Bergen County Camera — Attraction in Westwood

I had an absolutely unacceptable experience at Bergen County Camera. To the point where I feel it necessary to post my experience and, hopefully, convince people not to use this store’s services. About a week ago I stopped into the store to get information on buying a camera. It must have been a Thursday night since that is the only evening they stay open. I pass by the store on my commute home from work so it is convenient for me to stop in on the way home but not at other times. The sales person I spoke with seemed knowledgeable and helpful. I wasn’t ready to make the purchase that night but expected as I came to a decision on what model I wanted I would be back. This past Friday I had pretty much made up my mind as was ready to make a purchase. I drove to the store after I got out of work and arrived around 5:45 – 5:50. The store was still open. The same salesman came over to help me and after a few minutes of final comparisons I was ready to buy a camera. Literally. I was pulling out my wallet to hand him my credit card. But the clock had struck 6 PM and they WOULD NOT sell me the camera. The salesman told me he had an appointment after work he couldn’t miss so he had to leave. OK. There are other people here. Can someone else write up the sale? The answer was a definitive “NO”. At that point the lights started turning off around me and I was told to come back tomorrow. But coming back the next day wasn’t convenient or possible for me. I left somewhat disgruntled and vowed to go by the same camera at a store closer to where I live. However there was another really important point the people at Bergen Camera failed to let me know. And I only found out the following Sunday (I don’t live in Bergen County so stores near me are open on Sundays) when I went to purchase the camera elsewhere. There was a special from the manufacturer that expired on Saturday. So I could no longer get the camera at the price I was quoted with the additional accessories it was to include. If that had informed me of this I might have gone out of my way to come back on Saturday. Or gone elsewhere. And I had told them I couldn’t come back until their next late evening the following Thursday. Not only did they refuse to take the 10 – 15 minutes I t would have taken to sell me the camera but they all didn’t give highly pertinent information about the need to make the purchase within 24 hours or lose the sale price. I will NEVER step foot inside Bergen County Camera again. I’ve never heard of a store that wouldn’t complete a sale for a customer that was already in the building prior to closing. And I will tell anyone who asks about my lousy experience there and advise against going to...

I found Bergen County Camera in the last two years after a recommendation by a fellow photographer. Despite NOT living near to Bergen County or its namesake store, I've made many trips to the store over the last two years in search of various lenses and accessories. During almost every trip, I've found what I needed and on several occasions, after first viewing product availability online, I called the store first, asked them to set the the item aside and they did so gladly when I told them I'd be there that day to view and purchase that item.

While some camera stores have retail sales clerks, all of the people involved with direct sales who work at Bergen County Camera are accomplished professional photographers in their own right. I've deliberately stood by and watched how these people gladly share their expertise with folks new to photography and with little product knowledge. From my experience, they do not push any one brand over another, but instead, inquire as to what the customer intends to photograph, what their skill level is and what kind of budget they have. They then work with that customer to find a suitable equipment solution.

After the purchase, the store offers additional time explaining and setting up the camera so that the customer will be able to use it effectively right out of the box. The same applies to lenses and other accessories.

On my forays from Morris County to the store, I've purchased lenses, gimbals for tripods and other accessories. The store itself is well stocked with accessories from the major brands as well as third party providers. You will often be able to find smaller or less well known accessories there as well, to include many that are NOT offered by the major brands.

Pricing, especially on used gear is fair and reasonable and I've benefited from major savings buying gently used gear or refurbished products that are available at good price points.

If you want to deal with friendly, knowledgeable and genuinely caring folks who will do all they can to see you leave satisfied with your purchase(s) look no further than Bergen County Camera in...

Poor hobbyists stay away they don't want you lol.

I'm sure it's a great place with great services for professionals. But the customer service I got was pretty trash.

I came in on a very busy day, so I didn't expect to get a good 1 on 1. I was actually looking for my first hobbyist camera. After seeing the displays of cameras, I figured I'd be out of my price range but was hopeful for maybe some recommendations or where I could look that wasn't walmart or Amazon. I wanted to shop locally.

After about 4 laps someone asked me what I was looking for. I told him I wanted a low level digital camera. There had to be ONE crappy 150$ digital camera among the $600-1500 ones they showed.

He brought me straight over to an old man who was working on lights. Let me tell you this guy was not happy about being interrupted. The first man told him what I was looking for and the lights man sighed and quite literally slammed down four cameras in front of us, talked about what each one did and the smallest one started at $500 and he said "this is for vloggers."

I wasn't trying to vlog buddy. And if you can smell the inexperience on me, why would you push a 500$ camera on someone? I get it, my poor, stupid, young vlogger looking self is interrupting your very important work on lights.

But your bad attitude comes off as "You're not important, I'm busy, go away." Instead of just taking the five minutes to listen to what a person needs and suggest you don't have what they need, don't push half of rents worth at someone who has no idea what they're doing.

I swear old people cry up and down how rude young people are but old people think we're hardly worth whatever time they have left.

This place shows much pride in their work, their image and know how. It's too bad if you don't have that air of money on you, don't...