Vistek Reviews

I got ton of stuff from here the last few years. Always get great help from the guys on the store and sales when order online. I pre-order, do online order with them walk into the store with questions it always a great deal to stop by you always find something new to take with you lol.

One of the best photographic supplier in Toronto...With downtown parking too.

Alex was extremely helpful with getting an underwater camera quickly and at a reasonable price.

Huge professional selection, amazingly knowledgable staff.

Ordered product online that was listed as in stock.
I selected the pick up in store option as I needed the item urgently. The next day I had called the store to process the payment and get the order ready to pick up as i was instructed to do so, following the automated prompts I was put on hold for 28 minutes before someone actually answered the phone (should have been the first sign this wasn't going to end well). The woman I spoke with processed the payment and confirmed with me the product was in stock and I would shortly get a confirmation email to come pick up, this was completed monday by 12:40. Fast forward to friday and I've only received junk mail but nothing about my order, at the bottom of the junk mail there is an email address for there sales department. I sent a quick email stating how urgently I needed my order and asked for an update, Surprisingly the online sales department got back to me faster then calling the store to speak with someone, unsurprisingly (by this point) they told me they now cant find the stock in store and it's going to take 7-10 business days OR if I really need it fast they will ship to me directly... regardless of how crystal clear I made it in the email that I needed this days ago.
Guess I should have read all the negative reviews first before shopping here as they are mostly believable now and I can understand the frustration these people felt.
Part of me wonders if I didnt reach out to them to figure this out if they would have just kept me waiting till the got a new shipment, I'm going to have to assume yes as this point. Absolutely garbage customer service. Never again.

UPDATE: it is now September 18th, still haven't received the product I ordered 8 months ago. I also haven't been refunded ether soooo I guess we will see what happens next.

I would not recommend Vistek Toronto and will never come back to this store. I was visiting Toronto from out of town for the Raptors parade and ordered a lens rental via their website. After spending 30 minutes to walk to their store from my hotel, they were extremely disorganized and had no record of my request and ended up giving me another lens as an alternative which didn't meet my needs. Rather then walking back empty handed I decided to go ahead but was dissatisfied with what I received and didn't end up using it. Funny enough, someone else called me on my cell a few hours later letting me know the lens I did order was ready for pick up. When I called back, another agent didn't have the record. Extremely disorganized.

The other reason why I will never go back here was because despite giving me with a lens I didn't request or use, they were not understanding and did not attempt to help me when I called back a few hours before close concerned I would not be able to return the lens back on time due to streets being closed due to parade overcrowding. it was impossible to move through the streets and I was asking what type of arrangements could be made as the fault was not due to mine, the agent told me that if I did not return the lens on time, I would be charged penalty fees. I offered to courier it over but could not guarantee the timing of their delivery as I have no control of that, I can only control that I would ship it that same day. They had no mercy - Poor customer service. I will never shop at Vistek Toronto again. Unfortunately, due to the unexpected shooting at Nathan Phillips Square, the streets were able to clear up and I was able to return on time - but they've lost a customer forever. If anyone is reading this review, please visit Henrys or another Vistek location - avoid this location at all costs. Their organization and customer service skills are awful.

The service here was friendly & helpful! I called ahead & was able to get a price on a product instantly, and received help as soon as I arrived in the store.

Great website and selection of products, weak customer service. Vistek is by far the biggest consumer / prosumer camera shop in Toronto. Their website is organized and their in-store layout is great for seeing the gear in person. My biggest issue though seems to be the staff. Every time I've been in store or had to deal with customer service via phone / email for my work, I just find there is a lack of energy. Staff don't seem very eager to help, and as a younger creative professional, I sometimes feel ignored in store and getting help always requires a lot of waiting. When ordering some equipment for my work, I found it took sometimes days to hear back about help with an order.

What a toy store for professionals. It's always a time saver when you can hold and talk about what you want to buy with a salesperson.

Prices are higher than usual for rentals
No chance you rent something if you are not resident
They ask full deposit if it s international card
As for Vistek store very nice
Folks know what they are dealing with and always help you
Had something wrong with my tripod head purchased there
With no hesitation they changed it for the new one
Very nice store!

Quite a selection! But chances are, if there isn't a display of it on the floor they'll have to order it in. Even then, they have a limited stock. Still knowledgeable staff though! Quite friendly

A money grab operation. One hour late and they charge me an extra day!!! Wow! Never rent from here.

