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

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #19040623
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.

My point was Not you trying to dupe them...it was that if they suspected an in-house fraudulent activity in which

1. two units taken from inventory
   
2. two units shown as having shipped from inventory
   
3. one unit weight in the actual shipment
   

Wilt wrote in post #19041079
My point was Not you trying to dupe them...it was that if they suspected an in-house fraudulent activity in which

1. two units taken from inventory
   
2. two units shown as having shipped from inventory
   
3. one unit weight in the actual shipment
   

that seqence of event would both corroborate your story AND show that it was pre-shipment inventory 'loss', and CCTV would show the personnel involved. Proof internally, before the steps taken to correct the issue for the customer. Inconvenient for you yes, but perhaps something necessary for them, particulary if had happened before and they had a suspect.

But my question still persists. If they thought it was in house fraudulent activity, why do I have to wait until they clear up their in house error that I have nothing to do with before they ship a replacement?

Maybe, the bean counters and/or the owners of the business simply need to keep separated the 'losses due to in-house theft' vs 'generally screwed up operations loss'!

I think it's a simple explanation. They don't trust you, why would they? I'm sure plenty of people try all sorts of scams.
The best practice of the operator you dealt with would be to hide the fact they don't trust you and try to provide an explanation that would not be offensive to you. I think they failed.
While your explanation of the weight of the box (and size) instantly made sense to me when reading your post, I don't have to face the wrath of a supervisor if somehow you manage to fool me. So the operator was probably concentrating on making sure they were not falling victim to a scam and forgot to do what most people would want, be treated without (obvious) suspicion.

It's been a couple of days now, any progress?

Choderboy wrote in post #19041408
I think it's a simple explanation. They don't trust you, why would they? I'm sure plenty of people try all sorts of scams.
The best practice of the operator you dealt with would be to hide the fact they don't trust you and try to provide an explanation that would not be offensive to you. I think they failed.
While your explanation of the weight of the box (and size) instantly made sense to me when reading your post, I don't have to face the wrath of a supervisor if somehow you manage to fool me. So the operator was probably concentrating on making sure they were not falling victim to a scam and forgot to do what most people would want, be treated without (obvious) suspicion.

It's been a couple of days now, any progress?

That would have meant having to somehow get UPS in on the scam haha. But I understand their concern. I actually did just receive the replacement drive about 5 minutes ago.

As Arnie once said: "give me your address there"

Back in the pre internet days, I'd use the phone book and would often make notes just listing company name and phone number.
I'd ring around, getting quotes. Then I'd call back and say the Arnie line. It used to make me laugh the number of times the person on the phone would baulk at that request. Particularly for some of the bigger adds, they paid lot's of money to have their company name stand out from competitors. So when they'd ask "why", I'd say "because I want to come and buy something from you!". Then they'd obviously sound embarrassed and give me the address. Just natural human defences applied when not needed....

I mean, did they think I just randomly call numbers then turn up with a bomb? Was that my plan?

Choderboy wrote in post #19041508
As Arnie once said: "give me your address there"

Back in the pre internet days, I'd use the phone book and would often make notes just listing company name and phone number.
I'd ring around, getting quotes. Then I'd call back and say the Arnie line. It used to make me laugh the number of times the person on the phone would baulk at that request. Particularly for some of the bigger adds, they paid lot's of money to have their company name stand out from competitors. So when they'd ask "why", I'd say "because I want to come and buy something from you!". Then they'd obviously sound embarrassed and give me the address. Just natural human defences applied when not needed....

I mean, did they think I just randomly call numbers then turn up with a bomb? Was that my plan?

Of course, some of those retailers in the NYC area were NOT at all located within NYC, but operated phone banks to take orders and ship from very innocuous 'warehouse' locations that were not at all impressive!

I remember the first time I ordered from Adorama, from a Modern Photography ad by telephone in the late 70s, I think.

I asked a question about the item, and the guy said, "It doesn't sound like you know what you want. Call back when you know what you want." >click<

RDKirk wrote in post #19041832
I remember the first time I ordered from Adorama, from a Modern Photography ad by telephone in the late 70s, I think.

I asked a question about the item, and the guy said, "It doesn't sound like you know what you want. Call back when you know what you want." >click<

Funny! In that same timeframe of late 1960’s early 1970’s we would get together a large group of guys, take the train to NYC (from Philadelphia) on a Sunday, and hit 47th Street Photo and B&H Photo. I’m not sure if Adorama existed as a retail store but if it did I’m sure we visited. For the most part store employees were a bit obnoxious; didn’t provide much help and had a keen desire to make a sale and move on to the next customer.

The good thing was no tax as the shipment was going out of state. Next best thing, you could take your purchase with you and the store shipped empty boxes thus meeting the crazy laws on shipping!

RDKirk wrote in post #19041832
I remember the first time I ordered from Adorama, from a Modern Photography ad by telephone in the late 70s, I think.

I asked a question about the item, and the guy said, "It doesn't sound like you know what you want. Call back when you know what you want." >click<

Are you sure you weren't calling Keeble and Shuchat Just kidding, but that kind of attitude was the norm for that store which not surprisingly finally went out of business.

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #19038570
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.

That's not your problem, they should have shipped you another drive right a way and let corporate security figure out what happened later.

You don't own Adorama so if the drive came up short internally, or externally, that's their problem to solve not yours.

John from PA wrote in post #19039206
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.

While only one number can be tracked UPS can find out where in their system it went from scanning two of the same tracking numbers down to one.

I had a couple of packages shipped to me, one contained a lot of Motorola handhelds and the other chargers, the seller wisely chose to ship the handhelds separate from the chargers due to the weight of the chargers which would have to be double boxed in a much larger box.

Everything was just fine until the handhelds never showed up.

The seller put in a claim of $3700 and UPS investigated it, what they found was both packages scanned into the Orlando facility but only one scanned out.

UPS paid the claim and I received a refund for the handhelds, but I was stuck with the chargers as the seller refused to take them back.

Literally, 3 weeks later USP dropped off the handhelds in a brand new box at my home, it had a shipping label from UPS in Orlando to my address with a different tracking number.

I have the feeling the first box was damaged in Orlando beyond the point of being usable, in which case UPS will repack everything into a new box and forward it on to the receiver.

Why it took 3 weeks, I have no idea, all I can think of is somewhere in the Orlando hub that box came off a belt and wasn't noticed right away.

Wilt wrote in post #19041120
Maybe, the bean counters and/or the owners of the business simply need to keep separated the 'losses due to in-house theft' vs 'generally screwed up operations loss'!

They could that after the fact and not delay getting out to the customer what they paid for.

MBR wrote in post #19053291
They could that after the fact and not delay getting out to the customer what they paid for.

Certainly...but we know that what COULD have been done is not always done!

I attempted to buy a printer recently.

1. Retailer said the printer was shipped
   
2. Shipping agent said 'Shipping label was printed' by the retailer, but item was 'never Shipped' (received from the retailer) nor 'enroute'.
   
3. I emailed the retailer to inquired about the 'never shipped', and they claimed that the item was Shipped, but the shipping agent RETURNED the item (or unexplained reason) so the retailer refunded my order and cancelled it, because they could not initiate a new shipment.
   

Jarvis Creative Studios wrote in post #19038570
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.

I can answer that - they can check from the cameras if, for example, it was indeed actually picked /packed, or it fell off the belt on the way to being packed (I never understood why it took so long, though)