Keeble and Shuchat Photography

Came here on a whim just to look and I somehow walked out with a go pro. Mel is a great and knowledgable salesman and knows about all the products from one end of the store to the other. Really enjoyed their selection!

Horrible customer service! Rude, lack of attention and dishonest!
Drove 1 hour to have my camera repaired. I explained my issue with the the service guy upstairs in detail and left… I am not an expert nor do I understand how to fix my problem (that is why I took to them for repair). I was told they would clean it and I presumed that would solve my problem. Since they are the expert I assume the cleaning would in fact solve my problem little did I know the guy did not listen to a thing I said. 3 days later went to pick it up. Camera was not repaired nor was my problem ever accessed or even looked at. Instead they cleaned my camera telling me I never informed them of the problem and it as my fault! Service man was SO RUDE and condescending. Telling me it was my fault. I’m not a rich man and my camera is extremely dear to me. I drove one hour across the bay to take my camera to the store how dare this real jerk tell me I never explained my problem. I absolutely did. And to drive another hour to pick it up and to be told I was crazy. Rather than do battle with this rude guy looking for a fight I went downstairs to speak with the store manager. Who was honestly know better to deal with them the jerk upstairs. He insinuated that my camera somehow was inferior or lesser quality because it was an entry level one and alluded to the fact that because my camera was only a few hundred dollars and not thousands of dollars that it was OK they give me bad customer service.
They still have my camera and I wholeheartedly don’t think I should pay for the cleaning since I never asked them to clean it I simply asked him to assess my problem and fix it.
Seriously horrible customer service in disbelief that I was talk to so rudely by both employee and store manager.

I’m always surprised by the range of reviews. I’ve been a customer for over 12 years and my experience is this: there can be one or two who may come off as haughty or
dismissive, but the rest of the staff is great. I just stay away from the guys I don’t care for. I recently bought an Epson scanner from Keeble and found their price was right in line with five Internet providers (the lowest price was only $ 10 less). The in-​store demonstration was great, and all my questions were answered on the spot. Overall: four stars and a satisfied customer.

I’m the type of guy that buys stuff from Amazon. I mean, why pay retail for commodity items, right? As long as I know what I want, it’s all about the lowest price.
Unfortunately, I walked in to this shop, talked to Bernard a couple of times and… I came out with a camera and two prime lenses.
They matched the prices online but that’s not the reason I bought it.
It’s the service. (I’m not being paid for this)

Keeble and Shuchat is where it’s at, fellow Unilocalers! I came in here to get my lens fixed, but it turned out it was damaged beyond repair. They had an extensive selection and the store is huge. Alex helped me choose a new lens in my price range and was beyond helpful in showing me how to use it. I know very little about photography, and feel I learned quite a lot in the time I was there. Something that I really liked about shopping there– I wasn’t pressured into buying a bunch of extra random stuff I didn’t need or want. My overall experience was great! Five stars!

Went to buy Lee Filter. This is the first time I am buying this kind of filter and probably asked some basic questions regarding filter adapter. The sales agent treated me as if these things are obvious and I am the only person who doesn’t know anything about it. The price of these filters are 20% more expensive than B&H. But I still went there because
1) Thought they will give some demo on how to use it.
2) I have a shoot tomorrow.
Talking rude is one thing and making you feel you are dumb is completely different thing. Never felt so bad.

I’m new to Keeble but so far have rented a 500 mm lens from them and also taken in one of my old lenses, a 28 – 70 for service. They have been absolutely awesome to work with and really are a class act. Would highly recommend.

Another repair done by K&S.
They do charge $ 25 even for warranty items — but I think it is worth it: you do not have to worry about packing and shipping and in my case they made sure the body and lens which were sent separately got tested together.
Thanks!

Bought a manfrotto 190xpro4-​bh with 329.99 $. same price as online store.
salesman’s explanation is awesome.

Rented a camera lens from here ($ 25 for the entire weekend) and purchased a few other camera accessories. They are extremely efficient at finding you what you need. My go-​to camera store in Palo Alto.

I can sum up in in three words, rude, dishonest and bad attitude.
I and my friend spent almost 10K at their store over a month up to now.
There’s some promotion on going and we asked for a refund (not a return) from our purchases. They were very rude, gave an attitude and treated us like we were inferior. I can’t imagine what it would happen if we return a product to them.
Will never go there again and regret that we spent so much money on them.

It’s a love hate relationship. I genuinely like K&S and want them to succeed, but as other people on Unilocal point out, customer service is not awesome. Being a customer is like being a kid again and walking into a camera store 25 years ago. The lighting is dark and the interior is dated (it looks like the 80s) and the older guys there just aren’t interested in talking to a kid…
The other big thing is prices. Things are mostly priced at full retail and you can usually find what you’re looking for cheaper online and K&S needs to deal with this. They cannot get annoyed and walk away from customers if they ask about price matching… they might go out of business if their overhead is high and they price match — but, they’ll definitely go out of business if they don’t find a way to deal with this. The older customer who has money but is not Internet savvy is a shrinking demographic.

I walked in with over $ 2,000 in hand, ready to offer serious enhancement to my photography gear. I left 5 minutes later, after listening to their guy insult my current gear and choices for what was to be next.
These people have an exceptional selection, and know their stuff. However, I haven’t been treated this poorly since high school, and damned if I’m going to spend my money there.

