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AAA Camera Customer No-Service

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John Riedy

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Forgive me if this post is inflamitory, but I am so frustrated right now with AAA Camera in NY that I could scream. About a month ago I decided to purchase an 85mm f1.8 for use with my D30. I thought it would be the perfect addition to my lens collection for my wedding photojournalism. I researched on the web and found that AAA had the best price at around $329. I called to place the order. The gentleman on the other end informed me that the lens advertised has a plastic mount and if I wanted the metal mount I would have to pay an additional $60. Fine, whatever, just send it to me. "No problem, it's in stock, we'll send it out tommorrow," he said (in what I think was english).

One week later. No lens. Two weeks later. No lens. I call. Where's my lens. "Oh, it was shipped out last friday. It was backordered. You'll have it by the end of this week." End of this week. NO LENS. I call. "We'll put a tracer on it and call you back." Next day. NO CALL. I call. "Okay, we'll send you a new lens overnight. You'll have it by 10:30 tommorrow." 10:30 today. NO LENS. I call. "Oh yeah, we didn't have the lens in stock so we couldn't send it to you." CANCEL MY F#@ @N ORDER!!!

Meanwhile, I could easily have picked up a perfectly good used one on ebay in half the time this debacle occurred. The worst part of all this is that tommorrow morning I leave for Texas to shoot my first all-digital wedding. So I'm going to do what I should have done from the get-go and purchase the lens locally from Simon's Camera. Thanks for letting me vent.

John Riedy
http://www.riedyphoto.com
 
You are actually quite lucky with AAA. When you mentioned the plastic and metal mount I was 100% sure that you were going to get your hands on a shiny new Tamron 85/1.8. But then I guess it did not happend because neither Tamron, Tokina or Sigma makes one. Count yourself as lucky. And that's what happends when you try to order from the cheapest place in NY or elsewhere. Next time order from B&H or buy locally. You just don't know how lucky you are. I really mean it. It could have been much worse had you gotten a lens.
 
Don't ever never order from them along with many of these warehouse shops in Brooklyn. Inform your credit card company if you still have a chance. Majority of these site sell refurbish and grey market items. I picked up the latest issue of "Digital photo" and went to the ad section and see these companys ran the biggest ads with unbelievable prices along with lies like "been in the business for 15 years" blah blah blah.. Before i picked up my D30 at B&H, I wasted 4 hours driving up and down only to find dissatifaction... they're all in a rundown building with shady characters...
I think the best still is to search this forum.....
Chunin Martinez said:
You are actually quite lucky with AAA. When you mentioned the
plastic and metal mount I was 100% sure that you were going to get
your hands on a shiny new Tamron 85/1.8. But then I guess it did
not happend because neither Tamron, Tokina or Sigma makes one.
Count yourself as lucky. And that's what happends when you try to
order from the cheapest place in NY or elsewhere. Next time order
from B&H or buy locally. You just don't know how lucky you are. I
really mean it. It could have been much worse had you gotten a
lens.
Click to expand...
 
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10 over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!). My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card, which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order (even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
 
You'll probably end up filing a dispute form with your credit card company. I reconmend you to call them, have them advised on the issue and they will send you the form.
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
 
Already done. Thanks for the tip, though.

John
Chunin Martinez said:
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
John Riedy said:
Forgive me if this post is inflamitory, but I am so frustrated
right now with AAA Camera in NY that I could scream. About a month
ago I decided to purchase an 85mm f1.8 for use with my D30. I
thought it would be the perfect addition to my lens collection for
my wedding photojournalism. I researched on the web and found that
AAA had the best price at around $329. I called to place the
order. The gentleman on the other end informed me that the lens
advertised has a plastic mount and if I wanted the metal mount I
would have to pay an additional $60. Fine, whatever, just send it
to me. "No problem, it's in stock, we'll send it out tommorrow,"
he said (in what I think was english).
Click to expand...
John Riedy said:
One week later. No lens. Two weeks later. No lens. I call.
Where's my lens. "Oh, it was shipped out last friday. It was
backordered. You'll have it by the end of this week." End of this
week. NO LENS. I call. "We'll put a tracer on it and call you
back." Next day. NO CALL. I call. "Okay, we'll send you a new
lens overnight. You'll have it by 10:30 tommorrow." 10:30 today.
NO LENS. I call. "Oh yeah, we didn't have the lens in stock so we
couldn't send it to you." CANCEL MY F#@ @N ORDER!!!

