Surprised at Adorama!

measekite wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:31:11 -0800, Paul Furman wrote:

tony cooper wrote:
When on a trip to San Francisco, in a restaurant I sat three tables over from Robert Crumb. We did not speak, but I know he wanted to.
LOL

Is he related to Bread Crumb?

The only name I recognized, he's a comic artist, pretty freaky stuff,
there's a movie or two about him also.

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:52:07 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote Re Surprised at Adorama!:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold.

"..edge of the desert.." ??

It looks to me like the drugs had long ago taken hold. There is
nothing but desert within 200 miles of the Barstow hell-hole.

* Helen Oster wrote :
On Jan 29, 1:05Â*am, tony cooper wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:42:56 -0800 (PST), Helen Oster
wrote:
On Jan 28, 9:48Â*pm, "Sharp Dressed Man" wrote:
snip /

I posted my comment about Adorama before reading this. Â*I dealt with
Michael at extension 2276 yesterday in getting a price for my son to
buy a D40. Â*Michael was very professional, very helpful.

You can send me a Nikkor 70-300 VR for my camera for the plug. Â*Make
sure it's the VR. Â*

Thank you, Tony. I'll be sure to pass on your comments to MIchael's
manager, who I know will be delighted.

Sincerely

Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador


www.adorama.com

PS If it was down to me, I'd send you two - I'd send Troy 2, as well -
I expect that's why I'm not allowed near the sales department!!

No no no. I use Canon gear, so 2 Nikkor lenses won't do me any
good. I'll be needing the 600mm f/4L IS. Gray market is fine.


--
Troy Piggins

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:02:10 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

measekite wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:31:11 -0800, Paul Furman wrote:

tony cooper wrote:
When on a trip to San Francisco, in a restaurant I sat three tables over from Robert Crumb. We did not speak, but I know he wanted to.
LOL

Is he related to Bread Crumb?

The only name I recognized, he's a comic artist, pretty freaky stuff,
there's a movie or two about him also.

Al Capp drew "Lil Abner" and all the other characters in Dogpatch.
Bill Gaines owned Mad Magazine; America's Viz. Jack Davis and Don
Martin were contributing authors/artists. If you have to have Lil
Abner and Mad explained to you, you are beyond hope or very young.

Robert Crumb, the only one of the group still alive*, was also an
artist/cartoonist, but less mainstream than the above. A bit
different, Crumb killed off one of his main characters - Fritz the Cat
- with an icepick to the head because he didn't want the character
drawn anymore after Fritz was the subject of a movie.

*With the possible exception of the political candidate. I wouldn't
recognize his name in the obits.



--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Sharp Dressed Man wrote:
Went on their website to check an item....

What I find interesting is that despite Adoramas courteous response, the
OP, "Sharp Dressed Man" has not returned.

On 1/29/09 4:19 PM, in article ,
"tony cooper" wrote:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:02:10 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

measekite wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:31:11 -0800, Paul Furman wrote:

tony cooper wrote:
When on a trip to San Francisco, in a restaurant I sat three tables over
from Robert Crumb. We did not speak, but I know he wanted to.
LOL

Is he related to Bread Crumb?

The only name I recognized, he's a comic artist, pretty freaky stuff,
there's a movie or two about him also.

Al Capp drew "Lil Abner" and all the other characters in Dogpatch.
Bill Gaines owned Mad Magazine; America's Viz. Jack Davis and Don
Martin were contributing authors/artists. If you have to have Lil
Abner and Mad explained to you, you are beyond hope or very young.

Robert Crumb, the only one of the group still alive*, was also an
artist/cartoonist, but less mainstream than the above. A bit
different, Crumb killed off one of his main characters - Fritz the Cat
- with an icepick to the head because he didn't want the character
drawn anymore after Fritz was the subject of a movie.

I thought R. Crumb was the guy behind "Fat Freddy's Cat" - where the cat was
always ****ing in Fat Freddy's shoe...

tony cooper wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:02:10 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

measekite wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:31:11 -0800, Paul Furman wrote:

tony cooper wrote:
When on a trip to San Francisco, in a restaurant I sat three tables over from Robert Crumb. We did not speak, but I know he wanted to.
LOL
Is he related to Bread Crumb?
The only name I recognized, he's a comic artist, pretty freaky stuff,
there's a movie or two about him also.

