ScanCafe Avis 3 362

It took over two months for them to complete an order, and then thy did not send it to me because they had "a mix up in orders, so we are holding off sending all orders until we clear this up." Their quality is good, not not exceptional compare to other scanning services that can turn around orders much quicker. Part of the reason may be they r doing part of the work in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

After having sent items to scancafe for years, and have received excellent service, I was disappointed to learn that now I have to "subscribe" to a service for a monthly fee in order to download my images even once. Although the customer can cancel at any time, this is clearly a deceptive business practice, done in the hope that the customer will forget to cancel the "subscription". I will reconsider whether I should continue to send items to ScanCafe in the future.

You can spend a small fortune to get your videos converted. But they lose sight of the cause by forcing me to subscribe to a subscription... only to download the files of the service I paid for.

Hugely disappointed with the scans I received. I've notified ScanCafe and hope I can get the images re-scanned properly.

I'm digitizing my mother's artwork from 35mm transparencies, so I ordered 4000dpi "Pro Resolution" to capture maximum detail. When I reviewed the scans I received - which took far longer than I was led to expect I found several problems:

1. Scans were cropped incorrectly and omitted portions of the original image. Other scans included everything within the cardboard transparency window, as expected.

2. Scans show areas which are soft and out of focus, particularly around the edges which looks like lens blur. This is evident when comparing each scan against the original 35mm transparency, viewed under a loupe.

3. When the file info of each scan is examined, it shows that the "scan" is actually a digital photo taken with a Canon Eos Rebel T7 digital camera with a 105mm lens, and NOT a Noritso or Nikon film scanner as described on the Scancafe website.

Scan Cafe was engaged to scan 4,000 slides. These slides were organized by year, location with 20 slides per page. Each slide was titled and numbered to ensure scanning in the order received. When I received confirmation that the order was complete, I began my review. Much to my dismay, slides were out of order, and many were scanned on the wrong side. I informed the company, making a list on three different review occasions and was assured that the corrections were made. My last review AFTER assurance that the corrections were made utterly incensed me because NO these were not made. The company also argued with me that the slides were scanned correctly and I had to submit images of some of the 16 x 20 prints and also sample prints that I had made to PROVE that, in fact, these were scanned improperly. I received a final e-mail from Mr. Gonzalo Anza saying they were done and did the work for hours. Shall i bill them for the number of hours I spent reviewing, making lists of incorrect scans, photographing and documenting proof that these were scanned improperly?

I have filed a complaint with the BBB of Indiana, and upon the recommendation of a friend, I will pursue this further with the Attorney General of Indiana. This company requires a 75% deposit, they do not do the work properly and refuse to refund, and ultimately forced me to accept a hard drive that I did not want, and pay a balance that did not reflect a proper crediting for the slides that I did refuse. I am still awaiting the return of my slides, and if there is one problem with them, I will take legal action. I wish I could find out who all those who reviewed here are located because it would be powerful to work together to get a result that we all deserve... legally if necessary.
I continue to receive very polite communications from these crooks apologizing but no attempt to rectify. They basically steal your money and if not satisfied for very legitimate reasons, no action. STEER CLEAR

I ended up being the customer businesses hate. I kept emailing and calling because I thought they were missing the most important photo album I had sent in. It turns out that I had never sent that album in The Customer Support team was so patient with me over both email and phone and I felt they really understood the importance of precious memories. I had used Scan Cafe 10 years ago and loved their service, and they definitely took good care of me this time around.

I had some 35 mm negatives scanned to digital. The service and result were satisfactory. I received the digital file via download - there is a charge for that, which I understand. HOWEVER, when I selected digital download they automatically enrolled me in a monthly recurring $9.99 fee for download. I didn't see the fee until 1-2 months later. I called and they canceled it but would not refund the recurring fee that had already occurred. This should be an opt in feature not an opt out feature and demonstrates questionable business practices. I will not go back to them again.

The audio cassette scan was fine, though the tracks were not separated making much more work on my end. I foolishly signed up for download, not realizing that this subscribed me to an ongoing charge even after I downloaded my data. This is a scam and the company should be ashamed of its business practices.

