Pro Photo Inc. — Local services in Washington

After reading a bunch of reviews online, I decided to take my camera to this store because everyone had provided such positive feedback. I have no idea why. I dropped off my camera for them to give me a free estimate for repair. I dropped it off on a Sunday, and I was told they would call me with an estimate by the middle of the week. I didn't hear back from them for more than 2 weeks, and when I did, they said they were going to send my camera to the factory and I would need to wait 10 days for it to be back. I can't imagine why it took so long to figure this out. When I dropped my camera off, I told them which part needed repair (a mechanism inside the lens). I don't understand why it took them two weeks to figure out they couldn't repair it themselves.

Two weeks later, I received another call saying the repair would be $135, and they would charge me $120 to clean it (that also seems unfair to me). I told them I wanted to pick up my camera and take it to a different store because I was not happy with the service I had received. He told me it would take 10 days for it to come in (what he had said to me two weeks prior). He also wanted me to pay shipping despite not asking my permission to send my camera to the factory. It's been more than a month, and I still can't go pick my camera up from the store (despite the fact that it was never even repaired). DO...

If you need your camera fixed the right way, come to this place. If you need your camera fixed the right way and within a reasonable amount of time, then I recommend you look elsewhere. I dropped my camera off on the 17th of December to get the photo sensor cleaned and to get the focusing screen replaced. They said check back in 10 days. I called 10 days later and they said the part should be coming in sometime that day. When I called a few days later, they said that they didn't order the part until the 20th and it should be coming in sometime that day. What were they doing for those 3 days? They knew what was broken and what part needed to be replaced. Also, they should know when and what parts are arriving since we have the ability to track packages these days.

Long story short, after calling back every few days for the next few weeks and getting the "it should be coming in sometime that day" speech every time and a "we don't know why it didn't come in with the other parts, we'll have to call the factory to place the order again", I eventually picked up my camera a month later on the 17th of January.

Go use these guys if you have time to kill. They do great work, but when it comes to ordering parts, they are really slow just like some of the reviewers have...

this was my experience:

I came in to get equipment looked at and fixed. The problem could've been glanced at and decided on the spot if they could fix it or not. The problem was missing screws from what I could see. Instead, I was told, for a $25 dollar fee, I would have to drop it off so someone could look at it and further down the week I would be contacted about wether they could fix it or not. I was contacted by the tech and was told that they "could fix it and it will cost about $250 to fix, and if I choose to move forward with them, they would apply my $25 toward the balance. Seeing that the issue didn't to appear to be worth the price, I went with my gut feeling and picked up the equipment. before I left, the tech stated that the problem was... missing screws.

This is where it gets interesting. I called another camera repair shop in VA and was told to stop by with said equipment. The camera tech looked at it right there, went under his lamp at his workstation, REPLACED 4 SCREWS (the problem was missing screws), calibrated the equipment and... gave it to me right there. Fixed and good as new. He charged me $10 for the time and screws.

This was my experience. take from it...