Dotwell Photo Hong Kong has become known for some of the poorest service around, in particular, the lady there who has a rather gargantuan chip on her shoulder and has been described by many (not just me) as the most miserable and rudest sales person in Hong Kong. I’ve had film developed at Dotwell Photo Hong Kong, actually I attempted to have film developed, but they messed up the order and only gave me the CD with no prints. On that occasion I must say there was one guy who seemed normal and seemed happy enough to suggest some film (this was when I first starting shooting film again after 20 years) but after they cocked up my order I vowed never to go back.
About one year later I bit the bullet as I was out in TST and had shot a couple of rolls and thought I’ll give them another shot. I’d read about the devil lady and was determined to put on my smiliest face and nicest greeting to try and kill her with friendliness. That didn’t quite go as planned. I walked in to Dotwell Photo Hong Kong, put on my biggest smile (which admiringly is not very big) and said a great big “Hi” in the joyest voice I could. Devil lady saw me coming towards the counter, turned around, didn’t so much as acknowledge my greeting or even being there, and buggered off to the back of the shop. She didn’t return at all, I waited about 30 seconds before absolutely storming out, not before calling her some doozy names before leaving.
I mean come on Dotwell Photo Hong Kong, if you’re busy and were attending to something that’s fine, just say “Hi, sorry I’m just in the middle of doing something, I’ll be right with you when I can”. But no, Devil Lady is just a complete bitch and I’m sorry, I don’t care how cheap or good your services are, if you treat me like shit, I will post a review and tell it to the 35,000 visitors a month to this website, 40,000 twitter followers and 35,000 people on my mailing list. Dotwell Photo Hong Kong is a definite “stay away at all costs” in my books. It’s not just me, you can read other reviews about Dotwell Photo Hong Kong and in particular, the devil lady who works there. Why go to place like this with absolutely disgusting service when there are other places you can get film developed in Hong Kong that provide much better service.
Luckily for me, it’s a mission to even get to Dotwell Photo Hong Kong, but I can tell you right now that even if they were right next door to me, less than a 1 minute walk, and my only other choice was traveling an hour, I’d go to the place that took an hour to get to. I’ve worked in the service industry before, I can be a miserable sod at times but when I did face customers, I put on a friendly face even when I was feeling like shit or might not have liked the customer. It’s called customer service.
I’ve worked out I’ve spent over $100,000 on film and film developing over the last year, how many other people’s business are they missing out on? I don’t usually wish any bad on anybody or any business (much!), but look, you treat your customers like shit and things have a way of coming around.
In summary, even if Dotwell Photo Hong Kong had good service, the time and cost it would take me getting over there would mean any cost savings I might have going there would be negated. Chung Pui Photo may be more expensive, but their service is far superior and their prices aren’t that much higher, at least not enough to warrant a trip over to the “dark side”.
Give Output Pro Lab a try, they’re a short bus or train ride away and the guy and girl in there are much (MUCH) friendlier. Check out my review here and give Dotwell Photo Hong Kong a miss unless you enjoy being scowled at or simply ignored.
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