It’s been awhile since I posted the first part of my Legacybox review.
About four months now.
I apologize for keeping you waiting. I know some of you have indeed been waiting because we chatted about it on my Facebook page.
So here’s what happened…
Things started off great
After shipping off my Legacybox filled with family memories, the company kept me informed of its progress along the way.
I received emails confirming that they received my box, when they began digitizing my VHS tapes and when they began the rendering process of the digital files.
At that point, I was thinking, “Awesome! These Legacybox folks are really on the ball.”
I really liked the frequent updates from the company, especially since my irreplaceable family memories were in their hands.
On July 23 — a month and three days after the company received my order — I received an email that it had been shipped back to me. Yippie! Legacybox included a FedEx tracking number in the email so I could track the delivery of my order, which I received a week later.
At this point, I still was very impressed with the Legacybox service. They digitized a “Closet” size box of 20 items in a month’s time. I thought it was a fair time frame given the shipping back and forth, etc.
The good…
When I opened the box, the original shipping containers were inside, labeled with my order number. All the digitized discs inside were labeled with my order number.
In addition, the discs were titled exactly as the original tapes — for instance, if my VHS tape was labeled “Recital 1990” that’s what Legacybox labeled the corresponding DVD — which made finding a particular memory a breeze.
The Legacybox staff attached notes to a few of my tapes, indicating that due to their age the transfer might not be the best but they did what they could.
Every memory I sent the company seemed to be accounted for and everything looked good.
The not-so-good…
I quickly found my “baby home movies” disc, which Legacybox digitized from an old Betamax tape. I wanted to to show my daughter what her Momma looked like as a baby.
I pulled it out of the paper sleeve it was shipped in and noticed lots of tiny scratches on the underside of the disc. I opened a few more of the sleeves and looked at the discs. More scratches.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to photograph scratches on the underside of a disc, but it’s not easy! I did my best though, as I wanted to document it for you as well as to show the company.
Against my better judgment, I decided to put the “baby home movies” disc into my DVD player. The disc played for maybe five minutes and then FROZE. When I say froze, I mean I could not stop the disc nor eject it from the player. I couldn’t even turn off the DVD player. It was just STUCK.
As you might imagine, I was not happy at this point. I sent my husband a text immediately and told him about the problem. Later when he got home from work, he had to unplug the DVD player and pry the tray open to retrieve the stuck disc.
I didn’t want to write a bad review…
…without giving Legacybox a chance to make things right first. So I used the “live chat” feature on its website to voice my concern about the scratched discs.
Live chat referred me to email support (questions@legacybox.com) where I received a response within 40 minutes. That’s an amazing response time so I was really grateful to receive such a quick reply.
Legacybox offered to set up a return for me with a prepaid shipping label. I was a bit uneasy about having to ship EVERYTHING — including all my original tapes — back to them again but it seemed like the only option.
The return process
I received an email from Legacybox on Sept. 15 indicating they received my return and that “returns are normally processed in one week.”
After that, the communication stopped. I didn’t receive frequent update emails from the company like I did with my initial order. I was left hanging for more than three weeks.
On Oct. 9, I received an email that my return order was being shipped back to me. I received it on Oct. 15.
What I received from Legacybox
When I opened my return order from Legacybox, the parcel was packaged in a similar manner as the initial order, though I noticed all the DVDs and CDs were arranged on top of my original VHS tapes.
Previously with my initial order, the discs containing the digital files were wedged between my tapes and the back of the box, which I suspect is how they got scratched.
My guess is the discs slid around enough in that space during transit to cause the discs to be scratched by the paper envelopes.
This time, with the discs packaged on top of the VHS tapes, they seemed to be packed more securely. Upon inspection of the new discs, there was only one disc with the faintest of scratches, and one with some smudging from a hand or something. Other than that, this batch of discs looked great and was a huge improvement from my initial experience… yay!
Free USBs for the trouble?
I also want to note that Legacybox included two USBs with my return order. They contain all my digital files. Legacybox offers this option as an add-on to their boxes during the initial order process. The prices range from $15.95 for an 8GB thumb drive with the $75 Starter box to $49.95 for a 64GB thumb drive with the $500 Closet Box package.
