Ziplens.com Joins Lensrentals!

December 21, 2009

Lensrentals.com, Inc. and Ziplens are pleased to announce they will merge into a single company operating under the Lensrentals.com banner. While the merger will take effect immediately, all current Ziplens orders will be filled as scheduled.

Lee Cullivan, owner of Ziplens, and Roger Cicala, CEO of Lensrentals, were among the first to enter the online photography rental market, with both companies opening for business in 2006. Since that time they have remained cooperative and friendly competitors, helping each other learn how to make this business work. The two companies have much in common. Both were formed by photographers who saw that a rental service delivering equipment to photographers anywhere in the U. S. was badly needed. Both companies were set up to provide the best customer service possible, to give the renter exactly what we would want if we were renting.

Over the years, both Lee and Roger found that the camera and lens rental business was incredibly time consuming, a bit risky, and more complex than either could have imagined when starting out. As the field of online rentals has grown, it has become apparent to both of us that size does matter. The merger of the two companies will provide a larger and more in-depth selection of rental equipment and allow us to have fewer “out of stock” notices during the busiest season. While the Lensrentals website will appear a little different to Ziplens customers, they will find that the same top notch customer service they experienced with Ziplens will also be found at Lensrentals.

Lee will be assisting the Lensrentals staff during the transition period to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. All customers who currently have a reservation in place with Ziplens will have their order filled on schedule, and all Ziplens gift certificates will be honored. Ziplens’ offices will remain open in Brookline, and their email account will remain separate at first. Eventually Ziplens’ email will be redirected to Lensrentals’ customer support staff, but even then Lee will be available through the Lensrentals email system.

We look forward to the challenge of making our combined company better than either of the originals.

Our business models are so similar, there are probably only a couple of differences you may notice:
1) Lensrentals doesn’t authorize your credit card at the time of reservation. It is done when we pack for shipping, about 3 days before delivery.
2) We use UPS rather than FedEx for shipping. FedEx is available, but you’ll have to request it when you place your order.

Roger Cicala, CEO, Lensrentals.com