Very disappointed with email from CHC today. I ordered The Exorcist 3x400' and he said he had it and hold it for me. I then added All Quiet on the Western Front, now he has sold the film I wanted. The Western Front was to split shipping on two films

Not a good way to treat customers

No more support from me

CHC has NO customer service at all, if you are not one of his favourites then you have no chance, he uses people then just drops them when they are no use any more.

Never had a feeling of being liked by him, that is for sure. But at least before, he did do as he said, but this time, I had enough. When saying I hold it for you, then selling it to someone else without even telling me anything, that is just totally disrespectful. I will not renew magazine or buy more from him.

Yes it's such a shame to hear stories like this from what is after all, one of the last actual cine shops left in the world.

I have no idea why a print that is in holding would then suddenly be sold on to somebody other than the person to whom it was reserved for???

It's certainly not a great way to run any business, that's for sure!

A customer is a customer, whether the shop keeper likes you or not is pretty much totally irrelevant.
As a customer, you are not expected to pass any kind of shop owner approval so far as I'm concerned.
Just be willing to pay the price for the goods without hassle.
It's usually a very simple act when I'm buying my loaf of bread or pint of milk.

Why should this transaction be any different if all is above board?

This is CHC all over if you are not one of his favourites you have no chance at all, that as you say Andrew is not a way to run a business,

Sorry about your bad experience Vidar. It's disheartening, I know. And a very wrong way to do business.

I THINK YOU GOT IT WRONG THERE ANDREW AS MY CINE SHOP IS FULL OF FILMS PROJECTORS AND EQUIPMENT AND ONCE A DEAL IS DONE ITS DONE I HAD A FILM ON THE FORUM ADVERTISED FOR 150 AND PAUL FOSTER HAS SAME FILM ADVERTISED FOR 499 I WAS OFFERERED 225 FOR MINE BUT FILM WAS ON HOLD AND WAS SOLD TO GUY WHO ASKED FIRST ALTHOUGH I WAS OFFERED ALOT MORE MONEY FOR IT

David: Andrew wrote "one of the last" not "THE last". I think we all agree that this description didn't apply for all other available shops as well.

Mr. Guest, Eivind is right, Andrew said one of the last. I still await The Deep from you, which you offered me, I said I wanted, but you changed your mind. I sincerely hope you honor your word and offer it to me first as you said

I really wish you had Super 8 too though, which is a easier to handle format, less space consuming

Yes, it is certainly not the only shop by any means David. You have your shop here, Umit & Sons has his, plenty still sell from their own premises and of course throughout Europe, especially France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Italy there are still quite a few establishments I believe.
Over on Film-Tech, both Bert Haagsman at the Super8warehouse in Holland and Paul Foster here, have both updated their film websites only today. Barry here regularly does similar with his.
We are still fairly well off for resources supplying our Cine community given it's relative size these days, i'd say. Long may it continue I say!

I was just surprised to hear Vidar's story regarding his latest film deal from CHC, that was all.

Clearly your transactions are done in a far more fair and transparent manner, reading your piece above.

YES VIDAR WILL GIVE YOU FIRST CHANCE

I hesitate to write this as I don't want to go after specific persons. But I do think that problematic deals is something other users should be aware of. I will not go against any persons, so I say CHC on purpose here, not mentioning any name although we all know the name.

I must have to say that I probably have made my last deal with CHC too. I haven't bought from CHC several times, but I have had two bad experiences. My very first deal was for a 16mm feature, a few cartoons and a subscription for his magazine. This was in the late fall that year, and I paid for the rest of that year and the following year. The films came with the current issue of the magazine. I never got any more issues. I never complained about this, so it might have worked out if I had made a complain (who knows), so this was not the thing that made me stop using CHC although I didn't like it one bit.

Quite recently I bought a few cartoons. I paid with PayPal using the feature to send money to a friend. That was a bummer, as you then can't complain to PayPal about goods that is not received from the seller. I did it this way so I got the fees, not CHC. I have done it this way with Barry, Paul and David too, but I have never had any problems what so ever with the payment or with receiving the films with any of these.

CHC gave me the total sum including shipment. I was told to "read page 7 of our website s8 lists about how to pay". I did and there it was written which address to pay to, the same one I used all the other times I paid for films there. I paid it and thought I was done. After that I saw in the mail from CHC that they a bit further down in the mail had written an other PayPal address to pay to than the one on the web page. I apologized and pointed out the error. I was told "there is no paypal for this email address. ask for a refund and try again with the correct address". But when you send money to a friend that has a PayPal account you can't ask for refund, and you can't cancel. The money is sent. So I asked him to transfer the money himself to the correct account (since he obviously owned both) or cancel it himself on PayPal. After that there wasn't much of a sensible communication. I got mails like "I am sorry we do not run a paypal account from classic please reclaim your money and try again", although I over and over explained I could not reverse or cancel the transfer, and that this account was CHC's and the one I had used before. CHC just kept sending the same message over and over to me that I should cancel the transfer or ask for refund.

