Mark has been holding my mothers photograph for 2 years now. He has 2 treasured photos of mine, and also $200, as well as a return Fedex envelope that I sent to him when he tried to jack the price of a 4x6 inch restoration to $900. I balked, he kept my deposit, and won't return the photos. What kind of soul does a thing like this? I read too late that he has done this to others. Hopefully you won't. PS Mark just responded., and characteristically.. lied through his teeth. I sent him 2 photos in good condition needing touch ups. When his price changed dramatically, I told him he could keep the $200 deposit and give me my photos back. IT's been 2 years and he won't return my possessions. He's done this to others.. which I discovered by reading his many odious reviews. You cannot believe this man. He is not only a cheat and a liar, he has a black heart. What he has done to people, keeping their personal treasures.. is unconscionable. BE WARNED. read more

Mark and his team did an excellent job with repairing, restoring and replicating some older and vintage photos for my family. I would recommend them strongly. It is not a fast process but it is worth the wait. read more

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Beautiful work done by Restorations. I had a picture of my husband who passed away years ago. I found that it was all moldy and pretty much falling apart. Mark and his crew put it back together like it was brand new. fabulous work and so happy with the job better than well done. Thank you for keeping our memories alive! read more

Fantastic work and great service! This company did a superb job with my photograph, which was badly damaged and of course the only one! They worked quickly to get the new ones to me in time to frame for the Holidays, and I am so grateful Absolutely Outstanding, I so appreciate it. It will really be a very Merry Christmas They did a magnificent job! read more

My grandparents had this old & deteriorating photo of my great great grandparents they wanted to have restored. I found Photograph Restoration online and gave them a call to get a quote. They worked with me on a price and I quickly mailed out the photo to be restored. They did an absolutely beautiful job and were informative, genuine, and honest throughout the whole process. It took awhile to have the new & old photo finished due to Covid 19, but it was worth it. Thank you to Mark & all the staff for restoring this incredibly sentimental photo for my grandparents & I. read more

Photograph Restoration - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

Extremely communicative about the whole process. Very happy with the restoration of my one and only photo of my entire family. Mark even provided me with an extra copy that I could give to my brother. A bit on the pricey side, but you get what you pay for. read more

Photograph Restoration Team, Thank you for a such a beautiful restoration of our pictures! We never imagined that these memories that we treasured would be restored to such perfection and high quality. It was a pleasure doing business with you. We look forward to continue doing work with you in the future and will make sure to recommend your company to our family and friends. Sincerely, Irene Gutiérrez read more

I just picked up a portrait that I had worked on. It was an extremely complicated endeavor that involved removing one person, centrally located in a family portrait. I am blown away at how beautiful the portrait turned out. It is so much better than I ever expected. It was expensive and labor intensive, but worth every single penny! read more

I'm thrilled with the restoration of this family photograph. Photograph Restoration did an amazing job! They kept me informed every step of the way and if I had a question they answered me promptly. I will be forever grateful. I can't wait to get this framed and hung. I highly recommend their services!!! read more

Photograph Restoration - Sun damaged photo (left) and restored photo (right) - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

When my mom passed away she had about 20-30 old audio cassette tapes that were of my grandfather and later my father reciting poetry and some of family gatherings, etc. A number of the tapes had been made on old reel to reel recorders or even on LP albums discs and were later transfered to cassettes. When I got them the cassettes where so deteriorated I couldn't hear the voices because of all the crackling sounds. When I got them back it made me cry, I was clearly hearing my grandfather's voice from before I was born. Thank you for that priceless gift. read more

I sent Photograph Restoration the only remaining copies of my Marine boot camp graduation picture in my dress blues. The picture was badly damaged. Parts of the picture was missing and the obvious discoloration. This was my first experience using anyone to restore a photo and I must say, Photograph Restoration didn't disappoint. The restored photo was PERFECT in every detail. It was a bit costly, but very much worth it, if the picture is of any value to you. I have family heirloom photos that I need restored and I will definitely be a return customer. I highly recommend Photograph Restoration. read more

I highly recommend Photo Restoration. Mark worked with me extensively to get my badly fire damaged photo back to original condition. Yes you may pay a bit more but the results are remarkable. read more

I just received my photos back and I must say they look great. He made a 70 year old photo that was torn, faded and stained look brand new. The experience I had dealing with this company was nothing but positive from the beginning to end. I'm not going to say it wasn't expensive, but I always felt that you get what you pay for. Money well spent! read more

