Adorama - Complaint -

Interesting thread this one. While the OP's reaction is a bit on the higher end of the scale, I think his prior experiences led to an accumulated frustration and the most recent one finally tipping him over the line. Hence, the obvious frustration with a hint of anger and a sprinkle of remorse (over his decision to give Adorama another chance).

Equally amusing is Helen's response and here is why I say this. When customers appreciate customer service received by one individual at a company, it is ultimately the company taking the credit for it and basking in the glory of good reviews. however, when the time comes to take a hit, it is one individual's mistake. The same individual might have been responsible for earlier praises for the company. If you own the appreciation then please be humbled by some of the flak you might receive once in a while.

Dear OP: this situation is something you can't really control so thinking about it and overanalyzing it isn't going to do you any good. Try not to keep getting angry over the feeling of being wronged - toxic for you and the loved ones around you.

Just as an update for those interested. My card is still charged and still have received no computer and no concrete date on when I'll receive it. Customer service says they may ship on the 20th, but not certain. For those bashing me I'm sure that you'd be happily, patiently waiting with a big smile knowing what you read on a vendors web site was still not fulfilled. Currently, they've only changed one of their mistakes. It now reads on Backorder, but still says "Your card will only be charged once item is shipped." This is still not true yet remains.

There were numerous mistakes made that I'm simply not happy about. Too many language barriers, crappy attitudes and flat out incompetence.

If you want to do business with these guys of course that's up to you, but for me this was the final straw and will not go back to them. And yes, I'm sure they won't miss me. Helen can't possibly hold up the whole company and I don't want her to have to babysit every order I make. It'd be easier to stick with B&H. Simply put, there's B&H and then there's everyone else.

I appreciate those who've shown their support. I won't respond to anyone that can't make sense of this matter as I haven't a clue how you could possibly continue giving your hard earned $$ to a company that doesn't really give a damn while there are others that do. I also don't have the time to argue, I'd rather be out shooting.

BTW, I'm not angry, just let down. I've had the moderators change the title.

HelenOster, I see the name of the thread has been changed. I am happy that you got what you asked for here. It shows responsiveness and responsibility on the part of the moderators.

That said, I believe it was the wrong thing to do. As it was, the thread stood as testimony to the absurdity of the original complaint, and the OP's community-wide demand that even he himself was not willing to stand by. In my mind, the title change somehow legitimizes the entire 'Adorama complaint' issue.

I'm just curious if b&h is currently shipping orders?

elitejp wrote in post #17783642
I'm just curious if b&h is currently shipping orders?

No, but not promising something they can't deliver as was Adorama when I made my order (3-4 days).

Their site says and has said:

"NEW ITEM - COMING SOON
Ship Time: Not available"

No lies or deception there. Pretty straight forward.

Your continued bitterness is astonishing. And also quite sad.

As Helen explained, it was simply an error by an Adorama employee. Things happen. Have you ever once made a simple error or interpreted something incorrectly? Time to move on.

Simple remedy... You could have walked into your local Apple Store, purchased your iMac, and walked out with it.

Your attempt to skirt the CA sales and use taxes is what placed you in this situation.

There are much bigger problems in the world today than shipping delays for a new release, high-demand Apple product.

Asking others to join your boycott of Adorama because you want to avoid CA sales and use tax is about as shallow as I have seen.

And rob kinda beat me to the next point. Why not just buy from an apple store directly? In your original post you stated that the apple store would have it in a week, adorama in 3 to 4 days and b&h wasn't sure. If getting the product first is your main priority than after realizing adorama couldn't fulfill the order in time, and that b&h still isn't sure when, then your best option would be to go to your local apple store and get one there. Heck, you could have even kept your credit card charged and order placed with adorama until you had the product from the local store in hand. Afterwards cancel with adorama and get your card reimbursed.

Ynot wrote in post #17783660
No, but not promising something they can't deliver as was Adorama when I made my order (3-4 days).

Their site says and has said:

"NEW ITEM - COMING SOON
Ship Time: Not available"

No lies or deception there. Pretty straight forward.

