This company used to be excellent, but the quality of their service has really gone downhill. My most recent order - sent in April - has been in "editing & quality control" since May, with an estimated completion date of June 22, 2020. I still have no proofs and there is no information available online. The last time I called their customer service #, I was told that one of the negatives included in my order was causing the delay because it had to go to a special machine that was "backed up." The agent informed me that the online tracking information was not accurate, but assured me that my order would be finished any day now. That was weeks ago. I used to recommend their services, but never again. read more

Alan I just wanted to thank you for the awesome customer service you provided. From the beginning to the end. I received my pictures and scanned media the other day and appreciate the fact that it came back to me even nicer than I sent it. I will tout your praises to others and hopefully bring u new business. You were referred to me by my aunt June who has sent u quite a bit of stuff. Thanks again, Shelly read more

I have used ScanCafe many times, and have trusted them with very old photos, as well as negatives of our family as they grew up (just finished an order of 300+ scans). They have never disappointed, and I will be finishing up with another order in a few months. The order is tracked all the way. I know when I ship, when they arrive at the plant, when they depart the plant for India, when they are being processed, and when they are returned to the US. They are then looked at at the US plant, and then sent (with another notice that they are on their way) to me. In the meantime, I can easily download the files onto my computer. Great service. This time I had just gotten a new computer, so needed a little extra help on the download, and Ryan was a great help, and is always ready to help. I would not hesitate to keep using ScanCafe. The only reason I gave four, instead of five, stars, is that they have a problem with getting the photos in order, and I usually take the time to rename every photo so there is a date attached to each photo. They do label each album with date. read more

My son asked me to have all of our family photos over the past 70+ years scanned in so he would not have to store over 30 photo albums. He recommended ScanCafe because he had used the company to scan in the precious negatives from his wedding and was totally pleased with their work. So, I took a deep breathe and entrusted ScanCafe with my treasured photo albums, sending them to India via the Indianapolis processing plant. I am happy to report that I have been totally satisfied with their help and performance every step of the way. Throughout the process I have felt that my photos were in good hands and I did not have to worry. The representative I worked with was always exceptionally prompt in responding to my questions and helped me figure out the best way to prepare/organize the photos for scanning so that my work was minimized and he also gave me helpful guidance for packaging the albums to be shipped. I ended up dividing my almost 6000 photos (in albums) into two orders and shipping each half separately. I've reviewed the first half online and the second half is just about ready for my review. The ScanCafe system is designed to never lose even one photo and my experience is that it works! I have been very impressed with the meticulous care ScanCafe provides to ensure that the photos arrive safely and are carefully tracked through each step at the facility in India. I feel they know exactly what is happening with each of my photos as it moves through the scanning and editing process. Most importantly, I am pleased with the quality of the scans (and so is my son) and the ease with which I can review them online, choosing which to keep and which I want to delete. If routine scanning and editing is not enough and a photo needs retouching, that is available at additional cost. Once I am finished with my reviewing, all the photos will be included on a single Flash Drive (that's the medium I selected). I will be able to give a copy to each of my children and have one for myself. I won't have to worry about further deterioration of the photos, and it will be much easier to look back at our memories, copy photo scans and share them with friends. In the end, I feel I got very good value for the cost of the scanning, and I had a great representative helping me who really cared about my photos, understood how important they are to my family, and made sure I'd be satisfied. Just do your part and be sure to carefully package your photos, slides or negatives following the directions ScanCafe provides. The representative I worked with was Alan, and he encouraged me to call if I had questions or concerns. He provided excellent suggestions or alternatives based on his experience and could tell me what would work and what would not. I recommend ScanCafe without reservation. read more

I saw all the great reviews so I sent some old slides to be scanned. They sent me the DVD and when I inserted it, it was someone else's photos! This is a privacy concern, as I am wondering who has my photos and what they might do with them, as well as a hassle as I planned to use the photos today. Also, the advertised price per scan really increases when you pay multiple times for shipping and then $9.99 per restoration of a slide. I would have paid less if I'd gone to my local camera store. read more

