Lumoid

I rented from Lumoid in April 2016. I was thinking about purchasing the Nikon 5500 camera and thought that it would be perfect to rent and use the gear before actually buying it. Everything started out perfectly and I was very happy with the service and the quality of the equipment. The representatives were very knowledgeable and friendly.
I was planning to use the camera for a week or so and then take it with me to Ireland for my grandfather’s 90^th birthday party (plus I could use it for the scenic views!) I am a very conservative person and purchased the insurance on the rental. I also used my American Express card so I could take advantage of purchase protection as a backup.
In a freak occurrence at LGA (the worst airport in existence) our AirCanada flight to Dublin via Toronto was cancelled. After spending 8+ hours at the airport trying to figure out alternatives with hundreds of other stranded passengers we were rebooked onto a flight out of JFK the following day.
During our time at the airport my camera was stolen out of my bag. I filed a police report and tried to use my America protection but then found out it doesn’t cover rentals.
I was devastated, we missed the birthday party and I had little hope that the camera would be recovered. I worked with a lumoid rep (Ben) who was INCREDIBLE, and we tried to work out a situation where the both the company and I would be made whole again through my voluntary Amex protection services. Eventually Amex wouldn’t cover the purchase and Lumoid said I owed them the cost of the camera plus my rental.
I pleaded, provided as much documentation as I could and then also offered to pay for the rental I couldnt’ use if they would consider lessening or removing the charge for the full camera. I hoped that the company would have some semblance of customer service and forgiveness but they refused. This case went all the way to the CEO Arrathi and she would not bend in anyway to help out a first time customer. I even contacted her directly.
Even though I tried to protect myself with the insurance it «didnt’ apply to theft» so it was useless. I felt robbed (literally) and taken advantage of. I usually only associate myself with great companies that go above and beyond for their customers. I also work in customer service and my company has taken expense hits on various occasions to preserve our client relations.
I would never recommend working with this company for the sole fact that they clearly do not care about their customers or building relationships with their clients.

I’ve rented from Borrow Lenses before and their customer service doesn’t even compare to Lumoid’s. Love that I’m able to drop by their San Francisco headquarters on Fridays for their «No Gear Left Behind» promotion and get 50% off a photo gear rental for the weekend. Great company, fantastic customer service, and quality equipment.

I would and will recommend Lumoid to anyone looking for camera equipment.
I had my first group shoot this weekend, trying to build my portfolio. I wanted to do it right, so I rented a camera body and a set of three prime lenses, my dream rig that I have never been able to afford.
The confidence I was given by having the right gear on hand carried through and contributed in no small way to the overall success of my first big shoot.
The communication from Lumoid was fantastic through the whole process, and their customer service was absolutely fantastic. An overall great experience.

Such a great company. I ordered last minute, not even thinking about processing time, and when I contacted them right after placing the order they emailed me back! Which for a company so far away seemed like a miracle to have a same day reply. Ben let me know he would check on the status in the morning and have someone let me know what was going on. The next day he informed me they would overnight me the lens and it would arrive the day I’d originally requested which was TWO days after I’d places the order. Today is that day and the lens arrived at 2:00! Which is perfect. I’m so impressed by their prompt reply, communication, and the way they made sure it would arrive on time instead of just saying I should have read into it more beforehand and continuing with the two day shipping I’d initially paid for, which they’d been totally in the right to do.

When I got dropped off at the physical office to pick up my camera lens, I was a little confused as to where the front door was. It’s on the left side of the building, if you’re facing it – just FYI for other souls like me that have to pick up their equipment at the SF office! There are 2 doors; one looks more for residential purposes; if you go to the left of it, you’ll come to an area with some clearish doors (this review is a few months old, so forgive me) and it should be pretty obvious that’s the Lumoid office.
The process was incredibly easy! Someone greeted me at the door, I was helped. I had to create an account onsite, etc. but got the lens and was out of there really quickly. The instructions and packing was really easy and good. I would totally use them again.
Thanks, Lumoid!

Good experience and I like this service a lot. Lenses were in good condition and worked great. Instructions were clear. Packing was good.

