Buyer Beware - Samy's Camera !

[Josh Beadle]

When a REDuser brags about being a Billy Badass by buying 5 Canon lenses to test and keep the "best" one I don't see anyone jumping his shit. This issue starts in places like here and Samy's etc are just as victimized as the OP. I get great service from Samy's LA - but then I have a specific Pro Rep I having been dealing with for years and I don't abuse their trust or return policy. Suggest we all do the same to prevent the open box issue and the cost that goes with it.

[Bill Goehring]

While it is unfortunate what happened in this case, I have a good experience with Samy's. We received a used rare lens from them and everything was great about it.

Beware of these kinds of possibile scenarios, but I don't want everyone to expect the worst from them.

The key word here is "used," a category of purchase that goes hand-in-hand with the concept of caveat emptor or "let the buyer beware."

Perhaps you are more inclined to buy a used lens from Samy's (and even pay more for it) rather than from some stranger on Craig's List or eBay, because you trust that Samy's will not misrepresent the value of the used item and will stand behind the sale.

This is entirely reasonable, since one might assume that Samy's has more at stake in protecting their reputation for fair-dealing than someone who has a one-off used lens for sale. And, if a buyer is hemming and hawing with a salesman on the other side of a Samy's display case, because he knows of someone who is offering the same lens cheaper on Craig's List, surely the salesman will trade off of Samy's reputation in trying to close the deal.

In a similar way, you might expect a Samy's salesman to try to close the deal on a new Nikon or Canon lens with a customer hemming and hawing over the purchase price because the equivalent (though probably inferior) independent brand lens from another dealer is cheaper. In his argument to persuade the hesitant buyer, the salesman will most likely trade off of Samy's reputation and the reputation for a higher level of quality of the major brand over the independents, and rightly so.

But if Samy's is allowing some customers to cherry-pick the best samples out of their major brand inventory, isn't the value of the major brand diminished to the 2nd buyer? Maybe caveat emptor still applies to the buyer here, but the risk to Samy's and Nikon/Canon is that they will lose sales to the 2nd buyer commensurate with their loss of access to the best of what the brand has to offer.

[Les Dittert]

I bought 2 pairs of lens's there not too long ago. I explained that I am shooting 3d and need the pairs to match fairly well, and they agreed to swapping if I found a mis-match.
Turned out that the two Sigma 8-16mm ones were way off match in warp-age, so I was able to swap both for two others that had almost the same serial numbers.
I was not cherry picking for sharpness, and the lens's I returned were no worse than the new pair, only distortion matched.

[Richard Goodwin]

Generally I have a lot of good experiences at Sammy's with both sales and rentals.

In future why don't you just check the lenses or other purchases with a salesperson present to verify their condition, before you give payment and leave the store ?

In terms of matching lenses and other higher end services: Sammy's is to a good degree consumer level store. They have pro-reps for people with more specific (professional) needs. It seems fairer to get a pro-rep to help, rather than knock the business which is trying to serve a very wide range of customers. I have to say too, that Sigma's are consumer to pro-sumer lenses. They are good lenses for the price, but are not manufactured to the same tolerances as say a Zeiss still lenses. To get a tight matched set; that is why one pays a lot more for higher end gear and cine lenses specifically.

Im all for critique. But Sammy's seems to me to be trying hard to deal with a quickly changing market. They are one of the few local places in LA left; I'm glad they are here and hope the continue to do well.

[Joseph S.]

Sounds like a lot of you really support them and have great service from them. I apologize if I was off too harsh. But I still believe that if I pay for something new, it should be as it was from the factory, to the place where you crack it open. I know that some people don't care.

Everyone has different beliefs, and I respect that.

As the saying goes, "To each his own. Some people like hairy fat chicks, some people don't."

[Ryan De Franco]

Spent 5 hours running around LA because production rented from Sammy's and Sammy's didn't supply the Canon AC adapters we requested. Sammy's didn't have enough for purchase in stock either. Finally had gear ready to go at 8:30, tested for only half an hour as call time was 2Am the next morning. Massive problems occur with motion control software on set, everyone wants to know, what were you doing yesterday?

Yeah, no more Sammy's for us.

[David Wilson]

We've had decades of good experiences with Sammy's. I could not count the number of times we've had to run to Sammy's for some last-minute purchase. No person or company is perfect but Sammy's has served us well and hope they are able to remain.

[Ryan De Franco]

The purchase counter was quite helpful and knowledgable. Rentals was stoned, but friendly and apologetic. And to be fair, CineLease Rentals, CineLease Expendables and Milk Studios all ****ed up some portion of that job.... Might've just been cursed.

[Alex Kornreich]

I've only had good experiences with Samy's.

However, I completely agree with you. If you buy a new product, it should be shrink wrapped from the factory. That is the only way that we can assume minimal tampering with a product. It is completely unacceptable to sell an opened box product as new, lenses or not.

[chad vachter]

I agree , have always had decent experiences with them . On fairfax. Anyhow