New camera inbound, Sony A77
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 7:40 am
After having mulled it over a long time now I've finally pulled the trigger on a new camera body to replace my failing Sony A350.
Having seen the local prices, and with Sony discontinuing the A57 there really only was one body they offered in my pricerange, the A65. That was untill 2 days ago when the stepson, who also is looking towards a starter DSLR did some google magic and found an Australian retailer selling the A77 for what I only can call an A65 price.
After having all bills for the fortnight paid this morning I bravely desided to place my order, and a whole days worth of hassles started!
First time around as I hit the final button on my purchase the site went down with a "closed for maintenance" message.
Second time around the camera was all of a sudden near $80 cheaper but at completion of the order the payment failed.
Desided to call the store and see what was up just to be told there seemed to be something wrong with it and payment had been refused by my bank.
Not to worry though, it's a failed order to according to them I won't have to worry about it. Just place a new order and all should be sweet.
Que attempt #3 that ended in the same way as attempty #2
Another call to the store and now they are scratching their heads aswell, passing the issue onto store manager aswell as the IT guys running the online side of things.
Several emails later with the IT boys and there still was no resolution, for some strange reason my account is detected in their system as an overseas one, prompting it to remove the Australian GST from my purchase (there's your $80 something price drop) and since it's an Australian purchase in turn has my bank decline the purchase.
Went to the extent of the IT guys removing my account and having me create a new one, didn't fix a thing as even with a new account I'm somehow classed as an overseas buyer.
So in the long run we agreed on taking another payment method, one more commonly used for paying bills. They sent me an invoice detailing the purchase (that I have to admit didn't read 100%, just confirmed it had one A77 for the agreed prize) and containing all the info needed to complete a Bpay payment. 10 hours after I tried my first purchase attempt and it's finally paid for and should arrive sometime next week.
Here's the kicker though, and I'm not holding my breath over it and will have to wait untill my parcel turns up to really find out, I fully read through the invoice after having completed the payment and yes it does state 1x Sony A77 body for $899 (mind you best price I've found elsewhere is $1199) but also 1x VG-C77AM vertical grip at $0 If that's what they are intending to ship I'll be a very happy camper indeed!
Having seen the local prices, and with Sony discontinuing the A57 there really only was one body they offered in my pricerange, the A65. That was untill 2 days ago when the stepson, who also is looking towards a starter DSLR did some google magic and found an Australian retailer selling the A77 for what I only can call an A65 price.
After having all bills for the fortnight paid this morning I bravely desided to place my order, and a whole days worth of hassles started!
First time around as I hit the final button on my purchase the site went down with a "closed for maintenance" message.
Second time around the camera was all of a sudden near $80 cheaper but at completion of the order the payment failed.
Desided to call the store and see what was up just to be told there seemed to be something wrong with it and payment had been refused by my bank.
Not to worry though, it's a failed order to according to them I won't have to worry about it. Just place a new order and all should be sweet.
Que attempt #3 that ended in the same way as attempty #2
Another call to the store and now they are scratching their heads aswell, passing the issue onto store manager aswell as the IT guys running the online side of things.
Several emails later with the IT boys and there still was no resolution, for some strange reason my account is detected in their system as an overseas one, prompting it to remove the Australian GST from my purchase (there's your $80 something price drop) and since it's an Australian purchase in turn has my bank decline the purchase.
Went to the extent of the IT guys removing my account and having me create a new one, didn't fix a thing as even with a new account I'm somehow classed as an overseas buyer.
So in the long run we agreed on taking another payment method, one more commonly used for paying bills. They sent me an invoice detailing the purchase (that I have to admit didn't read 100%, just confirmed it had one A77 for the agreed prize) and containing all the info needed to complete a Bpay payment. 10 hours after I tried my first purchase attempt and it's finally paid for and should arrive sometime next week.
Here's the kicker though, and I'm not holding my breath over it and will have to wait untill my parcel turns up to really find out, I fully read through the invoice after having completed the payment and yes it does state 1x Sony A77 body for $899 (mind you best price I've found elsewhere is $1199) but also 1x VG-C77AM vertical grip at $0 If that's what they are intending to ship I'll be a very happy camper indeed!