'clickthrough' payments?

[deemery]

I bought a pair of lenses by clicking through Amazon links here, I hope that results in something back.  In particular, I got the Tamron 70-300 4.0-5.6 VC lens based on the review here. 

[deemery]

Well, one of those lenses arrived today, but without the lens hood.  Box looked like it had been opened previously.  If it weren't for the expectation that Bob gets some $ from the sale, I would have canceled the purchase and bought this from Adorama.

dave

[Bob Atkins]

You have to be careful buying through Amazon as opposed to from Amazon.

I have no hesitation in purchasing from Amazon, i.e. the items are sold by Amazon themselves. Amazon have always had excellent customer service. If something is wrong, they will fix it with no questions and I've enevr heard of them selling "open box" items.

On the other hand, other vendors sell through Amazon. In that case you're at the mercy of that other vendor. Since Amazon aren't selling those items themselves, they don't deal with problems. You have to deal with the vendor. Some vendors are fine. Adorama sell through Amazon for example. Other vendors may not be so good.

It's pretty rare that any of the vendors selling though Amazon have a lower price than Amazon themselves, plus Amazon usually offer free shipping when the order comes to more than $25, so I normally make sure I'm looking at the item sold by Amazon. Usually This is the item sold on the main product page, but sometimes Amazon is listed in the "More Buying Choices" panel which is usually located on the right of the screen.

The key to buying from/through Amazon is to make sure you know who you are buying from, and to buy from Amazon themsleves (or someone you trust like Adorama) whenever possible.

I hope you can get your missing lens hood situation sorted out. All Tamron lenses come with a hood as far as I know. The 70-300/4-5.6 VC certainly does.

[deemery]

The lens did come -from- Amazon.  I called them (had to Google for the customer service phone number), and they sent me a replacement via overnight.  Looking at the replacement, it was clear that the previous lens had been opened and returned.

So Amazon handled the return very well, but I'm still pissed that they sent me an open box item in the first place (and that's true even before considering the missing lens hood.) 

My first impressions on the Tamron 70-300 are pretty good, except for the zoom working the opposite way from Canon zooms.  (Ugh!) 

Bob, any particular preference on which clickthrough vendor gets you the best consideration?  If I click on your Adorama link and then order a bunch of stuff, do you get something back from them?  (I used the direct purchase Amazon links on your 10-24 and 70-300 lens reviews.)

[Bob Atkins]

I get some consideration if you order through any of the links, Amazon, Adorama. B&H, J&R etc. I'd go with whoever are offering the best deal and you trust most.

I can tell you that I usually order my own stuff from Amazon since they ship for free and provide excellent customer service. Since Adorama now have a physical presence in NJ (a warehouse I think), they have to add sales tax to my orders, so they often work out more expensive than Amazon for me. That's not the case unless you live in NY or NJ though.

I don't affiliate with any stores that I haven't used myself and been happy with, so hopefully I won't send people to places where they will have problems.