B&H photo selling tampered with Hikvision cams?

[Justins311]

I purchased a DS-2CDxxx Turret cam from B&H photo (actually a waste of time as I later found Amazon had the same PN for 20% cheaper). What showed up acted really strange in SADP...almost like it already had a PW associated with it. Spent hours getting it to communicate and work.

I ordered a second one from Amazon - same exact PN - and it configured in 2 minutes just like all my other cams. Interesting.

Emailed B&H and told them about my concerns and they just said "well can you prove it was used? send us pics!"...I responded this is why companies have strict electronics return policies (for example, you can't buy an engine PCM from Oreillys, use it for troubleshooting, then return it) because you cant see if somebody has tampered with electronics and unscrupulous customers will use them for troubleshooting then return them and screw the next guy.

B&H just ignored me and sent a return label, so now I get to go wipe it (thanks B&H). I wont be buying cams from them ever again.

 

[alastairstevenson]

That sounds like cause for concern.

What showed up acted really strange in SADP...almost like it already had a PW associated with it.

Strange in what way?
A new camera would normally show status=Inactive in SADP.

Spent hours getting it to communicate and work.

A turret camera with the hatch on the body under which there is a reset button to return the camera to 'Inactive'?
What's the summary of what you did to get it to work? I'm curious.

 

[Justins311]

It already was "activated" and I had to reset it. But I didn't know at the time and I spent a lot of time learning why it was screwed up.

The replacement camera popped up a prompt "enter new password" and then was activated in 2 seconds.

 

[eeeeesh]

On the first camera - where you using the latest version of SADP?