Portus Digital

My word what a funny bunch:(, clearly not happy unless criticising others. for gods sake all I wanted to do was post how happy I was with portus :mad:, I`m not interested in the ins and outs of the business, I don't know how they can under cut others, and they make no secrets about equipment being imports, as i said before all canon cameras are imported don't think canon build in the uk I get a three year warranty (no doubt one of you will have something to say about the warranty) have none of you ever bought an import. when Britain stops being a rip off country trying to squeeze every last penny from hard working people then i will source my equipment from uk retailers.
 
marksp said:
My word what a funny bunch:(, clearly not happy unless criticising others. for gods sake all I wanted to do was post how happy I was with portus :mad:, I`m not interested in the ins and outs of the business, I don't know how they can under cut others, and they make no secrets about equipment being imports, as i said before all canon cameras are imported don't think canon build in the uk I get a three year warranty (no doubt one of you will have something to say about the warranty) have none of you ever bought an import. when Britain stops being a rip off country trying to squeeze every last penny from hard working people then i will source my equipment from uk retailers.
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Don't be put off we're not all the same. I bought two cameras last year from DigitalRev & was about to buy another but managed to catch one with a great Amazon deal.

So get stuck into the other forums & enjoy :)
 
Mark - people would be a lot less suspicious if you'd posted some images from the camera or chatted on other parts for the forum before posting a 'supportive' comment for a seller that appears dodgy.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Mark - people would be a lot less suspicious if you'd posted some images from the camera or chatted on other parts for the forum before posting a 'supportive' comment for a seller that appears dodgy.
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Exactly Toni.

Mark, tbh you can't blame folk for thinking the worst, even you must understand why.
You were reading the forum/this thread an hour or so ago..........get some pics up! ;)
 
marksp said:
My word what a funny bunch:(, clearly not happy unless criticising others. for gods sake all I wanted to do was post how happy I was with portus :mad:, I`m not interested in the ins and outs of the business, I don't know how they can under cut others, and they make no secrets about equipment being imports, as i said before all canon cameras are imported don't think canon build in the uk I get a three year warranty (no doubt one of you will have something to say about the warranty) have none of you ever bought an import. when Britain stops being a rip off country trying to squeeze every last penny from hard working people then i will source my equipment from uk retailers.
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like mentioning that the warranty is with portus and therefore worthless if they go pop (and possibly worthless anyway , depending on what their after sales service is like - there have been issues with digital rev warranties for example requiring goods shipped over seas at the customers expense - se ricardodaforces thread on that)

The mods have made it pretty clear that they don't want any more debates on the relative merits of grey vs uk so i'm not going there - but various 'shill' type postings in this thread are doing little to bolster portus's reputation against even their grey competition such as Hdew, kerso, panamoz, Digital rev etc

With regard to the welcome you've recieved here, can i ask why you wanted particularly to share about portus great service - it seems a bit odd that you suddenly spontaneously thought " I know i must join some photo forums to let people know how great portus digital are " - I had good service from our local ford dealer but it didnt make me want to join piston heads so i could share the glad tidings
 
What a sad pathetic bunch some of you are the phrase get a life springs to mind
 
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marksp said:
What a sad pathetic bunch some of you are the phrase get a life springs to mind
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RTM'd as despite my earlier post, giving him the benefit, it looks as if he would rather create mischief :(
 
Is that what im doing creating mischief ive had nothing but s*** from people on this site wish I hadnt bothered
 
Thank you for your support earlier but you cant blame me for being annoyed
 
DayDreamer said:
Don't be put off we're not all the same. I bought two cameras last year from DigitalRev & was about to buy another but managed to catch one with a great Amazon deal.

So get stuck into the other forums & enjoy :)
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OldCarlos said:
Exactly Toni.

Mark, tbh you can't blame folk for thinking the worst, even you must understand why.
You were reading the forum/this thread an hour or so ago..........get some pics up! ;)
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Get some pics up my word if people on here are this critical over a post what you going to be like with a photo
 
It's a contraction of photographer.

Have a look in the critique area of the forum to see how people respond to others photos. Generally if the shot is good then people fall over themselves to be nice about it, and if it's not then they often try to offer helpful advice as to why they don't like it.

You're getting a hard time because various companies with questionable/illegal practices try to get suckers customers to order high value stuff from them, then abandon them, sometimes without goods. They have been know to pay for people to come onto forums and claim to have bought stuff in order to reassure punters that they won't lose their money/receive a liability.
 
Ah I understand thank you I thought on a whole togs were a friendly bunch the only friendly one has been day dreamer
 
marksp said:
I thought on a whole togs were a friendly bunch the only friendly one has been day dreamer
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yeah where as you've been really friendly yourself - describing people as a bunch of sad pathetic losers who need to get a life or for that matter as pedantic *****s is always the perfect way to win friends and make people think well of you.

