Mifsuds Photographic Ltd - www.mifsuds.com

I purchased a Canon EF 500mm L1S USM Lens from Mifsuds on the 8th August 2017 from their site on eBay for £3399.00. As soon as I tried it I had a problem with the autofocus. I posted it back to Mifsuds for either a repair or refund. They kept it for two months and returned it to me saying there was no fault with it and it was out of their 3 months guarantee. On Mifsuds web page they recommend H.Leymann as an authorised Canon repairer. I paid £54.99 to Leymanns for a diagnostic report on the lens. They wrote back saying that "The focusing is intermittent and will not focus properly. We also found excessive battery drain which could be linked to the faulty focus unit or could be a faulty circuit board. Parts are no longer available for this model, therefore, we are returning it unrepaired". This information was passed on to Mifsuds which was totally ignored. I then pursued the matter in the County Courts and issued a summons. They put in a defence claiming that there was no guarantee on goods sold on eBay. They actually changed their terms on their website while this case was going on. I had to pay £335.00 for a court hearing to be held in Salisbury. The court asked for evidence to be used in court to be exchanged to one another and also to the court by 24th October 2018. Mifsuds defaulted to send their evidence to me or the court and were given another date 15th November 2018. They also failed to adhere to the court's date so I obtained judgement by default. I received a cheque from them a few days later and a compliments slip with said "Glad this is all sorted, Kind wishes." also enclosed a photography book. Maybe a bribe for me not to leave bad feedback. Mifsuds do not seem to understand that an item must be of serviceable quality irrespective what they put in their terms and conditions. This company has no idea on customer service and I would advise anyone contemplating purchasing from them. DONT!

I recently part exchanged 2 lenses against a used lens they had for sale, unfortunately upon testing the lens I found it to be pretty soft in the corners and not as they'd described , mint - as new.

I contacted Mifsuds the same day and got a response the following morning before they opened. Emails went back and forth and it was obvious they were going to make it as difficult as possible to return the lens.

They said I couldn't collect the lenses that I’d exchanged as they didn't know if they still had them, which I thought strange as they had a 3 hour trading window from when I left the shop to closing. When I questioned this it moved onto they can't access the computer to check the serial numbers. Again I questioned that they only had one of the same lens for sale and none of the other so it should be easy to identify them, I mean we're not talking Amazon/Wex size stores, its a small shop.

So I then asked when’s the best time to come down and they said 3pm the following Monday as thats when the accounts come in so they can access the computer to determine serials. I raised my concerns that they'd sell my lenses by Monday but they never remarked or replied to that issue. Emails went back and forth and to simplify things I said I ok don't want the lenses back, I'll just return the faulty lens for the price you agreed for the lenses. I was told I can't, I'd have to have the lenses back as it's part of the deal, although the actual deal that was agreed to was price matching MPB which offered me a price for an outright purchase, not part exchange.

OK, so I eventually call into the shop a day later to be told they've now sold the lenses which didn't bother me as that's really what I wanted but the lies and underhanded behaviour shows what they're really like.

When I explained to a sales assistant why I was unhappy with the lens and that I was going to check out another copy they said I shouldn't bother, they're all identical, they're made by computers and they'll all be the same so it's not worth it. Unbelievable, someone like that selling and giving advice to customers, it's worrying.

The the bottom line is even though they knew I'd be returning the lens and that the deal was I'd have to have my lenses back they had no intention of adhering to this. They never sold my lenses within that 3 hours of leaving the shop and guess what? They happened to be selling the same lenses the following day as the ones I'd taken in, what a coincidence :)

I ended up buying a brand new one from Amazon for just £15 more than the one I'd returned, so all good in the end but it goes to show they’re happy to take your money but will do their best not give it back.