hi...would like to share with you guys my "wonderful" shopping experience recently for the Tamron 18-270mm PZD. had walked around a couple of shops at Funan, checking out prices, all of which came up with the S$1K+ plus quote. then decided to call it a day, but on the way back popped by Peninsula. found a shop on the ground floor (Worldwide) that quoted me $8XX. did test the lens out on my old Nikon D80, found the zoom to be rather stiff. in my euphoria/foolishness over finding a good deal, i didn't do a proper check of the warranty documentation, but the retailer said that he would help me register on-line.
once settled down, i did a proper test and found the VR mode to be jerkier than normal, and some how, it couldn't not AF properly in non-VR mode, and that the serial number on the lens mount did not tally with the one on the box. also, for some strange reason, the diameter was 72mm instead of the standard 62mm seen in the product brochure. i wrote to Tamron's official distributor to check on the serial and specs, and was told that the peninsula is not on their list of distributors.
i then went down to the shop at the end of the week to confront the dealer who to my surprise, literally exploded and said that i didn't know anything about photography, all VR lens are jerky - notably Tamron's, they do not entertain refunds, that i should have known better, their warranty does not cover VR etc. fortunately i kept my calm and told them they lied to me about on-line warranty (they could not show proof), the serial numbers do not match, and the specs are wrong, and if they do not allow an exchange (i was nice enough not to demand a cash refund), i would bring the issue up to CASE. the guy basically said "please go ahead, we have our lawyers to defend us." (all of the above conversation was in Chinese btw).
i refused to barge, and finally, the guy stomped off and said he would go and see if they have current stock. after like 15-20min of waiting, he came back smiling and said, that they didn't have stock and his "boss" indicated that i can pick any of the other lenses in exchange. tried to push a Nikkor 70-300mm (not sure why, as it is totally different from the Tamron 18-270mm) and then a Sigma 18-200mm, the latter is obviously a lot cheaper than the Tamron. the audacity.
having refused to take the bait, i told the dealer that i would pick up a proper Nikon kit which has a fixed retail price and pay the difference. he was again all smiles. and that was basically the end of the saga.
i finally got the Tamron 18-270mm from an "approved" distributor. loving it so far. moral of the story, don't be distracted by price alone. value the purchase experience. avoid peninsula. and actually, the Tamron distributorship should keep an eye on the grey sets in the market as ultimately the dubious quality of these items will hurt the image of the company. some of the user experience issues raised seemed to be in line with the HK imports and grey sets out there.
Only help the big boss earn more...but i paid $935 with 3 yr local warranty also from singapore about 1mth ago.....
