Kodak is the most recognizable brand in the photography industry and is usually synonymous with quality. However, they aren’t as well known for their digitizing services, so if you want to make sure you get the best results for your old VHS tapes, movie films, family photos, and other precious memories, then it’s a good idea to evaluate Kodak Digitizing reviews.
Capture offers over 20 years of experience creating digital copies of over 12 million family memories, so we understand this industry, what customers look for, the biggest concerns, and how to go above and beyond. That’s why we put together this comprehensive guide to Kodak Digitizing reviews.
Keep reading to learn about Kodak Digitizing’s services and features, what customers say about their experience, how they stack up against competitors, and our own expert take on Kodak Digitizing as a choice for your family memories.
Jump to:
- Understanding Kodak Digitizing’s Offerings
- What Customers Are Saying: Kodak Digitizing Reviews
- Kodak Digitizing vs. Competitors
- Capture.com’s Take on Kodak Digitizing
Understanding Kodak Digitizing’s Offerings
You want to choose the best company to digitize home movies, films, and photos, and doing so starts with understanding what your options offer. The first thing you should know is that Kodak Digitizing Box is not a product that’s operated by Kodak itself.
Instead, these orders are processed by AMB Media, a company located in Chattanooga, Tennessee that also owns LegacyBox and Southtree. Because of that, it’s a good idea to view Kodak Digitizing as a separate entity from the Kodak you know, love, and trust.
That’s also why they offer similar products and services as LegacyBox including Kodak Digitizing Boxes for 2 items, 10 items, 20 items, and 40 items. You mail your home videos, films, and photos in these boxes with your included shipping label, and they will return them as well as the digital format DVD, and USB thumb drive versions in 12 weeks.
Kodak Digitizing excels at digitizing home movies and photos in a wide variety of formats including:
- Videotapes including VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, Video8, MiniDV, Betamax, MicroMV, PAL format VHS, and Digital8
- Photos including 35mm negative scanning, photo prints, 35mm slides, and 126 slides
- Film including 8mm, 16mm, and Super 8 film reels
- Audio including both audio cassettes and reel-to-reel audio
While their website looks great with detailed FAQs, exceptional claims, satisfaction guarantees, and a promise of trust and status updates, does Kodak Digitizing customer feedback reinforce these statements or tell a completely opposing story?
What Customers Are Saying: Kodak Digitizing Reviews
Since Kodak is a much larger company with various services in addition to its digitizing box, it’s a little harder to find specific customer reviews. However, as we mentioned previously, Kodak Digitizing Box is managed and operated by Southtree, so we can start there. Additionally, you can check LegacyBox reviews since they are also a digitizing box brand operated by Southtree and their services closely resemble Kodak Digitizing.
If you check the Kodak Digitizing Reviews from their official website, you see tons of positive experiences including, “Excellent service on an old 8mm tape that I had” and many other 5-star Kodak Digitizing customer stories that praise customer service, easy process, and quality results for family movies and photos.
However, you get a clearer picture from third-party websites like Yelp and Trustpilot where you see lots of Southtree and LegacyBox complaints that are likely to occur with Kodak Digitizing Box as well. Third party sites have positive reviews that highlight good quality throughout ordering, shipping, and viewing old memories.
Unfortunately, Southtree also has lots of negative reviews and holds a 3.6-star rating on Sitejabber and an incredibly low 2.8-star rating on Yelp. The main issues that come up with all three services, including Kodak Digitizing, are extensive turnaround time of longer than 12 weeks, expensive services, poor customer service, and low quality or blurry results.
In fact, some people have said it takes up to 6 months or longer for their digital video and audio recordings to be returned. Even more alarming is the number of stories related to these companies of lost analog videotapes, photo books, and old film reels.
For example, on Yelp one unsatisfied customer said, “Enticed by slick marketing materials, I submitted materials to KODAK DIGITIZING service, on 22 December. Now 16 weeks later my order is still not process, with several more weeks to go according to the representative I contacted by phone.”
One of the worst reviews states, “Southtree, Legacy Box, and Kodak Digitizing are all the same company. This is the worst company I have ever dealt with, and their customer services is useless…. They LOST my original photos, priceless memories, and put the thumb drive in the same box with the originals. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS.”
Kodak Digitizing vs. Competitor
After browsing the reviews, it is also a good idea to compare Kodak Digitizing with other competitors like Capture, iMemories, and even the separate brands all owned by Southtree.
Most competitors in this industry offer very similar services, but Kodak Digitizing focuses solely on the memory box format, similar to LegacyBox. If you compare the pricing between these two brands, you’ll see that Kodak Digitizing, despite being the same service fulfilled at the same processing center, has a higher regular price.
However, their commonly discounted prices are lower than LegacyBox, so if you can time it right you can possibly get Kodak Digitizing Box for a little less than LegacyBox. That being said, neither option is cheap. When you compare Kodak Digitizing and LegacyBox vs Capture, you’ll immediately notice that the regular pricing for 2 items, 10 items, 20 items, or 40 items, is pretty close if you’re digitizing video tapes.
The difference comes with other formats, like film. Capture charges $29.99 for the first 100 feet of film and only 25 cents per food after that. Kodak Digitizing charges per reel, regardless of size. That means the regular price for 2 three-inch reels, or 100 feet of film, is $69.99, much more than Capture. The same discrepancy is seen with photos where 500 photos converted into digital files will cost over $300 more with Kodak Digitizing than Capture.
If you check out other competitors, like ScanCafe or iMemories, you will see that they offer a faster turnaround than Kodak Digitizing as well. Plus, ScanCafe and iMemories reviews in general are better than Kodak Digitizing and their pricing is closer to Capture’s low pricing structure.
Capture.com’s Take on Kodak Digitizing
There are a lot of great options for digitizing your memories, but after seeing so many Kodak Digitizing complaints as well as the cost of Kodak Digitizing services, we suggest you choose a different option for your most priceless memories.
What alarms us the most is the fact that multiple people say that Southtree, LegacyBox, or Kodak Digitizing lost their priceless memories, despite claiming to track barcodes. That’s why Capture spent millions of dollars on a state-of-the-art tracking and security system to monitor your family memories through every hand and all the way back to you.
We do like that Kodak Digitizing offers a free digital download and playback, while less credible companies sometimes include that as an add-on price. However, Capture also offers a complimentary download as well.
Plus, our team will also splice and clean your Super 8, 8mm film, or 16 mm film reels, provide case replacement for VHS tape repair, offer pro quality trusted by over 12 million families, and use the first-ever touchless photo album scanning process in the world.
Conclusion
Kodak is a well-known and reputable company, but its digitizing services are fulfilled by another brand. When you look through Kodak Digitizing Reviews, you’ll see some praise that highlights good quality results, friendly customer service, and professional websites.
However, there are several negative comments that arise over and over including exorbitant fees, lengthy turnaround time, and even lost memories. While it might be tempting to use a DIY video capture card or film scanner off of Amazon to convert your memories and make sure they are never lost, Capture offers a satisfaction guarantee and industry-leading security for your priceless memories.
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