Uk: Photography247

[lars69]

Hi,

 

As anybody based in the Uk ever bought at Photography247?

 

I ordered a second hand camera there last Tuesday, mainly as they offer 6

months warrenty.

But they claim 'usually' 24 hour delivery and it still hasn't arrived and

according to their sales person I will get it tomorrow.

 

So I am slightly concerned that the company might not be what they promisse to

be and I was wondering if anybody else had good or bad experiences with them.

 

Thanks,

 

Lars

[steven_moseley1]

Hi,

 

I will tell you what I know about them..

 

...about 8 months ago I bid on a Nikon FM3a on ebay and won it. It arrived and I was surprised to see a bad dent totally not described in the description and hidden by their photos.

 

I emailed the seller and demanded a refund. The seller refused to refund my return postage even though their description was wrong. Luckily they were local, about 8 miles away in Halesowen, West Midlands, so I jumped in my car and just took the camera to them.

 

The premises were a shambolic industrial unit on a run down estate, the inside was very untidy and they seemed very dis-organised. There were ebay listing sheets everywhere and items piled up in shoddy cupboards. There was one woman alone who seemed to be doing everything. At this point they were just selling a moderate amout of used items on ebay as anyone from home might be, nothing more.

 

I left the FM3 with the woman, got a receipt and left with a promise of a refund within 2 days when the 'accounts' person would sort it. After a further 10 days and no refund, I emailed and demanded a refund within 24 hours. To be fair, I got a very rapid and polite response from the guy who seemed to be in charge who then did refund me quickly.

 

I got the impression only one person (the woman) helps the guy run the place..maybe his partner? I was shocked when a couple of months later I saw adverts in AP (Amateur Photographer) magazine with the same address that I went to for this Photography247 people. Clearly they stepped up and have decided to add new items to their inventory...but probably no more staff and no more organised?

 

cheers Steve.

[Ian Rance]

Well I have ordered a few items from them. An FM3a that was described to be as new - and it was to their credit.

 

Small accessories are swiftly despatched and I have had no problems with them, however Steven's story has made me wary now and I will check carefully any future purchaces.

 

Ian, UK

[Ian Rance]

Oops - I bought from ebay seller "247 Photographic" not "Photography247" which is a totally different outfit. Sorry about that!

 

Ian

[lars69]

I got the camera today. And it is a bit of a mixed bag. The condition is for sure not excellent

as described but at maximum 'good'.

A few scratches on top of the flash, the slash connector has heavy signs of wear and there is

a scratch on the top LCD. It also wasn't cleaned very well.

So I will take some test pictures and decide what to do. Not sure if I will keep it. But I will also

write to the store and tell them that I am not happy.

Will keep you posted what happens but certainly would not recommend them.

[lars69]

I would like to add a last message to the thread, just in case anyone searches the forum in the future.

I have complained to photography247 and said that I wasn't happy with the service. They offered to extent the warranty for free to 12 months and at least were very polite about everything. So I am going to keep the camera and see how it goes.

To anybody who reads this thread and thinks about buying at photography247 (Uk) I would say that you can do so. But I would double check in detail the state of anything you ordered and you should be fine.