Expensive with a highly knowledgeable but also snobby staff. Good for testing equipment then buying it elsewhere.

Great knowledgeable staff. Bought several used lenses here and have not been majorly disappointed.

This is my a got-to camera store if I need things fast. They pretty much have in stock everything and anytime. Rating 4 stars for their rental service. Sales guys can improve on every level.

Go to camera store for serious camera gear in downtown Toronto. It wont have the cheapest gear, but it has the best selection of the best gear. Talk to Henry on 3rd floor if your looking for DSLRs or DSLR accessories. I've bought all of my gear through him, and I always feel well taken care of. Honest and great person to talk cameras and photography with.

Vast collection of photography and video equipment, very knowledgeable staff and competitive prices

I experienced a mix up with my purchase and I was overcharged by accident, I noticed and came back the next day they fixed it super fast. they refunded the overcharged amount and even gave me a discount which I didn't even asked for just simply cause they felt this mix up inconvenienced me. They were amazingly friendly and courteous the whole time, Truly fantastic costumer service that was above and beyond.

People I think are awesome, think this place is the best.

If you're looking to simply purchase equipment online and never have any follow up service then I would have no hesitation recommending Vistek, but the moment anything else is required then my experience is that Vistek is seriously sub-par compared to the competition. As a result I would recommend my fellow photographers to stay away.

Put simply, if you want to have a camera repaired at Vistek, then be prepared to wait close to two months, seriously struggle to have any communication with their repair department, and then if you want to ship it back to you even after having owned the camera be prepared to pay taxes and duties again without being told this by Vistek.

Again, there are plenty of better alternatives around.

Last major retailer to do rentals. All lineups of photography and cinematography products from amateur to full fledged professional gear. Ample parking in the rear rare for core Toronto. Service is great from beginning to end.

Please note that I have only been to this location once, but I have been to the Mississauga location numerous times. Since they have 2 buildings at the Toronto location, one for sales, one for rentals. I'll separate my review. I give 3 stars to the Rental department and 1 to Sales.

For the rentals, the service was fine. People were friendly, although not overly swift. The main reason for the middling review is that they are not open Sunday, which is silly in today's day and age. If you have a rental price specific for WEEKENDS, I should be able to rent or return that gear on Sunday, not Monday. And if you don't want to open for the full Sunday, fine. But open for a window of say 10AM-2PM so people can do returns. Since you have a dedicated building for rentals, this is a feasible compromise.

As for the sales side of things, you would think the level of service from the flagship store should be at a minimum on par with one of the satellite stores, if not better. Boy, was I wrong. It takes a lot to irk me and this store irked me big time. I've gone to the Mississauga location numerous times and have nothing but praise for those guys. AND they're open Sundays! The Toronto location however...

- Got there at 1PM on Saturday and they had 2 people in the photography section, one of which was there just because he had to pick something up on his off day and quickly dealt with a customer to ease the congestion. Once left we were down to one.
- The rest were on lunch. All at the same time (except for the aforementioned one guy)
- Guy there on his day off made a call to the manager to get somebody into the photos section stat before he left (props to this one guy).
- After 20 minutes of standing there, second guy shows up to help (I'm in a semi rush at this point)
- I ask for 2 items (wireless remote and a flash bracket). Now, you would think that a specialized store that's been around for almost 40 years would hire dedicated expert staff. This guy A) didn't know where anything was and B) had to go on the company website to find out the various brands they carried. Seriously?!?
- 10 minutes later he couldn't find anything and I left empty handed as I had to go. And when I said 'don't bother, I have to go', the guy couldn't care less.

I expect this kind of thing from a big box store that sells everything, not a specialized store where you pay a premium price in the hope of getting a premium product and premium service. If people want to go to Vistek, please make the drive to their Mississauga location. Night and day better in all respects.

Quick and easy pickup! Online ordering makes it very easy

Whole building full of photographic stuffs, awksome.

It's unfortunate you don't "get what you pay for" here. Has that middle school vibe where it seems like everyone in there can't wait to belittle you. Great! Guess I'll buy SD cards from Shoppers Drug Mart again....

Tip. If you are looking for expert advice on audio video this is the place. Also there live chat directly connects you with experts at their locations. Best selection and expertise in the country.

Henry's services are way better than Vistek.
They don't even price match from any Canadian company when they recently re-opened after covid19 Refunds are only applicable upon store manager's authorization vs no questions asked at Henry's, Henry's is still at the same time providing additional 10 percent off for the price match.

