Adorama Rental Co (Manhattan)

Great selection of equipment, very helpful staff and an amazing location for Manhattan shoots! Easy ground floor collection and pick up. Staff help with loading and unloading large orders from the car.

EDIT/UPDATE: Got a personal call from Luis at ARC who apologized and gave me a thorough explanation of the changes they're making to make the rental experience better. I really appreciate his transparency and effort to make it right. Leaving the comment below for context but adjusting my star rating. OLD REVIEW: Last time renting from ARC. Horrendous customer service. Made me wait an hour and a half outside for my rental, offered no apology and told me to call the number on the door to ask for an extension. Never again.

A nightmare experience, my last rental with Adorama ruined our schedule and led to tons of unnecessary stress on set. Our lens package was unavailable for the scheduled pickup the morning of the shoot, despite calling twice to confirm the rental with them in the 3-4 days leading up to the shoot. The lenses arrived on set 3+ hours late to a 10hr shoot day and the Adorama team was hardly apologetic. I was denied the request to speak to a manager and had to call them 3-4 times in the days after to talk my way into a decent discount on the order. Extreme unprofessionalism at every turn. I’ll never be comfortable renting from them again.

The lens I rented from Adorama was wonderful, however the customer service was TERRIBLE!!! On my return day, I called to let them know I was running a little late and they let me know that if I got there by 12p there would be no extra charge. However, being that I’m not from NY, I got turned around on the trains and arrived eight minutes after 12p. The employee I spoke with assured me that it was no problem and he’d take care of the return with no extra charge. I was so happy with how understanding they were. Or so I thought. Later that night I received an email that my card had been charged an extra $80 because I arrived 8 minutes late. Not only did they lie to me, they charged the card that I told them was only to be used for placing a hold, not for any charges. Upon rental, they assured me they would only charge my debit card, not my credit card. But what did they do? They charged it anyway, without my knowledge or approval. I emailed and called countless times with no response, so this is my last resort. I urge you all to rent elsewhere. Adorama will scam you out of tour money and ignore your attempts to contact them. They are the WORST!!!

The rate is confusing. I experienced the problem when I place my reservation for the Passover promotion, the advertisement both on the website and the email I received are saying 3 days, but when the reservation is placed the actual bill is charging for "full week" rate. I am writing this review not because I am angry about Adorama, my bill is very small, I am thinking there may be people not knowing about the issue and may possibly be overcharged, in my case, the price is 5.6% different, when the bill is large that could be a serious issue. My story: I have been trying to figure out what is wrong, I called, from my second phone call I was told something like 3 days is equal to "full week". Then I tried to Google and I cannot find such policy, also what I could understand from the content provided from the website the additional day literally seems to mean additional day and not second day, so I assume 3 days should means first day and 2 additional days. I thought maybe it is more proper to email Adorama Rental to figure it out, I asked to verify the description of the email and the website, I asked if such policy is available and published, the answers I received are "3 weekdays counts as a full week rental in our system. So 3 days = 1 week price The 3 day weekend rate is specifically for the weekends as we are closed Saturday" "Sir, Our system, when the order is placed, sets this price", my concerns about the content from the advertisement and the pricing policy were not properly answered. Then I tried the Facebook Messenger, I kept asking whether there is such "3 days equal full week" policy and I kept being asked for my order number and not providing an answer whether such policy exist. Summary: Whether there is a policy stating "3 days" rate is equal to "full week", if there is, I kept asking and asking and cannot get a confirmation, in addition the content from the website should be updated to a less misleading way, and the wording in the advertisement should be changed to "full week" instead of "3 Days"; if there is no such policy, then why I am keep being told 3 days is equal to full week and not getting the problem solved? Message to Adorama: I understand reputation is very very important to a company, I am sorry that I rate 1 star, but I also think that 5.6% can be a serious different, if people are having a $10,000 bill then the overcharge is already $560. It was a simple request but it was a trek for me to get the answer. If the advertisement is incorrect, update it and probably even better make the price list and the pricing policy that I mentioned above more intuitive and available for people so we know how much we are paying. I have been a customer of Adorama probably since early 2017 and I do think this place is great. When the issues are properly addressed I will be very gladly to update the 1 star rating and add an update to this review. 2019-4-18 Update: The matters mentioned above still are not resolved. However I received a call from a very very friendly agent informing me the damage of the lens I reserved before I go there to pick it up, I admire the agent's amazing attitude as well as the honesty about the damage. I am going to change my rating from one star to two stars.

I'm very satisfied with Adorama Rental. I did all the payment/id process online, so when I came to Adorama to pick up the item it took me less than 10 min. The return process was even quicker and easier because they simply took the item back without any paperwork or check, and later that day I received the email receipt. Thank you Adorama!

It was my first time entering this place and already I got a bad vibe from one of the guys at this place. No friendly welcoming. No hello. The look on his face was like he couldn't wait to be done with me. I wish I could've got his name. Hope the other staff are not like him. Maybe he was having a bad day or just hated being there. Thankfully the guys at B&H were not too far on 34th. Much better friendly environment there.

Great new location, quality gear and excellent kind service. My shoot went long and they allowed me until the next morning to return the item. It might not seem like much but having that extra breathing room while working is a great relief.

Overall satisfied and will use again. However, two issues: 1 - what's the point in making a reservation when the item is not ready. 2 - usb stick that came with my device didn't have necessary software so had to download from manufacturer site. Thanks.

Professional & friendly. I wish the website easier to navigate. But definitely 5 stars, I've been renting from them for years now even more convenient with street level pickup. Beware, some negative feedback here is meant for the store which I'm no big fan of, not the rental store.