Although the instant rebate promotion has come to an end... [Archive]

View Full Version : Although the instant rebate promotion has come to an end...

airfang

01-19-2009, 03:36 PM

Amazon.com is still offering these lenses at a competitive price against B&H, e.g.:

Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L II: $1390 ($1450 @ B&H)

Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS: $1599.99 ($1699 @ B&H)

Thought this might be useful to those who missed the deadline [:D]

Oren

01-19-2009, 04:00 PM

Am I missing something here? At B&H for example, before the 17th the price for the 50d was like this: $1069 + $100 rebate = 50d for $1069. So when the rebate ended, as I see it, obviously the 50d should have been at $1169... so why it's $1299??

Oren

01-19-2009, 05:36 PM

I'd buy something from B&H rather than Amazon.

40Doodle

01-19-2009, 07:17 PM

I noticed the same thing during the instant rebate period too. Amazon's prices were less that B&H's on the lenses I was following. Canoga Camera had better prices on those same lenses than B&H, but not as good as Amazon's.

I used to buy a lot of gear from B&H, but their rude phone sales treatment is more than I want to endure anymore. By contrast, I have just started doing business with Canoga Camera. Calling their Sales department for advice and info has been such a "breath of fresh air" compared to B&H. I don't work for Canoga if anyone is wondering, just a new customer that likes what I see so far.

Rick

airfang

01-22-2009, 06:07 AM

I also noticed another one:

although Canon EF 180 f/3.5L Macro was not in the instant rebate list, the price on amazon went up by like 50 or sth (previously $12XX) to $1300.

So there was some silent holiday promotion?

airfang

01-22-2009, 06:07 AM

kdw9885

02-12-2009, 11:31 PM

Dallasphotog

02-13-2009, 10:29 AM

I would advise you to look at two very good "L" lens. The EF70-200MM f/2.8 L IS USM and the EF24-70mm f/2.8 L. I use the 24-70 extensively at weddings.

Erich Anderson

02-13-2009, 10:54 AM

Not me. I always buy all of my camera and electronics from Amazon and have NEVER had any problems. I save a huge amount of money because I don't have to pay shipping or tax (I'm an Amazon Prime member, so 2 day shipping is always FREE). Plus the prices on Amazon are usually the cheapest anyway (just be sure you are buying from AMAZON, and not one of their third party sellers).

I used to buy camera equipment from some of those New York based camera stores but they always seemed to have an attitude when you talk to them on the phone.

40Doodle

02-13-2009, 10:55 AM

I did go ahead and send some of my business to Canoga Camera (after that last very rude episode with B&H Sales). What strikes me about B&H is that if anyone should know the value of being courteous to a customer, it should be the "Sales Department". But enough about B&H, because they won't get another penny from me anyway and there's plenty of other price competitive companies who understand being courteous to their customers.

In the last month, I've done 3 separate orders with Canoga (over $500 worth of gear). My experience with Canoga has been first class all the way. I've called them for advice several times and they have always been courteous and helpful. All three orders were extremely well packed and packaged. One of the items was out of stock at the time I ordered. Canoga never lost sight of that product, shipped the balance of items on that particular order and then shipped the backordered item to me at no cost.

After what I've read here about Adorama, I will also consider doing business with them in the future, expecially in the area of refurbished canon lenses. I will likely give that a go and have been impressed by Adorama's participation in this board and others. It always speaks well of a company that takes time to listen to it's customers (even in forums) and I like that about Adorama.

Rick

HelenOster

02-15-2009, 02:54 PM

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<st1:personname w:st="on"]</st1:personname>
www.adorama.com ("http://www.adorama.com)

Tokidoki

02-16-2009, 10:19 AM

Yeah I have the same experience with B&H. I used to swear by B&H because their customer service was very good. But recently they have been very rude... last month I called B&H just to find out whether the 5D mk II will be available in less than2-3 weeks or will it be out of stock for more than that. I need to know this because I just recently sold 1 of my body to my cousin, and wouldnt want to not have a back up body for the upcoming shot. However I was not able to complete my question.. when I asked about the 5D Mark II the sales just kept saying "chek the website, check the website, check the website" Duh! I know its not available... but if you dont know, then just say that you don't know! I just want a confirmation that it will be available within a couple of weeks, or otherwise I will have to pick up a 50D or something like that temporarily.

Well anyway, I called Adorama, and they were very nice, and helpful! I got my 5D mk II the week after! They even give me a courtesy call to let me know that the 5D has been shipped!

As for Amazon, I have bought a couple of stuff fromthem cuz it ships faster to my area (theres an amazon werehouse 10 minutes from my house) You just have to be careful, and see who is actually selling the item.

