Is Adorama a crooked Apple Hardware Reseller?

[TightLines]

On 10/4 I placed an order for a M1 MacBook Air with the authorized Apple vendor Adorama. They were offering $100 discount via a digital coupon from Apple Insider, plus a discount on the Apple Care coverage. The configuration is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was not a “base” model. I configured it with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD… it was the Gold colored one. On Adorama’s website it indicated the laptop was in stock, but they noted that they send all Mac orders to Apple for processing and shipment. I chose the standard free shipping. Which indicated to me (an assumption) based on how I perceived the wording on the website ordering pages that the order would ship on or before 10/6. Additionally, the website order page explicitly says “Your credit card will not be charged until the order has shipped.”

On 10/6 i got an email from Adorama as a drop ship notification stating they sent my order for fulfillment directly by the manufacturer/distributor. And they would be updating me with tracking information as soon as it becomes available. Ironically, in that same email they stated their return policy as follows: “We think you'll agree that Adorama has the best return policy in the industry.

- You have 30 days from the date of invoice to return the merchandise for full refund on your credit card.”

Within an hour of that email my card had been charged and my account debited, despite the order not having shipped, or me even getting a notification of a tracking number and estimated delivery date.

Nothing in any of their emails or other communications indicated this was a special order, and several other vendors listed that exact same configuration being in stock on their websites… they were just $100 more than Adorama.

Another complication in all of this is apparently they as a firm observe the Jewish Sukkot Holiday and have a very limited schedule of being open for business until 10/19…

When i had not received an update about the shipping from Apple or Adorama by 10/10 - i sent them an email asking for a status update and requested they provide me info about the expected delivery date for my order with them. It took until 10/12 for them to reply, but when they did they said they checked with Apple and was informed by them that the estimated ship date for my order was 12/15/22 - a full 2 months away. Needless to say, i was not pleased with this news; my credit card had already been charged, and i am expected to just wait for 2+ months on a estimated ship date for a product that is showing in stock on many other authorized Apple vendor websites, AND is not of some super special configuration. So i figured that I would just cancel the order… and move on to another source. So i decide to email Adorama and inform them i want to cancel the order… they wouldn’t allow it via the website, and instructed to me to call or mail them to discuss and claimed that Apple was the one who would decide if the cancellation would be accepted… Well, that didn’t sit too well, but i figured i would let them go through their process and policy, but informed them i would not hesitate to report to my bank this being an unauthorized transaction due to very relevant information being omitted prior to the purchase - like the laptop would take until 12/15 to ship… Adorama replied and acted as if they wanted to help, but due to the holiday it was limited to when they were open… i decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them to try to work this out and they said they would email Apple and see about getting approval to cancel the order… in the meantime, just yesterday on 10/13 i received an email from Apple as a notification that my Apple Care+ had been activated and now the extended warranty was ticking off time for an item I didn’t have in my possession, and it had not even shipped. I then get an email today telling me they are declining the cancellation due to Apple saying no, its a special order…

Needless to say, i am now a little bit frustrated. Adorama has no answer why i have an extended warranty activated for a product that hasn’t even shipped and according to them, won’t for another 2+ months, and my card has been charged for an item that has not shipped as they say they won’t do… charge a card until an order has shipped… and to boot they won’t answer questions surrounding that.

Have any of you experienced a bad interaction with this Online Apple Vendor?

I really am just amazed at this - like they wouldn’t expect me to want to cancel once i learned of a 2+ month wait time, that went undisclosed to me until they had charged my card and got my money… it pisses me off to be honest… whats your alls experience in dealing with this kind of thing?

BTW - I am buying this laptop for my elderly mother… its a special gift for her, not even for me.

 

[estabya]

I’ve not heard of this sort of experience with Adorama, but this sounds very sketchy. If they are refusing a refund I would report the charge as fraudulent to the CC company.

