Agfa Dlab Parts and Service availability

This topic is for other Agfa minilab equipment owners only! Unless
your dropping over $4,000/month I feel you can not possibly understand
the following. I own 2 dlabs ($9,000+/month) and am deeply concerned
on whether or not I will be able to get service and more importantly
parts for many years to come to support these maintenance hogs. At the
end of the year, we now know that Agfa will no longer exist. We have
been notified by Bing himself of the closing of the company. I know of
2 other dlab owners who have parts on back order with no ETA. I
believe it is only a matter of time befor a Out of Stock part goes bad
on my equipment and then I will be screwed. I do not want to take that
chance nor can I afford to be down for more then one day especially
during xmas. At the advice of my legal counsel, I have stopped paying
on both my machines over 3 months ago. I got one call from Agfa
Finance and I explained my position. I said until I essentially have
a gurantee that I'll be able to get parts and service for the next 4
years that I would not be paying another penny. I have sent certified
letters to everyone at Agfa notifying of my intention to revoke
acceptance of such equipment under a standard MN statute. I have heard
no response from the letters nor from Agfa Finance. A few day ago I
received a letter from Bing stating that my lease was sold to Leaf
Funding. I immediately called leaf and explained my position. They
told me that my lease as far as they new was in good standing. Hmmm,
Did Agfa "cook" the books to get a deal to close? The women I talked
to had no idea about what I was telling her and conceded that she
doesn't blame me one bit for not paying on a machine that could
literally break down tomorrow (right before xmas) and not be able to be
fixed until, who knows when rendering it useless or worthless. I
demanded that the president of Leaf contact me about picking up my
equipment as I have new more dependaple Fuji labs coming to replace
them soon. I have heard no response. Something fishing is definately
going on and I have about 20 fellow dlab owners on board if this thing
goes to court. I would like to get other opinions from Dlab owners on
problems they have been experiencing and the course of action that they
are taking if any. I am thinking class action may be the way to go
here but could be wrong. Please post comments or feel free to call me.

Donald
612-644-4676cell
Minneapolis, MN

wrote:
This topic is for other Agfa minilab equipment owners only!

Sorry, I'm not one. Good luck with the legal issues.

All I want to say is that I'm sorry to see the Dlab go.
Compared to a Frontier, the 300 to 400 dpi difference improves acuity.
And the Dlab scans were far better than Frontier scans and
noticeably better then Noritsu scans.

Too bad Fuji or Kodak didn't buy out the Dlab business.
Perhaps it's just too much of a "maintenance hog" as you put it.

Bill,
I hear you on the quality issue. Nothing beats the Dlab's print
quality.
Thanks for your post!

Donald

I am a DLab owner and I'm with you on a class action if you get it together.
I know people in management there who admit that Agfa has been
single-mindedly working towards bankrupting the company and screwing us for
over a year, so this is no surprise, but DLab owners are all over the world
so it's going to be a nightmare to get any kind of action going. Every owner
sees it from a different perspective.

I've been waiting for a PM kit since April. Fortunately, the machine is
still in good working order. Unfortunately therefore, I have no immediate
claim to stop payments over what *might* happen. I know of several owners in
my area who are in the same boat who've been asking if anyone is thinking
about a class action, so I'll pass this along. Also, I'd like to post your
message on the dlabglobal group on Yahoo. Until now, that's the only place
I've found where DLab owners share their opinions on the net.

If we go to court, however, there'll be nothing left to get. As I understand
it, all the assets of the company are gone or already pledged, so we may win
and get nothing and be left out in the cold paying for leases on equipment
that is eventually worthless. Not paying Leaf would be acceptable or
possibly some form of gap insurance that would pay for the machine if parts
were not available. As I understand it though, the Uniform Commercial Code
allows us to get screwed in this way under the law. I hope I'm wrong, and
possibly MN law is different than it is here in NJ, but I think that banking
rules demand that the financial arrangements continue regardless of the
equipment service conditions.

It's a great machine too. And Kodak and Durst have sold the same machine
under their brand names. What are they doing about service for their
customers?

john castronovo
tech photo & imaging
fairfield, nj




wrote in message
oups.com...
This topic is for other Agfa minilab equipment owners only! Unless
your dropping over $4,000/month I feel you can not possibly understand
the following. I own 2 dlabs ($9,000+/month) and am deeply concerned
on whether or not I will be able to get service and more importantly
parts for many years to come to support these maintenance hogs. At the
end of the year, we now know that Agfa will no longer exist. We have
been notified by Bing himself of the closing of the company. I know of
2 other dlab owners who have parts on back order with no ETA. I
believe it is only a matter of time befor a Out of Stock part goes bad
on my equipment and then I will be screwed. I do not want to take that
chance nor can I afford to be down for more then one day especially
during xmas. At the advice of my legal counsel, I have stopped paying
on both my machines over 3 months ago. I got one call from Agfa
Finance and I explained my position. I said until I essentially have
a gurantee that I'll be able to get parts and service for the next 4
years that I would not be paying another penny. I have sent certified
letters to everyone at Agfa notifying of my intention to revoke
acceptance of such equipment under a standard MN statute. I have heard
no response from the letters nor from Agfa Finance. A few day ago I
received a letter from Bing stating that my lease was sold to Leaf
Funding. I immediately called leaf and explained my position. They
told me that my lease as far as they new was in good standing. Hmmm,
Did Agfa "cook" the books to get a deal to close? The women I talked
to had no idea about what I was telling her and conceded that she
doesn't blame me one bit for not paying on a machine that could
literally break down tomorrow (right before xmas) and not be able to be
fixed until, who knows when rendering it useless or worthless. I
demanded that the president of Leaf contact me about picking up my
equipment as I have new more dependaple Fuji labs coming to replace
them soon. I have heard no response. Something fishing is definately
going on and I have about 20 fellow dlab owners on board if this thing
goes to court. I would like to get other opinions from Dlab owners on
problems they have been experiencing and the course of action that they
are taking if any. I am thinking class action may be the way to go
here but could be wrong. Please post comments or feel free to call me.

Donald
612-644-4676cell
Minneapolis, MN

John,

Please give me a call when you get a chance. I'm just trying to touch
base with everyone that is interested in taking up the fight with Agfa
or now I guess Leaf Funding.

Donald
612-644-4676cell after noon

There is yet another more current site dealing with the issues of the
Agfa Dlab leases and service/parts dept. The site can be found at
http://www.dlabusers.com/
There is a group of us here in the Mpls. area that
had a meeting last Friday
evening. The bottom line is that we are going to
hire 1 attorney as a group
and find out what we can do legally. Obviously,
without service, we are all
in trouble. Check out the dlabusers group on the ipi
website. Doug Vuie with
Metro Photo in Wayzata, MN has a great discussion
going on there. We
would love to have you join the initiative.

We expect to have an answer from our law firm by Friday

Donald
612-644-4676cell after noon please.