[FS: RED Cameras] NEVER Sell Your Gear to Adorama!!!!

[HelenOster]

Yes It sounded odd to me too, since that was clearly Adorama's policy. however, what actually happened was much different from the stated policy. Helen, please don't add more work to my busy schedule by having to look up order numbers, and gather emails from the various people I spoke with at your company. If you care about finding more regarding this transaction, simply search your records for my name "Jason Comparetto" and you should see a disgruntled customer which had to file a chargeback with his credit company in order to fix the situation. Its pretty sad that it got to that level. I don't remember the last time I ever had to do that.

I have no wish to over-burden you, Jason, however, you have raised a matter that is of serious concern - and I would like to ensure that this could never happen to anyone else. The system we have in place is fully automated and should be 100% fail-safe so that the situation you have described can't happen.

I'm sorry, but I can't search by your name; I could search by your email address plus zip code, though, if you could please email that to me: Helen@adorama.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[HelenOster]

If the gear you "did" get back, was that beat up, maybe it was NOT the "exact" gear you sent them.

If you have a collection of pictures of the items, and they clearly show no damage, etc, etc. And, if you feel the total value of your equipment is less than $10,000.oo, if I were you, I would take them to Small Claims Court. But, first threaten them with legal action "in writing".

Save each and every email you get from them, and any and all other things that could show your side of the story. The chances are very, very good that you would win hands down in court, or at the least, they would make financial amends or return the EXACT equipment you sent them.

I have been to Small Claims Court several times over different things, and rarely, if ever, do big companies bother to show up. Therefore, they lose by default. Believe me, the judges are always in favor of the little guys. I won every time.

Good luck in your fight, and do NOT give up until you are happy with the results.

Take care,

George
'

All he has to do, George, is email me; mistakes do happen and I will be delighted to take care of this - probably with a whole lot stress or aggravation than going to court - and much quicker!

Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

 

[jimhare]

Helen, it's great to have you here, standing up to fix the situation.

Must be a difficult job, working with people who already feel wronged and frustrated before you even meet them! Patience of a saint I'm guessing.

Anyway, we welcome you and are glad you can get involved to get to the bottom of it.

Just wanted you to hear a friendly voice in the mix.

Cheers!

 

[Cornell Williams]

Helen heres the problem... I told them Monday morning to ship my items back to me. I told them that I need to have my item delivered to me by Friday. Because I had a project to shoot Saturday. I told them that If UPS had the package by Tuesday at 5PM I am guaranteed to get it Friday. I am a UPS MyChoice Member so I get delivery alerts and the option to bump up my delivery time. With the Delivery alerts I get a notification a day in advance which means if my item was going to deliver on Friday I would get an email around 1 am Thursday letting me know my item will be delivered Friday. I didn't get one so I called them. I found out that they hadnt even packaged or shipped my item. I expressed my anger to them because I needed my package by Friday so I could use it Saturday. So they agreed to next day the items to me & It took them less than two hours to get the gear packaged and shhipped and I was like how come you couldnt do that in the 1st place. When I finally got the tracking number I noticed the weight said 19lbs which was alot lighter then what I sent in. I finally got the package friday & it was in an oversized box. When opened I noticed that it was mostly bubble foam. This made me even angrier because they shipped a few items in a big box when they couldve put everything in there . All that was in the box was

1. 5.6 Monitor w/ cable,arm, hoodman
2. Cradle
3. Some Rods
4. Handles
5. Some cables

Here is what Im missing
1. Red One Body
2. ET Breakout Box
3. Baseplate
4. Dovetail
5. Bottom Cheeseplate
6. Red Brick Battery
7. Red Charger
8. Nikon Mount
9. Nikon Lens
10. CF Cards
11. CF Reader
12. Miscellaneous Cables
13. Top Handle + Top Mounts

Someone scratched the back of the monitor and the buttons on top were sticky/hard to push they felt like the springs in the were broken. I got that problem fixed though. Also the screw nuts on the cradle were broken so its hard for the cradle to stay on the rods without sliding. The items that I have received have scratches that were not there before but I dont care about that because the stuff is old it was bound to get a few scratches.

