Calumet Photographic Reviews

Name: Calumet Photographic
Address: Bradbourne Drive, Milton Keynes
Rating: 4.57

4.6 Rating 6,795 Reviews

89 %

of reviewers recommend Calumet Photographic

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Phone:

0333 003 5000

Email:

sales@calphoto.co.uk

Location:

Bradbourne Drive
Milton Keynes
MK7 8AJ

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Calumet Photographic 5 star review on 28th July 2017

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 2 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Disappointing, great difficulty in getting attention from staff. An overall lack of interest in customer service. Only use calumet as they are the only local lens supplier.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I ordered a replacement part after snapping my flash off the hot shoe. I was told I would have to wait a few days for the part as it was not in stock which was fine, they said they would call. Weeks later I phoned up to see if the part was in only to be told you can't get it anymore. This is not true I have just repaired my flash after ordering the part from B&H in New York which arrived after 4days. The assistant I spoke to seemed very helpfull at calumet and said he would see if they had the part amongst their spares, he did, great. He said I'll send you the spare free and refund the original purchase. I was very pleased, right up until the part arrived and was not even close to what I wanted. Waste of my time and demonstration of his incompetence. Not sure if I'll be returning to calumet :-(”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“the welcome was not very nice. And the seller was not very helpful”

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Posted 11 years ago

“WAs a while ago but there was a”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“Bought a sekonic lightmeter which had a faulty thumb wheel. Raised a complaint but then heard nothing after receiving a confirmation e-mail. Telephoned after two weeks to find nothing had been done. Finally had a call to let me know a replacement was available after waiting 6 weeks. Had to make a 90 mile round trip to exchange my faulty meter at a cost of around £30 and three hours of my time (not counting telephone calls etc to chase up original complaint). I suggested they throw in a pack of five rolls of film (RRP £32) as compensation but this was too much apparently despite me saving them courier costs for collecting the faulty meter and sending out the replacement. I'll shop locally in future and I recommend you do the same.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“Used to be a great business, wide range of stock, rapid delivery, good prices. Then came changes to the on-line login which never really worked for me - unable to pay on line. At the same time the website was 'updated' and has become almost un-useable. In particular the search function does not work and it is no longer possible to search for your requirements on the site. Calumet still has a good range of products at a good price but now, if I want to purchase from them I must do so on the 'phone. Even this has slowed down as I get the impression that the on-line services do not work for the staff and they often take an inordinate time to find items, prices etc. Needless to say I am now looking elsewhere more and more and suspect that unless the on-line site improves dramatically I will find other suppliers and leave Calumet after a considerable time as a customer.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I had my camera repaired by Calumet Birmingham last year, I chose to use them as they are a respected and trusted name who I'd bought equipment from previously. Unfortunately the experience didn't match my expectations at all. Having given the camera in for repair it turned out that they send the camera straight to a 3rd party for repair - knowing this now I would simply use the 3rd party to avoid Calumet's percentage. The repairs took quite literally months and whenever I called to ask for a progress update or complain at the delays I spoke to a different member of staff meaning starting from scratch so they could find my details (they misspelled my name so couldn't find my record on the computer), furthermore on many occasions calls were not returned or only part of the information was returned. My biggest complaint was that when after some weeks a quote was finally obtained for the repairs which I though was extortionate, Calumet staff were extremely reluctant to press the 3rd party repairer for a more sensible quote and refused multiple requests for a breakdown of precisely what I was paying for - in effect they came up with a number and then held my camera to ransom. Eventually the camera was returned and I've had no problems since, however I will not be using Calumet again for repairs or purchases and have warned my photographer friends to do likewise. Hopefully this review (which Calumet requested I make via email) will serve as a warning to others not to use their services for repairs (I should point out I've had no issues making purchases in the past). Perhaps if Calumet read this they might choose to review the attitude and training of staff in regards to following up customers' requests and ensuring they get value for money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“Items ordered before Christmas but still awaiting delivery of Cokin 72mm adaptor, without which the other item - Cokin ND grad kit - is frustratingly unusable. I appreciate that this is not necessarily Calumet's fault but the adaptor seems to be available through Amazon.