Highly recommended. I placed four individual orders that consisted of paper prints, mini dvs, and 8 mm films and every type of media was scanned and digitally reproduced with excellent quality. Order status and shipping details were provided via text updates and were also easily accessible via the website. I needed customer service for one order because I was having trouble re-accessing the order's prints in my Amazon Cloud account and Sean H. was professional, courteous and helpful. I highly recommend ScanCafe. read more

I have used ScanCafe over the years with great satisfaction. During the last few months I have had them scan two separate orders of 2800 slides each with great success. Customer service is live and real, and they answer the phone within a few rings. The price is right, the quality is great. /Stephen E/ read more

I sent in 44 slides to get scanned. 1/ They lost my original order and only when I contacted them a month later to ask what was happening did they investigate and locate my slides. 2/ There were many additional hidden costs - so my expected $15 cost turned into $50. 3/ Even after informing me of the additional costs they quoted me a price which I approved. During payment they refused to honor the price they quoted me saying it was a mistake and charged me more. 4/ The quality was so poor I refused to pay for them - they were all grossly out of focus. In response their technicians applied sharpening to them and then I paid. 5/ When the disc arrived the resolution of the photos were different for each scan, and some were horribly pixelated. Also there was bad dust on several of them. And it turns out they only applied the sharpening to a small number of photos. 6/ It took 3 months for the whole process. read more

I recently sent in 500 slides to have scanned. As this was my first time having anything scanned and with nothing to compare ScanCafe to, I had high hopes but no set expectations. With that said, the majority of them are not horrible but the quality didn't wow me either. As a first timer, I found the website pricing/options a little confusing and eventually chose the Value Kit. I, incorrectly, thought I had chosen the option that would allow me to reject duplicates (up to 20%). After explaining my error to customer service, they have no interest in working with me to resolve my problem with the duplicates. I was not asking for anything free and I understand that they are under no obligation to do so but being open to work with an unhappy customer to everyone's mutual satisfaction says a lot about a company's character. Lesson learned, I guess! read more

Lower priced of the services. But a few workds of caution: -Photos take a long time -"Hand correction?" OK, but not of great value. Basically copntrast and color saturation -Web site is terrible. -Could not find my downloadable files read more

Just received slide scanning order back after a very long delay. Scanning seems to be OK, but scanned images show none of the promised "three minutes" of hand enhancement effort . A number of slides were underexposed and too dark. I was able to fix them in about fifteen seconds each using my Windows photo editor. read more

Easy to use web site, all questions addressed in their FAQ and text, fast professional service, excellent retouching and enhancement of my slides - what more can you ask for? Oh, and competitively priced. read more

To scan cafe, wonderful job on some very important photos! Sorry I was such a baby with regards to our time line. (I was a little bitchy) Craig Torruella you proved me wrong. read more

I am writing this review because SCAN CAFE has a service and serice team that "Does" stay on top of their service and keeps you in the loop as to the status of their "SCAN" of your slides. I don't much care that your slides are sent to "India" because it takes to long. But, they do take every precaution to insure your slides are not lost. There was error where one came back with some dirt and a hair strand on it. I was able to PHotoshop it out. It did upset me. But they offered to rescan the complete order at no cost. I did not find it nesarry to do so. I don't give them a full 6 star mainly because it takes so long by shipping to India and then the return to their facility here and then return shipment to me. That's a little frustrating. I did use them a second time. And realzed that the time it takes to go to India is frustrating (To me). They do keep you posted of the progress very well. They do provide a "Link" for "Sharing" - it's a low res image. I did not need that. So I requested a link to a Full on "HIGH RES" which once requested Alan did provide. "ALAN" is super nice guy as a Customer Relationship Manager. He attended to everything - each detail of my frustration at time in a timely and professional manner. Again, they are a very professional organization. Customer service is immediate and attentive. So if you are "NOT" in a rush for the slide scans and discs then I would say "Yes" its a good service, very professional and attentive Patrick K. read more

Although quality is usually good, my recent experience is a warning for others. I sent in photos and group in envelopes with a label and the number of photos. Well, my wedding album photos came back and 5 photos were missing. The envelope with the others clearly had the number 43 and only 38 were returned and scanned. I had taken photos of the album pictures in order to return them to the proper position so I know exactly which ones were missing. I sent those photos to them. Their "investigation" found "that there was not any missing or misplaced media". Horrible lies!! They basically lost irreplaceable photos and refuse to take responsibility. BUYER BEWARE!!!! read more

