Portus Digital

Lornamower

Lornamower

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Lorna
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Hello there,

My boyfriend is looking to get into photography, and has found a website called portus digital who are offering the D3200 with lens for £349, which is pretty cheap compared with other prices, so im a bit wary was to buy from them, So thought id ask here, has anyone dealt with them before? Good service?

The link to their website is: http://www.portusdigital.com/nikon-d3200-dslr-camera-18-55mm-kit-blk.html

Thank you for any advice :)

Lorna
 
No direct experience but I would urge caution. If past threads are anything to go by, there will probably be a glowing review in the next few days by someone who signs up just to tell us what a wonderful experience they had when using them :)
 
If it where me I would be looking here More of a reputable dealer.

I am looking to buy a 7D in the very near future and will be using these
 
You can always ring a few UK dealers & ask if they'll price-match.
You probably won't get near the £350 but it's worth asking.
Also, I think the Nikon £40 cashback offer is on with this atm, so maybe not as expensive as you first thought.
 
SpikeK6 said:
If it where me I would be looking here More of a reputable dealer.

I am looking to buy a 7D in the very near future and will be using these
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Thanks spike, i have pointed him in that direction but think hes gonna flash the cash and support a local uk supplier! :D

OldCarlos said:
You can always ring a few UK dealers & ask if they'll price-match.
You probably won't get near the £350 but it's worth asking.
Also, I think the Nikon £40 cashback offer is on with this atm, so maybe not as expensive as you first thought.
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Yeah! deffo makes it a bit chaper! :) thank you Carlos.
 
why listen to the nerds on here?? Ive used them and actually collected from them, they are a company i would use again
 
Does anyone have an idea how much these companies pay you to roam the internet posting to up their reputation?

The number of people doing it surely means it must be quite lucrative :whistle:.
 
Just a heads up folks - the last thread was closed due to repeated cases of Shills Law and people jumping up and down on the new registrants... As said in the other thread - if you're dubious about it, hit the RTM Button and someone in the Staffroom will look into it.

Cheers peeps :)

Edit: oh, and @horsesforcourses - it's not nice to refer to your fellow forum members as nerds...
 
Dave1 said:
Does anyone have an idea how much these companies pay you to roam the internet posting to up their reputation?

The number of people doing it surely means it must be quite lucrative :whistle:.
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I don't think they pay - I've heard it rumoured that some companies offer a discount for a good review (not portus specifically)

personally I'd just be put off by any company that has to procure good reviews in that way rather than actually gaining them honestly.

(that's the only comment i'm making in this thread - everyone is aware of my opinion from the last thread so there's no need to repeat it)
 
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TheBigYin said:
Just a heads up folks - the last thread was closed due to repeated cases of Shills Law and people jumping up and down on the new registrants... As said in the other thread - if you're dubious about it, hit the RTM Button and someone in the Staffroom will look into it.

Cheers peeps :)

Edit: oh, and @horsesforcourses - it's not nice to refer to your fellow forum members as nerds...
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I thought we were ALL nerds!
Is it just me then?
:LOL:
 
big soft moose said:
I don't think they pay - I've heard it rumoured that some companies offer a discount for a good review (not portus specifically)

personally I'd just be put off by any company that has to procure good reviews in that way rather than actually gaining them honestly.
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(I'm going to be careful not to make the conversation personal to any new user, and keep it general).

I see your point Pete, but that would only give them a single good review per shill, what about the person who will arrive on a forum, and make multiple, often vociferous defensive posts about the company?

I can only think they must be paid for, why else would a person be so hyper in their posting about a single HK (or similar) retailer?, often seeking out individual threads and registering just to post in that thread.

It's just I've never seen an ad or similar promoting this sort of thing, it just got me wondering if it did happen, if they would get paid by the individual post or by the forum, or even by time.

Just curiosity into a strange business :shrug:.
 
Dave1 said:
I see your point Pete, but that would only give them a single good review per shill, what about the person who will arrive on a forum, and make multiple, often vociferous defensive posts about the company?

