Bristol Cameras Shop Reviews

Ordered my first Olympus MFT kit from them. Great prices. Great delivery once I decided to switch from a Black to a Silver body - the problem with the black body was that Olympus had no stock - not the shops fault.

Ordered two items listed as being in stock. Only one delivered, other stated as to follow. Website states they only charge for what is delivered but full amount taken from Paypal. Had to chase up second item by phone 2 weeks later. To be fair it was then delivered within 36 hours. I`ll be charitable and give them OK (but only just). Cannot recommend them on the basis of this transaction.

I ordered a compact from these guys because of the good price. I wanted it for an upcoming trip about two weeks later. I had an acknowledgement email, but after 5 days, no delivery. I phoned up a few days later to check - was told it was out of stock; they hadn't notified me of this. I asked when it would come in again, and since it was not in time for my trip, told them to cancel the order. They assured me it would be done and my card refunded.

So - having got the camera from elsewhere on a next-day delivery, at a slightly higher price - I did my trip. On my return, my credit card bill came in, and there was a charge from Bristol Cameras, but NO refund.

Very annoyingly, they don't even have an email address for contact (in this day & age - really?), so I had to phone up again and query this. Apparently my order was still live, had not been cancelled, and had not been refunded. Again, with no communication whatsoever.

I made my displeasure clear, and repeated my request for cancellation and refund. They did apologise, and I have since had two emails, one to confirm cancellation, and one to announce my card had been refunded. Which didn't stop me having to pay the larger bill this month, before I'll get it back next month.

So in summary - no live stock status on the website; no email communication of out of stock; failure to respond to a phone request to cancel & refund; no email communication about this; no email address to contact them about anything; and two phone calls needed to get them to take the necessary actions.

I'm not impressed. You can excuse one screw-up from any dealer, but several on the same order is just plain sloppy. Attention to detail is obviously not part of the staff training, if indeed they even have such. The prices may be lower, but you obviously get what you pay for, and I won't be troubling them with my business again.

Nothing changed here. Credit card charged for out of stock items.
After two weeks cancelled the order interesting to see how I have to
Wait for a refund.
Will not consider using them again.

Firstly, this company provides no email contact address, so you are forced to telephone them and it can be near impossible to get an answer!

Long story short, bough an item, which i discovered was faulty; they assured me they could get a replacement in quickly. It took numerous phone calls and 3 months to get the replacement!

Regardless of their prices, they are not worth the trouble.

I see they are still treating the "Customer" like scum

And they no longer detail an email address for complaints

"Being the cheapest is not always the best!"

One of those statements my Grandmother would have made if she was still with us.

Poor show Bristol Cameras - Thumbs down again :-(

As per other peoples report, I went online looking for a speck remover so that I could remove dust from my sensor.
The product I ordered was not in stock, I also ordered an ND4 filter - they didnt have the Hoya and suggested the KOOD, which I was agreeable to but they didnt say it was £13 cheaper until I checked, yet still charged me Hoya price and only after 2 calls did I get the refund.
two weeks later I got the rest of my order - which isnt good enough.
When you order online - they should say this isnt in stock before accepting the order.
They maybe cheap but are not good - I WONT buy from here again.

Dire service and communication. Rarely have in stock what they advertise.

Sigma lens purchase, excellent service and delivered next day.

Back in Dec 07 I ordered a compact camera from them, it duly arrived but appeared as though it had been handled. When I turned it on, the picture count was somewhere near 300. I called and called and eventually got through, they admitted it was an ex-display model but argued it was still new. I argued it wasnt. They hadnt any more of these models and I needed the camera for a trip away, so they promised to send me a 1gb memory card to apologise - when I got back from holiday they had sent me a 256mb cheap card. I wasnt impressed. I am always tempted by their low prices but cant help but remember my one and only bad experience.

I have always heard that Bristol Cameras offer good service until I tried to use them. The trouble with the website is that they dont inform you if they have stock. I ordered a remote for my Canon and had a email from them indicatin the order was being processed, after a few days nothing was said about no stock or problems with Canon not having any at HQ.

After emailing and getting no reply I telephoned the store who informed me that there was a problem with stock and they didnt know when they would get any in (even though they had taken the money from my account) eventually they offered me a refund.

Why they couldnt have just emailed me in the first place I dont know, it would have saved time and money.

Being the cheapest is not always the best!

I ordered two items: lenspen and lenshood for canon 40d. lenspen came a week later, but no sign of the lenshood. i assumed there is no stock for the lenshood but i didnt receive any communications from them at all regarding this. i tried calling them on customer service and was promised a call back but havent heard from them since.

i would not purchase from this website again.

I ordered a Sigma 18-50 f2.8 DC Macro HSM. Two weeks later I finally have the lens. But getting there was a bit hard:

- I was sent a lens with a broken lens hood and a stripped thread for the hood on the lens. It should never have left the shop.
- I had to call to ask where the replacement was - to find out they were about to dispatch the wrong lens.
- They then had Sigma send me the lens directly. My wife stayed in to receive it. And I got the wrong lens anyway.
- They then arranged a swap (a hostage swap?) for which my daughter stayed in. I finally have the right lens. Huzzah!
- I am waiting for my postage to be refunded. They reassure me they will. And I believe them. But its slower process than debiting my credit card.

Along the way none of my emails were responded to - until the final one thanking them for receipt of the lens! An aggressive spam filter was the cause apparently. :-(

Most of the time their 0845 just rany off. As for leaving voicemails on their 0845, when it didnt just ring off, those werent reaponded to.

The saving grace is that, if you do phone often enough AND get through, theyre polite and they do try.

I was beguiled by the cheapest UK price. Ive learned. If your order works first time Im sure itll be fine. If not, prepare to invest your time to correct it.

Only one of the three items I ordered was in stock in at the time I ordered, a compact digital camera, that was despatched promptly after I ordered off the website.

The remaining items, a spare battery and a case each arrived within two weeks of me ordering, without any additional carriage charges, or me needing to chase. A note was included with the camera asking if I wanted to cancel either the battery or case due to them not being in stock.

Packaging was sufficient for each of the items ordered.

I would buy on-line from Bristol Camera again.