[OLS]

I want to make sure everyone knows that even though ALL your points are valid, especially the one wherein this is a cigar forum,
the reason this occurred in the first place is that I seem to always write 100 words where 5 will do, and when I feel like something
is not right, I say something. In the modern world we live in, technology has allowed this kind of pro-active customer service to
flourish, and your own gubmint is watching everything you say as well. So the fact that all this occurred the way it did is just
something we have to accept, and if we choose, ignore, ban, moderate, whatever works best. One other issue is the fact that
these pro-active customer service web searchers often do not realize that the asylum is NOT your average internet forum.
It is wholly financed and moderated by a benevolent group of cigar lovers who control everything that goes on and do expect
strict adherence to the rules. So my fellow forum members have very valid points, even though on the surface HelenOster may
not quite believe they are doing anything but ganging up on her. They're not, at least not in the way they do on forums
run like Lord of the Flies.

Almost all camera-serious people here have dealt with Adorama, and I have never heard a truly disparaging comment
against them here. No one denies how hard you try to serve your customers with excellent prices and fair policies.
For the record, a private message would have been the best way forward on this. So while I agree that we need to move
on and get back to plain old photography, I needed to say I agree with all sides. The technology involved in finding Adorama
posts on the internet to weigh in on cannot be viewed solely as stalking, because for every person that feels stalked, there
is another who feels like they have been saved from the wilderness by a guardian angel. Where this differs in my view is that
rather than a guardian angel swooping in, I would like the process I was involved in to work in a more efficient manner so
that I do not have to become upset enough to post that I have been let down. I understood the delays involved in
both a holiday and a return from a holiday. But I also know that in customer service, when you get back from a long time
away, you have to be doubly on your game, its the price of taking time off in the modern economy. So all that stuff happened.
I was taken care of and although the overall experience tingled the hairs on the back of my neck, I did not come out the other end
more upset than I went in. If I had sent the lens for a refund from the first, something I considered doing rather than trying to get
a markdown, you would not be hearing any of this. But these lenses are VERY SCARCE used, and not cheap even used.
I thought the only way to keep it and use it was to see if I could get some relief for the condition issue. No one would have
said a word if I had returned it from the outset. Good, fair policies are in place.

And now the real challenge begins. Last night my beloved Adorama Canon 5D threw off it's mirror during a shoot.
its a fairly common fault with the model. Another good/bad thing about the internet. Where people advise against
buying a second hand 5D unless it has had it's mirror mechanism replaced. They just come unglued. So as this is
under the Adorama 90 day used warranty, I guess I will end up testing two policies in one order. I hate how it looks,
but for a Nikon shooter with dozens of lenses and dozens of bodies, to go to CANON, even for one fabled camera just
to see what the other half sees....well it seems like I should have known better. If I had stayed in my own camp, none of
this would have happened. I will report on how this second half of Canon-gate goes. No need to have round two.
I am not going to broadcast the play by play here.
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OOPS, and thanks for your support inmates.