Adorama sent me expired film

david b · Mar 10, 2005

I just received 25 rolls of Pan F+ from Adorama and all of the rolls are Feb 2005.

What a load of crap!!!!!

Can't wait to call them in the morning.

This should be fun.

Sanjay Sen · Mar 10, 2005

Hmmm.... so I was not the only one. They sent me a roll of expired IR film. I called the next day and they gave me a refund. They did not want the film back - it was a freebie.

Hope you can work out your case amicably.

Gary892 · Mar 10, 2005

David, sorry that you got expired film but your experience just demonstraits that companies like Agfa and Ilford, who produce and deliver quality film, are suffering financial hardship, but companies like adorama, who deliver expired film to their customers are seeming to thrive. such irony.

Sanjay Sen · Mar 10, 2005

Gary892 said:
your experience just demonstraits that companies like Agfa and Ilford, who produce and deliver quality film, are suffering financial hardship, but companies like adorama, who deliver expired film to their customers are seeming to thrive. such irony.

I totally agree

BradS · Mar 10, 2005

david b said:
I just received 25 rolls of Pan F+ from Adorama and all of the rolls are Feb 2005. What a load of crap!!!!!

Can't wait to call them in the morning.

This should be fun.

A similar thing happend to me once too. I got about twenty rolls of short dated Kodak Supra from Adorama....called them the next day and politely explained to them that I wanted to return the film because it was short dated. They immediately offered a partial refund. We negotiated a while and I ended up paying $1.88 / roll + shipping. I stil buy from them occasionally but, I try to find what I need locally.

brent8927 · Mar 10, 2005

Try B&H next time. I guess they're kind of the Starbucks of the photography world, but all the film I get from them, including slide film, is very fresh and doesn't expire for a long time.

arigram · Mar 10, 2005

It is not uncommon in Greece for the film to sit for months waiting for to be picked up. It is as depressing as seing puppies wiggling their tail inside cages in pet stores. I have learned to check the date on the film I buy from here and also will ask for absolutely fresh film when I make that bulk order from Germany.

Les McLean · Mar 10, 2005

Some years ago I purchased several boxes of 5 x 4 Fuji Velvia from Adorama and when I processed them on my return from New York they had strange marks on them that I first thought was fogging. I took them to Fuji in the UK and they said they'e never seen such marks and assured me that it was not fogging. They thought that it was grey import that had been stored in hot conditions. That was thge last time I ever purchased anything from Adorama.

dancqu · Mar 10, 2005

I don't do business with Adorama. Detail matters; wrong size lens cap
on a 'New' enlarging lens. Poor job of repacking 'new' goods. I've never
had a problem with B&H. My last 20 rolls of Pan F+ 120 came in two,
ten roll packs from Calumet. Here on the West Coast Freestyle
is a good source. Dan

dancqu · Mar 10, 2005

brent8927 said:
Try B&H next time. I guess they're kind of the Starbucks of the
photography world, but all the film I get from them, including slide
film, is very fresh and doesn't expire for a long time.

Starbucks? if I can cover 3000 miles in 5 minutes! Dan

colrehogan · Mar 10, 2005

dancqu said:
I don't do business with Adorama. Detail matters; wrong size lens cap
on a 'New' enlarging lens. Poor job of repacking 'new' goods. I've never
had a problem with B&H. My last 20 rolls of Pan F+ 120 came in two,
ten roll packs from Calumet. Here on the West Coast Freestyle
is a good source. Dan

I got some expired 8x10 IR film from Freestyle in Nov of 2004 (exp. 5/2004). I did call them and they asked if I'd tried it. I hadn't and they said they would either replace it or I could try it and if it was not good then they would replace it. I tried it and it was fine. I had some 4x5 film from that same film lot and shot them side by side and they were fine, so I kept the film. I will plan to use up both boxes of film soon.

Monophoto · Mar 10, 2005

Anyone who does business with mail order (or internet) firms on a regular basis eventually is going to encounter a problem. These guys survive on volume, and when you are pushing volume, mistakes happen. Deal with it.

That's one of the corollaries of Murphy's Law. (There was another Irish philosopher named O'Toole who's most famous pronouncement was that Murphy was an optimist.)

Two examples, both involving Freestyle. Case 1: I purchased a NEW Saunders V-track easel for my wife to give me for Christmas. When I opened the box on Christmas morning, it sensed that something wasn't just right about it - and when I turned it over and saw that the previous owner had written her name on it with a Sharpie, I realized that it wasn't new merchandise. I sent Freestyle an e-mail on Christmas day, and called them the next day. Within a week I had a new easel and a return shipment label to ship the "used" easel back to them. Very prompt and professional.

Case 2: many years ago I bought several 50 sheet boxes of 8x10 "Germany's finest" matte surface paper (for hand coloring) - actually made by Orwo in the former East Germany. When I opened one of the boxes, I found that it apparently had been cut from the edge of the roll, and every sheet had a 1/2" strip down one side where there was no emulsion. Several months later, while on the phone with Freestyle to place another order (including another box of the Orwo paper - great stuff!). I mentioned to the sales guy what had happened, and he offered to take back what was left of the defective box and refund the purchase price. While the offer reflected the professionalism and integrity that makes me comfortable doing business with them, I chose to not take him up on the offer since I had found a way to work around the "quirk".

