Originally posted by KansasHorizons.com I had heard they were a scam outfit. You really dealt with them and had no issues?
Correct. No, not a scam outfit. Not in my experience anyway. Note that they are (or were) not an authorized Pentax dealer. That doesn't seem to matter to Pentax however as long as what you buy is a USA product purchased in the USA. A few of us confirmed this with Pentax before ordering.
My K5 purchase experience went like this..
They got some in stock, I placed my order (after reading here that others had purchased from them). They called me asking me to confirm the order but there were no up sell attempts. Since I was a first time buyer from them and for the large amount of money, they wanted to make sure I actually did Place the order. That is something I really don't mind and actually appreciate. The following day the order showed confirmed and the day after that, the camera was on the UPS airplane. Complete email contact throughout and if I needed to talk to someone about the order, a Person answered the phone within a few seconds. No BS what so ever.
The One dig I could place on them is this. Their warranty is 30 days (as of Nov 2010) or rather their exchange policy (they aren't B&H or Adorama) on cameras and perhaps everything else. To Return the Camera, if need be, it had to be defective, And, some sort of return authorization had to be issued by Pentax USA. I'm happy I didn't have to find out exactly what that all meant. I Suspect that since they are (were) not an authorized dealer, there would be some hoops They would have to jump through in order to return the camera to Pentax. There is no buy to try with them with cameras (again, as of Nov 2010). It may also be that the camera would have to be returned directly to Pentax and not Provantage (the cost saving at the time was $100 for the K5). In other words, You buy a camera from them, You Own It.
Anyway, When I got the camera, I registered the SN with Pentax USA on their website and that went without a hitch. Confirming, at least to me, they were not selling grey market products. When the camera turned up stained a few months later, it was handled by Pentax without any problems. That is other than the fact I was without my K5 for the month of February. Pentax did in fact replace the camera.
I can't remember at the moment what else I bought from them at a later date but it was here within a week of placing the order. No confirmation phone call the second time, but it wasn't a $1500 camera either. Now, I've had very good luck with online purchases. That is, I get what I pay for and in a timely manor. Based on my experience with Provantage, I would wholeheartedly recommend them but Do read the fine print and do your homework.
One last thing that may rub some the wrong way. This is Not (apparently) a 'Store' in the traditional sense. That is, if you call to check on an order it is very possible that the order is coming from say, California, but the person you are speaking with is in Ohio (as in my case). I don't know if there is anyone you can have run and check physical stock while you wait on the phone. The answer you are likely to get from them on a stock related question is if it Shows on the website, it's in stock.
Edit: Keep something in mind when you 'hear' that someone is a scam outfit. The Internet is a Very powerful tool when it comes to advertising service of a company like this. There are crackpots out there who cannot be satisfied no matter what is done and expect the world to be at their beckon call 24/7/365. I've dealt with a few of these (and in the end, told them to go F themselves). They are quick to bad mouth explaining in great detail their dissatisfaction. Read between the lines. If there are 100s of people saying the same thing, then it's likely fact. If there are a few sprinkled about, look and see what it is they Really expected, and didn't get. A PRIME example of this is our own Lens reviews. Someone will review a lens and knock it in the Cons section because a Manual lens is not an Auto Focus lens or an M type lens is does not report aperture to the camera. Same type of thing but much more extreme (In the case of the lens reviews, people may just feel the need to list Something. For the most part, the lens reviews here are objective and have some ring of truth).