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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Don't buy from Adorama
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07/09/2008 10:34:45 AM · #1
Here's a real-life experience I'm currently having with Adorama. I suggest that unless you want to risk having to deal with this, you take your business elsewhere, as I will be doing from now on.

On June 27 I ordered a used lens. My order sat untouched for longer than is usual for Adorama, with whom I've done business many times before. So I email them to see what the hold up is and get an automated email back saying they're closed. There's nothing on the site about them being closed, so I email back, tell them I'm dismayed by this, I can't wait for them to reopen, please cancel the order.

I get an email back from a customer service supervisor who says, No, we are open. I respond to her that open or not, I've made other arraingments, cancel my order. No response from her for days, so last Thursday I email them and ask them to confirm the cancellation. That afternoon I get an email saying they've shipped the order. When I call, they act clueless and say they didn't see in my email where I said to cancel the order. I read the sentences to them. They agree to put a recall in with UPS so it doesn't get delivered and to refund my money as soon as the recall is confirmed with UPS, which is agreeable.

The CS supervisor promised me a phone call on Sunday to confirm that all goes well. I don't get a call and several emails from me are ignored. I have to call them on Monday and confirm that the order is on it's way back to them. And of course, no refund in sight.

Today I still don't have the refund, three days after the recall was confirmed. I call the supervisor back and again she acts all surprised, puts me on hold, and I end up transfered to her voicemail.

I've ordered a lot of items from Adorama in the past and never had a problem. But I can't overlook this incident. They don't seem to care that they ignored my repeated requests to cancel the order. They don't care that they charged me for something I didn't want. And worst of all, they cannot remain true to their word - to date, they have never responoded or come through like they promised.

Best of all, after my previous order they sent me an email asking me to leave comments at ResellerRatings.com. You can bet that I'm going to now. I'm done with these clowns and offer this as fair warning to the rest of you!
07/09/2008 10:39:16 AM · #2
I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience. As you mentioned, you've had lots of other good experiences with them as have I. I feel for you... but I personally won't be avoiding Adorama. They've simply been "too good" for me, going above and beyond the call of duty in several instances.

I do hope they will come to their senses and resolve the issues you are having to your satisfaction. It's an unexpected blemish on an otherwise excellent company.
07/09/2008 10:44:19 AM · #3
Email them the link to this thread in a few days, and tell them that you are planning to leave a not so nice comment at Reseller Ratings.
Good luck with this. I have not heard any bad about Adorama until this.
07/09/2008 10:49:00 AM · #4
My experiences have been mixed. Most recently I ordered some in-stock lenses from Adorama early on a Thursday. Any order from B&H would have arrived the next day (both are in NYC and I'm close enough that even ground shipping gets here overnight). Adorama didn't even process the order until the following Monday. Needless to say, they're not going to be my first choice in the future.
07/09/2008 10:49:07 AM · #5
I've never had a problem with them. Most companies fumble from time to time, being operated by humans as they are, and with Adorama, I think it's an anomaly.

Remember that should you not get your refund, you can always call your credit card company and do a chargeback. The case is clear, since you didn't receive the goods for which you were billed.
07/09/2008 10:58:24 AM · #6
Originally posted by dwterry:

I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience. As you mentioned, you've had lots of other good experiences with them as have I. I feel for you... but I personally won't be avoiding Adorama. They've simply been "too good" for me, going above and beyond the call of duty in several instances.

I do hope they will come to their senses and resolve the issues you are having to your satisfaction. It's an unexpected blemish on an otherwise excellent company.

They were very good to me as well, before this. Never a reason to complain. And I can understand when something happens, computers go boink, etc. What gets my goat with this is that they just don't seem to care. They ignored my emails, won't return calls when promised, they fail to hold up their end of the agreement we had.

I just got off the phone with the CS manager. It was the same thing all over again. She claims she's going to make sure I get my refund, but she doesn't seem to care at all that the problem happened in the first place, or that her subordinates are not following through on their statements!

If they had just said, "We messed up, we're very sorry, here you go - problem fixed" then I'd probably be singing their praises right now. But instead they've been cavalier and I've had to call them to force the issue and monitor their progress for a week now.
07/09/2008 11:12:42 AM · #7
That sounds extremely frustrating. I won't be ordering from them after hearing that. My biggest pet peeve are the people who try to play dumb on the phone. Why can't they just be honest with you? grrrr. Good luck and hope you get a refund plus a free lens or something. hehe
07/09/2008 11:24:37 AM · #8
I've ordered a couple of times from them and they were right on. It kind of baffles me as they have a pretty good reputation...Good luck.
07/09/2008 11:25:52 AM · #9
Hope they don't try and hit you with a 15%-20% restocking fee !.
07/09/2008 11:26:35 AM · #10
I have ordered from Adorama on multiple occasions and have had mixed results with their customer service. Sometimes they are outstanding and sometimes they are frustrating. My wife is a CSR manager for a large online retailer and a few experiences we've had with Adorama CS she has said that would never fly at her store. I really only use them now if Amazon doesn't have what I need. Amazon's customer service is top notch and their return policy is better than most other companies.
07/09/2008 11:52:39 AM · #11
I've never had a problem with Adorama. Although, the first two items I ever bought from them they tried the "extended warranty" scare tactic, the second time I informed them that if I had wanted an extended warranty I would have checked the box and if they continued to push extended warranties on me I'd take my business elsewhere. No probems since.

