It appears that the once-revered Adorama has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau but a 1.45 out of 5 rating from customer reviews. The much-despised Abe's has an F rating from the BBB (having been suspended in 2007 as a member by the BBB) but has a customer review has a rating of 3.59 out of 5!

https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/profile/photography-equipment/adorama-camera-0121-2477

https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/brooklyn/profile/electronic-equipment-dealers/abes-camera-and-electronics-0121-1050

I am frankly amazed to read this account which caused me to read some of the literally hundreds of bad reviews and similar experiences to that of the OP. When Helen was here, any issues could be resolved quickly and Adorama was one of the “good guys”. It certainly seems something has changed. I will continue to do my business with my excellent local camera store (Southeastern Camera) B&H, and MPB, but based on what I’ve just read (not just the OP’s experience, but a host of others, many of which have occurred recently), there are issues at Adorama, so I don’t think I’ll be patronizing Adorama any time soon. This is a consumer’s nightmare and what lends credibility to this account is that most of the complaints are for exactly the same problems - missing items in a shipment and reneging on trade in offers.

I too appreciate the warning. Having done business with Adorama in the past I was unaware and unsuspecting of these more recent issues.

Trustpilot (which factors in the age of the reviews in its rating) gives Adorama 2.8 out of 5, whereas Abe's of Mane gets 4.5 out of 5! This corroborates the consumer rating information from the BBB web site, but with a larger sampling.

Many threads here on UHH routinely include Adorama in a list of reliable merchants; evidently this company should now be stricken from such listings.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.adorama.com

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.abesofmaine.com

Hello!
I just wanted to warn anyone who is considering purchasing from or selling to Adorama. I never received the camera, filter, or battery I purchased from them, and they don’t intend on doing anything to remedy the situation.

I sent an email inquiring about trading in my camera gear. This included a mint condition R6, RF28-70, RF 15-35, and RF 70-200 along with Gimbals, bags, microphones, etc. Received an email from Charles Lewy saying that they were interested in acquiring the gear. So I called (because they refuse to put anything in writing) then I asked what they think they could do, the person on the phone said the camera and lenses alone could easily be worth up to 8 or 9k.

They told me to send them all of my gear (in addition to the camera and lenses). Once they got the gear, they waited over a week, then they called back with an offer that was thousands of dollars lower they offered $6200 for everything.

I only agreed because the salesman that I spoke to over the phone Efraim Nussbaum said that they could put together a package containing the gear I wanted for that amount. We came to an agreement, and I was excited waiting for my new gear (Fujifilm system).

The first box was received and was huge. Inside of it was a single piece of bubble wrap, a battery charger, and a lens. There was also a packing slip stating that there was also supposed to be an X-t4, spare battery, and a VND filter. The box showed up in perfect condition and the tape hadn’t been messed with. I tried calling Efraim and left a couple of messages with people, I also emailed him asking for him to call me back (and now that the sale was done I was obviously not important to him). I've never heard back from him, and have since received generic emails saying that they are waiting for a shipper to get back to them, and then some security guy emails me weeks later saying that they never sent the search request? But I'm still getting emails saying to wait for the report from the shipper. So that tells me that they don't even talk to each other.

I had done plenty of business with them in the past, and have my company and clients that do business with them as well, so I figured it was a mistake and I called them. They said that they would look into it and to give them 2-3 days. Over a week later I had to call myself and they told me that they couldn’t find it at their warehouse and that they were going to file a shipping claim (even tho the box was fully intact minus the gear that was supposed to be in it).


So I am now out a Fuji X-T4, battery, and B+W VND filter which is just over $2000 dollars worth of gear (which is a devastating amount of money and or gear for me to lose). I just got an email stating that because the picture I sent showed that the box wasn’t damaged (as I had originally told them in the first place) they weren’t going to do anything to remedy my situation with the camera I never received.

I’ve been a customer of Adorama for years, and I have recommended them for production rentals, corporate purchases, as well as individuals. With the lack of respect, care, or concern they have for their clients, not only do I not feel comfortable recommending them, but I also, unfortunately, am not comfortable allowing Adorama to be used for rentals or purchases for any of my productions including work with other agencies and production houses. I can't risk spending a production budget renting from a company where if something doesn't show up the best they can say is "Sorry! Thank you for understanding". That's not just rude, but it's cold and truly unacceptible.

They seem to have no interest in seeing that their customers are really taken care of and happy. I truly wish they would help or do SOMETHING to fix this. I’d love to hear from anyone else who has had similar problems. I've spoken to a few people who have had similar problems in the past few months. I'm now looking into other options...

I’d recommend that no one does business with them if you don’t want to feel like I do.

I wish that after years of doing business I could recommend them, but it doesn’t seem that they care one way or the other. They don’t care that I never received what I purchased so I doubt they would care about you either.

I’ve never felt this taken advantage of ever. Please be careful if you’re going to spend your money with them in the future. I'm now out over $2000, and can't afford to buy a camera for the lenses that I now have. Worst customer service and experience of my life.

