4/5

posted Feb-05-2009

Well I found this site after looking for a while. I had dealt with bait and switch places before and I was very weary because of the low price of the D300. I called to confirm that this was in fact a USA product with a USA warranty and I was reassured that it was.

I went to call them back on the phone on Jan 30th to place my order and was told to place it over the internet because it was easier. I've never gotten that before usually you would turn away $1500 worth of business. I placed the order that day and chose the standard shipping for $35. I later found out that that was the standard shipping and it took 7-10 days to process and ship. I called back on friday about 30 minutes before they closed and Frank told me to call him back on monday because they werent going to be able to ship it out that day anyways. I called back on Monday and asked to speak to Frank. I told him that I wanted to upgrade my shipping to 3 Day because it was only $10 more. After some waiting on hold he told me that he would get that done for me and I would get a phone call from them when it ships. I did this at 10 in the morning and by 3 I still hadn't received anything. I called them back and he they only asked for my zip code and he said when do you need the product by, the end of the week? I said yes because it was now monday afternoon and they still hadn't shipped out my order. He finally said that he would have it to me by the end of the week. I didn't make any attempt to contact them on tuesday but I didnt receive an email or a phone call. On Wednesday I decided to call them to see what was going on. I asked the first person I spoke to on the phone what the status on my order was and I gave them my order number. I was then placed on hold for about 5 minutes. Another person answered the phone and didn't know what i was looking for, so I had to explain my situation once again. He then proceeded to tell me that some of the cameras come from over seas and don't come with USA warranties. I told him that I made sure to check that it did have a USA warranty with it. He then put me on hold for about 10 more minutes. He came back and said the lens I had ordered (Tamron 17-50 f/2.8) was a non-US product and he had no problem upgrading me to the two day air shipping. The only difference between the US and non-US was the warranty and the US version has a metal mount. He then proceeded to tell me that the US version was $50 more (which there is nothing listed on their site about anything like that). I told him that I specifically ordered the US version and they quoted me at the same price. He said okay and then said I would have my stuff by Friday. He didn't give me any sort of tracking number or anything. I was seriously doubting that they would ship my products by this weekend. This morning at 8 am I received an email from Hot Buys Electronics (the place I got charged from as well) say that my order had shipped via DHL and then they listed the tracking number which was clearly a UPS tracking number not DHL. I put it in UPS' site and sure enough there was my order. It was shipping 2 day air and it left Newark, NJ at 7:59 am EST and arrived at DFW airport at 11:37 am CST. I was going into this expecting the worst but if all go as planned and I get everything that I ordered I am going to be a happy camper. The trick is that you have to stay on top of them and make sure you let them know you're not going to be pushed around. I think dealing with all this crap was worth the $600 off of the camera but if you dont want to put up with their non sense then I suggest looking else where such as B&H, Adorama, or Amazon.

***UPDATE***

I received the camera and lens when i was supposed to. I checked it to make sure that everything was in tact and sure enough everything was there, including the warranty card.

This review was modified by khphotography on February 07 2009 04:57:51 AM

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