After a couple of days I digged up receipts from the previous payments to prove I was right, with screenshots of the web page at CHC pointing to the address and screenshots from PayPal from previous payments and copies of previous mails. I heard nothing, but after a while I suddenly got a refund in PayPal triggered by CHC. I then paid to the address I was given and sent a new mail to explain that I now had paid to the correct address after getting a refund. After yet another few hours I got a new mails saying that the first address I used was in fact the correct one. No apologize or nothing, just two very short sentences after all this back and forth where I had explained the issue over and over again. I sent a new mail asking if he was 100% sure considering what we just had been through? It was confirmed with a confirmation and a short "sorry for the confusion".

I got the films so the deal went out OK. But this was really not hard for CHC to straighten out. I paid to the address that has been on the web page for years and that I had used before and that is CHC's for sure. I explained this over and over again and I explained WHY I could not ask for refund or cancel the transfer. I just got the same replies over and over. In the best case this is very bad customer handling. In the worst case there were other reasons for handling it this way. I don't know, but I am quite sure this was my last deal with CHC. I have never experienced anything like this with any other seller.

Again; I don't write this to spread anger and bad words against CHC, but I think it is fair for other customers to know that these things happen.

I think it is only fair to share any experiences, good as well as bad if that is the case. It is only fair and humane to recommend when things are done well, why is the opposite any different if an individual has a bad experience?

I have had quite a lot of film off CHC over the years, occasionally I have not been 100% satisfied with the description for all items i have had, but in my own particular case, i have always had a reasonable resolution to any issues to be fair.

In my own circumstances, i am just about in range to return goods if that ever proved absolutely necessary, so I suppose that always helps.
Overall, I have been very satisfied with the goods I have received and for customer service in the Super 8mm world, Ian and Barry are two of my own personal favorites to deal with, but to be fair, I have never had a major issue with any bad deal from any dealer fortunately.

I am glad you eventually found your situation resolved Eivind,

By far, Steve Isborne wins best customer service in my eyes. He is a class act, shame he is not located in Norway, I would be even poorer than now ;-)

I have never dealt with Steve, Vidar (a little TOO far away ha ha), but I only ever hear only good things said about him.

I do order from time to time, but shipping gets a bit high, but when he sells Uncle Toms Cabin feature for just around a tenner, it evens out a bit

Is this any use for you Vidar?

http://super8warehouse.com/?product=the-...-german-sound-2

I can't redub, so need it English sound. I considering it, but went for Barbarella instead :-)

Bert is also a great guy to deal with by the way

Watch the old blood pressure then Vidar while viewing, I dare not risk it!

I did not get The Exorcist, but blood pressure could be affected by poor customer service

:-/

Sometimes ive been lucky with Phil - other times ...... all i can say is that i've heard some dodgy rumours but thankfully the last couple of 16mm prints ive bought from him have been in stock and delivered in quick time.

Hey Vidar, you mustn't let cine upset your health, after all, it is only a movie, no ones died good buddy,

Let me tell you i have missed many films over the last few months, 3 from CHC, (they were there when i reserved but not when i rang back to pay by card a few hours later )
One big 16mm title i really wanted today, but it was sold, F**** it!!!!
Trailers i have asked several dealers for many times but they have come in, gone on lists and been sold F**** it (so much for the "tell us what your looking for" bit)
Arthur on 16, (but Vidar got there first ) F**** it!
Singing in the Rain, i PM'd first but it was sold F*** it!!

The list is endless for us but hey ho, so i will use the words of a fellow collector who said to me once when i was i bit gutted, "Its only stuff".
Anyway, just to piss you off a bit more, I do have the 3 x 400ft Exorcist, but its not for sale

Hey Vidar, at least we can all have a joke with one another mate, PF has some great 16s that we would dearly love but unfortunately they are out of the price range of what i would pay for any movie, the only one that wasn't and i wanted was sold but i guess it wasn't meant to be. What a pisser!

I was referring to the scantily clad Jane Fonda in Barbarella setting the old ticker in overdrive!...For any of us over 30!!😂😂😂

Good philosophy and outlook to have Tom. As you say, it's only a film and there will always be others somewhere along the line.

I agree with your sentiments Tom, this hobby can be really frustrating sometimes but other times you strike it lucky.

I wonder if CHC had actually sold that title Vidar but was mistaken in thinking they still had it when you initially emailed. Then when they went to get it realised it had gone, hence it had gone from being reserved for you to being sold.

I was surprised they still had it tbh; it wasn't over priced and it had been on his list for a couple of weeks. It would be a shame if you cut yourself off from a potentially good source of films. CHC do get some good stuff in... I managed to get the Poltergeist feature a month ago as you may know and I was delighted with it.

Spot on there John.

What I have also found with the CHC set up, is it is quite unorganized at times.
Many is the time when I have spoken to Phil regarding a film, he has put it to one side for me, then you phone a few hours later and Denise appears to know nothing about it at times??

It is what it is I'd say, and as John says, to be fair to Phil, he has had a lot of complex health issues that have kept him away from his shop for lengthy periods these past few years and he does still at times, get some good items in and sells them at what I consider reasonable prices.

I'd be reluctant to cut off my nose to spite my face as it were Vidar if I were in your position, though of course I do fully understand your frustrations and the actual customer service can at times leave many of us feeling somewhat bewildered.

If he was selling burgers next door to McDonalds, maybe things would be different.