Classic Camera London: a good place

[olivier2013]

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Hi all,

 

I thought I would do justice to this nice shop in London, Classic Camera, after seeing that g@@gle brings back an angry thread about someone who complained about them. I feel this is unfair to them, they're very friendly and capable and professional.

I have to say, I am one of Classic Camera customers and always have had a very good service with them.

 

Once, after a repair, the lens was still off focus (actually it was a very difficult job and the lens had to be entirely stripped off & re-built; I was already happy they could just fix the lens). The manager took it back and sent it back to the factory, I did not have to pay anything on top, even shipping. Part of service, customer happy. Not mentioning that lens service, repair, calibration etc... is twice as fast and twice as cheap as at Leica's.

 

 

I genuinely recommend Classic Camera, that's the only place where I go in London.

 

Olivier

[earleygallery]

Olivier,

 

Classic Camera have been the subject of numerous threads on the forum, most of them not very complimentary, but some have been satisfied with their service.

 

However, you appear to praise this dealer for simply repairing a faulty item (after a second attempt) which is the least one could expect from any vendor!

 

It's certainly not usually the case that the customer pays additional charges for shipping etc in such cases.

[bybrett]

It's not unfair to complain if service is not up to expectations. This applies equally to shops which sell Leica equipment and Leica Authorised / Premier Dealers.

[masjah]

I used to deal with Classic Camera, and I was always perfectly satisfied with the service I received from them. Clearly though, others have had very different experiences.

 

I think that the most important thing that people must be aware of is that Classic Camera is no longer an authorised UK Leica dealer. This has implications if and when purchasing new Leica equipment, because I presume that it woiuld not carry the usual supplementary UK Passport warranty. (I can only assume that they obtain their new stock via the grey import market; apologies to them if I am wrong.) For this reason, I no longer deal with them; rather I deal with another London dealer, whose customer service is second to none, and who supports this Forum.

[LotharZhou]

I bought a lot of Zeiss and voigtlander lenses from them in the past, they are very good. no complains.

[andybarton]

There are lots of first class dealers in London. One is only 5 minutes walk from these people.

 

Knowing what I know, I would never, ever do business with CC and I know a lot of people of the same persuasion.

[bill]

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There's one right here. I would not cross the threshold.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[farnz]

I have had less than satisfactory dealings with the Classic Camera in the past and now deal only with Red Dot Cameras who, apart from being a Leica premier dealership, has excellent and friendly customer service, and provides substantial support to this forum.

 

Pete.

[IWC Doppel]

I have bought a few things from CC, they are not a registered Leica dealer as I understand. I also find they want to moan about Leica and find reasons why Ziess are better....

 

I have found myself cringing and wanting to join in the conversation when a less knowledgeable customer walks in.

 

There are some negative stories on this forum. I have bought a bag, second hand lens (28/2 Summicron), filters, books and when ever I used to walk in I was never treated like a customer, more inconvenience !

[earleygallery]

I've not been there in years but it was always quite intimidating, also it always seemed like being in a museum, everything out of reach, locked away and silence!

 

Even when I asked to look at some lenses once, the salesman just pointed to them inside the glass cabinet and was very reluctant to take them out so I could physically inspect them.

 

I did buy a copy of LFI though, they were very efficient in taking my tenner, giving me the correct change and handing me the magazine. It didn't break so I don't have experience of their after sales service.

[gabriel]

+1 for Red Dot in London

[bill]

x2, actually.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

Sent from another Galaxy

[Peter H]

Until I read this thread, i wasn't aware there were any problems of any kind with The Classic Camera.

 

I've used them along with all the other Leica dealers (OK, I can see from here they're not an official Leica Dealer now) and never had the slightest problem with them.

 

In fact I'd say their service has been excellent, in that when I was looking for a Visoflex III with a number of specific accessories I contacted all the main UK dealers and asked them whether they would let me know when they had any in. And after nearly a year of forgetting about it and hearing from no one, CC phoned me to say they'd collected all the bits I wanted, and was I still interested?

 

I bought it, it was all excellent, and I was delighted with them for their faultless and friendly service.

 

So naturally I'm surprised to hear that some of you, (whose judgement in most matters I respect highly!) say you'd never cross their threshold.

 

What have they done?

[Keith (M)]

x2, actually.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

Sent from another Galaxy

 

x3 (with the proviso that their repairer fixes my IIIg at the second attempt...)