KEH quality

[EdWorkman]

I just received a Fuji 180 and have had it just long enough to try a few shutter speeds. B&T work, the rest sound relatively in order.
It was listed at a very good price and BGN.
With bare eyeballs the glass looks clean and scratch-free. The only blemish i've found is a scratch in the enamel of the ring around the rear element. It looks like a spanner popped out of the slot. and I care not one whit. [ I spose I will if it turns out the element spacing was badly adjusted, but no reason to think it has].
i did buy a very cheap Pentax 6x7 body whose shutter failed- the second curtain apparently follows the first erratically and too closely. Then in testing all my bodies i discovered another had the same problem- so erratic that I had had no clue except an occasional bad frame over several years, so i consider the problematical one from KEH a good investment just to identify the glitch in the other body, which had been "CLA'd " for more than I paid to KEH.

[Daniel Moore]

A Nikon 120 f/8 I purchased last month from KEH which was rated EX+ arrived without lens caps (watch those descriptions closely) and there were very visible cleaning marks on the front element. The swirl of the marks indicates it was not abrasion during shipping as the wrapping was taped securely. Their EX+ rating allows for imperfection in the form of dust, not glass damage of any kind. I've had no previous experience with buying from them other than a compendium hood at the same time, which was missing a locking screw which was easy enough to replace. They did process the lens refund without fuss but that was a surprise and of course a disappointment.

[Sirius Glass]

Daniel,

They did take care of it for you. If you had bought it on eBay from with 'no return', 'as is' or the classic "I do not know ...", you would have been SOOL! [$#!+ out of luck]

Steve

[Daniel Moore]

I've been burnt several times by misrepresented items sold at auction with all types of finality clauses and not once been unable to resolve it, i.e., return the item for a refund, typically minus return shipping. In this regard my experience with KEH was no different than buying at auction. I did expect with KEH to avoid the nuissance of wasted time and energy. I will likely try them again as I will just as likely try auctions again, but only when I'm ready to spend more than I would like for immediacy.

[Sirius Glass]

If you ask them to reimburse you for the return postage before you ship it back, they will, but you must put a copy of the receipt with a note inside the package.

[Corran]

This thread worries me...just bought my first lens from KEH. Hope it turns out well. I normally buy from various fora or ebay.

[Sirius Glass]

I have bought over five lenses from them, maybe more and I have found that the lenses were equal to or better than described. Usually the latter.

If there is a problem, they take care of it.

Steve

[dasBlute]

I've bought rolleis, lenses and light meters, from KEH,
never a problem, items were beautiful, better than
the description.

[BradS]

The way I see it, KEH have a great inventory of used gear - maybe the best in the US. They generally rate grade used gear pretty conservatively. Their prices are not bad.

I bet the probably ship several hundred items each business day. They're bound to make a mistake now and then. As far as I can tell from reading many threads like this over the years and from my own experience buying from them, they always make it right for the customer.

The way I see it, even though they make mistakes now and then, they're still a pretty good source of used gear.

[ImSoNegative]

I have been buying from keh for several years, and had a problem one time, it was with a LF lens that the piece that controls the aperature setting was broken off, no big deal i sent it back and they sent me another one. i have bought alot of bgn grade lenses from them that i thought was much better than bgn grade and they worked perfectly, the lens above with the broke aperature thingy was like ex+, i still have the lens they sent me and it works great, i wont sell to them though because they hurt my ego : ). btw there customer service imo is second to none . especially Dan, he is great.