Calumet Photo UK Reviews 

I spent a lonesome THREE HOURS being ignored, despite them knowing I was about to spend almost THREE THOUSAND POUNDS if they ever got their collective act together! I was informed when I was (eventually) served that nothing could be shown to me, the idea that it would be - as their paperwork says - demonstrated - is a downright LIE.
One-star's unfair? ON their paperwork, they claim to have almost FIVE!

Rasche Lieferung, immer informiert wo die Ware ist! Verpackung sehr gut.
Gerne wieder

Excellent service. very knowledgeable staff and a great rental price!

I ordered a photo backdrop stand from these people on-line, having seen the product in use at a local camera club. I thought something was wrong when it arrived as it was nowhere near as sturdy as I expected. When I contacted their customer services they informed me the one I had ordered was no longer available, and they had sent me an alternative version. Although this was considerably cheaper,I had to barter for a refund/compensation for the difference in price, but they agreed to send a roll of paper backdrop. Unfortunately, the stand proved to be so flimsy it could not take the weight, and bowed in the middle, leaving the paper creased and of no use as a backdrop. I sent them a photo and they agreed to exchange it for a more sturdy model. The original went back, and I heard nothing. I sent several emails which were not answered, and made several phone calls to customer services. They never seemed able to access all my details on the system, and said they would refer it to their manager who would call me that afternoon. Needless to say nobody has ever called me back, and I am no closer to getting the stand replaced. So the situation still has not been resolved, and I probably will need to threaten legal action in order to either get a replacement stand or a refund. Not going near this company again.

To be fair I can't really comment on actually 'using' this service as they still have never bothered to reply to the rental enquiry I put in via their website. When I followed up my enquiry by ringing their 'customer support' line it returned a ' number inactive' error message. The staff at my local branch (Birmingham) tried to help but it doesn't appear that Calumet's ordering system is joined up, so they didn't recognise the enquiry reference number I had. Ultimately I was referred to their London office via telephone but after waiting in a queue for 30 minutes I gave up on the enquiry and ever using this company.

Wonderful company. They go above and beyond to get you the items you're looking for. Highly recommend.

Always honest and very knowledgeable, may not be the cheapest but that is what pays for the excellent service. They work with you tofind the right equipment and don't upsell products.

Not the cheapest prices around, but good bunch of stuff that are helpful!

Forget Calumet's 'price promise'. I asked them to match price on a Canon DSLR, all totally compliant with their terms and conditions. I was told they wouldn't honour the policy because they'd be losing money on the item. What is the point of proclaiming a 'price promise' if you're not prepared to honour it, regardless of whether or not you'll turn a profit. Not good business practice. I will be buying elsewhere.....

These guys have absolutely no idea what they are doing! I shall not bore you with the details but, I have a faulty product that I am trying to get fixed. You would not believe just how clueless these people are!

Avoid at all costs.

The worst customer service I've ever had. They are very quick to get back initially with booking requests when renting cameras and lenses, but other than this my emails go unresponded to for weeks and I have to chase constantly for any kind of answer or update. Whenever I call them up they ALWAYS seem to have problems finding my customer details under my address, despite having given it to them multiple times. In the initial booking request they ask for a time that is convenient to call me to make payment for rentals over the phone (why I can't just do this online I don't know) and they NEVER call at all, let alone at a time I request. And then when I do call them up to pay for my rental, I'm often on hold for a good 15-20 minutes before someone picks up. I have often requested a call, emailing 2 or 3 times a day to avoid me being on hold whilst very busy at work; all my emails get ignored. And on my last order I have now asked for a receipt of purchase 3 times over email (having being promised one to be sent instantly over the phone when payment was made) with no response or receipt. This does NOT fill me with confidence when I am parting with a lot of money on regular occasions. Unfortunately calumet are the most convenient camera rental place near me, otherwise I would NOT be using them. (Needless to say I've never had a problem with the cameras rented, or deposit being returned successfully...touch wood.)

Bought a Fuji X-T10 for £350 (an absolute steal). Very, very pleased with it. Only downside was this was one of their open days offering a free sensor clean and I'd brought in my old X-E2; Turned out they meant only Canon and Nikon - the way I was told this, with bland indifference bordering on rudeness, struck a sour note. I see there maybe some truth to claims of poor service.
I also noticed that stock on the shop floor seem FAR less extensive than on previous visits.

My backpack arrived on time. Unfortunately, had no info about my delivery and no tracking number.