I never got as far as actually using the service offered by Chamberlain Restoration. I contacted them via email and someone called me. I explained that I had an old photo that was wallet size and that I wanted to get it cleaned up and enlarged. The guy I spoke with told me that usually runs around $100 but he wouldn't know until I sent him the photo. I agreed and sent my photo. I received another call around 8:30pm one evening from the same guy. He told me he received my photo and the paper I filled out at his request, which included a description of what I wanted done. He explained that now it would cost me $199 for one photo. I asked for an email with his quote and an explanation of what he would do. He tried to weasel out of it stating it was a clear price. I told him I was shopping around. He then started asking me questions which were clearly answered in the paperwork I filled out. When I pointed this out he got defensive and upset. He then started telling me I was being rude and condescending. I stopped listening when he said he would return the photo and hung up. He was unprofessional and only had issues with me once I asked for something in writing. Once I came on Yelp and saw the horrible reviews he had, it was clear that I should not have contacted him in the first place. Lesson learned, look the company up before you contact them. I sincerely hope to help others avoid dealings with this company. read more

I sent in three family photos, paid two hundred dollars each to have them restored, and was terribly disappointed. The work done simply wasn't professional quality. They looked like they had been scanned and Photoshopped by an amateur. I sent them back and requested a partial refund, but no luck. I am so sorry I took a chance. Six hundred dollars is a lot of money to me. read more

Be prepared to fork out big money for this service. I wasted $37 shipping my pictures there and back because even though I was able to send him a copy of the pictures, he said he couldn't give me an estimate. I sent in 5 faded pictures. No damage other than fading. He wanted $100 PER PICTURE. I'm out $37 with no photo restoration. read more

After discussing with Mark that my picture that was only faded, and knowing the size of the picture, he was not able to quote me any price or give me an estimate of what it might run to restore. So after going through the hassle of sending my picture, he then quoted $300! Really? That was way out of the range for a photo that was only faded. I declined to use his service. Prior to returning my photo, he waited for my check to clear (thats cool) but then required an additional 10 work days to BE SURE the check cleared (What?). It was annoying as he only gave the option to pay by check. The shipping cost close to $70, all to have my picture held hostage. Wish I had read these other reviews! I learned my lesson. Safe yourself the distress and DONT use this guy. read more

What a magnificent experience...Mark and his entire staff of technicians performed what I thought was the "Impossible". I submitted a 65 year old, dilapidated,deteriorated, mold infested photo of my parents wedding. Like a magician, Mark and his team of experts went immediately to work, and delivered to me a sheer masterpiece of excellence. I cried upon receiving and unveiling this beautiful restoration project. A ten star rating would be most appropriate for your work. read more

I was so very DISAPPOINTED when I rec'd my "RESTORED pictures. The original prints were somewhat faded but the people in the pics were discernable. The "restored" pics did not make the people clearer, only the color was brighter. I was supposed to receive 5x7 prints but I received 4x5 prints with borders making the PAPER 5x7. I live in Texas so maybe that's why my service was below par. I can't walk into the studio to raise the roof and demand a refund. The cost of this "bought lesson" was $250 .00 minus return shipment fee. Lesson learned: IF YOU CAN'T PHYSICALLY GO INTO THIS BUSINESS , DON'T USE THIS COMPANY TO RESTORE YOUR PICTURES. read more

We are more than thrilled with our 50 year old photo. It was fading away and they saved this special memory for us forever. Couldnt be happier!!! It takes weeks but was sooo worth it!!! read more

Photograph Restoration - We picked this artist from the internet. My 50 year old cheerleading photo was fading away. We love the results! - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

Very happy with the service I received from Photograph Restoration and the results of the restoration. I mailed them an 8" X 10" photo of my infant son that had been crushed behind a drawer for approximately 20 years. They sent back a restoration that was literally perfect. All the people I interacted with on the phone were clear and professional. I was nervous using a company that I found on the internet, never having seen their work in person, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I will use them again. read more

