1/5

posted Mar-02-2008

"Samy's is crooked. They advertised a great price on a Cartoni tripod so I ordered one. A few days later they contacted me and told me "That particular model is no longer being made, and we don't have any left". I knew that was not true and confirmed with Cartoni.

Like so many other crooked online retailers, Samy's advertised an extremely low price to get buyers in the door, so to speak, and then failed to deliver. Avoid them!"

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1/5

posted Jun-18-2007

"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"."

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1/5

posted Mar-23-2007

"I recently bought a Nikon d70s refurb from them since I didn't want to spend too much.. I paid 899.00 for the refurb and the salesman gave me a few items for free. Needless to say. It was a 1gb generic memory card, a slk-sdv20 tripod ($20), a jumpstart DVD, a medium sized camera case that was too small to hold anything. Then he added a Rear Lens cap for 11.50 on my bill without telling me and overall charged me with tax 1044.33 which included the 49.00 Helio UV filter since I only wanted the best..not knowing the GG was so dirty behind it. Now After I waiting to take the free Nikon class..which was great...I went out to shoot today just to notice that behind the ground glass that there was so much dirt that it got into my pix. Now I have to go to Nikon Service Center to get that cleaned up and wait 3 days for that to happen. Who know how much that will cost..but I found out that there is no warranty for even 30days for refurbs. I hate commission sales people. I will now just stick with BH Photo in NYC..so much better...Overall for Samy's customers...Buyer beware."

This review was modified by smithy on March 23 2007 03:02:33 AM

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5/5

posted Jan-17-2007

"Service and selection is pretty good. Their online prices matches other well known competitors in NY. Their store prices seems to be $40-50 more than their online price. I bought a battery grip for my XTI. Online at Samys.com was $140. At the store, $180. I also bought a Canon EF 24-70mm the past weekend. Online was $1150, and at the store $1200. They also seem to "guess" or range the prices. The fixed "overhead" price is acceptable on things you need now. But if you can wait, probably buy it online at a more well established Website."

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5/5

posted Nov-06-2006

"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.
"

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5/5

posted Sep-29-2006

"I'd been trying to order a Lens Hood/Adapter kit for my Canon Powershot S3, but everyone seemed to be out of them. Samy's showed them in-stock, so I phoned them just to be sure.

Very friendly person answered the phone, and verified that they were in-stock, so I placed the order and my kit arrived 10 days later.

Would consider buying from this retailer again."

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1/5

posted Aug-09-2006

"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 . "

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4/5

posted Aug-08-2006

"I was attracted to Samy's because of their reasonable price on the Canon Powershot SD630 point-and-shoot digital camera. While my ordering experience was satsifactory, probably even above average, I wish they would have sent an e-mail when my order shipped. As it was, I had to call the store to confirm that it had shipped and when it would arrive. Additionally, the representative I spoke to refused to provide me with a UPS tracking number as they "aren't allowed to give those out." It seems that plenty of other online retailers don't have a problem with providing tracking numbers?

Overall, I'd probably do business with Samy's again. The shipping notification thing was a minor inconvenience."

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1/5

posted Jun-05-2006

"Don't shop here--but sometimes you have to because they are the largest photo store in LA. My reasons I don't like them:
1)if you purchase something you can only return it for store credit--why not just order from a NY Store and still have 2 weeks for a full refund and save on tax? 2) Half the time I purchase something with an expiration date it is very close to the expiration date. 3) If yo check the prices on their internet site and then go into the store expecting to pay a little bit more---you will end up paying a lot more. I will say this for the store-- there are some very knowledgeable people in the professional camera. department"

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5/5

posted May-11-2006

"Samy's is now, in my oppinion, an excellent source for equipment. I placed an order and upon receiving the package, I noticed that I received the wrong product - I called Samy's and without having to even ask, they agreed to overnight me the correct merchandise. I have never, in all of my online purchasing experiences, been so pleased by a business in regards to customer service. I will certainly be buying from Samy's again in the near future."

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