I went to the Ritz Camera store in the Serramonte Shopping Center in Daly City, CA on 4/28/03. I asked one of the staff (Staff#1) working on the photos to the right of the store right when you enter a quick question and he answered with a "yes". I asked another that required a yes and no answer and he said to ask someone else for help. I said "I'm sorry to bother you..." and then turned around and looked for someone else to help me out. I turned in my print order (which were on a floppy disk) which I had to pick up in 1hr to meet a deadline at 7:30PM.
I came in at 7:20 to pick up my prints and noticed they were printed incorrectly. Basically, the left side was on the right and vise versa. It wouldn't have mattered too much if there weren't any text on the photos. So, of course, all the text on the photos were printed backwards; and then to top it all, the resolution was horrible. You would think, for a professional place to print your digital photos, they'd be able to do a great job.
I pointed out the errors on the prints I received and the cashier, whose name I later found to be Raj. He agreed that they printed the photos wrong and went to the gentleman that printed my photos, Staff#1, and asked if he can reprint. Staff #1 said that the error was from my disk. I said that couldn't be possible because I saved the prints from the internet, and that it should be ok. He didn't say anything after that, and didn't move either. It's as if he was saying..."Oh well, too bad." He didn't even turn around to look at me. He didn't do anything.
At this point, I was already late for my deadline and still no photos. The cashier suggested I use the digital photo machine they had in front of the store to check if my disk was indeed the problem. And of course, when we looked at the pictures on the screen, there was no problem with the photos on my disk. Raj, the cashier, suggested to go ahead and print what I needed and that everything will be free.
At this point, I had no choice but to go ahead and print my photos from this machine myself. To my surprise, the prints looked great. Unlike what I got from the previous prints.
I have to say, Raj, the cashier was great. He was a huge help even though there were a ton of customers he was trying to attend to. The other gentleman in the store was horrible. I think he took offense of the fact that I turned around and said "I'm sorry to bother you" when he told me to go ask someone else for help. It is my belief that he flip-flopped my photos and messed up the resolution to get back at me.
I complained the next day to the Store Manager who defended her employee saying that sometimes, there's a glitch on their machine that causes all kinds of things to happen to photos. I would have accepted that answer the night before IF "Staff #1" who printed my photos would have at least TRIED to fix the error. He didn't.
So that night, I PAID for photos that MISSED my deadline due to their BAD WORK. Was able to get replacements for those photos by having to DO THE WORK MYSELF.By the time I finished, it was 8PM. I was 1/2hr LATE to my appointment, out a few dollars, and was very frustrated because I had no choice but to suck it up and take what was happening to me. I was very upset.
I will no longer go to any Kit's Cameras. I have been going there for years and have brought them a whole lot of business but that was it. Once, the same store exposed my film from a competition that I once joined (something you can't recreate ever again!!!). Everything was lost. Accidents happen and I gave them another chance. But after this incident, this is it! I'll never go back in that store again. And I will tell everyone I know not to go to that store UNTIL I know that this behavior has been corrected and better service guaranteed to me and to other patrons. Saddest part about it is that no one, not anyone ever apologized. Not the cashier (which I still thought was so nice but was really busy that night), not Staff#1, nor the manager.
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