Legacy Box BBB Reviews: What 42 Real Complaints Reveal

Fair Use Disclaimer: The complaint summaries on this page are derived from publicly available information on the Better Business Bureau website. This information is used for educational and informational purposes under Fair Use principles to help consumers make informed decisions. We have paraphrased all complaint content rather than reproducing exact text. The original complaints used to be viewed at the BBB website, but fortunately for Legacy Box, after two years, the BBB clears your good or bad record and all your complaints disappear along with any good reveiws you might have had.
Fortunately for you, we saved a PDF copy of all Legacy Box's many, many complaints and all you have to do is click here.

The Numbers Tell a Disturbing Story

Legacy Box (operated by Southtree, a division of AMB Media LLC) has accumulated 42 total complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau in the last 3 years. Of those, 8 complaints were closed in the last 12 months alone.

Complaint Breakdown by Category:

Billing/Collections Issues: 27 complaints
Delivery Issues: 1 complaint
Guarantee/Warranty Issues: 4 complaints
Problems with Product/Service: 9 complaints
Advertising/Sales Issues: 1 complaint

Important Note: The BBB acknowledges that "complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB – some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business."

Legacy Box has been BBB accredited since May 28, 2010 (21 years in business). Despite this long accreditation, customer reviews are not used in the calculation of their BBB Rating.

The Most Common Problems Reported

1. Lost or Missing Items

Multiple customers report sending irreplaceable family memories only to have them lost in Legacy Box's facility:

Customer sent 50 tapes for conversion, never received them back after months of waiting
80+ years of family memories lost, with company unable to locate package despite tracking showing delivery
30 video tapes representing years of memories lost, with no resolution after multiple contacts
VHS tapes containing only copies of children as toddlers - lost and never returned
Family videos mysteriously "lost in warehouse" despite tracking systems

2. Poor Quality Results

Even when items are returned, customers frequently report unacceptable quality:

"Some conversions are not the best quality possible, they sent me an email but never gave me a choice if I wanted to replace those specific discs"
DVDs arrived with old TV shows and advertising instead of customer's family videos
Videos with "fuzzy lines and no audio on much of the other videos"
Slides and films returned partially copied or with missing footage
Film reels returned torn and bent, with missing mystery footage
Static-filled tapes with poor quality transfers
Missing frames from barcodes, incorrect items on thumb drives

3. Extreme Delays

Legacy Box consistently fails to meet their own advertised timelines:

Orders taking 4-6 months instead of the advertised 2-4 weeks
11+ weeks without starting digitization despite being told 6 weeks
Orders sitting for months with no progress or communication
One customer waited over a year with no resolution
"It has been 3 months and the company said it would take 3 to 6 weeks"

4. Unresponsive Customer Service

Perhaps most frustrating is Legacy Box's pattern of ignoring customer concerns:

"They are MUTE" - customer asked for compensation for delays, received no response
Multiple customers report emails and phone calls going unanswered for weeks or months
"Customer service is very communicative and answered questions I had quickly" - but then problems went unresolved
Promises of callbacks that never happen
"I have emailed Legacy Box support 2 times with no response"
Company goes silent after taking customer's money and items

5. Refund Problems

Getting money back proves extremely difficult:

Company "drafted my account for $36.00" without authorization, never refunded as promised
Partial refunds issued but not the full amount owed
Refund "processed" but never appears in customer accounts
"This company will not refund your money if they cannot digitize your product"
Customers forced to dispute charges with credit card companies

Real Customer Experiences (Paraphrased from BBB Complaints)

March 28, 2022 - Delivery Issues

Customer's Experience: Ordered tape conversion of 50 tapes to USB and DVD in November 2021. Was told the process would take up to 8 weeks. By March 28, 2022, still had not received items back. Some conversions were poor quality. Requested compensation for the time delay but company went silent.

The Problem: 4+ months for a job advertised as taking 8 weeks, poor quality results, and complete lack of response when customer requested reasonable compensation.

