Big Norman?

parker83

parker83

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pete
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Hi

Has anyone bought any camera equipment from wwww.bignorman.com? everything is way cheaper than other sites i have been looking on would appreciate some feedback if anyone has bought from them.

Thanks :)
 
Bump.

I was looking at their site lately and was puzzled by the low prices, it took a while to figure out that they are accounted for by the fact the equipment is shipped from Gibraltar so not subject to VAT.

I have no doubt the stock is absolutely genuine and if you're not VAT registered then the saving is a good one but it's worth pointing out that if you are VAT registered and are buying for your business then you may actually be better off shopping elsewhere.The camera I was looking at can in fact be bought about £10 cheaper on Amazon once the VAT is reclaimed.

Not much difference but it all adds up.
 
I bought my 600d and 28-135 lens from them and it all went smoothly even down to the courier sending an email with the 1 hour delivery time slot.
Like other similar sellers (panamoz for example) since its a grey import if anything goes wrong it needs to be sent away to where it was made but hey do their own free 3 year guarantee so you just send it to a uk address and they forward it on.
Being a grey import you might not get a uk manual. They sent me a photocopied uk manual instead.
 
gblades said:
I bought my 600d and 28-135 lens from them and it all went smoothly even down to the courier sending an email with the 1 hour delivery time slot.
Like other similar sellers (panamoz for example) since its a grey import if anything goes wrong it needs to be sent away to where it was made but hey do their own free 3 year guarantee so you just send it to a uk address and they forward it on.
Being a grey import you might not get a uk manual. They sent me a photocopied uk manual instead.
Click to expand...

Spot on. Got mine next day with no issue, and the 3 year warranty is great too. I'd be happy to buy from them again (y)
 
Not sure what your after but for what I'm about to buy its not as cheap as panamoz.com!!
 
Noticed on my Canon cashback application letter that Bignorman dot com is classed as a non-participating retailer and so would not qualify for Canon cashback offers. (assume the above talk about grey imports gives it away but...)
just thought it might help someone
 
slartibartfast said:
Noticed on my Canon cashback application letter that Bignorman dot com is classed as a non-participating retailer and so would not qualify for Canon cashback offers. (assume the above talk about grey imports gives it away but...)
just thought it might help someone
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Same thing here, my cashback claim was rejected by Canon. As I mentioned in a different post I've been told that bignorman is being investigated by Canon at the moment due to this.
 
parker83 said:
Hi

Has anyone bought any camera equipment from wwww.bignorman.com? everything is way cheaper than other sites i have been looking on would appreciate some feedback if anyone has bought from them.

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

I tried BIG NORMAN, they took my money, sent faulty goods, and it took threats and 11 emails to get my money back, or even a reply!! Then I tried procamerashop, they took my money sent faulty goods, promised a replacement which did not arrive, and I demanded my money back, still waiting......... I will try HDEW which comes recommended from a friend, watch this space :bang:
 
I am currently having issues with Big Norman. Ordered a Canon 7D and a Canon ef 70-200mm f/2.8 l is usm lens. The lens didn't arrive, though the camera did. The lens was promised for a week later. After chasing today, I'm told they have allegedly been burgled so no longer have the lens available, and can't promise that my refund will be processed in a timely fashion.

I'm MORE THAN suspicious.
 
I ordered a Canon G1x about 10 days ago and it should have arrived yesterday at the latest. I emailed them yesterday to chase it and received the following reply and an immediate refund:

Our warehouse has been burgled. We are currently working on contacting all customers. We have actioned a full refund and it will show within 24 hours.

Please accept our apologies in this matter.

We hope to be back up for business within the next couple of weeks.

I have no reason to doubt this statement and I took it at face value. I know of people that have ordered the same product from Big Norman and not had any problems. It's just unfortunate. The alternative is to go to Wex or similar and pay an extra £180.
 
My refund which was promised twice, STILL hasn't happened. Now taking legal advice.

They can't give me a reference for the refund, can't give any assurances whatsoever.
 
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jctitushoratio said:
My refund which was promised twice, STILL hasn't happened. Now taking legal advice.

They can't give me a reference for the refund, can't give any assurances whatsoever.
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Hey,I have the same situation here....
Still waiting for my refund and worry a lot.Please let me know what you plan to do,maybe we could cooperate in this matter.
 
I ordered a new Panasonic camera from this company on Sunday July 15, receiving a message the following day to say it had shipped. On July 24, with still no delivery, I e-mailed Bignorman to find out why my shipment had not arrived. I was told this was strange and was I sure that the courier had not left a calling card. When I replied that I hadn't, they then asked me for my postcode. Seeing they had allegedly shipped the camera to me, I thought it strange that they needed my postcode, thought they would have that on their records. At this stage, beginning to smell something rotten. On July 27, I received the same e-mail about the 'burglary', written as though they had only just found out about it. Through a search engine, I found similar issues mentioned in this thread and noted some people had received the burglary e-mail 2 days before on the 25th!! Definitely, something not right here.

Waiting for my refund, I monitored my credit card account and, no surprise, nothing has been received into my account. This morning, I received this message,

Hi,

Our warehouse has been burgled. We are currently working on contacting all customers. We have sent a cheque for a full refund as we can no longer supply this item.

Please accept our apologies in this matter.

We hope to be back up for business within the next couple of weeks.

Rgds

Now,apparently, I'm not going to get a refund to my card but a cheque in the post. The cheque can easily be stopped, no idea which bank its coming from and what currency? Smelling dodgier by the minute. I guess its all stalling tactics and will be contacting my credit card provider ASAP to alert them to this issue.
 
Also noticed if you go on the bignorman site and try to order anything, all their items are out of stock. Maybe they were burgled or they've gone bust?
 