What angers me the most is that they sent these small items back when they couldve sent everything. Plus Im also angry at the fact that when I called I kept getting transferred & then when I got to someone who coud help I was telling them to next day my items with saturday delivery because I needed them asap and then he said sure *sarcasticly* and hung up. I called for about 30 minutes after that and got no answer then I get a automated system saying all departments are closed. I have already missed one paid project because they are taking there time. I just want my gear back... Is that too much to ask?

 

[Cornell Williams]

I will call tomorrow morning and hopefully the representative I usually speak to is in if not I will give you a call helen.

 

[Cornell Williams]

Also you should tell the used department to stop giving out high offers to get people to send there gear in and then cut the price drastically after they inspect it. I understand they have to make money but it would be a whole lot easier if they gave sellers the lowest price possible based upon the condition & then tell them the offer price might go up after the inspect the item. If people on eBay can look at pictures and read a description and purchase an item and be happy you guys should be able to do the same. It shouldnt take 2 weeks to inspect an item especially when you deal with these type of items everyday. Its not like you are a camera store buying used cars. Im not trying to be rude to you guys but I feel like youve just wasited a month of my time...

 

[HelenOster]

I will call tomorrow morning and hopefully the representative I usually speak to is in if not I will give you a call helen.

You won't get me on the 'phone as I work from home; I'm planning to get this sorted out today, in any case!

Also you should tell the used department to stop giving out high offers to get people to send there gear in and then cut the price drastically after they inspect it. I understand they have to make money but it would be a whole lot easier if they gave sellers the lowest price possible based upon the condition & then tell them the offer price might go up after the inspect the item. If people on eBay can look at pictures and read a description and purchase an item and be happy you guys should be able to do the same. It shouldnt take 2 weeks to inspect an item especially when you deal with these type of items everyday. Its not like you are a camera store buying used cars. Im not trying to be rude to you guys but I feel like youve just wasited a month of my time...

You know what it sounds like - you were told the re-sale value, not the amount you may be offerred.
The Adorama used department will aim to offer you 70% of the expected re-sale value, but of course, a final figure can only be given once they have had the opportunity to physically appraise your gear. They receive hundreds of items every day, so they will generally ask you to allow up to 8 days to look over your items – especially as at least 2 (and sometimes 3) highly-skilled technicians will need to examine it.

Sadly they can’t accept everything that is sent to them, usually due to overstock issues, or because experience indicates that there is little demand for an item.

Finally – and this is important – the selling prices on the Adorama website can only be a rough guide if you are trying to figure out how much you might receive for your gear. When new models are released, the overall market tends to soften. Pre-owned units will usually drop in value, but the used department will still be looking to sell existing pre-owned stock without making too great a loss!

 

[christian nicolson]

here is there number. I just googled it for you. its 11pm here right now so get the time right. good luck. global media pro Level 20 ASB Tower 135 Albert St Auckland 1010 phone 0061 9 353 1235. Let me know if I can help. If you know of any one with a red drive for sale I would most appreciate it.

• 093531235

 

[christian nicolson]

global media pro
here is there number. I just googled it for you. its 11pm here right now so get the time right. good luck. global media pro Level 20 ASB Tower 135 Albert St Auckland 1010 phone 0061 9 353 1235. Let me know if I can help. If you know of any one with a red drive for sale I would most appreciate it.

• 093531235

 

[HelenOster]

Helen, it's great to have you here, standing up to fix the situation.

Must be a difficult job, working with people who already feel wronged and frustrated before you even meet them! Patience of a saint I'm guessing.

Anyway, we welcome you and are glad you can get involved to get to the bottom of it.

Just wanted you to hear a friendly voice in the mix.

Cheers!

