Adorama — Attraction in New York

To start, I’m incredibly disappointed by Adorama. The short version is I don’t think there are any bad people, I just think it’s one of the most poorly ran companies with maybe some questionable policies.

This is long and is still an ongoing process, I almost want to give two stars because Steve in their sales department were really good to work with and helpful. But since they had the sale, the entirety of the rest of the company, logistics, support, and returns have all failed at their jobs. I honestly don’t want to attribute this to malice or deceit, I think it is a combination of terrible systems, bad internal communications, and poor follow through.

I purchased a Sony A7IV and a Sigma 24-70 Art taking advantage of two of their promotions: bonus trade in credit from Sony for new purchases and a 24 month no interest financing. That part was managed well by Steve in the sales department and they made that happen quicker and easier than I expected. Since then things have just gone downhill.

Trade in was sent on Wednesday, purchase was made on a Thursday hoping to have everything to use for the following weekend 8 days later. Delivery arrived on Monday. Shipping was normal and arrived safely. I open it up and start checking it out since it’s the first Sony A7IV I’ve been able to properly use. I notice after a short while a small scuff and then upon a closer inspection more signs of use, including wear on the bottom and some dust and debris collected in the eye cup. I then check the shutter count on my first test photo which shows that it is just under twelve-hundred. To be clear this would maybe be an E or E+ if it was listed as used. It was however a new purchase, so I was disappointed to start with. The Sigma lens though was in great condition however.

I was shipped either another person’s return without proper inspection as a new device or was shipped something from the used department. Either way, something that should never have happened. 1st major mess up.

I call, am told that they can’t do anything over the phone and I’ll need to collect a bunch of photos and email it to support since I’m saying the device is used. I do that and do not hear back until the next day telling me to ship it back. Frustrating but expected.

Tuesday after work I ship it back and also do my best to express that I was counting on having the camera for the weekend, which is getting a bit down to the wire. Blair from the customer support team emails me to say they are processing an advanced replacement and they will let me know when it’s processed. First time I felt relief in the process and was feeling less stressed. If this was where things ended this would be a 4 or even 5 star review. “They messed up but made it right.”

Come Thursday, I still haven’t heard anything. I call after work, get through to customer support and they try to find out what’s going on. Looks like the department has stopped taking calls a few minutes early, they’ll get back to me tomorrow.

Friday by noon CST I still have not heard back so I call again. Talk with a kind lady named George, same thing, not sure what going on, will contact the other department.

Two thing I learn: 1: Advance replacement was never processed let alone shipped so there is no chance I’m going to get the camera (also it’s much too late even find a camera to rent) 2: the returns department decided to take my camera as a return instead of as an exchange. Which messes with one of the two promotions I went with Adorama for in the first place. So George tried to put in a new order for me, turns out we can’t because the money hasn’t been refunded yet.

So where we are currently at: Don’t have my old or my new camera for this weekend when I needed it (why I’m posting during the weekend), likely lost the 24 month financing, they said I’d still get the Sony trade in discount like that’s doing me a favor (it runs until the end of the month so of course I will) and a huge waste of my time and money dealing with this, and no clue when this will be resolved. Hugely...

