Commentary # 33: July 2009
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Calumet, Adorama, and Adorama Inventory:

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly


July 2009

- by Craig Wassel


Let's get right into it. Who is "The Good" (actually, great is more like it)?
Calumet Photographic, all the way from their product to their knowledge to their customer service.

Who is "The Bad"? Some individual or group of individuals at Adorama responsible for the quality control over the product they ship to internet customers.

What is "The Ugly"?
Adorama's inventory.

Make no mistake about it: I am coming out firing all guns over Adorama's bow, and officially retracting the kudos I offered them in my October 2008 commentary (link). They have lost me again and permanently as a customer; there is absolutely, positively NO winning me back this time.

To recap, my sub-par experiences with Adorama started back in 2007. I will not go over every order issue I have had with them because they have been numbered and varied. However, the one that really got me speaking out occurred in December 2007 when they shipped Westcott Apollo 28" softboxes to me that appeared to be less than in new condition and/or defective. Two of them had filthy diffuser screens, and one was missing velcro. This and other experiences prompted me to chime in on a thread on NikonWatch where others were airing complaints about Adorama. A customer support specialist from Adorama named Helen soon responded to my comment on that thread, and put tremendous time and effort into making things right with me. She succeeded in winning me back.

It would be short lived.

Fast forward to June of this year: I was researching and comparing strobe triggers, and became very interested in Bowens Pulsars. I came across some forums from back in 2007 where photogs reported some double firing issues with earlier build versions. The Pulsars had some features and versatility that I liked even over tried-and-true PocketWizards though, so I did even more research to make sure the Pulsars would not be more trouble than they were worth.

From all of my reading, it appeared Bowens made modifications to correct the problem sometime in early 2008, and since then buyers have had few issues. Triggers are not cheap, though, and I wanted to make very sure. I decided to go to Calumet Photographic and look at them first hand. I explained my concerns to their staff, and they were more than happy to let me test fire them in the store using my own strobes. The Pulsars responded very well, and I went home with a pair to run through more paces. I liked them and was confident in their response, and had no double fire issues.

Then it happened. I decided it was safe to get the additional three I wanted, and I chose Adorama for the purchase. As soon as my order arrived and I opened the box, I started to get that old, bad Adorama feeling again. The Bowens Pulsar boxes were worn, like paperback books that had been read several times. It got worse. I opened one of the product boxes, and the contents were not in original sealed bags like those I purchased from Calumet. Did it get even worse? Yes. The Pulsar unit whose contents were not in sealed inner bags also curiously had the OEM batteries already installed. They looked like they were starting to swell, and were sticky to the touch. Unbelievable.

It didn't even stop there. Hoping against hope, I connected two of the units up to strobes, and wouldn't you know it - they exhibited the double-firing issue found in the earlier build versions. On the bottom of one of the Pulsar boxes, there was even a Bowens stock sticker indicating the unit was built in - you guessed it - 2007. I immediately began email correspondence with Helen and another customer service representative at Adorama, telling them what I received, and backing it up with photographs of the boxes. They responded courteously, but none-the-less gave me reasons why it was unlikely that I received Bowens Pulsars that were manufactured some time ago.

Let me be blunt: I assert that Adorama sold me used Bowens Pulsar units that have been sent to and returned from other customers several times. Adorama can tell me all they like that this is not the case, but the condition of the boxes and performance of the units does not support their claims. I even pointed out to Adorama that one of of the Bowens Pulsar boxes even had a sticker on it that said "version 4". What did the boxes from Calumet say? "Version 5".

Did Adorama issue me a refund? Yes, they sent me a pre-paid UPS sticker the same day, and credited my charge account when they received the returned merchandise. That is not the point, though. How do I have any confidence that anything I have EVER purchased from Adorama was really new? Not only that, what happens to the Bowens Pulsar units that I sent back? Do they get re-packaged again, and sent out to yet another customer? At the very, very, very least, how Adorama is handling stock and shipments to its customers is un-ethical, and may very well be illegal. Because of all this and despite all of Helen's efforts, I simply will never, ever purchase from them again. It is painfully clear to me that there are forces at work at Adorama that even the most sincere and diligent employee like Helen cannot correct or overcome.

To avoid total negativity in this commentary: I returned to Calumet Photographic and purchased the remaining three units I needed. As usual, the staff was completely professional and friendly. The three additional Pulsars - just like the first two from Calumet - work as well as any trigger I have used.

I paid a little more for the Pulsars at Calumet, but those of you who use triggers know that you do not want to go into any shoot without confidence in your strobes and triggers. I am not saying that I will never order any gear again online. There are other well known suppliers that have delivered flawlessly every time for me. I just won't order so much as a lens cloth again from Adorama - ever. I write this as a cautionary tale to my fellow photographers. Caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

After this final, infuriating experience with Adorama, I started wondering about its internet affiliates. For those of you not familiar, affiliates are those sites that earn the equivalent of a commission when a visitor clicks on a banner link and makes a purchase. If you doubt I am being truthful, accurate, and fair about my experiences with Adorama, consider this: Six of the most well known, highly visited photography sites on the internet are affiliates of either B & H, Calumet, Amazon, a few other quality sellers, or a combination of them. The sites are: The Online Photographer, The Luminous Landscape, ByThom, DigiLloyd, Strobist, and DPReview.

Interestingly, however, not ONE of them is an affiliate of Adorama. I will let you speculate why that might be. If I chose to generate affiliate income on this site, I certainly would not tie my reputation to a recommendation to Adorama and risk a reader receiving product that has no business being sold as "new".

So, add "Affiliates Beware" to "Buyer Beware" and it's "Au Revoir Adorama" for me.



All states fall under the Consumer Fraud Proctection Act, and have their own language protecting consumers from deceptive business practices. Section 815 ILCS 510/2 from Ch. 121 1/2, par. 312 of The Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act covering business transactions states:

" . . . A person engages in a deceptive trade practice when, in the course of his or her business, vocation, or occupation, the person represents that goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, altered, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or secondhand . . . "







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" . . . Let me be blunt: I assert that Adorama sold me used Bowens Pulsar units that have been sent to and returned from other customers several times. Adorama can tell me all they like that this is not the case, but the condition of the boxes and performance of the units does not support their claims . . . I returned to Calumet Photographic and purchased the remaining three units I needed . . . The three additional Pulsars - just like the first two from Calumet - work as well as any trigger I have used . . . "





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