Buyer beware - MW Classic dealer in London

Nas

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I'd like to share a shocking experience I've had with MW Classic, a used camera dealer based in London and also selling on eBay. Not a single reply to any of my emails, constant hollow promises of my order about to be shipped every time I phoned them but after waiting 16 days from placing my order I emailed to ask for a refund. Still no reply but the items I ordered reappeared on their website as "new arrivals" the same day. The only way I was able to get a refund was by raising a dispute with my credit card.

Some years ago I waited two months for items that never arrived. Same scenario with hollow promises. I thought I'd give them the benefit of the doubt a second time. There won't be a third. From comments on Twitter this seems to be their standard practice for stellar customer service.
 
Standard for that place. Last time i attempted to buy from them i had to get paypa to refund my money. Also if you order anything with condition rating of less than 90% it’ll look like it has been thrown from a moving vehicle down a mountainside. Although given you’ll never receive said item this is less of an issue than it might otherwise be. Avoid.

PS a read of the google reviews for them is enlightening
 
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I dealt with them a couple of times, the second I bought & paid for a 13x18cm Reisekamera. They couldn't find it and thought they must have already sold it, they sent me a 18x24 Chambre de Voyage instead for the same price £70. Reisekameras are German, Chambre de Voyage, French, almost identical tail board cameras but a style not made in the UK.

When the camera arrived it had major issues. The tongue & groove system that allows the trackbed to be locked in place and also allow extra extension, was damaged, a large part of the tongue missing, and the groove of the front standard broken. Luckily I realised it was an easy repair, I had mahogany of the exact thickness to repair the tongue, and I filed away the damage area of the groove to glue a new strip of mahogany to complete the repair. Up until then I had been recommending the company, and they had consistently good feedback on eBay, now it's 91.8% Positive, the maths seems odd as that's 273 Positive, 6 Neutral, and 27 Negative in the pas 12 months., I make that 89.2 positive, eBay must leave the Neutrals out of the calculation.

That purchase was 12 years ago, I have not dealt with them since. Another LF photographer said he never had any problems, but that you needed to actually visit the company, he never bought or sold with them online. MrCad is the same.

Ian
 
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I don't know which is worse, not receiving anything or being sent something not worth what you paid. I notice their website no longer accepts payment via PayPal. I wonder if that's because PayPal makes it easy to request a refund.
 
The "their" in terms of the website is now misleading, as one of the owners resigned from the company in 2018.

Ian
 
Haven't dealt with them in years. Shambolic is, I think, the best description. I don't think there was any communication between M & W and precious little record keeping.
 
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I placed an order with MW Classics for a lens on the 1st of January 25, and after 7 days, I heard nothing and no lens arrived, I rang the shop number no answer, rang the mobile number and someone called David answered, I politely asked what was going on with my order, "we have been moving to a new unit and difficulty finding orders I will get it sent this week", a week passed nothing, rang 2nd time again, "can't find the lens so will refund you" I pointed out the lens is still listed on his site and eBay, "well can't find it, sorry will refund you when I back at the office" email arrives, Order refunded.

Another week goes by and still no refund, I ring again this time my tone alters, I tell him the (company) has taken my money and I have nothing to show for it, I am not the only one to be treated this way, you are committing an act of fraud and taking money unlawfully of which I will take action, “I will refund you now” I receive another refund email, this time it’s different to the previous one and looks official, fingers crossed, 4 days later I get my money back.

I had to fight to get my hard earned cash back from the worst company I have ever dealt with; the best part is the lens is still for sale

Pentax 35mm f2.3 Auto-Takumar manual focus M42 screw mount lens – MW Classic Cameras

You just couldn’t make this up, lesson learned do your research before you buy
 
An unusual Pentax lens Martin, it's the semi-automatic aperture, same as used on KW Praktina lenses. You have to cock to open the lens to full aperture, after each exposure.

Ian
 
An unusual Pentax lens Martin, it's the semi-automatic aperture, same as used on KW Praktina lenses. You have to cock to open the lens to full aperture, after each exposure.

