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More information:
Guidelines
How to Order
If You Need Help
When we get the Complaint
Gray Market
Beginning in 1937 with the first issue of Popular Photography, thousands of satisfied readers have purchased photographic equipment through our mail order pages. It's our continuing mission to do our very best to make your mail shopping experience pleasurable and successful.
As part of this mission, we initiated our exclusive Checkrated Buyer's Program, the only such policy of any photographic magazine anywhere. This program establishes a set of standards for mail order/internet transactions, giving our advertisers mandatory guidelines to follow designed specifically to aid you.
To take advantage of our Checkrated Problem Solver program, you must identify yourself as a Popular Photography & Imaging reader when responding to any mail order/internet advertisement.
Our Advertisers' Obligations
Our advertisers have promised, in writing, to provide ethical, courteous service, and to resolve any problems that might arise within a reasonable time and with a minimum of frustration.
ADVERTISER GUIDELINES:
1. All advertisements must be truthful and not misleading.
2. Must honor all advertised prices.
3. Must ship all merchandise as packaged by the manufacturers.
4. No substitutions can be made without the purchasers consent.
5. Must specify if the product has a U.S. warranty from the manufacturer or has a store or third party warranty.
6. The invoice price must match the advertised price or the price agreed to at the time of purchase.
7. Ads for lenses must specify whether prices are for all mounts or only specific mounts.
8. Undisclosed tie-in sales where an item will be sold at the advertised price only if additional items are purchased are forbidden.
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How to Order
a) Before you pick up the phone, collect as much information as possible on the product you want to buy. Check test reports, product brochures, and the manufacturer’s web site to make certain the features and specifications are what you want. Read various mail order ads to become familiar with prices. If you only want a “U.S.” warranty product, contact the importer to see if the advertiser is an authorized dealer.
b) PAY ONLY BY CREDIT CARD. Never send a check or money order. If there is a problem, your credit card company can be very helpful.
c) When comparing prices, remember that a price that’s too good to be true may not be true—it may be a misprint or “not available.” Prices for official U.S. items are generally higher than for similar gray market versions. When you order, confirm the status of the items you order with the dealer.
d) If you should have a problem, notify your credit card company immediately by telephone and mail. Keep copies of all correspondence, invoices, and related paper work.
e) If you find a sales person who is rude, evasive or untruthful, don’t argue or complain. HANG UP and call another advertiser. Then you should notify us of exactly what occurred.
SHOPPING THE CHECKRATED WAY
Over the years, we have given our readers pointers on being a smart mail order shopper--how to be a checkrated shopper. Probably the most important pointer of all is NEVER SEND CASH, CHECKS OR MONEY ORDERS when ordering by mail or, in today's world, via the internet. In fact, we have advised readers who told us that they don't have a credit card to try to purchse their photo items in a local cmera store rather than take a chance of a lost payment or a hassle should any adjustment be needed.
The importance of this advice was bought home again just recenly when we recceived a letteer from a reader who had trouble getting his order shipped. The dealer could not find his payment and is looking. The problem? This reader sent a postal money order with his order insead of using a credit card. If the moneyorders were, in fact, lost, postal regulations call for 60 days to elapse before a refund can be issued. In the meantime, our hapless shopper has neither his merchandise nor his money. We are working with the advertiser to try to resolve the problem but in the meantime, everything is on hold. When we spoke to the reader, he admistted that he read our advice AFTER he placed the order.
So, here once again is Rule One when ordering by mail: USE A CREDIT CARD. If you don't have a credit card, a Debit card is the next best thing but you are better off with a card such as American Express, Visa or Mastercharge. Never, never, never, send cash, a money order or a check if ypou can help it.
The article Shopping The Checkrated Way has additional information.
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If You Need Help
If you have difficulties with any Checkrated advertiser and are unable to solve them with the dealer, feel free to write to us at:
Checkrated Service Department
Popular Photography & Imaging
l633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
checkrated@popphoto.com
You can call us, but we need a paper trail to deal with your problem. When you write, include all pertinent information including your name, home address, telephone number, plus copies of invoices, packing slips, etc. and explain the nature of the problem.
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When we get the Complaint
When we get the complaint, we send you an acknowledgement that we received your letter and we send a copy of the complaint to the advertiser. Then we give the advertiser 1–2 weeks before we follow up to find out if and when the problem has been resolved. We adjudicate the problem, and have had a high incidence of success. A small number of complaints per month is permitted as long as we can resolve the matter. However, when a dealer exceeds his quota, he faces various penalties including, in the most serious cases, removal of his ads from the magazine.
Our enforcement process can only begin when you send contact us.
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