I've started buying lots of gear since 2 years and found the staff at Henry's is way too welcoming and helpful both in person and via phone.

Other recommendations i can provide you if you just wanna order online and find the bestpprices and deals is to go for Either Henry's, Don's photo or Gosselin Camera Store. They always have lowest prices available and great deals like 0 financing etc.

Rob is my go to guy there. He's helped me build my business over the last few years and continues to answer my questions and emails promptly. My only complaint is their stock...I've ended up buying a lot of floor models of tripods and other accessories when I need a last minute piece of gear.

Super good service by the sales associates, really had a good experience the first time time we went to the store. However, I do have to say that the management is horrible. The second time we went in to pick the stuff we had previously purchased the manager will not give it to use because supposedly there was a cash mistake. Dont get me wrong, it was a big order so I was sure what I had payed for. However the manager treat me as if I had stole from them and had not payed. The way he made me feel really can not be described. At the end I received my things but it wasn't until they had to check the cameras. Overall the manager was rude, not very communicative, is enough by saying that his own staff had to apologize for the way he acts.

I love Vistek. They always have gear in stock, and if they don't, it fills up pretty regularly. The sales team stayed open past closing time - on a Friday - for me to grab my gear because I had a shoot the next day (thank you, Amanda).

If you need gear (more specifically Lenses), don't shop anywhere but Vistek.

My spot for rentals of lenses, and other camera equipment. The staff is cool too.

We purchase all our equipment and supplies from Vistek. The sales team is great to deal with and very helpful. Thanks Alison, Brian, Anthony & the rest of the team!

They always mess up my order and take wayyyyy too long to deliver.

I good place to shop for photo and video equipment. In addition Vistek provide repair service.

Great service & a very good selection of camera bags.

Very friendly service and tons of rental equipment available.

One of the best camera stores in Toronto. They have a great line up of gear and friendly staff.

On two occasions I've been forced to back out of the one way exit in their parking lot because of the same grey Porsche Panamera entering the wrong way. The second time we exchanged some words and being the bigger man I backed up to let him in. No big deal, people can be really stupid. Then today while dropping off my rentals the same Porsche enter through the exit and parked in the only revered spot in the lot. This entitled high level employee/owner is the reason I'll never purchase from Vistek again(among many other reasons). If you like buying from people who care about their customers go to Aden Camera.

Really helpful staff. Pro level equipment and experience.

People who take their AV seriously should definitely know this place.

Amazing sales crew and lot of great products with lots in stock.

Fun part is there's only 2 stores in Toronto, Vistek or Henrys ... and if you want to buy some specific products that they carry you have to keep going back to them no matter how amazing / not amazing their service is. I'd be going back there too ... until there's better option available.

Very good and patient staff....love the atmosphere's

Huge store. Great selection. Knowledgeable. Convenient parking.

Knowledgeable staff but depressing retail space. Be careful to double-check what is delivered when ordering. Good selection of camera equipment, lighting, video, etc. Pricing not particularly competitive.

Great staff. Very helpful over the phone as well as in store. You get all you need related to cameras and accessories. I went here to buy GoPro 3.5mm mic adapter and got it for lower the price than anywhere else.

This are in a great location and the staff is always trying to be as helpful as they can. A lot of times they don't have what I'm looking for, which is the only downside even though the store is big.

I don't know whether its one L or two, but Chris from T-ShirtGuys extends his thanks to Alison for her continued, excellent customer service!!
That's the Queen East Location : )

Product availability and helpful salespeople with product knowledge. Unfortunately, prices are controlled by manufacturers eg Sony.

All video and photography equipment available from amateur to pro.

Amazing service. The staff actually try to find a solution not just sell you a product.

Buyer beware
Purchased an "open box" Sony Zeiss 35mm lens here. It came in a ziplock bag. There are all kinds of spots on my images...emailed sales rep and was told it was my sensor on a brand new Sony A7ii...also purchased here. Spots don't show up on other lenses.
Inquired about returning it to exchange for new one of same lens...return policy is only 15 days so no go.
Told to send lens away for.cleaning under warranty by Zeiss, then changed to Sony for warranty.
Sales rep and sales manager have shown no care for this issue.
I have purchased two more lenses since this purchase in May....but not from Vistek

Love this place
They have Everything you need at very competitive prices and the Knowledge is there Folks.!!!! I highly recommend

Very helpful, informative and friendly staff. Thank you !

