About the "free battery."

dave rogers · Mar 4, 2022

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but if anyone shared the same misapprehension I did about a "free battery" included with cameras pre-ordered prior to 3 March, here's what I learned.

I registered my OM-1 today and didn't receive any kind of feedback or information regarding promotional items, extended warranty and free battery.

I initiated a chat with an OM System rep. He told me I'd receive an e-mail shortly about the extended warranty.

Regarding the "free battery," that was only offered for orders made through GetOlympus.com in North America. The rep I chatted with said that "some of their authorized dealers" have the "leeway" to offer a free battery as well.

There was no mention of a free battery when I ordered through Amazon. I didn't pursue it then, I just thought the first batch would include an extra battery in the box. Shame on me, I guess.

I expect that if I ask Amazon for a free battery, they'll simply send me to OM System, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time on that.

A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

Beozec · Mar 4, 2022

There were two listings on Amazon, one with and one without the battery (price is the same). I am guessing you had to have ordered the one with the battery to get it — that’s what I did but my delivery dates for both the body and the battery are still pending.

Dakotan · Mar 4, 2022

"A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker."

You made a wrong assumption. Preordering through getolympus.com (the deal is no longer available as of yesterday) got you the "free" battery. There is no incentive for OM System to give you a free battery, while also giving a margin of their profit away to a reseller like Amazon.

That just doesn't make sense from a business standpoint.

And I don't understand the point of your post, unless you just wanted to come to a public forum on a Friday, and complain that you didn't get an extra battery you were never entitled to.

Paige Turner · Mar 4, 2022

dave rogers said:
Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but if anyone shared the same misapprehension I did about a "free battery" included with cameras pre-ordered prior to 3 March, here's what I learned.

I registered my OM-1 today and didn't receive any kind of feedback or information regarding promotional items, extended warranty and free battery.

I initiated a chat with an OM System rep. He told me I'd receive an e-mail shortly about the extended warranty.

Regarding the "free battery," that was only offered for orders made through GetOlympus.com in North America. The rep I chatted with said that "some of their authorized dealers" have the "leeway" to offer a free battery as well.

There was no mention of a free battery when I ordered through Amazon. I didn't pursue it then, I just thought the first batch would include an extra battery in the box. Shame on me, I guess.

I expect that if I ask Amazon for a free battery, they'll simply send me to OM System, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time on that.

A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

I pre-ordered through Adorama and they are including a free battery. With regards to March 3rd, there was an offer through OM Systems that if you pre-order prior to March 3rd (or maybe through March 3rd) that you get an extended 3 year warranty.

pede59 · Mar 4, 2022

dave rogers said:
Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but if anyone shared the same misapprehension I did about a "free battery" included with cameras pre-ordered prior to 3 March, here's what I learned.

I registered my OM-1 today and didn't receive any kind of feedback or information regarding promotional items, extended warranty and free battery.

I initiated a chat with an OM System rep. He told me I'd receive an e-mail shortly about the extended warranty.

Regarding the "free battery," that was only offered for orders made through GetOlympus.com in North America. The rep I chatted with said that "some of their authorized dealers" have the "leeway" to offer a free battery as well.

I can confirm. I ordered via Adorama and the free battery is included. It is too bad that this is not applicable to orders via Amazon. Also OMS should consider to give you a battery, given that you cleary are amongst the per-order group.

dave rogers said:
There was no mention of a free battery when I ordered through Amazon. I didn't pursue it then, I just thought the first batch would include an extra battery in the box. Shame on me, I guess.

I expect that if I ask Amazon for a free battery, they'll simply send me to OM System, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time on that.

A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

Too bad about the battery. I hope that there is enough good in the camera that you will soon forget about this disappointment.

dave rogers · Mar 4, 2022

Beozec said:
There were two listings on Amazon, one with and one without the battery (price is the same). I am guessing you had to have ordered the one with the battery to get it — that’s what I did but my delivery dates for both the body and the battery are still pending.

I just went back to Amazon and looked at the listing for the OM-1. It now shows two options to buy body only, for exactly the same price, one with a free battery and one without. How that makes any sense, I suppose I'll never understand.

As I recall, the only option I saw on 15 Feb was to pre-order (not "buy") the body only, or the body+lens. There weren't four options, as there are today.

I also just finished chatting with Amazon support and the only thing they were willing to do for me was to process a refund, return the camera and re-order the one with the free battery.