Thank you, Jim - I am not usually an easily upset person, but if I was having the experience that Cornell has described I'm sure I would be feeling very angry and let down - and I do hope I can help to get this unsatisfactory situation resolved as quickly as possible

 

[Tony Harris]

Look dude don't trust someone in customer service to handle this issue, contact HQ and let them know that you intend to sue them. They will move ass on your issue trust me.. the more you wait and deal with someone on REDUSER that you can not contact is BS also look her up as well to see if she is an employee and go to small claims anyway to document and move on what happen to you. If you don't they will blow you off and you will have to deal with your loss.

 

[HelenOster]

Look dude don't trust someone in customer service to handle this issue, contact HQ and let them know that you intend to sue them. They will move ass on your issue trust me.. the more you wait and deal with someone on REDUSER that you can not contact is BS also look her up as well to see if she is an employee and go to small claims anyway to document and move on what happen to you. If you don't they will blow you off and you will have to deal with your loss.

Really?

Just Google Helen Oster Adorama

Or go here:
http://www.adorama.com/alc/0013669/blogarticle/Happy-Birthday-Helen-Oster

 

[HelenOster]

I will call tomorrow morning and hopefully the representative I usually speak to is in if not I will give you a call helen.

While we work on getting your remaining items back to you - at this point all I can say with 100% certainty is that the non-delivery was caused by clerical error, nothing else - I'd like to pursue the other matters.
You indicated in your posting that at least one member of staff was unacceptably rude to you; did you get a name, at all? if not, can you give me the date(s) and time(s) of your call(s) plus the number(s) you called from so I can access the recordings?

Thanks: Helen@adorama.com

 

[Tony Harris]

Yeah uh like I was saying man...Helen would be a good resource for you.. My bad Helen I went to your link and read about you.. My 12 cent is not needed here. I hope everything works out for you bro.

 

[HelenOster]

Yes It sounded odd to me too, since that was clearly Adorama's policy. however, what actually happened was much different from the stated policy. Helen, please don't add more work to my busy schedule by having to look up order numbers, and gather emails from the various people I spoke with at your company. If you care about finding more regarding this transaction, simply search your records for my name "Jason Comparetto" and you should see a disgruntled customer which had to file a chargeback with his credit company in order to fix the situation. Its pretty sad that it got to that level. I don't remember the last time I ever had to do that.

I found your notes, Jason, and from what I can see: your order was drop shipped by the manufacturer on June 5th because it was out of stock in our warehouse (so that we could fulfill your order more quickly). When we arrange a drop-ship then yes, we do need to charge immediately.

However, your order was sent by the manufacturer to an incorrect address - for reasons that are not clear. Therefore, we were waiting for the goods to be returned to us before issuing a credit. In the meantime you filed a chargeback, and were refunded in full.

 

[Joesef o.]

I had a selling issue as well and they told me a high value for my F3 at the time, then they dragged me around on the phone and the next day dropped the price on me even though everything was PERFECT and in original boxes and everything, the price was wayy lower after a quote, more so than was even close to being reasonable, and they told me I must not have heard them right.... Sorry but speak English fluently and have a decent IQ... There was no mis-communication, they flat out wanted to bait and hook me for me to sell them my gear. I'm sorry to hear about your issue with camera not coming back, thats really messed up and I hope they reimburse you with damages. I still from time to time buy from Adorama, but I will never try to sell my gear to them again, they totally BS'ed me on the phone the whole time.

 

[HelenOster]

I had a selling issue as well and they told me a high value for my F3 at the time, then they dragged me around on the phone and the next day dropped the price on me even though everything was PERFECT and in original boxes and everything, the price was wayy lower after a quote, more so than was even close to being reasonable, and they told me I must not have heard them right.... Sorry but speak English fluently and have a decent IQ... There was no mis-communication, they flat out wanted to bait and hook me for me to sell them my gear. I'm sorry to hear about your issue with camera not coming back, thats really messed up and I hope they reimburse you with damages. I still from time to time buy from Adorama, but I will never try to sell my gear to them again, they totally BS'ed me on the phone the whole time.

It sounds as though you were given only the expected re-sale value and not advised that the used department pay out only up to 70% of this. Without more information I can't be sure - however, if you can email me: Helen@adorama.com with additional details I'd be extremely interested to listen to the recording of the call between you and our rep.