Why is Adorama Camera closed?
Why is Adorama Camera closed?
I've come across a number of Internet blogs and posts over the past few days from customers who are confused about our current closure for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. I hope this will help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot
At Adorama we do appreciate that our closing times can be inconvenient to some of our potential customers.
Adorama's owner is an observant orthodox Jewish gentleman, whose beliefs prohibit him - his family and his business - from operating on the Sabbath and on many of the religious holidays (which all begin an hour prior to sunset the evening before the day of the holiday, which is why we close early on Fridays).
We can't employ non-Jews here during those days, because to do so would involve the company conducting business - which is forbidden in Jewish Law.
Most holidays are actually only one or two days; two are week-long holidays. We do try to minimize inconvenience to our customers, by publicizing our closing dates well in advance.
After the holiday(s) end(s), we do reopen our sales and shipping departments as soon as possible in order to deal with the inevitable backlog of orders.
We would also take on add additional staff in the customer service, sales and shipping departments if necessary to help reduce backlogs and speed up the service to our customers.
In this era of 24-hour commerce which seems to take for granted that we all sleep with our i-phones under our pillows and work a relentless 60 or 70 hours a week, this is a special time for us to be with family and friends.
I guess it's unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than making an honest buck out of our customers at every opportunity. I receive frequent emails from customers who state that in this day and age it is comforting to know there are people around who do not place money before all else.
Many businesses in the US and elsewhere in the world force employees to work on holidays when the time is better spent with their friends and families - or just relaxing by themselves
We are grateful for the understanding of our customers that this is an important element of our owner's value system. Perhaps the following links to articles in the Washington Post & the New York Times will help to make some sense of our closure policies:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/...XSHaK6Jm4.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/te...=1&oref=slogin
BTW I'm only an email away for advice and / or after-sales support with any order from Adorama Camera.
Adorama NYC Retail Store will reopen on Sunday October 3 at 9:30 am
Adorama ‘phone-sales department will be open:
9:00 - 5:00 Sunday, Sep 26 thru Tuesday, Sep 28
9:00 - 3:00 Wednesday, Sep 29
Orders submitted to Adorama during the Sukkot Holiday (Wednesday, September 22 at 12:00pm thru Thursday evening September 30 at 6:00pm) will be delivered to you on the week of October 3. Where necessary, the shipping method will be upgraded at Adorama’s expense*
Orders Submitted Thursday evening September 30 after 6:00pm Thru October 2 when the Holiday ends will ship Monday October 4.
* This assurance is not applicable for orders with free shipping. These orders will ship October 4 but with no free upgrade assurance.
Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
HelenO@adorama.com
I've come across a number of Internet blogs and posts over the past few days from customers who are confused about our current closure for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. I hope this will help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot
At Adorama we do appreciate that our closing times can be inconvenient to some of our potential customers.
Adorama's owner is an observant orthodox Jewish gentleman, whose beliefs prohibit him - his family and his business - from operating on the Sabbath and on many of the religious holidays (which all begin an hour prior to sunset the evening before the day of the holiday, which is why we close early on Fridays).
We can't employ non-Jews here during those days, because to do so would involve the company conducting business - which is forbidden in Jewish Law.
Most holidays are actually only one or two days; two are week-long holidays. We do try to minimize inconvenience to our customers, by publicizing our closing dates well in advance.
After the holiday(s) end(s), we do reopen our sales and shipping departments as soon as possible in order to deal with the inevitable backlog of orders.
We would also take on add additional staff in the customer service, sales and shipping departments if necessary to help reduce backlogs and speed up the service to our customers.
In this era of 24-hour commerce which seems to take for granted that we all sleep with our i-phones under our pillows and work a relentless 60 or 70 hours a week, this is a special time for us to be with family and friends.
I guess it's unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than making an honest buck out of our customers at every opportunity. I receive frequent emails from customers who state that in this day and age it is comforting to know there are people around who do not place money before all else.
Many businesses in the US and elsewhere in the world force employees to work on holidays when the time is better spent with their friends and families - or just relaxing by themselves
We are grateful for the understanding of our customers that this is an important element of our owner's value system. Perhaps the following links to articles in the Washington Post & the New York Times will help to make some sense of our closure policies:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/...XSHaK6Jm4.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/te...=1&oref=slogin
BTW I'm only an email away for advice and / or after-sales support with any order from Adorama Camera.
Adorama NYC Retail Store will reopen on Sunday October 3 at 9:30 am
Adorama ‘phone-sales department will be open:
9:00 - 5:00 Sunday, Sep 26 thru Tuesday, Sep 28
9:00 - 3:00 Wednesday, Sep 29
Orders submitted to Adorama during the Sukkot Holiday (Wednesday, September 22 at 12:00pm thru Thursday evening September 30 at 6:00pm) will be delivered to you on the week of October 3. Where necessary, the shipping method will be upgraded at Adorama’s expense*
Orders Submitted Thursday evening September 30 after 6:00pm Thru October 2 when the Holiday ends will ship Monday October 4.
* This assurance is not applicable for orders with free shipping. These orders will ship October 4 but with no free upgrade assurance.
Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
HelenO@adorama.com
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI am an Adorama customer, and I'm writing because the company did not follow through with its commitments to its customers regarding the Sukkot Holiday.
I placed my order on Sept 24 (8248399) with full faith. I trusted that the company would deliver the item to me on the week of October 3 (as stated above), but I have not received it. In fact, the estimated arrival date for my package is October 11th, which is definitely not in "the week of October 3rd." It is my understanding that Adorama should have upgraded my shipping method so I would receive it by the end of this week.
I am incredibly disappointed as a customer and would not recommend the company to anyone. I am leaving the country on October 11th, the day my camera should arrive, and according to UPS, it might not be here until 7 p.m. that night.
Reliability and integrity are imperative in running a successful business. I wish I had known that this company does not follow through before I placed my order.
I hope Adorama at least learns from this mistake and implements better business practices in the future.
-Disappointed in California
I can only apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment that was caused, and assure you that to the best of my knowledge, all orders placed during the holiday, with paid-for shipping (not free shipping) were shipped out last week - and the shipping upgraded where necessary in order to meet our commitments to our customers.
ReplyDeleteI would very much like to investigate how your order appears to have been missed; could you therefore please email me directly, with your order number, and I will give this my immediate attention.
Once again my apologies, and I do look forward to hearing from you.
Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
HelenO@adorama.com