National Camera Exchange — Attraction in Golden Valley

I have been a customer of National Camera Exchange for years now, but not any longer. I made a large purchase (over $500 which is large for me) from the website on Black Friday, but when the camera kit came I found it to be different that what was pictured on the website. I emailed their support email with pictures only to be told they knowingly used stock photos of a "newer, more expensive" version of the camera with a compact lens shown in every photo that does not come with the kit they actually sold me. This is misleading and deceptive. They will NOT honor their mistake. They first only offered/said "You can of course return the camera for a full refund, I apologize for the confusion". What kind of customer service is this? It comes off as telling me if I complain they don't want me as a customer anyways.

I then responded that I didn't want to refund I wanted what I thought I was buying based on ALL the erroneous pictures they posted. How is an average consumer supposed to know that the 14-42mm lens clearly pictured in EVERY PHOTO was not the 14-42mm lens listed in the written description without any notation of differences? I have screen shots of the product website from when I purchased so I do have proof. I was then told by email that the camera I bought doesn't come with the compact lens so they "would be happy to take back the lens you received and sell you the lens you wanted for $100". I called a local store to get the contact info of someone higher up only to be told that if they honored their error they "would be out a lot of money". You posted a misleading product page, admitted to the error to me in several different ways written and verbal, but yet won't suck it up and honor YOUR error? The representative actually ended his last communication with "Your satisfaction is our top priority", but obviously that is a lie as your bottom line actually is.

Every single person I have spoken to, including the MN Attorney General's Office, thinks this is poor business practice. Since I have not heard back from my last email on Friday I decided to go ahead and file my official complaint with the State of MN and begin posting my experience online. I am waiting to see the results of the intervention of the MN Attorney General's Office before deciding if I will return the product on principle.

So if you do decide to purchase from this company you better make proof positive you know exactly what you are buying because you can't be sure their website is truly representative of what they...

I attended a class at National Camera Exchange. They have the process down, communication days before, at the start of the class and at the end was very clear and expectations were set appropriately. The instructor was good, being a Sony Ambassador, the content was basic, but it was a “101” course so that was expected, but a bit more detail on what to expect so a more informed decision could have been made if I’d get value from the course would have been appreciated. As part of the course there was some extras such as free sensor cleaning and when I checked into that is seems like it would take awhile and I might need to come back in a few days. Knowing how to clean my sensor on my own, I withdrew from the free sensor cleaning once I had to fill out a form and get it put into bubble wrap…. Not worth giving up my camera or the wait for something I can do myself. The staff were busy.. lots of customers. There was a line/wait to talk to anyone…. Which I did and I ended up spending $200 on a variable ND filter. The guy that helped me seemed very knowledgeable about the topic and was able to provide help and guidance to choose which ND filter (my first) would be best. The store itself had a good selection of photography accessories and “toys” to look at and consider. I have historically bought much of my gear online but wondering the store I found items I had bought online that were similarly priced at National Camera Exchange, so I fully intend on checking with the store to help support local businesses and employees...

I recently bought a Canon Rebel T7 and it is my first camera in the start to my photography journey outside of my phone or old wind up cameras from when I was younger. I thought my camera had a defect since I purchased it on Amazon and not from NCE, I googled places to go for repairs and drove to the Golden Valley, MN location. When I arrived, I was greeted openly and warmly, I didn't catch the employees name and I regret not doing so but he took the time to verify my camera worked, quickly ran me through some settings that would've caused what I thought was wrong with it and repeatedly reassured me that everyone starts somewhere. I could not have had a better experience and will be looking into taking classes through them if possible! I felt out of place in the store simply because this is a field I have little to no knowledge in outside of taking photos on my phone and all of my worries were lifted when I was being helped because they didn't just tell me "your camera is fine, next in line!" instead they helped me figure out what I could've been doing wrong and showed me where I should be starting as far as settings go. Thank you so much to the employee that helped me today, I hate I didn't catch your name but you were amazing...