Anyone buy from Freestyle Photographic Supplies before?

[muser53]

I'm a frequent and satisfied customer but I've always called in my orders by phone or dropped by the shop on trips to LA.

 

[emayoh]

When I lived in L.A. I bought from the main store all the time.
Now that I don't live in L.A. I mail order from them 2x a quarter.

Very legit. Wish they still had their rebranded Ferrania 🙂

 

[zauhar]

Sorry to hear Greg's bad experience, but I have been ordering from them regularly without incident.

Might be better to call them instead of using the on-line form. I needed to call a couple times with questions and always got someone courteous and knowledgable.

Randy

 

[zuiko85]

I knew this would be a chorus of YES so might as well add my positive too.

Another reason I order from them is because they seem intent to do all they can to support film and traditional wet process printing. I think that is worth something also.

 

[seakayaker1]

I have used Freestyle a 5 or 6 times over the past year without any problems. If they have the cheapest prices including shipping then I buy from them, lately the film has been less expensive at B&H.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Rayt]

I am in Hong Kong and have bought thousands of dollars of film from Freestyle these few years with no glitches.

 

[one90guy]

Ive never used them but my daughter buys from them all the time. She thinks they are great.

 

[kiemchacsu]

Has anyone use their FIMS service to ASIA? How long would it take for the package to be delivered? I just order some films last week as a "trial" process.
Cheers,

 

[Gumby]

Someone there stole my cc info after buying some film online. It was a new cc & that was the only place I used the card. A few days later I was charged 45 bucks for a lamp bought in Canada being shipped to the same city my Freestyle order came from. I got my money back & was issued a new card. Haven't bought from them since, but don't have to because Peace Camera orders film from Freestyle & I can walk in the door & buy it. Would I buy from them again? Yea I think it was a freak event. If it was a real problem I think more ppl. would complain.

I've had similar happen, not with Freestyle though. Blaming the vendor or their employees is a natural reaction but not necessarily fair becuase while that is possible, there are many other opportunities in the credi processing chain for theft to occur. In one situation where mine was stolen an dused, and the culprit was tracked down... it did not appear to be a store employee in the loop. Now I hesitate to assign blame without proof.

On another aside, Greg... one of my local shops bought/re-sold Freestyle product. They even described themselves as "branch" of Freestyle. But everything was marked up about 25%. Are the Freestyle products at your local shop marked up or beign sold at Freestyle prices?

 

[Gumby]

p.s. Regarding the OP... Freestyle is totally good to deal with (aside, perhaps, the international shipping charges that seem to have been a concern). How long was the delay in their reply? Vendor's responses to on-line questions seems highly variable -- some are near instantaeous and others sem to "batch process" responses the next day (or later).

 

[emraphoto]

love freestyle. always the cheapest option to my door and that's what price i use. the 'at my door' price.

 

[Bobbo]

I've dealt with them for years. I first ordered in college and it worked well. The last time I bought something was about a year ago (moved to a smaller house with no room, lost my job and got a busier one in the meantime). Again, everything was fine. Them, KEH and B&H are who I order from almost exclusively (except some cheap house-branded strobes and such from Adorama). All have handled returns well, shipped well and had fair prices.

 

[shadowfox]

Be careful with their shopping cart.
You usually end up with *way* more stuff that you had in mind before.

😀

In other words, what are you waiting for? Order already.

 

[daveywaugh]

Brilliant service, good prices and a great range.... BUT the postage overseas is ridiculous. I now use B&H most of the time. They ship fast and the postage costs are less than half (I am in Australia). Their prices overall are a little cheaper also for the stuff I use.

Really love Freestyle but I tried to order again last night... some paper and film and the cost was around $150. Postage was $142! Gulp. Ordered same from B&H and it was $50 postage... mmmm

 

[Chrisrw]

Ordered once, great experience. Between them and B&H Photo I don't think you can get better film prices.