Calumet Photo Video Reviews 

I’ve learned two big lessons while walking into the Calumet Hannover store in May to buy a simple DJI microphone set while travelling from Canada.

Lessons bellow, but before a few details:
I knew the set very well from using it at work, so it didn’t take me long to realize that the receptor was defective. I confirmed the problem with DJI customer support, but since I was travelling I preferred to just return it to my place of purchase instead of sending it to their replacement service.

At the store three days later, the friendly staff accepted my return, took all my information, stamped my receipt and told me I’d get the refund in the next few days.

Three months and a few phone calls and email exchanges later (usually resulting in them confirming my refund and asking for an IBAN that I provided the first time) I still haven’t received my refund.

I went back to the store last week on my most recent trip to Hannover. The friendly staff was apologetic. After waiting for an hour, a manager told me they had recently changed some program or internal system that was causing a delay, that all my info was in my customers account, that I’d get my refund soon, but that she’d send me an email to confirm everything was good before the end of the day.

A week later, no email, no replies to my email and no more patience…

Lesson 1: friendliness doesn't equal good customer service.

Lesson 2 : Calumet Photo-Video Hannover is incapable of issuing a simple refund. Don't go there if you think you might buy a defective product and definitely don't return said product. You’ll be left writing an overly long google review, just hoping that they finally pay you back…

——————— Translation ———————
Ich habe zwei wichtige Lektionen gelernt, als ich im Mai während einer Reise die Calumet-Filiale in Hannover betrat, um ein einfaches DJI-Mikrofonset zu kaufen.
Die Lektionen folgen unten, aber vorab die Details:
Ich kenne dieses Set sehr gut von meiner Arbeit und merkte daher schnell, dass der Empfänger defekt war. Ich habe das Problem mit dem DJI-Support abgeklärt. Da ich auf Reisen war, wollte ich das Gerät jedoch lieber direkt im Geschäft zurückgeben, anstatt es über einen langwierigen Online-Austauschservice einzusenden.
Drei Tage später im Laden: Das freundliche Personal nahm die Rückgabe an, notierte alle meine Daten, stempelte meinen Beleg ab und versicherte mir, dass ich die Rückerstattung in den nächsten Tagen erhalten würde.
Drei Monate, etliche Telefonate und E-Mails später (die meist damit endeten, dass man mir die Rückzahlung zusagte und erneut nach der IBAN fragte, die ich schon am ersten Tag angegeben hatte) habe ich mein Geld immer noch nicht zurück.

Letzte Woche war ich bei meiner jüngsten Reise nach Hannover erneut im Geschäft. Die Mitarbeiter waren entschuldigend. Nachdem ich eine Stunde gewartet hatte, erklärte mir eine Managerin, dass man kürzlich ein internes System umgestellt habe, was zu Verzögerungen führe. Alle meine Daten seien im System, das Geld käme bald und sie würde mir noch vor Tagesende eine Bestätigungs-E-Mail senden.

Eine Woche später: Keine E-Mail, keine Antwort auf meine Nachricht und keine Geduld mehr…

Lektion 1: Freundlichkeit ist nicht gleichbedeutend mit gutem Kundenservice.

Lektion 2: Calumet Photo-Video Hannover ist nicht in der Lage, eine einfache Rückerstattung abzuwickeln. Kaufen Sie dort nicht, wenn die Möglichkeit besteht, dass ein Produkt defekt sein könnte, und geben Sie auf keinen Fall etwas zurück. Sie werden sonst nur ellenlange Bewertungen schreiben und darauf hoffen müssen, endlich Ihr Geld zurückzubekommen.

I bought two rolls of film, one 135, one 120.
Shipping was decently fast but each roll arrived packaged individually in a ~3L cardboard box...

Calumet have always been helpful and prompt with both their online and physical stores. Great pricing and prompt delivery. I'd highly recommend and would use them again and again!

I placed an order 2 days ago. At the time of purchase, the website clearly stated an estimated delivery time of 3–5 days. However, my order has still not been dispatched and I have received no proactive communication regarding the delay.

