Samy's Camera — Attraction in Pasadena

Let me start by being honest... I wasn’t real excited about visiting Samy’s. As a girl, I usually get the “idiot treatment” in the big boy camera shops, as in the case the last time I was in LA and needed to go into the big Samy’s downtown. But we have literally ZERO resources available to us within a 4 state radius without having to mail our equipment in blindly, never knowing to what to expect in terms of turnaround, job completion, quality of work, etc. and at a highway robbery price no less. Not to mention this means being without equipment for the unknown time frame. (Might I suggest an ambitious individual open a photography equipment store in North Florida? I can promise you’ll be profitable!)

Any who...I desperately needed my sensors cleaned and had some questions on my most prized lenses that seemed unfixable by everyone else’s standards. Plus, I wanted to trade in a few things and actually see some things I’ve looked at in magazines and on line in person before selling a kidney to buy them...if in fact they were real things or just conceptual items. By the time I finally reached the store, though, I had somehow talked myself into just quitting my successful career instead of having to interact with the camera store jerks.

🌈 Then I walked into Samy’s Pasadena, was greeted warmly, and with no wait time, Jeff answered all my questions, ever so PATIENTLY! ⭐️ Not only did he answer all my questions before I asked them, he offered solutions I never dreamed of, went beyond that to easily and graciously solve problems he really didn’t have to, and worked around all my special circumstances and difficult hoops without skipping a beat to make sure I was happy and properly equipped to efficiently perform my job, which also proves he actually LISTENED to my nonsense whining without blowing me off. And the bonus to all this superb customer service was that I got an unbelievable deal on my equipment. I know pricing more than anyone due to my compulsive cheapness and constant self challenge to get the absolute best deal that ever existed and I’m still trying to figure out how in the hell he was able to work this out. Unless he’s planning to quit his job but in that case, I’d strongly urge Samy’s to do everything in your power to keep Jeff because he’s a dying species!

Thank you, Jeff... for sending this once disgruntled photographer back to Florida a happy girl instead of regretting tossing my arsenal of expensive equipment, years invested time and money, and my entire career off the freeway overpass for some undeserving kid to pawn off for booze money. You rock! Give this...

It's sad to review this store with one star, even though I have been a Samy's customer for over a decade. First time at the Pasadena store. I called the store to verify if an item was in stock or not, I was put on hold, after a few minutes another employee picked up the phone and asked what am I calling for, I mentioned the item and I gave him the item ID number. He tells me it's out of stock not only that the Pasadena store but over in Fairfax. Mind you while I'm talking this guy I'm looking at the website and it says differ. I get off the phone and call the Fairfax store and was told it was not only in stock in Fairfax but also the Pasadena store. I was in the market for a $300 camera bag made by Tenba. I drove to the Pasadena store. As subjective as this sounds I'm very sensitive to people's energy. I knew something was about to happen as soon as I entered. A nice elderly employee was pleasant initially, I mentioned what happened and she apologized about it. She was pleasant until it was time to pay for the bag. The machine was not reading the chip on my carf nor did it respond to Google pay on my phone. And Asian couple was to my right watching this unfold. While I was looking at the Kiosk the elderly employee spoke to the neighboring customers in silence and the Asian lady said "Oh my god." I look up at the same time this once nice employee puts back on her nice demeanor. I saw what she did at the end of it. She eventually typed in my card number and I got a reciept. The ironic part of this story is the Asian couple who she criticized me to didn't buy anything in the store. Another thing was odd she answered the phone and told someone on the other line that she's okay and giggled. I didn't mention I'm Black btw. I left the store with my $300 bag and said have a nice day even to the security guard and his demeanor off like he didn't want to say it back to me. His main focus was on what I was holding. Ending of the story, I go straight to Film Tools and the customer service was night and day, besides me having a hard time shaking off the residue from Pasadena Samys. I bought items from DV and Edit over $10k, and I bought items from the Fairfax branch for over a decade. I won't be going to...

Big mistake in trusting Samys associate, now I have to reschedule my entire week. I needed a gimbal for my dslr for a shoot. Several competitors had it in stock but Samys was the closest in proximity, so I called them right at 10:00a when they opened, to confirm that they had it. The associate in video I spoke to, confidently said they had it in stock. Since he didn’t bother to check or even waste a second in answering, I trusted that it would be there when I got there. I told him that I would be right over to pick it up. I left my house immediately and got there at 10:50a. An associate by the name of Ruth assisted me when I arrived. She couldn’t locate the gimbal but offered several options for me to either order it or pick it up from another location. Meanwhile the other associate, who I believe was the one I talked to on the phone, was nearby. He heard which item we were talking about, and didn’t say anything initially. Eventually after Ruth continued to look, he mentioned that he just sold it. He didn’t apologize or even look at me. Ruth double checked the stock room just to be sure. It ended up being the last one and I was out of luck. I am frustrated by the fact that the associate on the phone was so confident they had it, but couldn’t offer to set it aside for me, especially knowing they were limited in stock. It was my first experience shopping at Samys so I didn’t know what the hold policy was, but Ruth assured me that it’s something they can definitely do. Ruth is a rockstar and went above and beyond. The other associate did the bare minimum and couldn’t even apologize that the item was gone. I had to reschedule my shoot and change up my entire week because this guy couldn’t do his job. Not to mention having to drive 20+ miles to the store for nothing. Several other stores had it, and I could’ve kept my schedule this week had I went to any of the other stores, but I trusted Samys....