Commentary # 24 ~ October 2008
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Helen and Adorama: Doing the Right Things

October 2008


- by Craig Wassel


You don't have to be out in the real world very long any more before you have a company give you poor service or unsatisfactory goods. It's all to common, and too many companies follow up their shortcomings with poor listening skills, poor communication, and at times, apparent apathy. If you are a photographer who does alot of online reading, you may have come across alot of grumblings (or worse) about Adorama. Maybe you are even an unhappy customer yourself, as I have been several times.

Well, I must say that Adorama has suprised me, and I mean in a good way. It started with a thread at NikonWatch about Adorama customer service, where several less-than satisfied customers (including me) noted some of their experiences with the photography retailing giant. I really did not expect my small voice to be heard by anyone beyond others in the thread, but lo and behold a customer service specialist from Adorama named Helen responded to everyone in the thread, and offered them the opportunity to contact her about their experiences. I took her up on her offer, but didn't expect to get much personalized attention. It's not like I am internationally know photog like Franz Lanting. I anticipated something more like obliged politeness in the form of responses created from lightly edited email templates.

I was encouraged to see how much effort Helen put into winning me back as an Adorama customer. She and I emailed over the next two weeks, and some of her responses were quite long. She outlined the problems they have had that resulted in order issues and complaints. She was not offering excuses, seemed genuinely interested and apologetic, and explained in some detail some of the actions they are taking to deliver better customer service and win back customers' trust. Everything she said suggests to me she is more than just someone hired to face customer complaints. She us part of the solutions team at Adorama.


July 2009 Update and Retraction:

Since writing this commentary, I have had further order troubles with Adorama that are noted here (link). I simply can no longer - in good conscience or under any circumstances - encourage anyone to give them another try or order anything from them.



I would like to have posted some of what Helen said, but I did not ask for her permission to do so. I also do not want to post her email address here without consent. All I can say is if you have had some sub par experiences with Adorama, get in contact with their customer service and ask if you can speak with or email her. Even if your experience was several months ago, I think Helen will want to hear from you, and she just may be your good reason to give Adorama another chance.

I actually started this write-up in August, but delayed finishing and posting it because I wanted to get the two-part commentary 'Getting to Know Joe Photographer' for August and September completed and online. In light of recent economic events, I am glad that I did; I believe meeting and even exceeding customers' expectations is going to become even more critical for Adorama and their online competitors. All have a tough enough job competing with eachother on price, but they also have to rely upon many third party suppliers to special label and drop ship on their behalf so they can offer and quickly deliver a wide and deep product line. In other words, they have to rely upon THEIR suppliers to get things right so that they can get it right for us. Talk about nerve-racking.

Now, however, their business has gotten even rougher. When I started my correspondence with Helen and this write-up, the economic downturn and mortgage crisis had not yet hit full force. What a difference just 10 weeks can make in the economy. I am not an economist, but I have the feeling that the crisis is going to put - at minimum - big brakes the DSLR buying flury we have seen over the past 18 months. What impact will this have on the online photography retailers? Which ones will survive? Of course, they won't survive on customer service alone, but the ones who give customers the online version of the U.S. Cellular "shoulder shrug" (one of my favorite recent commercials - here is the YouTube link to watch it if you have not seen it) when orders don't go right will definitely lessen their odds of survival.



"Why hasn't anyone outlawed the shrug? Aren't most answers attainable with a little bit of elbow grease? Doesn't anyone care . .? "

~ excerpt from the US Cellular "Shoulder Shrug" commercial ~








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" . . . if you have had some sub par experiences with Adorama, get in contact with their customer service and ask if you can speak with or email her. Even if your experience was several months ago, I think Helen will want to hear from you, and she just may be your good reason to give Adorama another chance . . . "




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