I'm extremely, extremely disappointed in this company because of 4 reasons and want to warn others not to do business with this company: 1. I chose to use this company because of their statements that they wash and clean the film, so that their end result product is superior. I was totally disappointed when my 8mm film to digital product was returned to me with a huge hair dancing on the screen right in the middle of the frame. I have watched my movies uncountable times and I have a small editor which I watched my movies on prior to sending them in and there was no giant hair that wouldn't go away. Mark writes below the excuse to say that the hair was from my film camera when I shot it, I say B.S.! When I complained Mark put the onus on me to prove this and if I could then I would have to pack everything up and send it all back for a redo. Why should I? It should have never had this issue. 2. I submitted over a dozen short film reels of 8 and Super 8mm film. As far as I can tell none of them was cleaned in any manner whatsoever and there was no color correction, or exposure correction done whatsoever. These corrective processes where in this company's marketing statements, which lead me to choose this company. 3.They overcharged me, they verbally quoted me $250 and the final cost was $600. They only give you a true cost price once they have all of your film. Since it took time and money to send it to them and their marketing boasted services that I wanted, I accepted this much higher cost, hoping that I would be happy with the costlier end product. I have two plane tickets to fly round trip from Orlando to Cleveland and back and they cost $600, so how can a dozen or so 3 inch reels and a couple 5 inch reels about 40 minutes of viewing, transferred to DVD cost nearly the same, seriously? 4. They will not take a credit card and wanted money upfront which means that I have no financial recourse with receiving the inferior product. read more

You, Mark are a liar. Your smooth talk is a mask. You did not do anything you claimed you did in your comment but I'm not surprised. I would guess that all of the positive reviews were posted by you, yourself. You're a liar and a thief. I've communicated with others who's experience was the same as mine. We have no recourse, unfortunately. People should look on other websites that post reviews about you. There are many. Actually, I pity you Mark. I really do. read more

Do not use Chamberlain Restoration. I called and spoke with the owner about the project that I needed done-- a wedding photo restoration that I needed complete before my Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. I sent him the only photo that they have of their wedding day. He promised that the photo would be ready on the day that I needed it. I received an invoice, and when I called about payment, I was informed that they did not take credit or debit cards (who doesn't take these?!?) and that I would need to send in a check with the invoice, but that they would go ahead and start on the project right away. So, I sent in a personal check. When I called on the day it was to be ready, I was informed that the photo was indeed ready, but that they would not release it to me for 2 weeks because they wait 10 days after the check has cleared! Why was I not informed of this to begin with? I would have been happy to send cash or a cashiers check or a wire transfer. I absolutely required the photo that day since I was having it made into a large photo canvas and it would take time to have that crafted. You can't have a wedding anniversary party without a wedding picture! So after speaking with one of the front desk employees, I was told that I could go to my bank and have them print off a confirmation of the check being processed. I left work to go do this, only to find out at the bank that they hadn't even deposited the check, yet. So, I call again and speak with the owner, and after much arguing about how he can't give me my photo because I might "steal from him", he says to go back to my bank and send a wire transfer (which is rather expensive, fyi). I go back to my bank, am sitting at the bank manager's desk filling out the wire transfer, and then I call them to get their bank information and they inform me that they cannot accept wire transfers (which is ridiculous, all banks accept them) and not to worry about it, my check is fine and they will send me the photo. So, again, I head back to work, only to receive another phone call stating that the owner changed his mind and wants a wire transfer now and he is requesting this because I was being "difficult". Talk about horrible customer service! So, I turn around, go back to my bank, and start the whole wire transfer process again. I call and get the information for their bank account, only to then discover that the routing number is incorrect. I call back again and the girl continues to tell me that the information is correct and that my bank, who is on the official wire transfer network, is the one making the mistake. When I try to explain that I personally can see the error message, the girl gets mad and informs me that she can no longer deal with me and I need to talk to their Financial Manager (Why was I not speaking with her to begin with if they had one!??!) While I am sitting in the bank, waiting for the Financial Manager to call me, I call their bank and obtain the correct routing number. How hard is that?!? A customer has to do their job! Needless to say, worst business experience I have ever had. I would rather burn all of my personal photos and cut off my left arm then deal with this business ever again. The BBB says they have an A+ rating. That is complete bull. The owner CLEARLY paid them off for the rating. Once you scroll down farther on the rating, it shows that this business is not an accredited business. Wish I would have known that sooner!! BEWARE! read more

Sent a photo for restoration- quote to restore entire photo was $500 plus $30 shipping. I agreed to a partial restoration for $200. What I received a month later was my original with the glass broken, and a blurry, washed out copy that looked like it had been done on a home printer, and the only "restoration" was what I could have accomplished with a black sharpie. The original is now adhered to the broken glass, and I feel ripped off. Contacting him with my concerns did nothing to remedy the situation. Do NOT do business with this thief. read more

