PhotoPoint: User photos return - at a price!
By
Mike Tomkins
(Tuesday, March 5, 2002 - 11:24 EST)
Almost three months after it closed doors, the online photofinisher offers users a chance to get their photos back for around $30...
Online photofinisher PhotoPoint.com, whose parent company Pantellic Software Inc. folded in mid-December - causing the site to suddenly cease service without warning to its many users - has now announced that members will get a chance to retrieve their missing photos. Unfortunately, many PhotoPoint members entrusted the company with their only copies of images, and we've seen numerous desperate emails asking how these photos can be retrieved.
It now seems that a chance to restore these photos is definitely coming, hopefully some time this week. Some users are likely to be disappointed by the price - $24.95 plus shipping and C.O.D. charges, which makes it likely the total cost will be around $30 all-in. We're sure that equally many users who made the mistake of giving the company their 'digital negatives' will be more than happy to hand over the money and get their images back, though.
For our part, we're glad to see this story coming to an end in what has seemed about the only possible manner. The chance of PhotoPoint ever returning to service has seemed slim - after twice vanishing without warning and putting users through a tumultuous period where they weren't sure if and when they'd get their photos back, the PhotoPoint name has been tarnished. Even had the company brought the site back as it had considered attempting to do, it is likely that most users would only have resubscribed for long enough to retrieve images before moving on to another service they felt could be better trusted.
The important thing is that photos will be restored to users who most need them - and who hence will not be put off by cost. We'd strongly suggest all users of online photo-hosting companies learn a lesson from the PhotoPoint story, and ensure their photos are carefully backed up...
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