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I had a broken lens that I bought at Calumet”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“Took camera in for repair in December (camera had to be sent to Canon); after a whole month had heard nothing, so phoned. It turned out that it was "in the book" awaiting my authorisation to go ahead; no explanation why nobody had contacted me. I gave the go-ahead and within 24 hours was phoned to say it was ready, implying that it must have been fixed already before I was asked for authorisation. Drove there a couple of days later to collect it and found that the place was tight shut in the middle of the day, despite the opening hours on the door showing this was within the normal trading hours. As it is an 18 mile round trip to go there I was not impressed at all. However as I was turning to leave I saw someone in the back of the shop an he came and opened up with some feeble excuse about only having two staff - you might think they could stagger their lunch breaks to keep the place open. While there also enquired about studio backdrop material, but he was unhelpful - so when I do find out what I need by other means I shall order from elsewhere on the internet.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“We bought a canon 600 which we had a problem with the automatic flash just out of its guarantee and are being charged £160 for repair. I think this is outrageous and very poor after care service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“The overwhelming impression left at the end of a shopping visit to Calumet, is how understaffed they generally are. Every time I visit Calumet, I wait ages for assistance from counter staff, as do the other people I can see during my time there.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I paid to attend a seminar last year that never went ahead as the photographer had booked elsewhere. I agreed (in-store in-person) at the time that the fee would be held as a credit against my name, should I wish to book on another seminar. On Dec 18th I asked for a refund instead as I had no time to rebook. The process of obtaining this refund took many emails to the store and overall took approx 4 weeks to sort out - eventually a cheque arrived after I chased it down myself at the Calumet head office - It took FAR too long to sort out. The local store was very little help indeed as the people there would not contact the head office accounts dept on my behalf to sort out - I had to do this myself after waiting forever - they were simply happy to fire off periodical emails, into the ether, to colleagues getting no response for weeks on end without properly sorting it out - this was BAD SERVICE. Calumet Credit notes = Never again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“My experience relates to the rental section at Manchester. Service was very poor. Called to rent a lens and was told that the rental section was busy and they would call me back. Nobody called me back. Called again the next day and again was told that the rental section was busy by the manager of the store. I mentioned that I had been waiting all day the day before for a call and the manager said that the chap in charge of rental was probably with somebody all day. Terrible service deeply embedded into their corporate culture. I really do believe that they think it's ok to behave like that.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“Pick your calumet branch carefully, Drummond street staff are uninterested and my impression is that they don't care a great deal of about customer service, pretty much the same at the Milton Keynes head office, more so perhaps. Your best bet would be to go to Birmingham branch were staff are knowledgeable and helpful otherwise you'd do better to shop at WEX photographic.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“Good service as usual but really let down by the offer of a free Gorillapod. Was ordering large bag to carry my Canon 5d mkiii and 4 lenses. I Could have had the bag cheaper but thought will go with Calumet as they are offering a free Gorillapod. Was sent a free gorillapod about 10cm long which I don't even think could hold a smart phone - what use could that be to anyone!! The description was probably there somewhere but you would have to look for it! A real swizz and won't be caught out again!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I drove 100 miles each way for a grey background roll. When I arrived there were 2 there slightly different colours. I knew this before as I had called the day before. Someone had called and reserved both rolls, they only needed one. So I left empty handed as the other customer was coming in the next day. Great for him. For me I guess I've spent over 50K with calumet, not good business. Really I'd expect some form of compensation.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I hate dealing with Calumet and won't buy from them again”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I only went to you because otherwise I'd have had to go through to Glasgow - AND the 'clean' wasn't successful, ruining the shots I took next. Sure-enough you did it again but I really rather expected you to have done it properly in the first place.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

“I recently purchased a lacie hard drive 1TB..it has malfunctioned and i asked for a replacement. This was refused as the company policy is to return this to lacie for repair. I am a professional photographer with an account with you for 20 years .. i am not going to use repaired hard drives on my jobs it is uneconomical for me and for that matter, lacie to repair them for the individual cost of these items. As a consequence I will now buy direct from Amazon who have a no quibble replacement policy for faulty goods, you are also a massive retailer and could have offered me that option and could make lacie accept that policy but you dont, you inconvenience your customer and offer a ridiculous repair policy which is good for you and for lacie. So my review is my last as i know where i am treated by the supplier with more respect.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 years ago

Calumet Photographic is rated 4.6 based on 6,795 reviews