People seem to always post lots of comments about when they have a bad experience, whether with a camera or the dealer. I guess it's natural to be upset when something isn't as it should be.

I thought I'd mention a really pleasant experience and somewhat unusual in this age of very little customer service from most places. I bought my XL A1 from B&H, but when a friend wanted to buy one last month I sent him to Tapeworks Texas because of the free bag. Money was tight and not having to spend another 150 bucks or so on a bag was significant for him. Tapeworks Texas has the XH A1 available with a free Camrade bag, in addition to the Canon rebate--all in all a good time to buy.

First thing that happened was the dealer was out of stock because of the huge number of sales. However, my friend told Scott (I think it's Scott, my apologies if it's the wrong name) he really needed to take delivery within a few days because of an upcoming shooting trip, and his XL1 was on its last legs. Scott said he'd see if he could get one drop shipped quickly and would call back the next morning. He did and the camera, and free bag, arrived in plenty of time. The bag, by the way, is pretty cool. Lighter weight and more compact than most but still very nice.

OK, that's pretty decent customer service, but check this out...My friend called me from his shoot in Indiana one evening. My first thought was, Oh no, he's screwed up all my settings I did for him. (I had already done 3 tech support phone calls because the menus confused him.) Instead he called to say that he got a phone call from the guy at Tapeworks Texas...just wanting to know if the camera was working out OK for him, if there were any problems.

My friend said, "I thought I had been transported into an alternate universe, before big box stores, before self service gas stations, to a place where a dealer really cares about his customers, even the little ones." I think TT has a lifelong customer now.

Bill, I can tell you from my experience with Scott Cantrell that he and Tapeworks Texas really do care about their customers. And that's why DVINFO is proud to have them as a sponsor.

Scott was instrumental in helping us out with the Texas HD Shootout last year in Austin.

Glad to hear the good stuff because you're absolutely right about nobody speaking up when things go right.

-gb-

I had an awesome experience with Zotz Digital. When I mentioned I needed an XH A1 by the end of the week in April, they put my name on one of the cams that was due in to their store the next day, which did indeed arrive the next day. With some vendors, "will arrive tomorrow" means next week or some time in the future. I got a very good price on a package deal, since I needed a new tripod and an HV20 for a deck, b-cam and vacation cam. These prices were substantially lower than any advertised price I saw on the web. After dealing with some of the pushy east coast "make the sale and pad it with overpriced extras" artists, the professionalism of Zotz was refreshing. I also liked that they were close to my time zone, being on the west coast. (I'm eating breakfast at the same time most people on the east coast are looking at lunch!)

Living in Alaska, Zotz Digital was sensitive to shipping costs and split my order between what I needed immediately and the items that could go out standard shipping.

Zotz Digital is a fabulous company! And yes, they did give me a call to see how I was doing with my equipment after the purchase.

They like advertising on dvinfo.net and find their best customers right here. Speaking of which, I think it's time to go shopping:-)