Camera World

11/09/09

For the past 15 years, they have been GREAT!

by aberg8 at Citysearch

I moved to Portland in 1994, and have tried many photo places. Camera world has the best prints, and their sales department is pretty good as well. When I want a piece of equipment, I go on-line, and bring Camera World the cheapest price--they have always matched it.

Some things to note:

Their printer auto-corrects. If you ask them to, they will disable the auto correction.

The RitzPix dot com engine is necessary for Camera World's on-line print service. It isn't great, but it works.

Finally, use their digiprint cards. These save me a FORTUNE every year, and I don't think they ever expire. Digiprint cards are pre-paid photo cards. If a print normally costs 30 cents, using the prepaid digicard, it drops it to 19 cents or so. I use it primarily for 5X7 prints, which again, saves me a fortune.

• Pros: Knowledge, customer service, quality prints
• Cons: RitzPix Website isn't great for web orders, but it works.

10/05/08

They Are Nice...The First Time Around!

by frikativ54 at Citysearch

I went into Camera World for the first time two weeks ago. My Nikon digital camera has been giving me headaches, so I asked for some help. Although the men I talked with didn't have expertise on my model, their printing guy was pretty nice. He gave helpful recommendations, and he did some excellent touch-up work on a photograph.

I came back this past week asking for more prints. This time, the photos took over the stated hour to develop. They were very helpful and attentive...that is, until any issue came up. When the pictures were finally ready, the guy who helped me this week asked me to examine them to make sure they were okay.

I took one look, and was angry that they did no touch-up work, despite my clear request otherwise. This incensed me, because last time they told me that their service was much better than the competitors, because they did manual retouching. Of course, the guy blamed the problem on the printer, which was an absolute joke. The problem was that they treated me little more than order number 25646.

When I asked for them to run them again, they told me, "Yes, but this time only." So, let me get this right: they will give you excellent customer service the first time, but once they hook you in, then they will only correct a problem if they have time. Well, this is the last time I am going to Camera World.

• Pros: Conveniently Located Downtown
• Cons: They close at 6 pm weekdays, on-again off-again customer service

07/16/08

Go to ProPhoto Supply Instead

by pataha at Citysearch

I drove 6 hr. to get to Portland with a stop at Camera World on my list. I needed to replace a camera, but hadn't 100% chosen which camera I wanted to buy. The Nikon salesman was rude and acted like I should have walked in, pointed to the camera I wanted, and bought it. "What do you want?" and wouldn't even attempt to show me some service. I tried to tell him I needed to SEE some cameras, DIDN'T know what I wanted yet, WAS going to purchase, and PLEASE help me because I drove 6 hours to shop at THIS store. I finally gave up and left, though I tried very hard to get some service. This has happened to me in the past at this store. This time I had enough. Never again will I attempt to purchase at this business.

• Pros: Alot of merchandise
• Cons: Rude salesmen- not worth paying for parking downtown