:.
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probably someone who works for the hypothetical company :shrug: - HK is GMT + 8 which would explain why shills are often most active at what seems to be odd times of day to those of us posting from the UK
 
big soft moose said:
I don't think they pay - I've heard it rumoured that some companies offer a discount for a good review
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I was offered a 10% discount on my next purchase by a Chinese Ebay seller yesterday if I would leave her five star feedback. The camera bag (yes, yet another!) I bought from her is good value and worth five stars but she won't be getting any feedback at all now.
 
another day , another person with 1 post telling us how great portus are - sigh

Incidentally you must have a very remarkable credit card co - because most of them don't offer that guarantee on grey imports
 
yeah but a) its the goods themselves that are covered and b) sometimes they won't

section 75 does apply to transactions outside of the uk, but it doesnt normally cover transactions which arent fully legitimate (ie if you are conspiring to evade customs duty for example), they also don't cover you for paying through a third party like paypal or world pay so it will depend how portus take your payment - although not relevant here this also means that you arent covered if you buy via amazon market place or ebay the CC company has to have a direct relationship with the supplier for you to claim a refund under sect 75.

and finally sect 75 doesnt cover the first £100 of the transaction

It would be interesting to know which credit card Mick used as a card that does give protection on grey imports would be useful to a lot of people
 
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big soft moose said:
yeah but a) its the goods themselves that are covered
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Services are also covered.

big soft moose said:
section 75 does apply to transactions outside of the uk, but it doesnt normally cover transactions which arent fully legitimate (ie if you are conspiring to evade customs duty for example), they also don't cover you for paying through a third party like paypal or world pay so it will depend how portus take your payment - although not relevant here this also means that you arent covered if you buy via amazon market place or ebay the CC company has to have a direct relationship with the supplier for you to claim a refund under sect 75.
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I think the third party limitations are (they certainly should be!) well known. You need the retailer you're buying from to be the one to take the money from the credit card, not one of their suppliers.

big soft moose said:
and finally sect 75 doesn't cover the first £100 of the transaction
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It does, as long as the purchase is for more than £100 (and less than £30,000).
 
digital said:
Services are also covered.
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yes but a guarantee isnt a service - you 'might' get your money back on it, but if you are buying on a credit card why would you pay for a 3 year guarantee anyway - given that you can claim for the goods under sect 75 anyway (well you could apart from the info in the edit below)


digital said:
I think the third party limitations are (they certainly should be!) well known. You need the retailer you're buying from to be the one to take the money from the credit card, not one of their suppliers.
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Do we know what portus do ? edit - I just looked , Portus are using World Pay to take credit card payments, and therefore you are probably not in fact covered by sect 75 when paying in this manner !

moneysaving expert said:
You're unlikely to be covered when payments are made to a company that isn't the one providing you with the product or service. In these cases, the credit card company usually says it didn't have a direct relationship with the supplier, so isn't equally liable.

If you stand your ground, it's possible to argue that the indirect relationship constitutes an arrangement to pay. The Court of Appeal decided this was acceptable in 2006, but it's unlikely to be an easy task.

The first main area is paying via an online processor such as PayPal, WorldPay or Google Checkout. Though these can have their own refund systems, they aren't as strong as the legal protection of Section 75.
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That said he might be covered for chargeback if his goods didnt arrive or arrived broken, but that would only be at time of purchase , not future issues
 
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My boss has just bought me a new D800 from Portus when i was on holiday. It's a grey import from Hong Kong. Marked D800 (HK). Not my money and i probably would have bought from uk myself. Arrived within 5 days. It's brand new and works fine. Portus offered a three year guarantee but i suppose that will only last as long as Portus Digital do. If it goes wrong i will keep you informed.
 
Is the Shill season currently open? I'd hate to be caught stomping one in the closed season.. ..
 
Alastair said:
Is the Shill season currently open? I'd hate to be caught stomping one in the closed season.. ..
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As a foreign invasive species , I think you are obliged to report them to an appropriate authority so that they can be humanely culled
 
I'm obviously a bit confused being a summmersseet new guy on this forum. Being just across the border in Yeovil from you 'big soft moose' maybe you could explain in our language what 'Alastair' is talking about..........?
 