You have spent this entire thread making a mountain out of a molehill. If moderators close threads on this forum, this one certainly deserves it.

robsudac wrote in post #17783684
Your continued bitterness is astonishing. And also quite sad.

As Helen explained, it was simply an error by an Adorama employee. Things happen. Have you ever once made a simple error or interpreted something incorrectly? Time to move on.

Actually numerous employees, the sales rep, the person that cancelled my order and reordered pushing me further down the list and the web team that has still not changed the language on their site in one of the two "errors". Agreed things happen, but multiple things happened here and why I wrote the OP. Yes, indeed I’ve messed up and then always more than made up for it, sometimes giving a job away for free. Outside of a voucher from Helen that only came about after my OP, Adorama was not willing to fix the screw ups and was easier for them to cancel my order, than even attempt to fix matters and send a customer away happy. Also, I initially interpreted nothing incorrectly. I read what they wrote, called and the sales associate repeated that information, so I ordered. At no point did I consider any of that information to be false.

robsudac wrote in post #17783684
Simple remedy... You could have walked into your local Apple Store, purchased your iMac, and walked out with it.

Your attempt to skirt the CA sales and use taxes is what placed you in this situation.

My local Apple Store was not offering what Adorama was offering. Adorama’s mistakes are what placed me in this position as I believed what they wrote on their web site and again repeated by the sales associate. If the order was fulfilled as they wrote then this situation and this thread would never have begun.

robsudac wrote in post #17783684
There are much bigger problems in the world today than shipping delays for a new release, high-demand Apple product.

Agreed. Not sure where you're going with this.

robsudac wrote in post #17783684
Asking others to join your boycott of Adorama because you want to avoid CA sales and use tax is about as shallow as I have seen.

Again, I agree partly and why I had the title changed. But it was not only sales tax, it was also the software, the 3-4 day shipping date and other advertised free incentives that enticed me over from B&H. BTW, you, yourself live in CA. You mean to tell me that you’ve never ordered from a business in NY? Or is that different from me in some strange twisted way?

elitejp wrote in post #17783693
And rob kinda beat me to the next point. Why not just buy from an apple store directly? In your original post you stated that the apple store would have it in a week, adorama in 3 to 4 days and b&h wasn't sure.

The Apple Store that had it, was local to Adorama, not me and if it was local to me I wouldn’t have gotten as good a deal of that offered by Adorama. If Adorama really wanted to take care of a customer they would have done what it takes to satisfy the order and at-least tried to maybe get that machine and ship it. This at the same time as fixing the verbiage on their site, so not to have this happen again, but the sales associate’s smug, lazy attitude was easier.

elitejp wrote in post #17783693
If getting the product first is your main priority than after realizing adorama couldn't fulfill the order in time, and that b&h still isn't sure when, then your best option would be to go to your local apple store and get one there. Heck, you could have even kept your credit card charged and order placed with adorama until you had the product from the local store in hand. Afterwards cancel with adorama and get your card reimbursed.

Totally agree, but I would also have missed other incentives like free hardware, free software and later free AppleCare. These kept me on board. BTW, I have received those incentives so now I’m in this for the long haul. I guess Adorama get's a star for this part of the order.

Bassat wrote in post #17783696
You have spent this entire thread making a mountain out of a molehill. If moderators close threads on this forum, this one certainly deserves it.

Not really, people here have been beating a dead horse for a couple weeks now with no involvement from me at all. I simply reported what transpired and felt that Adorama wasn’t standing up to what they advertised and still am. To tell people not to do business with them… well I should have left that open for others to decide and why I had the title changed, but I’ll still go elsewhere next time. That’s the only mistake I made, part of the title.

Go ahead and close the thread. I’ve lied about nothing and am done anyway. I’m sure I’ll eventually get my machine go on.

Wow. Some people just don't get it and may never will [SIGH].

With 68 posts so far it seems fairly obvious what the majority consensus of the POTN community is; Why continue to defend your minority viewpoint from your soapbox/glass house?