Fast and friendly, great looking store, but rental prices for lenses was fairly high. Closing so early in the afternoon was disappointing too.

Terrible experience form the Toronto location, very poor costumer service.

Made a phone call to the Down town location for a specific piece of equipment and was told it was in stock and that they would put it aside. I headed there from Hamilton and when I got there they told me that they didn't have it and then told me that it was on hold for another person. Don't you think you should tell people that it's on hold before coming in? Good prices, very poor service.

Lots of great professional and semi-professional gear for photography, video and film. Most employees are very nice and very helpful.

Vistek is one of the older and more established photo and video supply stores in Canada.

The store has wheelchair and generally barrier free access and is to be commended.

Really cool store with a family feel. The service is great. If you are looking for a camera they really know their stuff. I dealt with Henry on the top floor great guy really made me feel good spending over $3k.

I am customer over 20 years at Vistek and never had experience like tonight. I came to pick up a product and cf customer representative told mect ok walk around 5 min while she find where is my order. I came back and she send me again now 10 min!
When I asked her to call me on phone she says just come back!
I never had such a rude behaviour from people there, 98% of them are nice and polite and this is not about them!

Customer service doesn't exist in this store. Letting people in 20 min before closing, then after a long wait in the lobby telling people to leave because the store is close. Don't let people in if you know it's impossible to serve them.
Thank you Mr. William for the shameless service. Just keep saying we are close and then chase customer out. Not even a single word of apology.

I have never had a bad experience at this Vistek. These guys know there stuff.

Great place for equipment in Toronto, sadly though they don't have much when it comes to various small parts for putting together a unified power solution.

As a customer, I have been visiting and renting from Vistek for over 7 years and I have always had great customer service and follow-ups.

What I would recommend is that you don't come in without doing your homework on your rentals or purchases.

If you are looking to walk-in and purchase, then be sure to ask for what you want and be very specific. If you're not specific, then be prepared to spend some time testing the gear you are about to purchase. The people on the sales floors have always been attentive to my testing and checking, sometimes for hours at a time. I really appreciate their patience.

If looking to rent, always book ahead (at least 2 days) as things get snapped up fairly quickly and you may end up with a different item than you originally wanted. Rentals have always been flexible about checking compatibility with your existing gear and production requirements, so be sure to bring what you can to cross-check.

The times where I've had to return products were very straight-forward -- as long as you bring it back in time and in 'good as new' condition. I'm a stickler for keeping packaging until I know 100% that I'm keeping what I purchased, so it's been a breeze.

I highly recommend Vistek, the community there is great, I've made a few professional connections while going through the purchasing process which have definitely help build my freelance career.

Also their annual ProFusion event is great, definitely check that out too!

I got what I needed, pretty quick and clean, and it might be just the specific representative, but the service was not the best, you can feel when a person doesn t like his job.

Not sure about buying in store but if you thinking abt purchasing online. Be prepared to wait months even you see item in stock. Do yourself a favor and shop somewhere like on Amazon, B & H or Henry

Excellent selection of product and mostly helpful and knowledgeable staff, especially Henry.

Helpful and knowledgeable staff and next to the streetcar line so you don't need to drive to get here.

Rented a D810 body here in the summer of 2016. Had a flawless experience. Parking is around back!

STAY AWAY FROM VISTEK!!

One of the worst experience I ever had. Purchased multiples lenses from them and always been happy but for the first time I had issue with a lens. The lens I bought (Sony 100-400mm GM) was soft. I told them I had to return it and they wanted to charge me AT LEAST 15% restock fees for a DEFECTIVE lens.

By chance I had purchased the lens with paypal. After no reply or help from vistek I escalate the dispute to PayPal. After a month PayPal told vistek to accept my return without any fees since the lens was defective. Lens was returned and PayPal (not vistek) forced vistek to refund me.

It been a pain in the a*s to work with them. I will never purchase anything else again with them.

STAY AWAY FROM VISTEK!

Don't go here if you're looking for Fine Art Prints. Bad selections of fine art paper and ink. I had a b&w image printed on fine art paper and it smudges so easily that you can't even touch it! I asked them about it and they weren't able to tell me why was it doing that nor offer a re-print. I almost never able to reach a person with their phone as they are always busy. At the same time they are not very responsive with emails and the person that I dealt with didn't sound very friendly at all when he responded back my emails. Confusing e-commerce online printing system - it will let you choose the K7 b&w printing option on their Toronto site even though they knew the K7 is ONLY available in their Calgary lab. I mean why don't you remove it from the Toronto printing site to avoid confusion. I had prints from Pikto, TIW, etc and none of those places were like this.

