Adorama - Complaint -

mpix345 wrote in post #17767877
Helen, I appreciate your candid responses in this thread. From my perspective there is no reason to shoot anyone. Adorama is allowed to make mistakes. I think what hurts you in a thread like this is people defending you sort of beyond reason. I think some of that has occurred because of the OPs exaggerated position, but it still helps make the conversation burn hotter than it needs to.

I'll take that, as I was the biggest 'defender' in this thread. First, I agree with you that overheated rhetoric tends to elicit more of the same. Guilty as charged.

In my defense, I never saw my position as 'defending' anything. The OP made some extraordinary claims and requests. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The evidence supplied, IMHO, does not support the claims, and certainly not the request. I don't have a dog in this fight. I favor neither side. I merely pointed out the flaws in the OP's position.

Had the OP posted:

"Adorama complaint: What do you guys think of them?" or

"Adorama complaint: Reputable business?"

the thread would have taken an entirely different tone.

Bassat wrote in post #17767957
...
Had the OP posted:

"Adorama complaint: What do you guys think of them?" or

"Adorama complaint: Reputable business?"

the thread would have taken an entirely different tone.

I agree. When the first step is in the wrong direction it's hard to end up in the right place. (I think I read that in a fortune cookie once)

mpix345 wrote in post #17767877
Helen, I appreciate your candid responses in this thread. From my perspective there is no reason to shoot anyone. Adorama is allowed to make mistakes. I think what hurts you in a thread like this is people defending you sort of beyond reason. I think some of that has occurred because of the OPs exaggerated position, but it still helps make the conversation burn hotter than it needs to.

From my perspective - and I often read of situations like this with the other big (actually, much bigger) photography store in NYC, as well as the Worldwide Leviathan (that will eventually put us all out of business....) - 'Adorama' did not mess up, here. Sometimes 'Adorama' messes up, ie when a clear company policy or procedure is the cause of a problem. But that isn't the case in this instance.

ONE PERSON made a mistake!

The consequences are that this mistake has already cost 'Adorama' dearly in compensation payments and potentially lost future business due to the reach of Social Media. It also has a cost to other customers because of the time it has taken - and is still taking - to mop up the mess, which means slower response times etc. Which may mean more lost business.

As we all know, lost business can lead to job cuts which reduces the service level which means more lost business......

So the question for me is (and as I'm an Independent Consultant for Adorama I'm throwing it out there) would 'Adorama' (the business) take a decision to intentionally mislead customers when the potential consequences are so huge?

I don't think so.

Which is why IMO, defenders of 'Adorama' the business - in this instance - are correct. And I do feel that the thread title should be changed to reflect that.

HelenOster wrote in post #17768961
From my perspective - and I often read of situations like this with the other big (actually, much bigger) photography store in NYC, as well as the Worldwide Leviathan (that will eventually put us all out of business....) - 'Adorama' did not mess up, here. Sometimes 'Adorama' messes up, ie when a clear company policy or procedure is the cause of a problem. But that isn't the case in this instance.

ONE PERSON made a mistake! ...

Philosophically speaking, I don't think you can separate "Adorama" very far from "an employee of Adorama". Adorama hired the person who made the mistake, trained him (presumably), and had the responsibility to monitor his ongoing performance. Doesn't mean that Adorama didn't do everything right and this person just "went rogue" or had a particularly bad day or something, but I don't think customers generally allow for much slack in this area. (at least my customers never have).

mpix345 wrote in post #17769056
.....I don't think customers generally allow for much slack in this area. (at least my customers never have).

How right you are.....

Never seen so much fuss over waiting for something.... it's a darn apple product. Nobody will care about this next year. Life moves on.

Live life happy... not full of frustration because you have no patience.

EDIT: I purchased a theater screen from a smaller company.... which promised 4-6 week delivery. My card was charged the day I placed the order. Short story was 4 months later I got my screen.

I was patient and now I have my screen.... all while remaining happy because I recognized that they were a smaller company and knew that I was saving a thousand dollars over ordering off the shelf item from bigger store. The end

and I don't get it... it's an apple product!?!?!

If we're talking about the just-released 4.0GHz iMac, then it's simply not reasonable to expect Adorama to be able to get it drop shipped to you in 2-4 days when both B&H and the Apple Store website have it on pre-order shipping no sooner than Nov 4. The Adorama website was wrong, but there was also a failure of common sense here.

In the end, you're going to get a good deal on the product, and have it in hand as quickly as possible without paying CA sales tax (which is outrageous, BTW, as high as 10% in some parts). Boycott a retailer because they had a shipping date mistake on one item? Or because it wasn't clear the card being charged only applies to items they ship from their own warehouse? These just aren't boycott-level offenses, this is an overreaction attributable to frustration. Boycott-level offenses would be egregious things like selling used or grey market product as new warrantied product, refusing returns that meet the return policy requirements, or belligerent customer treatment from CS.

mpix345 wrote in post #17769056
but I don't think customers generally allow for much slack in this area. (at least my customers never have).

Extremely true. It can be incredibly hard for the general customer to tell the difference. Is a manger doing something because the manager is being a **** because he had a fight with his wife that day, or is it because the company has decided to do that. The customer has no way of knowing. I've worked with Helen in the past and she clearly fights for the customer however she can, however I've also had her run into being unable to get stuff done because of those above her. That particular instance (which is outside the scope of this thread for sure) has caused me to greatly limit my purchases with Adorama. I'll never really know if it was because of a manager that has long since been fired for incompetence or if that's the way Adorama does business, but when there are other companies out there that offer the same prices and the appearance of better service, it's hard for me to go back.

This is nothing new as all retailers, both major and minor, will run into inventory and delivery issues like this from time to time.

The Subject title heading is harsh and should be edited.

Helen stepped in and made an attempt to make things right.

A bunch of whining in this thread. Time to move on people.

Agreed. A life crisis or two will change your priorities. Let's hope you don't have them and can continue to carry the burden of petty annoyances, stand on a mountaintop and shout about them loud enough to hear your echo many times over... if that makes you feel better.

Ynot wrote in post #17764603
A few days ago I canceled my order with B&H, because of what I read on their site ... The product is a new 27" iMac.

Which particular product and what was written on our site which disturbed you?

HelenOster wrote in post #17768961
From my perspective - and I often read of situations like this with the other big (actually, much bigger) photography store in NYC,

Cracks about my waistline?

Wondering if some people attend Missouri University....glad to see things are working out for everybody.

One more reason to buy local.

Sometimes I spend a little more, but hassles like these are avoided and I support my local economy in the process

I dont know who that comment is referring to and its perfectly fine to buy local. However the OP for purposes of saving money and hopefully getting the product early decided to buy online. The problem occurred when the online store was not going to be able to deliver on the expected date. In defense of the store there were no stores that were able to fulfill the expected ship date due to the producer not delivering the product on time.