I need my order W-10511920-DE until 25/06/2026 - this is last day.

I have attempted to obtain an update but have not received a clear explanation. At this point, I am concerned that the advertised delivery timeframe may not be accurate.

I would appreciate it if the company could contact me directly and provide:

- The current status of my order;
- The expected dispatch date;
- Confirmation whether the advertised 3–5 day delivery estimate can still be met.

I hope this matter can be resolved promptly and professionally.

Excellent customer service, great delivery and very competitive prices. Very pleased with my new L bracket. Thank you to Calumet Hamburg.

Very disappointing shopping experience with Calumet Germany.

I ordered a Fujifilm X100VI because their website showed pickup within 1–2 working days. Based on that information, I chose Calumet instead of other retailers with clearer local availability.

After almost a week, the camera was still not ready for pickup. I later found out that it was not actually in the Hannover store and was still “on its way”, with an estimated arrival only at the beginning of next week.

Guest orders cannot be tracked online or linked to a newly created account, and cancellation/refund also has to go through customer service instead of being handled directly online.

The order has now supposedly been cancelled, but I am still waiting for the actual refund to appear in PayPal.

For an expensive camera order, this was a very frustrating and unreliable experience.

everything is ok!

The sony FX30 is an absolute beast for cinema quality video projects. 4k image is incredibly sharp with beautiful skin tones and the dual base ISO makes shooting in low light surprisingly clean

Absolutely terrible experience and customer service, waste of time. Avoid!
Ordered and paid for two pieces of equipment online. It was marked as "in stock", with 1-3 days of delivery. Cool.
After the order, I've checked the product page - the products were still listed as "in stock" with same delivery timeline - so I wasn't worried.
The time passed, two days after the weekend (5 days total) I check the order. Nothing changed, wasn't sent, but the wait time for the products is 1-3 months now...
Wrote an email, got a call. The serviceman started to gaslight me about the delievery times, didn't really care either way, didn't even do basic courtesy of apologising for the situation, blamed manufacturer (Like, for what? For your own system and it not tracking how much stock you REALLY have, and selling under the false premises?) and just wanted to do a refund.
Now I'm without the equipment I very much need, waiting for a refund (which probably will take up to a week) to place another order, in a more serious place - and getting a mistreatment which I didn't at all deserve.

I will NEVER do any business there, and strongly advise against it.

They're simply not serious. I ordered a 550D almost three months ago, I haven't received the package, and they said they'd refund me. It's been weeks and I still haven't received the refund, and what's strange is that no one is responding to me anymore. It's really odd.

I ordered 2 lenses over one year ago, of which I only received one. Up to this day I have not been compensated for the missing item (which cost around 500€).

I purchased a camera there and 2 days after it was cheaper due to a sale. After an email on Friday I received an reply that they paid the difference back.

I was very happy about that I placed a 2nd order

I purchased a Tamron 18-270mm used lens from this company on Ebay.

It was shipped within 24 hours from Germany by DHL and arrived in Sardinia where I live, within a week.

The lens was spotlessly clean and works well with my Canon R10 camera using an EOS adaptor.

So far I am very happy with both my purchase and with Calumet. Well done

I've ordered 5 times, 12 items in total. No problems so far. Prices are very competitive. If there is a delay (happened only for one item so far) you get notified by their support.

My only complaint would be the ''my orders'' page on their website. It does not reflect actual delivery status, especially if they ship the items from different shops or at different times. You get accurate tracking only after receiving an email.

I ordered a Sony camera here and have had no problems so far. In fact, the order went pretty well, the camera worked and so on. In problem situations, one star reviews seem to indicate that the customer has run into 'problems' and had to do a lot of work to get a refund, repair, etc.

The five star reviews on Trustpilot seem to have come from bots, which raised my own doubts directly and therefore I'm not sure, for example, about warranty issues, whether there will be problems if I ever need them. Customer service also gave a bit vague answers when I placed my order originally, but I still ended up ordering from here as it seemed reliable despite all this and the prices are several hundred euros cheaper than in my own country.

