District Camera and Imaging — Local services in Washington

If I could give this place negative stars I would; the most DISGUSTING customer service I’ve ever seen (and I’ve spent my entire life in the customer service field from the grounds to corporate level).

By far, the most disgusting customer service I’ve experienced in any business. To start with, when you walk in you are received the bad attitude all the way until your payment is process. Their employees are short with you and treat you as if you were an idi*t and they were geniuses. Definitely seems to be a culture at this establishment because the Arlington office are polite and professionals. After having gone here for several times (I believe a year), the disgusting customer service is what highlights from the start. But not only that, they will tell you how little they care about you or your pictures; seems as no one is held accountable so no one cares about treating their customers right (instead their attitude is disgusting at the very best). Two other friends had come to this place and they both have said the same thing. I first didn’t care too much about their attitude (nor about the quality of the prints), so I still came back. But I had enough after they threw away my pictures and negative because I came to pick up my pictures after 30 days (I was getting married! I traveled and couldn’t come) and their response (instead of trying to make things right, be polite & respectful and apologize for the inconvenience—customer service 101, especially knowing that pictures are special memories people want to keep, else we would just use social media!!) was to tell me that they don’t want to hear it, it’s my fault because I didn’t read their policy (who reads policies of every store they go!) and that they have hundreds of customers to care about just one, the way to “make it right” after their disgusting comments was to charge me more to re-print the pictures (I wouldn’t have mind if it wasn’t for their nasty attitude) and they even said if I keep on “complaining” they will not print my pictures even if I paid (Paul even felt comfortable to threaten me even tho the “manager” was there… hence I say this level of disgusting customer service is the culture at this location), I tried speaking to the manager (I was told his name is Syed) and he care little to nothing about the disgusting comments his employees were making and even walked away because he didn’t want to hear any complaints (a key part of a manager’s duties). This is the last time I come to this place and will re-consider using any other district camera because of how disgusting this one location is (I would highly recommend evaluating/investigating this location as I promise you that by far the level of customer service they provide is disgusting at the very least). I should have heard other people that told me to avoid this location and now I know why…. I’m going to make sure I let, everyone I know, know about this place and to avoid going here at all cost. But like Paul (employee at this location) said to me (in front of the manager that I believe is named Syed?) “you are only one of hundreds of customer so I don’t care”…. This place lacks of the basics of customer service.

Update** response to S. Tariverdi: you have sooo many reviews saying that your staff are extremely rude with customers (especially at this store). My problem was mainly focus on treatment, on how rude, how disrespectful, and how disgusting your staff at this store treated us (not just that day, but every time one visits this store). I don’t care about paying $10 or $30 for a re-print. If your staff would have simply said “sorry for the inconvenience, let me see what we can do for you….. oh so sorry we couldn’t recover the negative but we can reprint your picture for half price” (or full price for what I care)… but no, your staff treat people like their are literally trash (I’m not even exaggerating). If how you solve this complaints is going to talk to those same staff and side with them, that clearly shows why there is a culture of mistreatment...

⚠️ WARNING: District Camera & Imaging - Unprofessional Business Practices

As a working photographer and creative director with over a decade of gear buying/selling experience across the U.S., I must warn others about my experience with District Camera & Imaging in Washington, D.C.

What Happened (Documented with Emails and Receipts)

The Agreement: Initial quote: $1,935 for my used gear Final confirmed balance: $935 cash after keeping $1,000 worth of my gear. Agreement confirmed in writing via email by their representative Saed Transaction completed and signed off with employee Jose

The Problem: Five minutes after leaving the store, I received a phone call demanding I return my gear or forfeit the cash portion. I was told: I had "taken all the good stuff" They were "being nice" with the evaluation The agreement was "voided" because I selected items from my approved list before finalizing

The Threats: When I refused to undo the completed, signed transaction, they threatened: Disposal of my legally purchased equipment Legal action through their lawyer Voiding the written agreement

Weeks of Contradictory Communication

The aftermath involved erratic, defensive communication: Saed claimed the sale was valid Eldar claimed it wasn't Each blamed the other while threatening legal action Both refused to honor documented agreements Attempted gaslighting to discourage me from pursuing what was owed

The Reality Check

This wasn't a "misunderstanding" or "difference of opinion." This was: Documented bait-and-switch tactics Refusal to honor written agreements Legal intimidation over legitimate transactions

Despite their "Family Owned Since 1978" branding and claims of 8,000 monthly transactions, they couldn't honor a single signed deal.

Recommendation for Fellow Creatives

Avoid District Camera for any trade-ins. If you must work with them: Document everything in writing Expect potential post-transaction "renegotiation" Be prepared for unprofessional conduct

The photography community deserves better than back-alley tactics dressed up with...

I really want to give them 5 stars. Folks here are friendly and helpful. Development and scans are great (if overpriced for the lowest quality scans compared to other options).

The issue I have is that no matter what I try, I can't seem to get folks her to send me my scans in any helpful way. I often drop off multiple rolls and have tried multiple different ways to receive my files as separate links for each roll of film.. including submitting each of my rolls as completely separate orders. Despite this, I always receive ALL scans in one giant unhelpful folder with no notes or any helpful information.

I also have tried to label every roll of film I drop off so they can put a note on the file link (ex. Nikon FE 7/14-7/22). They did this with the first film I dropped off, but have not done it since, despite asking specifically for it.

This last time I dropped off two rolls as two separate orders (just treat them like you would if 2 customers dropped off 2 rolls!) and I did get back separate links for two sets of photos, but each link contained the same scans. No big deal, we all make mistakes. However, when I called to get my missing scans, instead of sending me one link of the missing scans or two links of each set of scans again but done correctly, I got ONE LINK WITH 80 SCANS AGAIN.

I don't know how else to ask or beg to just get ONE LINK PER ROLL OF FILM. BUT PLEASE GOD DON'T SEND ME ANYMORE LINKS WITH 200 FILES FROM 7 DIFFERENT ROLLS OF FILM

Another lesser issue is the way half-frame scans are done. One benefit of half-frame cameras is the cost savings, twice as many photos with the same cost for a roll of film, for developing and scanning (if they are scanned as 2 frames each), BUT district camera won't allow you to get half-frame film scanned two images at a time and forces you to pay double for double the scans. That's fine. It's twice the work, but save yourself some time and the customer some money by allowing us to get two half-frames per scanned file as an option like almost every other film...