Posts

How is Adorama closed on Saturdays? It makes me mad!

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 shippi

Rebate or Rip-Off? Canon price rises explained!

When Canon raises the prices to retailers, rebates are generally offered for the first few months to delay the price-change for customers. We don't raise prices on our existing stock to match the new prices, which often means that customer prices drop initially; however within a week or two, when we've sold out of almost every Canon unit that has a rebate on it, as well as a few that don't - we have to pay the increased prices when we re-stock. At the same time if Canon decides to enforce their MAP program more aggressively, it leaves us no choice but to offer the renewed inventory at Canon “estimated retail prices”. Manufacturers usually require retailers to meet MAP restrictions in order to participate in a rebate offer program, and many of Adorama’s regular list prices are frequently too low to be able to offer the rebates. If we don’t comply, we’ll lose our Authorized Dealership Status When a manufacturer or US importer changes MAP parameters and enforces them vig

What does a 'Customer Service Ambassador' do, exactly?

A question posed today by a member of an Internet forum...... "What does a 'Customer Service Ambassador' do, exactly?" I'm signed up to many hundreds of photography forums, websites, Flickr groups, shopping sites etc, plus websites which are not really about photography, but which have a photography section. There are paintballers, skiiers, cyclists, train enthusiasts, skateboarders, anglers, deer hunters, campers, 'plane enthusiasts,pistol shooters, mums with babies, sailors - and more - who all share a passion for photography. Wherever Adorama is mentioned, I try to drop in to make certain that any of our customers who may need advice or after-sales support, know that I'm available and how to contact me. My brief is to search for Internet postings which refer to Adorama, in order to give advice and information, as well as to investigate and resolve complaints and concerns that posters have been unable to address through regular customer service ch

Adorama's customer-centred service - or on-line reputation management?

I believe that as with any business providing a service to customers, at Adorama Camera we need to re-examine constantly not only what we are doing for our customers, but how we are doing it. For on-line retailers, building relationships with customers must be the driver in terms of customer service. It's been said many times, but customer service is a philosophy, not a department. It affects our ability to supply our customers' wants and needs and is the lifeblood of our business. Promotions and price cuts will bring in new customers, but to ensure long-term profitability and growth, those customers need to want to return to us to make further purchases. Excellent Customer-centred Service is the ability to constantly and consistently exceed customer expectations, forming and maintaining relationships that each individual customer wants to pursue. At Adorama Camera, we want customers to feel that they have a voice, that we are listening; the goals we set at Adorama could

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 closi

What is a refurbished item? What is the warranty?

All refurbished units sold by Adorama Camera are factory refurbished by the manufacturer, for example, Canon cameras are refurbished at their manufacturing plant in Newport News, VA.; the room that houses Canon’s entire refurb process is said to be completely dust-free, and with every employee working in there being required to wear special booties. Refurbs can have simply been pulled from the production line if something appears faulty, or if it hasn't passed the final inspection. Most of the time it is a very minor issue that needs correcting, nevertheless, once it is pulled from the normal flow of production, it gets flagged as a refurbished model, so you may get a unit straight from the factory that has never been used. A refurb may also be an ex-store demo, possibly used in field tests or sales displays, or it may have been ordered in error and returned to the retailer (who can't then sell it as 'new' so it has to be sent back to the manufacturer for refurbishme

Adorama Camera & Bing Cashback

At the moment, responding to queries about Bing cash back seems to be taking up more of my time than almost anything else. So, what exactly is Bing, and why is it generating so much interest? Bing is the name of Microsoft's new search engine, launched about 6 months ago, replacing its Live Search / Windows Live Search / MSN Search services. There's an excellent description of it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing So far, so good; but what is Bing cash back; how does the consumer get it - who pays it, when and how? Bing cash back is part of Microsoft's strategy to encourage us to use the Bing search engine, instead of Google, and replacing Yahoo. It's a program which gives you money back when you buy goods from Bing shopping. Adorama currently pays Microsoft 3% for bing cash back purchases as a referral fee, ie, advertising (although this is subject to change at any time). Microsoft made a strategic decision to return the referral fee to consumers in the form of a