Wednesday afternoon, I bought a camera. It’s Friday night and tomorrow I leave for a work trip. I ordered a camera from Amazon that was free shipping via their Prime service but when I selected to have it sent overnight, the fee went to $45. I paid it because I wanted the camera before this trip due to an event going on.
Twelve hours after ordering, my Amazon status on the order changes to “Preparing Shipment” I became hopeful but emailed them anyway asking if I could get a status on the order and to ensure the camera was shipping that day (Thursday) so it would arrive in time.
In fact, I sent a message that day and another today.
For reference, here is the camera + lens I ordered. I paid $2020.37 w/ the $45 shipping. The reason I bought it from a seller that wasn’t Amazon is because the combination of the camera + lens separately would cost $2164 before shipping. On top of that, the camera I wanted wasn’t available for sale directly from Amazon anyway. I checked the reviews of DavisMAX on their Amazon page and they have a 96% approval percentage with 13,000 total feedbacks logged. They’re doing a lot of business so I trusted them.
The story with Amazon is once you log an order during business hours, it gets thrown onto a conveyer belt, is packed on an assembly line and is out the door within an hour or two. If you order by noon EST, it’s at your door the next morning with $3.99 one-day Prime shipping.
External Sellers using Amazon don’t offer that price or service speed and it shows.
Still, I figured such a huge operation would have my camera out the next day and it would arrive Friday or first thing Saturday. Sadly, that was not the case. Here are the messages I sent:
8AM the day after my order (Thursday)
Hi team. I'm leaving Saturday evening for a 1 week trip. I was hoping this camera could arrive before then. If you can, please get it out today and sent overnight. I am happy to paypal additional funds to cover extra shipping fees. Thanks.
No Response.
Friday (today) at 11AM:
Hi guys. I spend $45 for overnight shipping and it has been 40 hours since I placed my order and the item hasn't shipped yet. Can you please update me on a status? Since I'm leaving tomorrow for my trip, at this point you can just send it standard mail because it won't be here in time anyway. Please refund the overnight shipping fee. Thanks.
No Response.
Friday at 6PM:
Hello again. It has not been over 2 days since I ordered the camera with overnight shipping and nothing has happened. Please advise me on the status of the order. I'm leaving tomorrow for california. If you can instead ship to my hotel there, I'd really appreciate it. I'm so disappointed that the $45 I spent on overnight shipping has basically been made useless.
They responded: (Customer Care, Molly @ DavisMAX)
Thank you for your email. I'm sorry there is a delay on the item you ordered. We anticipate it will be available soon and would be glad to contact you when they come in. If you prefer to cancel your order, please let me know and I will process your request and apply a full refund right away. We apologize for the inconvenience.
My Response shortly after:
“When they come in”? Are you guys selling cameras you don’t have in stock? This is against Amazon TOS for a seller.
Obviously I haven’t heard back yet on this question but my point is valid in that they are not allowed to sell cameras that are not currently in stock. eBay and Amazon don’t allow this. The product must be in-hand / in-stock to be listed. If not, it causes issues like this.
Something I’ll add is that on Thursday morning at 8AM, My credit card was charged for the full amount of the camera. I was billed for a product that is not in stock.
This is an extremely frustrating and shitty experience but it looks like I’m not alone. A google search for DavisMAX comes up with a lot of similar stories of delays in shipments or cancellation of orders. These guys are high-volume and they need to act like it. Avoid buying from them.
UPDATE: I heard back from them today
Thank you for your email. I'm sorry there is a delay on the item you ordered. We anticipate it will be available in to ship in 1-2 business days, and would be glad to contact you when they come in. Once the item ships we will credit you for the overnight shipping charges. If you prefer to cancel your order, please let me know and I will process your request and apply a full refund right away. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you Jay
Still not acceptable and why do they keep pushing me to cancel my order? and I”m going to guess that by refunding me the money I spent on overnight shipping, this means they’re going to send it UPS Ground? Ridiculous. The fact that this place is selling equipment they don’t have in stock is really upsetting.
The saga continues:
Today (19th of March), Me:
Okay guys, I keep hearing 1-2 days on shipment. It's now been a full week since I've ordered and my camera hasn't shipped yet. Can you update me on a specific ship date?
Their Response:
Thank you for your email. I have checked your order details and your item is preparing for shipment. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. Thank you, Molly
This is crazy because yes the item has been preparing for shipment for a full week: Me –
Hi Molly. I was charged the full amount and the order was "Preparing for Shipment" 6 days ago. It has been preparing for shipment since the 13th. Please advise.
Finally, the latest response:
Thank you for your email. We do apologize for the delay. Tracking information will be made available in shortly. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. Thank you, Molly
So, we’ll see what happens next.