep you posted.
 
ecoleman said:
This is why i bought my own printer. I Like to print off one or two images but the shipping meant it wasn’t cost effective. Then I’d put the images into a print folder with the though of sending off a load at a time. The folder got forgotten about and I never sent them in.

With my own printer I can print whenever I want, even if the cost per print is a bit higher, I still save.
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I was thinking of doing exactly what you've described - the postage is always far too high for the odd print and I did the same with the folder! :D

Which printer did you go for in the end?
 
wezza13 said:
I was thinking of doing exactly what you've described - the postage is always far too high for the odd print and I did the same with the folder! :D

Which printer did you go for in the end?
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Epson SC-P600 with Marrutt refillable inks. It’s been faultless even though I don’t print that much. I’ve just bought a house and hav3 spend the last 6 months decorating and converting the garage into an office space, so haven’t done any photography since at least September last year. I ran a print through last week and it was perfect despite not being used for 6 months.
 
ecoleman said:
Epson SC-P600 with Marrutt refillable inks. It’s been faultless even though I don’t print that much. I’ve just bought a house and hav3 spend the last 6 months decorating and converting the garage into an office space, so haven’t done any photography since at least September last year. I ran a print through last week and it was perfect despite not being used for 6 months.
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Thanks (y)

Very interesting about the print being fine after 6 months. As you probably know, even after a feeks of no use, some printers have trouble! :)
 
Some of us simply do not have the space to accommodate the size of an A3+ Photo Printer, plus the cost of a blank sheet of A3 paper is more than I pay for an A3 print from DSCL, so I fail to see how it can be any cheaper to print at home.
For the cost of an A3+ printer, paper and inks, I can get a heck of a lot of commercial prints.
 
Brian G said:
Some of us simply do not have the space to accommodate the size of an A3+ Photo Printer, plus the cost of a blank sheet of A3 paper is more than I pay for an A3 print from DSCL, so I fail to see how it can be any cheaper to print at home.
For the cost of an A3+ printer, paper and inks, I can get a heck of a lot of commercial prints.
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I have a similar issue re space.

As for cost, I agree if you’re only getting C Type prints done from DSCL. However, once you start getting prints done on fine art papers, then the cost per print swings the other way (neglecting the initial purchase price of the printer). In my experience, the fine art prints from DSCL are significantly better than their C Type equivalents (which are also very good).

Simon.
 
srhmoto said:
I have a similar issue re space.

As for cost, I agree if you’re only getting C Type prints done from DSCL. However, once you start getting prints done on fine art papers, then the cost per print swings the other way (neglecting the initial purchase price of the printer). In my experience, the fine art prints from DSCL are significantly better than their C Type equivalents (which are also very good).

Simon.
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I must admit that the only reason I'm having prints done is for club competitions, for which an optical print is quite adequate.

I've never had fine art inkjet prints done, and i'll readily admit they are superior to optical prints, but for my needs the C Type prints are fine, and come at the right price.
I do have three or four favourite images that would be worth having better quality prints from, so maybe I'll give that a try sometime.

Personally, space issues apart, I'd sooner spend the hundreds of £'s that a printer, inks and paper cost on photo equipment or location travel.
 
FiestaRed said:
First Class from DSCL is now £4.99 which is only 51p cheaper than Simlab's Next Day service. Next Day at DSCL has shot up to a whopping £10.99. I've now also been told by DSCL that First Class post can take up to 10 working days, it amazes me they have any customers at all.
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Donnie said:
Good god, I mean ive not used dscl for over 6 months to be fair but thats awful service compared to the few times ive used them. Think Ill be steering clear :-/
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I sent a print order to DSCL and here's the result:

Sent files (nine prints) late afternoon Friday, too late for their 1pm deadline, so they would have been with DSCL Monday morning.
I received the prints at 9:15 am Tuesday - so I'd effectively call that a "Next day" service, even though it wasn't ordered as such.
1st Class Delivery was £4.15 and the print quality (Fuji c-type} and packaging is the same as it's ever been.
This is the same service as I've had from DSCL for several years, although this is the first order I've placed for about a year.

As far as I'm concerned, apart from the small increase in delivery charge, nothing else has changed.
 
The 10 working days thing has been there for a while now, not sure about the prices. I think courier was £7.99 just recently though.

For us, C-type has never been a major problem, ordered before the deadline and delivered the following day. Fine art and large prints, that is the bulk of what we used to send them, got very hit and miss as they say and would generally take the full production time on the occasions that we queried it. We've had a recent order going missing (Royal Mail First Class) and had to wait the full '10 working days' before they would reprint, in case it showed up.

Quality has mostly been good, customer service we've always found pretty poor.

For us, too unreliable if time is important, and will not be using again unless things improve.
 
Had another order of a big print 30x20inch and some small ones and a perfect order that arrived next day.
 
Sent school photos to do colour labs and although they were perfect they gave me almost triple every pack. I wasn’t charged so I wasn’t too fussed but still a strange situation. Must have cost them a pretty penny. Second order perfect and they’re very helpful. Sara especially. Wedding album is roughy half the price of loxley and looks very good quality.
 
I will put in a good word for DSCL customer service. I had someone order a large print for a Christmas present in December, and it had to be couriered to be sure of getting there in time, as the post gets too slow in the run up to Christmas.

When the courier somehow crushed the end of the tube (must have run over it in the van or something), I sent the client's picture of the damage to DSCL, and they managed to get another printed and couriered to her just in time.

I was quite impressed.
 
