Has anyone bought from ADORAMA?

[paullowell]

I have been looking at some of the used lenses on the adorama site

and was wondering if anyone has bought from them and if they had good

luck with them.

[manuel_franz]

Paul - they are a reputable seller as far as I know. Check resellerratings.com.

[steve_dunn2]

<p>No, none of the <a href="http://www.photo.net/neighbor/view-one-about?id=2&about=Adorama">dozens of people who have filed reports on them in photo.net's system</a> have ever bought from them.</p>

[Greg M]

I buy almost exclusively from B&H. I've never had a problem, and they've never tried selling me extra stuff I don't want.

 

I've bought equipment a couple of times from Adorama. A year or so ago I bought a new Canon FS4000US film scanner. A salesman called & tried (very hard) to sell me an extended warranty & was not pleased when he could not talk me into it.

 

After that I didn't buy anything else from Adorama until just a week or so ago. B&H was out of stock on the Canon 85mm f1.8 EF lens, so I ordered from Adorama. Sure enough, next day I had an email to call a salesman with no indication as to why they wanted me to call. Turns out he wanted to sell me a Tiffen filter kit to go with the lens that I had no use for.

 

My account history with B&H is several dozens of transactions long. The only time B&H has EVER called was when I purchased over $2,000 worth of equipment at one time and they just wanted to verify it was me doing the buying. I cannot recommend anywhere else more than B&H.

[sabrina_h.]

The hubby and I shop at both stores with a slant towards B&H (between the both of us,

almost every week for the past few yrs). We live in NYC and go into the stores often (we

also order online). If I had to buy it sight unseen (online), I would go to

B&H.

[josphy]

Hey, Paul, you may want to check out www.KEH.com for used equipment. I have bought a lotta used stuff from them in "bargain" condition that has been basically perfect to my eyes. I can't speak from personal experience about Adorama or B&H's used equipment....but from the comments i have read on here, peopel tend to trust KEH more for used, and Adorama or B&H for new. Apparently, Adorama or B&H can tend to overestimate the quality of a used item, while KEH usually seems to underestimate.

[david_anderson13]

I've ordered online from adorama about 4 or 5 times in the last couple months. I've never had them try to sell me anything extra or hassle me in any way. Everything has went smooth and I will definately order from them again. Though, I have never ordered anything used from them before.

[steve_levine]

Ive ordered online from them a few times,and had no problems(flashes & filters etc).However,my visits to their 17th St store havent always been so cheery.Several times they wanted to sell me "short date" portrait films for full price.I once asked to look at a used SLR body there.The salesman produced it from the back completely 'shrink wrapped'.When I asked if we could unwrap this to examine it.He exclaimed "after you buy it,you can unwrap it".Needless to say I left.

[douglas_greenberg]

Like many people, my first choice is generally B & H. But I have bought from Adorama also over the years and have had no significant problems with them. I consider Adorama one of the better mail order/online dealers.

[pazellisphoto]

I prefer B&H, but have ordered from Adorama as well.... They have a good customer service department, so when something has been on backorder they are prompt to inform you.

[david j.lee]

i tried to buy once from adorama. didn`t like their attitude. i buy from b&h, and

for a used camera-lens i agree with joseph, keh is the way to go.

[peter_n1664876959]

I have only bought new from both B&H and Adorama and have had nothing but excellent service from both. Adorama tends to be a little higher on the shipping. Would not buy used from either as I understand a lot of pros churn their equipment at those stores.

[anton_v.]

I buy lots of new stuff from Adorama. I've always been happy and they never tried to sell me extras. Only time they called me was to ask for address verification. However, I purchased a used lense once from them and was VERY dissappointed with the rating. I neve buy used from them again. KEH is the best place for used equipment. Their ratings are very, very, very conservative.

 

Anton

[jeff_lu]

used gear at adorama (and b&h) is overpriced. go to keh or buy off photo.net.

[ebogaerts]

Adorama tends to be very much on the high side in terms of used prices, at least in my experience more so than a place like KEH.

 

Plus, the one dealing that I had with Adorama's used department was...well lets just say that I was completely turned off from dealing with their used deparment again in the future.

 

..and, frankly when it comes to *new* mail-order goods, I feel perfectly comfortable dealing with B&H, who more or less have the same prices on new equipment as Adorama.

[ecarter]

Adorama is a reputable store and for new gear, I wouldn't hesitate to use them if the deal was right.

 

However, having had problems on a used gear purchase, I no longer purchase used gear there (or anywhere online for that matter). Adorama *did* work with me to get the issue resolved, so I think that they do act in good faith, but all the same, you have to take ratings and product descriptions as a bit of a leap of faith. Now, if I'm checking into used gear, I look at my local brick-n-mortar stores first, and resort to online purchasing ONLY if I cannot find it locally where I can pick up, handle, and examine the gear before I buy.

 

For online used gear sales, they're about as good as it gets though - some people claim B&H or KEH are better - not having used them, I can't say one way or another but all three have good reputations.

[ebogaerts]

"you have to take ratings and product descriptions as a bit of a leap of faith."

 

I personally wish that one day, KEH and their competitors would consider investing the kind of money, time, and effort that they put into hiring employees to process returns and instead make policies to photograph the *actual* items that they list on their website.

 

KEH does that for their ebay listings. It would only be a matter of photographing an item when it comes into their stockroom and placing a number or code on that item. When the item in question is listed on their webpage, they can simply access the correct photograph. Or, if they don't want to go through the trouble of putting it on their website, a salesperson could email the pictures to prospective buyers who request them.

 

As much as KEH "bargain" grade equipment is trumpeted up to be such fantastic gear on this website, the samples I have received have all been well worn. Or, as a friend of mine said, "Bargain" can be anything from like-new to a boat anchor. Such a photograph would leave little to no doubt as to the real cosmetic condition of a specific item.

[yakim_peled1]

My experience at buying from either Adorama or B&H is nothing short of excellent in every parameter you care to measure. I once returned a lens - Full refund, no questions asked. I also have a lot of friends who frequently buy from them - Same experience.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[martian bachelor]

"I buy almost exclusively from B&H. I've never had a problem, and they've never tried selling me extra stuff I don't want."

 

I did have them ship a substituted item onto me without my authorization. They were fine with refunding but I had to ship back at my cost, not to mention the disappointment and hassle factors.

[ken dennis]

I have been purchasing new equipment from adorama for some time now, and have had nothing but good come from them, even when one time I purchased an umbrella that was new, sealed in the factory packaging had a bad spot on the coating on the inside surface, not even a real bad spot, I called their service department, got with a live person right away, they had me email a picture of the bad spot on the umbrella, within 20 minutes the rep called me back to inform me that he had went directly to their shipping and had another one shipped out right away, and told me to keep the other one or throw it away! within another 30 minutes their shipping department sent me an email with tracking to confirm the shipment, in my book, that is exceptional customer service! I will never hesitate to buy from them new, but I cant say for their used items as I have only ever bought new from them!

Jack's camera in Muncie Indiana is the only place I purchase used equipment from, they have a very exceptional new and used sales and service policy, you can check out their rep here on photo.net, and since I only live 45 miles from them, its just that much more convenient for me to purchase used from them!

Ken.