BH Photo + M11

[aksclix]

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1 hour ago, setuporg said:

B&H provided nothing but stellar service to me, free expedited shipping, quick response, returns and refunds.  I don’t know how anyone can improve on it.  I don’t think there’s anything much superior.  So far Adorama was always a follower.  I’ve not seen anything at Adorama that was not present at B&H…. 

I don’t disagree.. it’s just their used department has a lot of dishonest people!! Anyway, not trying to talk you out buying at B&H.. just stating why I feel Adorama has been betttr

[setuporg]

1 hour ago, Artin said:

Setu did you get your M11 ? 

I signed up on B&H the morning of 1/13 to have the option of a leisurely 30 day trial.  I then replaced the preordered silver by black to evaluate all the new things at once.  I'm not in a hurry so will wait for it.  I might even cancel it if I change my mind.:)

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[setuporg]

6 minutes ago, Artin said:

Trust me you will be hooked once you get your hands on one 

I tried it at the launch at the dealer's and have not seen a giant difference, if any.  Will have to see what happens at home...

[Guest]

On 1/18/2022 at 4:47 PM, Crem said:

You lucky guy! Only a 3x decrease. They gave me a 5x decrease! I can't complain too much. I'm sure we can both resolve this with a few emails. I think the $800 savings on a M11 is much better than whatever my hourly rate is to send out these emails 😆

Yes - same here. I was ready to order on 1/18 (after trade-in of my M10P with the local Leica dealer didn't work out). Plus 35mm APO ASPH. Local dealer would have meant WA state 10.1% sales tax on top ... Ergo - thought B&H would make this easy for sure, I immediately applied for the new Payboo card on 1/18.

11 days later I received a letter from Comenity (the new Payboo issuer bank) to call their fraud department. Then they accepted my proof of identity etc. - but decided to set the card limit to 1% of my annual income. Unfortunately that doesn't let me buy either the M11 or the Summilux - clearly I don't deserve to buy a Leica with this card until I make it to the millionaires (annual income) club.

Now, they also told me I could try to persuade their customer service reps once I receive the physical card in about 2 weeks ... Outcome unknown.

I have a strange preference to obtain the M11 before the successor arrives ... Luckily there are other dealers out there besides B&H.

[ymc226]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:48 AM, mzbe said:

Yes - same here. I was ready to order on 1/18 (after trade-in of my M10P with the local Leica dealer didn't work out). Plus 35mm APO ASPH. Local dealer would have meant WA state 10.1% sales tax on top ... Ergo - thought B&H would make this easy for sure, I immediately applied for the new Payboo card on 1/18.

11 days later I received a letter from Comenity (the new Payboo issuer bank) to call their fraud department. Then they accepted my proof of identity etc. - but decided to set the card limit to 1% of my annual income. Unfortunately that doesn't let me buy either the M11 or the Summilux - clearly I don't deserve to buy a Leica with this card until I make it to the millionaires (annual income) club.

Now, they also told me I could try to persuade their customer service reps once I receive the physical card in about 2 weeks ... Outcome unknown.

I have a strange preference to obtain the M11 before the successor arrives ... Luckily there are other dealers out there besides B&H.

I also applied for the new Payboo card (already had the old one for years) and received the same letter From Comenity.  After success in proving my identity they told me my limit to start with which I stated was less than half the price of the M11.  I asked for more credit (enough for a M11) and they approved me on the spot.  Maybe having a prior Payboo card helped with the immediate increase in the credit limit.

[setuporg]

Cool!  I'm guessing if they've immediately approved me for 1/3 of the previous payboo limit, if I ask them, it will be 10x.:)

[Guest]

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2 hours ago, ymc226 said:

I also applied for the new Payboo card (already had the old one for years) and received the same letter From Comenity.  After success in proving my identity they told me my limit to start with which I stated was less than half the price of the M11.  I asked for more credit (enough for a M11) and they approved me on the spot.  Maybe having a prior Payboo card helped with the immediate increase in the credit limit.

That's helpful to know. I had the old card before with a Leica-compatible spending limit but that seemingly was not taken into consideration ... I could not tell if "talk to customer service once you get the card in 2 weeks" was just a way for the rep to end the call ... good to hear that they would actually consider increasing the limit (one caveat: this will most certainly trigger another hard credit inquiry, in addition to the one they did when you applied for the card, so it would likely impact your credit score)

[SoarFM]

On 1/30/2022 at 2:48 PM, mzbe said:

 Then they accepted my proof of identity etc. - but decided to set the card limit to 1% of my annual income.

$1,000,000/yr for a $10,000 credit limit?

B&H, I think you're going to have to do a little better...

[thinkscientist]

On 1/26/2022 at 8:51 PM, Artin said:

Trust me you will be hooked once you get your hands on one 

I know what you mean. Im actually really annoyed that even with the firmware update the camera keeps randomly locking up. But I dont want to return it. Leica advised they have another fw update in the works. 

 

 

[Guest]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:11 PM, SoarFM said:

$1,000,000/yr for a $10,000 credit limit?

B&H, I think you're going to have to do a little better...

The story continues ... Having requested the new card on 1/18, exactly one month later now the issuing bank will tell me in 2 weeks if limit can be increased ... Their advice was to just use the card for 6-12 months and over time they might increase the limit ... which doesn't help because most of the Leica stuff I would buy is too expensive for this poor little card to be used for 😞 and then if I never buy anything, that's basically game over for the Payboo scheme - or give it a year or two with random incremental purchases ...

Is the Adorama card any better?

[ymc226]

On 1/31/2022 at 5:19 PM, mzbe said:

That's helpful to know. I had the old card before with a Leica-compatible spending limit but that seemingly was not taken into consideration ... I could not tell if "talk to customer service once you get the card in 2 weeks" was just a way for the rep to end the call ... good to hear that they would actually consider increasing the limit (one caveat: this will most certainly trigger another hard credit inquiry, in addition to the one they did when you applied for the card, so it would likely impact your credit score)

The funny thing is I have a credit freeze under my name for the past year (my name is very unusual but there were 2 attempts to open bank accounts under my name or apply for credit cards) so I am not sure how I got approved for the new Payboo card.  

[ymc226]

4 hours ago, mzbe said:

The story continues ... Having requested the new card on 1/18, exactly one month later now the issuing bank will tell me in 2 weeks if limit can be increased ... Their advice was to just use the card for 6-12 months and over time they might increase the limit ... which doesn't help because most of the Leica stuff I would buy is too expensive for this poor little card to be used for 😞 and then if I never buy anything, that's basically game over for the Payboo scheme - or give it a year or two with random incremental purchases ...

Is the Adorama card any better?

There are serval dealers that tell me up front they don't charge tax if they ship out of state.  My local LA Leica Boutique as well as the Washington DC and Boston ones do but I still purchase from them if they happen to have hard to find items that I want.

Edited February 18, 2022 by ymc226