 

[Fishrrman]

I had an "unsatisfying" experience with Adorama last year when I tried to buy a 2021 MBP 14" during their "black Friday sale".

They listed the item I wanted (base 2021 MBP space grey) as on-sale, with delivery coming soon. So I placed an order.

Waited a few weeks into December ... nothing.
Waited until January... nothing
Waited until end of January... nothing.

Fortunately, they had not charged my card.
I called and cancelled the order.
I was able to buy it within a couple of days from the local Apple Store (using Apple's "veteran's discount", same price as I would have received from Adorama).

My guess is that Adorama advertises Apple Mac products they don't have, and may not be receiving for a while. Order one of these, and ... who knows when you'll receive it.

That's my experience.
Others may be different.

My advice to the OP is:
Take this up with your credit card company.
If the item still has not shipped, request that they do a "charge back".

Look for what you want somewhere else.

 

[Technerd108]

I am sorry to hear of your experience. I have bought from B&H photo on a Black Friday sale a few years back and had a similar experience in that customer service was very limited due to holidays and shipping took a long time.

I didn't deal with anything like the OP's experience though.

They are not a crooked seller but you certainly pay a price for the discount. I would ask if you can reach someone at Adorama to speak with a supervisor. Try to get them to expedite the order and if they can't help you ask them to cancel the order again.

Then just do a charge back with your bank.

Alternatively just do the charge back and be done with it. In my experience these vendors don't really care about customer service and price and volume sales is their only motivation.

Since my experience with B&H I will never order from a vendor like them again.

There are better vendors offering the same deals.

If you want an M1 air I would wait until Black Friday if you can and check Costco, Bestbuy, and Amazon for sales on higher configuration. Also Apple has refurbished higher configuration on sale now.

Avoid ebay, Adorama, B&H, and other bargain basement sellers. Costco and Bestbuy often have great sales and great customer service.

Good luck and hope all works out in the end.

 

[laptech]

You stated that the website order sates that your credit card will not be charged until the order is shipped. This forms part of the sales contract between you an Adorama. What Adorama has done is what many unscrupulous businesses do which is say they will charge the credit card once the order has shipped but actually they charge the credit card when the order was placed. Adorama are therefore in breach of contract because they have charged your credit card before the item has shipped. You then exorcised your right to cancel and Adorama said you can't because Apple wont allow it because it's a 'special order'. That is neither here nor there. The contract is with your and Adorama, not Apple and as such under there terms and conditions of the contract you have 30 days from invoice to cancel the order. You have been invoiced and because they have charged your credit card when they shouldn't have you have exorcised your rights in cancelling your order. Adorama cannot refuse to cancel your order. If Apple is not allowing the order to be stopped then that is an issue between Adorama and Apple, not you.

Contact your credit card ASAP and get them to return your money. Tell them Adorama are in breach of contract and you've exorcised your right to cancel per Adorama cancel policy and they have refused to do so.

 

[Technerd108]

You stated that the website order sates that your credit card will not be charged until the order is shipped. This forms part of the sales contract between you an Adorama. What Adorama has done is what many unscrupulous businesses do which is say they will charge the credit card once the order has shipped but actually they charge the credit card when the order was placed. Adorama are therefore in breach of contract because they have charged your credit card before the item has shipped. You then exorcised your right to cancel and Adorama said you can't because Apple wont allow it because it's a 'special order'. That is neither here nor there. The contract is with your and Adorama, not Apple and as such under there terms and conditions of the contract you have 30 days from invoice to cancel the order. You have been invoiced and because they have charged your credit card when they shouldn't have you have exorcised your rights in cancelling your order. Adorama cannot refuse to cancel your order. If Apple is not allowing the order to be stopped then that is an issue between Adorama and Apple, not you.

Contact your credit card ASAP and get them to return your money. Tell them Adorama are in breach of contract and you've exorcised your right to cancel per Adorama cancel policy and they have refused to do so.