Helen already hooked you up with a freebie voucher. Let go and take your wife out to a nice dinner for the equivalent value of this kind gesture courtesy of Adorama?

Time to let go of your anger and frustration over something so petty as an incorrect shipping timeline for a scarce, new Apple product release that not one single retailer in the nation could possibly meet... mistakes and errors happen in life.

Time to turn the page buddy.

On the flipside, if you think the thread should end, why continue to argue with someone you think is not going to change their tune? Threads die when people stop arguing, or as someone else put it, beating the dead horse.

I think the OP is 100% to be fed up. In his position I certainly would be, no doubt about it.

Unfortunately I've come to the limit of my personal abilities (and it's not often that happens), so following a discussion with my manager, we agreed a suggested course of action that I have emailed directly to the OP.

HelenOster wrote in post #17784582
I think the OP is 100% to be fed up. In his position I certainly would be, no doubt about it.

Unfortunately I've come to the limit of my personal abilities (and it's not often that happens), so following a discussion with my manager, we agreed a suggested course of action that I have emailed directly to the OP.

Thanks for helping out, Helen!

In defense of the OP, I probably lost my cool more then he did on Helen and Adorama. I am in the same boat as he is as I ordered on the 10/29 and I have no idea when the item is going to be shipped. Had I seen this forum before I had ordered there is no way I would have, so if nothing else it can serve as a warning to anyone else thinking about ordering an Apple(or other?) item through Adorama that is not in stock.
I have ordered through them before with nothing but great results, but I never had to use their customer service department which I feel like is a true test for a company. And as another poster has said, Helen cannot hold up a whole company especially one where it seems that the right hand does not know what the left is doing. The bottom line is that although the shipping issues and hold ups may be Apple's fault, the order went through Adorama and they have been in my opinion in the wrong on a many levels in this particular scenario. Primarily with the communication to the customers. In my situation with them which is closely aligned to the OP's, I was actually charged shortly after ordering, i.e... within hours, which would be alright if they had made note that it would happen. Then the same day they had sent a notification that the item would be drop shipped, since then the only correspondence about the order that I have not initiated was to ask for a review of the item...? Nothing about expected ship dates or anything else, I have had to reach out every time, and beyond Helen, no one there really seems to care about reading and responding to a whole email, just the first item...
Now I have to believe that Apple is supplying them with some sort of shipping estimates that are not automatically being forwarded. Even with a iPad Pro preorder through MacMall, I have been kept abreast of any shipping timeline changes via automated email for each item in the order. The last time I reached out to Adorama was this past Thursday the 12th and did not get a reply for 26 hours that the newest timeline would be the second week of December before they received them in the warehouse, a week earlier I had been told November 20th ETA. Needless to say frustration sets in and builds.... Especially since even earlier this week when I had been in contact with Helen the website was showing shipping in 2-4 days, it leads me to believe that there is more than one person to blame for the issues.
I will reach out to Helen tomorrow to see how to proceed, but the bottomline is that Adorama's handling of these iMacs has not been what we would have expected, and it is not just the OP or myself that are experiencing it. It is a shame because in a crowded field to purchase not only Apple product but also photography and electronics, customer service will dictate whether people will continue using a company.

I just don't get it. Usually when a company doesn't measure up to what you expect then its easy enough to just cancel the order; at least from the major biggies. Understanding full well the frustration from not getting essentially what was advertised; it seems to me a very simple process to cut your losses (I'm speaking of lost time basically) and cancel the order and go with someone else. Countless times, for whatever reason, I've had to go in a different direction to get something I wanted, when I wanted it.

To each his/her own I guess. But the market is big enough, there are enough players to easily move on from frustrating situations. I don't feel the need to write frustrating email after email trying to push square pegs in round holes. Threads like this actually are somewhat useful IMO because it lets us all know that maybe not a good idea to order Apple products (and maybe a select few others) from Adorama. So I don't want to totally dump on the discussion here. I guess at this point I would never allow myself to get frustrated with an order beyond a day or 2.