I did not order these USBs. Legacybox did not include a note or other documentation explaining their inclusion in my box. I’m left to assume that Legacybox sent these complimentary thumb drives to me because it was a return order and they were trying to make things “right.” I appreciate the gesture, as it will make it easier to share these files digitally with friends and family.
As part of their regular packages, Legacybox includes digital files on CDs with your order. But, because both the CDs and the files are only labeled with your order number, it could be time consuming to figure out which CD has the file you are looking for.
With the USBs, the files are easier to access because multiple files are loaded for previewing (as opposed to inserting one CD into your desktop disc drive, waiting for it to load, looking at the thumbnail then realizing it’s not the file you want, so you have to eject the CD and insert another one).
Would I use Legacybox again?
Yes, I would use Legacybox again to preserve my family memories. Despite my initial order arriving with scratched discs, the company did do everything in their power to make things right. The company re-digitized my entire order on fresh discs at no additional charge. Legacybox also sent me two complimentary USBs containing all my digital files. To me, this demonstrates the company is serious about customer satisfaction.
I also want to be clear that I’m not affiliated with Legacybox in any way. I paid for the Closet box package last fall during one of their sales, which I explain in the first part of my review. I chose to blog about my experience because I didn’t see many Legacybox reviews online when I did a search last year prior to purchasing a box.
No matter what kind of service you use, I truly do believe there is a lot of magic in preserving family memories.
Have you used Legacybox to preserve your family memories? I’d love to hear about your experience. Let me know in the comments or chat me up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
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Karen says
Hello Willow,
I enjoyed reading through your thorough documentation of your experience with Legacybox. I, too, tried to do my research before sending off my movie reels to them.
Sadly, my experience was terrible and they lost everything. Repeated contact has yielded nothing–no solutions, no active attempt to search for the items, no apologies, no compensation, no return calls — nothing. I am so disappointed. I feel like they’ve been deceptive and secretive– I can only conclude that it is because they don’t to be responsible, and, perhaps, it’s a way to hide such bad experiences from the public. I want to say this is the first terrible experience in terms of customer service I’ve ever had–and the first time I’ve felt the need to post such an experience on the internet.
Willow says
Karen, I am so sorry to hear about your experience. :( I can only imagine how heartbroken you must feel to no longer have those memories. Thank you for sharing your experience here for other potential customers to find.
Kim says
Thanks so much to you both for posting your experience with Legacybox. I am happy to pass on this company and still have my keepsakes. Poor Karen, I do hope you will eventually get your stuff returned. Keeping things of this nature from their owners is like keeping their pets, it is immoral.
What a great service you are providing here Willow!
Martha says
Thanks for the above comments. I will hang on to my tapes and not use this service as there are not enough reviews for me to send years of memory into oblivion.
Lauren says
Hi Willow,
I just read about legacy box in the recent issue of Good Housekeeping. Then I started doing my search for reviews online and came across your blog. I have always considered doing this with costco’s photo center but they don’t offer the USB option. I use mac computers that don’t even have a DVD drive. It seems converting outdated technology to a DVD which will eventually be outdated is a little silly. I don’t even own a DVD player as I stream everything through apple TV and amazon fire. I am temped to try this service but the thought of losing my memories like Karen did is too terrifying. Thank you for your thorough review. At this point I am still undecided, I’ve been wanting to convert my 8mm for the past 10 years but have been waiting patiently for an affordable option.
I would also be curious to see if anyone out there has purchased a converting machine and had success doing it themselves.
Willow says
Hi Lauren. Thanks for stopping by, and for taking the time to comment. I’m on a Macbook now, but when I had my PC, I purchased software to convert my VHS tapes to video files. It worked well but was time-consuming. It’s why I eventually decided to give Legacybox a try. Maybe software exists to help convert the 8mm? Best of luck to you.
Deborah says
Just another heads-up regarding Legacybox; this company is questionable. Just received my box back with one 6 minute DVD from 2 reels of 16 mm film and one 8 mm labeled “unable to convert questionable material”. The 8mm reel is not from us; tried to look at it in the light and it appears to be pornographic. My 71 year old brother in law and 68 year old sister were trying to convert film of their kids when they were little. The film was included in the box with this label thinking we wouldn’t question it; they probably destroyed the tape in the conversion process and included this one in our box. I got this for them as a gift; I will be doing a charge-back with the credit card company. Someone above mentioned an online chat feature; they have removed that from their site as they probably couldn’t handle the volume of problems.