Tokidoki

HelenOster

02-17-2009, 06:42 AM

Oren

02-17-2009, 07:56 AM

Hey HelenOster,

It's great to have you here with us. If you really are listening, to be honest, your site is a bit confusing. It seem to me that there are many images and a lot of text everywhere and it's pretty distracting. Look at B&H, there site is the best I've seen so far - very simple, clean, easy on the eyes and you are not distracted by anything.

I know re-designing/re-developing of a site is not something that easy (I'm a developer myself) so I'm not asking you to do that, but I just thought I'd let you know so at least you'll be aware of that and can decide what to do.

Regards.

HelenOster

02-17-2009, 08:14 AM

</o:p>

<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]You are absolutely right - and the Adorama website is actually already in the process of re-development, although I don't know the estimated date of completion.<o:p></o:p>

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40Doodle

02-17-2009, 10:24 AM

Helen,

This may be just a "pipe wish", but I also have a suggestion. It would be very helpful to have an information "push" capability with the site much like what I have when ordering from NewEgg.com. With NewEgg, if there is a product I'm interested in getting, but is out of stock, I click on the "Notify me" button within that product's listing. A window opens up that asks for my email address and when the product is in stock, they send me a notification email so I can order it.

I can see where this kind of thing could be very useful in the "refurbished lens" area of Adorama. It would be very useful to receive a notification by email when a particular refurbished lense came available at Adorama. Today, I have to do a search and hope that one is still available the particular day that I think to check the site. That method depends upon my active checking, but a "push" method would be better since it would not depend upon me checking the site all the time for availability.

The way I would envision this working would be a button on the existing product page for a given lens on your website. Let's say I'm wanting a refurbished Canon 100-400L. I click a button on that product's page that says "notify me if a used or refurbished lens comes available. The way that NewEgg keeps this kind of thing manageable (for them) is that they only send that notice once when the product comes available. If I want to be notified again, I have to make a new request via a new click on the notify-me button.

Just thought I'd share this idea in case you folks think it would be of use to your other customers. If not, that's OK too.

Rick

PS: No matter what you do with the website (and I do believe well designed sites are important), it is the people, the customer service, the phone communications that are always most important to me as a customer. From the many satisfied customer comments I've read in forums about Adorama, it looks like you folks get an "A" in that department!

HelenOster

02-17-2009, 12:54 PM

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana;"]Your kind comments about Adorama's customer service are very much appreciated; we are aware that improvements were needed, and have been working hard to address this area over the past 12 months.<o:p></o:p>
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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana;"]I passed on your idea to the team responsible for up-dating and improving the website; I just received an email indicating that it is certainly somehing that we would like to integrate - so thank you for the suggestion!<o:p></o:p>
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HelenOster

02-17-2009, 12:57 PM

PS - could you contact me directly?

Thank you - helen.oster@adoramacamera.com ("helen.oster@adoramacamera.com)

Helen

HelenOster

02-17-2009, 12:59 PM

As noted above, Adorama's web team are in the process of re-developing the Adorama Camerawebsite

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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"]Helen Oster</o:p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"]Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador</o:p>
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40Doodle

02-17-2009, 01:23 PM

Helen,

Yes, I can contact you...glad to help.

Rick

naturegrapher

02-18-2009, 06:58 AM

I too have an experience with B&H.

I have been a B&H customer and have bought a lot of stuff from them, however going forward, I need to find someone else who can stick to commitments. I must have till date spent atleast 35,000/- USD buying stuff from B&H bringing them to India when ever I travel or any of my friends travel.

Recently I made an online purchaseof some medium format film(220 and 120 formats) and 35mm film and got it shipped to through UPS since my next trip to the US is not due for a few months to come.. When it landed, I realised that B&H had not even mentioned that the package contains film and should not be put throughx-ray.Thanks to that good deed by B&H the film is useless since the customs dept put it though x-ray(the best part is I paid customs duty for this soiled film).

I did write back to B&H informing them about this and also suggested that they should consider including someplace in their order form where a customer can leave instructions. This was acknowledged by B&H and infact came back to me offering me a 20$ off on next purchase and free shipping. The next time when I finally decided to place an order with B&H I wrote to them wanting to know as to how can I avail the 20bucks off and free shipping.... and guess what..... no reply till date, a number of remindersbut no reply till date....

I never asked them for a discount or rebate or free shipping, but only was suggesting something to help improve on their assesment/understanding of their customer needs.I wanted to avail of it since they offered it, but thanks to this, I do not think I would be ordering any more stuff from them.

If any body from B&H is reading this, please get your shop in order before its too late for you to react and realise that you are crashing. I may be an insignificant customer from a so called third world country but in today's world every customer matters....

Regards....

