QQESTORE

Today, I had my third dealing with QQestore. I must say I've been quite impressed with their customer service. These are the reports and findings from my intial purchase to today's.

My first dealing:

Canon CP-E3
Canon TC-80N Remote commander
- At first I was pretty apprehensive and pretty nervous about an online store in Brunei. 3 months warranty period for accessories etc. Well, I made my order and within a week, my shipment arrived and I walked in to collect the items. The staff was very helpful if not too particularly knowledgeable about the stuff I bought. That was not too uncommon but cannot be faulted. I walked away pretty content with a purchase of products under B$500. Not too bad for first experience.

2nd dealing:

This was the turning point. I recently saw a 'weekly deal' for a Canon EF300mm f4L lens for B$1198. Too good to be true. This lens normally retails for B$2200+. I contacted one of the employees and repeatedly inquired if the price was right. I was told it was. So I ordered it together with a Kenko 1.4x extender (teleconverter). The item arrived yesterday, however, to my EXPECTED dissatisfaction, the item was flawed. Hehehe. I still paid for it though because the item was still underwarranty and I wanted them to exchange for a new lens. Here is the breaking news. Later that night, I got a call and was later explained that the pricing they had put out was a mistake and was USD$1198. Ha ha! I expected them to try and pull back the sale OR try to get somewhere out of it. Hehehe. I had known this was way too good to be true for that price. However, they said it was their mistake and they would still send me a new lens! The order was put through and was expected to arrive this Tuesday.

Ok, though as much as I would've liked that, I inquired on how and why it had happened and who would be held responsible for this. Sure enough, one of the staff had owned up and seeing it was her mistake offered to pay for the difference. :( I left it at that that night.

3rd dealing:

I spent a whole night thinking about how I had gotten a brand new lens for half price and at the same time thinking about how that employee would have to fork out almost $1k to cover. I called them up this morning and told them to change my order from the 300mm to the EF70-200IS with a 2X extender and I would make up the difference. ;p Yeah, I know.. some call that stupid.. but that's me I guess. Anyway, my rationale for this was:

EF300mm f4L IS = 1.4x = 420mm f5.6L IS ( i know this combination is a tad sharper)
EF70-200mm f2.8 L IS = 2x = 140mm-400mm f5.6L IS (check out the combinations of Kenko and Sigma)
(Sigma) http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/browse?id=27798
(Kenko) http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/browse?id=13001

Whilst the Canon Extender is pretty much sharper.. somehow, I preferred the APO color rendering of the Sigma. Besides, my trusty 80-200 was due to upgrade and better kill two birds with one stone :D The other benefit of getting the 70-200 instead of the 300 is that the former has a 3-stop IS whereas the later manages 2-stops.

So I can expect my new 70-200IS with Sigma 2X and Kenko 1.4 this friday.

Update*- Sigma APO 2X EX DG extender out-of-stock. Getting the Kenko 300 PRO 2X instead.