Meanwhile, I could easily have picked up a perfectly good used one
on ebay in half the time this debacle occurred. The worst part of
all this is that tommorrow morning I leave for Texas to shoot my
first all-digital wedding. So I'm going to do what I should have
done from the get-go and purchase the lens locally from Simon's
Camera. Thanks for letting me vent.

John Riedy
Click to expand...
John Riedy said:
http://www.riedyphoto.com
Click to expand...
Welcome to the club! You are one of hundreds! Check out http://www.resellerratings.com/index.html (users evaluations of dealers) and http://www.newyork.bbb.org/ (New York Better Business Bureau).

They played the same game w/ me on an L lens (17-35 ?). When I placed the order, the order taker talked me into buying the lens for an additional 100 and some dollars, alleging that the lens had better specs, was better made, etc. when made in Factory A then in Factory B. I was skeptical but... I checked w/ Canon shortly thereafter and Canon adamently said that there were no differences; the lens was the same rgardless of the factory in which it was made.

AAA pulled other tricks as well, trying hard to talk me into a Tamron lens instead of an additional Canon lens I wanted to order (28-200), w/o telling me that the Canon lens was out-of-stock. Also, they didn't ship as promised and charged me an extra fee for "special handling" to expedite the order, which they grievously failed to do. Lastly, the box on the L lens was partially open upon arrival. At this point I sent the whole order back. AAA accepted the return, but refused to refund my more than $1,500! This is politely called "conversion." But in fact is out-and-out thievery.

Obviously, I put in a request to VISA for a credit (which is still pending). A VISA rep I recently spoke to said that she has handled other cases with AAA like mine where AAA accepted returned merchandize but refused to issue a credit.

Why aren't such companies put out of business? Sure VISA makes money off of AAA. Nevertheless, as unscrupulous as they are, why does VISA still do business with them?

mgd
 
Do yourself a favor and check the ratings before you buy.

http://www.resellerratings.com/vendone.cgi?AAACamera

This is probably the lowest rated store that I could find. Avoid them like the plague.

Rich
John Riedy said:
Forgive me if this post is inflamitory, but I am so frustrated
right now with AAA Camera in NY that I could scream. About a month
ago I decided to purchase an 85mm f1.8 for use with my D30. I
thought it would be the perfect addition to my lens collection for
my wedding photojournalism. I researched on the web and found that
AAA had the best price at around $329. I called to place the
order. The gentleman on the other end informed me that the lens
advertised has a plastic mount and if I wanted the metal mount I
would have to pay an additional $60. Fine, whatever, just send it
to me. "No problem, it's in stock, we'll send it out tommorrow,"
he said (in what I think was english).

One week later. No lens. Two weeks later. No lens. I call.
Where's my lens. "Oh, it was shipped out last friday. It was
backordered. You'll have it by the end of this week." End of this
week. NO LENS. I call. "We'll put a tracer on it and call you
back." Next day. NO CALL. I call. "Okay, we'll send you a new
lens overnight. You'll have it by 10:30 tommorrow." 10:30 today.
NO LENS. I call. "Oh yeah, we didn't have the lens in stock so we
couldn't send it to you." CANCEL MY F#@ @N ORDER!!!

Meanwhile, I could easily have picked up a perfectly good used one
on ebay in half the time this debacle occurred. The worst part of
all this is that tommorrow morning I leave for Texas to shoot my
first all-digital wedding. So I'm going to do what I should have
done from the get-go and purchase the lens locally from Simon's
Camera. Thanks for letting me vent.

John Riedy
http://www.riedyphoto.com
Click to expand...
 