Based on what I saw on his website, I hired Mr.Chamberlain to restore several family photos. He did a good job on the black and white photos, but the work on the color photos was unacceptable. He charged me $186. to reproduce a color photo. The reproduction was blurry and looked like a series of dots on photo paper. Definitely not something you would frame and put up in your house. I sent Mr. Chamberlain an e-mail asking for a refund. He called and told me that the photo was out of focus when it was taken and that there were other problems with the original photo. Didn't he think this should have been shared with me before he took my money???? He admitted that the people who hire him expect him to restore the photos to like-new. If he knew he could not perform as expected he should have told me from the onset. Obviously, he wanted my money and was willing to sell his integrity for $186. The guy isn't honest and is not going to deliver what he promises. I'm going to sue him to get my money back. Unless you want to deal with the same headache, go somewhere else. read more

I sent a photo of my grandparents that I thought would be impossible to revive. These artists brought them back to life. And a HUMAN called me to confirm what I wanted. I will definitely use this firm again as I continue to sort through family photos. read more

Do not do business with this company. I sent them my photo and they requested a check for $600.00. I was not comfortable with sending a check before I saw the work so cancelled the order within 24 hours. Now they're holding my pictures hostage and saying I owe them $200 for the work they did in the 24 hours. I requested that they send me a copy of what they've done so far and they said they don't have to do anything. So now my pictures are with them being held hostage. I am contacting the police. This is definitely a fradulent company. read more

Spoke to Mark, who said he was the owner, on the phone and ended up sending them two old color photos to restore. I was on a very tight deadline for a 100th birthday celebration. Before I sent them, Mark told me the work could be in the $100 to $200 range for each picture. After I sent the photos, Mark called me to tell me the photos were really, really bad, and they would cost $399 each. Stupidly, I agreed. I was then informed it would require a cashier's check, which makes more sense now in retrospect. I sent the check. Below is the email I sent to them after I got the fuzzy, enlarged, "restored" pictures: "I am extremely disappointed in the results. I am not so much surprised at the low quality resolution, and the fuzzy appearance of the magnification, as I am surprised that this level of quality cost $800.00, and that you recommended magnification to 4 X 6 at all. The pictures were obviously not clear enough to enlarge. If I had realized this was all that could be done with the pictures, I would have found someone else to do this cheaper, or just had Walgreens do them in black and white for a couple bucks. More to the point, I would have asked for them to simply be done at the original size. Maybe the color would be no better, but they would not look so unfocused." I received a response from "The Studio Assistants" that they "placed" my "file" on "Mark's desk to review". That was eight days ago. I've heard nothing since. Don't use these guys. read more

When you inquire about restoration of an original, not a copy but an actual restoration, Mark says he wants to physically see your photo[s] and will email a shipping label. Use it and your photo[s] will be held for ransom. If after getting an estimate you decide not to use his outrageously overpriced service [$200-$400 to make a copy?!] he'll charge you about $60 to send it back. The 100+ year old photo I sent was 5" in diameter, was adhered to a tin frame, and couldn't have weighed more than 8-10 ounces. It should have cost under $10 to ship. If he wants to charge a consultation fee, he should--- and initially I would have paid it. But extortion is an underhanded business practice and I'm glad I didn't trust him with my photo any longer than I did. Had he allowed me to use a credit card I would have disputed the charge once my photo was safely returned to me. No doubt that's why he doesn't permit it. That should have been a red flag but by that time he was already in possession of my photo. read more

I send my parents picture to restore. Picture was not bad in condition. It took more than 2 months to get my picture back. I spend more than $250 for restoration and shipping cost. There was hardly see difference between old and new picture. I can get it batter done at Walmart or Walgreen self service machine with little or no money. Guy name Mark, is not friendly or willing to work with client. He only looking for money and will not give you any price quote. I will not advised any one to do business with them. They must be restoring picture at home scanner / printers. Rip off and not worth to throw away your hard earn money. read more

