Vendor Kudos

Of late, I seem to be seeing an abundance of vendor-bashing here and elsewhere. I read tales of pre-paid orders from camera manufacturers and repairmen being delayed months, even years.

Several weeks ago, I ordered a wooden field camera from Jeff at Badger. He told me he would have to order it and gave me a date (about 40 days) when he would ship it to me.

The entire order, camera, lens boards, lens, case, was shipped complete, with no back-orders, on the very day he had promised. My credit card was not charged until after the equipment was shipped.

Apparently this is all quite unusual these days and worthy of note.

Neat!

John,

Jeff Taugner and Badger Graphic have always been first rate.

Steve

No, it is not unusual for Jeff and Badger. This has nothing to do with $6000 cameras that are asked to be prepaid and never delivered, or repairs promised and the money as well as the camera are not seen for years.

I dont call this vendor bashing, I thank those who posted those message so I know who I should and who I should not give my money to.

Jeff has always been one of the good guys....

Have ordered a full setup (Tachihara field camera, lens, film holders, dark cloth, Arca Swiss plate, loupe) from Badger last Dec, and was very satisfied with the service Jeff provided. Would (will) shop there again. Same great experience with B&H and with KEH.

Let me give a plug to my favorite camera shop, Midwest Photo Exchange, in Columbus, Ohio. These guys, especially Jim Andracki (the large format specialist there), are also first rate and above board. Never had bad dealings with them.

John, Thats great to hear that you had a good experience. What did you think of the camera?

Darin, it is an Ebony. Seems to be everything everyone says it is, including maxing out my credit card.

Nice to be back behind a wood camera after decades of banging out mindless commercial work on the metal monorails. Like a damn fool I sold my nearly new Deardorff thirty years ago. Have regretted it ever since.

Being old-fashioned and behind the times is a curse, which I am celebrating to the fullest.

I'll jump in with Kudos to Colorvision. My 2 1/2 year old Sypder recently started freezing up when calibrating my monitor. I sent a question via email to their customer support with the expectation that I would be told to buy a new one. Much to my surprise the almost immediate response came indicating they would ship me a free repalcement. No questions asked - I did not check but I'm pretty sure this was unit was out of warranty. They did not even ask for a credit card as colateral for the defective Spyder. My replacement Spyder showed up promptly with a pre-paid return shipping label. The extra bonus is the replacement Spyder also works with LCD screens which my original did not.

Hello John,

Good to hear that you had a great experience with Badger Graphics... Midwest Photo is another good place where the "art of the customer" is still alive and kicking.

Here's a posting I just left at Photo.net and I wanted to leave it under your timely posting:

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RE: S.K. Grimes

This isn't a rant about ANOTHER deadbeat/faulty dealer or repair shop...it's entirely the opposite.

I sent my 360 Symmar F6.8 lens in (about 21/2 weeks ago) to S.K. Grimes for aperture scale engraving. Well, I just received it back this morning and "it is outstanding in every way imaginable."

Their communications was outstanding and "EVERYTHING" that I requested on my work order was completed...even the Customs Information Form.

Since the lens was Canadian owned and was just being sent back from repairs it had to be stated as such on the form (otherwise, I would have had to pay additional Customs fees and other charges... I wasn't disappointed. The forms were completed as they should have been.

The packaging was exceptional (they even used the same container I sent it in!) and the service was first rate. Need I say more?

Thanks to all the guys at S.K. Grimes... it's no wonder the LF community has such high regards for your operations!

Cheers

PS: I ordered the appropriate iris scale(s) through a local dealer over 5 months ago and it still hasn't arrived! Guess I'll have to cancel it.... :>)

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Thanks for letting me share your space. :>)

Cheers

Jeff has always been a very good vendor. I am in Singapore and his shipments have always been within 10 days! and Credit cards are charged on the day of shipping :)