Service costs money. CHEAPEST price isn't ever the best deal.
John Riedy said:
Forgive me if this post is inflamitory, but I am so frustrated
right now with AAA Camera in NY that I could scream. About a month
ago I decided to purchase an 85mm f1.8 for use with my D30. I
thought it would be the perfect addition to my lens collection for
my wedding photojournalism. I researched on the web and found that
AAA had the best price at around $329. I called to place the
order. The gentleman on the other end informed me that the lens
advertised has a plastic mount and if I wanted the metal mount I
would have to pay an additional $60. Fine, whatever, just send it
to me. "No problem, it's in stock, we'll send it out tommorrow,"
he said (in what I think was english).

One week later. No lens. Two weeks later. No lens. I call.
Where's my lens. "Oh, it was shipped out last friday. It was
backordered. You'll have it by the end of this week." End of this
week. NO LENS. I call. "We'll put a tracer on it and call you
back." Next day. NO CALL. I call. "Okay, we'll send you a new
lens overnight. You'll have it by 10:30 tommorrow." 10:30 today.
NO LENS. I call. "Oh yeah, we didn't have the lens in stock so we
couldn't send it to you." CANCEL MY F#@ @N ORDER!!!

Meanwhile, I could easily have picked up a perfectly good used one
on ebay in half the time this debacle occurred. The worst part of
all this is that tommorrow morning I leave for Texas to shoot my
first all-digital wedding. So I'm going to do what I should have
done from the get-go and purchase the lens locally from Simon's
Camera. Thanks for letting me vent.

John Riedy
http://www.riedyphoto.com
Click to expand...
 
Guess who reads this forum!!! That's right... AAA. I spoke to them on the phone today still trying get them to credit back to my card the 85mm lens they never sent, but happily charged to my card the day I ordered it. You're not going to believe what the guy said to me. "It's going to be 3 or 4 weeks, BUT IF YOU TAKE OFF THE STUFF YOU SAID ON THE INTERNET (IE. THIS FORUM), WE CAN CREDIT YOUR CARD FASTER!!!" Oh my God!!! At this point I went ballistic. Can you believe that they are threatening not to give me my money back unless I retract what I say in this forum. UNBELIEVABLE! Since I'm sure AAA is reading this post as well, I will say that, in fairness, if they do actually give me back my money, I will gladly post on this forum that they have done such. I'm not holding my breath.

John Riedy
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
 
So John, have you filed a dispute with your credit card company yet? That will probably get you your money faster.

Imagine that, threatening you... Hey, have you posted these same comments over at http://www.photo.net? If you haven't done so I'd suggest you do.
John Riedy said:
John Riedy
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yes, Jason, I have put it into dispute with my credit card company. I haven't posted at photo.net, but I certainly will. Thanks for the advice. People need to know about companies that try to do business like this. I really can't believe that they think they can shut me up about their atrocious customer service. They've only fueled the fire.

John
jason said:
Imagine that, threatening you... Hey, have you posted these same
comments over at http://www.photo.net? If you haven't done so I'd suggest
you do.
John Riedy said:
John Riedy
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
John Riedy said:
Forgive me if this post is inflamitory, but I am so frustrated
right now with AAA Camera in NY that I could scream. About a month
ago I decided to purchase an 85mm f1.8 for use with my D30. I
thought it would be the perfect addition to my lens collection for
my wedding photojournalism. I researched on the web and found that
AAA had the best price at around $329.
Click to expand...
A classic example of the mistake of shopping for the best price instead of the best deal. If you had done as much research on service you would have quickly found out that AAA has a long and well deserved reputation for riping off customers.
 
Jim K said:
As a side thought:
So what happens if you say you'll take the plastic mount lens? As
far as I know there is NO Canon 85 mm plastic mount lens.
Click to expand...
Simple. They will suddenly decide that they are no longer in stock and they will steer you to the more expensive one that is so much better!
Biggest crooks around.
 
