I have had extremely mixed experiences with Ace Photo for more than a decade. I'm a longtime film…read moreand digital photographer, and camera repair technician. Sometimes I've gotten good products for a good value; other times it's been really disappointing or even felt like being cheated or disrespected. I'll just tell a few stories from the years; you decide.
About 5-6 years ago I bought a set of used lenses from their website. The items were well-priced and essentially new. I couldn't see any evidence of prior use. I've used them extensively and this was a great buy.
In the past couple of years I bought a large format film camera from the website. It had a lens cone but no lens, and I emailed them prior to purchase to try to figure out what focal length the cone was made for, because it wasn't visible in the photos. A very basic question; the resulting emails proved that they a) had no clue what I was asking, b) had no idea of their ignorance, and c) were condescending, implying that I didn't know what I was shopping for. I gave up, bought it on faith, and as expected, the answer I needed was clearly engraved in large type on the cone. I assume the rep was looking at the website photos instead of the camera, and not seeing what I was asking for, tried to brush off what should have been a trivial question. But there was another problem. The camera was damaged after photographing for the website, in a visually obvious way, and they shipped it to me knowing it was broken (held together with a rubber band). I wrote back to ask for a discount, explaining that I was competent to machine a replacement part (this camera is out of production and there is no parts source, so that was the only option). The discount I received was insultingly small, but I kept the camera.
Finally, in-person. I try to visit brick-and-mortar camera stores, and Ace had been on my list for years. It was so-so. First, I was greeted by the familiar claim that it's the largest camera store in the mid-Atlantic; I'd expected to spend 2-3 hours as I often do, but actually 20-30 minutes was plenty to browse everything. Definitely not the largest store in the mid-Atlantic, and I know firsthand.
Still, I was interested in a couple of items. I asked about a discount on a vintage lens I would enjoy repairing, and was bluntly told they do not negotiate. I then explained that this lens had serious issues, and was told, again bluntly, that the shelf I got it from all had issues and was priced accordingly. That irritated me: the person was bluffing; they didn't know which shelf I'd gotten it from, and it was not a gear-with-issues shelf nor priced accordingly. They obviously thought it was in top condition and the price was delusionally high even if it'd been mint. Nonetheless, I mildly asked them to take a look at the glaring defects and see if they thought it was worth reconsidering. Two people tried to look at it, in clumsy ways that would never work; obviously totally inexperienced, but they kept squinting uselessly and then looking at me with scornful expressions like I was trying to scam them. I told them how to do it, but they condescendingly ignored me and kept doing it wrong, so I said more firmly, "let me show you." So I showed them something no reasonably competent person would have missed, and they took it back to ask the boss who said "no, price is firm." OK, fine; I asked about another item, whose tag listed a complete kit but half of the kit had obviously been sold off separately. The person looked on the website and said "that's how it is on the website so that's how it is." Again, just a blunt customer-is-wrong response, combined with customer-is-annoying tone. Despite this, two of the other staff members WERE really helpful and attentive, and seemed knowledgeable, hence why I call this a so-so experience.
I've given a small but representative sample of many more stories I could tell here, and I think I'm done with Ace after the in-person visit. Life's too short to support people who run businesses like customers are just a money source to be sucked dry. I can't look past the 50/50 good-to-bad ratio anymore. Mistakes and occasional miscommunications etc are expected; a consistently higher than usual number of these kinds of bad interactions are symptomatic of something deeply wrong overall, and after reading other Yelp reviews I realize I'm not alone. (Update: Robert's response to this review really confirms my opinions.)
I have more great options elsewhere than I can name here, and plan to give them my business in the future. Locally I recommend Pro Camera in Charlottesville, Southeastern Camera in Raleigh, Ball Camera in Asheville, KEH and PPR in Atlanta, among others. Online and further distant from this area, I recommend especially KEH, MPB, Roberts Used Photo Pro, National Camera, Midwest Photo, B&H, Adorama, Blue Moon Camera & Machine, Film Photography Project, Brooklyn Film Camera, and TheDarkroom film processing lab.
