terrible experience with adorama (resolved)

[rovnguy]

I'm sorry to hear of your experiences with Adorama. I've been doing business with them for about ten years, all on the telephone, mostly for used equipment, and have had no problems. I always ask for the same guy when I call and he takes care of my order. That said, he is a real crusty old fart and is quite abrupt on the phone, but I don't let him have things all his way. Over the years we've developed a very good relationship and he will call me when he has something he knows I'm looking for, or just might be interested in.

 

[Steve M.]

I've had trouble w/ them. They made it right, but it was all an unnecessary hassle. I buy from KEH whenever possible and won't buy from B&H or Adorama anymore. The only New York outfit I'll buy from is Koh's Cameras. Sammy Koh is a stand up guy. The others are just East Coast attitude. Too much monkey business for me to be involved with.

 

[Keith]

It's a pity the OP decided to remove the original text from his opening post ... it would have been nice for others to have seen this thread in it's entirety.

From conflict to satisfactory resolution.

 

[robklurfield]

way to go, Helen. I'd forgotten your name from the nice thread you posted on a few months ago. everyone makes mistakes, companies included. what makes a company good or bad is how the respond when they've made a mistake.

Reading through your posting, I'm not surprised you feel frustrated and angry; in your position I would feel the same way.

Apart from anything else, all our used equpment carries a 90-day warranty............ could you contact me directly, with your order number, and I'm sure I will be able to straighten this out for you.

I can only apologize at this point that you have had this horrible experience, but as soon as I have your details in front of me I will give it my immediate attention.

 

[Frontman]

I'm glad to hear the issue was resolved, but a resolution wouldn't have been necessary had the problem been dealt with properly in the first place.

Mistakes happen, but businesses must realize that even though 99% of their transactions will be happy ones, it is the 1% which were not so good which people will talk about and remember.

I used to be a customer service consultant for a large retail company. I dealt with customer complaints, and helped formulate customer service policies. It was an insightful experience, and I learned quite a bit from it.

I will do business with companies which provide me with professional service, I will not do business with companies who are too busy to care about my wants. If I am offended by poor service, I will never deal with that company again, period. And I will do what the OP did, share my experience with others.

By doing this, the company will hopefully be more careful in the future. You can bet that Adorama will be discussing this issue with all of the people involved, as they should be.

 

[MichaelHarris]

I'll share my past three orders from Adorama. Didn't receive anything, website said in stock, email hour later said out of stock. I will never use them again.

 

[thetooth]

i am glad this is going to work out for the person but the first thing the buyer should have done is run a roll of film through the camera ! i am sure right then he would have found out the camera was defective once he saw the prints or negatives .

i have bought quite a few used cameras in my time and with in 48 hours of having the camera i have shot at least one roll at a variety of shutter speeds to check the camera out .

my 2 cents for what it's worth .

adorama has always done me right and i am sure they will do the same for you .

 

[Gumby]

my 2 cents for what it's worth .

Hey, that 2 cents is worth 4 cents... I said something similar on antoher forum where this bile was spilled. I understand frustration (I'm the king of the frustrated, it often seems) but this isn't really a "big-bad-Adorama" issue. In the end, though, I'm glad that satisfaction might be achieved.

 

[oldoc]

Knowing Helen is there will certainly make ME more likely to deal with them.
Glad to see this is going to be resolved.

 

[BillBingham2]

It's nice that Adorama replies once someone complains on a public forum, but it would be better if it didn't tolerate this kind of stuff in the first place. I'd like to think this isn't their business model, but the dozens of identical threads on every photo forum I've been frequenting for over a decade says that they don't do much to discourage it. It's especially interesting because a number of these threads in the summer and fall of 2009 resulted in Helen posting all over the 'net that the problem was a few bad apples who were fired.

See post 14 here:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/842775

Number 3 here:
http://uaddit.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=5661

etc.

How come Adorama (and some others) seem to keep having these "bad apples" when many businesses don't, beyond the occasional blip on the radar?

