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"Tried to order from this company from their add in Popular Photography. They raised the price from the magazine add and the internet price. Guy was very rude and said price is going up again. Just hang up and shop somewhere else like I did."
"Hopefully you will find resellerratings.com before shopping with Smile Photo.
I shopped for months on the internet and in magazines looking for a good long zoom lens. I ended up settling on the Sigma 70 -200 f/2.8 EX HSM for Canon. I then found that Smile had the lowest price by about $100 on this lens compared to anybody else I could find. I made my order at the end of July because I was planning a trip (Aug 3 - 10) where I hoped to use the lens. I figured that if I ordered at least a week ahead of time then I would get the lens if it was shipped to my destination. So I ordered online and hoped for the best.
During a business trip before my real vacation I got an email from Smile saying that the price advertised ($535) and on their website they could not honor. I got the following email which I copy directly:
TO MR EVAN WILDER
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE SIGMA 70-200 2.8 EX APO HSM F EOS LENSE IS NOW AVAILABLE ONLY WITH FOUR YEAR USA WARRANTY FOR $579.95. SHIPPING HANDLING AND INSURANCE FOR YOUR TOTAL ORDER $35.00
PLEASE ADVISE IF YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE IT
THANK YOU SMILE PHOTO DEPT E
I respond via email Aug 2 asking why the price is higher then advertised, that I am annoyed and say that I can't find a better price anywhere, so they can bill me at the higher price and ship the lens.
So about 5 days later (Aug 7) I get a call on the answering machine from Smile saying that they have not been able to reach me and they wonder what to do about my order. I call back Aug 8 and say that I wrote an email and I didn't get a response...so I ask why *they* didn't respond. Customer Service says that they sent me three emails which bounced back as undeliverable(!) and they are trying to help me now. (I don't believe it because my email address is reliable and I think it is a lame "my dog at the homework" excuse.)
Anyway, I tell her I want the higher price and she says it is higher because I would be paying for a USA lens w/ 4-year warranty instead of a 1 year warranty ... and besides, the lens from Sigma with a cheaper price is not available because Sigma has not shipped any in a while. Besides, she says she will ship it right away.
So here's where it gets good. I get back home from vacation on Monday Aug 13 and expect the lens is flying on a UPS plane to Missouri. I wait a reasonable amount of time and on Thursday Aug 15 I get a package ... with a Nikon-mount lens!! They shipped me the wrong lens! After waiting so long, I was annoyed, to say the least.
I call on Friday Aug 16th and explain my situation. Smile Customer Service says that they will send the proper lens that same day because she checked and it was in stock. After I said it wasn't fair for *me* to pay return shipping, she says that the box will include a shipping label which I can use to send the wrong lens back at no cost to me. I say 'great' because this seems like decent customer service.
Then 3 days pass, then 4, then 5, then it is Aug 25...much too long for 3-day UPS service. I call to talk to customer service (the store is open Sundays) and a man says "they are closed today, call Monday through Friday" and he hangs up. I quickly call back, QUITE annoyed, and say I want to know when Customer Service is available. He tells me more specifically this time, but how RUDE for a sales person to just hang up after I ask one question. I call Monday and find out the tracking number and I discover that the lens was mailed on Aug 22...4 days later than I was told by Smile! Finally the proper lens arrived just two days ago on August 28 after so much time has passed.
Somehow a compete month has passed since I ordered the lens...all to save $100. I missed taking photos of my vacation and am late getting portraits taken for a friend's birthday. I'd agree with a previous person who said that smile is good if you know exactly what you want and you are OK dealing a rude, inconsiderate, blubbering company that somehow has good prices."
"Ordered a CD deck for my car a little less than three weeks ago. Was told it was in stock. I placed the order online, but was not quoted shipping immediately. I later found out that they wanted $20 for ground shipping...it should have costed less than $5. Heck, I've had a radiator for the afore-mentioned car shipped for $15. I lived with it, becuase even with this extra cost they beat everyone else's prices, hands down.
1.5 weeks pass with no word. I call, and the woman on the phone says she has to contact her 'buyer.' I get a call back five minutes later, and am told the product is not in stock, but will be in a couple of days, after which she will send it out via 3-Day shipping.
Today, I called and asked again...still hasn't been shipped. I snapped. Order is cancelled and they got an earful from me. I also believe they ALREADY charged my bank account (I paid via a Visa debit/check card). I now have to go about getting my money back, which will be an ordeal with these idiots.
Now I'm looking at another week and more money to order a cd deck from another place. They should make assholes like these people pay compensation for all the various people's time they've wasted."