I had been deliberating for several years about what to do with my old family slides. Finally decided to go with Scancafe because I knew I would never get around to scanning them myself, and I heard good things about Scancafe. I couldn't be happier. The cost was more than worth the results. The process was relatively simple. I didn't even have to go through the slides before hand to decided when ones to get done, although I did and that was fairly simple. I got text messages along the way to let me know where they were in the process. And the scans are such good quality because of the corrections they make with each slide. Having digital copies of old photos of my mom and dad, other relatives, and myself and my brother growing up is priceless. I can't wait to put them in photobooks and share them with other family members. Even sharing them on Facebook has been such fun. So glad I finally did this and so glad I used Scancafe. read more

I have had thousands of slides and prints scanned by Scancafe. The results have been great. I am completely satisfied. The price is reasonable. I am now working on my next project to send to Scancafe. Every business should operate with their efficiency. Ray J read more

Firstly, it takes *forever* to get your prints back. The quality of scanning is quite variable. I sent several sets of photographs that had duplicates. I assumed ScanCafe would remove the duplicates. They don't. I also noticed significant differences in the scan quality with the duplicates. Some were grainier, double exposed, etc. About the only thing ScanCafe has going for it is price. read more

6 rolls of 16mm film to digitize, but not a good outcome. I made copies before I sent the films using a 70 year old projector and a 15 year old digital camera that came out much better than what I received back. They get one good star for returning my film and the original boxes and reels I sent. From there it is downhill: - Reproduction quality is really poor, almost unwatchable, and significantly worse than what I did with my old camera setup before I sent them in to get them converted by a pro. Image skipping, dark, color saturation on their end. On my projector there is no skipping and the correct color & shading appear. It kinda defies logic. - 1st minute of the recording is mirror image, then a pause in their recording, then correct orientation for the rest of their recording. When I replayed the returned film on my projector, orientation is correct for the whole film. Odd, but then I discovered the film had broken at Scan Cafe and was respliced using what looks like scotch tape. I understand vintage film can break, but the wrong orientation suggests mis-handeling, and they knew to fix the film back in the correct orientation when it was returned. - The speed is fast (2x) on all their scans. Anyone reviewing at their end should have noticed that problem. Walking and movements by people are obviously way off. -They spliced all 6 films onto one reel and returned it to me that way (along with my original empty 6 boxes and reels). read more

1 star because at least the photo quality is good. The service however, not so much! After I spent days going through, organizing, and writing the year for each roll of film I was sending in for a digitizing service, I asked that they keep the years together, and in order. 3 months later they were prepared for download, they said the folders were named just as I had named them in the packaging. WRONG! if I marked it 1994, it was in a folder for 1997, If I put 1999 on it, it was marked 1984, for over half my order. And, they skipped a full roll, as well as not completing some rolls, leaving 3-6 images from a roll of film unscanned. I now have more work to do to undo all their mistakes. There were also 2 pictures they said they "fixed" while our faces look airbrushed and nicer, the background was almost eliminated in the fix. I do not recommend them! Quick - go to Legacybox NOW! read more

I'm downgrading my rating from a 5 to a 3 for only 1 reason: Image Quality (excessive color grain noise in my digital images). However, I'd give 10 stars to the customer service I subsequently received, if I could! I've never worked with a company with better customer service. After receiving the full-resolution digital images of the slides, I was showing them to family on my 40" TV and we all started noticing that there was a lot of graininess that we hadn't seen when the pictures were on my smaller computer screen. Upon further inspection, I found that all images had an excessive amount of high resolution color grain noise that was visible when enlarged, primarily in darker areas of the photos. All digital images have some noticeable color grain in dark areas, but this grain had a lot of white dots, which was very noticeable. Note: I was NOT able to see this noise while previewing the pictures online, because I didn't have the ability to enlarge them on my screen, so they looked fantastic. It was only after viewing the final images full-screen that I noticed the graininess. I worked with my customer service rep, Alan Baig and others, for the next 9 months and had my slides re-scanned twice more, at no extra charge. I am finally satisfied with the results, but they had to send my slides back to India and scan them on a different brand of scanner in order to reduce the color grain. The original scanner was their commonly used Noritsu. The scanner that gave better images was a Canon scanner, that they apparently don't use anymore. The customer service I received was SUPERB, but the bottom line is the quality of the images, so I would not have my slides scanned there again, unless I could stipulate that they use the Canon scanner. read more

