Ordered 2 HDDs From Adorama, Only Received One. Got Questionable Response From Customer Service

I want to start off by saying I love Adorama and have never had any issues with them whatsoever up until today. In fact, they are usually my go to over Amazon and B&H due to my positive experience with them. But today I had my first ever issue. I ordered two Seagate 6TB IronWolf Pro HDDs. My shipment arrived today and there was only one in the box.

The box was obviously designed only to carry one HDD, as two never would have fit. Additionally, the shipment weight from UPS was only 2.4lbs, making it very obvious that there could not be two beefy 3.5" HDDs and the weight of the box. Adorama even lists the weight of the HDD on their site as 1.55lbs, making it physically impossible for there have been two in the box when they shipped it. Despite all this, I got quite a weird reaction from customer service. When I initially called and asked the question, the representative immediately said "We sent them in two shipments" (despite having only sent me one tracking number, and the packing slip that came in the box said there should be two). I told him I had only received one tracking number and asked if he could provide me with the other number. He became confused and said he was going to transfer me to another customer service representative.

After getting on the phone with another representative, I told her the issue. She told me to describe the box to her (which I've never had a customer representative do) and tell her if there were any holes, or "places where someone could have removed product". I told her no that that the box was obviously designed for one HDD. She then asked if I wanted a replacement or a refund. I told her replacement. But what she told me next is what baffled me a little bit, as I've never had a company tell me this, especially a large company. She said "We have to check our warehouse CCTV to see what happened. Give us about two business days and then we'll get back to you." I was kind of like WTF?! at this point. I've never had an issue with Adorama orders or customer service, but for those who have is this common practice?

I have followed up with Adorama about the weight and due to this they expedited the order for me, so hopefully all is resolved. I understand that issues happen sometimes, and I am grateful to Adorama for helping me to get this fixed. I actually tried to delete this thread after following up with them but kept getting an "Error 3" message that wouldn't let me delete and kept telling me to refresh the page, so instead I'll just follow up here to let you know that I believe they're making it right, which I appreciate.

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #19038208
I want to start off by saying I love Adorama and have never had any issues with them whatsoever up until today. In fact, they are usually my go to over Amazon and B&H due to my positive experience with them. But today I had my first ever issue. I ordered two Seagate 6TB IronWolf Pro HDDs. My shipment arrived today and there was only one in the box.

The box was obviously designed only to carry one HDD, as two never would have fit. Additionally, the shipment weight from UPS was only 2.4lbs, making it very obvious that there could not be two beefy 3.5" HDDs and the weight of the box. Adorama even lists the weight of the HDD on their site as 1.55lbs, making it physically impossible for there have been two in the box when they shipped it. Despite all this, I got quite a weird reaction from customer service. When I initially called and asked the question, the representative immediately said "We sent them in two shipments" (despite having only sent me one tracking number, and the packing slip that came in the box said there should be two). I told him I had only received one tracking number and asked if he could provide me with the other number. He became confused and said he was going to transfer me to another customer service representative.

After getting on the phone with another representative, I told her the issue. She told me to describe the box to her (which I've never had a customer representative do) and tell her if there were any holes, or "places where someone could have removed product". I told her no that that the box was obviously designed for one HDD. She then asked if I wanted a replacement or a refund. I told her replacement. But what she told me next is what baffled me a little bit, as I've never had a company tell me this, especially a large company. She said "We have to check our warehouse CCTV to see what happened. Give us about two business days and then we'll get back to you." I was kind of like WTF?! at this point. I've never had an issue with Adorama orders or customer service, but for those who have is this common practice?

I don't understand your reason for posting. If you've been happy with them before and never had a problem with them before, why are you asking "...is this common practice?'

You have experience with them...have you experienced this as common practice? Why would our experience be more meaningful to you than your own?

RDKirk wrote in post #19038559
I don't understand your reason for posting. If you've been happy with them before and never had a problem with them before, why are you asking "...is this common practice?'

You have experience with them...have you experienced this as common practice? Why would our experience be more meaningful to you than your own?

I wasn't asking if having issues in general was common practice. I was asking if checking the warehouse CCTV and making me wait "about two business days and then getting back to me" about fulfilling an order was common practice. That was what I found odd about the interaction.

Perhaps their shipping records said, "Shipped 2", but you stated packaging only suitable to ship One. So they needed to look at inhouse CCTV to see who/what happened, and corroborate the weight of the shipment actually handled by the carrier, in an effort to puzzle thru the stated shipment of two units, and the receipt by you of One?!

Does seem a bit odd - most stuff I buy online comes double-boxed, i.e. the original oem box then put in a standard sized box - even if there is only one item, so not sure if it's standard practice over there to ship "au naturel"
Also at one time, it was impossible to post the words Adorama & problem together on these boards without a certain helpful-fairy dropping by within minutes to sort it out.

Wilt wrote in post #19038580
Perhaps their shipping records said, "Shipped 2", but you stated packaging only suitable to ship One. So they needed to look at in house CCTV to see who/what happened, and corroborate the weight of the shipment actually handled by the carrier, in an effort to puzzle thru the stated shipment of two units, and the receipt by you of One?!

I agree with where Wilt is going with this line of dialog. That drive is almost $200 so they want to be reasonably sure they screwed up. Keep in mind that the customer service people you talked to are likely working from home (due to the virus). So the person you talked to might not know the physical size of the item you purchased.

In these troubling times an occasional hiccup can occur but overall I'm surprised how well things do still work.

