Adorama wants $1600 collateral to rent an L lens?

I needed a 24L this week but never rented before. So I went to Adorama NYC because the lady on the phone tells me its $65/week. Awesome price.

I get there and tell the guy "no ive never rented before." The guy unsurely tells me "yeaaah I think this is a new policy or something but we have to charge you the value of the lens to your credit card as collateral until you return the lens, which is when you get your money back."

Someone tell me this is how every store runs things cause I walked into the elevator on my way out thinking "WTF? Outta your damn mind"

there are plenty of other(better) places to rent lenses.

Is nothing new. It has been their rental policy for a long time. You can't rent any of the gear without a full deposit first. If that bothers you, try Lensrentals.com.

Look into LensRentals.com or BorrowLenses.com ... LensRentals is more expensive than Adorama ($80/wk + shipping) but more flexible and there's no collatoral.

Damn it I was looking at lensrental.com all week and never did anything about it.

Thanks for telling me its not new though, I thought the guy there was trying to make an ass out of me.

Pretty much standard.

i think that's normal.

I rent from Sammy's Camera in Southern California and they do the same thing. They temp the credit card for the cost of the lens. It doesn't show as an actual charge, just an authorization. When I return the lens, they release the card.

Rented a 70-200 f/2.8 IS II and 300 f/2.8 IS from a local camera chain once. Had to borrow my dad's credit card to accommodate a $7,000 deposit.

It's just a temporary hold on your credit card. If you have a credit card, I don't see what the problem is with the deposit.

For $65 a week, I'd have no problem putting down a full deposit. That's an excellent price!

Bryan

Lensrentals.com, I've used them exclusively and I've never had a problem.

TheBrick3 wrote in post #14426768
Rented a 70-200 f/2.8 IS II and 300 f/2.8 IS from a local camera chain once. Had to borrow my dad's credit card to accommodate a $7,000 deposit.

It's just a temporary hold on your credit card. If you have a credit card, I don't see what the problem is with the deposit.

The problem is that you must have that much credit limit. Two, once the charge is on hold, your credit limit is reduced by that amount until you return the lens and they release the hold.

Around here, credit card number and $350 up front. You bring it back as you got it, you get the $350 back.

TheBrick3: Yea im just a student young dumb and broke so I dont have $1600 credit line just laying around.