In my book, the critical factor is not whether a problem occurs, but rather how the merchant deals with it.

photomc · Mar 10, 2005

It may cost me a bit more, but all films/papers/etc right now come from Calumet, Freestyle or JandC. All three of these are fast (when product is in stock), gives me a place to check the order status and have always..Always!! been very helpful. Does not hurt that they are sponsers here...to me discount photography stores are like fast food...more about the package and sell than the product.

c6h6o3 · Mar 10, 2005

Only 3 things in life are certain:

1) Death
2) Taxes
3) Shanesy will NEVER send another penny to Adorama for any reason.

mark · Mar 10, 2005

Me either. I paid for 2nd day shipping and got the stuff yesterday. Five days after I ordered it. I called them, got attitude as only a camera store in NYC can dish out, and finally got them to refund the second day shipping charge. I stopped ordering from BH because of bad shipping and shitty attitudes when they screwed up. I guess it will be calumet from here on out. They're a sponsor too. This might sound petty but this is the last straw. This is the third order from adorama and the thrid mess up. Screw 'em.

A hint with Calumet.
When ordering ask about damaged specials. Most of the time the merchandise is totally fine but the box is banged up. I got three boxes of 50 11x14 sheets of Brilliant paper for 30 bucks once. The boxes had been ripped but the black plastic bag was just fine. The sales guy said they would not sell sonemething that was clearly not usable. They don't have this stuff all the time but when they do it is worth it.

David H. Bebbington · Mar 10, 2005

Just once, 15 years ago, I called Adorama from the UK with a current edition of an American photography magazine in front of me. I wanted to buy an original Pentax 20 mm lens. The sales clerk first told me the advertised prices were no longer applicable, then that the lens in question had been deleted and I should consider their special (Spiratone or some such). I told him I was a professional photographer and always used original Pentax prime lenses.

Normally I would have expected the clerk to react by "remembering" that the lens WAS available, but by then I presume he felt he had painted himself so far into a corner that he could not backtrack with a shred of credibility. I put the phone down and immediately ordered the lens from a British supplier.

How DO these bums stay in business?

david b · Mar 10, 2005

I just got off the phone with a "manager" named martino. All he would do is credit me 50 cents per roll.

Even the crappy local store discounts expired film more than this.

This will be my last order with Adorama.

mikeg · Mar 10, 2005

I keep on hearing on the web about how awful New York stores are and the various bait & switch tactics they use. Why are they allowed to stay in business?

On the other hand I've always had very good service from my usual supplier here in the the UK, Firstcall (www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk). I put in an order recently and when it came I realised that one of the items was wrong -- I'd ordered a box of glossy instead of lustre Kentmere paper. Looked on the email confirmation and there it was -- glossy. Damn. I'd ordered it in a rush late at night off their website so I'd probably selected the wrong item. Phoned them up and they said no problems we'll send out a new box of lustre paper and include a prepaid sticker for you to send back the old box -- no charge. New box turned up 2 days later. Excellent service! Now if only they would stock raw chemicals ...

Mike

Flotsam · Mar 10, 2005

I've got a "mixed bag" order arriving today (according to UPS tracking). I'm only 35 miles outside of Manhattan so even the cheapest shipping rate gets here overnight.
I ordered such a variety of oddball stuff and they put the order together so fast that I'll be surprised if nothing is backordered.
If anything is missing, incorrect or damaged, I'll be sure to join in on the b*tchfest

david b · Mar 10, 2005

I should also note that I was also offered film dated 12/2005 even though the website says they are out of stock.
The whole thing really bugs me. So much so that my money will go elsewhere.

roteague · Mar 10, 2005

I buy all my color film from Calumet (I primarily use QuickLoads), although I buy a roll or two locally. All my B&W film (which I don't use much of) comes from J&C - I've been shooting the Efke PL100, primarily because of the work of our missing APUG member Francesco.

Flotsam · Mar 10, 2005

david b said:
I just got off the phone with a "manager" named martino. All he would do is credit me 50 cents per roll.

Even the crappy local store discounts expired film more than this.

This will be my last order with Adorama.

I just bought some short dated (May 2005) Efke KB100 from JandC at a generous $1.40 per roll discount.

BWGirl · Mar 10, 2005

david b said:
I should also note that I was also offered film dated 12/2005 even though the website says they are out of stock.
The whole thing really bugs me. So much so that my money will go elsewhere.

You should call them back and tell them that you belong to a very large online group. Tell them that you will be telling this group of more than 5000 about the underhanded tactics Adorama uses by selling 'in date' film & delivering 'out-of-date' film...THEN having to haggle with them to get any satisfaction.

That's what I'd do.

Mongo · Mar 10, 2005

David-

If you ordered this film using a credit card, you might call to see if the credit card company is willing to help you on this one. 50c per roll is nothing...better to see if the credit card company can get you something more realistic.

Good luck.

jcausey · Mar 10, 2005

The New York camera stores just plain suck, for the most part.

I've never been screwed by B&H; they always send me good products that are what they claim to be, but you never know when they're actually going to ship what you've ordered, so I have learned not to trust them for anything time-critical.

Adorama's customer service is horrible and they are more than happy to ship expired film. BWGirl's idea is a nice one, but I doubt Adorama cares about Internet customers; their hijinks have been outed for many, many years on Usenet and Photo.net, and thousands continue to order from Adorama every day.

I've always had excellent service, on the other hand, from Freestyle and Calumet. When Freestyle has occasionally screwed something up, they've been very friendly and pleasant and worked hard to make me happy. Calumet's Chicago warehouse invariably gets everything to my house in two days via standard shipping, which also rocks.

Adorama sent me expired film

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