Every time I go into Vistek their computers are on the fritz and it takes sooo long to actually buy anything from them. I ordered seamless paper and went to pick it up only to find that no one knew where it was. I went on a half hour goose chase around the store to find it, talked to three different employees. And went to three different floors until finally we figured out it was on the first floor behind the customer service desk the whole time.. in summary bad customer service, good selection of gear but the computer system makes it quicker to buy on amazon.. plus it's probably cheaper.

Surprisingly their rental shop is a different story and they have a good selection of gear (it's quite over priced unfortunately) , and great customer service but ridiculous rental policies (you have to have a credit card able to cover the replacement cost of the gear you're renting). To be fair Vistek also has some gear you just won't find for rental anywhere else but I avoid going here if I can.

- WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE - Been waiting for 45 minutes, then the person comes and help for a minute and says " WE ARE CLOSED".

45 minutes breakdown - First five minutes, nothing so i went to help desk asking for someone to show the product said i am busy with one customer wait.

Went to second one same thing.

Went to third desk i don`t know about it. wait for someone to get free.

Finally person comes and said i will check on website, you can see here. The whole purpose of coming to the store was not to look on website. I have seen on website by myself. THANK YOU.

NEVER SEEN LIKE THIS BEFORE IN ANY CAMERA SHOP !!! WORST

Helpful staff made purchasing a film scanner super easy. I'm happy with their recommendation. I'd go back.

AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE IN RENTAL OFFICE! I AM SO GRATEFUL TO THE VISTEK TEAM AT THIS LOCATION FOR EVERYTHING. ALL CAPS TO SHOW HOW GRATEFUL I AM :)

A Big Thank you to the rental team and Thank you Vistek for making so many opportunities a possibility! I am so thankful. Just got off the phone with staff again about rental items and everyone is always so friendly and helpful. LOVE IT!

Summary:

Purchased: Fuji X-E2 + XF 23mm f/1.4 lens
Will I come back - Yes
Was the salesman helpful? - Yes

The personal experience:

I have recently visited Vistek 3 times and one thing I must say is you should choose your salesman wisely. Once you do, you'll have 5 star service. I do admit not all the salesman were very helpful.

My first trip to Vistek was to inquire on the stock of the Sony A7. I talked to one salesman and he checked on his computer saying it is not in stock without leaving his chair. I had a gut feeling he was just being lazy judging from his negative body language. I acted on this gut feeling and asked another salesman by the name of Henry. He then quickly went into the stockroom to double check to see if the computer stock was accurate. He was actually able to find one! Afterwards we had a good conversation and he educated me on the camera features and I realized that this camera would not be what I was looking for in terms of how I shoot.

In the end, on my 3rd visit I purchased the Fuji X-E2 with the help of a salesman by the name of William. He was really helpful and gave me good pointers on how to use the camera.

Unfortunately not all the salesman are perfect so I would say choose the right one right away! If you feel the one you are talking to is not helpful talk to another. Vistek has better product stock levels than Henrys, Blacks and "Best/Futureshop"

Cheers

Always great service and perfect for all your rental needs!

This place just keeps getting worse. Enough experiences here with staff attitude and incompetence- go anywhere else.

This place accepts friendly dogs inside the store.
Way to go !! We need more store like this.
Thanks Vistek Toronto.

The worst costumer service ever! They sold me a broken lens 3 weeks ago and they don't take a responsibility!!!! I Won't buy or rent from them anymore

Wouldn t buy from again. Seems dysfunctional for both online and in-store sales support. I purchased item online and had to be restocked from USA supplier. Took about 3 weeks to arrive to Vistek, and then they took another 1 week to ship order out. During this timeframe the price of the item dropped and had to ask for credit. The support is slow to respond and does the bare minimum you ask. If you can buy from elsewhere, I d recommend doing so.

People seem to not like Vistek, but I ve personally never had a bad experience. Good location, parking available, very helpful staff that know their stuff. They took care of my warranty repair issue for me and everything worked out fine. Return policy isn t that great, but similar to most other camera stores. Website is horrible, so easier to just visit the store.