I didn't screenshot the page the day of the order, so I'm going by memory. Suffice to say that I'm still cognitively able to distinguish between different options, and I would have picked one that offered a free battery!

Oh well...

SrMi · Mar 4, 2022

I ordered through B&H, and a free battery was added to the order automatically. The OM-1 was shipped, but the battery is marked as backordered.

Skeeterbytes · Mar 4, 2022

B&H explicitly offered the battery and extended warranty.

FWIW

Rick

Atho · Mar 4, 2022

dave rogers said:
Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but if anyone shared the same misapprehension I did about a "free battery" included with cameras pre-ordered prior to 3 March, here's what I learned.

I registered my OM-1 today and didn't receive any kind of feedback or information regarding promotional items, extended warranty and free battery.

I initiated a chat with an OM System rep. He told me I'd receive an e-mail shortly about the extended warranty.

Regarding the "free battery," that was only offered for orders made through GetOlympus.com in North America. The rep I chatted with said that "some of their authorized dealers" have the "leeway" to offer a free battery as well.

There was no mention of a free battery when I ordered through Amazon. I didn't pursue it then, I just thought the first batch would include an extra battery in the box. Shame on me, I guess.

I expect that if I ask Amazon for a free battery, they'll simply send me to OM System, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time on that.

A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

Did you at least get the extended warranty?

dave rogers · Mar 4, 2022

Atho said:
dave rogers said:

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but if anyone shared the same misapprehension I did about a "free battery" included with cameras pre-ordered prior to 3 March, here's what I learned.

I registered my OM-1 today and didn't receive any kind of feedback or information regarding promotional items, extended warranty and free battery.

I initiated a chat with an OM System rep. He told me I'd receive an e-mail shortly about the extended warranty.

Regarding the "free battery," that was only offered for orders made through GetOlympus.com in North America. The rep I chatted with said that "some of their authorized dealers" have the "leeway" to offer a free battery as well.

There was no mention of a free battery when I ordered through Amazon. I didn't pursue it then, I just thought the first batch would include an extra battery in the box. Shame on me, I guess.

I expect that if I ask Amazon for a free battery, they'll simply send me to OM System, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time on that.

A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

Click to expand...

Did you at least get the extended warranty?

Yes, that email just arrived, like seconds ago.

Happy to have it, though I'll hasten to add that I've never submitted a warranty claim on any Olympus product I've bought new. (Obviously, the used ones I buy weren't covered by an Olympus warranty.)

gary0319 · Mar 4, 2022

Skeeterbytes said:
B&H explicitly offered the battery and extended warranty.

FWIW

Rick

As did my local dealer.

tammons · Mar 4, 2022

dave rogers said:
Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but if anyone shared the same misapprehension I did about a "free battery" included with cameras pre-ordered prior to 3 March, here's what I learned.

I registered my OM-1 today and didn't receive any kind of feedback or information regarding promotional items, extended warranty and free battery.

I initiated a chat with an OM System rep. He told me I'd receive an e-mail shortly about the extended warranty.

Regarding the "free battery," that was only offered for orders made through GetOlympus.com in North America. The rep I chatted with said that "some of their authorized dealers" have the "leeway" to offer a free battery as well.

There was no mention of a free battery when I ordered through Amazon. I didn't pursue it then, I just thought the first batch would include an extra battery in the box. Shame on me, I guess.

I expect that if I ask Amazon for a free battery, they'll simply send me to OM System, so I don't think I'm going to waste my time on that.

A bit of a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker.

On B+H the batteries are back ordered.

searun · Mar 4, 2022

When you buy from Amazon rather than a proper camera store like B&H and others, this is what happens.

B&H, for example, has 20 years of my purchase records stored, and this has proved useful at times. I can always chat online with a rep, or talk with a rep. Many of their reps are photographers who understand what you need.

Their return policy is very good, and flexible. They've done me favors.

There are other such stores and the prices at these places are generally the same as Amazon. I buy lots of things from Amazon, but not cameras.

dave rogers · Mar 4, 2022

searun said:
When you buy from Amazon rather than a proper camera store like B&H and others, this is what happens.

I don't think so.

I suspect what happened was that there was a communications breakdown of some kind regarding the promotion; and the promotion data wasn't available for the page on launch day.

searun said:
B&H, for example, has 20 years of my purchase records stored, and this has proved useful at times. I can always chat online with a rep, or talk with a rep. Many of their reps are photographers who understand what you need.

