Calumet Photographic

I used the Glasgow store on few occasions after a recommendation by a friend , staff have been happy to take my money and give advice. I went in today to return a faulty trigger and buy a secondhand D700 and had a very poor experience .

The staff member was condescending from the point he released it was a return and not a sale. I had told him the exact problem being the off and on switch did not work and the trigger would on occasion keep the shutter open till disconnected . His answer was they had a memo from the manufacturer the off and on switches don't work and you need to take the batteries out. The real high point was he only wanted to replace one trigger from a set despite me telling him the fault had cost me work after an exchange of words he replaced the faulty items. Needless to say I've ordered my camera else's where .

The shop is great, excellent choise of products but the miserable people working there are just ruining all that.

Listen carefuly Mr CEO....you know very well the survival rate of similar highstreet stores in London. Leave your comfortable office walk down in the store and sort those stupid employees out before your company shares Jessops destiny. Treat the people that walk into your shop as Gods not as d

dogs...

Unfriendly, intimidating, un-engaging, unresponsive, disappointing, horrible customer service are some of the words to describe my experience in this shop.

Calumet Drummond Street always have me coming back, the service and advice is amazing, far better than the others out there.

Staff seem to all be photographers so really know what they are talking about and have helped me with many projects over the years.

Using Calumet own brand products has saved me so much money over the years

I went to Drummond Street store today as I thought I could get some expert advice on which lens to buy. The assistant was so unhelpful, didn't give me any advice and was totally uninterested in talking to me. Will not be going there again. I'm off to John Lewis where they have less choice but are so helpful.

When you go into a store planning to spend around £2k or more, you'd expect the staff to at least acknowledge your presence. Sadly not in this case.

After waiting 15 minutes to be served, I asked for a Canon lens, which according to their price list, displayed on their shop counter, was £1800. I then asked for a Canon wireless remote. The dumb assistant went and got a wired remote. When I repeated the request, she looked clueless so I told her not to worry, I'll buy it elsewhere.

After adding a filter (£50), I was asked for £2100. (You do the maths!).

I queried the price and she told me that the price on the list was "after the cash back offer". I then reminded her that Canon provided the "cash back" not the store. She then said, "it's an old price list, you should have checked the website first". When I reminded her that it's actually illegal to advertise one price and then ask for more when you pay, she again said "you should have checked the website first, we put up the prices a month ago".

When I asked why therefore, they were displaying old prices, the dim witted assistant had no response but to repeat yet again I should check the website. My final comment was "if these prices are not changed within the hour, trading standards will be informed". With that she finally removed the price list, I left the store and ordered online from Amazon.

Calumet: If you think that being served by an assistant that stinks of cigarettes, who is clueless about the products you sell and that telling people to "check the website for the correct prices" is the day forward, then Amazon will continue to get my business.

I had all my kit stolen and the insurance had authorised payment for £9000 to replace it.

I spent 20 minutes waiting to be served in Drummond Steet and then the gormless assistant was clueless. I emailed a list of required equipment for a quotation. They responded the next day but did not quote for 3 items on the list, one a camera body, so not insignificant items. I replied asking for a full quotation and estimated delivery date. That was in February...It's now May and I still haven't had a response.

£9000 of business and they don't care.

I went to Jessops and they could not have been more helpful. Never thought of them as a supplier of pro equipment but they have a can do attitude and a desire to help the customer.

I placed an order for three things a few weeks ago, one being a 36" umbrella after 2 weeks my order came but the umbrella included was a 60" and whilst this costs £20 more I have no use for it - hence my ordering a 36"!... I called customer service and the guy answering the call was to put it bluntly, a bit simple. Firstly he couldn't find me or my order and questioned the purchase entirely - obviously I know I ordered from them as I have the invoice in my hand from which I got their contact number. Finally my order was found and I explained the problem which took some explaining, seems simple to me - I ordered a 36 and received a 60... Anyways, the result was being told someone would come collect my 60 and deliver a 36 which was ordered in its place. There was no apology and no thanks - I'm saving them £20!!? I could keep the more expensive umbrella! I won't be ordering from them again. I ordered some film

Also which is £4 cheaper per 5 rolls elsewhere. I don't really see what they offer?! Expensive and poor service. I'd avoid and use one of the smaller photography stores scattered over the net!

