[Filter Fantastic] - Interesting interpretation of "the lenses are clean"

puddleduck said:
Lens was boxed as described . . .
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Don't give them credit for anything and don't waste characters e.g. unexpected bonus on lightening the tone.

In OOF you've got an unruly mob asking you to empty your PM box ;)
 
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photon said:
Don't give them credit for anything and don't waste characters e.g. unexpected bonus on lightening the tone.

In OOF you've got an unruly mob asking you to empty your PM box ;)
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Yeah, you are probably right about that!

OOF??! :thinking:
 
Jaysus Andy, that lens is/was crap.......:eek:
 
Did you see the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 that FF had up for buy-it-now the other day? The picture clearly showed dust and whatever else under the lens however the description was very positive indeed. :nono:
 
sdb123 said:
Did you see the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 that FF had up for buy-it-now the other day? The picture clearly showed dust and whatever else under the lens however the description was very positive indeed. :nono:
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Didn't see that, the 85mm f/1.4 isn't something I've ever fancied so probably wouldn't have seen that one!

Wonder how the hell all the crap gets in there, I mean my stuff goes to Morroco, Arizona and deserts etc and is absolutely spotless, and thats 3 to 4 weeks hiking and camping, yet you see other stuff that looks like someone unscrewed the front or rear element and just poured in half a dustbin!! :thinking:
 
I don't know if it still works but you used to be able to log into your ebay account on ebay Taiwan and leave feedback with more space than you get on ebay UK
 
wack61 said:
I don't know if it still works but you used to be able to log into your ebay account on ebay Taiwan and leave feedback with more space than you get on ebay UK
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Might try that, the fact that they've re-listed it with a more honest description and its cost me time and postage to get them to that point is probably going to annoy me a lot more than it should :nuts::nuts:
 
Jesus - they must spend 24 hours a day just scouring Ebay, good mark-up. Not really up on Canon prices, but I assume £500 was very cheap?
 
puddleduck said:
Jesus - they must spend 24 hours a day just scouring Ebay, good mark-up. Not really up on Canon prices, but I assume £500 was very cheap?
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Very cheap indeed. £800 is about right on eBay.

You can hardly blame them taking advantage of someone with no idea of its true value or looking for an immediate sale, because I certain would. It's just dressing up the item as something it's not which is annoying.
 
Regarding the VAT threshold, which is £67,000 for the 08/09 tax year. A quick examination of filterfantastic08's eBay feedback between 9th and 11th March 2009 reveals sales in excess of £15k for those FOUR DAYS. I wonder if the taxman is aware...
 
Interestingly they often used to mention in their ads. something like "If you can claim back VAT, this will make it even better value" (I'm paraphrasing) - this would imply they are VAT registered.

I've bought from them twice, once as Harbour48 and also with the recent 24-85 debacle, and I don't recall any Invoice or VAT breakdown.
 
I'm going to jump in here and say that I've just dealt with filter-fantastic on ebay and had what so far has been a positive experience. Of course, I only saw all these comments *after* I'd ordered a brand new, UK stock, unopened Nikon D300 body from them and I was kinda worried. but I'd deliberately paid by credit card as the price (£899) was above the paypal protection limit so I felt some level of protection.

The seller took their own sweet time getting the camera into the post, but a week after clicking "buy it now", the camera did turn up and looked in brand new condition. no signs that it had been used before, even had the plastic film still on. I even phoned nikon to check the serial number to make sure it wasn't a grey import, but they confirmed it was fine and would qualify for the 2 years guarantee.

The price of D300's has gone up over the last week in the bricks and mortar stores by about £150 so at the moment, I still feel like I've got a good deal. they even chucked in a 1G sandisk extreme 2 CF card.. okay, so I know they're virtually giving those away in boxes of cornflakes these days, but still, it's nice to have a spare knocking around.

am I missing something here? I appreciate that other people have had problems with them, but I think they've done right by me[1] so I thought I'd present the other point of view.

dave

[1] this is where I'm hoping I haven't missed something really obvious :)
 
fyonn said:
[1] this is where I'm hoping I haven't missed something really obvious :)
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Erm yep. FF don't sell brand new UK stock, that's fact.

What you'll most likely have is a UK refurb, for example FF have obtained some of their stock items from Jessops refurb ebay seller amongst others in the past.

In the big scheme of things it won't make any difference to you if Nikon have told you that the warranty is valid.

However this does not make any positives on FF's part for me at all.

You were lucky, it's as simple as that really. If FF weren't carrying any UK refurbs then you would have received a grey import instead with no warranty.

Also, when attempting for a warranty repair or service, it's highly probable that the first thing you'll be asked to produce is a legitimate sales receipt with VAT number, FF don't provide them and never have.

This store should be boycotted.
 