I wish I had read these reviews before I used his service. I had an old photo with a stain on it. he assured me the photo would be restored as if the stain was never there. He put it into photoshop and changed the color of the stain. So now instead of a photo with a brown stain on it, I have a photo with a gray stain on it. For this he charged me $400.00. I had told him about having it previously restored ( they did the same thing only they did a better job and they only charged me $20.00). Don't believe the photos on his website as I can't believe that they are his work given what he sent to me. Save yourself the money. You won't get anything from him that you couldn't do yourself with Photoshop. And forget going back to him. He has your money and doesn't care. Follow Up: Mark called me about my complaint. He redid the photos ( Though it came out in the conversation that he doesn't do the actual work and he send it off) and would resend them to me. I received the "new" photos today. They were not really any better. I also ordered 5 x 7 prints and received 4 x 6 prints with uneven white borders around it to make the picture 5 x 7. Don't waste your money. read more

I recently sent off 3 photos that were supposed to be restored to a better quality and image, and I had to wait 3 months for the results after paying over $300.00 for this service , only to get them back with absolutely no improvement whatsoever. I was flabbergasted when I saw the final results of this image processing that they said would dramatically improve the print when sent back to me on three pictures that were submitted to them. I was told by the staff that they are in processing during the whole time, and each department was making the photos better and better. The final result was there was nothing done to the original photos that was any different than the final photos that they submitted to me that was any different. I am heartbroken that this photos were not made to look any better at all, during this long process, and for that I lost $300.00, and the ability to get them restored to a better quality. read more

Complete waste of money!! I paid $149 to have a childhood picture restored. What he did, I could have done at Walmart or Walgreen's for a lot cheaper. The website's before and after pictures are fake. You have to pay for picture before you see it by then it's too late. Honestly, I read the reviews before I sent money and I had second thoughts but I really wanted my original picture back. I was hoping that my story would be different from the other unsatisfied customers i read about, it wasn't!! read more

My husband and I are very disappointed with chamberlain photo service.... WE PAID MORE THAN $2000 DOLLARS FOR OUR WEDDING....his photographer never showed up for pre-ceremony coverage which we paid for....paid for two photographer...end up one showed up.....photos turn out black...blur... Mark Chamberlain never returns our phone calls... I don't know why rate one star for this place?? since this is the only option I have... to be honest, I don't believe the company even deserves one star.... read more

I met Mark @ Photographic Restoration and delivered two photos that I wanted corrected. The first photo was of my son with his eyes closed. I asked Mark if there was a way to show his eyes open and he said yes. Upon receiving the photo with my son's eyes opened I was stunned at how creepy the inserted eyes made my son look. The second photo was of my father holding my son, with my sons arm around my father's neck. I wanted my son and his arm cropped out of the photo. The new photo cropped my son out, but his arm was still around my father's neck. We scanned the photo ourselves, adjusted the background and took out my sons arm all in a matter of a few minutes. What a waste of $224.00. Upon complaining, Mark called to say they were redoing the photo. How could they send this poor workmanship to a client in the first place and charge so much? I requested a refund - no luck. I was extremely disappointed. I will never use this company again. read more

Mark, I see your response from my review, however, the communication I placed in the review is accurate. Just because you replied in the manner in which you did does not mean that the final product was done as per our conversation, or that the pictures were done any better than the original. In Fact the originals were sent back and comparing them side by side there was no difference in the quality of the digitally reimaged sets you sent me from the originals. By the way I made 2 phone calls to your organization after I received photos with my displeasure. and was expecting a call back from you, but that phone call never came. I am sorry that you feel that i was being unfair, but the information that was posted was accurate. I hope this process does not occur with any future customers, as this was an expensive mistake for me. I do however hope you treat future customers with a better experience than I have received from you. I hope you have a happy and healthy future. read more

As you can see by Mark's response, he has confirmed holding my over 100 year old photos of my grandparents hostage. Mark, my family eagerly awaits the return of our family heirlooms. You have been paid the Fed Ex fee, return our photos. If anyone is remotely considering using this company " Caveat emptor". read more

We had a basement flood & many of our families photographs got wet including our wedding album & my grandparents old photographs, We went to 3 other companies but all of them said our photos were to damaged for them to save. Then we called Chamberlain Restoration & they even sent us a Free Federal Express label to ship our photos to them for free, They had very reasonable prices & restored everything with in 1 month. They saved our family photographs & old movie films they did a great job when no one else could help us. read more

I sent an old pic of my Dad, got a phone call from the owner saying it would cost 500.00. I'm on a fixed income and couldn't afford it. When I asked for the picture back, they left me an email charging me 129.00, FOR WHAT, you didnt do anything. Complete rip off. They need to be reported read more