Perfect advice.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

I've bought from B&H Photo and had a good experience (MacBook Pro). Seen the deals with Adorama but they matched B&H whom I've bought camera's from before which is why I went with them. From what the OP said - forget about it - credit card company is where I'd go ASAP. They can cancel it for you. Just be sure you didn't miss anything in the ordering process that says configurations other than what they offer are handled differently. I've seen that with Apple directly before.

On the AppleCare+ situation, that tends to get fixed with data adjustment when it is actually shipped. If you don't see it, Apple is happy to oblige when you call them.

 

[TightLines]

Thank you all for the replies and it appear the consensus is to contact the bank and get the ball rolling on a charge back… and i believe thats what i will do provided they don’t immediatly ship the item upon return and reopening of their business from having obeserved the Jewish Sukkot Holiday… i will give them until then… they have been in contact with me during, even though its limited… and know my position. If they don’t comply by the 20th then i will contact the bank. I always like giving people the benefit of the doubt and hate to run into the shady business… and like someone above mentioned they avoid them for this very reason… personally, i have done a lot of busness with Amazon and apart from one time they have delivered… and in the one instance things didn’t go right, they promptly dealt with it. I have also had decent experience with B&H and currenlty have an expensive item on order with them (i ordered my new baby with them and it is a $600 discount) where they have commited to deliver on the 20th, one day after the holiday ends… yes, they are also in observance of that holiday… Andorama has until that same day, and if they fail i will contact bank and dispute the charge and ask them to handle a charge back for the very reasons some stated above.

Thank you all for the advice… since this post got moved quickly off the front page, i was concened it wouldn’t be seen and responded to… anyone know why Mac Rumors flagged this to be quickly moved off the front page and into the back pages?

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

Thank you all for the advice… since this post got moved quickly off the front page, i was concened it wouldn’t be seen and responded to… anyone know why Mac Rumors flagged this to be quickly moved off the front page and into the back pages?

Believe it's based on comments and activity on the post.

 

[Corefile]

I bought a 2018 Mini from them about four years ago and had zero complaints.

 

[TightLines]

Believe it's based on comments and activity on the post.

Thanks for the info…. Good to know.

 

[HDFan]

Many years ago talking with a DSL manufacturer Camera rep I was told to avoid Adorama.

I now deal exclusively with B&H. Had a problem with a microphone holder. They went down to the sales floor, found my microphone stand, and matched it with the correct holder. All this for a $5.00 part. Blew me away.

 

[maflynn]

I used to buy from Adorama but they started showing items as available when they were not in stock

I would avoid them now.

Op good luck on getting your money back

 

[Boyd01]

Avoid ebay, Adorama, B&H, and other bargain basement sellers.

IMO, it's not fair to lump B&H together with "other bargain basement sellers". They have always been very well-respected, especially in the professional video community. Their store is quite an amazing experience if you have the chance to visit in person, have never seen anything like it before.

I've bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of Macs and professional video gear from B&H Photo for over twenty years. Never a problem, wouldn't hesitate to do so again. No problem with customer service there either. Had to return a thunderbolt dock that didn't meet my expectations and it was easy. Fedex apparently lost a MacBook Air that I shipped to my daughter and they were responsive, but Fedex found it before B&H needed to take action.

True, their holidays can be a source of confusion sometimes, but their schedule has always been pretty clear on their website. Now, it's been about a year since I bought something there so it's always possible that they have gone downhill recently, but that would surprise me. Buying direct from Apple has also been great for me, but B&H often has custom Mac configurations in stock where they need to be special ordered from Apple.

 

[maflynn]

IMO, it's not fair to lump B&H

Agreed. B&H is top notch. I highly recommend them, great selection, price and very good customer service

 

[TightLines]

I have also dealt with B&H a few times and had no problems with them. I currently have a very high dollar Apple product order pending with them and saved $600 in the transaction… the order according to them in the check out process will be delivered the day after they return from the extended holiday they have been observing. On the 20th. I have no reason to doubt that order will be fulfilled as they described in the checkout process.