I asked you a perfectly civil question - what was it that made you decide to join a photo forum in order to plug the service that Portus gave you ?

You ask us to understand your position , try understanding ours - you may not be a shill yourself , but these threads are stiff with people who join to say what amazing service they've had from xyz company , who then never post in any other threads and disappear - I'm sure you can understand that this gets old fairly fast.

Anyone who's behaviour demonstrates they aren't a shill - by posting in more than one thread, introducing themselves in the welcome forum , posting pictures and critique and generally joining in with the forum gets warmly welcomed by a bunch of friendly photographers.

I'm sure everyone on the forum will give you the benefit of the doubt if you take it off your back, stop calling people names, and actually take part in the forum
 
OK point taken.
once again im new to forums not something i normally do. i take it shill
noun
1.
a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating,
2.
a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit,or friendship or loyalty.
Well believe me or dont but i am not a shill.
however if someone is going to pay me i might consider it (joke);).
All i wanted to do was let people know the company i got my equipment from was genuine.plain and simple, i did not expect to be called a liar not in so many words and to be told i was exaggerating. that was what got my back up.
as for putting pics on im not sure, i did this once before with Ephotozine when i was just getting into photography, i posted 1 photo and got ripped to pieces, to the extent where somebody took my image and altered it moved things around with photoshop and then re posted it saying "this is what you should have done" well not the best confidence booster for a newbie.
 
if you put a photo on here and don't want it edited make sure you've got the 'don't edit my photo's' box ticked then no one will

that aside you can join in here without posting images if you want - a good start is a thread in the welcome forum introducing yourself
 
Mark, as John, Toni and Pete are explaining, 'shills' are much frowned upon across forums, and as you now know, are unlikely to get a warm welcome. However, that aside, this is actually a great forum and the guys are now doing their best to let you know that [which makes a change... JOKE!! :D ] There have already been several posts deleted from this thread from real shills, and some staff posts asking people to stop stomping them [though god knows, it's like herding cats round here sometimes :whistle: ]

So.... shall we all start again? As Pete has suggested, perhaps introduce yourself in the Welcome forum, have a mooch around and maybe comment on other peoples pictures and once you are comfortable, do feel free to post some of your own too. You can indeed opt in your user settings to not allow editing of your photos [and if you do, and then someone does it anyway, just report the post and staff will delete it & remind the member not to] though to be fair, most editing round here is done with the genuine intent to help you improve and not to trash confidence. (y)
 
Its ok marksp i was called a shill aswell, and yes i did search online to see if anyone else had used portus, and yes i come across talkphotography, and yes i decided to join and tell my experience of portus, or should i say my bosses experience (he decided where he was going to buy the d800) for the company i work for. The d800 grey import we got is fine. Welcome.
 
ok, comedy time. I bought from portus , I paid money and got a 7d. Shipped from the UK but presumably imported from HK or somewhere as the box had japanese? writing on, was opened and it had a photocopied manual and a UK power lead.

the reason, oddly enough, that I found this thread and registered (well, actually I found the previous locked thread) was because I was initially looking for reviews about portus - as the search terms I was using meant that these threads come up on top page in google for stuff like "portus digital eos 7d" - hence I guess the reason why people sign up to leave their feedback, they find the thread in the same way that I did when researching if they were legit or not.

Anyhow, enough for #1 post - for the record I am not a shill, have not been paid or asked by portus or anyone to post this. I am indifferent to portus, I paid money and got a camera, it has a three year warranty that is probably only good if portus are still around to honour it - if not I will take my chances with the credit card company and if not I'll write it off to experience and bring my creaking old D60 out of retirement. It still takes great pictures, just not in low light...

-Steve

P.S. I'd post some stunning pics of the northern lights I took in Iceland last week , but it seems that as of last night every damn person in the UK has the same or better! but if you want some pics to dig through the EXIFs just shout, I just need to work out how to get my email address out of the EXIF

PPS If anyone knows how to get the canon digital photo pro software to flip a raw image, please let me know. my avatar is my kid "sky writing" his name in Iceland but he did it backwards... I can only flip the JPG at the moment, I'd love to flip the raw so I can see the proper end result when I manipulate it...
 
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Hi, ive used portus digital just recently. Personally I would'nt use them again. Even though the camera: canon 700D with 18-55 stm lens was way cheaper than elsewhere. The camera arrived 7 days after I placed my order, then the camera came in a box which was for a different canon 700D and the camera seemed NOT NEW. Yes it was wrapped up in bubble wrap and whatnot but it seemed like it had been used and then cleaned up and put into the box (wrong box by the way). When calling the UK based office the guy gives one word answers and seems he is there part time on behalf of the hong kong office. Luckily it seems to be in working order so far. but for £429 it was kinda worth the risk.
 