"Approximately two weeks ago (05/01/2002) I ordered a Tokina 80-200 f2.8 Eos lens by phone. I talked to a sales person called Peter, who assured me that this item was in stock and would be sent out immediately. After some enquiries elsewhere that day, I phoned back to cancel the order, as the shipping price I was quoted ($30) was three times the standard shipping price for this weight. I was told by Peter that the item had already shipped. When I asked for a tracking #, he told me he would call back the next day with a number. Needless to say, he did not. I called again six days later (05/06/2002), was told, again by Peter, that the item had shipped, but again no tracking # was available. Waited three days this time, again no shipping # callback. When I called again, (05/09/2002) I was rudely told to call this number - 212 967 5906, which is possibly your customer disservice number. I called that number, but this time I told them that I was checking on the order status of a back-ordered item. I was not surprised to find that the lens had been back-ordered for some time, and was expected in "a few days, possibly a week". This means that the salesman, Peter, had been quite deliberately LYING to me on each previous occasion that I called. Furthermore, I discovered that my credit card had been debited the full amount of the sale on 5/3/02, two days after my initial order was made. This is totally unacceptable behavior, and bears out this company's almost 100% poor ratings on all the vendor rating sites I have visited.STAY CLEAR OF THIS LOT, THEY ARE LIARS!!. "
"I ordered a Tokina 24-200/Nikon mt. lens. I was quoted a price of $239 (on their website) which was after a $30 rebate. I also asked for 2d day air which I was told would be $18. Smile immediately charged my credit card $299 for the lens plus a total of $58 for shipping and handling. After two phone calls and several emails I got them to refund $30. In the end I would have been much better off going to B&H. This company is not worth the trouble. It is very hard to make a non-defamatory comment. They are rude and they lie, what else is new..."
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posted Aug-30-2002 
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Hopefully you will find resellerratings.com before shopping with Smile Photo. <br><br>I shopped for months on the internet and in magazines looking for a good long zoom lens. I ended up settling on the Sigma 70 -200 f\/2.8 EX HSM for Canon. I then found that Smile had the lowest price by about $100 on this lens compared to anybody else I could find. I made my order at the end of July because I was planning a trip (Aug 3 - 10) where I hoped to use the lens. I figured that if I ordered at least a week ahead of time then I would get the lens if it was shipped to my destination. So I ordered online and hoped for the best.<br><br>During a business trip before my real vacation I got an email from Smile saying that the price advertised ($535) and on their website they could not honor. I got the following email which I copy directly:<br><br>TO MR EVAN WILDER<br><br>PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE SIGMA 70-200 2.8 EX APO HSM F EOS LENSE IS NOW<br>AVAILABLE ONLY WITH FOUR YEAR USA WARRANTY FOR $579.95.<br>SHIPPING HANDLING AND INSURANCE FOR YOUR TOTAL ORDER $35.00<br><br>PLEASE ADVISE IF YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE IT<br><br>THANK YOU<br>SMILE PHOTO<br>DEPT E<br><br>I respond via email Aug 2 asking why the price is higher then advertised, that I am annoyed and say that I can\u0027t find a better price anywhere, so they can bill me at the higher price and ship the lens.<br><br>So about 5 days later (Aug 7) I get a call on the answering machine from Smile saying that they have not been able to reach me and they wonder what to do about my order. I call back Aug 8 and say that I wrote an email and I didn\u0027t get a response...so I ask why *they* didn\u0027t respond. Customer Service says that they sent me three emails which bounced back as undeliverable(!) and they are trying to help me now. (I don\u0027t believe it because my email address is reliable and I think it is a lame \u0022my dog at the homework\u0022 excuse.)<br><br>Anyway, I tell her I want the higher price and she says it is higher because I would be paying for a USA lens w\/ 4-year warranty instead of a 1 year warranty ... and besides, the lens from Sigma with a cheaper price is not available because Sigma has not shipped any in a while. Besides, she says she will ship it right away.<br><br>So here\u0027s where it gets good. I get back home from vacation on Monday Aug 13 and expect the lens is flying on a UPS plane to Missouri. I wait a reasonable amount of time and on Thursday Aug 15 I get a package ... with a Nikon-mount lens!! They shipped me the wrong lens! After waiting so long, I was annoyed, to say the least.<br><br>I call on Friday Aug 16th and explain my situation. Smile Customer Service says that they will send the proper lens that same day because she checked and it was in stock. After I said it wasn\u0027t fair for *me* to pay return shipping, she says that the box will include a shipping label which I can use to send the wrong lens back at no cost to me. I say \u0027great\u0027 because this seems like decent customer service.