PriceRitePhoto: Abusive Bait and Switch Camera Store
Please see update #24 at the end of this sotry for an important update.
“I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again.” “I’m an attorney, I will sue you.” “I will call the CEO of your company and play him the tape of this phone call.” “I’m going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you.” “You’d better get this through your thick skull.” “You have no idea who you are dealing with.”
These are all direct threats that I received today from an individual who identified himself as Steve Phillips, the manager of PriceRitePhoto in Brooklyn, New York when I called to inquire about my order with them. My crime? Telling him that I planned to write an article about my unfortunate experience with his company regarding the camera order I had placed with him yesterday.
How are these people able to stay in business?
I suppose I should have been duly warned based on PC World’s Camera Confidential expose written a few years back about unscrupulous camera operators operating out of New York, but I have never been so utterly offended by a retailer in my life. I guess in some ways this is my own fault, or as Steve Phillips reminded me, you’re a “professional photographer you should know better than to buy things on the internet this way.”
I have been keeping track of The new Canon EOS 5D for a while. As those of you who visit this site regularly know, photography is a passionate hobby of mine. I’ve told myself that I’d pick up a 5D as soon as the price dropped below $3,000. I’ve been regularly checking both Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber for a while waiting for one to drop. Well yesterday for the first time I saw that the 5D was for sale for $2,899 at PriceRitePhoto. I placed an order online and this is where my trouble began. The order went through and was confirmed and is shown below.
The first thing that happened was I received a call from an individual who identified himself as Joseph telling me that there was a “problem” with my order. He said he needed to “verify” the security code on my American Express. Although I had given that security code in the order I gave him this code again. He then tried to explain to me that I was going to need some accessories with this camera. For starters I was going to need a new memory card. When I told him that I already had a memory card he became somewhat insistent that mine was not good enough. After I wouldn’t buy his memory card he said I’d need new batteries for the camera. Again I told him that I already had two batteries at home and would not be needing to purchase these from him. And of course he then tried to sell me the ever famous “extended warranty” that I politely declined. He then thanked me for my time, confirmed my order verbally, said that it would be shipping out in the next few days and hung up.
So today I checked on my order online again and saw that it had not been routed to shipping and called the company back again. Four times I was put on hold for a substantial amount of time and had to hang up and call the company again. Finally I was able to connect with an individual who said his name was Steve Phillips. Steve Phillips abruptly told me that the camera was out of stock. When I protested and told him that it was confirmed online yesterday and verbally by his sales rep he refused to budge. When I told him that even right now as we speak the camera was still showing online at that price on his website,(see below with today’s date) he still insisted that he did not have the camera.
At this point I thanked him and informed him that I would be writing an article about my experience with his company. It was at this point that he went ballistic. He first told me that if I did this that he would not cancel my order but just never fill it. If I cancelled it he said he’d charge me a 15% restocking fee. When I told him that that would be unethical he went nuts. He accused me of trying to “extort” him and said that he was going to have two local police officers come over and arrest me. He then went on to say that as a “professional photographer” I should have known better than to try and buy a camera this way and that he was an attorney and would sue me if I wrote an article about my experience.
He told me that I had no idea who I was dealing with and that as he had my work contact info that he was going to call both my immediate supervisor and the CEO of my company and tell them that I was trying to extort him.
“I will take this very personally,” he said. He claimed to have recorded our phone call and said that he would make sure that I would “never be able to order anything on the internet again.”
Of course these threats only served to agitate me more. After about 20 minutes of this abuse I told him that I had to go and he refused to get off the line. He said that if I hung up that he would just charge me for the whole camera and never ship it. I hung up and he called me back. I left for my meeting and he called back asking to speak with my boss.
This is by far the most abusive situation I have ever encountered with any retailer on the internet.
One of the things that troubles me the most about this situation is that I found this retailer through Yahoo! shopping and they were perceived to have positive feedback. Is the feedback mechanism for Yahoo! Shopping broken? How could this horrible retailer have a four star rating with 858 ratings? I’m convinced that there is a possibility that many of the “reviews” for this company could be fake. I should though have sorted through the reviews to the worst to see that many others had fallen prey to similar fraud by this company.
How is this company still allowed to offer their products through Yahoo! Shopping?
PriceRitePhoto may also be doing business as C&A; Marketing and TheCameraMall.com
Below are some examples from other users:
“very bad place for shoppping. Ordered a TV a week ago. when checking out, the shipping price was higher than displayed by Yahoo. That is ok. Called customer service 2 days later to make sure the order was ok. The guy from customer service tried to sell other things to me, and promised the item will come in 2 days. After 3 days, called again, I was told they over sold the item, and my order was cancelled. what a joke! Don’t buy thing from this merchant!!!”
“In all the years I’ve done business with online stores(and I’ve done plenty), this is by far the ABSOLUTE WORST company I’ve conducted business with yet. They’re customer service is almost completely inaccessible despite their 24/7 365 claim, they don’t deliver on anything they say they will, they’re rude and pushy, and any information that IS sent back is usually filled with vague half-answers that do nothing to solve any problems. This is just an awful business experience. Case in point: They claim to be open on Sundays over the phone from 10AM to 4PM EDT. Well, what they really mean is that the sales department is open, but customer service(who will place you on hold forever during the week) is closed, as is billing. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. And warn your friends. …”
“I gave this store an overall rating of 1. That is because Yahoo does not allow me to rate it any lowe
r. I cannot stress enough how poor the customer service from the wretched excuse of a store. First off, they stress ‘we ship in less than 24 hours’. That is a blatant lie. An hour after placing the order, I received a call to confirm that I had indeed purchased a camera, and that the delivery address was correct. So far, so good. I returned the call, and informed them that yes I had indeed purchased a camera, and yes, the information was correct. The next day, I received another phone call to confirm the shipping address, and did I also want to purchase an extended warranty? Yes, the address is correct, and no, I don’t want your warranty. They assured me my camera would be shipped that day. Three days later, I again received a phone call to confirm the shipping address, which had now been done 3 times, and did I want to purchase the extended warranty? Yes, the information is correct, no I don’t want your stupid warranty, I was assured the camera would be shipped that day. It is, in my opinion unconscionable to delay shipping an order for over a week, just so a company can try a high pressure sales job, on a warranty a customer has already told them, repeatedly, that they don’t want. It has now been ten days since the date of purchase, and still no camera. My experience with this store is one I will never repeat, nor would I wish it upon my worst enemy!!”
and yet another review I found on the company:
“I placed an order with TheCameraMall.com (aka PriceRitePhoto aka C&A;
Marketing) on June 9, 2005 for a Sony DSR-PD170 camcorder. At the time
the price advertised on-line was very low, which should have raised a
warning flag, but a call to the company confirmed the item was in stock
ready to be shipped, that it was a US model, the user’s manual was in
English, and the salesman (Joseph) seemed helpful. There was some
pressure to add unwanted items like a tripod, extra battery, etc, but they
were declined. An offer to add insurance was offered, and initially I
declined but then agreed after being told that otherwise if the product
arrived and was non-functional I would be taking full risk. Before the
product could be shipped I was asked to sign and fax a form, appended
below, that indicated that if I wrote any negative feedback I would agree
to have my credit card charged $100, and that I also agreed to waive my
right to chargeback to the credit card company, and that product could not
be returned for any reason. I signed and returned this form with the
understanding that the company would send the item I ordered. However
after a week there was no indication of a product even having been
shipped, and the customer service contact indicated that only the
salesperson could give me order status, so after several tried I reached
Joseph again, and now he indicated that he couldn’t ship the product
unless I faxed him a copy of my credit-card!!! This I refused to do, and
have never, ever had to do for a transaction. I sent email to the company
requesting cancelation of the order, and received yet another email asked
me to sign and fax back a form indicating that I would not post negative
feedback and if I did I was authorizing my credit card to be charged
$100. I refused to sign this.
I did post feedback to
the feedback links provided by the customer describing the details of the
transaction, including the forms I had been sent.
The day after posting the feedback describing my attempt to buy the video
camera from PriceRitePhoto/CameraMall, I received a call from a “John
Hancock”, claiming to be the owner of the camera companies, and demanding
that I remove the feedback I posted. He said that he would charge my
credit card for the amount of the camera and and additional $250 for each
posting. He also said that he was shipping a Malaysian version of the
camera, without a lens, to me, and that he would make money on the deal,
and I couldn’t stop the shipment, or dispute the charge. My credit card
company confirmed that a pending charge had been placed by PriceRite, but
the charge was not yet posted, and once it was posted, I could dispute.
The next day, July 6, I received several calls from “John Hancock”,
demanding again that I remove the feedback I had posted, and when I agreed
that I would remove anything that he felt was not accurate, but if he
could not indicate any inaccuracy, then the feedback would remain. He
screamed and swore at me over the phone, and said that he would post my
credit card number on the internet if I didn’t comply.
On July 8 a charge was posted to my credit card for $2139.99 and a second
charge was posted for $100.00. I called my credit card company and
initiated the dispute process. The security department of BankOne Credit
strongly suggested that I cancel my credit card, and complete an internet
fraud report.
