Photospecialist.co.uk

TG.

TG.

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Has anyone used Photospecialist, it looks like they are based in Germany, they have some good prices, but say anyone outside the EU may have to pay custom charge's I guess that now includes us
 
TG. said:
Has anyone used Photospecialist, it looks like they are based in Germany, they have some good prices, but say anyone outside the EU may have to pay custom charge's I guess that now includes us
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I used them about 4 years ago to buy a new Leica MP. They took the payment from the card then all went quiet so I got in touch with them, it turned out that they didn't have the camera in stock and were waiting to get one from Leica, didn't know when that might be. I wasn't happy so I asked for e refund ( I told them thought they shouldn't have taken the payment until they had the camera in stock and they should have bee upfront that this was a sort of pre-order). Anyway when the refund finally arrived they paid me back in Euros at the exchange rate of the day not what I had actually paid them and despite all my efforts I lost just over £100 in the deal. Suffice to say I won't use them again.

BTW the price on their website was in Sterling not Euros.
 
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Topsy said:
I used them about 4 years ago to buy a new Leica MP. They took the payment from the card then all went quiet so I got in touch with them, it turned out that they didn't have the camera in stock and were waiting to get one from Leica, didn't know when that might be. I wasn't happy so I asked for e refund ( I told them thought they shouldn't have taken the payment until they had the camera in stock and they should have bee upfront that this was a sort of pre-order). Anyway when the refund finally arrived they paid me back in Euros at the exchange rate of the day not what I had actually paid them and despite all my efforts I lost just over £100 in the deal. Suffice to say I won't use them again.

BTW the price on their website was in Sterling not Euros.
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That is very naughty indeed. Based on that post alone, I shall never buy from the company.

On a similar note. I bought a Youshiko weather station in July of this year directly from the UK distributor. When the anemometer packed up two weeks ago I wrote to them and they said send it back with proof of purchase. I said I no longer had the receipt (if I was ever sent one because I don't remember it) but they would have a record of the purchase -- they claimed I had not bought it from them (I did though) and without the receipt they would do nothing. That's another company on my Do Not Go Near list.
 
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ShinySideUp said:
That is very naughty indeed. Based on that post alone, I shall never buy from the company.

On a similar note. I bought a Youshiko weather station in July of this year directly from the UK distributor. When the anemometer packed up two weeks ago I wrote to them and they said send it back with proof of purchase. I said I no longer had the receipt (if I was ever sent one because I don't remember it) but they would have a record of the purchase -- they claimed I had not bought it from them (I did though) and without the receipt they would do nothing. That's another company on my Do Not Go Near list.
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Asking for proof of purchase is pretty much standard, Especially after six months.
 
DemiLion said:
Asking for proof of purchase is pretty much standard, Especially after six months.
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But they must have known I'd bought it from them and when. No one deletes their transaction records at least for a year, if ever. This was bloody-mindedness and a get-out from doing anything.

In any event, I've bought something else from someone else and that piece of crap has been consigned to the Round File of Experience.
 
ShinySideUp said:
But they must have known I'd bought it from them and when. No one deletes their transaction records at least for a year, if ever. This was bloody-mindedness and a get-out from doing anything.

In any event, I've bought something else from someone else and that piece of crap has been consigned to the Round File of Experience.
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I'll say this for WEX, they do keep a transaction history of everything you've bought - so should there be an issue.

I was toying, breifly, with getting a Gitzo series 2 tripod for hiking from them - as there is a significant saving, but reading the occasional issues with Gitzo's - and the ease of returning such a large item - discretion took the better part of valour.
 
Have used Photospecialist loads of times for RRS kit, never had any issues.
 
I too have purchased a number of items from them including an ifootage Tripod and monopod on seperate occasions , never had any issue with them and promply delivered .. Thats my experience, however do whats best for yourself ...


Coho - Blue
 
I have bought many items from them - indeed I placed a significant order with them on Friday morning.
Sometimes there are surprising 'bargains' in their pricing - like the item I have on order!
 
I ordered a battery for my 1dx2 a few months ago - it was the cheapest genuine option I could find online by far. It arrived in a few days with nothing extra to pay.
 
SFTPhotography said:
Do tell - what have you sprung for?
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Manfrotto 504X video head and 645 FAST tripod. Cheaper new at Photospecialist than the secondhand ones I can find....
I'm generating more video content for clients and am working on a major client project that will really benefit from a pukka video head. All the cheap ones I can find all seem to be rated by users as very variable in terms of panning smoothness so I resigned myself to getting a decent one (at a price though!).
 
Topsy said:
I used them about 4 years ago to buy a new Leica MP. They took the payment from the card then all went quiet so I got in touch with them, it turned out that they didn't have the camera in stock and were waiting to get one from Leica, didn't know when that might be. I wasn't happy so I asked for e refund ( I told them thought they shouldn't have taken the payment until they had the camera in stock and they should have bee upfront that this was a sort of pre-order). Anyway when the refund finally arrived they paid me back in Euros at the exchange rate of the day not what I had actually paid them and despite all my efforts I lost just over £100 in the deal. Suffice to say I won't use them again.

BTW the price on their website was in Sterling not Euros.
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Taking a look at their T&Cs it is their standard procedure to charge your card immediately at the point of order, rather than at the point of despatch

Terms & Conditions

Kamera Express - dé grootste Kamera Superstore van de Benelux. Op onze website vindt u het gehele Kamera Express assortiment. Direct uit voorraad leverbaar, dus voor 22.30 uur besteld is de volgende werkdag in huis.
www.photospecialist.co.uk www.photospecialist.co.uk

12.3 For technical reasons, if you pay by credit or debit card we will provisionally charge your card upon you placing the order and completing the relevant card payment process. We will promptly refund you if we do not issue a Dispatch Confirmation or if you cancel the Contract as set out in Clause 8.
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[emphasis added]

Charging at point of dispatch would be my expectation from my time working in computer retail. It's possible for many, many years to reserve the funds on a card, but not actually charge it. I'd avoid on this basis alone, even more so for the reason you have discovered with currency movements.
 
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