Nala001 said:
I'm obviously a bit confused being a summmersseet new guy on this forum. Being just across the border in Yeovil from you 'big soft moose' maybe you could explain in our language what 'Alastair' is talking about..........?
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Here you go

shill
"Shill" typically refers to someone who purposely gives onlookers the impression that they are an enthusiastic independent customer of a seller (or marketer of ideas) for whom they are secretly working.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill
 
Hehe. Thanks 'Dave1'. I certainly wasn't impressed when my boss placed a D800 grey import on my desk. But as i said in my first post 'not my money'. Not my credit card, not my problem if it goes wrong. I did however say 'it arrived within 5 days and it was new and it works fine. I've been called a few things in my time but 'a shill' is a first for me. lol. Great forum, looking forward to many more chats. Off to get my bribe from........now which company was it?
 
Well, where do I start? A couple of weeks ago I placed an order with Portus for a EOS 7D body, later that evening I stumbled on the TP forum and read quite a few of the comments about them, I nearly sh1t myself! I'd just forked out £600 and wondered if I was ever going to see anything for it? The next day when I got in from work I checked my emails and there was an order confirmation from Portus, I phoned them up, I got their answer phone half an hour before they were due to close, more panic, I phoned them the next morning, answer phone again, phoned them half an hour later spoke to someone who couldn't confirm when the EOS body would arrive. I left it until after the weekend and phone them again on the Monday morning, I was told I'd have my order by the end of the week. On the Wednesday I had another email exactly the same as the first, not even a tracking number, I phoned them again! They told me I'd have my order the next day, they couldn't give me a tracking number as UPS hadn't given them one (strange I thought). The next day to my relief my order did arrive.
Now I know I ain't been a member on here for long, so there are bound to be some folk that say I've just joined to just to support Portus, but I can assure you I have not. Yes I know I've now got an import, but I nearly bought the same thing on a trip to the states just over a year ago, so I'm not bothered about that.

I'll be around here for a while looking for tips and info to help me out, and for a bit of banter :)

And would I use Portus again? I'd have to think a while about it :whistle:

:canon:
 
Just received my Canon 7D and 24-105 from Portus digital, and Just like many others before me i was a little wary especially after reading some of the posts.
well no worry necessary, yes the camera is an import but they are all imported. I ordered it on Monday and received it the following Monday delivered by UPS i have a three year warranty, and have saved about £800.
the guys from portus were extremely helpful i contacted them 3 or 4 times before ordering and they were extremely knowledgeable i would not hesitate to buy from them again in fact i am looking at ordering another lens from them All round excellent service.
 
Saved about £800???????
Against who's prices?

£600 maybe from UK stock & £150 from DR. (other sellers maybe less)

A saving is a saving, but don't exaggerate. ;)
 
hzv5wk said:
No direct experience but I would urge caution. If past threads are anything to go by, there will probably be a glowing review in the next few days by someone who signs up just to tell us what a wonderful experience they had when using them :)
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marksp said:
Just received my Canon 7D and 24-105 from Portus digital, and Just like many others before me i was a little wary especially after reading some of the posts.
well no worry necessary, yes the camera is an import but they are all imported. I ordered it on Monday and received it the following Monday delivered by UPS i have a three year warranty, and have saved about £800.
the guys from portus were extremely helpful i contacted them 3 or 4 times before ordering and they were extremely knowledgeable i would not hesitate to buy from them again in fact i am looking at ordering another lens from them All round excellent service.
Click to expand...

:whistle:
 
Shill season open yet?

nun_a40445_963025.jpg
 
OldCarlos said:
Saved about £800???????
Against who's prices?

£600 maybe from UK stock & £150 from DR. (other sellers maybe less)

A saving is a saving, but don't exaggerate. ;)
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jessops body £1029 Lens £813 total £1842 i paid £1039 Staff Edit
 
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fair enough but jessops are notoriously expensive so its a little disingenuous to compare against their prices
 
Indeded and thats for UK stock - the saving portus offer against other grey importers is even less.

Digital rev are 669 for the body and 529 for the lens - Given that DR are clearly grey importing (and don't pretend otherwise) I am suspicious about how Portus can under cut them
 
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Makes you wonder how they actually afford to pay for all these Shills, really...
 
I'm not bothered how they did it, it might have taken them 8 days to deliver my EOS 7D body, but £599:) Jobs a gudun...
 
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