Two bad experiences in succession. One Friday I looked at a D800e which was discounted. I came in Monday to buy, and I was told, «Oh, that was last week’s price. It’s full price now.» Today I asked the repair department about cleaning the sensor on the D800. I was given an appointment. I asked if I could watch, and the answer was, «Absolutely not!» I’ve gotten the impression over the
years that if you’re not ready to drop $ 10k, they don’t want to waste their time on you. The arrogance is rife among the staff. After all, this is Palo Alto. A good place to look at the item before you buy it online.

One of the few remaining premier photography stores in the Bay Area. Forget the online merchants, the service and support offered here far exceeds anything you’ll ever find online. The prices match or beat the online stores too. Also, the money you spend here helps the community too.
One thing that’s nice about buying from a «brick and mortar» store such as this is he service after the sale. Case in point, a friend bought an expensive printer online but when he had problems with it, online retailer just referred him to the manufacturer. Keeble and Shuchat has been able to provide me with help years down the road if I’ve had trouble with items I’ve purchased here.

I have been coming here for years. I always buy my equipment here both new and used. The staff is extremely knowledgable and I always leave extremely happy with my purchases. I do appreciate that they have amazing staff and stand behind what they sell. I was just in there this week renting equipment and getting help with my flash setting. Extremely painless with renting equipment. You guys are the BEST!!!
Thank U!!!

I’ll start by saying my family and I have been loyal customers at K&S for nearly 10 years now, purchasing lenses, camera bodies, backpacks, renting lenses every month, etc. etc. It seems like every single year another great camera shop here in the Bay Area shuts down due to the steep rise in online sales and rentals but, apparently this is not enough motivation for Keeble to treat their loyal customers with any decency or respect.
I’ve been renting gear with K&S ever since I bought my first DSLR, I can’t fathom the amount of money I’ve spent renting with them or the miles that I’ve driven from San Francisco to Palo Alto just to show my support for my former-​favorite camera shop.
As a busy person I have had a tendency to bring back lenses a day or two late and until this week they had NEVER taken issue with it or even asked me to be more prompt with my returns. Every single time I returned late it was «Oh don’t worry about it, we’ll just tack on another day, hope you enjoyed the gear, have a great day». I figured they were just happy to be taking double the initial rate from me in late fee’s…
Today I went in to return a weekend rental two days late and was chewed out harder than i’ve ever been by a business in my entire life «You’re ruining our customers faith in us to have these lenses ready, we don’t need your business, please find somewhere else to rent» was the quote from Dave…
Now, here’s the hilarious part — The lens I was returning today was not even the lens I was supposed to pick up the Friday before because they had screwed up and already let somebody else take out the lens I had reserved to shoot a very important sold-​out concert at Oracle Arena. I can’t even count how many times I have reserved a lens with them over the years just to show up to be told «we’re sorry but we made a mistake and we don’t have that lens», and I would just take a deep breath and borrow a different lens and make it work. But… as a loyal customer of 10 years… I make a mistake and am told to take my business elsewhere. I’m speechless, hurt, and absolutely regret all the money i’ve spent and miles I’ve driven staying loyal to K&S over the years.
After reading all of the other reviews I’m realizing I probably should have stopped supporting a long time ago with how they treat almost everybody who walks through the doors or even calls in… they’re just a group of rude men with chips on their shoulders, also fairly ironic that I’ve never seen a single woman working here over the years…
Keep it up guys, I’m sure the day will come when you’ll have to close your doors after treating customers this way all these years.

So it came time for me to graduate from Nikon DX to FX and once again the first thought in my head was, «Better head over to K&S!» As I mentioned previously, working with and supporting small specialty stores is really important, especially if you want to talk with a product EXPERT (i.e: K&S for camera related interactions).
Although I normally work with David, his colleague Mel was awesome. Mel and the rest of the sales team really make it a point to give you genuine attention for your questions and concerns. They even make it a point to give you a hands-​on comparison if you’re «on the fence» about something. I drove over to K&S to pick up a new Nikon D810 and wanted to check out the difference between the D750 and D810. Mel even brought demo’ed both cameras and let me see exactly what I would be gaining with each camera body. (Definitely something you WON’T get at a big-​box store!) Had all of my questions answered and left AGAIN as a happy/​loyal customer!
Make sure you’re ever purchasing a new camera or camera gear that you come here! It’s totally worth it to talk to the pro’s!

My first 1 star review i have lived a sheltered life apparently lol
Not sure what is going on here but this place may have good stuff, but honestly the customer service is literally the worst I have ever dealt with. Call the place asking about a lighting kit I get one question in ask if they do price matching the guy says no and then hangs up. I am stunned but decide to give him the benefit of the doubt… So I call back he recognizes my voice and then just hangs up again.
I was really looking forward to having a local shop as I am setting up a new studio, but I can tell you one thing these people will never get a cent of my money. Worst customer service ever literally I am shocked it was so bad. Gordon Ramsey has better manners then these people.

I have been going to K&S for as long as I have been shooting photos. This store truly does it all — digital sales, used store, full service film and slide processing, beautiful prints, and rentals, along with classes and plenty of other equipment.
The sales staff is friendly and straightforward. Sometimes you have to be firm if you want them to meet a price, but they will work with you if you are serious.
Their staff at photo processing is excellent. I have been very satisfied with the service and quality (after processing over 120 rolls there).
Be aware — film processing and scanning is somewhat expensive — but that is the price you pay for good service and quick turnaround. This is not some store that will throw your negatives away like most drug stores will.
I would recommend this store to anyone interested in photography. They have served me well and I hope to see them succeed for years to come.