I would like to apologize that I came late to this thread - as I was off when it was posted.
I would also like to apologize that you were inconvenienced when ordering from Adorama Camera, and attempt to explain how our stock situation works.
With high demand items, frequent delivery and dispatch times mean that items can come in one door of the warehouse, be packaged, and out of another door within a couple of hours, so real time inventory on the website is often not possible.
Unless the items actually hit the shelves, our computer system generates an automatic message in response to an order, indicating that it is out of stock.
Another possible scenario, is that you could see an in-stock indication, if a shipment was expected into the warehouse within the next 24 hours - but again, the systems we have, aren’t currently set up to be able to handle this (although we are currently working on it), and our computer sends a standard message indicating that the item is back-ordered.
Finally, even with the website inventory, it is entirely possible that we could receive several dozen orders for a popular item such as this at the same time - by telephone or via our website; if we have 59 in stock but receive 60 orders, it isn’t always going to be immediately obvious that one customer is going to be disappointed.
The most accurate indication is by speaking directly to a sales rep - but if you are unable to get in touch with a rep regarding a particular item, you are always welcome to get in touch with me and I will check out the stock situation for you.
At Adorama we do appreciate that our closing times can be inconvenient to some of our potential customers.
Adorama’s owner is an observant orthodox Jewish gentleman, whose beliefs prohibit him - his family and his business - from operating on the Sabbath and on many of the religious holidays (which all begin an hour prior to sunset the evening before the day of the holiday, which is why we close early on Fridays).
We can’t employ non-Jews here during those days, because to do so would involve the company conducting business - which is forbidden in Jewish Law.
In this era of 24-hour commerce, I guess it’s unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than squeezing money out of our customers at every opportunity. I receive frequent emails from customers who state that in this day and age it is comforting to know there are people around who do not place money before all else.
Many businesses in the US and elsewhere in the world force employees to work on holidays when the time is better spent with their friends and families - or just relaxing by themselves.
We do appreciate the understanding of our customers that this is an important element of our owner’s value system. Perhaps the following links to articles in the Washington Post & the New York Times will help to make some sense of our closure policies:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB109269113906892796-IVjg4NnlaJ3o5yubXSHaK6Jm4.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/technology/09ecom.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
If you ever have any queries or concerns regarding an order or purchase from Adorama Camera - or AdoramaPix please don’t hesitate to contact me directly: helen.oster@adoramacamera.com
I hope this helps
Sincerely