Description of how you were defrauded:
My credit card has been charged $2238.99 for an cancelled order.
I’ve been threatened with additional multiple charges against my
credit card unless I change feedback posted to the Internet, and I’ve
been threatened with having my credit card number posted to the
Internet. I’ve had to cancel my credit card on the advice of my
credit card provider.”
Update #1: Found this text on their eBay store ad: “We guarantee our customers to have the best quality products and the best customer service! Our customers love us for our friendly attitude, buy with confidence!”
This just makes me sick. If you want to Digg this story you can here.
Update #2: Well I just received a call back from Steve Phillips at PriceRitePhoto. He said that I should be expecting a call from the “FBI” shortly and that “my tactics” of flooding his store’s phone lines was “illegal.” When I asked him to hold on as I wanted to turn on my recorder to record our conversation he hung up on me.
Of course I have not called his store at all but I’d imagine that the attention that his abuse has received from Digg and other places on the internet may have something to do with that.
My boss did have a conversation with me about the fact that this guy called him yesterday and was very understanding about the situation.
Update #3: Also since calling my boss, Steve Phillips has called my boss’ assistant several times this morning as well. Contrary to Steve Phillips claims, I still have had no police officers show up at my office to “arrest me.” Nor have I been contacted by the “FBI.”
Last night when I called AMEX it appeared that PriceRitePhoto had not charged my card yet. My guess is that when I refused to buy their high priced accessories that they never had any intention of sending me the camera at their advertised price. I blocked the card with AMEX and will be getting a new number to prevent them from further abusing my credit card.
I have also filed a complaint with the New York Attorney General’s office regarding their behavior and have left negative reviews on my experience with their company on most of the shopping comparison services that they are included in. Hopefully from the attention that this story has received they will reflect on the appropriateness of their sales tactics going forward.
If anyone has a contact at Yahoo! Shopping it would be nice to learn from them that they were being delisted or at least investigated over this.
Interestingly enough, it was just two weeks back that Yahoo! made
an announcement about an overhaul to their shopping service. It would seem that they plan to include more social networking type reviews on products and vendors in the future. Hopefully whatever new system they put in place will help weed out the bad apples like PriceRitePhoto.
Of course even as late as today, they still have the camera that they told me as out of stock on their internet site for sale for $2,899.
Update #4: Received this email back from the New York State Attorney General’s Office today: “Dear Consumer:
Thank you for your submission to the New York State Attorney General’s Internet Bureau. On behalf of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, I want to thank you for taking the time to alert us to this matter. Your assistance is vital to our efforts to serve the people of the State of New York.
We have added your submission to our files. It is through complaints such as yours that we learn of patterns of fraud and illegality. If you have any questions about this matter, please call us at (212) 416-8433. For other consumer-related matters, please call our consumer hotline at (800) 771-7755.
Thank you for contacting us.”
Update #5: Thanks to a complaint by Digg User loker269, PriceGrabber has now delisted PriceRitePhoto. Nice to see PriceGrabber do the responsible thing here.
Update #6: This story has risen to the number one dugg story on Digg this year with 5439 diggs so far today. Thanks diggers!
I also received this email today from Joe Lazarus, Director of Marketing for Yahoo! Inc.: “Tom, I wanted to follow up on a comment I added to your post on PriceRitePhoto. I work at Yahoo! Shopping. I passed your issue along to our Customer Care team who will investigate and take the appropriate action per our merchant Guidelines and Terms of Service. I covered some more details in my comment. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. ~ Joe”
Update #7: This story just made the front page of Slashdot. It was also on Boing Boing and Metafilter today along with many, many other blogs. I truly hope that this attention shines a light on the abusive bait and switch tactics that so many of you have also unfortunately experienced and shared in your comments.
The support is overwhelming and very much appreciated. And, yes, yes, yes, I do know that I was stupid and should have known better and done my homework before buying from these guys — but that doesn’t negate the fact that their sales tactics are wrong and deserve to be stopped.
Update #8: Although I have not heard directly back from Yahoo! or their Marketing Director Joe Lazarus. It would appear at least that for the time being, today, PriceRitePhoto is not operating on Yahoo! Shopping. They are still listed as a merchant there and there is a link to their store but when you do a search by their store for products for sale through Yahoo! you get the following message: “We didn’t find any product results for mid:1016578.” I’m not sure if Yahoo! pulled their listings or if PriceRitePhoto did or if that is just part of what happens when Yahoo! investigates a company. I hope that if after investigating Yahoo! concludes that this company is acting unethically that they will in fact delist them altogether. I will update as I hear more on this.
Also, fortunately, my server has held up remarkably well with all of the traffic being sent to this story from the above sources. I recently had to move from a shared server to a dedicated server with lots of excess capacity because I’ve had many highly ranked Google Images that had been eating through my bandwidth in the past. Also it helps keep my bandwidth usage down as the photos that are included as part of this story are actually hosted by Flickr, my favorite site on the internet and as I oft like to repeat, “almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world.” Ironically, of course in all of this, Flickr is owned by Yahoo!
Below is an image of the company’s website this morning. As you can see, the camera that was supposedly “out of stock” when I refused to purchase their high priced accessories is still being shown for sale at the $2,899 price even still today. I suspect that they do actually have the camera in stock but that they only sell it to those who load up on expensive accessories and warranty plans from them.
Update #9: One of the best stories I have read in conjunction with this article was a letter that Slashdot user DrWho42 (558107) wrote to PriceGrabber regarding his own personal experience with PriceRitePhoto about a year ago. It is a well articulated letter and pretty much describes PriceRitePhoto perfectly. Apparently because of this well written letter PriceGrabber, according to the user, took PriceRitePhoto off of their site a year ago. He wonders how they could have gotten back on PriceGrabber. I would be interested if someone at PriceGrabber could comment on this report and tell us why after this merchant was removed from their site a year ago and a known bait and switch merchant who used extortion to try and influence feedback, that they would be allowed back on. I see that they are pulled off PriceGrabber now, but if it is true that they were banned a year ago and still made it back on then I’d say PriceGrabber’s system is pretty much broken. It’s a long read but very worthwhile.
Update #10: Although the priceritephoto.com site is still up, I received an email today from a reader who complained to their hosting provider Webair.com. I’m not sure exactly the ramifications of the email from Webair. It was sent from abuse@webair.com and was forwarded to me as follows:
“This client has been sent a TOS violation for illegal activity.
Thank you,
–
Webair Abuse Team”
Update #11: I received a call this morning from Ed Lopez, the owner of PriceRitePhoto. We spoke at length and he told me that the activity that has resulted from my post on my experience with his business has most certainly impacted his business. Mr. Lopez told me that he was calling to apologize and that Mr. Philips was going to be terminated at a company board meeting later on this morning. He confirmed to me that they do have the camera in question in stock and although I am not interested in purchasing it from them at this point indicated that he would sell it for me at the advertised price. Subsequently Ed sent me the following email:
“On behalf of Priceritephoto I would like
to sincerely apologize for the negative experience that you have experienced with our company. As a company this is not representative of the way we treat our customers. If there is anything that we can do at this point to rectify the situation, please let me know. We have tens of thousands of happy customers who have purchased form us in the past and it is our commitment to give our customers the best value when dealing with us. We are doing a comprehensive review of our company’s procedures to ensure that something like this never occurs. We have also terminated Mr. Philips from his position with our company.”
Although I do not believe my “Steve Philips experience” was an isolated case by this merchant (and certainly the other testimonials suggest that this is in fact more of a common practice by them), my own personal view is that any retaliation towards this vendor should be channeled through legitimate and legal channels. Although some of the crank phone calls are actually pretty funny I think that it is better to take the high road in this case and to use legitimate resources where they exist, whether reporting them to the comparison pricing services or contacting the Attorney General (as I have done) or reporting them to people like the Better Business Bureau.
I think that the popularity of this story comes in large part because the message resonates so strongly with all of us. Although in a sense it is the classic tale of David and Goliath retold, it is much more than this. We all have at one point or another in our lives been bullied and most of us have been defrauded or ripped off. The fact that so many times in the past there was nothing we could do about it makes us feel all that much better about the fact that in today’s internet and blogosphere we actually CAN do something about it.
It is tremendously empowering for all of us to be able to turn the powerlessness that we felt in the past into justice in todays’ blogosphere through the help of things like Digg and Slashdot and Boing Boing. And although every rip off does not receive this level of attention, I believe this story in a greater sense is representative of perhaps thousands of rip off experiences that we have all suffered in the past and been able to do nothing about – some directly with this vendor, some directly with New York based camera vendors like this one, and some with just fraudulent internet businesses wherever they happen to be located. Because we in the past have had to live with the bitterness of our own personal frauds, our feelings towards the popularity of this story is that much stronger – as is our desire to retaliate.
This being said, I again would encourage everyone to take the high road with respect to this vendor. I believe that the power of this story and the ultimate outcome, whatever that may be, will carry much more weight if as a public we handle things responsibly and do not resort to illegal tactics or harassment. Although there is a sense that we all must feel that these folks have gotten what they deserved, I think it would be a far greater legacy for this story to have if change takes place in legal and legitimate channels.
