Never buy from Adorama because it sells used item as a new one!  
 
Here is what happened: I ordered a new B+W CPL filter, but Adorama sent me a used one! The signs of usage and defects are evidenced by the following facts:  
 
1.It is a open-box item, i.e. the original seal is gone;  
 
2.There are obvious smudges on the both sides of the filter; And  
 
3.There is a noticeable scratch on coating surface of the filter.  
 
Here is my response: I emailed Adorama, requiring they take following actions:  
 
1.Explain why this has happened.  
 
2.Send me a NEW UNOPENED B+W CPL of the same type using overnight FedEx as I need the filter next Wednesday.  
 
3.I will return the used filter using FedEx or UPS at Adorama's cost.  
 
Here is the reply from Adorma:  
 
“We apologize for any inconvenience concerning your order. If you wish to receive the replacement item by Wednesday, you would need to place a new order and return the defective filter back to our warehouse. When placing the order be sure to pick standard ground shipping, it should arrive within 2 business days. Please refer to the instructions below for your exchange”.  
 
My observation: Adorma does not want to explain why they have charged its customer for a new merchandize, but sent out used/defective unit.  
Although they sent me a return label, I will see how fast they will refund my cc. May post a follow-up message if you think this rating is helpful.  
 
Bottom of line: stay away from Adorma!  

This review was modified by its author, legionella, on 11/20/09 4:38 PM.

Ordered a lens and a lens hood on 10-25-2009.  
Emailed them 10 days later regarding the order as it hadn't arrived.  
They emailed me back saying they did not find an order from me in their system.  
I shot back an email immediately to them with a copy of the invoice AND the order #.  
The transaction also shows up in my Paypal account.  
It has been two days and they have not responded.  
I sent the email again, but still no response.  
They have basically ignored me.  
I will not order from them again. If I hear from them and they honor their commitment, I will respond here. If they don't respond and not honor it, I will also post here again. Either way, stay tuned......  
 
Update: It appears Adorama has chosen to completely ignore me regarding this issue. They won't even respond, even though I sent them a copy of my invoice.  
I will never order from this company again. I will also be very careful ordering from companies that do drop ship because many items come from Adorama. NEVER AGAIN.  
 

This review was modified by its author, shutter_to_think, on 11/9/09 9:22 AM.

I ordered a top of the line Hoya UV filter. I chose free shipping, waited for 'the holiday' to end, and got the thing in about 8 days. (NY to FL) It was packed in a white plastic 'padded' (not!) bag. The lens cover is used. It came in a Hoya cardboard box; no outer hard plastic shell that all Hoyas come in, no tissue paper, no protection of any kind inside the plastic disc container - just a scratched filter sitting inside two pieces of plastic, inside a cardboard box that was obviously opened from the bottom.  
 
I had to wait three days for another 'holiday' to get a human on the phone for return instructions. She was rude. I directly asked three times if I would be getting a REFUND, and she would not directly answer me. The third time I asked I was put on hold.  
 
Now I have exceeded the 14 days return policy, which I wasted away working for a living. So, I saved 20 bucks and got a used piece of junk, wasted time on the phone with a rude woman, and still have to drop more cash for the high end filter I originally wanted.  
 
I have learned my lesson and will DEAL LOCALLY where I can look a human in the face and where they care if I come back to spend my money, so they treat me with courtesy and respect and make me want to come back. If that costs 20% more, it is worth it.  
 
I was referred to Adorama by an online photog who raves about it and three or 4 other online vendors. In fact, I clicked through from his site when I ordered - you think the uncaring folks at Adorama would see I was a referral and send me the new product I ordered. If they had, I wouldn't have had to call customer 'service' and they could have saved the trouble of not even pretending to be nice.  
 
I will be purchasing thousands, not hundreds of gear in the next year or so - NONE of it from Adorama.

This review was modified by its author, jokes_on_me, on 10/12/09 7:30 PM.

I ordered Polaroid 600 on August, 2009 and received the package 4 days later. I was so happy about the promptly delivery but all the films were EXPIRED on May, 2009. I am very disappointed and I am still waiting for explanation from the company. I heard EXPIRED films still can be used IF it's still in condition but I didn't ask for the EXPIRED films.

This was my first purchase from Adorama.com. I chosed it because of the good reviews here. However, my experience became really bad after I read my credit card bill today. I ordered a Canon SD1200 digital camera on Sep 30. The price was $169.95 on their website and also on my online order receipt. I paid through PayPal. Today, when I received my credit card bill, I found that Adorama.com charged me $199.99, which was $30.04 more than it should be. I logged into PayPal account and found that there was an "Additional authorized charge $30.04." How come Adorama.com could change the price at their will silently without my authorization AFTER the order was completed? They did NOT send me any email about the price change.  
 