I wish I had come to Yelp first before using ScanCafe. I selected this service among others as it got high ratings from various ranking sites, and was very cost effective (or so it would seem). This was my experience: 1) Communication was good, at least at the outset, with an unsolicited live call from a sales rep after I placed my order. 2) But information flow slowed way down after that. The rep had quoted me at 20 days from start to online review. The actual time was over 30 days, EXCLUDING time to ship. All told, I'm probably looking at 40+ days from ship to receive. 3) Quality - marginal. Essentially the same, if not exactly the same as what I achieved at home with my own scanner. I used this service because I figured the professional equipment would do a better job. I was wrong. Many of my photos were crooked and off kilter, even after being "edited". The editing, by the way, is suboptimal, and leaves many pictures washed out or over saturated. Furthermore, many photos either contain white space or are cut off--the scanners obviously didn't take much care in aligning the originals in the machine. 4) Price. Not as reasonable as it seems. What is not readily apparent on their website is that cost is exclusive of shipping costs. I wouldn't say they are dishonest about the pricing structure, but they definitely don't go out of their way to offer you an all-in quote up front. For me, the most basic service with the RAW Tiff format ended up costing about $1.00 per photo, including outbound and return shipping. I have yet to receive the originals back via UPS (have only received the digital uploads so far), but I'd say that my experience to date has been VERY underwhelming. I can't recommend alternative sites because I haven't used any, but digimypics.com appears to at least keep your originals in the US versus shipping to India, which has got to be worth something on the timing side and the safety side (not having to worry about your photos crossing seas). read more

I have been scanning my family albums and my parents' albums to (1) capture these images for disaster protection and (2) share them with my digital-only children. This is my second big order and included 1600+ photos and album pages. ScanCafe scanned the albums as full-page 600dpi images, which captured the handwritten notes and comments about the photos. They seemed to have a bit of a challenge because the order had both full-page scans of album pages and individual scans of loose photos - I would send them in separate orders next time. When one album was scanned as single images when I wanted full-page scans, I contacted them through live chat. The issue had to be escalated but was resolved within a day and they re-scanned the album. What I like about ScanCafe is the restoration that is part of the basic price. Every photo was improved compared to the raw scan (which they provide for review along with the restored image). They only allocate a couple of minutes per image and the color correction alone is great. You can get further restoration for creased, faded, or tinted photos - they provide a quote for each special restoration so you don't commit blindly. They also give you online access to see each scanned image and you can (1) delete the image if you don't want it (duplicate, uninteresting) or (2) request a re-scan if not up to your expectations. I deleted 60 of my pictures - and there was no charge for them. Be realistic about your expectations. It does take a long time - 8-10weeks depending on how fast you review the online images. Yes, there is shipping both ways. My box of photos was 24lbs (a small moving box) and shipping was ~$32 round trip on top of a $400 order (after the 30% discount offered in Sep). I have had photos scanned at a local shop at a slightly higher price when I want the images immediately. Downside is that I pay first and then see the images AND there is no restoration. When time is no objection, I recommend using these guys. read more

Great quality and service, just plan in advance though because the process does take some time. You've probably waited over ten years to convert your film or images to digital, another couple months shouldn't matter, right? read more

We have now scanned 30 years of slides and photos from two families over the past year; the basic service (shipment to India for scanning and then back) is not quick in this age of Amazon prime but there is a faster turnaround available for a higher price. I haven't had much need to contact customer service but when I have they have been efficient and helpful. The quality of the scans was excellent, considering some of the slides had been stored in the basement for 15 - 20 years. In our case, there was no need for extra-quick turnaround and the quality was well worth the wait especially given the reasonable cost. In summary, Scan Cafe provides a great service at an affordable price and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Scan Cafe to others. read more