Charlotte P says
I don’t trust companies that won’t post their location even if their business model is dotcom. They should be fully transparent when dealing with a clients precious property.
Right off the bat—this is a thumbs down.
Sam says
You All are very helpful…thank k you for taking the time…I will NOT betaking the chance with this company either
My memories are too valuable to me to trust with a company who has done these kind of things to Karen …and I’m sure to many others. Keep us all posted if anyone finds a solution to get them converted
Jo says
Jury’s still out. I recently sent in my first of two orders purchased through a Groupon for
the LegacyCollection, which includes 15 items each to send in. When they sent the boxes for my order, each included the pamphlet (which is vague at best and mostly advertising to get you excited about the process) which holds the Barcode stickers, labeled 01 -24 and each beginning with your order number before it and the barcode above it. You use the extra barcode stickers for additional items you would like to include but didn’t pay for in your original order, at a discounted price of $14 instead of the normal $25 (each). That’s reasonable and a nice way to do that since they send a big enough box that can hold many more items, and you will undoubtedly want to send in more once you start going through all your memories.
Some of the information on the website conflicts with the instructions in the pamphlet they send with the box instructing you how to label and load the items. One of the things I found confusing was that the pictures in the pamphlet and in the ads all show the items being packed into a nice looking gray Legacybox, which is then packed into what they call a kraft mailer box to return to them with your order. I did not receive that gray box and ended up having to find reliable packing material (for the kraft box) to ensure all of my items were protected during shipping. When I emailed them with that question, I did not get a clear answer. The email I sent also included the more vital question of why I received barcodes allowing for 10 items each box instead of the 15 I ordered. To that question, I also received a vague answer that didn’t address what I needed to do or what they would do on their end except to contact them once I received my DVDs for an adjustment. That wasn’t the answer I needed.
I really thought it would have been simpler to just mail my 15 items in (for each boxed order) and then have them adjust any charges once I receive my DVDs. I don’t mind doing that as long as it is resolved but they did not address this for me. So, I’m going to take my chances and do it anyway and see what happens. They will likely honor that and credit my account if extra charges are made, from what it sounds like from Willow’s experience.
I see that my response is 2 years later, so this may be a moot point altogether and this company has worked out some issues but since this is recent I thought it was worth pointing out. I will be curious to see how long the order takes. I used another company a few years ago, on the West Coast, but it took them months to complete the order and that made me a nervous wreck! However, I feel that it may be safer to send to a company that is at least in your same time zone. Tennessee is a long way from Oregon and the more the shipping process the items have to go through, the bigger the chances of a screw up.
This looks like a reliable company so we’ll see how this goes. I plan to make a phone call to them tomorrow instead of this email back and forth that does not get me answers.
Thanks for letting me vent!!
Diana says
I used legacy box and they sent me back someone else’s home video, sent me multiple copies of a set of pictures and then didn’t digitalize half of them(though thankfully I received them all back). I would most definitely NOT recommend them. When contacting them about it all, they said to just resend the photos that they didn’t scan and to just delete the strangers home video. No reimbursement, no apology. I hope this review helps someone else.
Chelle Davis says
Unfortunately all didn’t come on the Thumb drive I paid extra for… all the disc seemed to be poor quality – BUT you have to remember they can’t improve the quality of these if they are old. Biggest problem is that they entire tapes/film was not transposed so things got cut off… so I am not really happy for paying so much for this. I have reached out to them about the thumb drive and they refunded that. I am waiting to hear back on why so many of the VHS and 8mm were not fully transferred.
Elizabeth Lanceleve says
Thanks for your review it was so helpful! One question I had was can you make a copy of the disk or usb files to send to another family member?
Pat Larkin says
My experience with Legacybox has been a nightmare and I would give only one recommendation…DO NOT EVER USE THEM!!! I thought I was lucky to have a Groupon to save a ton, but it was the beginning of a horrible ordeal still unresolved! First, I never got the original box, so months later I contacted them and they sent out another one. That should have been a warning sign! So it finally came and after months of sorting thru boxes of photos…some 100 years old…I sent off 600 photos, 15 VCR tapes and 1 8mm movie. I was busy thru the Summer and never gave it much thought until Sept and checked online to see it was in the process of Digitizing so I waited a few more weeks and when I looked again it had never moved! So I finally contacted someone and the end of Oct. and expressed my fear that my precious items had either been sent to someone else or been lost! I then received my box a few weeks later…but nothing had been processed and the movie was missing! I have now been weeks trying to get my money back from them with no luck! I am only thankful my entire box was not lost or destroyed…but my priceless movie is still amongst the missing! DO NOT USE LEGACYBOX…EVER!!!
