I ordered one of these babies today. It doesn’t come with the gorgeous case though but that’s something I’ll have to get after the fact.
The Leica D-Lux 4 is a wonderful camera to use and it fits very nicely into my little purse. Because I can’t go into a camera store to purchase one, I had to order it on the phone. No, I didn’t do an online purchase because B&H, the only approved seller of Leicas in America, wouldn’t let me split credit cards and this is partially a gift from my folks.
So I sucked it up (“it” being patience) and called customer service. Sure enough, it was someone whose first language clearly isn’t English but their grasp of the language is fluent enough to implement secure transactions over the phone. At least, I hope they know how.
I tell him “one credit card is international, the other is in the US. Is that going to complicate things?”
“We’ll see. Let me put this in the system.”
Suddenly, I’m really really nervous. I give him the billing address for the foreign card, then the info on the card. He asks for the shipping address, but never asks for the billing address to the U.S. card. Apparently the order goes through anyway and he tells me he has to transfer me to “verification services.” I ask if he needed to know what shipping method I needed and he said that “they’ll be able to take care of that.”
I give the order number to the VS guy, and he said “Has the order gone through?” Uh… ?!?!?!? “I was told that you’d be able to finish my transaction and take care of this for me?” “Sure thing, let me check.”
“Sure thing?!” Is there a handbook of American slang they’re supposed to use because both of them also used “hang tight” to keep me from ripping my hair out. VS guy tells me the order’s verified, and “is that all we can do for you today?” I ask (again) about shipping and that I need it sent to me via Next Day Air. “Oh, I have to transfer you back to customer service ma’am.”
Fine. And oh, I get the switchboard again, and a new guy picks the phone up. I give him the situation, and he said “Did you buy something already?” &^%&*#$*(!!!! “Yes. Here’s the order number, does that help?” “Let me see ma’am. Hang tight.” He tells me that he’s able to add the charge to my personal credit card, and that I’ll see 2 charges on there for whatever I paid for the camera and for the shipping. I dug myself deeper into frustration when I asked for a confirmation to be sent via email. I hope he heard me spell my email address correctly because I’m going to be really miffed if nothing comes through.
After he told me that I should receive an email when the order is processed he then tried to sell me on the extended warranty. “no.. no it’s fine, I don’t want it.” “But if you drop it and break it, then you’re going to spend more than the camera costs to fix it.”
ME: No, I’m fine, thank you. I’m not going to get the warranty.
HIM: It’s just that, ma’am, my customers have always said no they don’t want the warranty then they break the camera.
MEL It’s fine. THANK. YOU.
HIM: OK then ma’am is there anything else I can help you with?
ME: That’s it. As long as I can call back and verify my order if I have the order number?
HIM: OH yes, 100%.
ME: OKTHANKSBYE!
I’ll let you all know if/when I get my camera. But lesson learned – just buy stuff from B&H online. It’s worth the trouble (unless I run into any more) and I’m excited to finally be able to get this camera. Ever since I got to try my sister’s out when I was back in Singapore, I’ve been wanting it more and more. It takes beautiful pictures, it has functions similar to those on my SLR, but it’s compact enough for me to carry wherever. I can’t wait!