3 problems 1. They rip you off on postage charges. Almost 100% more than what it actually costs. So, thats one way they make money on you 2. Customer service is the worst. 3. Takes forever to get your pictures shipped to you. Their scanning facility is in India. so, apparently they ship things only once in a while from India or something - and there is absolutely no information on when you will get your pictures back. finally, it is not all that cheap at all compared to the other such companies who do their scanning in US. read more

Even though I own a high quality Epson scanner myself, in 2015 I sent them two batches for scanning of perhaps a total of 880 color slides and 120 photographs. They were done in India and came back just as I had packed them, nicely in the original boxes. The greatest report is that the results were excellent, and when their image was compared to one (using the same slide) scanned by another popular US company, Scan Cafe's image is clearly superior in colors and definition of details when viewed under an magnifying optical loop. The only issue I had was inadvertently several of the color slides came back as the mirror image of the actual slide. After raising the issue with management, it was escalated to Carl D'Souza, Manager Customer Experience, and he was very patient and cooperative, and succeeded in correcting all the images promptly. I was so pleased with the customer experience that I sent them a third order two months ago, and now perhaps one last smaller order because I found another box of slides and photos (from 50 years of non-digital photography!) hidden from view! Maybe I will work on the super-8 films that are also in the garage one day! Good work, Scan Cafe, keep it up! read more

I sent 297 color slides, dating back to 1977, to ScanCafe to have them digitized. I had tried the do-it-yourself options without success. I was worried about sending my slides away, but I wanted to capture these memories for my two sons. Their dad died when they were very young and I wanted them to have these images of him from long ago. I am thrilled with the results. ScanCafe kept me updated every step of the way via email, and I even received a phone call when the project was complete. I was able to log into my ScanCafe account, view my images in the batches they were processed, rearrange them into categories, and finalize my order. I had prepaid half, used a wonderful coupon to save me some money, so on checkout, I paid the remainder of what was owed. I was then able to download high resolution images to my computer. ScanCafe even gives you the option to download them to whatever cloud storage system you use. While my order was being processed, I had found about 30 more color slides that I wanted to have converted. As an experiment, I took them to Walmart and placed an order. They sent them away to Fuji, I think. I just picked them up today, and believe me when I tell you to not waste your money at Walmart for this service. The digitized images are cloudy, not sharp, out of sequence, and some were flipped. Tomorrow I plan to place a second order to ScanCafe to have these final slides converted. I did not pay extra to keep my slides in the U.S. ScanCafe gives you several options for shipping. Since it's been 40 years since I first shot some of these photos, I was not in a hurry. I couldn't be more pleased with ScanCafe! Teresa Cage Beasley read more

Never received any text updates for all but the start of my order. Order status was not updated correctly on their site. Based on this lack of communication, I would not recommend this service to my friends. I still needed to tweak over 50% of the digital images myself to improve their appearance once received. Only positive was the cost. Update: ScanCafe has come to the table to address my above issues. With the convenience and value of their service, I would use them again and expect a quality result. read more

Scan Cafe did a great job restoring my parents memories from the 60's and enhancing the scans and keeping them all organized. I see someone said the process took awhile, but all good things take time. Scan Cafe was always responsive and helpful. We were very happy with the support we received and response to our questions and happy with the results! read more

I have been a long-term ScanCafe customer and have spent thousands of dollars on their service over the last several years.   In 2015, I had several video tapes converted to DVDs and I was very happy and impressed with the quality.  The label on the case had screen shots from the videos and was visually and aesthetically appealing, the back of the label had the run time, etc. and looked very professional.  The video had a nice introductory screen, nice music, and the chapters were professional and appealing.  Overall, I was very happy with the quality of the product - both with the quality of the video, as well as with the quality of the disk and case.   Last month, I again had some video tapes converted and I must say I am quite disappointed in the lower quality of the product they are returning.   Everything about the product is worse than compared to a year ago.  The label is ugly and unappealing and looks like a photocopy.  The DVD itself has a lower quality label.  And the video production quality itself is a poor comparison to what I got last year.  The disc didn't perform as expected in my player (the disc didn't respond to some of the buttons on my player remote), and the introductory screen is ugly and very basic.   They previously produced a very professional product.  But now, it seems like it is from someone using consumer level equipment on their home computer.   The videos I got back last year were impressive and professional-looking.  I would rate them as an "A", and what I got back last month is barely a "D." I will be looking for an alternate service for any of my future video copying needs.   I don't know what their still photo imaging is like now - I was very happy with the product when I had thousands of images digitized several years ago. But as for their video product, it has really fallen significantly in quality. read more

