Service Photo Supply, Inc. — Attraction in Baltimore

Service Photo Supply, Incorporated: A camera shop for the rich. (Read their response below. Apparently they feel they do no wrong and made no attempt to try and take a little responsibility for not treating a customer all that well beyond a minimal apology.)

Today, I excitedly chose my inaugural bike trip in Baltimore to run a errand to Service Photo Supply, Inc., to try and get fixed a mostly unused, and/or secure a new, Nikon camera body. I am an excited amateur who regularly purchases lower-cost Nikon camera equipment and had a Nikon D3400 camera body that failed me soon after purchase. It was my mistake not to get it fixed under warranty, i accept that, but i thought i might try and see, if maybe for around $200 dollars, i could get my camera body fixed. I am an environmentalist that rails at the idea that a camera that cost me $4-500 to purchase, cannot somehow be rehabilitated and not become a burden to an already resource burdened planet. What i hoped to experience at Service Photo Supply, Inc., was to see an honest attempt to try and rehabilitate a fundamentally unused Nikon camera. I wanted someone to say, let me spend ten minutes trying to figure out how to fix your unused camera. What i got from Service Photo Supply, Inc. was mostly silence. Clearly from their perspective I was not a customer to pursue in a world where camera lenses can cost $25,000 or more. I used to date a Brooks Institute of Photography student in California. At the local Nikon store there was a guy named Thomas who, no matter what kind of customer you were, he would bend over backwards to try and solve your camera equipment problem. At Thomas's store, although there was a strong cadre of professionals who love to come in and talk shop about the latest and most cutting edge equipment, there was also a commitment to grow and try to nurture the needs of the most average camera enthusiasts. I clearly felt this environment was not part of what I saw at Service Photo Supply Inc.. Once i was tagged as a amateur with a low-end Nikon product all i got was pretty such silence. Seriously, i would have been much happier if the staff person i dealt with had said "hey maybe I can help find an alternative to fixing your D3400." But i did not, he clearly seemed to want to move me out the door. Anyway, I would not recommend Service Photo Supply unless you are looking to purchase higher end photo equipment. At Service Photo Supply, "if you are rich, we will take...

This review is from my visit to this shop in the past - It was my first time at this store to get calibration done for two of my lenses. When I went to pick them up the lady at the register was confused about what was supposed to be done with the lenses as what she saw on the invoice is not what was charged. I expressed my concern that are you sure they've been calibrated as you have all the wrong service codes on the invoice. My lenses were brought out and I asked her if she could tell me what was wrong with them. She said she had no idea. She was still figuring out if the billing was correct as the codes were apparently wrong. Another guy comes out and says they've been calibrated, again I asked could you please explain what was wrong with it. Then the lady jumps in again and says you can use it for couple days and bring it back if there's an issue. I decided to try it then and there and found out both lenses were still off. All of them by that time had settled on the other side of the counter. I waited to have an eye contact with someone to get help. Third person comes out and again I explain her everything. They take my lenses inside to check again and come out saying they now found out one is back focusing and the other is front focusing so now I will need to send it to Canon for repairs. This is something they could have told me the day I brought the lenses to their shop; that they can't fix it. Moreover none of them had any idea of what was to be done for my equipment repairs; and I got my lenses back the way I had handed them. They charged me $80 for doing NOTHING. None of them was able to answer if they did anything with the lenses. I was pretty upset with the way it was handled. It was $80 bill and total 200 miles drive over the period of two days, dropping off and picking up the lenses. Not worth this kind...

After the latest experience, it will be my last. Let me start from the beginning, I started shopping here after the local Ritz closed. After shopping there for a few months, I had some really bad customer service experiences from one of the big camera brands and wanted to switch systems. When I took my gear in for trade, the owner proceeded to lecture me about their business model and how they “loose money somewhere in the process.” I overlooked as all of the previous time were stellar service there. Out of 4 years and countless purchases, I’ve had to return some items due to defects, or overall dissatisfaction. When you pay the prices for modern camera gear, you should be 100% happy with it. I went to exchange a camera I bought (was within my 30 day period) due to an issue not fixed by firmware update, and just not liking the camera. The employee working with us made the experience uncomfortable from the beginning. After picking out another camera for the exchange, we were then told that there would be a restocking fee (which I didn’t unreasonable). The point the really soured us when the employee lectured us about it being close to 30 days (it was 25 days after purchase, well within the return policy outlined), how there business model works, and that they were refusing to offer their return policy on the new camera we would be exchanging for. Any defects or issues would have to be dealt directly through the manufacture, and they would not stand behind it. With the modern day market, I whole heartedly support small local businesses. But when businesses treat you like this and that business prides itself on customer service, it’s really...