Bought new, but it's a return; Notches???

[YuengLinger]

Had to buy two lenses for the current rebate, and I'll never play this game again. Should have known better. Now complications with serial numbers because both lenses have to be on the same invoice.

This could happen at any authorized dealer, I suppose, so I'm not going to name names (as I expect to get it worked out).

One of the lenses, an ef 100mm Macro 2.8L IS, was clearly somebody else's return, as the pouch wasn't in a plastic bag, and the bag around the lens itself was really crumpled up.

Tested it, admittedly much more carefully than usual, and I feel that it's softer than it should be, seems to have more CA than expected at f/2.8. And I'm worried about why it was returned the first time.

As I packed it up, I noticed that the top and bottom Styrofoam packing elements each had identical notches cut into them. Each notch was wedge shape, like you might see on a pig's ear, roughly a half inch deep into the edge of the Styrofoam. I checked the same pieces in a few other lens boxes I've kept over the years and saw no such notch. The other lens that came in the same order also had no notches in the Styrofoam pieces.

Anybody keep their old boxes to check for similar notches in the Styrofoam, if not too big a pain? Thanks!

I'm wondering if the notches indicate a return (maybe inspected?) or some other "special" situation with a Canon lens...?

Anybody else have stories about getting obviously repacked lenses?

 

[Ryananthony]

I just checked my 100L box. ONE of the foam blocks had a ''notch'' in it.

 

[Loswr]

Same for me. The bottom piece of styrofoam had a notch, the top one did not. The pouch was (and still is) in a bag.

 

[YuengLinger]

Thanks, guys! Apparently the notches mean nothing. Just notches.

The pouch without a bag, though, that's my best clue I got a return. Plus the very crumpled bag haphazardly wrapped around the lens itself. The bag around the hood looked like it had never been removed.

 

[Pookie]

So hundreds of people just like you get a lens, try it out and decide for whatever reason they need to return it. I often buy 3-4 of the same lens and test them out and return anywhere from 1-4 of them... with almost every lens purchase.

Did you think all those returns went straight into the trash? Or that every return is sent back to the mother ship for a 1000 point inspection before getting sent out again?

 

[YuengLinger]

So hundreds of people just like you get a lens, try it out and decide for whatever reason they need to return it. I often buy 3-4 of the same lens and test them out and return anywhere from 1-4 of them... with almost every lens purchase.

Did you think all those returns went straight into the trash? Or that every return is sent back to the mother ship for a 1000 point inspection before getting sent out again?

Really nice to do that to merchants and other customers. Thanks for raising the prices for all of us!

I thought the only lens you ever shoot with is the 50mm 1.2!

 

[privatebydesign]

So hundreds of people just like you get a lens, try it out and decide for whatever reason they need to return it. I often buy 3-4 of the same lens and test them out and return anywhere from 1-4 of them... with almost every lens purchase.

Did you think all those returns went straight into the trash? Or that every return is sent back to the mother ship for a 1000 point inspection before getting sent out again?

Really nice to do that to merchants and other customers. Thanks for raising the prices for all of us!

I thought the only lens you ever shoot with is the 50mm 1.2!

Gotta be honest and say that kind of attitude, deliberate misuse of a generous return policy, pisses me off too. As you say it raises the price for all of us but also means we all often get prehandled gear. If you read the small print of most large online retailers they reserve the right to realist 'returned' items because misuse is such a widespread issue. So good items and truthfully defective items get sent out a second time, and a third.....

 

[tpatana]

So hundreds of people just like you get a lens, try it out and decide for whatever reason they need to return it. I often buy 3-4 of the same lens and test them out and return anywhere from 1-4 of them... with almost every lens purchase.

Did you think all those returns went straight into the trash? Or that every return is sent back to the mother ship for a 1000 point inspection before getting sent out again?

Really nice to do that to merchants and other customers. Thanks for raising the prices for all of us!

I thought the only lens you ever shoot with is the 50mm 1.2!

Gotta be honest and say that kind of attitude, deliberate misuse of a generous return policy, pisses me off too. As you say it raises the price for all of us but also means we all often get prehandled gear. If you read the small print of most large online retailers they reserve the right to realist 'returned' items because misuse is such a widespread issue. So good items and truthfully defective items get sent out a second time, and a third.....

+1

One time my wife was ordering bunch of clothes from some 1-person etsy shop, and was going to order way too many, try which ones she likes and return the rest. I told to cut that shit out, especially small shops suffer heavily from that. Told her to first think and then order only the ones she'll keep.

 

[rfdesigner]

So hundreds of people just like you get a lens, try it out and decide for whatever reason they need to return it. I often buy 3-4 of the same lens and test them out and return anywhere from 1-4 of them... with almost every lens purchase.

Did you think all those returns went straight into the trash? Or that every return is sent back to the mother ship for a 1000 point inspection before getting sent out again?

If you buy one lens, test it, and if not up to snuff then return it, that's one thing but ordering 5 in the expectation of returning 4 isn't on.

If your local camera shop is good enough to let you compare more than one lens then that's different.. Personally if I ran an online camera shop I might concider charging for "multiple identical returns".

 

[Loswr]

If you buy one lens, test it, and if not up to snuff then return it, that's one thing but ordering 5 in the expectation of returning 4 isn't on.

Sure it's on, if you're selfish and self-centered, then you don't care who you're screwing over.

 

[IglooEater]

If you buy one lens, test it, and if not up to snuff then return it,

Yup that's the ethical way to work.

If your local camera shop is good enough to let you compare more than one lens then that's different.. Personally if I ran an online camera shop I might concider charging for "multiple identical returns".

I would definitely charge. I'd also charge the shipping out cost in addition if I'd given free shipping. Imagine paying 4 expedited, insured shipping for 1 sale, in addition to the handling and processing costs.

As tpatana pointed out, this problem is in no way limited to photography.

 

[LesC]

I generally buy one lens & then return it if not up to scratch. However, with only one copy it's difficult to know if you don't have another to compare too.

And with L series lenses I don't feel we should need to compare various copies - they should all be excellent; surely that's the point of L lenses?

 

[YuengLinger]

What I should have asked is who would automatically--without even trying it--a lens (or body) that was clearly somebody else's return?