CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

I used to work for Ritz/Wolf Camera. It is no surprise about their horrible rating.
Some individual stores and individual employees are pretty decent, but the organization overall is the result of inept management. Internal rot. As employees, we could see the bankruptcy coming months ahead.
When I worked for them I bought my gear from B&H. Better service and cheaper than the niggardly employee discount.
Of course I was not the district manager's favorite as I would recommend the RIGHT product for the customer -not necessarily a sub-optimal product carried in the store. With the decline of people processing film (that is the REAL profit), they came up with some incredible rip-off pricing on different sized prints. Customers were not fooled. Revenue dropped.

Of course the customers loved our store because they knew we gave honest answers and they always came back to us. Management closed our store in the bankruptcy.
I also know for a fact that many employees sell to whatever the promotion/sales contest might be - not necessarily what is best for you.
I would not trust Ritz/Wolf for any purchase.

The home office sent out a 10 question quiz to help employees understand photography and 6 of their answers were wrong!

Really, I am not a disgruntled employee - I LIKED working there and helping customers make the right choices in spite of management.
I pretty much ignored David Ritz and tried to do what was right for you.

B&H, Adorama, Hunt's, Roberts, Midwest Photo Exchange, etc. are a far better bet.

Namwife Loc: Midwest

Just before Christmas I went on line to Ritz and bought a refurbished Nikon D5100 ...It is perfect and they stood by all the things they promised...I will buy from them again...

ahanonymous Loc: Queens, NY

The remaining Ritz stores in MD were just purchased by Calumet.

Go to B&H, that's where I buy my stuff and I'm an ex-Calumet employee!

Photogdog Loc: New Kensington, PA

Thanks for the insight. I'm glad to see that that some of the folks who posted on this thread had good experiences. Not being independently wealthy, I look at camera gear purchases as being a fairly big investment (perhaps HUGE depending on the item). This being the case, I'd rather not take the "hit-or-miss" route.

stalwart Loc: Outskirts of Chicago

Over the last 20 years I’ve purchased cameras from B&H. Ritz and Adorama. Of the three I like B&H the best. They often, but not always, have the best price and they have always delivered what they promised. My latest experience with Adorama was less than satisfactory on many levels. The worst part was when I tried to discuss my complaint with the salesman only have him claim that he couldn’t hear me because my cellphone was fading out—I was on a landline at the time. My Ritz purchase was from a local store. They had the best advertised price at the time and promised a lot of extras—they were out of the extras when I made my purchase. Actually most of the Ritz stores were also out of the advertised camera, but I eventually found a store that had the camera I wanted.

suntomoon Loc: Virginia Beach, Va.

I am in Va. Beach, I use them all the time-never too busy, always have information. I have purchased two new cameras, no problems.

mgstrawn Loc: Atlanta, GA

I have had wonderful experiences with www.ritz.com, also known as Wolf Camera in my area. I bought my first DSLR from them, and chatted on-line during the middle of the night as I made the decision concerning which camera to buy. The online chat person pointed out that the package I was considering did not have the better lenses. I almost ended up with lenses without vibration control! No shipping, no tax and great specials every week. They were running a great deal this week on refurbished Nikon D5100's with with the lenses, 18-55 and 55-300mm. They were adding an extra year of warranty service for these refurbished models.

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Ritz camera stores have been up and down the scale. Without going through the history, at one time they were Wolf photo and Chuck Wolf decided he would broaden his holdings and purchased Fox Photo from Kodak.
Their door was closed to me for a period since an a Canon user, now they have just started carrying some Canon products in their brick and mortar stores. They now also advertise, they will price match, be it newspaper ad or internet web price.
I would also take a look at the used equipment at KEH.com. I have bought lens and bodies from them. They are a top notch company to deal with. Their start came when they were located a few doors up from probably one of the largest Wolf camera stores. People would take their used equipment to KEH sell it and then go back to Wolf and spend the price they got for the used equipment at Wolf.
Any large camera chain whether it be Wolf, or some of the big Box offerings will depend on the person who is selling you the equipment. Some store of course have more knowledgeable sales people than others. If the 18 yr old guy with an iPod in one ear and a cell phone in his or her hands that is usually working in the TV department greets you at Best Buy and can find the key to the case to show you a DSLR since most of them are locked the advice you get from them may be scant, in between tweets and beats of the music
Some one has already posted a link tohttp://www.resellerratings.com/
Most any day the new equipment sellers, B&H, Adorama will be neck and neck on price. I find that Adorama orders seem to get to me a day or so quicker than B&H. Adorama ships from NJ vs B&H of course ships from NYC.

dj8510 Loc: Peru, NY

I bought a refurb Nikon D7000 from Ritz that came with the extra warranty for $1,000 with free shipping and no tax just before Christmas. I've used the camera a lot & w/o any problems; I couldn't be happier.

HelenOster Loc: New York

I'm extremely concerned to read this but can't ID your order from your posting.

I'd be very grateful if you could spare the time to email me directly with your order number plus additional details regarding the date and time of your call: Helen@adorama.com so I can take this up with the Sales Manager.

Please accept my deepest apologies for the frustration and disappointment caused, and I look forward to hearing back from you, and to making it up to you.

lacsar Loc: Columbia SC and Newland NC

I recently bought some items from Ritz through E-Bay. I had no problems with the things I bought and shipping was relatively quick. They did however charge me sales tax from the state I'm in. They would do that through E-Bay and also purchased online at their store even if not in the same state. I will not purchase from them again. One of the benefits of buying online is no tax. They lost me as a customer.

wlgoode Loc: Globe, AZ

Ritz has been around for a looong time that says something.