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M9 @ Amazon, but...


James R

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Out of curriousity I looked at Willoughby's this morning and they say out of stock for the M9. Again, how are they able to get so much stock on a regular basis when most dealers cannot get any it seems. Is it based on past sales or some other formula?

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You want to hear a pathetic Amazon story? I ordered an M9 from them on 9/10/09, and was notified last week that it was shipping. The price when I placed the order was the MSRP.

 

The UPS driver apparently tried to deliver it to the wrong house, and the occupant refused it. It started the journey back to Amazon. Two days of talking to Amazon reps, and it turns out their ordering system is so inflexible that they cannot just turn around and ship it to me again. It goes back into their inventory, and I go to the back of the line. Then the phone rep had the nerve to tell me that there was one available, the one you are mentioning at Willoughby's, for $2000 over MSRP!!!!.

 

To say that I am disgusted with Amazon as a company right now is and understatement. Naturally, they have not yet refunded my credit card. That will probably be the next battle I have to fight with them. My advice: use amazon only for books. All the other stuff they are starting to sell doesn't mesh well with their ridiculously rigid ordering system.

Or just DON'T use them at all. This is outrageous. Not only the delivery system, but the ridiculous hike in price. And the expected credit card battle.

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I just received my M9 From Willoughby's the other day, and it was for $7,000.00

w/free overninght shipping, but......

I had purchased a Leica refurbished 16-18-21mm Tri Elmar from them the week before. They had it listed on Ebay, but it did not sell, so I got it at a reasonable price. When the lens arrived it was as described, in like new condition, all boxes, warranty, shade, etc. So far so good, especially after reading all of the negative posts on them.

Back in the 1970's when I worked for UPI I dealt with them a lot and never had any issues.

 

Anyway, I asked them if they had an M9 in stock, this was last Monday, and I was told yes, they had one, so I purchased it at $6995.00 including Overnight air.

The camera did NOT arrive the next day Tuesday. I called and was told that somebody in the store had sold it, even though I had purchased and paid for it!

But I was told that another one was coming in the fallowing day and it would be mine.

In the meantime I check my AmEx on line statment and noticed that they had charged my card $7595.00! You can bet I was a bit peeved!

I called and was told that they made a mistake, the had updated their site to reflect the NEW!?, upcoming price increase!. But was told that they would refund the differance on my card.

Camera did not arrive the fallowing day, was told that UPS had only Overnight deliveries for Wed. (That was true, as we ship and receive UPS daily here.)

Anyway, to make a long story a bit shorter, I did finally get my Camera on Monday, and finally they refunded the differance, but it took a while.

Oh, on the invoice they had the correct amount, but had the wrong date of purchase, they had last Friday, the original order date. They are supposed to send me a corrected invoice

Will I deal with them again?, Not so sure.

Only ONE of all those «mistakes» (I call them crooked malpractice) by Willoughby's should normally be sufficient to shut them down for ever. The worst being, of course, charging a credit card for more than wat was agreed upon. THIS is illegal and if there is one thing that should be respected and used with extreme caution by any merchant, it is this ability to get paid remotely with a number. As soon as there is the slightest breech in that mutual trust, they ruin the business for all. No one should have to fight to get their money back for a misused credit card number.

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Only ONE of all those «mistakes» (I call them crooked malpractice) by Willoughby's should normally be sufficient to shut them down for ever. The worst being, of course, charging a credit card for more than wat was agreed upon. THIS is illegal and if there is one thing that should be respected and used with extreme caution by any merchant, it is this ability to get paid remotely with a number. As soon as there is the slightest breech in that mutual trust, they ruin the business for all. No one should have to fight to get their money back for a misused credit card number.

 

Good point, That overcharge is quite concerning. Some people might not even look at thier bill and it would go un-noticed.

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Good point, That overcharge is quite concerning. Some people might not even look at thier bill and it would go un-noticed.

Right. This is having me concerned. I will check my credit card statement from now on. Bugger. :mad:

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You want to hear a pathetic Amazon story? I ordered an M9 from them on 9/10/09, and was notified last week that it was shipping. The price when I placed the order was the MSRP.

 

The UPS driver apparently tried to deliver it to the wrong house, and the occupant refused it. It started the journey back to Amazon. Two days of talking to Amazon reps, and it turns out their ordering system is so inflexible that they cannot just turn around and ship it to me again. It goes back into their inventory, and I go to the back of the line. Then the phone rep had the nerve to tell me that there was one available, the one you are mentioning at Willoughby's, for $2000 over MSRP!!!!.