I cannot speak to the sincerity of Ed Lopez. He has sent me an apology letter and I feel it appropriate to print it. His motivation very well may be legitimate — or it could also be the only possible avenue Mr. Lopez has left to try to salvage his business at this point.
Out of all of this, hopefully more than anything, this story will serve as a reminder to shady businesses everywhere that in the end fraud and abusive behavior towards customers does not pay. Perhaps I’m being overly idealistic here and perhaps this incident is the smallest possible blip in the greater world of internet fraud — but one thing I do know is that the power of the consumer is growing. And in a new world today with tools like blogs and Slashdot and Digg the consumer is empowered in great ways that they never have been in the past.
Update #12: This story is now on the first page search results for the term PriceRitePhoto for both Google and Yahoo! It is the number one returned search result, even ahead of their store, on MSN Search. Their site has been down now since yesterday afternoon — I’m not sure if this is the result of hacker activity or a reaction from their hosting company for bandwidth useage or TOS violations. The story was also picked up by Digital Life TV. You can view the episode here.
Update #13: PriceRitePhoto has been delisted from both Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber. They still do appear however to have a profile listing giving them four stars at CNET. I could not find any products for sale from them on CNET but they still are up as a four star internet retailer. Their internet site is still down as of this morning and the story has moved up to the number 4th search result for the term priceritephoto on Google. A wikipedia entry was started for priceritephoto but it appears to have been edited out of wikipedia.
Update #14: I’ve written a follow-up post asking if PriceRitePhoto and TheCameraMall are the same company.
Update #15: I just received an email from David Bricker, the Director of Partner Services at CNET Networks. According to David: “We have pulled PriceRitePhoto.com from our site(s) and their affiliated companies. The “profile” page, while still live, is impossible to navigate to. That said, we’ll be pulling that page down from our web servers shortly.”
I have sent a follow up email to David asking if he can provide me the names of their “affiliated companies.”
Update #16: I just received an email back from CNET’s David Bricker who pointed me to a Better Business Bureau report identifying additional companies that are affiliated with PriceRitePhoto. Although TheCameraMall is not listed on a Better Business Bureau report as one of PriceRitePhoto’s affiliates, according to the Better Business Bureau of New York, PriceRitePhoto is in fact affiliated with many other names and ultimately would seem to fall under a parent company going by the name of Let’s Go Digital that is owned by Jack Heffner. You can see the report yourself here which includes their contact and other information. According to the BBB they additional are using the following business names: A. Heffco Technologies, Inc., C&A; Marketing, Dealz Net, Hype Audio, Ideal Audio/Video, Ideal Photo and Video, Let’s Go Digital, LGD Superstore, Price Rite Photo, Prices Rite Photo.
Yesterday when I was on the phone with Ed Lopez he denied that Jack Heffner was affiliated with PriceRitePhoto although he did acknowledge knowing Jack Heffner and identified him as the owner of LGD Superstore (another alleged affiliate according to the BBB)
Update #17: Although PriceRitePhoto’s website is still offline and they appear to have been dropped from all of the major shopping comparison sites, they are still operating on eBay. They are listed there as a “power seller.”
Update #18: After being down for much of the later half of last week, PriceRitePhoto appears to be back up again this morning. They have a note on their website: “For those of you who tried to contact us in the past few days, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience that you may have incurred. Our website was down for maintenance and we are back up and fully operational. If you have placed an order with us please be assured that it will be shipped in a timely manner. Happy Holidays.”
This article is now the number two search result behind their store for anyone searching PriceRitePhoto on Google. This article is the number two story behind their store for anyone searching PriceRitePhoto on Yahoo! And it is still the number one search result for the term PriceRitePhoto at MSN Search. Kevin and Alex also chat about the story on the latest Diggnation podcast recorded in Tokyo.
Update #19: The New York Post covered the story.
Update #20: Well in addition to the PriceRitePhoto story being picked up by the New York Post today, I received a bit more information in one of my comments. Since the beginning of my problems with PriceRitePhoto I’ve suspected that PriceRitePhoto’s purported owner “Ed Lopez” was a fictional name. It seemed to me unusual that PriceRitePhoto had an individual by the name of Eduardo Lopez register their domain name while another camera store linked to them TheCameraMall had an Eduardo Sanchez register their domain name. According the the New York Post: “a call to PriceRitePhoto produced no Ed Lopez, and further calls and an e-mail went unanswered.”
Today I received the following comment on my blog: “By the way, the owner’s name is not Ed Lopez. His name is Chaim Pikarski. I know it because I worked for him in the past. His tactics do not surprise me, and all he is trying to do is hide his true identity through the alias of Ed Lopez. Actually, I would be very surprised if you ever spoke to the owner. It was most likely just an employee that provided you a fictitious name and is probably just a manager.”
Turns out upon doing a Google search for “Chaim Pikarski” one of the results back is a directory for the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corp. They have Chaim Pikarski listed at the following address: 140 58th St., Unit 4E, BX 37 in Brooklyn and a phone number of (718) 491-4300. Interestingly enough, one of the addresses that comes up under Don Wiss’ excellent series of Brooklyn Camera Store Storefronts for CP Industries, dba TheCameraMall is the same address in Brooklyn, 140 58th St. Also, if you do a Google search for the phone number 718-491-4300 you can find an old cached page listing that phone number as a number for The Camera Zone, another company which has been identified by Wiss as being under the same management as TheCameraMall.
This site , Digital Paradise (The Digital Paradise is an automated electronic marketplace designed to streamline the purchasing and selling processes of games & electronics for the gaming community) also lists the exact same phone number and address for The Camera Zone as is listed for Pikarski in the Googled Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corp.
Now this is in no way conclusive evidence that Chaim Pikarski is the true individual behind TheCameraMall and PriceRitePhoto, but I would be interested if anyone else had any information on Chaim Pikarski and/or information regarding his involvement in these businesses.
Also to note, and I’m not sure why, the Better Business Bureau of New York has pulled down some of the information regarding PriceRitePhoto from their website. The report where PriceRitePhoto was previously named by them is “being updated,” and the following message is on the site: “The Bureau’s report on this business is currently being updated, and no report is available at this time. Please check this site in approximately four to six weeks.”
Update #21: Update #21: One of the things that these shady camera dealers seem to have a reputation for is carrying multiple different company identities and then changing names when things go wrong with an existing identitiy. So go figure that PriceRitePhoto has just changed their identity on on eBay on Monday of this week from PriceRitePhoto to “Barclay’s Photo.” Now barclaysphoto can welcome in a whole new round of suckers. Barclay’s, like the bank, now that sounds catchy.
Of course Barclay’s (formerly known as PriceRitePhoto) seems to have a bit better feedback on eBay than they’ve had on the other shopping comparison sites (where they’ve been bounced). My guess is that this is because it is harder to bait and switch on eBay. You can’t make up fake feedback there like you can at Yahoo! Shopping and PriceGrabber because each feedback must be tied to a specific transaction. Perhaps their behavior and treatment of eBay customers is better than the other comparison shopping sites. It is interesting though that almost everything that they’ve sold on eBay seems to be packaged with accesories. This might make it easier for them to be nice when they are making money on a transaction and not advertising rock bottom prices to then bait and switch.
They still do have some negative feedback on eBay of course with things like: “great product and great deal,but shipping took forever and alot of telemarketing,” and “Terrible co. to deal with. Misrepresentation. Bait & Switch on their web site.”
So welcome to the new world of online shopping Barclay’s Photo. Hopefully you do better than your evil twin (er, exact same company) PriceRitePhoto. And thanks eBay for having such a nifty feature as allowing online shopping companies the ability to change names and identity. We wouldn’t want any eBay online stores being weighed down with a bad name for bad behavior now would we?
And here’s another interesting point, before being called PriceRitePhoto, it seems Barclay’s/PriceRitePhoto was once called Film4Less — they’ve also gone by edigix as well.
Update #22: Comparison Shopping on Sale – Forbes.com: From Forbes: “While the vast majority of user reviews and merchant ratings provide a useful service, online shoppers can still get caught by disreputable merchants. One blogger, Thomas Hawk of San Francisco, recently attempted to purchase a Canon EOS 5D camera that he saw listed for $2,899 at PriceRitePhoto—the lowest price online at the time. Hawk checked and found positive store reviews, but after placing the order, Hawk claims he was c
ontacted by a PriceRitePhoto, employee who tried to sell Hawk expensive accessories to go with the camera. When Hawk declined, the employee said the camera was no longer available and threatened to charge Hawk’s credit card and never send the camera. (PriceRitePhoto did not return phone calls requesting a comment.)
Yahoo Shopping’s vice president, Rob Solomon, said that PriceRitePhoto had rigged Yahoo’s feedback system to garner positive reviews. Hawk was lucky because he was able to cancel his credit card before any money was charged. However, things could have been worse. Yahoo Shopping offers a money-back guarantee to its buyers, but that guarantee is capped at $1,000. Sites like Become.com and NexTag offer no such guarantees.”