It's hard when you have dozens of lines with operators to be able to listen in on all the calls and judge how folks are doing on every call. I'm not sure if the have the ability to record all calls for review later. It was really expensive a few years back when we did it at a Large Sub-Prime Financial Institution.

The suggestion of getting peoples full names is critical for getting problems like this addressed completely. Companies like Adorama live and die through their people, if they have a dud spud they want them out as much as you do not want to deal with them ever again. Perhaps even more.

The other suggestion is when you get a problem like this ask for the manager (read NOT A SUPERVISOR which is often just their favorite co-worker). Manager have the ability to do things regular reps can't.

I've been very impressed with Helen's ability to sort through stuff and drive to a good resolution every time. I have to say I'm even more impressed with the management there with the savy to put a great person in a critical role and keep her there through tuff times. Happy to see her as a member here too!

B2 (;->

 

[kbg32]

They are a top notch store. Salesmen are people. Some are good, some are bad.

 

[nonot]

I was recently in-store at adorama trying to look at a mamiya 7 they had for sale, something happened between the csr and the stock room guy which ended in the two of them all but yelling at each other then joined by the manager and yet another stock room clerk. This was all because they brought a slightly worse than mint condition body to the desk for me to look at.

It was strange, although a pretty funny. Needless to say I left without them even noticing.

 

[Ducky]

I have had no problems with them including returns.

 

[Jeff Fillmore]

I got sideways with Adorama once but Helen helped get it all worked out. I just spent a pile of money with them last week so I guess that means I got over it. Every other experience with them has been just fine.

 

[David Murphy]

What was wrong with the Rolleiflex anyway? It had to have been a very expensive one in totally destroyed condition to require "hundreds of dollars" to fix. Unless something like a Planar 2.8 lens was wrecked I can't imagine it costing that much to repair (and I've had several repaired). I think you need to find a more reasonably priced camera tech. Rollei's are routine and not particularly expensive to service for a competent technician.

By they way, I've always had top notch service from Adorama on new and used gear. It's one of the A-list NYC camera dealers IMO.

 

[amateriat]

Can't speak for the mail-order experience, as I'm lucky enough to be within a subway ride's distance of both Adorama and B & H. But, in-person, I've yet to have a truly bad experience with either of them. Adorama may have been a bit rough 'round the edges in the 80s, but they've shaped up quite nicely since (the brick-n-mortar store has undergone a serious re-vamping in the last two years, and now sort of resembles a "mini" B & H). On account of their being closer to me than B & H, Adorama gets somewhat more of my business, mostly for film, chemicals, ink and paper for my photo printers, and the occasional oddball item.

No outfit is perfect. The difference is in whether, and how, an issue is resolved.


- Barrett

 

[HelenOster]

Delighted to read about all the great experiences - and sad about the not-so-great ones.

As amateriat highlighted, the store re-vamping coincided with a period of great change and management re-structuring - which as an old, established family business was certainly due, but as you can imagine as a process it was not without problems.

Unfortunately many of the threads that I read that are critical of Adorama, upon further investigation relate back to instances that occurred 4 or 5 years ago (even in one case, 20 years ago!), when Adorama was a different company with different goals and values.

Sadly, there are also threads where the OP was mistaken, and our use of tapes (we record every call) enables us to clarify beyond doubt what took place.

I'm not in a position to request deletion of an entire thread when something like this happens, so the mud sticks.

 

[HelenOster]

Message from Helen at Adorama Camera

Message from Helen at Adorama Camera

Nice to see Helen is invested in cleaning up other peoples messes (although Im sorry for her sake, that she has to).

Oh, no need to be - I LOVE my job! It's really satisfying not only to be able to help people with a quick response, but to know that I really do have the ear of management who do (mostly!) listen to my recommendations for changes that will improve the service to all of our customers

Helen, if you are reading this, how about a store policy where employees are REQUIRED to give their first and last name to customers.....

