On September 3rd, 1997, the Sole Proprietor called CCI Camera City, a mail order
photographic equipment retailer located in Brooklyn, New York. CCI had been running
advertisements in three magazines that the Sole Proprietor had been reading over the
previous three months: Shutterbug, Popular Photography and
PHOTOgraphic. He asked for prices on a Nikon N90s 35mm camera body
as well as three Nikon lenses, an SB-26 flash unit, a Gossen Luna Star F2 light meter
and Nikon hoods for the lenses.
The salesman gave a price for the camera body of $899.99 and although the Sole
Proprietor had never seen a price advertised for this camera (the price for this particular
model for some reason is listed in all the ads as "CALL" or "IN STOCK"), he knew that the full
retail price was listed as $1,360.00 in a comparison of 35mm cameras in the September issue
of Popular Photography so he felt this price was probably a good one. He has since
heard a price of $1,070.00 for an N90s from another mail order camera dealer. If he'd
known that at that point, he would have known that something was wrong.
Nikon makes the N90s for the U.S. market and it includes a 1 year warranty policy
good in the United States. It also makes a model called the F90X which is identical to
the N90s, but does not have a U.S. warranty policy and is sold throughout the rest
of the world. When a US buyer buys an F90X camera in, say, Hong Kong, and brings it
into the United States for resale, it is called a gray market camera and it generally
sells for less than its N90s cousin because it does not include the US warranty.
Base assumption: because we were talking about an N90s rather than an F90X, the
Sole Proprietor assumed he was talking with the salesman about the US product.
When the salesman talked about selling an extended warranty policy on the camera,
the Sole Proprietor responded, well this is a US warrantied camera, right? Why would
he want to buy an extended warranty? Joe, the salesman, said yes, this was a US
warrantied camera, but it was only good for one year and its a good idea to buy an
extension. A three year extension. Heads up, Sole Proprietor.
Two mistakes, one dumb and one stupid, on the part of the Sole Proprietor:
First mistake. First question out of his mouth should have been: are we talking about
warrantied Nikon components or gray market components? PHOTOgraphic Magazine has a
"Retail Mail-Order Buyer's Guide" article in their September, 1997 issue on page 79. That's
one of their bulleted points: "It is also important to check whether the product is
covered by a 'U.S. warranty'. The U.S. warranty assures that service or repairs will be
handled by the camera or lens manufacturer in the U.S. Some international warranties apply
only if the item is bought outside the U.S. and in many cases the equipment must be
shipped overseas for repairs." The Sole Proprietor had heard of this gray market before
he talked with Joe of CCI Camera City, but he hadn't paid enough attention to it.
He read about it again, later. He knows a lot about it now.
Second mistake. What was the Sole Proprietor talking about extended warranties for?
The Sole Proprietor had a list of the components he wanted to buy. Why didn't the Sole
Proprietor cut it off there? The price, so far, was good. Too good.
The Sole Proprietor agreed to buy a set of circular polarizing filters and a set of
UV filters, but not Nikon (Joe, the salesman, had wanted to sell him non-Nikon lens
hoods saying Nikon hoods were of inferior quality and too high priced -- he received many of
them back from dissatisfied customers -- and the Sole Proprietor had finally agreed).
Why? The Sole Proprietor doesn't really know. He was in the middle of a sale, but he
was on the phone, not some car sales closing room. Why didn't he just say no, he had
what he wanted, please ship it (and maybe ask for the shipping charges, two day air)?
The equipment arrived on Friday, September 5th. Ninety six dollars for shipping (we
agreed on second day air) and handling. OK, maybe insurance costs a lot. There was about
$2,400 worth of equipment in that box, albeit a small and not too heavy box.
Gray Market F90X camera and lenses. The SB-26 and Gossen light meter were on back order.
Three polarizing filters for the lenses, a 52mm and 2 62mms made by a company called Sylar.