Just bought a Nikon D3300 camera body from portus digital. Pretty sure this is a genuine Nikon with genuine handbook and software on cd. Battery charger is flat two pin with uk adapter so obviously made for other foreign market Camera works fine and fits all my previously purchased lenses which also work as expected. Have registered the product with Nikon, so will be interested to see what if anything comes back from them. Price savings were huge, but I suppose you have to compromise somewhere. If I only get the 12 month European warranty then so be it. There's always the warranty from prutus if they are still there? Very efficient service, polite when contacted and speedy delivery.
I may regret doing this, time will tell!
 
Mike D said:
Pretty sure this is a genuine Nikon with genuine handbook and software on cd. Battery charger is flat two pin with uk adapter so obviously made for other foreign market Camera works fine and fits all my previously purchased lenses which also work as expected. Have registered the product with Nikon, so will be interested to see what if anything comes back from them. Price savings were huge, but I suppose you have to compromise somewhere. If I only get the 12 month European warranty then so be it.
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The product will undoubtably be genuine, grey doesn't mean fake.

With regard to warranty, there won't be any 12 month European warranty, you will have whatever Portus have promise to do, and probably a warranty from the country of origin (Hong Kong).
 
Electrical items sold with Plug-adapters aren't legal in the UK.
 
OldCarlos said:
Electrical items sold with Plug-adapters aren't legal in the UK.
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I'm not sure how the legislation works with this situation, Mike actually bought the item from a retailer in Hong Kong and then imported it into the UK himself.

Seems a bit of a "grey" area (pardon the pun ;)).
 
Hi and thanks for your comments.
It is what it is, just hope I don't have problems. Thought the post may be beneficial to anyone else considering portus. At least they will know some of the possible downfalls and possible benefits.
 
Dave1 said:
I'm not sure how the legislation works with this situation, Mike actually bought the item from a retailer in Hong Kong and then imported it into the UK himself.

Seems a bit of a "grey" area (pardon the pun ;)).
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I'm not 100% either - i suspect the reatailer could still be in the wrong for offering a two pin for sale to a Uk customer - but in practice nothing is going to happen unless mike electrocutes himeself and then sues (best not do that - personally i'd cut the two pin off and rewire it to a uk three pin )
 
big soft moose said:
I'm not 100% either - i suspect the reatailer could still be in the wrong for offering a two pin for sale to a Uk customer - but in practice nothing is going to happen unless mike electrocutes himeself and then sues (best not do that - personally i'd cut the two pin off and rewire it to a uk three pin )
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I would agree the supply is wrong, but a person in Hong Kong can't really be prosecuted for breaching a law here (that isn't even an offence in HK). Good luck to mike trying to sue someone in Hong Kong, the sale contract will be in terms of HK law, so any action would probably need to be instituted there.

Just one of those things when dealing with a Hong Kong retailer IMO.
 
big soft moose said:
I'm not 100% either - i suspect the reatailer could still be in the wrong for offering a two pin for sale to a Uk customer - but in practice nothing is going to happen unless mike electrocutes himeself and then sues (best not do that - personally i'd cut the two pin off and rewire it to a uk three pin )
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Really I bought a Fuji XA1 from amazon.co.uk (not a marketplace seller)

It came with a 2 pin cable box had Spanish writing and promo sticker on it

I sent it back as the battery was missing so were amazon breaking the law by shipping from Spanish arm of the company?
 
As I said I'm not 100% but I think so - as far as I'm aware its against the law to offer an item for sale in the uk with a 2 pin plug (with certain exceptions like toothbrushes and razors) - I can't see that it makes much difference where the item is shipped from if the sale happens in the uk
 
Was it definitely from Amazon.co.uk and not "fulfilled by Amazon"? - the latter has some issues with shared stock codes.
 
Alastair said:
Was it definitely from Amazon.co.uk and not "fulfilled by Amazon"? - the latter has some issues with shared stock codes.
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Definitely from amazon full uk site not a 3rd party seller or fulfilled by amazon
 
steve_b said:
it has a three year warranty that is probably only good if portus are still around to honour it - if not I will take my chances with the credit card company
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One to watch out for is that Portus use Worldpay to process their credit cards which means that you're not automatically covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (see http://www.choose.net/money/guide/features/section-75-credit-card-protection-claim.html). Having said that, I just bought some gear from Calumet and noticed that they use Worldpay too!
 
big soft moose said:
I'm not 100% either - i suspect the reatailer could still be in the wrong for offering a two pin for sale to a Uk customer - but in practice nothing is going to happen unless mike electrocutes himeself and then sues (best not do that - personally i'd cut the two pin off and rewire it to a uk three pin )
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This December 2012 article from Which? magazine: http://conversation.which.co.uk/energy-home/plugs-two-pin-british-amazon-electrical-appliances/ says that it is illegal. Unfortunately the cutting the plugs off idea doesn't always work. For example, Canon's "international" version of their LC-E6 battery charger comes with an integral 2 pin plug (i.e. no lead).
 
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