That's a coincidence! Before I point out the b******g obvious, I have no connection with Big Norman. I have never purchased from them nor have I considered it, only because I had never heard of them until this thread.

However, we now have at least seven new posters slagging off said Big Norman. There's a rabbit away here!!! (For those who have never lived in the North East, that means "I say old chap, do you think there could possibly be a little subterfuge in this thread?")
 
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Scaleybrat said:
Also noticed if you go on the bignorman site and try to order anything, all their items are out of stock. Maybe they were burgled or they've gone bust?
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Definitely fishy, a retailer in a reletively small community like Gibraltar has a burglary in the £hundreds of thousands of electronic gear and it doesn't even make Gib news (google news search shows nothing).
 
When will folk realise that if it's "cheap as chips" it's very likely to be dodgy.

Chase that "bargain" at your peril or, alternatively, spend a little more and buy from a reputable dealer. It isn't rocket science guys!

Andy
 
Yellowbelly said:
However, we now have at least seven new posters slagging off said Big Norman. There's a rabbit away here!!! (For those who have never lived in the North East, that means "I say old chap, do you think there could possibly be a little subterfuge in this thread?")
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No, you are wrong old chap.
 
Keebsuk said:
When will folk realise that if it's "cheap as chips" it's very likely to be dodgy.

Chase that "bargain" at your peril or, alternatively, spend a little more and buy from a reputable dealer. It isn't rocket science guys!

Andy
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Agree - my reason for posting was not to tell my woes but to warn other people not to fall in the same trap.
 
Quite possibly so. I have no axe to grind, but you must admit that that so many new posters so quickly about the same subject is a tad, er ... surprising?
 
It's very suspicious to me aswell. I ordered my 600d from them without issue and a friend got his 70-300 f2.8 from them a couple of weeks ago. The last time I used them they had an online chat system. Has anyone tried it to ask them the situation?
 
One more thing, I notice of all the new posters referred to in my above post, only one is currently on line.
 
Wait. No, he/she has logged off.
 
Scaleybrat said:
Some of us have to work you know :)

Regardless of your scepticism, I posted to warn others and no more.
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I wouldn't worry about it, it's patently obvious that something is wrong at Big Norman (why else is every item on their site out of stock?).

I am struggling to figure out yellowbellys scepticism, TP is a big forum that features high in google searches, it's quite likely people googling "big Norman" will end up here.
 
No offence intended. I can't help trying to find the explanation for what appear to be extraordinary coincidences/inconsistencies and the like. The result of a lifetime being paid to do so. :)
 
I made a claim through google wallet and received this reply:

Thank you for contacting us about Google Order ................. (my personal data).We no
longer allow www.BigNorman.com to process orders using Google Wallet. As
your account shows that you have already been charged for this order, we
have issued you a refund to the credit card used to place this order.

Refunds can take up to an additional three business days to appear on your
credit card statement. If the refund does not appear, please contact your
bank for more information. To see which credit card was used in this
transaction, visit https:........................................(my personal data)

If the refund is successful and the seller provides sufficient evidence
that your order was completed according to our Terms of Service and their
published policies, you may be recharged for this order. If you don't hear
from us within four weeks, please consider this refund final.

If you'd like to place a new order with this seller without using Google
Wallet, please do so at your own risk. Alternatively, to view a selection
of other shops that use Google Wallet, please visit
http://www.google.com/wallet/m.html

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this order may have caused
you.

Kind regards,

The Google Wallet Team


So,I just hope that I will receive my money back.I have purchased the same camera through Amazone yesterday,together with 3 years guarantee,I have paid £90 more,but I received the camera this afternoon,everything perfect!!!!
Next time I will be more careful where I buy my stuff from.It was a good lesson.
 
i bought my camera from them last Nov no problem. I'd hazard a guess they've gone belly up!
I expect thats my 3 year warranty down the toilet then!:thumbsdown:
oh well, i s'pose it wouldn't have been worth the paper it was(n't) written on anyway! :LOL:
 
I've been using their online chat system quite a bit to try and get this resolved. In the end, I went to Google Wallet and processed a Refund. It came up with a message that Google Wallet is NO LONGER processing payments from BigNorman, but that I would receive a refund within 3 days. Still waiting.... on Day 3....
 
jctitushoratio said:
I've been using their online chat system quite a bit to try and get this resolved. In the end, I went to Google Wallet and processed a Refund. It came up with a message that Google Wallet is NO LONGER processing payments from BigNorman, but that I would receive a refund within 3 days. Still waiting.... on Day 3....
Click to expand...

According to post 31, refunds will take 3 business days. It won't show until day 4 if that is the case.
 
Day 4 and no refund in the bank, instead notification by email (from Google Wallet) that a refund has been processed and will show up in my account in another 3 days....

Confused.
 
jctitushoratio said:
At last! Got my refund. Now to look elsewhere for the lens I want. Relieved.
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Gentlemen, many thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.

I'm in a similar situation: got myself a Nikon D5100 + 18-55 VR lens kit from BigNorman at the beginning of July. Everything went ok, including delivery, until the lens stopped working 2 weeks later. They told me I didn't need to return the whole kit, only the lens, and that I should expect a replacement. So I shipped the lens and immediately after the burglary happened. The information I was given by BigNorman ties exactly with what other users have reported.
Aiming at a refund now that no stock is left, but the tricky point is that I didn't really pay for the lens, I paid for the whole kit.

jctitushoratio - I noticed you said you ordered a camera and a lens, and that the lens didn't arrive, though the camera did. Now you say you got your refund (glad for you!). May I ask you, is this a refund for both camera and lens or just the camera? I'm asking just because I am in the same situation, if I understood correctly.
Thanks a lot again and good luck everyone!
 
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