Update #23: In a Flash, Camera Dealers Feel the Web’s Wrath – New York Times: The New York Times today published a good expose on the recent PriceRitePhoto issue. It would appear that they are pretty much out of business at this point with mail stacking up at the door of their address which the owner won’t pick up according to a handyman at the building because he owes money.
“On Nov. 29, Mr. Hawk posted a 2,333-word complaint about Price Rite Photo on his Web site, describing hard sales tactics and threats. By 2 a.m. the next day, this dispute over a $3,000 camera was an enormously popular topic of discussion online, casting Mr. Hawk in the timeless role of the outraged underdog.
Internet gunslingers tend to shoot first and ask lots of questions while shooting, so the attacks on Price Rite came quickly and with much discussion. Some bragged of tying up the company’s phone lines, others of flooding its Web site with excess traffic. It is unclear whether that tactic worked.
“The world of blogs is such an echo chamber that, a few places pick it up, you literally are generating tons of traffic,” said Lee Holmes, 28, who posted similar complaints on his own site from his home near Seattle.
There were conscientious objectors, too. One discussion participant anonymously wrote, “This is vigilante justice; there are proper channels to deal with this.”
After reading Mr. Hawk’s complaints, Yahoo! Shopping blocked Price Rite from its service, according to Sabrina Crider, a spokeswoman for the company. Mr. Hawk quickly declared victory, and online discussion forums with names like Digg filed the story under headlines like “Digg Users Take Revenge at Bad Online Store.”
But the episode was not complete for Mr. Wiss, whose photographs of Brooklyn buildings had been mentioned in Mr. Hawk’s rant under the headline “Update #20.”
On Dec. 14, Mr. Wiss said, he received several calls accusing him of putting stores out of business and threatening him with death. He said the threats were all bluster, but he reported the calls to the police and adamantly refused to allow photographs of his face for this article. He said he hopes to trace the calls if they continue.
At the warehouse in Sunset Park, Mr. Colon, the handyman, had his own ideas about the whereabouts of Price Rite and its proprietor.
“He owes me money,” Mr. Colon said, explaining that he was never paid for moving an air-conditioner. “That’s why he doesn’t come here to pick up the mail.”"
Update #24: Yesterday I received an email from an individual identifying himself as Gabe Heffez from A. Heffco Technologies. Mr. Heffez seemed somewhat distraught over the fact that in my reporting on PriceRitePhoto that his company and companies had been erroneously identified as being associated with PriceRitePhoto. In my reporting on my experience with PriceRitePhoto I had identified A. Heffco Technologies as possibly being associated with PriceRitePhoto based on a report that linked the two from the Better Business Bureau of New York. I was first made aware of this report and connection from CNET’s David Bricker when he pointed me to the BBB report when I first began reporting on PriceRitePhoto and included my first mention of A. Heffco Technologies based on this report.
Contrary to this report from the BBB Mr. Heffez wrote me yesterday saying, “our company is in no way related to PriceRitePhoto,” he added, “we don’t know who C&A; Marketing is or who Ideal Photo Video is. We have sent dozens of faxes and made numerous phone calls to the BBB to correct the issue so far to no avail.” Mr. Heffez further went on in a subsequent email to say, “This (action) caused us to reap the wrath of the public and our own advertisers. In early-mid December, our host, Yahoo! also terminated our stores and three of our personal ID’s without explanation. A seven year relationship was ended in the blink of an eye.” Mr. Heffez also said that CNET dropped them as well and added, “your David vs. Goliath blog unfortunately turned into our instant termination. We all have families to feed and this past Christmas our job was that much harder.”
In response to Mr. Heffez’s claims of not being associated with PriceRitePhoto I have been in contact with Tony Barbera, Manager of Information and Investigations with the BBB serving Metropolitan NY expressing my concerns over having possibly hurt an innocent company based on a potential wrongful association on the part of the BBB. Mr. Barbera, who was aware of the coverage that this story received yesterday by the New York Times told me that the company’s report has been suspended pending further results of an investigation. “I was contaced by Mr. Heffez yesterday, and we will be working with the companies in order to establish correct and complete records for each entity if it is determined they are separate,” wrote Mr. Barbera.
Millions of people each day turn to the Better Business Burea and rely on the accuracy of the information that they provide for making informed decisions regarding their purchases and which merchants they will do business with. The integrity of their information regarding merchants is super important. If in fact the BBB has erroneously linked PriceRitePhoto and Mr. Heffez’s company then I would be very personally disappointed to have hurt an innocent unrelated company. Mr. Heffez has informed me that over the past few weeks his phone lines have been ringing off the hook with nothing on the other end but hang ups or music and has told me that he is pretty sure that his sites have been bombarded with worthless traffic in an attempt to crash them.
I suspect that this story will be developing and hope to have more conclusive findings one way or the other shortly — but in the event that the information linking his company and their affiliates to PriceRitePhoto was incorrectly reported by the BBB, I apologize and am truly sorry for any role that I and my blogging may have had in hurting his business.
PriceRitePhoto Update #25: Last week I reported on a company Heffco possibly being erroneously connected with my reporting on PriceRitePhoto based on a report by the New York BBB.
I have received the following email back from Tony Barbera, Manager of the Information and Investigations Divsion of the BBB New York:
“Just letting you know our reports on PriceRitePhoto and PricesRite have been re-released and are listed as separate entities. Take a look, and let me know if you have any questions.”
PricesRite is still associated with Let’s Go Digital and ultimately also A. Heffco Technologies with a fairly negative BBB rating, but it is no longer associated per the BBB New York with PriceRitePhoto, the o
utfit that I had my run in with. It sounds like while distancing the companies, the BBB still is not willing to change the overall rating of Let’s Go Digital and that the unrelated complaints against them are still standing.
PriceRitePhoto is now listed as an affilate of C&A; Marketing, with a “Howard Baker” as it’s president. Interesting and suprisingly to me they only have three complaints filed with the BBB against them.
I received the following email from Gabe Heffez of Heffco, on the matter at hand: “Thank you for your help with the BBB. Although they still don’t have our information 100% correct, they have removed associations with priceritephoto and company. We will continue to write them and fax them the correct information so they can get it completely right. Thank you for the quick response and corrections on your side.”
and then a second email:
“Funny, I just checked again and it looks like we inherited all of their customer disputes. I checked their page and looks like they are a pretty clean cut company. The BBB has got to get their act together. We will continue to work on it.”
I was about to buy a camera from Barclay’s photo on evbay and did some lookinbg into them and found the bad feedback. I will not buy from them under any circumstance.
Kevin from Vancouver Canada
Wish I had found this site before dealing (HDTV) with IBUYDIGITAL.com (A/K/A IBUYPLASMA, DIGITAL
MEGASTORE,DBUYS,REAL DEAL SHOP,CENTRAL DIGITAL). Same bait and switch tactics. Send them back to where they came from, but only after they’re put out of business.
priceritephoto sold me an stolen camera, I found out because the camera broke few weeks after I received it an i sent it to the manufacturer for warranty service, they did not return me the camera because it was stolen from their warehouse few months ago.
I’ve posted on my forum with short URL for consumer complaints.
take a look Sayno.to/PriceRitePhoto
wow – that steve phillips guy sounds either crazy, or crazy on drugs. why?:
- grandiose : I’ll sue you, I’m an attorney, I’ll call your boss and have you fired
-persecutory: I know you’re flooding my call centre.
all pretty simple stuff, which would be consistent with amphetamine abuse in a psychosis-susceptible individual, who would need it for, say, a high speed stressful job.
speed! it’ll get your goat eventually!
It’s amusing all the discussion about Hasidic Jews being the problem when the *only* photo store in New York that I’d buy from (www.bhphotovideo.com) is run by Hasidim. They’re brisk on the phone, but honest and awesome in person.
B and H are brisk in person too, but like you, I would never buy photo equip from anywhere else. I have trusted their used gear for years and you know you will never beat their prices.
If most of the crooked camera biz and the only reputable camera biz in NY are controlled by hasidism, its simply because the camera biz in NY is controlled by hasidic folks.
I think it has less to do with their culture than the fact that its easier to cheat people than it is to try and take on a solid and honest place like b and h fairly.
theyre back!
I made the mistake of bidding on a camera on ebay with them. I was told 3 weeks later that the camera shipment was CANCELLED by the manufacturer and the only way I found out was when I CALLED them. Got a refund, and left them a negative feedback, and they want to mediate with me to retract the feedback that I put in. After reading this, I am not going to. Thank you for this informative information.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I spent a good few minutes reading this…
I was just looking to buy a Canon EOS 5D camera, as i found it a few hundred dollars cheaper on a couple of sites. After talking to my colleague at work, he directed me to your blog.
I was shocked to learn about what what happened to some of you. It appears that these businesses are run by criminals.
I’ll be much more careful in the future.
you are a bunch of mother fffvfgvc
Yahoo Shopping is one of the strongest pro spam support sites on the web. I would buy nothing from a merchant that uses Yahoo Shopping.
I really hope you see the above comment and remove it.