Also, after receiving the camera today, I found a problem with the camera itself: the lens cover doesn't close perfectly, leaving some space between the two halves of the cover. In addition, the motor is very noisy when the camera is turned on/off, or zoom in/out. (I have a Canon SD1100, so it's an easy comparison.)  
 
I don't trust Adorama.com any more. I'll call their customer service tomorrow morning to ask for a full refund. I'll update this review after this issue is resolved.

This review was modified by its author, HTTPD, on 10/8/09 3:28 AM.

Not happy at all. I ordered a new tripod from Adorama, a Giotto MT 7261 Lava. The ad stated it was a "metallic color". And I wanted a light weight tripod that was not aluminum and was not black. There was a picture of the tripod and it was a "metallic color". So I made the order. Well it came in and it was black! It also look used! The legs was scuffed and scratched. I called Adorama and had the tripod returned, I asked them if the replacement was going to be "metallic color". They said yes, it's "metallic color". Well I got the replacement and it was black again! I caved and kept the tripod because I didn't want this to become a horror story of returns and re-sends. I'm guessing that it was a "typo". Oh, and there was another "typo", the ad said it comes with a compass, but there's no compass. Not that I needed one, but why don't they proof the ads? I made purchases from Adorama before and they did well. But this ad was totally misleading because my purchase was based on a light weight, non aluminum, non black tripod. And what's up with that compass!

I would not recommend this seller. My camera shipped with a defective battery charger. I called them and the first person I spoke with said they'd send a new one and would confirm that in an email. The email never came. I emailed them and never received a reply. So I called again. This person had no record of my previous call and said I'd have to return the camera and all the accessories. I was leaving on vacation in two days and wanted to bring the camera with me so I just ordered a new charger from Amazon.  
 
After receiving a request from them to review them on this site, I sent another email detailing my issues and giving them a chance to make it right. There was no response to that email either. This is seller is extremely unresponsive. I will definitely do business elsewhere in the future.

This review was modified by its author, tdixon, on 9/1/09 8:27 AM.

Bought a camcorder, it was defective, so I returned it. I forgot to send the warranty card, so emailed if they needed it- it took four days to get a reply!They said they won't ship another until I send it. So fine, I mailed it to them. Bottom line is I got replies from different people saying they won't ship until they have the card. Well geez, I mailed it over a week, they must have lost it or something. Bottom line- they had the camera and my $ and were not going to send me another. I put this into dispute with my CC. They have lost my business. Just got a new Panny Lumix 35 delivered today- it sure as heck wasn't from Adorama!

This review was modified by its author, katana1100, on 8/29/09 10:29 PM.

Defective product was sent and then declined to return when called the customer service. Unreliable company!!

I ordered this camera with free shipping.I have ordered from this seller I always receive my package the next day.I am located 1hour and 20 minutes from their warehouse.Adorama charged $10 dollars more than B&H so in reality their FREE shipping was not FREE  
I expected to receive my camera today or tomorrow.Instead it will be here on Monday.I planned on using the camera this weekend.I have never had to wait this long for a package delivery for this close of a ship.  
I called Adorama and got nowhere with their customer service  
All I received was excuses She said to me it says that it might take that long in their fine print.Well since I am located that close plus I have ordered before that I expected it sooner.I assumed that it was for people located on the West Coast Be warned their free ship sometimes is not free and its SNAIL MAIL  
I will think twice before I order again from this seller.Ill stick to B&H

Reading the reviews that other customers have written I feel like I am dealing with a totally different store. First I placed my order for a 4x5 camera, lens, lens board, and film holder. Three days later I get a phone call saying that the lens I ordered isn't what was specified in the ad. It was listed as a copal shutter, it turned out the lens that they had was a compur. the best they could do was send a compur lens board. No matter if they said they would sell me the copal lens at that price even if they didnt have it. So I canceled the lens and lens board, but still wanted the camera and film holder. When I canceled the lens I asked the person I was speaking with when it would be shipped out. He told me that afternoon. It was a Thursday. Then I check my order Friday, still not shipped, Monday same story. Finally Tuesday I call again asking where my camera is. Another sales person tells me it will be going out that afternoon. Next day still not shipped. So I call again. Same person as the day before says it will be shipped today. That was today. Now I get home and I have an email saying that the camera isn't a 4x5 camera, its an 8x10. It has been a week and a half and they are just now figuring this out? These people are the worst camera store I've ever dealt with.

all good ratings about this store are probably true ONLY if you dont have to deal with customer service. 3 out of 4 calls, i had to deal with very rude and impolite cust reps. they shouldnot have been put at the frontline if they dont want to help with enough information for custs.  
 