Two years ago at Christmas I had a big issue with B&H and shipping. I had specifically requested UPS shipping because Fedex only delivered to my address when there were enough packages to justify sending a driver (I explained this when I ordered and was very clear). B&H went ahead and shipped it Fedex. I called and complained to B&H and they told me that they had given me a free upgrade to Fedex next day air. I told them that it didn't matter how they had shipped it, Fedex would hold onto the box for at least ten days before they would deliver it. The B&H CS then told me that they showed it was marked "out for delivery" and that they were certain it would arrive at my door that day.

Next day I called B&H again, and said "No package." The CS operator told me that the package had been marked "no response" and was again marked as out for delivery. I told her I worked from home and FedEx had never appeared. She said, "Maybe you were outside."

I called Fedex and was told, you live in a low volume area, we can't send a driver for one package. I asked if I could arrange to pick the package up, they informed me their processing facility was a secure site and that wasn't possible, unless the package had been shipped for "office pickup".

I called B&H back and told them what Fedex had said. Fourteen days later the package was finally delivered. B&H did refund my shipping cost, but then told me that they have always found Fedex to be reliable and I must have simply "missed the driver."

If I were you, I'd call Adorama and speak to a manager.
07/09/2008 12:01:17 PM · #12
I have bought most of the stuff I've bought from B&H. A couple of times B&H was out but Adorama had it so I ordered from them, since they seem to be the 2nd choice for a lot of people. I got what I ordered just fine but each time it took about twice as long to get it, even though I had it shipped the same way I usually ship from B&H. Looking at the tracking information, you can see that the order sits there at Adorama for a long time before it even gets processed. If I pay for 2nd day shipping, I shouldn't have to wait 2 business days (and they were open) before it even gets processed and shipped. So I don't buy from them any more. If B&H doesn't have it, I'll look local or at Samy's (sometimes Samy's even beats B&H's prices) or one of the other places that has a good reputation.

I've never had to deal with their customer service, but their shipping is what turned me off on them.

I have had to call B&H's customer service a couple of times and I did get the un-apologetic type response which is typical of a lot of people that live in that part of the country. But they were professional and they did follow through to fix the problem right away. Stuff happens and as long as it's taken care of without hassle, I'm satisfied.

Mike

Message edited by author 2008-07-09 12:07:26.
07/09/2008 12:29:51 PM · #13
I deal with Adorama quite a lot - being in Town - for prints and equipment. 99% of the time it has been a good experience. The few times I was unhappy was the result of a particular sales assistant dealing in a cavalier manner. One sales assistant ended up giving the dealer a bad name. I certainly feel for you and think you had lousy treatment. Adorama would do well to make sure this type of issue is dealt with sternly on an internal basis.

I am not a fan of buying used equipment because I do not think that it is always possible for the seller to completely check it out. The extra money paid for buying something new is worth it - not that I always have any extra money ;-)
07/09/2008 12:40:32 PM · #14
Originally posted by vxpra:

I had specifically requested UPS shipping because Fedex only delivered to my address when there were enough packages to justify sending a driver ...

Just wanted to point out that this is an option private delivery companies have which is not a factor with the USPS -- they are required to deliver to every address (and for the same cost).
07/09/2008 12:54:09 PM · #15
Originally posted by scalvert:

My experiences have been mixed. Most recently I ordered some in-stock lenses from Adorama early on a Thursday. Any order from B&H would have arrived the next day (both are in NYC and I'm close enough that even ground shipping gets here overnight). Adorama didn't even process the order until the following Monday. Needless to say, they're not going to be my first choice in the future.


I've had the same experience -- Adorama takes way too long to process orders as compared with B+H (2 days v. 2 hours, typically), and even UPS seems to take longer to get out to the west coast when shipping orders from Adorama v. B+H. Not a deal breaker for me, but an annoyance. If prices are the same, I'll go with B+H every time.
07/09/2008 01:16:52 PM · #16
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by vxpra:

I had specifically requested UPS shipping because Fedex only delivered to my address when there were enough packages to justify sending a driver ...

Just wanted to point out that this is an option private delivery companies have which is not a factor with the USPS -- they are required to deliver to every address (and for the same cost).