I enjoyed reading your article and about your triumph but was immediatly put off by the last most assuming and disgusting comment.
Holly Sh1t…great story.
Just so you all know.. THIS STORY HAS JUST BEEN PICKED UP IN AUSTRAIA, and is a feature story in APC (Australian Personal Computer) magazine.
oh, man. i just placed an order with what i’m pretty sure is one of these related outfits, 42nd street photo — a familiar street name, no? the camera got here fine, earlier than expected, actually, but i feel like i could have been ripped off easily. and now, having done a little research after the fact, i see there are all kinds of people who have been ripped off. not to mention i hate the fact i probably helped these guys stay in business. yep, i bought the accessories, too, which actually weren’t too overpriced in my case. i have no idea why i got so lucky. but one thing’s for sure — i won’t deal with anyone other than b&h; et al. from now on..
you’ve really got to do the research and trust your instincts out there.. thanks to everyone who’s helped get this story out there..
I placed an order today from one of their other sites. WaWa Digital. I received a telephone call right back from them. They ask me why I bought a refurbished camera. I told them I ordered a new one. WRONG … BAIT AND SWITCH. I then told them to cancel my order. The guy on the other end told me he had my social security number and my credit card number. And they were going to use it to destroy me. Credit card number yes.. social NO. I called my credit card company and told them what happened. They canceled my card.
I then called back, told them I canceled my card and they were angry. They told me if I didn’t send them a $140.00 Cashiers check in three days they were going to destroy me … meaning my credit. I LEARNED!
Could this company be selling on Amazon.com as NuMark Photo? Check the feedback from John4623 dated 5/17/2006. Here’s a link: http://tinyurl.com/le6uv
I too was recently burned by WaWa Digital… same bait & switch, order cancellation, etc. I cancelled my card because I just had a feeling they were going to steal my credit card info… Sure enough, transactions were attempted for several days after placing my order. As an added bonus, fraudulent inquiries began showing up on my credit report!
It’s amazing that law enforcement can’t seem to stop these people.
I am going through this same problem right now with FotoConnection.com. You’ve inspired me to address the whole issue not just my piece of the problem. I’m now out for a “Hawk-ish” revamp of the shopping aggregators. Down with FotoConnection!
I just researched the name Chaim Pikarski again, and see his name, and the afrementioned address listed now with filmshop.com. Filmshop.com now forwards you to uniquephoto.com Buyers beware!
The funniest part about their unique photo site is in the About Us page:
Price, Quality, Dependability and Service … Since 1947
Right!
yea, i tried to use the calledge technics on train ingineers, but they seem to just run on dienosics and cant jump outta their realm of realtiy.
it was just a hobby, so i moved on qite easyly, to some things else.
now make a choice.
a. stay in an abstracted northen perseption, and ether work for or be steered by chunky cheese’s for the rest of you exstance.
or
b. turn that crack to fun da mentals, turn that evo to wonder and modifycation to feed your creative being, and turn that alcohol to wave absorbation and shift through what invokes you, love is nether for sale or fated, it is yours axadental and pure, so fuck the rubbing alchole. enter my perseption and venture. keep your personallty create and explore.
the choice is yours, and who ever well enter.
all of u r shit sucks and u can suck my big fat cock if u dont think so so fuck u u ass hole and eat shit and die
de only thing u all can beat up iz ur dick so im gonna kick u alls ass and bust a nut on ur head and smoke a fuckin huge blunt after word and then sniff a line of crack ok mother fucker and my name is lance carver
u r gay talkin bout cameras
i’l beat all ur fuckin ass
My name is trey davis and my phone number iz (336)504-5316. and call me i just wrote all three of dem bitches talkin shit to u all and u all can suck my dick u geeks and i luv pussy in ur mom bitch
These experinces are very interesting, but they all lack one thing — the resolution. Did the cc companies come through for the victims? What other tatics did the photo companies try after the cc’s were cancelled? Did they manage to collect restocking or reshipping fees? Were the victims’ credit reports affected?
Posters, please volunteer this information so others know what to expect following the initial scam.
Thanks.
My God! I think the company you are talking about changed their name to Best Price Camera/Infinity Cameras. The same thing happened to my husband. We paid for a camera with our Discover Card and printed out the order with the confirmation number. The next day, someone called my husband and said they needed to “confirm” the order. They also said the camera didn’t come with a battery and my husband said, “That’s odd, on the Web site it says it comes in the box”. My husband said he didn’t want it and thank you for contacting me.
We received the camera two days later and that’s when the fun started. They sent a “kit” with a battery and lens for an additional $500. We never authorized them to charge us for these additional items. Meanwhile, my husband tried in vain to call Best Price Camera/Infinity Cameras) to tell them they over-charged us and to fix the order. The battery came with the camera, but they charged us anyway for this stupid kit. Anyway, for four months we disputed with Discover. Don’t even get me started on that! We tried and tried to get hold of Best Price Cameras via the phone and the Web. They always had a recording on. Meanwhile, Discover kept taking our charge in and out of dispute. My husband showed how they changed our order (the order number even changed because the crook on the phone put in a new order). We couldn’t get hold of the company to get an RMA or even discuss the order. Finally, Discover said they would not dispute any further because we still had the merchandise. We decided to just FedEx it back and then Discover said they would dispute again. Best Price Cameras accepted the return. My husband called them after accepted the return and said he wanted the credit back. The slimy sales guy he originally talked with said that since we opened the box, we couldn’t return. We had no choice but open the box. They opened it first and put the receipt in the camera box. My husband had thoroughly documented the whole transaction, took pictures of the box and showed they had changed our order and charged our credit card without our authorization. Two weeks later we had a full refund on our credit card. We threatened them with going to the Better Business Bureau and also filing a formal charge with the NY Attorney General.
Take-aways from our experience:
1. Always use AMEX for big purchases like this. I’ve NEVER, EVER had AMEX not go to bat for me.
2. DO NOT USE BEST PRICE CAMERA /INFINITY CAMERAS! THEY ARE CROOKS AND THE SLIME OF THE EARTH.
3. Your best bet is to go to a place like B&H; Camera. That’s where many professional photographers buy their equipment. We bought a camera from them and it was the best online shopping experience we have ever had.
4. Make sure you spread the word about these unethical, criminal outfits. Maybe we can put these people out of business.
Signed,
Learned a Lesson in Virginia
The NY AG’s office is great at Fraud Protection.
You have done a great service to the online community here. The time and resources spent are enormous. I am online researching cameras for a purchase, and stumbled across your site. Yeah, so there’s an hour and a half of life I’ll never get back, but a great story. Just wanted to say thank you, and let you know that there and millions of anonymous people out here who appreciate what you’ve done.
Another one to watch out for is MOBILEDIA.COM. I ordered a Sprint cell phone plan with two phones, two days later it was cancelled by MOBILEDIA.com. I called 2 days later to confirm the cancelled order. Then 2 weeks later I receive the two phones and plan. Cost: $325. This all happened after I bought cell phones and did not need or want the cell phones from mobiledia.com. I still have not received my refund!
Same thing – Camera City Brooklyn, New York. Extremely bad experience. It should be illegal!
Wish I had read your blog before I stepped into this mess. My first part is about calling BestPriceCameras.com I was interested in the MG-GZ505 Camcorder and this is the explaination I finally sent to my credit card company to try and get out of the mess:
“I found Best Price Camera’s online at http://www.bestpricecameras.com and was buying a JVC GZ-MG505 Camcorder listed at $729.00. I started on internet but called their customer service department who sent me to a salesman named Jonathan. He started an order and then was trying to sell me accessories. I was interested in some of the things so I ended up ordering the JVC GZ-MG505 camcorder ($729.00), Full size tripod ($79.95 discounted to $59.95), 37mm high resolution UV filter ($29.95), Lens cleaning kit ($29.95), High speed rapid 90 minute charger ($199.95) and he then offerred me the 6 hour battery listed at $249.00 for $199.00 and if I bought 2 he would upgrade second one to 8 hour battery for same price of $199.95 so I agreed to 2 batteries $199.95 ea. one 6 hour and 1 8 hour. At this point he said my total was $1499.00 and for an additional $100.00 he would give me a 4 year warranty with 3 camera cleanings included and I agreed. I asked him if he could email me an itemization of what I just ordered and he said they don’t do that and that my invoice would come with the order in the box. I gave him my paypal debit card number and that was on 10-23-06.