Typically a single rotating polarizing filter made by Nikon or B + W is advertised
for around $100 in mail order ads for the sizes needed. In going over the charges,
it turns out that after subtracting out the hardware (based on the notes the Sole Proprietor
had taken when talking with Joe, the salesman, the filters and third party warranty were
costing him over $500. He was being charged for a four year warranty (Remember the salesman
had said, yes, this came with a one year U.S. warranty and he was selling a three year
extension? As far as he was concerned, adding an additional year to the three year
extension made it all right. Interesting idea.)
Well, if the warranty cost say $200 and the three circular polarizing filters cost
$100 each, that would be OK, but, of course, they were not Nikon filters and they
were not B + W (or Cokin or one of the other known brands), they were this off the wall
brand, and, what's this? They aren't rotating polarizers at all, they're straight polarizers
(Automatically focusing lenses, like the Nikon D models, require something called a
circular polarizer. The Sole Proprietor had talked this over with Joe, the salesman,
and he had said absolutely, that was what they were going to send.)
So. Friday, September 5th. $3,296.00 in the hands of CCI Camera City and one F90X camera
body, one 24mm 2.8 D type AF lens, one 60mm 2.8 D type AF Micro lens, one 35mm - 70mm 2.8 D
type AF zoom lens, three polarizing filters (not circular), three UV filters (Sylar) and a
slip of paper saying that the Sole Proprietor's third party warranty company would be
sending him warranty paperwork in around 6 weeks in the hands of the Sole Proprietor.
The SB-26 strobe unit, the Gossen Luna Star F2 light meter and two of the Nikon hoods
(They sent the Nikon hood for the 24mm wide angle lens and listed Nikon on back order
for the other two, thank God.) were on back order.
Friday. The Sole Proprietor calls CCI Camera City in the afternoon. The folks who handle
misshipments are gone already for the weekend. Call Monday, please. Oh.
The Sole Proprietor calls Nikon and they confirm all the above in so far as gray market
versus US Warranty merchandise. The Sole Proprietor thinks about all of this. What's he
going to do? They've got the money and they still have the SB-26 and the light meter. At
this point he starts thinking. He has the camera. It is a good camera. He has something
called a warranty, albeit not Nikon. Get the polarizing filters exchanged, get the rest
of the order and run. This is a first purchase. He needs strobe lights. He needs another
camera body. He needs more sense. He will deal and cut his losses.
He talks with CCI Camera on Monday. The F90X instead of an N90s story doesn't seem
to interest them. He related the conversation he had with their salesman, N90s, one year
US warranty etc. The CCI rep didn't seem very interested. They will, however, exchange
the filters. The Sole Proprietor says he wants filters made by a company who's name
he recognizes. They settle on Tiffen. The Sole Proprietor agrees to pay an additional
$75 for Tiffen filters.
The filters arrive COD cash. They do not have a Tiffen brand name on them. They are
circular polarizers, however, made in Japan. The brand name is PRO-OPTICS (made by
another mail order camera operation called Adorama, he believes). The Tiffen tech rep
remembers that Tiffen sold some filters to PRO-OPTICS at one point. Maybe they were
circular polarizers. Maybe.
Well, judge for yourself. No reason to feel sorry for the Sole Proprietor who has more
money than brains in this thing, but if you ever go out to buy camera gear from a mail order
operation, avoid CCI Camera City altogether. Based on the Sole Proprietor's experience, they
will not send you what you ask for. They did send an F90X in place of an N90s. They sent me
filters that were made by Tiffen, but without the Tiffen name on them. They did send everything
else in the order on a timely basis, albeit grey market rather than US warrantied.
The prices were good although they made up for them by getting the Sole Proprietor to buy
high margin off brand filters and a support contract. The people had interesting ethics
if you consider lying interesting.
For other opinions on the company and other mail order camera company experiences, check out
this web site: Photographic Mail Order Survey
. Check out the CCI Camera City entry.