On the other hand i am now beginning to doubt the benefit of doubt i extended to Adorama. They have responded to a couple emails with a copy and paste response that are not even relevant to the subject at hand, and seem clueless as this issue transverses their system and is passed from person to person to handle. I have now lost faith this will be handled satisfactorily by them and will unfortunately have to be settled by a bank dispute - further delaying my planned purchase. Thats unfortunate.

 

[iamMacPerson]

I'm sorry you had such a poor experience with Adorama. I purchased my Mac mini M1 through them using the Insider discount as well at the beginning of 2021 (CTO model as well with 16 GB of RAM and the 1 TB SSD). It was a smooth transaction. What was interesting was the fact that it didn't ship directly from Apple, instead it shipped from Adorama itself. Maybe it was a very common config to order, but the Mac mini retail box was packed inside the official Apple shipping carton *inside* an Adorama box with bubble wrap and such -- basically the machine was triple boxed.

I think now is the time to get the card company involved. It sucks, but I don't understand how the ship date could be two months out when the machine can come from Apple in a much shorter window. Also, Apple doesn't register AppleCare on a device until it has shipped from them, so either Adorama has the machine and is trying to get out of honoring the sale price, or they somehow lost it and are trying to locate it, hoping to find it in the next couple months.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

I have a ton of photography, video & computer equipment purchased from both Adorama & B&H, either for myself or for work/production and have been buying from them for many many years. Adorama is in a more convenient location for me to get to than B&H so I always opt to go there first if they have what I need. But both have an outstanding reputation locally though B&H is much bigger and more well known on a national level. I have never ever had a problem with either and I always found the Adorama folks to be easier to deal with but I almost always went I person.

It should be noted that both companies adhere to the same religious holiday schedules. Again, known very well locally and we've adapted to it. I always forget that outside of New York, most people aren't aware how strict the Hasidic community is re: business hours.

However, what you experienced is unacceptable. And egregious that they charged you before shipping. Definitely contact your credit card co if Adorama won't resolve this.

 

[TightLines]

I have a ton of photography, video & computer equipment purchased from both Adorama & B&H, either for myself or for work/production and have been buying from them for many many years. Adorama is in a more convenient location for me to get to than B&H so I always opt to go there first if they have what I need. But both have an outstanding reputation locally though B&H is much bigger and more well known on a national level. I have never ever had a problem with either and I always found the Adorama folks to be easier to deal with but I almost always went I person.

It should be noted that both companies adhere to the same religious holiday schedules. Again, known very well locally and we've adapted to it. I always forget that outside of New York, most people aren't aware how strict the Hasidic community is re: business hours.

However, what you experienced is unacceptable. And egregious that they charged you before shipping. Definitely contact your credit card co if Adorama won't resolve this.

Not sure whats happened to them, but that is not the experience i have had… today i was greeted by 3 e-mails all of them were copy/paste responses that had nothing to do with or properly related to the dispute… all coming from a different person than i had being previously dealing with. Considering that, i replied to one of them and requested i be contacted by a Adorama Supervisor to try and bring this dispute to a satisfactory conclusion… a bit later i received 2 more emails with a different name attached, but no content in the body (apart from all previous correspondence) and that was it… I replied to one of those asking if those were sent in error or there was supposed to be some sort of comment or instructions… and i have received no reply. Considering that, i opened a dispute with my bank a bit later, and am asking for a refund and charge back of two separate bank debits from Adorama - (both added together correctly total the purchase price of the order) - and claiming i have not received the merchandise and that the card was charged before the item shipped to me, and that no acceptable delivery date had been provided. If you know people there, then you may want to alert them to the bad reputation they are earning… this isn’t good and has delayed my plans significantly. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, and work with them considering the holiday shutdown… but after todays unexplainable exchange, i have decided to move forward and ask for refund/charge back… the bank has informed me it could take 10 days… so that is even more unneeded delay… ugh

