Opinions please

[Derek Heeps]

After receiving some good advice on another forum re the Distance Selling Regulations here in the UK , I sent the following email a short while ago

...... , I had a look through DSR and it appears I have the right to cancel as long as the goods have not been despatched . Moreover , the trader's website says the same thing , so I just sent the email below :

"Dear sirs ,

I am disappointed to note that my email below , sent on Saturday 14th February 2015 , has met with no reply despite three full working days having passed since then : I feel this is unacceptable .

To date , you have failed to supply any of the goods I ordered on 24th December 2014 and for which payment in full was taken on 6th January this year .

Despite receiving an email stating that the goods had shipped on 6th January , then being informed on 12th January that they had not shipped after all and assured that delivery would follow ’soon’ , then a similar conversation on 9th February , nothing has been delivered and I have therefore lost all confidence in your ability to supply the goods I ordered .

With reference to the ‘delivery and returns’ section of your website :

"Change or Cancel an Order
If you wish to cancel or make changes to your order please let us know xxxx@xxxx.co.uk who will be happy to change or cancel your order as long as it has not been despatched.

If your order has already been despatched or delivered, follow our Unwanted Product Returns within 14 days procedure."

I hereby wish to cancel my order forthwith and require a full refund of the £459.98 debited from my bank account on the 6th of January this year .

Please effect this refund immediately , otherwise I shall be obliged to initiate a chargeback via my card provider or to raise a small claims action .

If you have already despatched the goods , please provide a verifiable tracking number for the consignment by return .

If I hear nothing within 24 hours , and do not see the funds in my account , I will initiate the chargeback on Friday 20th February 2015 .

Yours faithfully , "

I'll follow that up with a hard copy in the post tomorrow and see what happens .

[Derek Heeps]

Miraculously , 12 minutes after sending the above email , I received the following reply !

"Hi Derek

Sorry fore the delay on getting back to you I will get this order resolved for you

Regards xxxx xxxxxx"

I have given him until close of play tomorrow to either give me a firm delivery date or refund .

[Nate Haustein]

Too much effort for too little savings. If I were you I would have cancelled the order weeks ago and bought from a more reputable or (even better) local dealer. The 504 is a widely sold head, I don't think it's worth this kind of trouble...

[Derek Heeps]

Indeed .

Well , come 6pm I had heard nothing , so I emailed him saying that , in as much as I had not heard from him , I presumed he was unable to fulfil the order , therefore I wanted to cancel immediately and required a full refund .

To give him credit , I received an email back some 15 minutes or so later stating that he had processed the refund , and a duplicate email from Amazon ( he is an Amazon seller , although I had ordered directly with him and not via Amazon ) .

All that remains now is to check by the ATM on my way home tonight and verify the money is there .

All being well , I will reorder from a trusted seller , who I have already checked has the head in stock .

If the first guy is to be believed , the problem was availability of the microphone , rather than the head .

Despite all that has happened , I still think it would be bad form to name and shame the guy on an open forum , but if any members are worried that they might be ordering from this seller , they can PM me and I'll confirm whether or not someone you are thinking of buying from might be this person .

[Derek Heeps]

To draw a line under this , the refund showed up in my bank account today .

I have now reordered the microphone from a trusted supplier who were showing it in stock for immediate dispatch and have an eta of tomorrow for delivery .

I was still having second thoughts about the MN 504 head , so in the meantime I have ordered a used MN 505 from another trusted supplier and have been advised to expect delivery on Wednesday . This head , although an older model , seems to be well thought of and should do the job for me until such time as I can afford a Sachtler , Vinten or whatever .

Both of these vendors are ones I have bought from on multiple past occasions and have always been reliable .

[Derek Heeps]

Both the Sony ECM-MS2 and the Manfrotto MN505 head arrived today .

The mic feels very nicely constructed , good weight , short enough not to intrude into vision and , most importantly , appears to sound very nice . On initial listening , through my HD25's , there is some separation , but largely biased towards the centre ; if I talk straight ahead , there is a solid centre image with just a little ambience - just as it should be .

Re the head , I fitted it onto my Manfrotto 350 legs using the 100mm to 75mm bowl adaptor I bought last week ; sadly the bottom thread is different from that on my 100mm half ball , so the large tightening wheel ( which I much prefer ) from the 100mm ball cannot be interchanged with the stick tightener which came with the head - not really a big deal .

On mounting it onto the tripod , the head is a bit bigger than the MN501 clone I have here on a Vinten Pro Touch 5 tripod , but much more compact and lighter than the 116MKII head I was previously using with larger cameras .

On installing it onto the legs , it was immediately apparent that this is a true fluid head , unlike the friction , or even lubricated friction , offerings further down the Manfrotto range , such were the silky smooth movements both in the horizontal and vertical planes .

Although I bought a used head , I was pleasantly surprised to find that it arrived in the original box , with user manual and guide to the counterbalance spring kit , which was complete . As supplied , it had the red spring fitted , which was much too strong for my HVR V1e , so I swapped it for the grey one , rated at 2Kg , about right for my camera . Without any accessories mounted , there is a very slight tendency for the camera to slowly return to horizontal , unless a fair bit of drag is dialled in , I have yet to try it with a light , radiomic receiver mounted , or I could try the weaker white spring - I'll have a good play with it over the next few days .

Both drag adjustments are infinitely variable ( not stepped ) and can go from very free to very tight and anywhere in between .

The head came with two QR plates : one with a VHS pin and one with a long slot in the middle and a 1/4" threaded hole at one end and a 3/8" hole at the other , allowing a combination of the two screw sizes to be used for camera plates which accommodate both .

I took off the supplied pan bar and fitted my Manfrotto 523PRO remote control arm , which looks like it belongs there .

First impressions very , very good . I'll try it alongside one of the Sachtler heads at work and report my impressions , but I suspect it will be closer than I'd have previously imagined . It is certainly a world away from the 501 clone on the ProTouch .