On 10-31-06 I received a package that had an invoice in it but no itemization just a total of $1599.00 plus $19.99 freight and some of the items listed that I ordered but no check marks or any type of marks on invoice showing what they put in box. I recieved the tripod, 4 year warranty, lens cleaning kit, 37mm high resolution UV filter and the box with camera JVC GZ-MG505, manual, software disk and here was first problem. The battery included was the BN-VF707 (a 2 hour battery that comes stock with camcorder) and the AP-V14U charger that is also the overnight stock charger not the 90 minute quick charger. No other batteries are in the box. I call customer service and they send me back to Jonathan the salesman who took my original order. I explain that I got the wrong battery and am missing the other battery and also the wrong charger. He insists that I got the right battery and charger. I ask him what is the model/part number for the 6 hour battery and the 90 minute quick charger and he says he doesn’t know that because he is a salesman. I look both items up on internet using google and it shows that the charger is the one sold with camera and the battery is the 2 hour battery sold with camera as stock items. I ask him to ask shipping for numbers for 6 hour battery and the quick charger and he then sends me to shipping. The guy in shipping tells me that he doesn’t know the numbers for the different size batteries or the charger and I ask him how can they ship items if they don’t know the numbers. He says that the charger and battery comes in with camera and its illegal for him to open the boxes and look at those things. I look at box I was sent and it doesn’t show anything on outside of box about type of charger or battery in box. It does have a blurb that says Don’t forget a battery backup and lists 3 batteries BN-VF707 (one I got 2 hour battery), BN-VF714 (4 hour battery), and BN-VF733 (six hour battery). He sends me back to Jonathan and he says he can send me out a 6 hour battery for only an additional $100.00 and no freight. I tell him that I already paid for 2 batteries and the one I received is neither of the ones I ordered and I won’t pay for more batteries as he owes me batteries. At this point I ask for a manager and he finally sends me to a guy who says he is the manager. I notice in all conversations with any people there I hear alot of background noise of people on phones like in boiler rooms. As the manager quotes almost exactly the same thing to me that Jonathan did I suspect he is not manager but another salesman acting as manager. He also can’t come up with any part/model numbers, he then sends me to another girl who says she is a manager and she can’t find models/parts either but says I can have battery sent no charge to take care of the order. Then Jonathan gets on phone and says ok everything is fixed and I say no we haven’t even figured out what I received versus what I paid and I say I would rather just start over and send it all back and just order 2 of the JVC GZ-MG505 camcorders instead and order accessories seperate. He says he would charge me 20% restocking fee and add additional $350.00 handling penalty fee if I returned stuff and if I re-ordered the camera’s I would see them for 6 months. He also said I should be trying to buy the camera’s at $729.00 when they are valued at $1499.00. Like the package deal was why I paid so cheap for camera’s but thats not the case as these camera’s are listed on their site at that price. He then says he will add another 10% aggravation fee to the restock so its 30% restocking fee plus the $350.00 handling fee. I then explain his manager girl said I could have the battery sent no charge and he says he can do that but will charge me $25.00 shipping and $25.00 insurance fee on the free battery. I argue that this is not right and that I shouldn’t be paying any freight charge as its their shipping mistake and I still am not getting an 8 hour battery and 6 hour battery that they charged me for but only getting a 2 hour battery and a 6 hour battery. He then says he is shipping the BN-VF714 battery (this is 4 hour battery) and I say that he should atleast send the 6 hour battery and he then says he will charge $10.00 freight. At this point I’m fed up so I just say ok. I call back the customer service line and the guy that answers I explain to him that I was already talking to sales and did not want to be sent back there. I explain I need a supervisor and he says “I’m the Customer Service Manager” I start to explain the problem and he says “hold on” and then sends me back to Jonathan in sales the same guy that I have been talking to for 1 1/2 hours. I just ask him for the number of the order for the additional battery and he says “oh by the way I’m sending the BN-VF733 battery (6 hour battery).
I suspect that all the numbers for this company are in same room and that by the noise in the background all these people are sales people in a boiler room type operation. I think all the managers were really just other sales people acting like managers because they all said same thing and the phone was switched back and forth real quick with conversations continuing like they all heard all the conversations. I could not reach anyone in charge to cancel my order correctly and with their open end policy on restock charges and the fact they have already bilked me for $1619.98 I can’t work with them. Please make sure they cannot debit my paypal debit card for any additional payments as they have my information in their system.
I will gladly send them back everything they sent me for a full refund. I would even buy 2 of the JVC GZ-MG505 Camcorders from them for 729.00 ea. plus 19.95 shipping like on their website instead of the problems on this order. I suspect they will not sell the product as its a bait and switch type deal.”
Ok after that and several reviews later I decide to not even buy that type 3ccd camcorder but to go with the Sony HDR-SR1 AVC HD 30GB HANDYCAM CAMCORDER and call century21electronics.com and order this camcorder for $769.00 and tell them its a gift and I don’t need accessories. They say it will take 2 to 4 weeks to ship. I call back to see about the ad on the site about express shipping and am told yes I get that but the item has to be ordered from china. He then sends me to a order verifier and guess what?? He is Jonathan the same guy from bestpricecameras.com so I don’t say anything but verify the order number and get off the phone. I then go to whois.net online and check these two companies and guess what?? They are both owned by company in Vancouver Washington
and have same contact info and phone numbers. I realize they are same company with different cover name and all the orders go to same sales department in Brooklyn New York.
So next I go online and find another company usaphotonation.com with a price about 80.00 higher then others and call them and get another salesman with New York accent I ask him if the Sony Camcorder is in stock and he says “yes” I ask him if it can ship right away and he says “yes” I ask is right away in a day or two and he says “we might be able to ship today!!” I say I only want camcorder with no accessories and he explains that I can’t just buy the camera without the (high price) accessories from anybody. He says there are two types of these cameras a grey market and a retail. The retail comes in a box with small battery, lens cap, software and stuff from usa and he can sell me that one for $1199.00 or the grey market is camcorder alone made in China with chinese language set internally in camcorder so you have to send it to sony to change to english and that one takes about 4 weeks to send and comes with nothing at the price listed on the site. I might point out the site shows usa pictured camera and all the specs and is “hot” item and ready to ship.
So I thank him and say I’ll think about it. I next call Royalcameras.com who is selling camera for about $30.00 more then usaphotonation (I check whois first and they show a different state and numbers for domain name) At first the auto operator sounds very official then I get transfered to sales department and guess what??
I could swear it was Jonathan the same salesman that worked at bestpricecameras.com
So there you have it. The whole industry is phoney and my advise is DON’T BUY ANY CAMCORDERS ONLINE cause there is only one salesman for all of them and his name is
JONATHAN.EILQDOLJ
expresscameras.com are the same scam and are sued by nj state (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/12/nj_save_here.html). wish that I red all that a week ago. my damage in buying cannon camcorder and nikon camera is about $400…
I agree with the blogger who said don’t buy Brooklyn… I ordered a CD Rom from those guys.. got a different one than advertised and it didn’t work. Could not get a human on the phone after punching several buttons.. never got them to call me back. I used to live in NY and go back a few times a year. A NYC Detective friend of mine and I brought the CD Rom to their store, his holstered revolver could be seen when he left his jacket open. Needless to say they jumped to replace the CD Rom without any hassle.
I’m glad you got justice.
I’ve had to go through the BBB with a online clothing store before. Funny how much faster they respond to you when you throw the BBB into the mix.
Timely – I’m interested in (well, not really, I prefer film, but I do have the need for) a DSLR…I’ve turned on my credulity meter. I hope that my experience is better.
I agree in general terms with the “don’t buy Brooklyn”. Last year I bought an iPod from a NY seller on e-bay. After numerous emails questioning status and replies promising shipping, I finally got my order – 6 weeks later. And, of course, as soon as I opend the box I found that I had some cheap knock-off.
The seller’s first response to my negative feedback was to threaten me with a lawsuit for libel. I checked with my lawyer and – while my personal thought was “bring it on” – I replied that I was not about to change my feedback.
This bozo eventually started using SquareTrade.com. They seem to be a good group, but they need to work on their process a bit. For one thing, there is no ‘customer service’, or any way to contact them unless you have a ‘mediator’ assigned. Further, even though many complaints are keyed to e-bay (or other systems) transaction ids, SquareTrade claims to have no means to detect repetative/harrassing complaints. A simple fix, if they want to bother. Until they do, I’m not interested in them.
Anyway, this seller used SquareTrade to hassle me periodically – still periodically threatening me with a lawsuit.
Earlier this month, I again talked to my lawyer, and he pointed out that I could easily counter sue for harrasment – and I could include SquareTrade. When I finally got somebody at SquareTrade to talk to (by means of accepting a mediator in this complaint from the NY Bozo), I filed my complaint against SquareTrade with HIM.
So far, I’ve not heard again from either of them.. but the end of the month is nearing.
The down side to the BBB is that they are a reporting agency only. They don’t really have any authority. Sure, checking with them is still a good idea, but in this day and age, it makes a lot more sense to check the corporate filings of any copmpany you want to do business with. Most states have them online.
Can I trust this exchange of message about : http://www.electricnetmarket.com/canon-eos-5d-128-megapixel-camera-.html
I will be in USA soon and dreaming about to buy a 5D for about 1000$, is it a dream or can it be a reality ?
……………………………..
Seller :
Yes sir, you are right!
……………………………..
I wrote:
You means, 999,00$ for a canon 5d body only, shipping taxes for Orlando and TVA included ?
YES OR NO ?
……………………………..

De : David Coffman customers@electricnetmarket.com
Date : Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:29:35
Objet : Re: About two Canon 5D body ?
Having a lot of scouters all over the world which provide us with the better prices on the market. What you see in the picture, a Canon 5D Camera, is what you will get after the payment is done!!