 

[NYCValkyrie]

Not sure whats happened to them, but that is not the experience i have had… today i was greeted by 3 e-mails all of them were copy/paste responses that had nothing to do with or properly related to the dispute… all coming from a different person than i had being previously dealing with. Considering that, i replied to one of them and requested i be contacted by a Adorama Supervisor to try and bring this dispute to a satisfactory conclusion… a bit later i received 2 more emails with a different name attached, but no content in the body (apart from all previous correspondence) and that was it… I replied to one of those asking if those were sent in error or there was supposed to be some sort of comment or instructions… and i have received no reply. Considering that, i opened a dispute with my bank a bit later, and am asking for a refund and charge back of two separate bank debits from Adorama - (both added together correctly total the purchase price of the order) - and claiming i have not received the merchandise and that the card was charged before the item shipped to me, and that no acceptable delivery date had been provided. If you know people there, then you may want to alert them to the bad reputation they are earning… this isn’t good and has delayed my plans significantly. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, and work with them considering the holiday shutdown… but after todays unexplainable exchange, i have decided to move forward and ask for refund/charge back… the bank has informed me it could take 10 days… so that is even more unneeded delay… ugh

Your complaint is very valid. I'm not discounting it at all. I know they lost some people during the pandemic and the community has been hit hard by it. Many local businesses have been shorthanded. Both B&H & Adorama are owned by local families. They aren't some large national chain. They each just have 1 location.

But that's not the excuse you're looking for. I am only here to say that they are not crooked in the sense you're speaking on. But both B&H are "old school" in a lot of ways that I won't go into here. No business is perfect but you deserved better CS here. Wishing you luck.

 

[TightLines]

Your complaint is very valid. I'm not discounting it at all. I know they lost some people during the pandemic and the community has been hit hard by it. Many local businesses have been shorthanded. Both B&H & Adorama are owned by local families. They aren't some large national chain. They each just have 1 location.

But that's not the excuse you're looking for. I am only here to say that they are not crooked in the sense you're speaking on. But both B&H are "old school" in a lot of ways that I won't go into here. No business is perfect but you deserved better CS here. Wishing you luck.

Well, that is still TBD… they have a chance to make things right… but thus far have refused to do so… i know its the holiday and i wanted to be patient with them until the 19th, but after today it showed me they aren’t talking to each other or trying to get this right… so i am moving forward. If they make it difficult and delay things further i will probably come to a conclusion that differs from your opinion, and gain the perception they are running a shady business…. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

 

[TightLines]

Update - unbeknown to Adorama the laptop I ordered was delivered to me coming directly from China today; it shipped on the 13th. It was actually here yesterday but i missed the delivery and signature required. It shipped via DHL. I opened a dispute with my bank on Saturday, and will cancel that ASAP and have informed Adorama of the new development. They need to work on their communication about such orderers… seems no one knew what was what… even their contact at Apple seemed clueless.

 

[estabya]

Update - unbeknown to Adorama the laptop I ordered was delivered to me coming directly from China today; it shipped on the 13th. It was actually here yesterday but i missed the delivery and signature required. It shipped via DHL. I opened a dispute with my bank on Saturday, and will cancel that ASAP and have informed Adorama of the new development. They need to work on their communication about such orderers… seems no one knew what was what… even their contact at Apple seemed clueless.

Glad to hear everything worked out and it was just an issue with lack of communication. Enjoy the new machine! I love my M1 MBA.

 

[KaliYoni]

the laptop I ordered was delivered to me coming directly from China today

So, in hindsight, was what you went through worth it to save a hundred bucks? Or are you done with NYC-based discount photo stores?

 

[BrianBaughn]

I ordered a Mac Studio M1 Max from Adorama last month with the Apple Insider discount and got it in two days.