Getting a Mark III quickly

Struck up a conversation at the local Penn Camera last weekend and discovered that Penn has a tiered waitlist. Top of the list is those who have paid in full, second level those who put down a deposit, and third is "call me when they come in." The latter is the longest. Since they exhausted the category one with their first delivery, I decided it was worth a gamble and paid in full on Saturday. Tuesday noon they called to say my camera was in.

They couldn't tell me the length of the various tiers on the waitlist, but said that the list itself wasn't long. Most people seem to be on the "let me know when it's in, and I'll consider it" list.

So if you can't wait to write that check, try Penn.

Oh, and I took it out for a spin today. So far, so good.

Is that Alan's Camera? What is the contact info? Anyway, I'm happy for you. Nothing like real cash to convince people you are serious!

Asher

It seems that this tiered approach is prevalent among UK vendors, nothing like banking a little interest while they wait for the goods to arrive.

John_Nevill said:

It seems that this tiered approach is prevalent among UK vendors, nothing like banking a little interest while they wait for the goods to arrive.

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I don't think you can do this with B&H. They want a credit card number but they don't charge until they ship!

Asher

Similar story here. Our stock has to come through the UK distributor and my local shop has taken 15 deposits of which one (me) paid in full, about 30 people are on the call me list. Only three cameras will be coming in today or Monday and I'll be having one of them.

Mark III availability

It's Penn Camera. I purchased mine at a Washington DC area store, but they are a good-sized chain, and have web sales as well. Don't know their actual distribution across the US.

I doubt they made much, if anything, on one and a half business days of using my money. Plus I would be surprised if they didn't have to put money up front for the cameras they ordered. It didn't cost me anything in interest.

To me, it's a fair way to operate. It helps them separate out those who are serious about buying from the shoppers.

If you pay with credit card, afaik, in the UK, they should not process the card until they have the goods ready for dispatch. However, I know not how that stands if you enter into some other personal transaction.

Best wishes,
Ray

The phone number of my local store is 703 893-7366. Can't remember which salesperson helped me, but several were involved in the discussion. They're all very helpful. The toll-free number for the region is 800 347-5770, but I prefer to deal with my local shop.

Well mine didn't arrive Friday, fingers crossed for tomorrow? I'd kiss my lucky Shamrock only I sent it to a sick friend in the USA last month, it seems to have worked better for him than it did for me!

Asher Kelman said:

I don't think you can do this with B&H. They want a credit card number but they don't charge until they ship!

Asher

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This is definitely NOT true in my experience. B&H charges immediately--or they did to me.

Still waiting here. Already read TFM that I downloaded, twice.

Steve Saunders said:

Still waiting here. Already read TFM that I downloaded, twice.

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Well, that means you are building a better foundation for utilizing the camera as intended than the early users. They were probably too excited fondling the beast to read much.

As the local Canon representative jokingly said "this camera has enough settings to make it impossible to make a decent image ..."

Bart

P.S. As far as I know, only a handfull have been delivered to the Netherlands.

Good point Bart. Still waiting. Apparently three are on the way from the UK, but they told me that last week...

Still waiting as another week slips by. Three brand new lenses on my shelf and no camera to fit them onto...