Dodd Camera — Attraction in Cleveland

Amazing store, except for one staff member. I've gone to Dodd Camera a few times just to look around and had a wonderful experience. The staff were friendly, knownledgeable, and were happy to chat with me about all things camera related. But then recently I needed to rent a lens for a gig and I was disappointed with the service from the rental department. I walked in there not exactly sure which lens I needed/wanted, and was hoping to get a similiar experience as I had in the past - a friendly, chipper, and knownledgeable salseman who could tell me about the lens selection and help me choose one. Instead I got Matt who didn't really seem to know much about the lenses, and just overall came across as not really caring much about photography, his job, or helping me for that matter. To be fair, he did his job. I looked at the lenses, asked him what was what, (I was hoping he would have a recomendation or tell me off the bat what was what) and he checked me out pretty smoothly. He wasn't mean or rude - and I got a lens I was happy with. But when I'm going to a store that is designed to be servicing avid and passionate photographers like myself, I expect to be met with the same level of enthusiasm and knownledge about the art I love! There's a reason I walked into a designated camera store as apposed to just finding something online. And that is because I was looking forward to talking to the knownledgeable staff who would be interested in photography and able to help me. I'm not looking for any old costumer service rep. I will most likely be coming back to Dodd Camera (I'm not gonna let one staff member ruin a great store for me) and I really hope that in the future I will be met with friendly, knownledgeable staff who are pleasant to talk to, passionate about photography, passionate about their job and helping people, and who will be able/willing to have a chat with me about my interests and needs and make an informed and professional recommendation as to what would best...

I was looking for options for a camera that was out of stock through the major camera outlets online and saw a link on Nikon's website indicating Dodd's had it in stock. I placed the online order but received no confirmation email indicating the order had been processed. The next day, I used the "contact us" form and received a callback a few minutes later letting me know my order had been processed and would be shipped that day. I still never received any communication or confirmation in writing via email. After a couple of days, I called and asked for a tracking number and was told it was "AGAINST COMPANY POLICY TO GIVE OUT TRACKING NUMBERS." I pushed for a reason why they wouldn't want a customer to be able to track their order, but the only reason they could provide was for security purposes. I asked why they wouldn't follow the standard practices of the other major online retailers who provide immediate email communication and tracking information and he couldn't give me an answer. He looked up my order and said it would be arriving this coming Monday (today is Friday), I'm hoping it does.

Update: The camera arrived on Monday as promised and everything worked out. Ryan, who is over online sales reached out to me and indicated their system should have sent out a confirmation but didn't for some reason. Hopefully the employee I spoke to will receive some training to help him provide better service in this type of situation...

Walked into the store to buy a simple Nikon 50mm lens. I stood at the counter ready to buy the lens and no one even acknowledged the fact I was there. Now I know what you were thinking, they were probably busy. There were about five customers in the store and five employees. I thought that was reasonable and wasn’t frustrated, I decided to wait for the next available employee. About ten minutes later two more customers came in and took positions at the counter next to the one I was waiting at. After another fifteen minutes, one more person can in and an employee was finally done helping one of the original customers and then went to the customer that was the latest arrival, skipping the three of us that were waiting. I left deciding to stop by today to try and buy the lens. I walked in with my friend and we waited at the counter as the four employees were busy with the only other four customers in the store. We waited for about twenty minutes and had two employees walk past us without acknowledging us. After one of them was done with a customer, they walked past the two of us and started helping someone who literally walked in. We literally just walked out. I hate that this is one of the only camera stores in the area. I deal with this almost every time I have gone to this location. When they had a store in Berea, I loved the service and the people who worked there. The service at this location makes it very clear why the company...