Probably the worst experience I've had purchasing a camera, its been 2 weeks and my camera I've paid for hasn't come through, every time I've rang customer service up they keep me on hold for 10 minutes and reply with " I will email purchasing and contact you back" however they never do reply back and every time I call back it's like explaining the same thing, they pretty much don't give a crap and just take your money and offer a terrible or no service what so ever. So as of now I've paid 5k plus for a camera and calumet doesn't even know where it is as of now, absolutely shocking service

Just recently purchased DSLR Canon 6D and lens kit from Belfast branch. Excellent customer service. Thank you for sorting it so quickly, your advice was great.

Bought a Fuji X-T2 & 56mm f/1.2 lens from Calumet.

Awful experience from this retailer. Firstly they set up the order for delivery to my home address rather than my agreed works address and said it could not be changed. They don't give you a tracking number and they use Fedex who are abysmal. I took a day off work to wait for Fedex to deliver and received nothing. I then got a call 2 days later from Fedex saying they can deliver on the Monday so I took the day off and received nothing by 5pm. I rang Calumet and apparently Fedex mistakenly left the parcel at their depot - so 2 days work holiday wasted!

Once I eventually received the 56mm lens it had a faulty aperture ring so I took it to Calumet to arrange a swap (since they claimed to have 1 in stock). After trekking up to Drummond St in London they didn't have one in stock so said they could send mine off for repair. I politely said this was unacceptable and unless they could offer a direct swap there and then I wanted a refund as their terms state 30 days refund return but they refused. After 25 mins or so the manager said the best they could do was order a replacement and call me when it was received. Well that was 2 weeks ago and still absolutely nothing, but then customer service and satisfaction is not strong point.

Their online stock listing is never up to date, they use an appalling courier company and will try and fob you off with any old nonsense. The whole Calumet experience has ensured I will never ever buy from them again nor recommend them to anyone.

Purchase I made online was fine but when it arrived item was too big for my needs. I initiated a return - filling in a surveymonkey form to process a return feels a bit weird though. There was no email acknowledgement that my returns form had been received. I emailed support who totally ignored the body of my email and just said 'I see you received your order' - that was not what I asked in my email, I had asked if my returns form has been received as I had no kind of acknowledgement, and as per the Calumet website, I wanted to arrange a collection for my return.

When I eventually got the correct response regarding a return, I was told that I would have to arrange my own return delivery - bearing in mind the Calumet website states " Goods purchased via telephone or internet can be arranged for collection by calling 0333 003 5000 after the returns form has been completed". I had purchased online, and that to me reads like they would arrange for collection of the item.

However customer service told my via email that is not the case, and this being a heavy item that I could not physically carry to the post office, I had to pay Parcelforce £20 to collect and deliver it back to Calumet for me.

Customer service was slow and inattentive, and website is misleading - I did eventually get my refund back, but £20 out of pocket. I would not buy online from Calumet again.

Placed an order a week ago. Payment is taken straight away. The following day I received a call to advise the order could not be fulfilled and asked did I want a refund. I said yes. One week on still no refund. I have just rang again and the refund wasn't processed at all last week when promised. Nor seemingly would it ever have been if I hadn't chased them. Just been promised a refund will 'definitely' be processed this time today. I now face another wait to see if they mean it this time. I've used their stores fine, I won't be using their online service again.

I used to shop at Calumet at one time but, every time I searched for an item it's never in stock. This is all I ever see: 'Awaiting Stock', 'Pre-Order', over and over again. It's been like this for years and I'm tired of it - I don't quite know why they're in business.

But the real crippler for me are their prices; absolutely phenomenally expensive. Too rich for my blood just to shop at a so called ''pro'' shop.

I first used Calumet Manchester about 2 years ago when i first purchased a Canon DSLR Camera, The young salesman was very helpful and this led to me returning several times for more items. about 10 months later I noticed a focusing issue and John arranged for it to be returned to Canon and was even lent a camera.
"at this point I would have given 5 stars to Calumet"
On its return it was worse than it was before it was sent (not Calumet's fault), Canon then took over and sorted it out, but Calumet originally offered to loan me another camera while it was sorted, this never happened as the terms of this loan changed from free to chargeable at a reduced price, I also had another issue with a delivery at the same time.
"at this point i would have given 2 stars to Calumet"
Over the next few months i kept away from them due to my feelings about what had gone on after the amount i had spent with them, however I was tempted back and since then John has been a credit to the company and his hard work has kept me going back and buying more goods.
I always give everyone a second chance and as you can see this is paying off for Calumet so keep up the good work.