I sent off some 8mm movies. I previously sent them to Costco and the quality of the transfer was horrible. I requested a refund and sent the order to ScanCafe. Night and day difference. It took about 2 months (they offer rush processing so if time is a concern, consider paying a premium for faster processing). ScanCafe was $50 cheaper than Costco on a $400 order. I am absolutely thrilled at the quality. When I called customer service, they answered promptly and I asked whether they sent media to India. They said all media is processed in Indiana. I don't understand all the negative reviews. I would totally use them again. I am a satisfied customer, thank you! read more

I have three major complaints. The most serious is that, although I labeled each container clearly AND requested the scanned slides be associated with my designations AND got clear assurance from "Joe" that this would be done - by and large it WAS NOT (like 80% of the slides). I have no way to trace back their designation to mine, meaning that important information on the box, or the desire to clean and re-scan on my own, is virtually impossible. That is 58 boxes I have to go through by hand and then try to match up with their designation (if indeed their designation means anything at all). Second, five boxes were never scanned (yes they were in great shape). Third - the order, designated for the USA facility, was delayed six weeks because they were "moving to a larger facility". Indeed they gave me the India price as compensation. I suspect the photos were actually scanned in India. Beware!! All in all I would never use this company again nor would I recommend it. read more

Great customer service! They personalize the online experience. My photos look amazing!

I've been using Scan Cafe for over a decade now. I've always been immensely impressed with their organization, online utilities, and pricing. I've only just recently had an opportunity to put their Customer Service to the test. I found them quick, responsive, clear and professional. I feel confident encouraging my friends and family to entrust Scan Cafe with their priceless negatives and family prints. read more

I've used ScanCafe several times to scan my slides, negatives and medium format film. I've been very happy with their work and will continue sending them my media for scanning. read more

Very happy with my 255 photos that were scanned through these guys! Everything was available online sooner that promised and the original photos and the CD arrived a whole week before they said it would arrive! Customer service was great and professional! If i need to scan anything from again, i will go through these guys again! read more

TERRIBLE SERVICE! Lead time is 3 months for simple VHS conversion to DVD. They combined 11 tapes onto 3 DVDs, mixing different events onto 1 DVD. Very cheap DVD covers. Shipped to the wrong address. Great idea for a business, HORRIBLE execution. read more

Someone asked why there are so many negative reviews. I can tell you why from my personal experience. We sent in slides to be transferred to a DVD. The job was mediocre at best. The DVD would not play properly. It was just not a quality job. I would never send anything to them again. Jack Teachout read more

* * * WATCH OUT! * * * * * * If you use ScanCafe, be forewarned --- you run a risk of catastrophic loss. * * * * * * We SO regret that this happened but it could happen to you: We got a "guest box" for ScanCafe as a gift --- 600 images. It did not include the warning that the default delivery instruction to the UPS delivery service was "leave on doorstep if no one is at home." * * * * * * The box was stolen off our doorstep. We lost irreplaceable family treasures. Some of the B&W images dated from 100 years ago. It gets worse. ScanCafe did not scan the reverse of the prints, which had handwritten names, dates, and places that are now forever lost. * * * * * * Caroline K.'s description "horrendous" does not go far enough. Looking at the miserable rendition of the images on the replacement DVD that was sent us only makes the pain worse --- seeing someone's eyes the wrong color, a princess flower with a bilious tint instead of the vibrant purple it should be, an out-of-focus portrait of a great-grandparent. . . . * * * * * * The scans take forever because they send them to India. Be prepared to wait a log time to see the results --- if you ever do. * * * * * * /s/ Devastated in Palo Alto * * * read more