first time ordering from KEH. shipped to my pretty quickly, everything went smoothly... got my lens. found out it did not want to work very well with my camera. naturally, i shipped it back for a refund. i did not recieve a refund until today. nearly two weeks after they recieved it. i called them about it and they were quite rude about it. i emailed them the night before also.. took them a week to respond. nice.

I ordered a 4x5 camera from KEH recently because of KEH stated 14 day return policy andI was convinced by the salesperson I was not taking the risk of purchasing the same item on Ebay because of this. I was not given any description of the item except a vague idea of what it was NOT. Here's the rub with this business; Salesman told me I had 14 days to assess my purchase. WRONG! I only have 6 days within which I have to have the item returned, since the KEH return policy fine print states 14 day return from INVOICE DATE! That is ludicrous, and completely misleading. Judging from the reports of KEH on this website, which are either GLOWING or NEGATIVE, I would BEWARE of this business. I am unable to recommend purchasing from KEH as a result of being mislead about this fundamental stipulation of their return policy which is utterly BOGUS.  
UPDATE: 3/2/2009: 4x5 camera arrived in a beat up box with crumpled paper and one layer of thin bubble wrap separating SOME of the parts of the expensive Swiss made 4x5. The camera was shipped to me with a badly scratched etched ground glass, incorrect 3rd party replacement bellows, incorrect old-style base clamp, leaking bubble level, a missing metal cap on the standard frame, and last but not least, 6 or 8 spring loaded pins for locking and unlocking the lensboards, back, and bellows were corroded and frozen closed. All told, the camera requires at least $500 of repairs and replacement parts. KEH assured me that their camera ratings are conservative and reflect only cosmetic effects such as scuffs, mars, paint loss, but NEVER usability and function, which is TESTED and quality assured to be in good working order. I was completely BAMBOOZLED by KEH and am going to pursue legal alternatives to their unethical and highly probable illegal false advertising and bad-faith dealings. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING from KEH, unless you get a statement of condition IN WRITTEN FORM, signed off by the salesperson, which will NEVER happen at KEH, because they will not communicate ANYTHING in writing, I've found from experience. SHAME on KEH!

This review was modified by its author, boscoevich, on 3/2/09 11:57 PM.

This is my second order with KEH, but my first problem which has turned into a complete nightmare.  
I placed the order on-line Monday, October 6, 2008 12:07 AM.  
After I twice requested shipping information I was advised the order shipped Wednesday 10/8 by UPS ground, but KEH could not advise me of the UPS tracking number.  
After a week on Monday October 13th the KEH sales manager at KEH stated by email, "I have been unable to locate your shipment. KEH will be refunding your purchase amount. Sorry for the inconvenience." In my opinion the order probably never did ship.  
Today Oct 17th the refund has yet not shown up in my credit card account.  
I also noticed today a camera identical to the one I ordered is a new listing for sale on the KEH web page for sale, what a coincidence. There is no question in my mind that the camera I bought never shipped but was lost in house.

This review was modified by its author, georgek911, on 10/20/08 12:13 PM.

KEH has lost me as a customer.  
 
I use to regard them as a completely above board seller of photographic equipment, but my latest experience with them feels like I dealt with a bait and switch seller.  
 
Last night I ordered a Nikon flash outfit from their website for $599.95. I selected ground shipping for $12.95. Insurance added $2.50, for a grand total of $615.40. I placed the order.  
 
I only received an order number at the end of the transaction, which I wrote down, but didn't get the expected email confirmation and receipt that I get from most other sellers. For that reason I called this morning to make sure the order had gone through ok. It had.  
 
I was told, as pretty much an after thought, that my card had been charged $635. What? That must be wrong. My total came to $615.40. But I was assured by the female voice that the total charged was $635. I objected to being charged $35 for shipping and cancelled the order. The woman couldn't explain why I was being charged $20 more than what was stated on their website for ground shipping.  
 
A few minutes later I called again and spoke to a man, Ken. After hearing my problem he looked into it, called me back, and assured me the $35 shipping charge was right. Then why did the website say $12.95 + 2.50, for a total of $15.45?  
 
The only explanation he could offer was that the website was only an estimate, and if the real shipping price is different KEH calls the customer to let them know.  
 
I see a couple of problems with this. First, nowhere did the website say anything about the listed shipping charges being an estimate. (There was a remark about large items being sent by Air costing more, but I had selected ground shipping.) Second, no one called me. It was me who called them, and only inadvertently did I learn about the extra charge for shipping. And they had already charged my credit card!  
 