 

To say that I am disgusted with Amazon as a company right now is and understatement. Naturally, they have not yet refunded my credit card. That will probably be the next battle I have to fight with them. My advice: use amazon only for books. All the other stuff they are starting to sell doesn't mesh well with their ridiculously rigid ordering system.

 

I am shocked to hear this. I have had literally hundreds of transactions with Amazon over the past several years, including many cameras and computers and all manner of non-book items and have never had a bad experience yet. I would be very surprised if you were to speak to a supervisor, and not then get full satisfaction, not withstanding the fact that they would appear to be out of stock of M9s at all times due to Leica's back order situation and you would presumably have to wait for their next shipment.

 

However, I'm sure I am not alone in wishing they were more selective with respect to their affiliate merchants!

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However, I'm sure I am not alone in wishing they were more selective with respect to their affiliate merchants!

 

Bingo, that's what pissed me off. I posted this originally because selling items at almost 25% above MSRP seems like a bad business practice. They apparently haven't established standards for affliate merchants.

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When I mentioned in another thread the madness that seems to surround the M9 (and was flamed for daring expressing it) this is one of the things I was referring to: erstwhile respected and straightforward merchants, with good records and reputation, like Amazon and B&H, suddenly indulging in strange business practices.

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When I mentioned in another thread the madness that seems to surround the M9 (and was flamed for daring expressing it) this is one of the things I was referring to: erstwhile respected and straightforward merchants, with good records and reputation, like Amazon and B&H, suddenly indulging in strange business practices.

 

B&H priced it at MSRP. Amazon let's the seller set the price. A big difference to me. Amazon should police its sellers, or become another eBuy.

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B&H priced it at MSRP. Amazon let's the seller set the price. A big difference to me. Amazon should police its sellers, or become another eBuy.

But B&H asks for full payment to put you on a list, without telling you when they will get you the camera.

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Here is a footnote to my particular Amazon problem: The problem actually did get resolved and I received my camera yesterday. I got the run-around from most of the customer reps at Amazon, but the first guy I talked to, a fellow named Dennis Michael, was tenaciously working the problem while everyone else was telling me "too bad" He tracked down the package and got it delivered. I sent a letter to Jeff Bezos telling him that he needs to make sure he keeps this guy. He went that extra mile.

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I just purchased a grey M9 from Willoughby's at a couple of hundred dollars above list. I too have been on multiple waiting lists for quite some time. Including having pre-paid at B&H and subsequently getting a refund when they just could not give me any meaningful status information or even my place on the list.

 

They gave me a discount on a Sumilux 21mm lens and free shipping. I justified the extra cost by not paying over $1,000 in NJ sales taxes on my purchase. Justification with the wife will be more of a challenge.

 

They did charge my card the correct amount and threw in free overnight shipping. They were easy to negotiate with, much easier than buying a carpet in Morocco a few months ago.

 

I would have rather had a black, but the grey looks good too. Anyone want to swap unopened grey for unopened black?

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I just purchased a grey M9 from Willoughby's at a couple of hundred dollars above list. I too have been on multiple waiting lists for quite some time. Including having pre-paid at B&H and subsequently getting a refund when they just could not give me any meaningful status information or even my place on the list.

 

They gave me a discount on a Sumilux 21mm lens and free shipping. I justified the extra cost by not paying over $1,000 in NJ sales taxes on my purchase. Justification with the wife will be more of a challenge.

 

They did charge my card the correct amount and threw in free overnight shipping. They were easy to negotiate with, much easier than buying a carpet in Morocco a few months ago.

 

I would have rather had a black, but the grey looks good too. Anyone want to swap unopened grey for unopened black?

 

Congrats!

I called and talked to them yesterday about that exact M9 but I wasn't willing to pay more for it and I didn't need a lens to get the price down further. I didn't really want to buy from them anyway since they first try to get you to pay $1000 over list and that just rubs me the wrong way.

I'm glad I waited though because later that day my B&H order updated to ready to ship and black was what i really wanted.

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Just to let you all know, I got my Grey M9 and Summilux 21mm from Willoughby's today without any issues. I called Leica NJ just to make sure that they were not Grey Market or had any issues and they said everything was fine and registered the M9 over the phone for me. I worked with a gentleman named Nor and he was very helpful. I am sure buying the lens helped. Very close to MSRP on the M9 and MSRP on the lens and free shipping. I wish I had bitten the bullet and ordered from Willoughby's in the first place.

 

So, ordered 12/17/09 received 12/21/08.

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