Adorama Camera

I have never had a single problem over the last six weeks making about 15 purchases totaling about 13K, many returns made by mistake, getting refunded, or shipping. I only regret not purchasing their awesome VIP360 membership which I will do tomorrow if they can cover my recent purchases (they have never said no to me). They also have great support, a learning center, Adorama TV, and so many more benefits. Seriously, as a big Amazon shopper, I buy all my camera gear and lighting from Adorama only. They are also a big company with many customers, but some people are just never happy no matter what you do for them. Some of the negative comments here are suspect for me because of my experience with Adorama, and they don’t deserve some of the comments made here.

I then asked what the reason was as to why my card wasn’t able to be verified and all I got told was “Our automated credit card Verification system is private, confidential and secure. To prevent identity theft and fraud we can only give customers general reason for cancelations. We are unable to go into specific details about our process or specific reasons for denial of orders. Please allow up to 5 business days from the time your order was cancelled for your funds to return back to your method of payment. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.” I now have to wait for my money to be put back into my account before I can even purchase the camera I had planned to buy. Not sure if I want to even order from them at this point or if I should just buy it somewhere else. Has anyone else had this happen before? What would you guys suggest I do?

I'm now looking into buying a new camera system and my first thought was Adorama. I log onto my account to find I have not accumulated any points as promised in store so I called in customer service. I was dealt with a representative who clearly had no respect for my issue. She claimed my purchase was made before the point system was introduced (which I checked and I bought my gear a mere month before it was officially introduced) so I asked her about other customer reward systems that may have been in place beforehand when I made the purchase. I explained the story of how I was actually offered some product at the time. She legitimately said "it's too far back, I cannot check" and I was completely speechless. The point system hasn't even been introduced for two years and she made absolutely no effort to check the claim I have made and showed absolutely no compassion for what I was experiencing.

On top of that, I ended the call asking about my Flash system that I've had trouble with recently. I asked if there's a procedure to see if I can repair it and the representative just said "it's out of warranty" cutting me off before I actually offered to pay for the service. I clearly told her that I don't mind paying if there's anything that can be done, I just wanted to see if there was a way or procedure in which I don't have to buy a new one and given how it's only worth $110, I imagine repair for an item as such would not be very high. The vibe I got from her was that she was annoyed with the question and simply wanted me to buy a new one instead of fixing the one I already have.

Overall, I'm disgusted by the customer service and the lack of care from the staff of Adorama for their customers. I clearly stated I was interested in upgrading my camera gear through them and even offered to pay to fix gear that may or may not be defective. The representative did not take my issues seriously, and put little thought and care into my concerns. I honestly feel cheated and lied to but more so outraged that the representative knew I liked my flash and would likely buy it again from them regardless of the outcome. For a store that claims to be "a family-owned business, our goal [is] to provide you with the same level of service that we would give to our own family," I did not feel this whatsoever. In fact, I felt simply like a number to you guys who had such little care for a system that should REWARD customers for shopping there regardless of how BIG or SMALL the purchase or CONCERN is.

I purchased two items on April 27. The first item, sent via UPS arrived on May 1 and the other, send via UPS Mail Innovations, was expected to arrive on May 2 based on tracking. It did not. I called customer service on May 4 and was instructed to call back because "these things take 7 days". I called again on May 5 (it hasn't arrived) and was told that a replacement product will be shipped and that I will be getting an updated tracking #. I did not.

I called CS on May 6 and was told to wait because tracking data showed movement. All this time, tracking showed it sat in a USPS facility in a city about 2 hours from my location. It then showed up in another USPS facility in Houston. It basically arrived in our state and then was routed to Houston, about the opposite of my location. I called CS again on May 7 and was told to wait until May 11 "because these things take up to 10 business days". On May 11, the item did not arrive and tracking showed it was routed to another USPS facility in Houston. I e-mailed and was told to wait another day because "there was movement in tracking". I called and was told a replacement was going to be sent.

Today, May 12, about 10 days after it was expected to arrive, and roughly 15 days after the item was ordered, I called to follow up and customer service attempted to give me a USPS phone number for me to check. And then I was informed that tracking showed it was either going to arrive today or tomorrow. I asked for an email to confirm this new arrival date and I never got one. I did receive an email that tracking showed it is on its way after sitting in two Houston USPS facilities for nearly 6 days. They even offered me a $15 coupon. I told them to keep their money. What is emerging is that Adorama was never serious in replacing the product if it did not arrive after 10 business days. They are going to let the "tracking" take care of itself, however long it will take. Beware. If something goes wrong with the shipping, you are on your own. Avoid for now.

We asked them to please provide a photo of the box so that we can point to them where we placed the drone, but they declined to do so. We make purchases on Amazon regularly, and occasionally would also return items, but we've never experienced any incidents like this before. Now, we don't even know who to ask for help. They misplaced the item, and now they are asking their customer to pay for their own mistake. Not only is Adorama unreliable, but it keeps playing tricks on its customer. I truly don't understand. Can someone please help us? Our case number: **