As a comparison, I also odered some prints from Sim Lab.
A couple were duplicates of my DSCL order, for comparison, and some were new.
I emailed the files at 13:15 on Thursday, which was after their 1pm deadline for next day delivery.
I received an email next morning (Friday) to say my order would be delivered between 12;15 and 13:15 that day by DPD.
The package was delivered at about 12:45.
Prints (Fuji C-type) are as good as DSCL, possibly a little "punchier" with slightly better contrast/saturation.
The standard SimLab delivery charge is £5.50, but this is advertised as "Next Day" so slightly higher than DSCL, but very reasonable if you want a Next Day service.
I'm completely happy with their product and service and will probably use SimLab again.
 
Never had any real issues with DSCL, and believe me, I send them quite a bit.

Once, a large order got damp due to a courier. I needed it quick. They reprinted immediately and sent it via some sort of special Royal Mail.

Even the postie was surprised when he delivered it, as he had never seen a parcel delivered via this service. He said 'even a letter's £15!'.
 
DSCL delivered a package when I was out. They left it in a bin which had been put on the street for collection.

Got home to note in door + empty bin.

They then suggested I'd have to pay again to get the prints.
 
The other week ordered some 18x12inch C-type prints, as a first time test run. Excellent quality and soo fantastic to see my photos in print. Thursday evening ordered a couple of 20x30in C-type which were delivered Saturday (to the Highlands). Again excellent quality and really chuffed especially as one of them was a crop so had to be 2x scaled up.
 
st599 said:
DSCL delivered a package when I was out. They left it in a bin which had been put on the street for collection.

Got home to note in door + empty bin.

They then suggested I'd have to pay again to get the prints.
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That's a Royal Mail issue not DSCL, or any other print lab! You sound like you expected them to give you a free reprint?
 
admirable said:
That's a Royal Mail issue not DSCL, or any other print lab! You sound like you expected them to give you a free reprint?
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I had a contract with DSCL, DSCL had a contract with Royal Mail. Not my problem that their sub-contractor f***ed up. Of course they owed me a free reprint and a free delivery.
 
st599 said:
I had a contract with DSCL, DSCL had a contract with Royal Mail. Not my problem that their sub-contractor f***ed up. Of course they owed me a free reprint and a free delivery.
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OK, so what happened in the end?
 
T_J_G said:
Ordered some prints over the weekend. Arrived today which I suppose is next day (paid for P&P) but there's two missing. Quality is still really good though!
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Old-ish thread, but just to add my experience: I had a set of prints made recently; they arrived in a timely manner, but four prints were missing and there was no acknowledgement from DSCL -- no note with my order, no message online, nothing. I have been exchanging messages with customer service about this, and so far they have refused to refund the money for the prints that weren't made (they are offering it as credit towards a future order instead). Not very impressive, to say the least!
 
i_alarmed_alien said:
Old-ish thread, but just to add my experience: I had a set of prints made recently; they arrived in a timely manner, but four prints were missing and there was no acknowledgement from DSCL -- no note with my order, no message online, nothing. I have been exchanging messages with customer service about this, and so far they have refused to refund the money for the prints that weren't made (they are offering it as credit towards a future order instead). Not very impressive, to say the least!
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Sounds like another company that thinks they are above the law. We should have a list of dodgy photographic companies. MPB and DSCL can top the list.
 
i_alarmed_alien said:
Old-ish thread, but just to add my experience: I had a set of prints made recently; they arrived in a timely manner, but four prints were missing and there was no acknowledgement from DSCL -- no note with my order, no message online, nothing. I have been exchanging messages with customer service about this, and so far they have refused to refund the money for the prints that weren't made (they are offering it as credit towards a future order instead). Not very impressive, to say the least!
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To be fair just reorder the prints? As long as they’re covering P&P that is
 
i_alarmed_alien said:
Old-ish thread, but just to add my experience: I had a set of prints made recently; they arrived in a timely manner, but four prints were missing and there was no acknowledgement from DSCL -- no note with my order, no message online, nothing. I have been exchanging messages with customer service about this, and so far they have refused to refund the money for the prints that weren't made (they are offering it as credit towards a future order instead). Not very impressive, to say the least!
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So what are they saying? What reason are they giving for not supplying the prints? Did you order online, are did they not receive all your order? It's a while since I've used them but I'm sure you can look back your orders online to see if what you sent was what you received back in print form?
 
T_J_G said:
£4.99 delivery for 22 12x8 prints...:(
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It will possibly cost a normal punter like us the guts of £3 to post your order but if you had ordered 22 18x12 prints their price is still £4.99 and it would cost us more to post them.

You'll need to order larger prints ! lol
 
admirable said:
It will possibly cost a normal punter like us the guts of £3 to post your order but if you had ordered 22 18x12 prints their price is still £4.99 and it would cost us more to post them.

You'll need to order larger prints ! lol
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I’m going to work out when it arrived how much I can post it back to them for, just seems a lot of money for something that could probably go as a large letter via RM

Larger prints not an option as these are going with other prints the same size
 
On the basis that the envelope is large letter size but I think the weight will be over 100g the postage would be £1.40p and the envelopes are £1.26 and the VAT element brings it up to Around £3.19. They will have a bulk buy deal on the envelopes and obviously are deal with Royal Mail but I don't think they're making a huge profit considering they have to pay someone to put the prints into the envelopes and peel off the address label and stick it on the envelope?

I think you are just unlucky with the print size that you ordered which is at the lower end of higher £4.99 catchment size.
 
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