So, I ordered my new camera lens from Adorama, who in my opinion is one of the few places I trust enough to order such high priced items (B&H Photo Video and Cameta Camera are the others). Their service has always been good, prices are as low as anyone else's, etc. Plus, they’ve been around for a while and I’m comfortable that if something goes wrong with my equipment, they’re going to be there to help get it fixed.

Anyway, the lens I purchased is a hot commodity. At B&H from the time I viewed the item at work and got home, it had sold out. So when I received an email from Adorama saying they needed to talk to me about my order, I had a bad feeling I missed it.

Well, I call the guy who sent me the email and instead of telling me the lens was out of stock, he mentioned that he noticed that I had purchased a cheap set of filters for the lens and was concerned I might not realize how poor quality they might be. For you non-photographers out there, what most people do is purchase a UV Haze reducing filter to screw on to the end of the lens. It doesn’t do much (haze reduction is minimal), but they’re cheap and it’s better to scratch a $15 filter than the glass part of your lens. Now, because of the size of the lens, the Nikon brand UV filter was close to $70, so when I found the Sunpak brand (plus a polarizer) for $35 I jumped on it like Jesse Jackson on a TV interview.

When I informed the gentleman that I was simply looking for a scratch cover, he said that they had a Tiffen filter set for only $35 more!!!! I told him I didn’t WANT a nice set, that so long as the filter didn’t interfere with the pictures that scratch protection was enough. He then proceeded to sell me the more expensive set at the same price as the cheap ones.

Now, I’m willing to bet he got the commission on the entire purchase which is why he called to try to get me to change the order. But still, it’s odd to have a company contact you in order to give you more than what you originally wanted at the same price. This is also why I normally call in orders rather than make them online – the computer doesn’t get commission, people do, and they’ll cut deals that an automated program just won’t.