Colin

03-01-2009, 03:23 AM

I think he was doing theater.

henryp

03-01-2009, 01:49 PM

Recently I made an online purchaseof some medium format film (220 and 120 formats) and 35mm film and got it shipped to through UPS since my next trip to the US is not due for a few months to come.. When it landed, I realised that B&H had not even mentioned that the package contains film and should not be put throughx-ray.Thanks to that good deed by B&H the film is useless since the customs dept put it though x-ray(the best part is I paid customs duty for this soiled film).

I am sorry for your dissatisfaction. We don't label the outside of our packages at all because we've learned doing so makes them a target of thievery. In particular we don't label our boxes in any way to say there's film inside or they shouldn't be x-rayed because

1) Labels of this sort are entirely ineffective. If some security chap decides to x-ray the box anyway (as could easily happen since sucn a box could easily contain contraband the sender does not want discovered) it'll get x-rayed.

2) UPS assures us our boxes are never x-rayed from the time they leave our loading dock to the time they're delivered to the customer.

We ship worldwide daily, including plenty of film. No customer hjas complained about the quality of the film he or she has received. Particularly since 9/11, this has been a concern and we've been careful to monitor customer feedback.

We do so much business with India we've set up a separate web site ("http://www.bhindia.com/)for our customers from there. None who've used this site have complained about the quality of the film they're received.

We don't have insignificant customers. Every customer and every order, no matter the size or the country of origin, is important.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video ("http://www.bhphotovideo.com/)

henryp

03-01-2009, 01:52 PM

Look at B&H, there site is the best I've seen so far - very simple, clean, easy on the eyes and you are not distracted by anything.

Thank you.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video ("http://www.bhphotovideo.com/)

naturegrapher

03-02-2009, 05:51 AM

Dear Mr. Henry Posner,

<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]I do understand large organizations have fixed processes in place and cannot adapt to change with ease. In my limited experience of running relatively successful business especially in today’s financial environment, I never forget this: “Change is something that one needs to adapt to rather quickly or get ready to be changed”.

<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]I may not order stuff from B&H in future but at least I feel a little better that you guys take a note of things especially when they are put up on public domain. <o:p></o:p>

</o:p>Now as far as my issue is concerned, I can forward the chain of e-mails that were sent and received from B&H before you decide to address it and then tell me if I have been reasonable with your organization or not. <o:p></o:p>

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<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]P.S. One suggestion from my end would be that you please post you e-mail ID on this forum so that people with issues relating to B&H can write to you.

henryp

03-02-2009, 12:32 PM

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"]
I do understand large organizations have fixed processes in place and cannot adapt to change with ease. In my limited experience of running relatively successful business especially in today’s financial environment, I never forget this: “Change is something that one needs to adapt to rather quickly or get ready to be changed”.

The issue is not the speed with which we're able to adapt to change. It's that some suggested changes benefit some at the expense of others, which must be considered, and some changes have other ramifications which must be weighed before the proposed change is implemented.

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"]

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"]I may not order stuff from B&H in future but at least I feel a little better that you guys take a note of things especially when they are put up on public domain. <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"]

I think you can "<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"]order stuff from B&H in future" with complete confidence.

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"]P.S. One suggestion from my end would be that you please post you e-mail ID on this forum so that people with issues relating to B&H can write to you.

Good point. I thought it was in my forum sig, but then I discovered the sigs don't automatically get appended to forum posts.
My e-mail is henryp@bhphotovideo.com

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video ("http://wwww.bhphotovideo.com/)

Keith B

03-02-2009, 04:32 PM

Well I don't who this helps or if there is anyone from Amazon sitting on these boards but...

If a company sends out an email on Oct. 20th saying no interest no payments for 12 months on camera gear when purchased with there store card, why on February 22 do they send you a bill asking for payment with a substantial amount of interest attached. Now I have to waste my time sitting on the telephone arguing with people I can't understand and am pretty sure they don't understand me. Be very aware of dealing with Amazon.

naturegrapher

03-03-2009, 02:13 AM

The issue is not the speed with which we're able to adapt to change. It's that some suggested changes benefit some at the expense of others, which must be considered, and some changes have other ramifications which must be weighed before the proposed change is implemented.

I do not see as to how my suggestion comes at an expense of others. <span style="font-size: 9pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"]Anyway you know what works best for B&H, however this maynot necessarily suit customer needs. Lets just rest this here.

My best wishs to B&H and its team.

Regards NG.......

P.s. I did send that email.

David Selby

03-03-2009, 05:17 PM

Dear Forum Users,

This thread has been adjusted in order to prevent any confusion regarding vendor representatives and participants.

Please note that:
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]Helen Oster is the representative of Adorama, and can be contacted directly at helen.oster@adoramacamera.com
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]Henry Posner is the representative of B&H Photo, and can be contacted directly at henryp@bhphotovideo.com
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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"]Thank you for respecting their efforts in responding to customer feedback and issues.
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