Actually, every tape that I've listened to, they do. Sometimes the problem is that the guys on the 'phones are New Yorkers, in a hurry, and a customer who is already fed up, misses the name

My one experience with adorama was them sending me a camera that didn't match the description(not even slightly, it was the wrong model), and them taking it back and issuing me a refund without any hassle. The support I got after the sale definitely reinforces my willingness to deal with them in the future.

Thank you; your experience of after-sales exactly as it should be (although of course you should have received the correct item in the first place.....).

I've had trouble w/ them. They made it right, but it was all an unnecessary hassle.

In your position, I'm sure I would feel the same way....

way to go, Helen. I'd forgotten your name from the nice thread you posted on a few months ago. everyone makes mistakes, companies included. what makes a company good or bad is how the respond when they've made a mistake.

Thank you, Rob. Still got a way to go, but we are trying .

It's nice that Adorama replies once someone complains on a public forum, but it would be better if it didn't tolerate this kind of stuff in the first place.

I agree; it would be better still if we got a chance to resolve some of these issues before they are posted on a forum!

How come Adorama (and some others) seem to keep having these "bad apples" when many businesses don't, beyond the occasional blip on the radar?

Sometimes we get it wrong, but sometimes customers make mistakes, too.......

I'll share my past three orders from Adorama. Didn't receive anything, website said in stock, email hour later said out of stock. I will never use them again.

I can only apologize; our website was configured prior to the affiliate and partner relationships that we have developed with others, such as Amazon. A new website is currently under construction, and we hope that it should enable us to give stock levels in real time.

Knowing Helen is there will certainly make ME more likely to deal with them.
Glad to see this is going to be resolved.

Thank you, Michael. I'm only an email away! (I feel an 'Annie' song coming on........)

.....I'm not sure if the have the ability to record all calls for review later.

We do - and always listen to them carefully to assist in looking into issues such as this.

I've been very impressed with Helen's ability to sort through stuff and drive to a good resolution every time. I have to say I'm even more impressed with the management there with the savy to put a great person in a critical role and keep her there through tuff times. Happy to see her as a member here too!

B2 (;->

Thanks, Bill! And I'm really grateful that you dropped me an email - so that I could drop in, quickly.

They are a top notch store. Salesmen are people. Some are good, some are bad.

Sad, but true. Like everywhere, I guess.

I was recently in-store at adorama trying to look at a mamiya 7 they had for sale, something happened between the csr and the stock room guy which ended in the two of them all but yelling at each other then joined by the manager and yet another stock room clerk. This was all because they brought a slightly worse than mint condition body to the desk for me to look at.

It was strange, although a pretty funny. Needless to say I left without them even noticing.

That's actually completely unacceptable. Can you send me an email with a bit more info so I can address it?

I got sideways with Adorama once but Helen helped get it all worked out. I just spent a pile of money with them last week so I guess that means I got over it. Every other experience with them has been just fine.

Thank you for trusting us to deliver

........I've always had top notch service from Adorama on new and used gear. It's one of the A-list NYC camera dealers IMO.

Thank you, David. But do let me know if you ever need help with anything.

 

[Calzone]

I've bought a lot of used gear from both Adorama and B&H: so much that I know many of the salesman on a first name basis and we are friends.

I am lucky that I live in NYC, but I always come prepared and I am direct because I researched the items I wanted to see over the internet. I also have gotten some great deals on truely clean glass. Showing up in person allows me to be picky and selective.

The only problem at Adorama was with a black Nikon F2AS that had a meter that was off by two stops. I found out at home there was a problem when I checked the meter against another camera. I was disapointed because I wanted the camera anyway because it was minty, and was not able to swing a reasonable deal, but I got a full refund the very next day.

I remain a loyal customer, because I feel confident that any problem will be quickly resolved.

Calzone

 

[nonot]

Helen,

Sure, I will do this today, the guy may have given my girlfriend his card before this all started, to be honest I found it more comical than anything else, but I can see it from your standpoint as adorama isn't a supposed to be a comedy club.