08/29/09

Try some other place first

by anAustinGuy

Prices are high. Olympus DSLR lenses and accessories are typically marked up 10% or more over Olympus web site retail prices.

Sales people do not serve people in any order . You can spend an afternoon waiting for their attention. Some of them are quite rude too.

After giving them four visits I decided shopping at this place is not worth the effort.

• Pros: They are a camera store
• Cons: Expensive, rude

06/30/09

Unprofessional & Ungrateful for Sale

by Customer01

Do not pay attention to the high marks many have given Precision. Perhaps they were fortunate and their experience was better than mine or perhaps they are made by the store. At any rate, I did look at the reviews when searching for a local camera retailer and feel that they are misleading. After spending nearly $6,000 on a new HD camera and all the extras, I get home to find out all my products had been opened and some were even missing items. I paid $200 for the camera bag and all I got was the shell. No documentation, no strap, nothing. Not to mention that this was a corporate purchase. I called from my business which is almost an hour away to ask what they needed from me to purchase it. I faxed them all the paperwork as it was being purchased with a co-workers company credit card. When I arrived, almost an hour later, the owner told me as I was trying to check out that he needed the corporate card. I then travel almost 2 hours back and forth to make the purchase. Even after all this, I call the owner one more time to ask about the missing items from my order and all he said in a rude tone was…“We’ll see if we have that in stock, if not, you can just get something out of one of our other bags.” So, paying $200 for a bag does not constitute receiving a complete product and spending almost $6,000 does not constitute friendliness, respect, and quality. So, if you don’t have tons of money to spend here, don’t expect to get any kind of service.

Another thing that I found very unprofessional was during checkout. The owner (who rung up the sale) touted how he had already made a 10k and an 8k sell before me. I’m sorry, but this type of information should never be shared with potential customers. It only makes the company look bad and makes the customer feel as though they are not important enough and/or aren’t spending enough money. I do not suggest getting any product from this company. I will NOT be back and there is little at this point they can do to rectify this situation. Simply put, their service and quality are F- at best.

• Pros: Local business
• Cons: Poor service; Unorganized; Rude

04/01/09

Precission Camera BEST in the business

by JimK

I discovered Precision Camera a couple of years ago and have since spent more than $15,000.00 in their store. I find them to be the best and most knowledgeable group of people I have found in any camera store anywhere. This is not a consumer grade low end store with people who sell cameras. This is a quality store with people who are experts in the “art” of photography. Some of their sales staff have degrees in RTF and they are most willing to help. They just won a national award as the PTN (Photo Trade News) Dealer of the Year and that is a major accomplishment. That didn’t just happen. It is because they have assembled a staff that is among the best and brightest in Austin. I would not shop anywhere else! You might get better deals on the Internet but you won’t get the service, help or responsiveness and it isn’t always about price (but most of the time they are very competitive when you compare apples to apples)! I trust them to sell me what I need and not lead me astray.

• Pros: Very knowledgeable staff
• Cons: Sometimes have to wait because they a so busy

03/10/09

Overpriced and Rude

by turbosquirrel

I have been in PCV several times to buy miscellaneous things or have film developed, as well as over $1,300 of DSLR. When I bought my first DSLR a few years ago, they REFUSED to take my personal check after calling some mysterious number on their phone. It hacked me off considering I have always had perfect credit. I should have walked out then and ordered from Adorama or B&H, but no, I decided I wanted it then and had to give them my credit card instead. On top of that, their salesman (who still works there) sold me the WRONG backup battery for my camera, and pushed an extended warranty on me. (I was a novice at the time and was expecting the 'knowledgeable' pro-supply guy to set me up with the right items for my new camera...)

I am still always asked for my driver's license whenever I use a credit card - even for something miniscule like a UV filter. Ridiculous. I recently bought $24 worth of lithium batteries for a photo shoot, popped them in my TTL flash, and found out they were DEAD. If I don't get a refund for some reason, I'll be back to let you know.

If you really want excellent customer service and a good value for your money, order from B&H or Adorama. If you want to learn about something, find a good online community or something... these people are not worth it.

• Pros: Convenient if you need something small at the last minute, I generally trust them with their developing.
• Cons: Parking can be bad if it's a busy time of day, the staff is often snooty and tries to push stuff on you that you don't need, the prices are inflated, I've gotten defective products.

11/07/08

Great people

by JustinJenna

Great store. Sales people are super. BUT their photo processors scratch my negative. It is the machines, they leave scratch line on the negatives. It was not my camera. 35mm film shot with a number of different cameras has the same scratch. I really like the store but I am going nuts fixing the scratches. PLEASE do some tests on the machines that roll the 35 mm negatives. Thank you! Otherwise very happy!

• Pros: 7 days a week, Same great faces always there.
• Cons: Only that I have a lot of negatives with scratch lines running down the whole role. Only on 35mm not on larger negatives.