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Well they never refunded my postage for this. I am now blocked from bidding on anything else else as my business is no longer welcome - which is just fine by me :)
 
puddleduck said:
Well they never refunded my postage for this. I am now blocked from bidding on anything else else as my business is no longer welcome - which is just fine by me :)
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Well, if I was running a business selling Nikon gear, and I lost your custom, I would be a very silly boy!

Your keeping the economy alive aren't ya mate? :LOL:
 
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Well I've heard its quite good, but never used one.

I never shot with the one from FF as it was so manky!
 
I still don't understand how its possible to get so much dust / sand in a lens :thinking:

I treat a bit of dust as fact of live, but that one looked like someone unscrewed the front element and poured in a Hoover bag!! :LOL:
 
puddleduck said:
I still don't understand how its possible to get so much dust / sand in a lens :thinking:

I treat a bit of dust as fact of live, but that one looked like someone unscrewed the front element and poured in a Hoover bag!! :LOL:
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Or maybe it was involved in a wind tunnel test over at Nikon UK, the 'How much crud can a lens take in high winds' kinda deal :LOL:
They later auction it on ebay and there's FF dribbling over the buy it now button.
 
wegotitugetit said:
they tried selling me a good camera and it was in such a state marks all over and apparently they dont use stock photos my a**e
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They don't anymore - they just horrifically over expose and shots of used equipment so you cannot see any detail in them and have no idea how marked/dusty anything is
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
Erm yep. FF don't sell brand new UK stock, that's fact.

What you'll most likely have is a UK refurb, for example FF have obtained some of their stock items from Jessops refurb ebay seller amongst others in the past.
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okay, well, how do I determine if this is the case? will nikon know? can I get the camera to tell me how many shutter actuations it's had (I know how many pic's I've taken, as my file numbers started at 1).

In the big scheme of things it won't make any difference to you if Nikon have told you that the warranty is valid.
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well, I guess the important thing is that it all works fine, and that nikon will give it a guarantee (and I've registered it on their website too), but I'd like to know what the situation is.

dave
 
Whether you can register it has nothing to do with whether you have a valid warranty.

When you said stuff in for repair you need to show a receipt from an authorized dealer, with VAT paid. Registration is nothing to do with warranty.

You do not need to register things to have a valid warranty (the warranty is exercised via the Yellow Nikon UK paperwork + dealer receipt), you do not need to send anything in or register online.

FF may well be authorised, I've no idea. If they are not VAT registered, I can't see how they can be...

Generally a lot of their stock came from Jessops as a refurb.

As I said before, FF do generally get good feedback from Ebayers, but you need to be careful.
 
fyonn said:
okay, well, how do I determine if this is the case? will nikon know? can I get the camera to tell me how many shutter actuations it's had (I know how many pic's I've taken, as my file numbers started at 1).
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There's a few ways of determining the shutter actuations although refurbs normally have their counters reset.

fyonn said:
well, I guess the important thing is that it all works fine, and that nikon will give it a guarantee (and I've registered it on their website too), but I'd like to know what the situation is.

dave
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The likely hood of you actually getting Nikon to honor a repair without a legitimate VAT receipt is slim to none but as you mentioned, you have already spoke with Nikon and the warranty is valid right?
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
There's a few ways of determining the shutter actuations although refurbs normally have their counters reset.
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I've just returned a Nikon refurb, it had over 4000 actuations on it, dirt in the viewfinder, oh and the af was knackered.

Refurbished by JP Solutions - the same people that send me a secondhand Ezybox as new :cautious:
 
As far as I know refurbs do not have the counters reset.

At least the D40x "new, never been used" one I got from H48 wasn't.

I would say that if its showing 0 actuation (or 1 after the first shot) its not a refurb.
 
puddleduck said:
As far as I know refurbs do not have the counters reset.

At least the D40x "new, never been used" one I got from H48 wasn't.

I would say that if its showing 0 actuation (or 1 after the first shot) its not a refurb.
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I stand corrected, I've not bought one before and was assuming really.
 
I'd happily have a Nikon-refurbished camera, as I've had a couple in the past and they have been perfect, but not a JP one. Unfortunately there is no way of telling beforehand which is which as all the seals on the packaging etc are identical, it's just the warranty card that's different.
 
ted21 said:
Regarding the VAT threshold, which is £67,000 for the 08/09 tax year. A quick examination of filterfantastic08's eBay feedback between 9th and 11th March 2009 reveals sales in excess of £15k for those FOUR DAYS. I wonder if the taxman is aware...
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My thoughts exactly.
 
puddleduck said:
As far as I know refurbs do not have the counters reset.

At least the D40x "new, never been used" one I got from H48 wasn't.

I would say that if its showing 0 actuation (or 1 after the first shot) its not a refurb.
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I've just checked and there's a difference of 19 between the most recent file number (DSC_0156) and the recorded total shutter count (175), which I guess could probably be accounted for by me shooting the camera with no card in or similar? I can't remember if I did do that, but probably. However, it's not saying thousands, so it seems reasonable (to me) to think that it's not a refurb.

<shrug>

dave
 
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