I have been using Samy's for past 2 years for all my gears upgrade after I moved to LA. This including F6, D200, D70s, 18-200 DX VR lens, D80, couple tripod and some other parts and gears.  
 
Samy's is not a discount store, you may find a good deal once a while but mainly the price here is pretty much what a retail store should be. (PS. I did get my the Nikkor 18-200mm DX VR lens order at $699 right after two month of its release, which is a great price.) Be noticed their online price is always 1%-3% lower then their store price due to the store overhead.  
 
I like Samy's is because the good customer service and a place that I can bring my gears back if ever need help. People in pro gear section are very knowledged and willing to help. I find no pushing on sale here, they advice you to get the item you need.  
 
The locations of Samy's I used are LA main store at Fairfax and Santa Ana Store at Bristol. A lot time I do call in order and they get the items I need and place hold for me to pickup. They do this for any item and any amount. I had order run as small as couple dollar, and this save me time.  

This is about the collapse of Samy's once-vaunted service reputation. I have purchased plenty of costly Hasselblad gear from Samy's over the years and find the pro desk folks extremely on their game. So when my wife wanted to upgrade to a top of the line point and shoot, we went to Samy's camera expecting three things: 1. A helpful and knowlegeable staff. 2. Straightforward pricing policy 3. Customer-friendly service. Several unexpected glitches emerged. The staff, while outwardly helpful, must be over-dependent on sales commissions because she wound up with a completely inappropriate camera and all the pricey extras (some non-returnable such as batteries and memory cards --store policy in the fine print). Pricing was throroughly mixed up with rebates, discounts, gift cards and free printing gimmicks all stirred into the equipment decision -- rather like a bad Chinese menu. Finally, the return policy is just unacceptable. Samy's staunchly resists returns on volume consumer digital gear and only give a store credit, minus batteries and cards unless you've had the merch for more than 10 days in which case they deduct an additional 10% for restocking. This all assuming they pronounce the returned items "new and unused". The managers were rude and very insulting when my wife returned a very unsatisfying Nikon S-5 -- lots of features but no easy work around for night images that her old Canon handled without a hitch. Samy's reasoning: the camera had been used!! Well, yes, it was not what we asked for and you can't try it out adequately in the store. You only find out what it's limits are if you try it. So of course the memory card had stored data and the extra battery -- well, it was unopened. They could have very graciously helped my wife into a suitable 800 ISO/ SD600 Canon, and given her a full credit, but no --- first a protracted and very unpleasant argument - it's been a week and she's still upset. Unfortunately I have to revisit these characters one more time because they have a good chunk of my money, but lord help us if we have a problem. Too bad for Samy's, they must be feeling the pressure from the net .

Zero customer service.  
 
I called Samy's looking for a specific hard to find film. My first question to the salesperson was do you carry this film? I was told yes. I asked again if it was the correct film type. Again I was told yes. I asked how much and placed an order for the film. Before I hung up the phone I once again asked if it was the film I was looking for and was told yes.  
 
When I received my package, I opened it up to find it was all the wrong type of film. I called again and spoke with the salesperson only to be told that they indeed sent the wrong film- it was written on the order correctly, but that they do not carry the film I had ordered. ??? I was instructed how to return the film and was told that I would be recompensated for it in addition to the shipping and handling.  
 
I then received an invoice several days later for my refund. I was not compensated for any of my shipping. I again called the store and spoke with a manager. She claimed that they could only pay for half of my shipping charges. I asked why since they had made the mistake of shipping the wrong item. She said that was the way they did things goodbye. So, they made how many mistakes in my order? And I am left paying for THEIR MISTAKE???!!! Unacceptable.  
 
BUYER BEWARE: Samy's has NO CUSTOMER SERVICE- look on their web site. Who would you contact if you had a problem?

Very nice people. Easy to talk to. Will check status of order immediately. Pricing is competitive. Shipping charges are low. Very fast delivery if you live in the Northwest area.

I have ordered, via phone, twice from Samy's this year and have had excellent service both times. In both cases the order was correct, delivered on time (quickly) and no customer service or after sales support was needed.

This review was modified by its author, mb5550, on 12/14/03 1:09 AM.

After reading alot of good reviews about Samy's, I decided to go ahead and order a Nikon D200, SB800 Flash, and MC36 remote control. I placed the order this morning with Jody, gave my credit card info and was contacted this evening - the call got cut off and she did not call me again. I called 20 minutes later to find out she had gone home. I then spoke with another lady who advised me my order was in "verification" status - whatever that was. She then placed me on hold for a few minutes while she investigated. She came back to tell me I had to pay with either a wire transfer or check - which is absolutely ridiculous. The only people who ask for this type of payment are scam artists - and there are plenty of those - add Samy's to the list. My credit card is a platinum card with no debt on it - I have excellent credit and have ordered tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise through the years from Amazon.com, Buy.com, NewEgg.com, etc without a problem. This is the first time I've ever encountered something like this. After my initial outrage, I cooled off for a few minutes, contacted them again and spoke with someone different who again investigated and advised me that since this was my first time ordering from them, Samy's management would not authorize my purchase! What? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around where the credit card company is supposed to authorize the purchase (which they did)? This is beyond stupid! Stay away from Samy's and avoide the headaches - moronic and frustrating as you can't escalate your conversation to anyone in "management".