I've had too many bad experiences with Adorama to list here, I'm just writing this review to go over the last straw and the reason why I'm never doing business with Adorama. I don't know where to begin... I'll start with what a nightmare it is to trade-in anything for $$$. They have given me fair offers but when it comes to "cashing the check," I've been literally laughed out of Citizens Bank (where Adorama's check's are drawn ). Specifically, the Citizen's Bank on 15 Union Square W (the closest branch to Adorama's location). When I took in a recent check, the teller didn’t bother inputting the account number to cash the check and told me I could only deposit the check into an account if I’m not an account holder. One of the tellers who was walking by took one look at the check and said “especially from there.” That was just one of my MANY poor interactions. Even after all this, I still traded-in items for cash at Adorama. As of +/- 2 weeks ago, I’m never stepping foot into Adorama. Here’s the deal- I traded in another piece of equipment for a check. On July 7th, in the afternoon, I went to a different Citizen’s Bank in New Jersey. It was the Citizen’s Bank near one of my studios. Location- 134 Main Street, Madison, NJ 07940. I presented my check to the teller and he told me he can’t cash the check because the manager was not there. Mind you, the check was only for +/-$2k. The teller instructed me to go to their other location where their manager was at. I went to said location 169 Main St, Chatham, NJ 07928. Luckily, the banker that approached me was the branch manager named Samira. I was there with my 18 month old daughter and a literal camera hanging off my backpack trying to cash a check from a camera store. I don’t know what about my appearance bothered Samira but I could already tell by the dread in her eyes that I was not going to get my check cashed. Before she declined to cash the check, I asked her to please call Adorama to verify the check is good, seeing that most times they don’t even bother to enter Adorama’s account number into their system. I also did this because Adorama has told me “that’s all the bank has to do. Just call us, and you get your cash” Well, Samira called Adorama. She called the phone number in her system that probably takes her to Adorama’s accountant department. Joel answered the phone. Samira gave Joel all the check details. Joel confirmed the check was good. Joel is not some low-level accounting employee at Adorama. Samira went to the teller line, made a copy of my drivers license, without my permission, then came back and told me the check could not be cashed. I asked why and she replied, “the system won’t let me.” Mind you, Joel had just told her the check was good. I came back a few hours to once again cash the check, and once again Samira said “the system won’t let me cash the check.” I just left in disbelief. I should have gone back to reclaim the copy of my driver’s license, but the branch was closed. Isn’t an institution supposed to give me a privacy agreement regarding the information they are taking from me? Or at least ask me if she could make a copy? (She placed the copy of my ID in a drawer to the right of her) Especially, since I handed over my driver’s license, and Amex credit card. But, this experience only gets worse. I was fed up so I just went to deposit the check using my mobile banking. I had an extended hold placed on the check (a regular occurrence with Bank of America because the check is handwritten. According to Bank of America, the hold was placed because the mobile app “wasn’t able to read the dollar amount.” When I was taking a photo of the front and back of the check, I did get a message asking me to input the $$$ amount because it couldn’t read the written amount. This is a red flag according to BOA. That was the last straw. Hand written checks are treated like poison by so many banks. A few months before this, Adorama wrote a Citizen's Bank account info on a CitiBank check. Imagine how...

I've had nothing but horrible experiences over the last month with Adorama. I've used MPB, KEH, and B&H over the years with no issues. I've returned items to those companies with no issues, only had to pay return shipping on items I didn't like, I had shipping waived for items that arrived damaged or not as described. I decided to give Adorama a shot last month, and it's been a nightmare decision.

I've been waiting over a week now for a return to be refunded to my Adorama credit card. I purchased a star tracker for astrophotos, and when it arrived, I realized I needed a different tripod setup, as my bigger tripods are reserved mainly for cinematography. This requires a $500 tripod purchase, which I'm not doing right now. I returned the star tracker, unused, without barcodes or labels ripped on the original star tracker box. I was charged a $45 RESTOCKING FEE that I was not supposed to have been charged. The remainder of the refund went into my Adorama account as store credit. I had opened a chat with an Adorama rep before returning it to confirm the star tracker refund would go back on my Adorama card that I paid with. The rep promised me it would be refunded to the card, and that the restocking fee was a mistake and that would be returned to me. This was lie #1. I would have just sold the thing on eBay for $10 less than I paid for it new, taken the fee and postage hit, and put that towards the Adorama credit card payment myself.

So, now with $250 as store credit, I was promised by the second rep I chatted with that it would be refunded to my card within 48 business hours. Lie #2. I asked them if I could use some of the store credit, as I needed an extra drone battery, and some accessories for my drone. They told me that was fine, and whatever was left as store credit would go back on the card, again, within 48 business hours. I was able to spend part of it, but the remainder still hasn't been refunded to the card. We'll still call this lie #2.

With $150 of the store credit, I ordered a used drone battery, used drone filters, a used landing pad, and used propeller guards. The battery arrived with two large cracks, and a bulging case. This is dangerous to ship, and also such a disappointment. This battery was listed as EXCELLENT condition. Lie #3. The drone filters were supposed to have been in the original, smaller magnetic case. They were not. Lie #4. The propeller guards were advertised as DJI brand. They were not DJI brand, but aftermarket. They were $10 more USED from Adorama than they are new on Amazon, again, for an aftermarket brand. Lie #5. Deceit #1. Funny how the only used item that arrived in perfect shape was the $5 landing pad.

Now, they want me to return a drone battery that is cracked and bulging, which is illegal and dangerous to do. Not like I can go to prison for this, be held responsible for any damage it causes, be responsible for anyone it harms. Even if it does end up to Adorama safely, I'll have to deal with all of this hassle again. Well, I really should say, it'll add to the hassle that still exists from the last order and return.

Steer clear of Adorama. Use eBay, B&H, MPB, KEH, and even try Amazon's used/like new section. I've reported Adorama to the NYS AG's office. I'll also be giving Synchrony Bank, the bank the Adorama card is issued from, a call to let them know what's going on. Maybe they can help with a charge back, or re-consider going into business with a company that is fraudulent, deceitful, and downright a disappointment to the art and photography community.

They're stealing money from people and misleading them, is Elon Musk running...