Worst experience I’ve had renting equipment from any company.
The good: CSRs were prompt with their replies. Website looks nice and has a wide selection.
The bad: CSRs don’t seemed to know much about their equipment and the operation seems very unorganized.
My experience:
Ordering:
I was looking for a drone to rent to do some land surveying shots. Looking at Lumoid’s site and some of the good reviews on here I decided to go with them. I accidentally ordered just the regular drone package instead of the package so I notified customer service. I told them I was looking to survey some land over a weekend and if they could change the order to the one with the ipad (also included extra battery). After some talk and info that my android would work I decided to keep with what I ordered (not knowing there wasn’t an extra battery with my kit). Not totally their fault but if they had reminded me the ipad package also had an extra battery I definitely would have gotten that instead
Arrival:
Drone arrived on time and was packed in it’s own box in a larger box with some Styrofoam. Had everything stated (this is where I figured out it didn’t have the second battery). I got it later in the day and was trying to get a flight in before the end of sunlight. However I found out that both the drone and the remote were only around 60~ charged. Considering the flight time of these things I scrapped the flight that day and wasn’t able to use it.
Next 2 days the weather was way too windy or windy + rain so basically I wasn’t able to use the drone at all. I shipped back my drone with the unfortunate circumstance that I never got to fly it. This is where it gets bad.
Return:
As I shipped it out Monday it should have arrived back in California within the week (2 day shipping. However for some reason they decided to reroute the package mid shipment when it was basically in California already. This was annoying because they hold a 900 $ deposit on your card before it’s processed. A week later I called to see what was going on with the package and my deposit money. Today I found out that after it got to the New York office it they decided they need to ship it BACK to California for more testing. This is the drone that I never got to do anything else with other than charge the batteries and sync it with my app once (didn’t even put the propellers on). With their «expedited» process it won’t even get to California until next week.
What the heck is going on with you guys? How is testing in California different than testing in New York? and if that’s the case why didn’t you just test it in California in the first place before sending it to New York? Also in a situation where you are holding a customer’s money for an extending amount of time shouldn’t you try to get it fixed as soon as possible (Not ship it away for another week before it can be assessed??)
In short never working with this company again and I would advise anyone looking to rent from them to beware.
⁴⁄₂₅ Still no idea when they’ll be getting it in their California office to check the drone. Will be 3 weeks at the end of this week. And to reply to the founder’s reply below. If you suspected damage wouldn’t you contact the customer first to see what is going on? If you get it to DJI make sure to ask them for the logs as they can easily see that the drone was never flown. There is a better chance that you are damaging the drone from the 3! cross country shipments (first me shipping it back to your california and then you rerouting it to new york after it was in cali already and then back to california). I’ve rented camera gear from many online companies before and never had an issue even close to this ridiculous situation.

Just recently ordered a Canon 6d and a 24 – 70 2.8 Lens for a baby shower. Got a great deal! Prices were very competitive and products were in good condition. Shipping was flawless. The whole experience was fast and easy, no hassle. Will definitely do business again. Highly recommended!

I’ve rented from Lumoid a couple of times now, and had a great experience each time. The lenses come right on time, and sending them back could not be easier. The staff has also been helpful in helping me select just the right equipment for my event.

I can’t tell you how long someone like me, a person on an endless gear patrol quest, has been waiting for something like this. I can test out headphones, fitness trackers, and other gear, before I have to commit. I just wish I could have back all the time I have spent over the past 10 years buying various things before realizing their flaw (s) and then returning them or exchanging them for the right item at various stores across California. I hope they stay in business for a long time, and add other categories of equipment.

I used Lumoid to rent five fitness bands to test out. I really loved having all the options and being able to compare the information in real life. I had been struggling to sift through comparisons and online reviews to decide which fitness band I actually wanted. The rental, delivery, and return was super easy. Everything arrived in good quality, and there were setup instructions included with every item, which was a nice touch that I didn’t expect.
The only reason I knocked off a star is that I chose not to buy my final product from Lumoid. The try at home program is a great idea, using the rental cost toward the price of the item you finally decide upon. However, I was able to find the fitness band I wanted online (from one of my favorite, respected, online stores) for about $ 70 LESS than Lumoid was selling the band. Meaning that even if the cost of my rental (~$ 30) went toward the price of the fitness band, I would have still ended up paying about $ 40 more than I did by doing the rental and then buying from a different retailer.
So just a heads up that even with the cool deals on rentals and things like that, you still might be overpaying on the product itself. I decided to eat the cost of the rental, and buy the band elsewhere because that would still save me money overall.

Renting a lens was super easy! I work near their SF office so pickup and dropoff was VERY convenient and saved me money. I’m definitely going to rent lenses from them in the future!

