I recently ordered a Sealife Underwater Case for my iPhone.
Given the camera on the iPhone is rather good, between it and a Go Pro I should be rather set when diving. Bringing along a DSLR for underwater work is both bulky for travel, and the underwater case for the DSLR is extremely spendy (which makes reasonable sense as it is to protect a spendy DSLR).
The Sealife underwater case is rated to a depth of 130 feet and has two different leakage alarms which is rather reassuring.
So I received the case from Scuba.com (which is also known as Leisure Pro and they are both owned by Adorama). It came in a box sealed with Adorama markings.
Unfortunately, opening the outer box revealed a bit of a problem.
The box for the Sealife case had clearly already been opened.
Indeed, I had been shipped a used case.
So I called up Scuba.com to report the issue, and noted I had paid for a new case and definitely didn't want a case that had been returned, as I didn't know if it had been returned as defective or not, and I had after all, ordered and paid for a new case.
They asked me how exactly did I know it was used.
Well, I noted that the fact that the product box and the case inside the porudct box inside the shipping box was open was a clue.
A blonde human hair visible on the outside of the inner case inside the product box was a further clue.
Further clues included all the contents inside the case being rather jumbled up, and the fact that the case itself had scratches on the windows, which is not great for photography.
But, the most telling clue that it had been used was the fact that it had a really cool sticker placed upon the case - with the prior owner's name on it:
The customer service rep then agreed with me that yes, that would certainly make it a used item.
They immediately shipped me a new one, expedited (as I have a need for it sooner rather than later), at no cost to me for shipping, and sent me a return label for the used case.
The only downside is I had to pay for the new case in addition to the original order and I will get a refund issued when they get back the used case.
The customer service rep apologized for the mix up and believed what happened was the picker had inadvertently picked it off the used pile when shipping. Mistakes do happen, but they took immediate steps to fix it, and all should end well and that was good customer service.
I should get the new case soon.
It is however definitely a cautionary tale to immediately check goods bought online to make sure you're actually getting a new item when you buy new.
3 comments:
Leisure Pro has been reselling items returned as defective for over 25 years. This is not new practice, nor is it a mistake.
There are documented events where they sold the same broken equipment time after time. Cameras, wetsuits, BC's etc. There was long lasting threat on UseNet "Rec.Scuba" on them.
There's a reason their prices are cheap.
They always apologize and send a new one, but they keep doing it.
Good luck on your refund.
I bought an IPad mini from Scamazon for my daughter.
When I set it up, it seemed odd that the warranty was almost expired and when I installed a popular game on the IPad, it connected to an existing Crapple account !!!!
Hmmmmmmmmm.
B: Interesting, I did not know that. I also only found out about the relationship between Scuba.com and LeisurePro after the fact.
Matthew W: Yep, sounds like someone was selling used goods on Amazon. I find you have to be very careful to see exactly who is selling stuff on Amazon now - the same item from different sellers can end up being real, used, or counterfeit. Ebay is if anything is even worse - it's not called the world's biggest fencing operation for nothing.
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