Cindy K. says
Hi Willow,
I appreciate your blog. I just got my Legacy box back with no DVDs. I paid for the Closet set ($499) and “ADDED” the back up jump drive for an additional $49. Since I ordered the jump drive they are telling me I don’t get the DVDs. They are telling me I need to send more$$ to get the DVDs. I am not happy….yet. Any advice? They seem to have rectified your situation. Thanks for thoughts.
Kathy Frank says
I wish I had found these reviews before my brothers and I ordered the $500.00 package for my folks for christmas. At first it seemed like a great company. I had questions, they answered. But I received my box back last friday, very excited to see (out of 20 items including reels, super 8 reels and slides, there was 1 dvd). I inserted it in the dvd player and the message read “{Please eject disc. Playback feature may not be available on this disc”.
I tried to call but was told the volume of calls was too great and to email them. I’ve emailed 4 times and each time receive a message telling me to go to their “help center”. Now, I can’t find their phone number! There’s nothing there that pertains to my problem. They did send back the slides, etc that I had mailed to them. After reading all this, I’m scared. If they do want me to sent it back again, I’m worried I’ll never see them again. Some of these are 60 years old, my dad’s time in Korea and on.
Allen Carson says
Avoid them. I sent some video tapes and thirteen rolls of negatives. I got back the digitized tapes and the originals, but they apparently lost the rolls of negatives. I say apparently, because no one in customer service will get back to me. It’s bad enough that they lost something I can never replace, but their utter lack of follow up is infuriating. NEVER send anything to them if you want to see it again.
SUE says
This is a “company” that does not live up to what you pay for. Originally, after spending weeks/days/hours sorting 175 pictures – separating them into 7 packets with 25 pictures placed in each packet (as instructed by LEGACY BOX) and within each packet the pictures were put in chronological order – we waited patiently for our “legacy DVD’s! We sent 3 VHS tapes and 2- 9MM film rolls in addition to the packets of pictures. What we got back was 3 blank DVD’s and 2 DVD’s of partial VHS/9MM pictures. NOT 1 DVD WITH PHOTOS! After complaining we were contacted via email to return the MESS and they would check it out and make it right. You could tell no once even touched the packets of pictures originally because they were in the same order as when we packed them. Fast Forward – Yes we were gullible enough to believe them that if we returned everything, they’d make it right. WELL, even more disappointed – FINALLY got our long awaited legacy box back and would not recommend anyone ever use this company or services! Oh yes our pictures were put on a DVD – all messed up, no time table, a couple pictures from 1 packet then 3 from another then one from an entirely different packet on the disk – DISGUSTING! Now we get to spend hours resorting and using a REPUTABLE SERVICE – would love to get our money back including the additional we had to send for the addition 50 pictures!
Ron says
I placed a order with legacybox what a fiasco. They have had my order since the 22 of January and I keep getting caned supply.
Nathaly (Legacybox)
May 8, 4:56 PM EDT
Hello,
I’m sorry that your orders are taking longer than expected. Due to the nature of our process, the typical amount of time an order is in our facility can vary for each individual order. But I want to assure you that our team is hard at work, and we’re doing everything we can to get your order completed and back to you as soon as we can. Due to the circumstances, I have been authorized to prioritize your orders in our system.
I would never use this company again….
Rosemary C. Reichlin says
I wish I had read these reviews before I sent my precious footage of my babies first two years, audio of my beloved (deceased) grandfather’s speech at his 50th wedding anniversary, and LOTS of photos. They were lost before they ever got to Legacy Box (by the shipper LB uses) and they just threw up their hands, basically and said oh well. No sense of urgency, no comprehensive search, no communication unless I sent multiple emails, FB messages, and phone calls. NEVER NEVER use this company. Oh, and I’m in Canada, which they tell me they no longer service, so there is no motivation for them to help me.