I’d been thinking about getting a new camera for an upcoming trip and through researching online, I came across Lumoid. Being able to test the camera I was looking into for a great deal seemed like a no brainer. I even considered possibly purchasing a used model through their rent to own scheme.
Thankfully, I happened to be in NY for work that weekend and found that the Lumoid pick-​up location was right across from my hotel. I called up and talked to Leandra who was super awesome in answering my questions and even accommodating me to pick up the camera at an earlier time.
I loved my experience getting to try out the camera that I eventually ended up buying a brand new model (from somewhere else) before I left NY! Thanks Lumoid!

I’ve rented from Lumoid many many times before, and they have never failed me EXCEPT ONCE. I do love Lumoid, and I will probably continue to rent from them, but I thought I’ll just write an honest review, and I get it, mistakes happen!
I picked up a Canon 35 mm lens from the Lumoid SF office on a friday night before my gig on saturday, having done this many times before without encountering any problem, I went home without a worry on my mind. When I got home, I put the lens on my camera and uh oh it would not focus at all, it appeared that the focus ring was stuck and it would not autofocus or manual focus. This is at 10pm friday night and I started panicking. I called Lumoid and left a voicemail as well as an e-​mail, hoping that maybe someone would get back to me before my gig on saturday. As a plan B, I started reaching out to all my photographer friends and thank goodness I was able to borrow another lens in time.
Lumoid did eventually get back to me, but it was on saturday after my gig had already ended. The staff that called did realize the urgency of the situation and offered to bring me a working lens ASAP. Even though it was already too late, I do appreciate their gesture.
I really do wish that Lumoid had carefully checked their equipment before releasing it to the next person, but as a precaution, I think I will start checking the equipment myself as well before leaving their office! Lesson learned!

That was a fantastic experience! I rented a bundle of smartwatches to try out, because online reviews only go so far as to how it would affect MY specific use-​case. This service allowed me to try a couple watches, for less than a quarter of the price of buying a brand new one, it really helps with keeping you from having buyers remorse for dropping full price on a new piece of tech.
I highly recommend and would definitely use their services again in the future.

I had a GREAT experience with Lumoid. It’s my first time of using their lense rentals services, and I could not be more satisfied.
I rented the Canon 24 – 105, F/​4, the lense looked brand new.
The return label was inside the box, which made the return a VERY simple process.
I will DEFINITELY use LUMOID again.
~Rick
Edwardsville IL

This is such and unorganized business with a TERRIBLE (inconsiderate) CEO. I loved them at first because I could buy a barely used, practically new camera at a good price. Unfortunately some family emergencies came up which led to us putting off the purchase of the camera.
About 5 months later when looking to buy again I knew I wanted to come here. HUGE mistake. They told us it wasn’t in stock and they had to order a new one and it would come in 3 days later, no problem. Three days later came and not there. They continued to push our order back due to some system malfunction at the warehouse. This went on for 4 weeks to which they offered a decent discount on our camera but not the lens.
Obviously despite the discount the wait was getting ridiculous. Xavier was very understanding and apologetic and offered to ask the CEO if he could pick it up elsewhere. The CEO (Aarthi) talked to my boyfriend briefly and said she would buy it elsewhere Thursday or Friday and call us to pick it up. We wait around all day thursday and friday for her call and end up calling the office before closing Friday to see if there’s an update but they cannot get ahold of her.
So on Monday some girl calls and tells us it’ll come in on Wednesday. Are you fucking kidding me!!!
So tired of playing the waiting game with them and suggest others to take their business elsewhere as well. The CEO really needs to get her shit together, at least keep us up to date like you say you will! We have been waiting for this camera for 5 weeks now, you said you will pick it up and call us and do neither of those things and expect us to wait longer?! Ridiculous.
I’m surprised this business has as many stars as it does but then again most people who reviewd are barely active. Probably paid and/​or friends of the owners.

Great Company. and made everything so simple. Couple of steps and that was it.
People were way more than helpful!
Packaging was outstanding, and the gear super clean and like new condition.
Will do business again.
Thank you Lumoid!!! :)

So helpful. Customer service is outstanding. Gear has always arrived on time and in amazing condition.
When my camera rental was going to be late, they changed my order and upgraded my order to an even better camera. Top notch service, and great pricing!
The process is so easy as well, package comes right to your door, ready to go with a return label. Just box everything back up, and drop off at any Fedex location and you’re good to go. Couldn’t be easier.

I was looking for a Canon 6D and was Lumoid who offered me the best rental price. When the package arrived at my house it was a surprise to see the delicacy lumoid team strives to package the products. Lumoid exceeded my expectations regarding the state of the products; these were like new. The process to return the package was really simple and easy.
I will definitely rent again with Lumoid.