Vistek Rant

[mehran.mo]

I'm pretty pissed off right now.

I ordered 5 rolls of expensive Portra 800 film. Thinking that you know I'll use a couple of rolls now and I'll keep some for later. Well, today I received them and the expiry date is 2009/03. I'm not going to take 60 pictures... This is bad. Vistek... I am very angry at you.

Just a little tip for everyone else. Do not order expensive film from Vistek.

[gcl.photography]

Hi Mehran,

There are a few Vistek stores here in Toronto, and I also had bad experiences with them. Not the same scenario, but let with prices on DSLR bodies and L lenses. I walked into Vistek this past Monday to get a quote on a 5D2, BG-E6, 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM and 17-40mm... and to top it all off, 2 years of extended warranty on everything..

I asked for some kind of "deal", and they just turned me away. I get a call from "Phil" the store manager in Mississauga location, asking if he can do anything to help me with my quote from them... and I was pissed because why couldn't they help me when I was already there? Well, I just took my business to Merkle Camera and they took good care of me there.

[mehran.mo]

see, I work in a camera store. It's a relatively small store. But honest to god, we take very good care of our costumers. We, the salespeople, are all photographers as well, some Nikon and some Canon. We are usually honest and when we see that there is a costumer who wants to order lots we will make sure we can get him a good deal because we want him back. That's why all our costumers are regulars.

That's why I like shopping at small stores, they know that they need you so they treat you with respect. Unlike big chain stores.

[Karl Johnston]

I had a bad experience with vistek, myself.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=615864&highlight=vistek
I posted it on the market watch a few months ago.