Best regards,
……………………………..
You want to said that I will only paid 999,00$ for a canon 5d body only, shipping taxes for Orlando and TVA included ?
I can’t trust it, it’s a gift ? ? ?
Regards nicolas,
……………………………..

De : David Coffman customers@electricnetmarket.com
Date : Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:03:43
Objet : Re: About two Canon 5D body ?
Hello,
It will take 3 working days to deliver the package with the e cameras. All shipping taxes are included in the price.
Please let me know.
……………………………..
Can you tell me, how long do you need to send me the pack, and how much does it coast to send it for Orlando city ?
……………………………..

De : David Coffman customers@electricnetmarket.com
Date : Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:49:44
Objet : Re: About two Canon 5D body ?
Hello,
All prices in our website are the real prices, the prices for which you will be able to buy our products. So if you want to buy something from us you will have only to start an order by adding to cart the products you want.
We will look forward to hear from you with an exact order.
Thanks
……………………………..
I wil be in Florida this WKND for 12 days, I come from France and I would like to buy two Canon 5D body. Can you first confirm me the price I will have to spent, I’ve seen on your website that it coast only $999.00, is this information true ?
Can you tell me, how long do you need to send me the pack, and how much does it coast to send it for Orlando city ?
Regards Nicolas,
Great read! thanks!
nice blog!
By the way check this company MDFI. Their stock is set to increase because of their association with Apple iphone and Complete Care Medical. Find more about this company and stock http://www.growurmoney.com/medefile/
I may be a good idea to transmitt this blog to senators and repressentatives in all 50 states.
Amazing. Terrific, wonderful work you’ve done. Score one for the average guy. I hope Chaim/Ed/Steve is found and sent to Attica where he belongs. Temporarily ruining his livelihood is not enough.
Thank you so much for this blog! I was very tempted to buy something from BestPriceCamera becuase it’s such a good (and unbelievable?) price. Do you know they are offering a Nikon D80 body for $200 some dollars? That should be a red warning light right there! After reading this, I won’t be dealing with them at all. Thanks again!
I tried to by a nikon 12-24mm f4 camera lens for $579 which would be a very good price.
The url is: http://www.expresscameras.com/prodetails.asp?prodid=127918&display;=1
1. I placed the order for the nikon 12-24 f4 DX camera lens on the expresscameras.com WEB page using my AMEX card.
2. They sent an email with an phone number to call to confirm the online order.
3. I called and was advised that they do not accept AMEX
(their WEB site clearly says it does)
4. They asked for a different credit card (which I gave them – my mistake)
5. They then tried to switch me to a SIGMA 10-20MM lens for $879
(this lens can easily be purchase for under $500 almost anywhere)
6. I told them I wanted the nikon 12-24mm f4 lens as adverticed.
7. I was then told by the salesman (Pete) that the nikon 12-24mm f4 DX lens was not digital ready.
I then stated that the nikon 12-24 f4 DX lens is a DX lens meaning – digital only.
8. I was also told that the advertised lens has a plastic mount and I would have to throw in $200 for a metal mount.
I then stated that the nikon 12-24 f4 DX lens only has a metal mount
(there are no plastic mount lenses of this model).
9 I was told that the auto-focus search motor was noisy on this model.
I then stated that every review I read commented on how silent the motor on this lens is.
10.The saleman then recommended I buy the nikon 14-24 f4 VR for $1000 more
11. I cancelled the order and they immediately hung up.
This is a clear case of “bait and switch”. They had no intention of selling the camera lens at
the advertised price
Dear Mr Hawk I am so glad you started this blogg ..This is the best thing that could have happened since the mail order scumms have been about..You state that we should be blaming places like pricegrabber.com and i couldnt agree any more pricegrabber.com origanlly started as a highley reputable search engine when they first started as there growth exceeded there expectations..Pricegrabber now worries alot more about wich merchant is paying them the most money every month instead of wich merchant actually provides there customers the best service..Of course they still have the highly reputable merchants on such as newegg B+H and JR..But then you come across scum merchants such as dbuys.com , us1camera.com , pcvideoonline.com, butterflyphoto.com ..All have hundreds of negative reviews bad customer experiances and some how still appear on pricegrabber.com. Yeah pretty reputible. Another way of knowing that these companies are paying there way through there reputation is you will frequently see the featured merchant logo near these names most of the timea minimum charge of $10,000-$50,000 extra a month just for that simple featured merchant insertion, besides the standar few hundred thousand $$$ they already take from these merchants monthly..Basicly if you have hundreds of extra thousands of $$$$ pricegrabber would be happy to be a sell out to all of there millions of loyal customers as long as it is enough $$$ to fit in there pockets …Pricegrabber is nothing more than a really expensive prostitute and a huge sell out to all of its loyal customers ..The company is worth almost a billion $$$ and there are still greedy and need more $$$$ so they sell out there own customers ..Pcvideoonline.com listed on pricegrabber as a 4 1/2 star merchant even though pricegrabber knows that they operate under a few of the most illegitamit companies out there such as pricemad.com, projectorexpo.com projectorexport.com and a few others take a look at there resellerrating scores or simly type these names into goolge and read hundreds of horror stories…Dbuys.com is the funniest, this company went out of business screwed over hundreds of real customers and then were bought out by the biggest internet scum out there broadwayphoto aka bwayphoto.com A&M; Photo World, Regal Camera, Prestige Camera, Preferred Photo, Royal Camera, and many many more names they go under..The best part about it is that pricegrabber knows exactly this and still has dbuys.com on there website…Butterflyphoto.com aka bestbuyplasma.com lcdtvs.com plasmabay.com digitaletailer.com and a few more also have hundreds and hundreds of horrible customer experiances…The best part about all of this is that pricegrabber knows exactly this but still has these merchants listed all over the electronics parts of there website and claim that they are reputable..Yeah right ..As usual its all about the $$$$$$$ …So i wouldnt count on pricegrabber for anything more than taking your money..If you do or have had a bad experiance with any of these companies be a pal and let the rest of the world know what we are up against so the average joe like myself wont be fooled by pricegrabber Bs ..Always check google before shopping for correct merchant feedback Do not check sell outs like pricegrabber.com
My brother bought a Cannon 7.1 Mega Pixel Power Shot A560 Digital Camera at just $125.99 by using eCost Coupon Codes….!!
Absolutely Insane!
I wish I had read this 2 weeks ago. I just had a similar incident with Barclay’s Photo. I also know why their ratings are higher.
We originally left negative feedback on eBay. The same day, which was a Sunday, I got a call from “Chuck” asking how can they make this better. He promised to send me a free battery and refund $20 to my card. Neither one has materialized. But he still calls asking if I’ve withdrawn the feedback yet.
Amazingly and Ironically enough, my name is Steve Phillips – and I have nothing to do with the one mentioned in the original post.
I just narrowly escaped the same disaster as many of you have had with a camera shop in NY,NY. But guess what? THEY HAVE A NEW STORE NAME AND WEBSITE…SAME TACTICS…IT IS:
86photovideo.com.com!!!!
and
Stop4camera.com
Both of these websites are out of NY,NY with the same cust reps and same attitude. Both changed the price of the camera when I called about the price I saw online.
I had several conversations with different reps and the conversations were very similar to the ones the previous bloggers had. At the end of the last conversation I had with 86th Photo, I asked for the supervisor and I was told he was gone for the day. I then asked his name so that I could call the next morning and I was told his name was “Ben Dover”. I said “Very funny” and then was told to stop wasting his time and he hung up.
So what does that tell you. BEWARE of the cheap prices they bait you with on the New York City websites.
I THINK PRICE RITE CHANGED THEIR NAME TO FOTOCONNECTION. I I HAD ALMOST THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME. THE CAMERA I ORDERED SHOWED IN STOCK THEN “JOSEPH” CALLED TO ADVISE A PROBLEM WITH ORDER AND ATTEMPTED TO BULLY ME INTOI BUYING A MEMORY CARD THAT WAS VERY OVERPRICED AFTER TELLING ME WHAT I HAD WAS NOT GOOD. THEY SHIPPED IT WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND BILLED MY CREDIT CARD. I AM CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH YOUR SAME FIGHT.
C.GERACE
Just this week I had the same experience with TechonDIGITAL and 86photovideo. They advertized the lowest price on a Panasonic FZ50 of $319, said it was in stock, I ordered it and received an email to call them. When I called them they asked me if I wanted a memory card or batteries. I told them no. The next email I got was they were out of stock and do not reorder.I had the same experience with both sellers.
I almost bought a camera from these guys, but at the last minute I checked ePinions, which, in addition to rating products, rates online stores. The comments on the site steered me clear.
goodlife
happylife
shylife
Its really good to see too many comments here. Hope your traffic hits a peak.
