More than messed up order - opinions wanted

[0098386]

Rightyo if you haven't tracked my progress... a few months ago I got hooked on photography so I waited till my student loan came in and BAM! I bought a Canon 350D with a range of accessories. in total;

Canon 350D + Lens kit, extra battery, bag, 4gb Microdrive and a memory card reader.

Last thursday my Card Reader and extra Battery arrived.
Few days ago my 350D arrived.
No sign of the Microdrive (and to a less important extent; the bag).

I have emailed the site responsible (Pixmania) and they are just bollocks. They do not respond to emails unless its something simple like "Can i have an order tracking number" or "what time is it?" but as soon as its "when will you get a microdrive in stock" or "instead of having Microdrives in stock and selling them to other people, why not send me mine?" replies just don't come through.

What should I do folk? I just got another email through (hallelujah!) saying that yea, they're experiencing problems and that i can cancel my order. That bit really confuses me. Cancel something that I already have received the majority of? the Microdrive was included with the price of the camera, there was no individual price so they couldn't refund me the money for that alone.

My mother, who kindly paid for all this with her credit card (safer than my debit card) is getting rather p***ed off with Pixmania. probably more so than me.

The stupid thing is my cousin is bringing her new born daughter around here on Sunday. she lives in Germany so its a big moment. especially because its been kept a secret from my grandparents. I'd love some pics but hey. Pixmania have better ideas.

See i could understand all this if they kept me up to date, if the site didn't say they had Microdrives in stock when they clearly do not.
What should I do? Send my camera back along with a very angry email, or send a possibly even more angry email back demanding compensation for the Microdrive so I could order it from a faster delivering website? Or just stick it out, with my photography project deadline ever nearing?

 

[BakedBeans]

No point iin sending your camera back over the card, I would go down the town and get a card so you can get shooting, then get hard on their case (phone calles, hourly emails etc) you will get it.


eventually, cant you cancel that part of the order

 

[0098386]

eventually, cant you cancel that part of the order

I dont know how this would work. See with Pixmania you buy a pack, which is the main product plus a range of cut-price accessories. they never tell you the individual price of the accessories.

What I would love to do is for them to yes, cancel that part of my order and give me a full £120 refund so I can toddle down to a shop and get myself a 4gb Microdrive. but i doubt they would do that. unless I fight.

word of advice; never buy from Pixmania. or never buy something that costs more than the usual consumer price range. it took weeks to get my 350D in stock, and now a month for my microdrive. my parents had no problem buying their little 4mp Kodak camera and their Canon 630i DV cam. but they're all normal consumer products.

 

[Applespider]

I have emailed the site responsible (Pixmania) and they are just bollocks.

Yup... they've not got the greatest of names for customer service. I have one friend who went down to their 'shop' near Fulham Broadway to pick something up, to get charged an extortionate fee and then find it wasn't actually there to collect. When it all works, it's great, when it doesn't, you find out why they can afford to sell cameras so cheaply... they don't employ sufficient well-trained staff to deal with customers once they've got your cash. There's no surprise that they're still advertising they have stock; how else will they take orders? I've heard of more problems though when people order just the camera since that takes away their accessory sales where they make back some of their margins. The accessories are often 'generic' versions of manufacturer ones - hence the cheap-looking prices. They generally don't guarantee them to be authentic - just compatible.

I'd keep hassling them, consider buying a card/drive elsewhere for Sunday since they're not going to get you one; those memories are priceless so the cost is irrelevant; and more storage can't be a bad thing! Any electronic shops that you can go haggle over price on cards?

 

[BakedBeans]

I think you should give them hell, can you afford to go and get another card to shoot with until it comes into stock? if not i think I've got a spare 256/512 (not sure) that i can post to you to get you shooting if you want.

BTW dont forget the trafford centre opening (mac store)!

 

[0098386]

Thats just it I cant afford it. I have £60 to last me until January, christmas included. I will certainly be giving Pixmania hell I threatened to cancel before and it seemed to work. So i'll try again

and BakedBeans! Thanks for the offer! I would like to take you up on that if its possible? you smashing person you!
My neighbour has a 64mb CF card (years old now) but he's away on a cruise somewhere. everyone else uses SD or that new XD one.

 

[BakedBeans]

Sure, just PM me your address and i will post it to you bud.

no worries! I know what its like to be 1-skint, 2-a student 3-desperate to use my new cam!

 

[BakedBeans]

Thanks, I got your address, i will post this card this afternoon!

 

[iGary]

You don't want a microdrive anyway.

 

[0098386]

You don't want a microdrive anyway.

Yea i was thinking that before. sure they hold a lot but I keep feeling that I'll have to be uber careful with it. Was thinking about swopping my 4gb Microdrive to a 40x 2gb CF card. its half the size, same cost, but CF are extremely tough... right?

 

[iGary]

Yea i was thinking that before. sure they hold a lot but I keep feeling that I'll have to be uber careful with it. Was thinking about swopping my 4gb Microdrive to a 40x 2gb CF card. its half the size, same cost, but CF are extremely tough... right?

Yeah, get a CF card - and 40X is fine with that camera.

You can't beat the **** out of a CF card, but you don't have to handle it like a piece of delicate glass, either. Some photographers swear by em', but I've heard too many horror stories for me to ever make them an option.