Montclair Center Camera Exchange

Ivan James

I am cognizant of reviews and the purpose they are helpful or informative. My review for this store is under Informative as I did not use their services. I rushed as I had only a short window before they close on Saturday. Sufficient to say I have many film cameras and all are in working order, I need not to get a repair but service sounded a good idea to me as all are more than 30 years old products. I understand that they had a larger business, now downsized to an upstairs one room office( next to Samba restaurant- you will buzz and they open the door) and this "could be Chinese- American" couple is past retirement, still continuing the business, which is actually fantastic. The lady on counter had an unfriendly but business like demeanor, with one response to any query, " leave the camera and technician will look at it and call you back" I said, there is nothing wrong but if the gentleman or " technician" who was in the side small room could take a look and comment. Same response" leave the camera and technician will look at it and call you back". I was disappointed as I came with a very enthusiastic expectation, since how many times can you find someone who knows about film cameras. The store was unkempt, did not see worthy ware or stuff, seems like they are keeping busy themselves for reasons known to them. I took back all 4 cameras rather than leaving with them. Single camera inspection is $30.00 multiple cameras would be $20.00 per camera. I saw some reviews here which are dated and one review that was from this year, I guess after downsizing. I hope my experience was one off and others who continue to patronize them get fair value of charges in terms of service and satisfaction. I was recommended by another business, which I do not want to name here, but I will tell that business about my experience so as to bring them up to speed. I still had a nice time in this town, I walked around, did some street photography, it seemed like a good old town with thriving economy. Please remember, I did not use any service from this store but my interaction with them could have been better. I would continue to look for a good place and if I come across, I would update it here.

Anon

If I could give 0 stars I would. I inherited my grandfather's old cannon film camera when he passed away so I took it in to get serviced because I was looking forward to taking it on an upcoming vacation. I have always used a digital Nikon camera so I was not familiar with how to use the cannon film camera. When I brought it in, I was told that I would receive a call before it was serviced so they could address what was wrong with it and I could authorize the repair. A week later I received a call that it was finished so I rushed over to pick it up, both excited but concerned that I never received the call regarding the repair. Upon arrival, I was charged $300 for adjustments to the camera that I did not authorize and they also took my grandfathers film out of the camera and Did not return or put it back. When I questioned the charges and the missing film I was immediately berated by the owner and his wife saying that I never brought film in. After being completely demoralized and verbally insulted I decided to cut my losses and said thank you and walked out in tears. The owner proceeded to follow me OUT OF THE STORE and continued to scream at me IN PUBLIC stating that he would never take a customers film and that I was making "wrong claims". Mind you, I cannot use the camera myself so there is zero percent chance that I could remove the film on my own. I had wanted a professional to do it so that I did not damage or lose the pictures on the roll. Moral of the story is PLEASE do not give them your business. They took something from me that was completely priceless and that I will never be able to get back. Not to mention they are extremely overpriced. An absolute sin and he and his wife should be ashamed of themselves. I wish I had listened to the other reviews. A man should never speak or treat a woman or customer in the way I was treated.

Andrea Nguessan

Be careful they gonna charge you anyway if they can't fix your problem

Dorian Z.

I left my Panasonic camera with them for repair. When I went to pick it up I asked how long they guaranteed the repair for and the husband appeared to have never heard of the concept and behaved as if I was trying to scam them in some way. When I tested out the camera it still wouldn't turn on consistently and when it did it kept getting repeated error messages so frequently that it was impossible to use. The owner tried to sell me an unknown brand of SD card, insisting that it would only work if it had an SD card in it. I didn't want the SD card, especially since it held much less data than I would want and gave no information about its class or speed, but I asked them to put one in temporarily so that I could make sure the camera worked before I left. It still didn't work, even with the SD card in it. The owner tried to insist that it was because I wasn't capable of using even the "point and shoot" function on the camera properly. They wanted to charge me $59 for the "repair" despite the fact that the camera still wasn't working properly. When I said I wasn't going to pay since it still wasn't working the owner yelled at me that he's been in Montclair for 30 years and seen plenty of my "type" (Jewish?) and we never want to pay! Lousy work and terrible attitude toward customers and the community! Stay away!