Ian
Its a very unique lens, has the semi-auto stop down as you said, and two other interesting features
1/Unscrew and remove the front element and it can focus a lot closer with great results
2/ Take the front element out and reverse it to produce some very arty images

So on the lookout for another
 
I placed an order with MW Classics for a lens on the 1st of January 25, and after 7 days, I heard nothing and no lens arrived, I rang the shop number no answer, rang the mobile number and someone called David answered, I politely asked what was going on with my order, "we have been moving to a new unit and difficulty finding orders I will get it sent this week", a week passed nothing, rang 2nd time again, "can't find the lens so will refund you" I pointed out the lens is still listed on his site and eBay, "well can't find it, sorry will refund you when I back at the office" email arrives, Order refunded.

Another week goes by and still no refund, I ring again this time my tone alters, I tell him the (company) has taken my money and I have nothing to show for it, I am not the only one to be treated this way, you are committing an act of fraud and taking money unlawfully of which I will take action, “I will refund you now” I receive another refund email, this time it’s different to the previous one and looks official, fingers crossed, 4 days later I get my money back.

I had to fight to get my hard earned cash back from the worst company I have ever dealt with; the best part is the lens is still for sale

Pentax 35mm f2.3 Auto-Takumar manual focus M42 screw mount lens – MW Classic Cameras

You just couldn’t make this up, lesson learned do your research before you buy
Hey Martin, I was told the exact same tales from Mr Woodford (the W in MW Classic) every time I phoned. At least you received email's, I didn't receive a single one, not even an order confirmation but I kept screenshots. Makes me wonder if he's moving to a larger unit because he's run out of space storing all the gear people have purchased instead of shipping it out!
 
I find it frankly baffling that places like this manage to stay "in business" (note sarcastic use of inverted commas there) despite a dreadful reputation and apparently never fulfilling any orders, yet places that actually DO sell stuff, DO answer the phone and emails, and DO put in the effort to have a decent website etc etc - like West Yorks cameras - end up closing. Madness. Are they really making enough to pay London rent on their premises? Makes you wonder if outfits like MW are just side-hustle vanity projects and their other halves work as hedge fund managers or neurosurgeons. Or maybe the entire thing is just an elaborate money laundering operation for a drugs cartel or something like that.
 
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Do council Tading Standards Officers still exist???
 
Unfortunately rogue camera dealers are nothing new. MW Classic must have learnt their customer service skills from Nicholas Cameras and Rocky Cameras.

Nicholas Cameras used to have regular full page adverts in Amateur Photographer, listing prices for a wide range of gear, which they may or may not actually have in stock. Apparently the owner would refuse to show a shop customer the item they were interested in, unless the customer would guarantee to buy it.

Rocky Cameras used to describe cameras as "working camera, shutter fires" - as if that was all the customer might require in their cameras.
 
Oh yes, I forgot about Rocky.
 
I don't know which is worse, not receiving anything or being sent something not worth what you paid. I notice their website no longer accepts payment via PayPal. I wonder if that's because PayPal makes it easy to request a refund.
Also possible that they had so many disputes opened against them that they were banned.

I had a similar experience with them some years back. Waited an absolute age with no updates so opened a case against them on PayPal and, miraculously, on the day it was due to be decided in my favour they appeared with a tracking number. The courier hadn't collected yet so I got in touch quickly and told them not to bother because I was sure they'd disappear again if there were any issues. Thankfully got the money back in the end!

(What was particularly nice was that throughout the above the owner seemed to be spending an awful lot of his time tweeting about cryptocurrencies while ignoring his customers!)
 
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Apparently the owner would refuse to show a shop customer the item they were interested in, unless the customer would guarantee to buy it.
Yep, i had exactly that experience at Nicolas Camera.

I asked to see a Technikardan that was high up on a shelf in the shop. Once i got the "managers" attention and pulled him away from chatting to a mate, he told me that he would not take it down unless i was sure i would buy it. I told him that i would not buy it before inspecting it first, (since i was living in Norway at the time) and if he was willing to lose a sale, then i'd move on.

The most shocking buying experience i've ever had.

Mike
 
Yep, i had exactly that experience at Nicolas Camera.

I asked to see a Technikardan that was high up on a shelf in the shop. Once i got the "managers" attention and pulled him away from chatting to a mate, he told me that he would not take it down unless i was sure i would buy it. I told him that i would not buy it before inspecting it first, (since i was living in Norway at the time) and if he was willing to lose a sale, then i'd move on.

The most shocking buying experience i've ever had.

Mike
Amazing. Reading through other peoples' experience of Nicholas Camera on Yelp I can't help feeling tempted to visit the shop just for fun.
 
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