IMHO this is what happens sometimes when you try to go for the cheapest price rather than getting a good deal with well known vendors. I have been saying this a couple times here but everyone has been saying I am spending too much. Beleive me I have experienced similar problerms with other products by buying for the lowest price I can find. You get what you pay for.If someone offers the cheapest price on the market theres usually a reason and often that reason is not good.
John Riedy said:
Forgive me if this post is inflamitory, but I am so frustrated
right now with AAA Camera in NY that I could scream. About a month
ago I decided to purchase an 85mm f1.8 for use with my D30. I
thought it would be the perfect addition to my lens collection for
my wedding photojournalism. I researched on the web and found that
AAA had the best price at around $329. I called to place the
order. The gentleman on the other end informed me that the lens
advertised has a plastic mount and if I wanted the metal mount I
would have to pay an additional $60. Fine, whatever, just send it
to me. "No problem, it's in stock, we'll send it out tommorrow,"
he said (in what I think was english).

One week later. No lens. Two weeks later. No lens. I call.
Where's my lens. "Oh, it was shipped out last friday. It was
backordered. You'll have it by the end of this week." End of this
week. NO LENS. I call. "We'll put a tracer on it and call you
back." Next day. NO CALL. I call. "Okay, we'll send you a new
lens overnight. You'll have it by 10:30 tommorrow." 10:30 today.
NO LENS. I call. "Oh yeah, we didn't have the lens in stock so we
couldn't send it to you." CANCEL MY F#@ @N ORDER!!!

Meanwhile, I could easily have picked up a perfectly good used one
on ebay in half the time this debacle occurred. The worst part of
all this is that tommorrow morning I leave for Texas to shoot my
first all-digital wedding. So I'm going to do what I should have
done from the get-go and purchase the lens locally from Simon's
Camera. Thanks for letting me vent.

John Riedy
http://www.riedyphoto.com
Click to expand...
 
Unfortunatelly, many people have to get burned at least once before they see the light. Buy once from AAA or one of these other jerks and you will be glad to pay extra for the service you get from a legit vendor. As you said you generally get exactly what you pay for. And with those clowns you will get nothing but agravation. There is a good reason why they have about the lowest rating of all vendors on resellerratings.com.

Rich
M said:
IMHO this is what happens sometimes when you try to go for the
cheapest price rather than getting a good deal with well known
vendors. I have been saying this a couple times here but everyone
has been saying I am spending too much. Beleive me I have
experienced similar problerms with other products by buying for the
lowest price I can find. You get what you pay for.If someone offers
the cheapest price on the market theres usually a reason and often
that reason is not good.
Click to expand...
 
Next time I past by their shop, i will take a picture of them.... once u see them, you will understand why you will/shouldnever shop there. They pretend to operate like B&H on the phone and even has a Jewish hour to match it, but they're more qualify as repoman!
John Riedy said:
John
jason said:
Imagine that, threatening you... Hey, have you posted these same
comments over at http://www.photo.net? If you haven't done so I'd suggest
you do.
John Riedy said:
John Riedy
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I feel that the photo mags are in on it too! They claim to want to protect customers but these con artist ads are never pulled. pop. photo, shutter bug etc.. Im sure have received tons of complaints about these guys but as long as they take out ads they don t care who they rip off.
ometofu said:
John Riedy said:
John
jason said:
Imagine that, threatening you... Hey, have you posted these same
comments over at http://www.photo.net? If you haven't done so I'd suggest
you do.
John Riedy said:
John Riedy
John Riedy said:
An update on my AAA camera debacle:

Shortly after I cancelled my order I received a phone call from
AAA. "Hello, Mr. Riedy, good news. We tracked down your lens and
it will be delivered tommorrow." Bad news, I'm on a plane at 7am
to Texas to shoot the wedding. "Oh, well, we'll send it to you in
Texas." Ahhh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. After all of this, I
called Simons's Camera here in LA and his price is a whopping $10
over what I was going to pay at AAA. I'll pay that everyday and
twice on Sunday for a little piece of mind (even with sales tax!).
My only question now is will AAA actually refund my credit card,
which, by the way, they charged the same day I placed the order
(even though it wasn't in stock). Ugh.

John
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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