I've purchased cameras and equipment from B&H, Adorama, Cameta (back in the day), KEH, GetOlympus, DJI and Amazon, and a host of others on ebay. I've never had a really bad experience. Maybe I'm just lucky.

searun said:
Their return policy is very good, and flexible. They've done me favors.

There are other such stores and the prices at these places are generally the same as Amazon. I buy lots of things from Amazon, but not cameras.

Again, I've bought many cameras from Amazon and never really had a problem. I suspect this was just a glitch early in the launch.

Amazon is happy to refund my money, process the return and allow me to order the other version with the free battery. The only problem with that is then I'm without the OM-1 for my trip out west later this month.

Ideally, they would have simply just sent me a battery; but apparently there's no process for customer service agents to follow to permit that. I get it.

As I said, it's a disappointment, it's not a deal-breaker.

searun · Mar 4, 2022

My point is you can pick up a phone and get support from a photographer who has a clue when dealing with Adorama, B&H, etc. Good luck with that at Amazon.

I support camera stores. We're lucky to have brick & mortar dealers

Skeeterbytes · Mar 4, 2022

One heartburn I get with Amazon purchases [wait, you guys own DPR, right? Love ya, don't ever change!] is that it is not always clear who I am buying from from one purchase to the next. It's typically "sold by Amazon, shipped by Amazon" but when "not exactly" the documentation becomes opaque, leading to many surprises and disappointments and the occasional order that drops off the edge of the world.

Is it possible you were inadvertently shopping Amazon affiliates and not Amazon?

Anyway, agree that a camera in hand is better than one to be shipped at some future date.

Rick

Atho · Mar 4, 2022

Skeeterbytes said:
Is it possible you were inadvertently shopping Amazon affiliates and not Amazon?

Anyway, agree that a camera in hand is better than one to be shipped at some future date.

Rick

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dave rogers · Mar 4, 2022

Skeeterbytes said:
One heartburn I get with Amazon purchases [wait, you guys own DPR, right? Love ya, don't ever change!] is that it is not always clear who I am buying from from one purchase to the next. It's typically "sold by Amazon, shipped by Amazon" but when "not exactly" the documentation becomes opaque, leading to many surprises and disappointments and the occasional order that drops off the edge of the world.

Is it possible you were inadvertently shopping Amazon affiliates and not Amazon?

Yeah, I'm familiar with the issue you've described. This was through Amazon. I don't know what time the page went live, but I pre-ordered on the morning of the 15th, the confirmation email was received at 10:00 a.m., which is probably within minutes, if not seconds, of when I clicked.

Skeeterbytes said:
Anyway, agree that a camera in hand is better than one to be shipped at some future date.

Yep! I guess "not a deal-breaker" wasn't a powerful enough statement. Happy to have the camera in hand now so I can become more familiar with it before we head out to the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon and Sedona, places already photographed to death (some even by me).

The last time I was out there was with my E-30, eleven years ago. Hopefully, I've learned a thing or two since then.

I'm not going to worry about a spare battery. I'll buy a battery bank that can power the camera in a pinch, if it ever comes to that.

gpb11 · Mar 4, 2022

dave rogers said:
As I recall, the only option I saw on 15 Feb was to pre-order (not "buy") the body only, or the body+lens. There weren't four options, as there are today.

I also just finished chatting with Amazon support and the only thing they were willing to do for me was to process a refund, return the camera and re-order the one with the free battery.

I didn't screenshot the page the day of the order, so I'm going by memory. Suffice to say that I'm still cognitively able to distinguish between different options, and I would have picked one that offered a free battery!

Oh well...

Supporting your recollection, at CamelCamelCamel.com there's a price history for ASIN B09S5JBX56 - body-only going back to Feb 15th but "not enough data" for ASIN B09SNP5WBD, suggesting it appears more recently.

Sucks that Amazon won't make it right.

gpb11 · Mar 4, 2022

dave rogers said:
Amazon is happy to refund my money, process the return and allow me to order the other version with the free battery. The only problem with that is then I'm without the OM-1 for my trip out west later this month.

Ideally, they would have simply just sent me a battery; but apparently there's no process for customer service agents to follow to permit that. I get it.

As I said, it's a disappointment, it's not a deal-breaker.

The other problem is the free three-year warranty extension promotion expired yesterday.

About the "free battery."

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