Bait and switch? Absolutely....not on merchandise, but on shipping charges. My feeling is that they should have honored their own published shipping rates, which was actually a fair price for ground shipping, while $35 is a bit of a gouge. (Maybe this is why they don't supply an email receipt for the transaction....nothing is actually put in writing.)  
 
I never return to companies who use such sales methods. KEH is now on my avoid list.  
 
(After this bad experience I placed the same order with Abe's of Maine. Same flash outfit. Same Nikon USA merchandise (not gray market). Same price, $599.95. But shipping is FREE! We will see how this one goes.)

On April 1 I ordered a lens from this company online. It was in stock, and I ordered second day air. On April 4 I rec'd UPS tracking information, which showed that the lens didn't leave KEH until April 4. We thought it would ARRIVE April 4 !! The package then spent four days going from Atlanta GA to Louisville KY, and is expected to arrive here in CT April 8. If we're lucky. How is that second day air? I could have driven there and back in that amount of time -- eight days. I called KEH and they couldn't have been less helpful. They had no explanation, and just said they didn't know why I got their confirmation e-mail April 1, but the lens wasn't shipped til April 4. And what's with UPS driving a second day air package for five days? This lens was bought for a student who is going on a school trip to Europe, leaving April 9. If the lens doesn't arrive, he will lose the opportunity of a lifetime. Extremely disappointed in shipping and in customer service. Will never never use KEH or UPS again.

I ordered at 4pm on friday with keh, 2day air. I was expecting to receive the shipment notification saturday like the website stated (2day air shipped next business day) no email. I called, and got rung up to a nonstop ringing phone. I called back a 2nd time, and same thing happened. I finally called back Monday. I got jerked around and nothing was resolved. I called back tuesday morning, standing outside in 5F weather without a coat on, to call them up. After wasting 5 minutes of my 15 minute break, and being transfered twice, the person said "we needed to verify your shipping adress" After veryifying it, it got shipped and arrived thursday. Keh had my telephone number and email adress. They failed to use either one and contact me on this. Worst customer service ive ever dealt with. 100% unhappy with Keh

I bought a used digital SLR camera, rated Excellent, from KEH; it died within their 2 week return policy. The return process was pleasant enough (although I received conflicting instructions from two customer service people); they told me to expect that my credit card would be credited within 8 to 10 days, plus $10 for shipping. I waited longer than that and had to remind them to credit my card. The $10 wasn't credited. This was my first buying experience with KEH, and I won't do business with them again.

This review was modified by its author, cap624, on 12/9/07 8:44 PM.

Despite all the great reviews and praise from photo forums, doing business with this vendor is great UNTIL YOU HAVE A PROBLEM! I've sold used equipment to them and just bought the first lens from KEH. &746.00 product never left a UPS hub. After notifying UPS I notified KEH and got an e-mail that they were told "it will probably show up without tracking" by UPS. Last I ever heard from KEH. No refund, no desire to sell something else, just no contact at all! AND NO TOLL-FREE PHONE!!!!  
Had to send a dispute letter to VISA when the bill came because KEH never acknowledged their shipper losing the lens. I'll never do business with them or any other company that discourages contact from customers. Buy from KEH and pray there are no glitches in the process. Cause you will never hear from them again!!!

I received a defective lens. Lens was returned for a refund. Lens I returned was up for sale again on their web site within 3 days of the return. (Presumably they fixed the lens.) After a week they had still not credited my account. I emailed them and was told it would be another week before it would be credited. What it amounts to is they now have a lens they can sell again, they have had the use and interest from my money for two weeks,(They have had a months worth of free interest if you count how long ago I paid them.) and I’m stuck paying interest on the money they haven’t refunded. What a great way to make money with absolutely no outlay on their part. Oh yeah, and I paid shpping both ways. Maybe they have stock in UPS, too.  

Ordered a in stock lens and received a UPS tracking number that night. As of today, 5 days later nothing ever shipped from KEH. Two emails inquiring what is going on and how 5 days later the package has still not shipped have not been replied to. This is my first and last time ordering from this outfit. There is just to many other dealers who HAVE customer service. Clearly the worst service I've ever encountered from any online dealer

This review was modified by its author, bluemax50, on 10/25/06 4:36 PM.

I purchased a used 'Excellent Plus' lens from KEH for use with my Pentax *istDS. This AF lens would not auto-focus on the DS. I replaced the camera batteries with a fresh set to ensure the lens was getting adequate power and I cleaned the contacts on both the lens and the camera. Nothing brought the lens to life. I called KEH and was told to return the lens for a full refund and also that they would cover the cost of postage to return the lens. US Postal Service tracking confirmed the lens was delivered to KEH in Atlanta on 10/11/2005. On the 20th I called KEH to ensure they had the lens and that they were processing the refund. I was told they had the lens and were processing the credit to my card. The support person stated they were behind but that my credit should be processed by Friday the 21st.  
 