Experts say TV plasma is not supposed to be flipped around from the truck to dolly upside down like a piece of furniture. but i saw only one guy delivering 50" plasma flipping it around like that. i understand it's impossible for a guy with a dolly to deliver 50" without flipping it around. when he opened it up, cracks were all over the tv screen. and it was returned.  
 
i sent an email the next morning and someone suggested me buying another one to expedite the shipment. wait a minute,....she even did not give me a certain answer or guarantee to refund my money or reship the product immediately but she wanted me to be possibly trapped in this hole again by putting double amount of money??? i asked for a full refund, but rejected.  
 
another rep guy told me that they need to do investigation for 8-10 business days to be able to decide what will be done next. i completely understand that investigation must be made. but regardless the results come out from this invesgation, im 100% sure im as the cust/buyer (who did not even receive the TV yet) off the hook from this responsibility. but still adorama will not reship until all done. clearly to me, adorama is just covering itself, not prioritizing its customers.  
 
someone promised me to give me a call the next day with updates, but i never received any call until about a week later after when i made the call. after a rude cust service i received, surprisingly, miraculously, my option to have a refund was open. and i took it.  
 
if i'd never had this refund, i would have been likely giving adorama a BIG ZERO rating. since I eventually got the refund , even though after a painful week, I would give them a generous 1 minus.  
 

I ordered a refurbished Canon 40d kit. It has gone bad and needs to be sent in for repairs. I emailed Jerry , a supervisor. I also email the CS department. I got an email from Jerry saying We require no RMA...just pack it up send it to us with a brief description of the problem and we'll take care of it for you..  
I then emailed him and ask if the whole kit needed to be mailed or just the bad camera. He said just send in the camera. I think got an email from CS saying to send in the whole kit. I forwarded the email to jerry and ask which was correct. He said just send in the body. I again emailed him telling him I wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page; I did not want to get burned by Adorama poor service again.  
This time he threw a fit, saying mail the whole thing in.  
He will tell you that is policy; however he was willing to break policy until I asked a simple question.  
Makes no sense to return a good lens and risk it getting damaged.  
 
So this is Great Customer Service. I have asked him for the name of the owner; he avoids that question, or says he answered it when he gave me the name of his boss. Harry harryd@adorama.com. He does not say if this is the owner also. Google says not.  
 
Stay far away from this company, if you have a problem, you will get conflicting answers and no help.  
 
I had 2 other orders with this company, both were messed up which is why I asked him which email was correct.  
Never doubt the Great Jerry Supervisor, or you will get a big run around.  
 
After reading many of the review below I wanted to add.  
Fred is mentioned a few times as a good guy to buy from. i bought the warranty for my camera from him, he begged me to post a good review on this site for him. I told him I would if the sell went well. It did not. He sold me the wrong warranty, I had to pay to ship it back, and was charge without my permission for the correct warranty. They wanted to wait until the looked a the old warranty before refuning my money. They were afraid I might of broken somethin. How do you break a piece of paper. Took 2 weeks to get a refund, even though Helen a Supervisor said she would over ride the CS and refund my money ASAP.... she did not do it.  
Be ware of the post here. Sort them out, from Low to high, you will see the main complaints are about the service.....  
 
Please do read the link Jerry provided, Note Jerry still has not given the name of the owner.  
When a customer has a problem, they do one of two things, buy the review, which they know would not work with me, or try to trash the person.  
Stay far away from this person.  
 
 

This review was modified by its author, gdjoslin, on 8/10/09 6:12 PM.

This is the last order I will ever make with Adorama. For more than 10 years I have ordered from Adorama for both my personal and business use because I felt I was saving money. I can no longer accept the policies and lack of customer service and support from Adorama. The lack of customer support depreciates whatever cost/value I may think I am saving.

After tracking my shipment I noticed that the arrival time was scheduled for 6/8/09 when I had placed my order on 5/31/09. I paid extra for the 3-5 day shipping and now it shows that it is scheduled to arrive on the 8th. This is really disappointing and inconvenient as I needed this camera for a project this weekend. Both items had originally had free shipping (7-10) days. I have contacted Adorama and they informed me that my math was wrong and that they only count business days as shipping days and that they don't count the day they ship items as a shipping day either. Even if this were true, why would I not recieve my item on Saturday.  
I won't be shopping at Adorama again.