It's now been weeks and the sickening feeling hasn't gone away. I don't even care about the low ball trade amount, I just want the gear that I purchased. That's literally all I want! Please be careful, they aren’t the company that they used to be.

I’ve filed with the Better Business Bureau, and am in the process of sending all my info to the attorney general’s office. I’d rather not go thru all of this but it’s all I can do at this point.

Hello!
I just wanted to warn anyone who is considering purchasing from or selling to Adorama. I never received the camera, filter, or battery I purchased from them, and they don’t intend on doing anything to remedy the situation.

I sent an email inquiring about trading in my camera gear. This included a mint condition R6, RF28-70, RF 15-35, and RF 70-200 along with Gimbals, bags, microphones, etc. Received an email from Charles Lewy saying that they were interested in acquiring the gear. So I called (because they refuse to put anything in writing) then I asked what they think they could do, the person on the phone said the camera and lenses alone could easily be worth up to 8 or 9k.

They told me to send them all of my gear (in addition to the camera and lenses). Once they got the gear, they waited over a week, then they called back with an offer that was thousands of dollars lower they offered $6200 for everything.

I only agreed because the salesman that I spoke to over the phone Efraim Nussbaum said that they could put together a package containing the gear I wanted for that amount. We came to an agreement, and I was excited waiting for my new gear (Fujifilm system).

The first box was received and was huge. Inside of it was a single piece of bubble wrap, a battery charger, and a lens. There was also a packing slip stating that there was also supposed to be an X-t4, spare battery, and a VND filter. The box showed up in perfect condition and the tape hadn’t been messed with. I tried calling Efraim and left a couple of messages with people, I also emailed him asking for him to call me back (and now that the sale was done I was obviously not important to him). I've never heard back from him, and have since received generic emails saying that they are waiting for a shipper to get back to them, and then some security guy emails me weeks later saying that they never sent the search request? But I'm still getting emails saying to wait for the report from the shipper. So that tells me that they don't even talk to each other.

I had done plenty of business with them in the past, and have my company and clients that do business with them as well, so I figured it was a mistake and I called them. They said that they would look into it and to give them 2-3 days. Over a week later I had to call myself and they told me that they couldn’t find it at their warehouse and that they were going to file a shipping claim (even tho the box was fully intact minus the gear that was supposed to be in it).


So I am now out a Fuji X-T4, battery, and B+W VND filter which is just over $2000 dollars worth of gear (which is a devastating amount of money and or gear for me to lose). I just got an email stating that because the picture I sent showed that the box wasn’t damaged (as I had originally told them in the first place) they weren’t going to do anything to remedy my situation with the camera I never received.

I’ve been a customer of Adorama for years, and I have recommended them for production rentals, corporate purchases, as well as individuals. With the lack of respect, care, or concern they have for their clients, not only do I not feel comfortable recommending them, but I also, unfortunately, am not comfortable allowing Adorama to be used for rentals or purchases for any of my productions including work with other agencies and production houses. I can't risk spending a production budget renting from a company where if something doesn't show up the best they can say is "Sorry! Thank you for understanding". That's not just rude, but it's cold and truly unacceptible.

They seem to have no interest in seeing that their customers are really taken care of and happy. I truly wish they would help or do SOMETHING to fix this. I’d love to hear from anyone else who has had similar problems. I've spoken to a few people who have had similar problems in the past few months. I'm now looking into other options...

I’d recommend that no one does business with them if you don’t want to feel like I do.

I wish that after years of doing business I could recommend them, but it doesn’t seem that they care one way or the other. They don’t care that I never received what I purchased so I doubt they would care about you either.

I’ve never felt this taken advantage of ever. Please be careful if you’re going to spend your money with them in the future. I'm now out over $2000, and can't afford to buy a camera for the lenses that I now have. Worst customer service and experience of my life.

It's now been weeks and the sickening feeling hasn't gone away. I don't even care about the low ball trade amount, I just want the gear that I purchased. That's literally all I want! Please be careful, they aren’t the company that they used to be.

I’ve filed with the Better Business Bureau, and am in the process of sending all my info to the attorney general’s office. I’d rather not go thru all of this but it’s all I can do at this point.

If the company is inundated with complaints and bad reviews, no amount of bad publicity is going to encourage them to make good on a bad deal. Unfortunately, they may have become used to it and hope that in time the matter will fizzle out

My advice would be to simply file a lawsuit based on the non-delivery of goods that were paid for. Hopefully, the OP has all the pertinent paperwork, records and evidence.

They, the company, can give the OP, the BBB and everyone else the runaround but when they receive a statement of claim, a writ of summons, or whatever they call that kind of court order in the OP's jurisdiction, someone will have to appear in court and account for their actions. That is a civil court matter. In some jurisdictions, the amount of money in question may qualify for small-claims court so no attorneys fees will be necessary.

If the OP feels he was defrauded, he should file a complaint with the police.

None of this is fun or speedy but it may be effective in the end. Oftentimes these issues are settled out of court once the defendant realizes the plaintiff means business.

Sorry to hear these kinds of stories and the heads up is important but the OP should take proper legal action. Hopefully is he's probably in the process of doing just that.