Snapfish Snapped My Fish (I Mean, Photographs)
Written: Mar 22 '02
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Sometime last summer I saw an advertisement in my e-mail for an online service called Snapfish which develops film and places digitized photographs in an online album. My interest was in having .JPG files I could use for web pages and other work. I was hooked into Snapfish by its free trial offer: just pay for shipping, and Snapfish would process the first three (3) orders for free. Free sounded good, so I gave Snapfish a chance.
Strike One
My first chance to use Snapfish came after 911-2001: several days after World Trade Center collapsed totally and the Pentagon was pierced and brave men rolled against their attackers in Pennsylvania the greatest telethon in television history took place. Before I sat in front of my television set to watch this moving event I brought my disposable camera with me so I could photograph various celebrities appearing on my screen. I made sure the viewfinder was centered on my television set as I photographed actors, musicians, and entertainers (especially the native New Yorkers).
When I reached the camera's exposure limit I prepared one package to ship to Snapfish. Billing to my credit card for shipping took place within a couple of days. Notice that the film was processed came a couple of days after that, and I could see the developed pictures online if I chose to do so. Since I just wanted the actual photographs, I didn't consider viewing the online album Snapfish provided me.
About a week later I received the developed photographs. I should have seen the online album images-- each photograph had half of one image and half of another image. When I saw that each photograph was developed in this way I shrugged it off: the film processing was free during this trial period, so all I lost was time and memories. I felt bummed about the way the photographs came out, but I didn't sweat it.
Strike Two
In October 2001 my mother and I went to visit the Empire State Building (my new best friend now that the Twin Towers I took for granted were obliterated). The day was overcast, but I took pictures, anyway. After all the exposures were used, I later prepared another package to send to Snapfish. The sequence of events here was similar to my previous experience.
Remembering what happened with the telethon pictures from September 2001 I went to my online album as soon as I received notice from Snapfish that it was available. With dread I went to the web page containing the album. I was happy to see the photographs came out fine, but I was disappointed that about two or three photographs were not developed. I figured that was because of me, not Snapfish, since it wasn't the first time I had bad pictures. This batch of pictures was OK for me as far as I was concerned.
Strike Three
Between October 2001 and January 2002 I decided to get a 35mm camera and use film since disposable cameras were becoming too expensive for me. I photographed items I considered interesting as I walked around (having learned a dear lesson from September 2002). I also took some family pictures around Christmas time. In January 2002 I prepared a package containing three rolls of film for shipping to Snapfish. The sequence of events was normal as it had been for the previous two shipments.... except I encountered billing problems.
Snapfish had notified me via e-mail of the billing problems, so Snapfish did the right thing then. Since I was too busy to check e-mail at the account Snapfish used to notify me, I didn't learn of the billing problem until February. At that point I made sure things were OK with my credit card so that Snapfish could proceed with the delivery of my photographs. In the meantime, I was able to see the online albums generated from the three rolls of film I sent.
In every roll of film there were exposures which failed to be developed into photographs. However, it was the last roll of film which annoyed me. The last roll of film had the family pictures I wanted to give to my mother and grandmother. Too many pictures were missing even from the online album. I had the .JPG images in the online albums, but the photographs are nowhere to be found. By this time I decided it would be best if I purchased a digital camera so I could save money over the long term. By this time I decided also that Snapfish would not get the chance to charge me for a fourth package.
Notes
My interest in Snapfish was solely in having film developed for free. For my needs, online albums (while nice) were not my concern. Snapfish offers many options for processing film (just as traditional film processing businesses offer them). Snapfish even lets people upload digital images to online albums, and these uploaded digital images can be used as the basis for photographs Snapfish can send. Snapfish is affordable in its shipping and handling charges as well as its fees for film, developing, and processing.
Speaking only for myself, I would not use Snapfish beyond my free trial opportunity. My experiences were less than satisfactory, but that doesn't mean Snapfish is bad for everyone. Snapfish is just bad for me, and I unhooked myself from it as a result. My photographs of the Towers of Light shining forth from Ground Zero from March through April 2002 (11th day to 11th day) may not come out as I expect, but I'm using traditional channels to get these pictures developed and picked up by me.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: New York, NY, USA
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me: Single Native New Yorker, 34, who returned to NYC after several years in NJ.
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