Fireside Camera — Local services in San Francisco

Fireside has kept me waiting for over 6 months now to receive my Sony a6300 that they sent off for a repair to Sony (I declined the repair cost and the camera was supposed to be sent back), with no solution or way to work out the missing camera. They are plenty nice people but have left a customer (who has since moved from SF) hanging, because they can't work out an issue with one of their vendors. This should have been resolved as soon as they knew the situation was bad, even if it meant a small financial loss to them, to do right by a customer. I've asked this of them on numerous occasions, having to be the one to follow up periodically, and have been left with unsatisfactory answers. They just continue to ask me to wait...They were quick to sell me another camera when I brought mine in for the repair, but paralysis on an issue like this, that wouldn't cost them much to resolve, is reason enough to look elsewhere for a...

I bought my Fuji x100v from Fireside, and they helped set me up with really great peripherals at a modest price. I had a problem dropping it 6 months into owning it, and the suggested repair options were daunting, and while they had a good referral to a local shop that did repairs, it turned out not to be workable - too sensitive an area, requiring factory ($$) service and I was looking at an expensive repair and long absence in use. I got a call back from Fireside saying that I had purchased a guarantee on the original ticket, and the camera would be repaired or replaced as per the terms of the guarantee. This is what happens when a local shop gives good advice (they had recommended the guarantee) and follows up in an emergency. Which they did....

I was here in July 2024, while on vacation to California. Not having brought my DSLR on the trip for practical reasons, and with my phone's camera just having developed a defect, I was urgently looking for an affordable camera as a temporary replacement.

After a horrible experience at another camera shop, I accidentally came by Fireside Camera where I saw a used Panasonic Lumix bridge camera at a very fair price in the window display. The gentleman that I talked to in the shop was very friendly and gave really helpful advice. I bought the Lumix together with an SD-card as well as a USB-C adaptor for SD-cards and couldn't have been happier with my purchase, which enabled us to take home many beautiful photographic memories...