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Peter
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Just found this article. Fun read. Thanks! Also, Furrybut’s comments make me rofl. It’s always amusing when 10 year-olds get online…
I have just read many of the negative reviews of Barclays Photo. I find it hard to believe. I just purchased a Nikon D80 on eBay from them and it was an overall very good experience. Phil, salesman, called to sell me an extended battery and extended warranty. He informed me that I needed to have the sensor clean yearly. Good to know as I am new to SLR’s and did not know this. I did buy the extended warranty after I got the price down to $200 and the extended battery was thrown in. It was promised to arrive on Thursday but did not arrive until Tuesday. So they are not perfect, I agree. Then my 70-300mm lense was NOT in the box. I called Phil who I must say, seems like a pretty decent guy and he had the lense overnited to me. And as an apology for the lense being shorted, I received another free extended battery. I do a tremendous amount of business online and this experience was positive. I cannot attest to the supposed threats he says he received and I am not doubting that it happened, but I want people to know that many people have had positive experiences with Barclays. I am not nor have I ever been employed with or associated with Barclays. This is not a FAKE endorsement as many will accuse me of. So I hope this helps others. Barclays has a 98.3% positive rating on eBay with 17,963 transactions, so they must be doing something right.
Check it..During the show’s 13-week run, there was a special week of shows taped after the September 11, 2001 attacks where Los Angeles area firefighters and police officers played the game for charities to help their brother officers in New York as well for helping victims and their families recover from the attacks.
thats an awesome story. they fucked with the wrong guy!
they tried one too many times to shaft buyers. i tried googling them and all what came up was thread after thread of your story. thats awesome. fuck those guys!
This Abusive Bait camera is very great.
Hey furrybut! Your a monkeys ass!
This Abusive Bait camera is very great.
Not happy with Cameta. I checked their own website online first. Then went to the store, got a detailed, and I mean detailed pricelist of the camera that I wanted -he wanted to sell me the kit.
Left the store for 20 minutes to go to the bank, came back to find the whole deal changed, no lens available (they said I could travel to the warehouse (yet the lens was available before I left for the 20 minutes), the prices were different, expanded
and he said he would throw in a bag for all my hassle . (THe bag is a gift from the CAMERA company not from this retailer), and it was flimsy at that. ).
By the end the price was so high, much more than quoted, left without the lens that I wanted, and with their "kit". ISAY go to B & H for all your camera needs. There is no bait and swich at B & H.
oh, Cameta is in Long Island, NY
Great article, it gave me a better insight thanks.
Thanks 4 all the info ! Now we are aware in Mexico !!!
leave the bloggers alone were 20 million deep and we can crush you
Two more stores to add the the list of Bait and switchers …
SonicPhoto.com and CameraGiantInc.com
Unbelievable price so i had to try it. Same tactic of needing to confirm the order, confirming it over the phone then cancelling. At least they never charged my card!!!
fusozluk sözlük sozluk fatih üniversitesi fatih sozluk fu sozluk fusözlük
Those of you who may knwo some Polish will see that Chaim Piekarski and Howard Baker are one and the same. Piekasrki is a common surname in Poland and it means, wait for it… Baker. And Chaim is often translated into first names begining with ‘H’: Henry, Harry, Howard, etc. Mr Piekarski is no doubt a Jew or Polish origin. Tens of housands of them in NY.
Shame the way many of you were treated; I’m glad many of you got resolution.
Still, and all – next time, go to a Brick and Mortar store.
With a little experience and attention, it’s a LOT easier to tell if you are getting scammed or not when dealing face to face.
[...] three weeks, and hung up…. This company (Camera Giants Inc) definitely fits the profile of a bait & switch store, (like the one talked about here)…. They also have some very rude people that answer the [...]
thanks for nice share!
Tri State Camera is another one to avoid
OnTimeDigital is another scam. I tried to purchase a Panasonic AG DVX100b camcorder for $1299.00. Guess I should have ran, while the going was good. Anyway…I did it, and got a call in about 30 mins. They said they had received my order…and listen to this…a guy by the name of Sean was on the other end of the phone, and says, “what kind of lens do you want”? I said…lens??? Doesn’t the camcorder come with a lens?? He quickly retorted…NO. I said, well your site doesn’t say that. He then responds, “Yes it does”!! And I responded again…NO IT DOES NOT! AND FURTHERMORE, YOUR SITE IS FULL OF LIES! I then told him to cancel the #@!!%** order, and hung up the phone. The odor of a “rat”, was coming through the phone! Anyway…I recently went back to the site, out of curiosity. That camera is now $3,499.99. Beware people….BEWARE! HA!
So folks…the lesson in all these comments is:
A price that sounds too good to be true IS too good to be true.
Save yourself aggravation (and money) and buy from reputable dealers like B&H or Adorama.
I am an amateur photographer and in digging around photography websites this blog has come up a number of times. Thank you for your fight and a bigger thank you for doing it the right way. Too often people go from zero to OMG U RIPPED ME OFF! I H8 U!!! and that solves nothing.
Thank you again and as always, Buyer beware.
Thanks for sharing this info post.
Your links to BBB don’t go to BBB. bbbny.org is not the BBB.
[...] PriceRitePhoto: Abusive Bait and Switch Camera Store | Thomas Hawk … [...]
stay away from b&h, adorama or any retail store run buy jews
all the time they try to give you used gear as new, u choose and buy what u think is new gear but when u open the box at home u find out that is used. I am a photographer and i have to buy there because of their good prices but i am always check if the stuff is new before leaving the store. Although not all jews are corrupt or scammers Unfortunately u have to be careful with some bad jews and their tricks
Wow, I came here looking for SLR tips, ended up reading a Harry Potter novel free! Witchcraft, drama, horoscopes, death, hacking, extortion, and witch hunting. What a combo. It is amazing to think that shopping for one single item can be this much fun. Who needs TV and stores, just shop online for all the drama of a showtime series.
Not that I could afford a $3,000 camera myself, but if I could, I know where to avoid. However, I would have added a reverse DNS-lookup and Web-neighbors to help reveal the true owners and affiliations. Web-history is also a good place to look for augmented reviews and prior page listings. Sad to hear about the innocent guy that was mistaken for being associated, but if it wasn’t for you, he may have never known he had all those bad reviews. (Time will heal that.)
At this rate, I think I am going to get a UPS box and put a pin-hole in it, as my new camera. Sure it is hard to focus without professional lenses, but it is free and easy to make. Happy shopping for future digital and manual SLR cameras.
(NOTE: Additional wording relevance purposely added for google-searching spider bots. Like you needed any more quality exposure! Pun intended.)
Ya I would never by from them.
Canon 5d Mark ll
***BUYERS BEWARE***
DBuys.com misleads and lies about selling Canon USA Cameras.
DBUYS.com are NOT authorized CANON dealers. DBUYS.com sell Gray market cameras with NO Canon WARRANTY cards even after specifying with the sales people and their customer service people that you want to buy a USA Canon Camera & USA Canon Warranty.
Once you have the camera and realize the scam, they will promise to send warranty cards, to prolong the return time period and then charge re-stocking fees or deny returns with RMA.
They have my $3600. I have no Warranty and its not covered by Canon. They have sent me two defective cameras with the promise of USA warranty cards and have not delivered and will not allow returning the product. Beware, they know the system and will scam unsuspecting customers!
Thank’s for info.
Thank’s for info.
Dear Mr Hawk I am so glad you started this blogg .
don’t buy expensive cameras in internet
Thanks for great camera info.
This is ridiculas. Thanks for info. will try to avoid this shop
Thank’s for info
I’ve had similar experiences with 2 or 3 NY-based camera dealers–call to upgrade your package, but won’t ship until you buy more stuff. One of them told my wife up front that they had it in stock but would not ship it or cancel the order unless she bought some upgrades. It took 2 weeks of angry calls from me to get them to cancel, and the only reason they agreed to was that the product was pulled from the market by the manufacturer and they actually did end up with none in stock, and agreed to cancel because I didn’t want the newer model which had different features.
Take портфолио в Пензе’s advice above: unless it’s coming from BestBuy, Amazon (not Amazon affiliates), or another major retailer, DO NOT buy this stuff on the internet unless you’re prepared to get the shaft. There is a reason why it’s listed cheaper: it’s either gray market (which has actually worked out for me in the past, just no warranty or docs, but you can save hundreds for taking the risk, caveat emptor), or they are going to force you into overpriced upgrades. Period.
thanks….for giving useful info….it really helped me……
Thanks for your info.
A lot of great information, thanks, and I do agree on this issue.
What a great post. The post is good for newbie’s. You have done a remarkable job in the area of corporate blogging. Keep it up!
I hope some more good posts like this. Thanks and willing to share here
Hi, my friend, are you able to give more post like this!! As I was very pleased to find this post on this site. I wanted to thank you for this great read. I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. It sounds, like you’re on the up and up.
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[...] of the PriceRitePhoto fiasco where one disgruntled blogger drove a company out of business, yesterday arose another [...]
There is a serious confusion going on here. I own the domain name bestpricecamera.com and I am NOT IN THE CAMERA BUSINESS at all!!!!
YOU ARE CONFUSING ME WITH BESTPRICECAMERAS.COM!!
Come on people. Don’t you know an extra letter in a domain name makes a difference?????
Repeat.
I AM NOT NOW OR NEVER HAVE BEEN IN THE CAMERA BUSINESS!!
Thanks