jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

The UHH is a trove of good information and recommendations. Especially when it comes to buying equipment.
B&H, Roberts, Allen's, Hunt, plus many others are highly rated. Adorama, in NYC, has been included as well.
Not for me...from now on.
I just found that the plugin adapter for my Nikon MH-25a battery charger is lost.
So, I looked to buy a new MH-25a. Checked NikonUSA and found it to sell for an MSRP of $57.95. B&H and others had it for $54.95--not in stock.
Adorama had it, in stock, for $74.95!
I started at 9:05 this morning with online chat to see why the higher price and whether they would change it. 8 more chats, phone calls and 4 hours later, I finally got hold of a 'manager of customer service' in the NYC store. 20 minutes later she said to purchase online and contact her and she will credit me the B&H price difference.
I purchased the adapter only on E-bay, new, for $10.75 including tax and delivery.
If Adorama had posted this for NikonUSA's MSRP, I would have purchased it. If anyone else had it in stock..I would have purchased it.
But Adorama plays games. And these games are not for the benefit of their customers.
The fact that they are selling over manufacturer's MSRP is wrong. This does not engender confidence in a company and their claimed commitment to the customer. Nor does it make one confident that they will properly service their customer.
In my opinion, from this day on, they do not deserve my consideration--ever.
There are too many other good dealers that don't play games and deserve my business.
Everyone will decide who they deal with on their own.
This is my recent experience with Adorama. F minus.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

So you are basically saying that you consider a company that was offering a piece of equipment at $20 above what Nikon USA shows as its price for the identical item is "playing games".

Was 8 chats and the phone calls really worth haggling over $20? We are in an era of price variations, shipping cost changes, shortages, old and new stock pricings e.t.c. You have come on a forum whining about a company over $20 even after they had said they would credit the difference, wow.

User ID

Its consistant with what youll encounter if you browse his archive.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

If the price was $20 higher than the going rate and it was available from other vendors, why would you bother negotiating with Adorama instead of just purchasing it elsewhere? Seems like a strange waste of your time. No one cheated you, no one lied to you, and you lost no money. You not only unnecessarily wasted your time, but ours as well with your rant over a non-event.

niteman3d Loc: South Central Pennsylvania, USA

I checked your number for the charger at Adorama. It says $74.95, but I can't find the common abbreviation... "OBO". It's just a flat price... their asking price. In my experience, that's usually that for me and I go shopping. In this case, I would have done what you did and checked out the auction or other stores. Amazon has several knock-offs for around $30 for a package of two batteries and a double charger. I would probably have gone with that and had my order in after fifteen minutes or less of shopping. Four hours of trying to get a store to change their list price? Wow! Try that at the grocery store and let us know how it goes.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

gwilliams6

Exactly. I have shopped at B&H, Adorama, Allen's Camera and other top dealers for decades and usually they all quote the similar MSRP, or will match the price of their competitors, which Adorama offered to do .

If every time a UHHer complained about a single issue with a respected dealer (over $20 USD) we all stopped shopping with them, no one would ever shop again at B&H, Adorama, Robert's, Allen's or any of the longtime respected dealerships.

In several decades as a pro, of course I have had a few glitches shopping for gear, but these dealers have also gone out of their way to satisfy my needs, as well as the needs of hobbyists, often on an emergency basis, or during supply issues, during the pandemic, during chip shortages, etc. I have always been able to work out any issues with their sales people, and/or their customer service folks. I do also shop at Amazon for great deals on gear that doesn't always have to be the often more expensive OEM.

The hundreds of free photographic tutorials and countless thousands of hours of free educational instruction both during live-in-person seminars ,trade shows, in-studio shoots, and online in Youtube videos by top photography experts with Adorama TV and B&H TV are a constant and continuing service to all photographers of all experience levels worldwide.

As a longtime Professor of Photography, these Adorama and B&H free resources have been invaluable to the education of my hundreds of state university photography students, as well as the significant educational discounts extended to students by these dealers including Robert's and Allen's camera .

Cheers and best to you.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Ollieboy

I also avoid Adorama. Why bother with them when there are so many other reputable dealers.

cmc4214 Loc: S.W. Pennsylvania

Adorama has the reputation they do because of word of mouth, and internet media, if only the good were reported we would never know the reality of their business dealings. While nobody, (or business) is perfect, we need both the good, and bad to make an informed decision.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Really? I can't believe you wrote all of this because you were trying to chisel a retailer down on their price!!
If I don't like the price I move on!! Its RETAIL.
And how do you lose your battery charger?

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Exactly what I was going to say!

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I've bought from Adorama many times and dealt with their customer service as well. They are as good as B&H or any of the other photo dealers. And have been around a long time.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

I'd sell my brand-new and never used one for $3, but I can't find it.

Great price though.

I have bought and sold equipment with Adorama several times. On one occasion I did not like the price, so I bought it somewhere else.