Being a Nikon fanatic, I've spent many thousands of pounds over the years at Calumet, mostly dropping into the Drummond Street shop to pick up the items in person when I'm in London. A week ago I was in London again and decided to treat myself to a Fujifilm Finepix X100 - I'd wanted one for some months, as alternative to lugging my Nikon D700 around with me. After the usual casual indifference I've learned to expect from the counter staff, I was finally served by one of them. They had the camera in stock, but then I knew this because I'd checked their website in the morning, and they also had the Fujifilm Premium leather case, but they couldn't sell me the Fuji filter adaptor or a 49mm ND filter, which I would have thought were obvious items to carry alongside the camera. Anyway, I went ahead and bought the camera and case, but on opening the Finepix X100 back in my hotel, the first surprise was that the camera was badly wrapped, the materials around it torn and certainly not sealed. The next surprise was that when I had a close look at the camera itself, there were scratches on the body around the lugs for the strap, and another on the baseplate. It was immediately evident that I'd been sold a camera that had been returned or was ex-demo stock. Another £10 taxi fare back to Drummond Street, and after the sales staff had gone into a huddle around a computer terminal the manager finally came over to apologise - "I don't know how this happened", and 'We're going to look into it" etc. etc. Yeah, sure. And then I was told what I was already half expecting. The branch didn't have any more Finepix X100s in stock - however there were three in the Wardour Street store. So I could either pick one up after it had been delivered to Drummond Street late the next morning, or hotfoot it across to Wardour Street to try catch the shop before it closed. Or, the manager offered with great generosity, they would send one to my home without charging me the postage (some offer, as they don't charge UK postage on items above £50 in any case!). Or I could have a refund. I stood there thinking the manager had a brief window in which he could rectify their screw-up by telling someone at Wardour Street to jump in a cab and bring a camera round for me, or they would lose a previously very loyal customer who was definitely going to buy a £1,400 Nikon prime when it came back into stock, and also the new Nikon D800E. But, no, the manager didn't do what I'd hoped, and I took the refund and went straight back to my hotel and ordered the Finepix X100 from Amazon. So if you want to spend your hard-earned cash and suffer the disappointment of receiving an expensive lens or camera which has already been opened and handled - and quite possibly damaged - just you carry on buying from Calumet. I won't. I'm switching all my business to Amazon and WEX. Goodbye, Calumet.

Went into their Edinburgh store for a camera repair, looked dodgy from the start, broken windows and staff who briefly turned their heads to acknowledge my presence, told me they don't do repairs, but would send it of for me.

Naively I said yes. After waiting 2 weeks (they said 3 days for an estimate!) they eventually called me, told me £220 with no breakdown or explanation! Calumet told me to call Canon to sort it out, Canon then told me that Calumet were the customers not me, something which Calumet failed to tell me in the first place.

Cue 2 more weeks of being arsed about between Canon and Calumet trying to get a straight answer. Eventually lodged a complaint with Canon and spoke to someone in charge, who said it would appear that Calumet have been bullshitting, since Canon always send a breakdown of costs to them, also said that it appears that Calumet had added extra costs and where trying to pass it off as an estimate from Canon.

Furious spoke to some drongo at Calumet, who seemed clueless, told manager would get in touch, ordered my camera back as I wasn't going to be ripped off. 1 week later eventually get a call from Calumet cheekily demanding £30 handling and cancellation charge, I told them no way, bloke rudely said "yes you must pay" I demanded to speak with the manager, haven't heard from him since.

Useless bunch of clueless crooks!!!!!! Keep well away from!

MANAGER OF THE DRUMMOND ST STORE SEEMED CLUELESS AND LOST WHEN IT CAME TO ANSWERING CUSTOMER QUERIES FROM WHAT I SAW, THE PLACE IS GOING DOWNHILL.