Unfortunately, Helen Oster is no longer with Adorama. It was not a happy parting (she shared a few details on another board), but she's doing a different job now that she enjoys very much.

It does not appear Adorama has chosen to continue her practice of online customer relationship vigilance. However, my experience with their customer service in solving problems since then has yet been very gratifying.

Edit: I guess there is now Nancy Miller.

Hello, there, Nancy.

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #19038225
I have followed up with Adorama about the weight and due to this they expedited the order for me, so hopefully all is resolved. I understand that issues happen sometimes, and I am grateful to Adorama for helping me to get this fixed. I actually tried to delete this thread after following up with them but kept getting an "Error 3" message that wouldn't let me delete and kept telling me to refresh the page, so instead I'll just follow up here to let you know that I believe they're making it right, which I appreciate.

Hi,

I'm sorry I only saw this today.
To explain; normally, if a customer says they received the order missing a part or a piece, we check with the warehouse if this indeed was shipped complete or if it was left behind accidentally. We would also ask for a description of the Adorama shipping box or manufacturer's box when you received it to rule out any mishandling while the item was in transit to you.

If you still need help in getting this sorted, please let me know so I can help. My email is nancym@adorama.com

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #19038208
It. Despite all this, I got quite a weird reaction from customer service. When I initially called and asked the question, the representative immediately said "We sent them in two shipments" (despite having only sent me one tracking number, and the packing slip that came in the box said there should be two). I told him I had only received one tracking number and asked if he could provide me with the other number. He became confused and said he was going to transfer me to another customer service representative.

It has been several years since I was involved with logistics, but it was possible to do a “multi-piece shipment that would have a single tracking number with both UPS and FedEx. UPS doesn’t recommend it, you can’t even do it with UPS packaging. If for example two packages are shipped and one of the packages is lost, only one can be tracked.

https://www.ups.com …iece_Shipment_Q​uickly.htm

Wilt wrote in post #19038580
Perhaps their shipping records said, "Shipped 2", but you stated packaging only suitable to ship One. So they needed to look at inhouse CCTV to see who/what happened, and corroborate the weight of the shipment actually handled by the carrier, in an effort to puzzle thru the stated shipment of two units, and the receipt by you of One?!

The weight of the shipment ruled out two HDDs were ever put in the box. I understand why they had to look at the CCTV footage, but not why I had to wait for them to do so, as the issue was obviously on their end and not me trying to dupe them.

John from PA wrote in post #19038681
I agree with where Wilt is going with this line of dialog. That drive is almost $200 so they want to be reasonably sure they screwed up. Keep in mind that the customer service people you talked to are likely working from home (due to the virus). So the person you talked to might not know the physical size of the item you purchased.

In these troubling times an occasional hiccup can occur but overall I'm surprised how well things do still work.

They have the weight of the HDD listed on their website. The weight of the package from UPS was less than two of the HDDs (which wouldn't even include the extra packaging weight) so it would be quite easy to figure out which end the issue occurred on, even if you didn't have the physical item. I wasn't upset about the fact that there was a screw up. I understand that happens. I was confused why they were making me wait until they checked the CCTV cameras. I spoke with them again later that day (Wednesday, April 1st) and they said they had expedited the claim because of the package weight, and to give them one business day to ship out the item, but no replacement has been sent yet. I'll be back in touch if nothing has shipped by Tuesday.

joeseph wrote in post #19038641
Does seem a bit odd - most stuff I buy online comes double-boxed, i.e. the original oem box then put in a standard sized box - even if there is only one item, so not sure if it's standard practice over there to ship "au naturel"
Also at one time, it was impossible to post the words Adorama & problem together on these boards without a certain helpful-fairy dropping by within minutes to sort it out.

It did come double boxed. Sorry if I did not make that part clear. There was the Seagate product box inside of an Adorama box, but the Seagate box was only large enough to house one HDD, and the Adorama box was only large enough to house the single Seagate box. I was actually expecting Helen to show up in this thread until I saw the comment above about her no longer being with Adorama. That's a shame they parted. She was very helpful and kind.

John from PA wrote in post #19039206
It has been several years since I was involved with logistics, but it was possible to do a “multi-piece shipment that would have a single tracking number with both UPS and FedEx. UPS doesn’t recommend it, you can even do it with UPS packaging. If for example two packages are shipped and one of the packages is lost, only one can be tracked.

https://www.ups.com …iece_Shipment_Q​uickly.htm

The first rep I spoke with when I called Adorama told me there were two separate shipments with two separate tracking numbers. When I asked for the second tracking number, I found out the "separate shipment" he was referring to was actually a C-Stand I had ordered in August of 2019. Then he became confused and transferred me to another rep, and that's when the conversation about the CCTV occurred. The second rep confirmed that both items should have been in the box, and there was only one single shipment.

Nancy Miller - Adorama wrote in post #19039093
Hi,

I'm sorry I only saw this today.
To explain; normally, if a customer says they received the order missing a part or a piece, we check with the warehouse if this indeed was shipped complete or if it was left behind accidentally. We would also ask for a description of the Adorama shipping box or manufacturer's box when you received it to rule out any mishandling while the item was in transit to you.

If you still need help in getting this sorted, please let me know so I can help. My email is nancym@adorama.com

Thank you for reaching out. I understand things are very chaotic right now. Thank you for further explaining the situation. As of now, a replacement has not been sent, but I have received an email with an updated order number. I will be in touch if I don't hear anything in a few business days. Thanks again.