Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Went to Vistek today to purchase a Crumpler 5MDH bag and after showing them the price of $69 from The Camera Store, I was told they could only do the PM for local shops. Well, they did save $20 by not selling me the bag, but that was my last trip to Vistek, ever. The manager sure knows how to do business. Way to go, Vistek.

Well to play the devil's advocate, you would have spent more than $69 getting it from Calgary after shipping.

Stores typically only price match locally.

well, i've had blacks match a store in London Ontario that had a wicked deal on a body so not all stores limit themselves to local stores to match.

Henry's matched a price from Camera Canada in London except I was required to buy an accessory at retail price. And in other cases they couldn't match the price, but more recently they did match the price of a Pelican case sold at MEC. Non-camera related, Canada Computers - they never price match from my experience. So you win some and you lose some, simple as that.

Sad to say that I'm not surprised.

My brother told me that the downtown store gave him a hard time matching "Downtown camera". In fact they told him to go buy it there (canon ef 50mm F1.4). So luck of the draw he goes to Vistek in Brampton and they just call downtown camera to confirm and then match the price.

Personally after my camera strap exchange issue I will never shop there again.

- lots more for Vistek

B+W 110 is $200 from them or $95 from Adorama/B&H. Useless.

I always had nice experience with Vistek..

I feel like when it comes to Vistek we all revert back to that silly child that keeps sticking its fingers in the electrical outlet expecting a different result every time...

I had a crappy experience the first time I went and it didn't change the second time... so I haven't gone back since.

Not calling anyone silly on here.. just trying to use an example.

So you're the ONE.

Its basically who you meet at the store...
I always meet this guy called Brian George 2nd floor .....
So I call him before I leave,Tell him what I want
and he knows, I will ask him to price match with Aden....
lol
Yesh

The only good thing I got out of them is when I got Henry's to price match Vistek for a film scanner.

haha i've met him! he gave me his card. he did seem really nice.
but yeah vistek = not a place i go to purchase. it's like a candy store for me.. an eye candy store

Guilty as charged! And believe me - getting electrocuted never gets better the second and third times.

Unless of course someone is into that sort of thing.. which I'm positive is possible. haha
bzzzzz
bzzz

I remember trying to price match a Canon S90 against the Henrys down the street... it was a $25 difference on a $425 item and they refused to price match. I forget the excuse they gave me and they could only help me if I bought batteries or warranty... unbelievable. Haven't been back there since.

I still get the faint memory of them sitting on their stools trying to direct me where the 1/4 to 3/8 adapters were.

Vistek was more expensive.

hahaha..opps.

I have never had any issues with Vistek.

my last experience was interesting. had previously been commenting on a deal a staffer got on a piece of rental gear but it turned out the gear was in bad shape...possibly. get a call asking if I was still interested in the camera, they'd talk to their mgr. long story short, the staffer was on the line with their boss bargaining down the price for me and I just stood there waiting for the gavel to drop. lol that was easy. camera works great but has an odd idiosyncrasy.

key is to find a sales associate you like and maintain that relationship

Good experiences on the ground floor and rental. There's a saying: "Fish rots from the head"

Same here.

to continue my story: I ordered 5MDH with my henrys guy on Monday (I didnt go to him in the first place was because it wasnt in stock), and got the bag and PM today without any problems.

+1 for henrys, did you hear that, Vistek?

Mixed experience at Vistek ... and all downtown stores.
When I started up my business about 1 1/2 years ago, I went with a list to all the downtown camera shops. I told them I was starting up a business, this is what I wanted and could you give me a quote for this equipment.
I got the quotes, told each rep that I would look them over, got the emails from each rep and told them I would email them by the end of business the next day. Totally professional approach I thought. Each said that was not a problem and that they would check emails and answer any questions.
I got three quotes ... Vistek, Henry's downtown and Downtown Camera. All were within a very small percentage of each other.
I sent a couple of emails with questions ... never heard back.
I even sent one to one fellow saying that I wanted to purchase from him .... Vistek, believe it or not.... and he didn't even reply.
I sent second emails and got no response from anyone.
So I went to a local Henry's, spoke to the manager, explained what I needed, got a quote and they blew everyone away. So I bought from them.
Since then, I have purchased from several stores and never had a really bad experience. I would recommend Brian George ... he has been good.
Other stores, not so much. Haven't really developed a relationship with the retail reps.
Anyways, they seem to price match but not on that store from out west and only "Brick and Mortar' stores ...
Anyways, my $0.02...
As I said, no really bad experience just indifference which is strange...

I think that it's perfectly reasonable to only price match with brick & mortar stores, as an internet sales model doesn't provide enough profit margin to sustain a brick & mortar.

Me too. I wrote and online reserve form to rent a len. Then send back an email saying that some rep will call me within one day. I wait until the third day and called back. A lady told me they were too busy to check the email and the lens had rent out to somebody.
My point is if you do not have enough resource to do business online, why would you start at the very beginning?

sounds right. I've been calling and calling to check the availability of lenses and it just keeps going to voice mail. I doubt their phones are ringing off the hook that much in TO. I wonder if it's just one person trying to field all calls too.

The Camera Store, Mostly Digital, McBain and a few others are brick and mortar stores. The point is if someone like Vistek doesnt really want to do the PM, they can make up all kinds of excuses.

Its a bit rediculous though to ask them to price match a store on the other side of the country ... That's like converting Bh prices to canadian dollar and getting vistek to match the conversion price .. its not going to happen

how so? these are canadian stores with prices in cdn while Bh is in usa. I failed to see the connection.

And even so, they're all competing for your bucks. I get that not every vendor can compete with the volume of a B&H or an Adorama but to be twice the price? Or some other ridiculous gap is just ridiculous no matter which barriers lay in their way.

Being in IT, I treat photography stores just as I do computer shops on Spadina/College.

Do your research online, go to a few stores to get some guidance if you wish ( I like the guys at Downtown Camera). Then when you have made your decision, go and buy it at the store with the best price. (Usually Aden Camera).

I would never walk into a place like Aden, Henry's or Vistek without knowing EXACTLY what I'm looking for and how much it costs at other stores. I find Vistek to be a necessary evil for a lot of items because they are the only ones that carry them and I don't have time to wait for shipping.

As for disparity in pricing, its a fact of life. Consumer goods prices vary by market just as house prices do (obviously not to the same extent). While Vistek may be expensive, I'm glad there's at least ONE store in Toronto that I can physically see some of these items... before I order them online

Some countries in Europe and Australia especially have it much worse than we do when it comes to pricing on this type of stuff.