March 21, 2022 - Product/Service Problems

Customer's Experience: Legacy Box took over four months to copy DVDs, some tapes, and slides to CD. When items arrived, first CD contained an old badly filmed movie. Second disc had old TV shows. Third disc showed someone advertising plant goods. "A few of the disks were mint, but the quality was so bad you could not watch them. What I sent them was in good condition, you could watch them without a problem."

The Problem: Items clearly got mixed up with other customers' content. Months of waiting resulted in completely wrong content and unusable quality.

February 8, 2022 - Guarantee/Warranty Issues

Customer's Experience: "My experience with Legacybox should be in your words 'forever.' However, my precious memories are not being 'enjoyed,' I am not being 'reconnected,' there are no 'bonds of love' and no increased 'meaning to life.' You did not complete my order!"

The Problem: Audio cassette couldn't be repaired. Customer received partial refund but was left without their precious memories digitized despite Legacy Box's promises about preserving memories.

January 11, 2022 - Product/Service Problems

Customer's Experience: Sent 20 items to Kodak Digitizing in October 2021. Four of the 20 items could not be digitized. Was offered credit on another order or refund. Selected refund based on cost ($331.19 charged to American Express card). Calculated refund should be approximately $66. Contacted Kodak Digitizing on Dec 27, 2021 and Jan 1 and 7, 2022. Kodak Digitizing has not responded in any way.

The Problem: Company failed to digitize 20% of items, then went completely silent when customer tried to get refund owed.

August 2, 2021 - Guarantee/Warranty Issues

Customer's Experience: Placed order to have 31 VHS tapes converted to DVDs. Initial payment $169.54, then charged additional $87.39 in June 2021. Received DVDs on July 24, 2021. "Out of 31 DVD's only seven of them are viewable and they are missing serveral tapes that is not on the DVD. My original tapes are viewable and there is no excuse for the DVD's to be non-viewable." Paid total of $256.93 believing they would get quality work back.

The Problem: Only 23% of DVDs were viewable, missing content, and original tapes were in good condition proving the problem was Legacy Box's poor quality work.

July 9, 2021 - Product/Service Problems

Customer's Experience: "I hired this company to transfer my 8mm films over to a dvd. I was quoted $19.00 for this service. This company ended up drafting my account for $36.00. I spoke to a supervisor for the company who stated that they only seen a debit for $19.00, after speaking with several representatives I was told they would refund the $36.00. I did not authorize. I have never received the refund as promised."

The Problem: Unauthorized charge, conflicting stories from representatives, promised refund never materialized.

April 6, 2021 - Product/Service Problems

Customer's Experience: Mailed Legacy Box containing family VHS tapes in January 2021. Used bar-coded stickers on outside of box and shipped via tracking. On January 20, 2021, person at Legacy Box signed for the box. Received phone call from Christy saying they had box and wanted to confirm account. Kimberly indicated on March 31, 2021 that they did not receive the box and it was customer's fault, would refund account. "Although I did not place the correct mailing label on the box, they received my valuables, as proved by the tracking signature and Christy's phone call. While Legacybox refunded my money, I am stunned at their negligence and dismissive attitude to something irreplaceable and of significant importance to myself. I want my VHS tapes returned."

The Problem: Clear proof of delivery (signature, phone call confirming receipt), yet company claimed they never received it and kept customer's irreplaceable family videos.

March 18, 2021 - Product/Service Problems

Customer's Experience: Placed order with Legacy Box on October 13, 2020. Received branded box to pack items in December 2020. Packed up 37 VHS and 3 MiniDV tapes and sent using provided shipping label on December 22, 2020. Tracking showed received December 29, 2020. Waited until January 27 to reach out. Was told order arrived and been there for 4 weeks, would now be 6-8 week window. Returned another email March 10, 2020 where was told it was STILL in the facility but delayed. Escalated to supervisor who told order was missing and pointed to UPS. "I lost my brother to suicide a year prior to this and planned to share the 80+ years of family memories as a surprise to my parents. I NEED that box back ASAP."

The Problem: Irreplaceable 80+ years of family memories, tracking proves delivery, but Legacy Box claims package is lost and blames shipping company despite their own facility signing for it.