08/08/08

Do not bring your camera/equipment here for repair.

by annabellesmith

Do not bring your camera here for repair. Send it to an authorized repair center even if you have to mail it off. You will get more info about what is going on with your camera/equipment.

I took my Nikon D70 to Precision for a check over before an important shoot. They charged me 50 bucks to tell me my camera was fine. Unfortunately very shortly after the 50 dollar check over my camera manifested a memory problem during a time when I was shooting professionally. It was a problem that had happened intermittently before and I know was going on for a while so they should have caught it. Also when I called them about the problem the person in repair said that they had never heard of the type of problem I was having. The authorized repair place knew right off what the problem might be.

Later I sent my cameras to an authorized repair center and they saw the problem immediately and fixed it along with a few other maintenance things that were never mentioned at Precision. When I went back to Precision to find out what they had actually done for 50 dollars they were pathetic in their response. The person in charge basically blew me off. Im just saying, don't go to their repair department cause they don't know that much about repair.

08/07/08

Excellent personnel and service

by mrhea

I have been a Precision Camera customer for several years. From sales to supplies, I have had nothing but excellent customer service from the company. Our rep, Jon Leatherwood, is never pushy, but always helpful and bends over backward to provide all of the data and comparisons I need to make an informed decision. Knowing I am not much of a photographer, Jon is very patient and always goes that extra mile to explain things to me. I find their prices to be very competitive...........and Elsa could not be nicer or more helpful when ordering supplies--her suggestions have saved my company a lot of money. Logistically, shopping in the Dallas/Fort Worth area would be much more convenient, but changing suppliers is not even a consideration. I hope those who have had negative experiences will go back and try them again.

• Pros: Excellent professional staff
• Cons: none

07/08/08

Over priced gear and average selection.

by saidagive

UPDATE: I no longer buy from here. There are a few people working here who are kind and knowledgeable but management is rude. They know they are the only game in town and they CAPITALIZE on it. I only visit to check out bags or gear prior to buying online. I know other local shooters do the same. Sad, because I want to buy local. I buy online or when in Houston at Camera exchange.

I updated this review after my last encounter there. The little day manager-boy was such a smug little (little guy) man that I realized I wasn't appreciated after the thousands I had spent there. "F" them. Sad that they lost me over a $60 sale/return.

I saw a few negative reviews and I wanted to weigh in. Precision is a great place to buy all things photography. Don't go on Saturday afternoon...the customer spike makes it impossible for the staff to fully satisfy you. I will only go early Saturday or late Sunday if I have to go on the weekend. I have lived in Austin off and on since 1989 and I bought a powerwinder for my Nikon FA from Precision when they were on Guadalupe. I always considered myself a Camera Exchange (Houston) guy since I started in photograpy back in 1981. Since jumping back in this year I am a loyal Precision fan. David is my salesperson. I only buy from him. Most of his coworkers know I will wait for him. They have all been realy helpfull while I waited but I am loyal. I have spent a lot of money and I get the same service whether I am spending $2000 or $20. From the classes to the showroom they create an educational and friendly environment for the professional down to the enthusiast. I don't know anywhere else in town you can get products and service like this.

Sadly, only a few give you the service your dollar deserves.

• Pros: a few good people like David and Sara
• Cons: Charge like they are the only game in town...wait they are.

02/10/08

Fantastic customer service

by austinaggie96

After reading several negative reviews online, we debated even going into Precision. However, we're glad we did. The salesperson who helped us was extremely knowledgable, and he went out of his way to answer all of our questions (we had a lot). We spent well over an hour in the store on our initial vist (we even had our seven-month-old baby with us), and every salesperson we came in contact with was very nice. We ended up going to the store twice that day, and we're headed back this week. The store is well-stocked, and the people were great.

• Pros: Staff and stock
• Cons: Parking

11/20/07

Great customer service, and product knowledge

by lucwheels

Elsa Gomez, assisted us in the purchase of a digital Olympus SLR camera, and she handled our shopping

experience perfectly.

I appreciated her service on two levels. Firstly, speaking as a customer,

she listened to our needs, and found the product best suited to them. I was

impressed with her knowledge of the product. Also, my fiancee, who will be

the primary user, was initially very intimidated by the camera and Elsa did

a great job of simplifying it so that she understood its features and

benefits. Furthermore, we both felt OK, spending several hundred dollars

more than we had initially intended, because we saw the value and felt we

were being treated well and fairly.

On a different level, as a salesperson, I must extend great compliments to

Elsa, for qualifying the customer, picking the right product, and giving a

great presentation. I was unable to find a good objection that Elsa could

not overcome. We bought the camera from her on the spot, on what I can

assure you was purely a research trip.

• Pros: good products, excellent staff, good value