It was fairly easy and I’m very pleased with the results. My slides made into pictures brought back fond memories.

I have used ScanCafe three times. Here is what I found.

It is important FOR YOU to remove dust from your prints and media--ScanCafe does not. The result is scans with white spots.

I sent them a VHS tape, which they stated could not be read. I had paid $19 for a memory stick of print/slides scans and another $19 for a memory stick of the VHS tape.

I received two memory sticks, both having the same content--scans of prints/slides.

I asked for a refund of $19 for the second memory stick.

Here is their email response.

"Hi John,

I hope this email finds you well.

After reviewing your request with our managers, we regret to inform you that we are unable to process a refund for the $19 charge for the memory stick. As you did receive the physical USB, we are unable to issue a refund.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.

Best regards,"

No, I will not use ScanCafe in the future. I have found better alternatives.

They have charged me $9.99 per month for archive services. When I requested to receive my scans by download I was automatically signed up for this evidently. Be very very careful if you use this company.

I’ve used as a Cafe since 2021. A family member recommended them. And I haven’t been disappointed. I’ve scanned precious childhood family photos. Even had a photo restoration. Nothing but good things to say. Customer Service is wonderful too. Knowledgeable and polite!! If something isn’t quite right they fix it quickly. I recommend Scan Cafe highly and happy to review their company.

Overall, I am significantly disappointed with this service. I sent ScanCafe about 1,000 photos. The photos were scanned within about three weeks, so the response time was okay. However, I expected the photos to be enhanced much more than they were. In fact, it is difficult to conclude the "enhanced" photos are any better than the unedited ones. The "enhanced" results are not at all what is shown on the company's website. I get dramatically better results by using my iPhone and simply tapping the magic wand. I guess that is what I will need to do with a large number of these photos. The result will be much better than the ScanCafe service.

In short, as a basic scanning service, I rate ScanCafe as acceptable. In terms of living up to expectations based on the company's website in regard to enhancing photos, ScanCafe woefully underperformed.

I put in an order to scan 500 slides, but on review I saw that something was terribly wrong: a broad grey strip cut across most of the scans. I called in, and to their credit, they promptly redid all the scans, and now they look great. This is very reassuring for my trust in Scan Cafe.

Buyer beware - company will set up a monthly recurring charge by default and not send out a receipt each month your card is charged, then refuse to refund these charges

ScanCafe mostly did what it promised, but there is one issue that I will report. I randomly sampled a few of the scans and found at least 1/3 were flipped around the vertical axis. This will happen if you are scanning the wrong side of a 35mm slide. This is a mistake they should not be making, and they need to train their staff to avoid it.

I sent them a note about this back in November 2023 and hope they have rectified this.

I think this is the third time I've sent old slides to ScanCafe, and I've been thrilled every time. This last batch had two pictures of my parents on their wedding day 60+ years ago. The slides were very dark, and I didn't have much hope that having them digitized would make much difference. I'm happy to report that the digitized copies are great! Just having those two pictures is worth what I spent on the 126 slides. Time to put together another batch of slides!

The actual length of the film is calculated using this formula: Total Run Time (in minutes) x 16.67. So if you know the total run time please use this calculation.

The statement above was instrumental in my deciding to use ScanCafe for my 16mm film transfer service. It is still up on their website, two weeks after I brought the issue to their attention. I believe that is intentional on their part, because they would not acknowledge the issue during my multiple back and forth emails. You see, there is a lot of competition out there, and if they can reel you in with a lie like this, then they have you. If you fall for it too, your bill will be over two times higher than your estimate.

Another scam they used on me was tacking on a bogus film charge. They backed off of that when I described the contents of my order. They claimed a mistake was made. Maybe, but it doesn't really pass the smell test.

Why take a chance with these people? You can do better.

Good customer service, whether on phone or in ordering scans online. Subscription service available but easy to cancel. Scans come out great. Recommend.

I have been using this service for many years. They handled my precious photos and slides very well and produced wonderful digital images as I requested. I recently had to ask a favor of their customer service department as I had really old scans that I wanted to download and they had archived them. They responded quickly and I was able to download the scans in a convenient zip file for use. I love this company and I recommend them highly!!!