"I desperately wish I had come to this site before sending a large amount of gear to them recently. I photographed everything before shipping, and they based their quotes accordingly. The first red flag was the number of items that were reduced significantly from the original quote despite them having photos beforehand. But I still was willing to go forward for the (alleged) ease and simplicity of just getting it all done at once. But then several items were reported 'missing' according to their technicians, and they said they wouldn't pay for them as a result. I knew what I sent, and insisted they look again, and after some time they magically reappeared. But what really put me over the top was the notification that one of my Sachtler tripod heads would not be purchased after all because it was 'missing a part'. Indignant, I asked what part was missing and they told me it was the balance slide lock on the head. I had already told them that I removed that for shipment (to avoid possible damage in transit) and taped it to the side of the head. Thinking the tape must have come off, I asked them to look in the box again. Once more, after some time, they 'found it' but said it was stripped so they still didn't want to buy the head. Even more upset now, I questioned how it could be stripped when it wasn't even shipped with it in place. I figured their technician must have forced it or cross-threaded it because it was perfect when I shipped it. They only commented that their technicians are 'highly trained experts' and know what they're doing. At that point, I offered to buy another thumbscrew and send it to them. After another delay in communication, they reported that it was stripped on the head, not the screw. This REALLY upset me since that is a much bigger problem and more expensive repair. And since I knew it was fine when I shipped it, I began to question MPB completely. So at that point, I asked them to just return everything to me. I had not signed off on the transaction yet, so it was all still MY gear. They crammed into 4 boxes what I had shipped in 8 cases and boxes, with everything basically thrown together with simple paper wrapping. Tripod heads were thrown in a jumble right next to servo zoom lenses similarly wrapped in paper only. Thankfully, most of my items were packed in their OEM packaging that I always keep just for this reason. MPB didn't even want the OEM boxes but I shipped my items in them anyway because I knew they'd be more secure that way. When I got everything unpacked, I discovered over $1,000 in camera build components missing. I had shipped them 4 built cameras with baseplates, cages, rails and lens supports. When they came back, ALL of the camera builds had been completely disassembled even though MPB didn't own them yet, we had not signed off on the transaction. When I contacted MPB about this, they replied that they 'couldn't find' the items, and since they weren't 'individually quoted' they wouldn't pay for the missing components either even though all of this was clearly depicted in the photographs sent to them to prepare those quotes. Finally, when I got a look at the tripod head that they said was 'stripped', it was just fine. That model of Sachtler has a little channel in the head with the nut to slide in as the thumbscrew is tightened. When the thumbscrew is removed, the nut can slide out of reach unless you tip the head to allow gravity to make contact with the thumbscrew and connect. A child would be able to figure this out by just looking at it, but their 'highly trained experts' apparently could not figure it out and since the thumbscrew never made contact with the nut, they just assumed it was stripped. I even quizzed their staff about how they ship Sachtler tripod heads in particular, just to get a sense of how highly trained they really are. I have used Sachtler exclusively for 35 years, and anyone who knows anything about Sachtler heads knows you never ship them with any of the drag settings engaged since they are not 'fluid' heads but use a system of cams to create drag. Those cams can become damaged if the head is dropped or heavily impacted when the drag settings are at any setting other than '0'. They didn't even know that. 'Highly trained experts'? Not even close. I would avoid at all costs... it's not worth the hassle and possible damage and theft of your items."
