Anyone buy from Vistek?

skieur · Mar 23, 2009

adamwilliamking said:
Hi!

Phone me! My names Adam and I work at the Mississauga Store.

You can place an order from any of our stores and we will ship to you.

Im sitting at my desk right now actually, haha

905-593-9480 ext. 2100

Hey, Adam why has Nik Viveza been permanently out of stock at your store for the last year, when it has been available in other stores? Phoning your store doesn't help either.

skieur

adamwilliamking · Mar 25, 2009

skieur said:
Hey, Adam why has Nik Viveza been permanently out of stock at your store for the last year, when it has been available in other stores? Phoning your store doesn't help either.

skieur

Hey

Not sure why we havent received shipment on that product.
Our Toronto store has only one left in inventory so it could be a stock issue at the Manu. If you want one I could get it sent this way so let me know.

smyth · Mar 26, 2009

The only dealings I have had with Vistek have been lens rentals. I've rented from them twice, and it was pretty good, very nice staff and what not, but Headshots had better prices (well for me anyways, because I'm a student) but unfortunately Headshots closed their Ottawa office, so to rent from them I have to arrange it way in advance from Toronto, so I have to rent from Vistek.

But my dealings with Vistek have been good, and the staff was very friendly, helpful and knowledeable.

hoyinsiu · Mar 27, 2009

vistek is good. i have never had problem with them.

JE Kay · Mar 27, 2009

vistek is good. i have never had problem with them.

Use their ordering/shipping services, especially for business critical items and stock. Then wait....:meh:

rubbertree · Mar 28, 2009

I have had both good and bad experiences with them. There is one local to me and I have gone in person to by my current DSLR and kit lens, also my Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. I was looking for a telephoto and didn't want to pay the Nikon price for that lens when the sales guy turned me on to the Sigma. Special ordered it in, threw in a B&W UV filter for free and gave me a nice little discount on top of that. He was flirting, that was fine by me.
I've also ordered online from them a few times. One transaction was so so. I had multiple items in that order and some were "special order" so they kept the whole order waiting for those things to come in stock. I got fed up and told them to cancel the order and I'd buy elsewhere. They then rearranged the order and shipped out the available stuff immediately and then sent the remaining stuff when it arrived at no extra cost.
I will always compare prices with McBains because they almost always have the same items for cheaper or will price match. They gave me a wicked deal on my Sigma 10-20 and on my SB -600, oh and the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 was cheaper there also.
I have just ordered the new Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM from Vistek as well, it was cheaper than McBains or any other place in Canada and it was shipped out that day! Pretty happy about that. If something says "special order" go elsewhere or you could be waiting weeks. Which is unacceptable really. Why should it take weeks to order something in??
So I would say that price wise, it's almost always better to shop elsewhere, but once in a while you can get a better deal at Vistek. If you can only find that item at Vistek, call McBains, they will order in anything you want.
And if you are not opposed to letting the salesman flirt with you, you can definately score some great deals.

ETA: I think Visteks free shipping starts at $400.

rubbertree · Apr 1, 2009

Just wanted to add an amendment to my above post.
That Sigma 24-70 mm I ordered from Vistek? It was at my door within on Monday. Ordered Friday, here Monday. I'm very pleased with that.

skieur · Apr 1, 2009

Chiller said:
Arent you out near the London area? Forgive me if Im wrong. Camera Canada is in London. I am not sure what they are like to deal with in person, but online, they are pretty good.
I usually shop at the Henrys superstore in downtown Toronto.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check out Camera Canada.

skieur

skieur · Apr 3, 2009

skieur said:
Hey, Adam why has Nik Viveza been permanently out of stock at your store for the last year, when it has been available in other stores? Phoning your store doesn't help either.

skieur

Apparently neither does emailing Adam, since despite according to the Vistek website, Viveza is in stock in Toronto and Calgary, it is apparently necessary to deposit $50 + dollars to order it from the Mississauga store.
Why can't they just get it in stock? A deposit should NOT be necessary.

skieur

skieur · Aug 6, 2009

The answer seems to be to buy it in stock at Henrys rather than order it and pay a deposit at Vistek.

skieur

SpeedTrap · Aug 7, 2009

skieur said:
The answer seems to be to buy it in stock at Henrys rather than order it and pay a deposit at Vistek.

skieur

That was the answer 4 months ago, why bring it back now?

Disappointed · Jan 24, 2013

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with in my life. Seriously. I tried to buy paper on their site with 3 different methods of payment, all of which were denied. Then I tried to call their phone number to order online and was told I couldn't order anything through them unless I was to pick it up in person, they then transferred me to their web dept team who then said they couldn't help me and wanted to transfer me back to the sales team. At this point I asked to speak to a manager and they tried to transfer me and hung up on me. I tried to call back to speak to the manager and got his voicemail. When I finally got through it doesn't even seem like they have the paper in stock, despite advertising it online. I work in ecommerce and can not believe how bad this company is. If you have any alternative source to buy your photo products from, do it and avoid this company like the plague.

KmH · Jan 24, 2013

Welcome to the PhotoForum. It's always a treat to revisit threads that died 3+ years ago.

Michiyo-Fir · Jan 24, 2013

I tried to buy a Tokina 10-17 from them. It says I placed the order successfully and the item showed as having stock, a few days later, got an email saying my order was canceled because they're now out of stock. I wasn't charged yet because the item hasn't shipped but I was about to go to NYC the next week and really needed that lens so that was a bit inconvenient. I ended up finding one on craigslist because all the stores were sold out which worked out but it easily could've been a big hassle.