As of today, 10/27/2005, the credit still does not appear on my credit account when checked on-line. I am disappointed with the service I've had with KEH and will not do business with them again.  
 
Incidentally, they did not have another lens that could be sent to replace the defective lens.

KEH has not served me well. After several efforts via phone and email to get them to supply what they promised when they took my order, I've initiated a credit card dispute.  
 
What I had hoped for, all along, was for KEH to supply the goods they promised on the phone. In this case, I wanted the Canon 20D camera with the USM lens. I made this entirely clear to the sales person when I placed the order.  
 
When I got the order, it did not contain the item I ordered. They had substituted an item of inferior quality which I specifically had told them I did not want, which was the non-USM lens. From my perspective, they baited me by promising one item, then switched to the inferior item. They do not deny that they did this.  
 
What is surprising to me is that they do not want to send me the item they promised, even though they have it. From my perspective, this is a shocking lack of attention to the terms of our agreement.  
 
I had purchased this item for an important job, photographing President Bush in January. I ended up using a lens I purchased elsewhere. My hope was that KEH would have some concern that they had failed to fill my order as they had promised.  
 
I feel I will win the credit card dispute, as KEH has clearly failed to hold up their end of the bargain. However, I do somewhat resent them pushing me around by baiting me with promises, then failing to meet them, resulting on me having to create all this correspondence.  
 
I hope that KEH gains an attitude that a happy customer is valuable to them.

I have heard a lot through the years about how reputable KEH is, and how the 'undergrade' their equipment, so you always get a better item than the grade, however it turned out that is not completely true.  
 
I have ordered two Minolta lenses from KEH, and both had the EX grade (I didn't dare order BGN). They didn't arrive on time (as promised), and I had to leave the country for a month. When I came back, I found the package (arrived 1 week late), but my biggest unpleasant surprise was that one of the lenses had a deep crack in the plastic of the zoom window!  
 
Both lenses otherwise looked ok, not mint, but in very good cosmetic condition, and the glass was excellent except for some dust, but the crack in the zoom window I could not stomach. How could anyone with proper sight rate this lens as EX???  
 
So I started emailing KEH and at first they didn't believe me, and only after a lot of to and fro, and after sending them MACRO pictures of the crack itself they agreed that the lens was overrated and downgraded it to BGN, while saying they 'can't imagine how this could have happened' (the lenses were well packed so it definitely did not happen in shipping).  
 
So now they offered me either $39 credit (on $325 lens), which they claim was the price difference b/w BGN and EX, or to ship the lens back for refund, but they would only pay me $10 for the return shipping and will not refund my forward shipping charge.  
 
Both of these cases did not sound good to me, since shipping to them would cost me more than $10, and the $39 (on $325 EX graded lens) I felt was insufficient compensation for the troubles I went through, which were completely their mistake. I wrote them about this, and pointed out that reputable merchants also compensate customers not only for the actual costs but also for the hassle they incurred, but KEH did not budge from their position.  
 
At the end I accepted the $39 credit just not to waste further time and nerves in this, but I remain deeply disappointed in KEH and feel they have gone far down the downward spiral in the last few years.  
 
A word of advice to future KEH customers: Either buy LN rated products (which are overpriced on their site), or be prepared for something similar that happened to me. KEH of recent is definitely not KEH of some 5-10 years ago, and they do not even try to go above and beyond to satisfy the customer. Be advised.

This is my second order with KEH, and second problem with them. The first time I ordered a new lens with overnight shipping and it arrived as expected. I later found out that I was charged more for shipping than my email confirmation showed. They credited me back in within a couple days of contacting them so no harm done. On my second order I needed a lens ASAP so ordered it with overnight shipping. One week later I haven't heard a peep from them and still don't have a lens. I sent an email a couple days ago with no response. I have heard great things about them, but think it's time for me to start purchasing things elsewhere.

I bought a nikon f5 camera that was rated in "excellent" condition from KEH about three weeks ago. The transaction was smooth and I was notified about the shipping information right away. I got the shipment as promised, but was surprised by the fact that the camera did not work when I put all 8 AA batteries. Luckily, I had a co-worker who had F5 with him and got to try his battery pack to see if the camera powers up and it did! The problem was the battery pack, so I went to B&H and bought a new battery pack.  
 
Although the customer support representative was very friendly and apologized for the problem, and also promised to replace it quickly, I was somewhat disappointed by KEH that it did not really test the equipment before selling it. I am sure this was a mistake by KEH, but have to say i was somewhat disappointed.