The camera I ordered arrived a little 'damp' and the camera was cold, which was a bit unnerving, but that is probably mainly the fault of the delivery company, as the camera was very well packed and there was a VERY large amount of protective padding. I let the camera 'dry' overnight before putting the battery in and it worked without any problems. However, this is probably due to the fact that the order was delivered at the turn of spring/winter, when the air is more humid and cold. The delivery took only a few days from Germany to Finland, although the delivery time estimates were higher, so it turned out to be a good success.

Anyway, those reviews by the bots are very confusing and you should also check the one star reviews before ordering.

My experience so far has been pretty good, though, except for the moisture in the camera after delivery, the poor customer service responses (the response didn't answer the questions I asked, took much longer to answer than elsewhere, etc.), though I guess there aren't that many people in customer service, (unless I'm wrong, which I might be), which explains the fact that there must be a fair number of emails and the rush with limited workforce. 1-star reviews got me a bit intimidated and the 5-star reviews look really suspicious because of the writing style (probably bots - saying this again to make this clear). If there are no problems with the order/products, then I would venture to say that it is safe to order, but the warranty issues remain to be seen if there is ever a need for them.

TLDR;

5-star reviews probably bots (these reviews look like they were written by an AI)

1-star reviews people with really bad experiences (having issues with faulty products, returning them/getting money back, etc. and poor customer service)

customer service email answers are poor/bad

ordered sony's camera, it was 'moist' when i got it (probably delivery company's fault) no issues with the camera though after I let it dry out

cheaper prices than elsewhere for most products

fast delivery (in my experience, some 1-star reviews are saying that they've had really slow delivery, probably depends on do they have the product in stock or not.)

Made the order of an "in stock" camera that was available and scheduled to ship in 2-3 days. After 12 days, I got fed up with waiting and requested to cancel my order because I bought the same camera from another store (which shipped the same day).

2 days after (14 days total) I get an e-mail stating that they shipped the camera (ignoring my cancel request). I refused to accept the delivery and sent the shipment back. They took 17 more days to accept the return and issued the refund on the last day of PayPal claim deadline.

My money was held hostage for more than 40 days and the customer service took for a week or more to reply.

Excellent help, service and great offers! I was not able to go to the shop myself, but got incredible help through email. Looking forward to get the products in a few days, and look forward to one day visit the store in person.

I bought a I-visor with Calumet.de online. The website stated that DHL would ship the product in 2-3days.
It stated that it would send to european countries (not just EU). The company told me I would receive an email with the tracking. I sent an email to their customer care 2 days later. After 12 days I still haven't heard from them. I tried their facebook and instagram accounts, and they told me (after days logically) to send an email to the (unresponsive) customer care. At some point the customer service replied saying the product was packed and waiting to be delivered. 20 days and nothing . I had to call Germany and talk to one of them. He was helpful but said that because of brexit things were complicated. After 25 days I finally receive an email from the helpful employee saying it will ship that day via DHL with a tracking code. DHL did not send me any message number and after another week checking everyday, DHL only says that the parcel was in their depot. I later found out it was sent to Parcelforce and was waiting for me to pay the customs fee.
There was no communication from anyone. All my emails to calumet were ignored. I had a terrible experience.
I won't be using Calumet again.

Excellent experience with Calumet. I have ordered many of my photographic gadgets from Calumet. This time I ordered on December 27th, just after Xmas holidays and I expected that it would take some time for the team to prepare and send the order abroad. How pleasantly I was surprised to see my order prepared and sent immediately. I received it perfectly packed and exactly what I expected. Great job!

I ordered a DJI Osmo Pocket 3. Despite the longer the usual expected delivery time because of the holidays, my order was with me within a week.
This is my forth purchase with Calumet and on every occasion, the products have been very safely packaged, with me fast and when I had questions the customer service has always been wonderful.

I couldn’t recommend them more ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️