The LegacyBox Mistake That Cost Them Their Memories Forever

NARRATOR (0:00-0:27):

"There are lots of companies that will digitize your old family photos and video tapes so you can enjoy them and share them—but here's a warning. Lisa Guerrero spoke with some families who say they're devastated their precious memories are lost.

They are precious family memories. Irreplaceable recordings and photos of loved ones from years gone by. They're often kept stored away in albums for the closet, vulnerable to fire or misplacement.

But now one company says it has a solution: will digitize them for you so your memories are safe."

COMPANY PITCH (0:30-0:48):

"The business called Legacy Box is growing in popularity and attention medias the service called legacy box for this and literally all of these tapes are on this thumb drive. Everyone: 'Ayman, this is genius!'"

THE PROBLEM (0:48-1:47):

"But some legacy box customers say that their precious memories that they wanted to preserve were lost or came back destroyed.

Pat Larkin wanted to surprise her husband with the digital recording on a CD—a film from his days racing cars in the early 1970s. Pat carefully packed the family's treasures following the company's instructions.

So what happened when she got it back? She says that inside the legacy box, the cherished 8-millimeter film was gone—and there was no copy.

PAT LARKIN: 'I was so very upset. I was very upset. It still upsets me now.'

Jessica Thorn wanted to preserve a film of her late grandfather. It was supposed to be a gift to her grandmother.

JESSICA THORN: 'I would have a permanent digital copy of invaluable memories for her.'

But when her legacy box came back, she said the film looked like this.

JESSICA (1:41-1:47): 'I mean, are you kidding me right? A portion of our family history has been completely lost.'"

FORMER EMPLOYEES SPEAK OUT (1:47-2:10):

"Inside Edition spoke to 4 former employees of Legacy Box.

INTERVIEWER: 'How many of you saw people's personal items become damaged or go missing?'

ALL EMPLOYEES: (All raise hands) 'All of you?'

EMPLOYEE: 'We had a technician that had literally thrown—I have no idea how many reels worth of 8-millimeter film into the trash can.'

EMPLOYEE: 'I would never trust them with digitizing my home movies.'"

FAKE REVIEWS EXPOSED (2:15-2:36):

"The company says they have 6,000 five-star reviews—but when we looked at the Legacy Box website, there was this five-star review from a woman named Debbie.

But check out their new website (which they call Kodak Digitizing Box)—we found the same review word-for-word, even down to the exclamation point... this time from someone named Barbara."

EMOTIONAL IMPACT (2:36-2:42):

JESSICA THORN: 'This affected me. It affected my grandmother. It affected our entire family. And it's something that we can't ever recreate.'"

RESOLUTION (2:45-3:03):

"The two women we spoke with were given refunds by Legacy Box.

The company says they've improved their tracking and processing systems since those employees left the company in 2017. They also say in the past year they have helped nearly 100,000 families preserve their memories—and they say the vast majority are satisfied."

What This Means: When you send irreplaceable family memories to a digitization service, they have ONE job: keep them safe. LegacyBox failed that test. Legacy Digital has never lost a single piece in 24 years. That's the difference between cutting corners and taking responsibility.