If you enter my address in as a destination, they will still gurantee next day air. However, the local distribution center will not deliver until they can justify sending out a driver, but Fedex will still charge you for next day air. That is my complaint with Fedex, but my larger complaint was with B&H in this case since I had explained the Fedex situation to them.

07/09/2008 01:22:22 PM · #17
My first and last experience with Adorama was almost the same as yours. Very very frustrating. The reps on the phone were not very considerate on top of everything else.
07/09/2008 01:37:09 PM · #18
I've never had a prob with B&H;- maybe other have, but they generally process the order quickly. I would caution people that if it looks to cheap; its probably because they are saving money somewhere.

My take is that some of these companies make money on shipping and handling. What is handling? I mean, ups and fed ex pick the stuff up so are you telling me that you are charging me for the people that work in your own warehouse? put it in the price and don't play games is what I say.

I once bought a 75$ play table, a few years ago. It was 23$ shipping and "handling" - when it came we didn't like it, and it cost $8.99 to ship it back through UPS. WHy did they charge $23? Thats where they make their money and can afford to sell at "discount" prices.

An excellent online merchant, I have found, is ZZounds, a huge music instrument store online. I once ordered something, from here in CT, regular ground ups, at 4:15pmp, it was on my desk at 10:15am the next day. Really amazing for basic shipping. I think they are in Jersey. Excellent company.

Looks like Adorama saves money by cutting staff, computer technology and customer service.
07/09/2008 02:01:56 PM · #19
Originally posted by MikeJ:

I have had to call B&H's customer service a couple of times and I did get the un-apologetic type response which is typical of a lot of people that live in that part of the country.

You should apologize for that statement. :-p

07/09/2008 02:29:50 PM · #20
I've gotten bad prints from adorama which they quickly replaced for free. Once, my prints delivery was delayed for days without explanation.
Other than that Adorama is OK. I only use them for prints.
07/09/2008 02:32:12 PM · #21
Originally posted by blindjustice:

What is handling? I mean, ups and fed ex pick the stuff up so are you telling me that you are charging me for the people that work in your own warehouse? put it in the price and don't play games is what I say.

"Shipping and handling" is broken out on the invoice because those charges are usually treated differently than the cost of the product itself by state taxing authorities. If the S&H charrges were rolled into the price, you'd be paying sales/use tax; as it is, the item may be taxable, but the S&H charges are not.

Yes, some places use it to shield income from such taxes (FREE! Pay only Shipping and Handling!), but as a rule with mail-order retailers, having the S&H charges separately is to the customer's benefit.
07/09/2008 08:00:00 PM · #22
The next part of this saga - I get a call this afternoon (in the middle of a photo shoot, naturally) from Adorama's refund department. They have confirmation that the package is in their NJ facility, but haven't gotten the paperwork from that department, and the guy wants to argue with me about refunding my payment today.

He says that's not their policy and CS didn't have any right to make the deal they made with me. Like this is my problem! Sounds like no one there is accountable for anything!

I had been promised a refund as soon as the UPS recall was confirmed (three days ago) and now he wants me to wait another day, "if that's okay," because he doesn't have the paperwork for something his company confirms having received! I told him that NO, it was not okay, and insisted he refund me today.

Checking my online banking, no refund. Big surprise. All I can say is that they better refund the full price, shipping included, with no fees.

And since their CS manager was worthless, next time I call I'm going to call their corporate number and ask to speak to a VP. Not that I expect they'll care, either.
07/09/2008 08:18:24 PM · #23
They really don't know how to get it right, do they?

Of course, in fairness, I should relate the following: I ordered a Pharos trips and pics gps tracker from Adorama a couple weeks ago which arrived a day later than UPS said it should due to "adverse weather" even though the tracking system showed it had already made it to the local UPS center. I contacted Adorama CS by email to inquire about the delay, explaining that the weather was sunny and warm here. They responded the very next day, and immediately refunded the entire shipping charge!.

All 95 cents of it. Woo hoo.

07/09/2008 08:36:30 PM · #24
KenRockwell says Adorama is great!

>_> *runs for cover*

Seriously though any company can go to pot or improve over time. I am always hesitant to buy anything expensive online since I never know if the company has changed between purchases, my last purchase was great, will I get what I order this time, will they care? I wish you much luck in getting this resolved quickly.
07/09/2008 10:30:43 PM · #25
Originally posted by citymars:

Originally posted by MikeJ:

I have had to call B&H's customer service a couple of times and I did get the un-apologetic type response which is typical of a lot of people that live in that part of the country.

You should apologize for that statement. :-p


But you left out the part where I said they were "professional" about being un-apologetic. You can be un-apologectic as long as you are professional. And since I said it in a very professional manner, I don't need to apologize. ;D

Mike

Message edited by author 2008-07-09 22:33:47.
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