The Pattern: What These Complaints Tell Us

Consistent Operational Failures

Reading through dozens of complaints reveals systematic problems:

Poor inventory management: Items routinely get lost, mixed up, or misplaced despite "tracking systems"
Quality control failure: Items clearly not checked before being sent to customers
Processing delays: Consistent pattern of 2-6x longer than advertised timelines
Communication breakdown: Promises made, then complete silence

The "Blame Game" Response Pattern

Legacy Box frequently responds to complaints with a consistent pattern:

"We're sorry you experienced this"
Blame external factors (COVID, shipping companies, processing times)
Ask customer to reach out to customer service (again)
Promise to investigate
Often... silence

The Sound Issue Revelation

Multiple customers reported problems with sound on film reels. Legacy Box's response revealed a troubling business practice:

"We cannot digitize audio on film. However, we try to clarify the fact that we cannot digitize the sound line on film reels, and have an article on our website's help center explaining this policy... Sound on film reels is extremely rare... Further, if the sound is recoverable, it is extremely difficult and time consuming to sync with the video, and isolating the sound actually damages the quality of the video."

The problem? This isn't disclosed clearly before purchase. Many customers had soundtracks on their film reels and lost that audio permanently. Legacy Box admits they CAN do it but choose not to because "it is extremely difficult and time consuming."

Why These Problems Don't Happen at Affordable Scanning Services

1. We Never Lose Your Items

Their Problem: Items routinely lost in large facility

Our Solution: Small, personally-managed operation in Wisconsin. Your items never leave our sight. We know exactly where every customer's materials are at all times.

2. Quality is Guaranteed

Their Problem: Poor quality results, mixed-up orders, missing content

Our Solution: Every scan receives professional Photoshop editing. We check quality before sending anything to you. If we can't do it right, we tell you upfront.

3. Real Communication

Their Problem: Emails ignored, promises broken, customer service disappears

Our Solution: Personal service from real people who care. Email us ANY time - we answer at ALL hours, including nights and weekends.

4. Honest Timelines

Their Problem: "2-4 weeks" turns into 4-6 months

Our Solution: We give you realistic timeframes and keep you updated. No surprises.

5. Try Before You Commit

Their Problem: No refund policy once they have your items and money

Our Solution: 10 Free Demo Scans - see our quality BEFORE sending your entire collection.

The Real Cost of Choosing the Wrong Service

These aren't just complaints about inconvenience or minor quality issues. Read what customers actually lost:

"80+ years of family memories as a surprise to my parents"

"Only copies of my kids as toddlers"

"30 video tapes from my family. No resolution."

"Films were our way of keeping him alive and with us" (referring to deceased grandfather)

"My mother was 18 when her father died at the age of 79. I was never afforded the opportunity to meet my grandfather because I was not born until after he passed."

These memories are irreplaceable. Once lost, they're gone forever. No refund can bring them back.

The Pattern is Clear

42 complaints in 3 years. Each one represents someone's precious family memories at risk. Each one represents:

Months of stress and uncertainty
Hours spent calling and emailing with no response
The sinking feeling that their memories might be gone forever
Disappointment when they finally get results that don't meet expectations

Don't Become Another BBB Complaint

Your family memories deserve better than this. They deserve a service that:

Actually cares about your irreplaceable items
Professionally edits every scan in Photoshop
Responds to your questions and concerns
Keeps its promises about quality and timelines
Lets you test their quality before committing

See the difference for yourself with 10 free demo scans. No risk. No pressure. Just proof.

Get 10 Free Demo Scans See Our Services

Still Not Sure? Compare for Yourself

Read our detailed quality comparisons:

Source Information: All complaint summaries on this page are paraphrased from publicly available information filed with the Better Business Bureau. The original complaints can be viewed at https://www.bbb.org/us/tn/chattanooga/profile/cd-duplication/southtree-0694-37410417/complaints. This page is provided for informational and educational purposes to help consumers make informed decisions about slide and media scanning services.

Legacybox™ and Southtree® are trademarks owned by AMB Media, LLC. We are not affiliated with Legacy Box, Southtree, or AMB Media LLC. This page provides independent consumer information based on publicly available BBB complaint data.