carmans.com

My second experience buying from Carmans, my first was an Oly 5050 earlier this year. Now I am the very happy owner of a Canon Digital Rebel.

Again the purchase was faultless. Phoned with my order (a Sunday evening), the fellow I spoke with was very pleasant and knowledgable about the products I was wanting to purchase. Avilability was confirmed, and I was given an arrival date - he was wrong on that, it was supposed to arrive Wednesday, I was able to pick it up Tuesday afternoon, well if I'd had it delivered it would have been Wednesday (this is across the continent)

My Rebel arrived with the extras - tele zoom lens, CF card, extra battery, filters in perfect condition.

A few days later I decided my old case wasn't right, called again, ordered a new case (at half the retail locally), it arrived in a few days - again, perfect, just as I ordered.

Overall I saved about 25% over local prices, plus the bonus in service. I'm pleased, and I suspect they will sell me my next camera as well as any accessories along the way.

ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE service

Placed an order for a Lowepro CompuRover Backpack on December 6th from their eBay store (ProDigital2000).

Paid instantly via PayPal and was confirmed by their CSR named Amy that payment was indeed received the same time I placed the order.

One week later I still did not see any indication of the order being shipped. I called them first thing in the morning on December 17th and Amy told me that the order has not been shipped for unknown reason and that she would look into it and call me back but I never received a call back that day. I strongly emphasized that I needed this bag by Christmas. They could have shipped it on that day and the shipment could have arrived around Christmas, but they did not.

I called again first thing in the morning the next day Dec 18th, she told me she has no idea what happened to my order and that she would check with her supervisor to see if it would be possible to expedite the shipment to me in time for Christmas.

I called again on Dec 19th to get a status update (they should've called me, not the other way around). She told me it would cost them $130 to overnight the bag to me via UPS so that obviously isn't going to happen (which is understandable, since the invoice total was only $169 incl shipping and taxes).

She offered me two choices, first is to cancel the order and receive a full refund, or to have them ship the order out that day and expect it to arrive sometime between christmas and new years. I chose to have the bag ship on that day for two reasons.

#1, I want the bag, not a refund, especially after two weeks of no status updates.

#2, I wanted to give them another choice as Amy has been helpful (but disorganized).

On Thursday morning, Amy left a message in my Voicemail notifying me that my bag was actually shipped on Dec 6th, the same day I placed my order, and gave me the tracking number. I was really excited when I received that message, but it became a disappointment almost immediately after.

I called UPS immediately upon receiving the tracking number from Amy. UPS told me the package is on its way back to Ontario (where it shipped from), because it arrived on Dec 12th and they only hold packages for 5 business days. Amy left me that message on December 20th.

To rephrase, I had no idea the order arrived on the 12th for pickup until Dec 20, and by then it was already on its way back to the sender. Yet, all the communication in between us did not mention anything about the order being shipped until it was way too late. Not to mention I had to take the initiative to call them every time.

After the bad news from UPS, I immediately called Carman's the same day (Thursday Dec 20th) and left a message explaining the situation and expect a call from them to resolve the problem. As expected, I never received a call back. They also don't seem to read/reply to emails, as I have sent multiple emails to them reminding them to ship the item over the duration of this incident, before I took the initiative to call them via telephone.

Monday Dec 21, I called them to check out on the situation, and it looks like I wont be getting my bag anytime before New Years. I totally lost confidence in them and asked to just cancel my order.

The CSR told me I can cancel the order, but I would need to pay the shipping and restocking fee, as it was I who did not pick up the order. I tried to explain the situation and he said he will need to speak to his supervisor.

Now I am here waiting for a call back from them (which probably wont happen given my experience with them).

In short, placed my order Dec 6th and expected to receive it before Christmas. It is now the 24th, almost 3 weeks later - still no bag. Their CSR never took the initiative to keep me updated on the situation. They were disorganized as they had no clue that my order was shipped on the 6th, and I was never notified that it was.

It is understandable that it can become very hectic for them during the Christmas season, but even then this is still unacceptable. Attitude of their CSR was excellent, but it ends there.... EXTREMELY dissatisfied, will NOT purchase from them again.



UPDATE: Thursday Dec 24th, still no call from them. I had to call them again and the same person picked up the phone and told me he will need to talk to his supervisor and will call me back (the same thing he said the last time i called). THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

This time I asked him "Am I really going to get a call back this time? because it never happened everytime it is promised." He said definitely and i asked "exactly by when would i get a call? End of today?". He said "Possibly tomorrow".

It is now Dec 30th, 24 days after the order and payment was processed and I HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY ORDER, and every single time I had to call them to get nothing but a promised call back, which DOES NOT happen.

BUYER BEWARE! stay away from them at all costs!

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