<br><br>Then 3 days pass, then 4, then 5, then it is Aug 25...much too long for 3-day UPS service. I call to talk to customer service (the store is open Sundays) and a man says \u0022they are closed today, call Monday through Friday\u0022 and he hangs up. I quickly call back, QUITE annoyed, and say I want to know when Customer Service is available. He tells me more specifically this time, but how RUDE for a sales person to just hang up after I ask one question. I call Monday and find out the tracking number and I discover that the lens was mailed on Aug 22...4 days later than I was told by Smile! Finally the proper lens arrived just two days ago on August 28 after so much time has passed. <br><br>Somehow a compete month has passed since I ordered the lens...all to save $100. I missed taking photos of my vacation and am late getting portraits taken for a friend\u0027s birthday. I\u0027d agree with a previous person who said that smile is good if you know exactly what you want and you are OK dealing a rude, inconsiderate, blubbering company that somehow has good prices.","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Smile_Photo_and_Video\/comment\/50799#comment50799","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Smile_Photo_and_Video.jpg","store_name":"Smile Photo and Video","username":"ejwilder","rating":"1"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Ordered a CD deck for my car a little less than three weeks ago. Was told it was in stock. I placed the order online, but was not quoted shipping immediately. I later found out that they wanted $20 for ground shipping...it should have costed less than $5. Heck, I\u0027ve had a radiator for the afore-mentioned car shipped for $15. I lived with it, becuase even with this extra cost they beat everyone else\u0027s prices, hands down.<br><br>1.5 weeks pass with no word. I call, and the woman on the phone says she has to contact her \u0027buyer.\u0027 I get a call back five minutes later, and am told the product is not in stock, but will be in a couple of days, after which she will send it out via 3-Day shipping.<br><br>Today, I called and asked again...still hasn\u0027t been shipped. I snapped. Order is cancelled and they got an earful from me. I also believe they ALREADY charged my bank account (I paid via a Visa debit\/check card). I now have to go about getting my money back, which will be an ordeal with these idiots.<br><br>Now I\u0027m looking at another week and more money to order a cd deck from another place. They should make assholes like these people pay compensation for all the various people\u0027s time they\u0027ve wasted.","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Smile_Photo_and_Video\/comment\/45407#comment45407","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Smile_Photo_and_Video.jpg","store_name":"Smile Photo and Video","username":"cornflak","rating":"1"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Approximately two weeks ago (05\/01\/2002) I ordered a Tokina 80-200 f2.8 Eos lens by phone. I talked to a sales person called Peter, who assured me that this item was in stock and would be sent out immediately. After some enquiries elsewhere that day, I phoned back to cancel the order, as the shipping price I was quoted ($30) was three times the standard shipping price for this weight. I was told by Peter that the item had already shipped. When I asked for a tracking #, he told me he would call back the next day with a number. Needless to say, he did not.<br>I called again six days later (05\/06\/2002), was told, again by Peter, that the item had shipped, but again no tracking # was available. Waited three days this time, again no shipping # callback. When I called again, (05\/09\/2002) I was rudely told to call this number - 212 967 5906, which is possibly your customer disservice number. I called that number, but this time I told them that I was checking on the order status of a back-ordered item. I was not surprised to find that the lens had been back-ordered for some time, and was expected in \u0022a few days, possibly a week\u0022. This means that the salesman, Peter, had been quite deliberately LYING to me on each previous occasion that I called. Furthermore, I discovered that my credit card had been debited the full amount of the sale on 5\/3\/02, two days after my initial order was made.<br>This is totally unacceptable behavior, and bears out this company\u0027s almost 100% poor ratings on all the vendor rating sites I have visited.STAY CLEAR OF THIS LOT, THEY ARE LIARS!!.<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Smile_Photo_and_Video\/comment\/44113#comment44113","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Smile_Photo_and_Video.jpg","store_name":"Smile Photo and Video","username":"mysticmusic","rating":"1"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I ordered a Tokina 24-200\/Nikon mt. lens. I was quoted a price of $239 (on their website) which was after a $30 rebate. I also asked for 2d day air which I was told would be $18. Smile immediately charged my credit card $299 for the lens plus a total of $58 for shipping and handling. After two phone calls and several emails I got them to refund $30. In the end I would have been much better off going to B&H. This company is not worth the trouble. It is very hard to make a non-defamatory comment. They are rude and they lie, what else is new...","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Smile_Photo_and_Video\/comment\/41907#comment41907","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Smile_Photo_and_Video.jpg","store_name":"Smile Photo and Video","username":"SWFilm","rating":"1"}, "single");){kind=link}
"Tried to order from this company from their add in Popular Photography. They raised the price from the magazine add and the internet price. Guy was very rude and said price is going up again. Just hang up and shop somewhere else like I did."