Al Capp drew "Lil Abner" and all the other characters in Dogpatch.
Bill Gaines owned Mad Magazine; America's Viz. Jack Davis and Don
Martin were contributing authors/artists. If you have to have Lil
Abner and Mad explained to you, you are beyond hope or very young.

Robert Crumb, the only one of the group still alive*, was also an
artist/cartoonist, but less mainstream than the above. A bit
different, Crumb killed off one of his main characters - Fritz the Cat
- with an icepick to the head because he didn't want the character
drawn anymore after Fritz was the subject of a movie.

*With the possible exception of the political candidate. I wouldn't
recognize his name in the obits.

Most of Crumb's stuff is pretty disgusting g but this is my favorite:
'A Short History of America' (up to 30 years ago):
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag...crumbpart1.jpg
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag...umb_partii.jpg

and the next few hundred years:
http://deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/me...Category_Code=

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:48:44 -0800 (PST), Helen Oster
wrote Re Surprised at Adorama!:

With high demand items, frequent delivery and dispatch times mean that
items can come in one door, be packaged, and out of another within a
couple of hours, so real time inventory is often not possible.

It is often not possible with your current system, but the information
is available on one of your computers as the people on the phone can
verify stock from one of their computers. Is that correct or am I
misunderstanding the situation?

If that is correct, then it's possible to get the information to your
web site in a timely manner with the proper software. Other companies
do it.

Granted, Adorama's particular mix of present software may make it
unacceptably difficult or costly, but that is a problem to work on as
is being done. Eventually it will be improved and your customers will
be happier for it.

I appreciate your participation in this NG. It's a good sign and a
credit to Adorama.

We are currently working on our systems to be able to handle this more
efficiently.

That is important.

It is also my understanding that Adorama does not charge a customer's
credit card until the order has shipped. Is that correct?

Keep up the good work.

"tony cooper" wrote in message
...


My son just ordered a Nikon from Adorama yesterday. Shipping was
$6-something. What was a surprise was the price, though. The website
says $599, but the price on the telephone was $509.90. They said it
would be billed at $509.90 if ordered on the web even though the web
listed price was higher.

Just to check, I went to B&H's website and the price is $599. On the
phone I was quoted $509.90.

All I can figure out is that Nikon controls what the advertised price
is, but the dealer can offer a better price. Dunno, though.

Tony, was that by any chance a D60?

I just bought one of those myself at about $510, with free shipping. This
was from Amazon, which wouldn't give the price in their ad (the "put it in
your cart to see the price" business). So I assume from that that Nikon's
dropped the price -- maybe closing 'em out? -- but doesn't want the lower
price advertised.


Adorama asks if you want to buy filters, spare battery, etc, but they
don't push. Very efficient people to deal with.

Yes indeed. A good place to do business. And they offer free shipping on a
lot of smaller items, cases etc., that makes them even more attractive.

"Neil Ellwood" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:48:39 -0500, Sharp Dressed Man wrote:

Went on their website to check an item I decided to buy and saw that
their price was the same as another usually reliable online vendor I
often buy from-- but Adorama was offering free shipping. So I put one in
my cart and start to check out-- only to see shipping charges listed. I
retried the order from the beginning and got the same result so I called
them and explained the problem.

I gave the guy the SKU number and he tells me-- no, that item doesn't
have free shipping. No I said, I'm looking right at it and your web page
says it's free. Well he says in his best New York way, maybe you're
reading it wrong or maybe they just took free shipping off that item. No
problem I say-- as long as you take the $6.95 shipping off my order.

Then he says $6.95 wasn't all that much money and he wouldn't remove it
and I said OK, if that's the way you do business now, goodbye. I hung up
and did not complete the order.

Is that just an uncooperative CSR-- or a new business model based on
bait and switch? I've made many purchases from them and other than the
occasional required "confirmation call" so they can try to sell me
unwanted add-ons, I've never had any problems.

That is a very old business model - in the UK we call it FRAUD.

Adorama does not defraud its customers. There are a number of small stores
that do (usually advertising under a variety of names; see the Don Wiss
archives), but Adorama is 100% reputable.