Abusive New York Camera Store Threatens to Break Customer's Neck

Precision Computing - Customer Service at WaWaDigital – “I’m going to break your neck.” "You better not pick up, bitch. I’m gonna to come down there and break your god damn neck. You heard me, alright? Kid, you better hear me, bitch. Do you hear me, BITCH? Yes, you’d better believe it. You’re in biiiig trouble, my friend." This was the voicemail reportedly left on a customer's voicemail after he refused to buy overpriced accessories and instead wanted to cancel his order when he was abused by a salesperson at WaWa Digital in Brooklyn, New York.

Of all of the horror stories that I heard from others who had similarly bad experiences to my own recent run in with PriceRitePhoto, this one takes the case. Hey, at least I was only threatened with a lawsuit and arrest by PriceRitePhoto camera store manager / attorney Steve Philips.

Lee Holmes, a blogger who works for Microsoft, was at work a few weeks back when a co-worker of his was allegedly threatened by this sleazy Brooklyn camera outfit, WaWa Digital.

From Lee's blog:

"Somebody I work with recently tried to buy a camera from an internet retailer called “WaWaDigital.” He was telling me about the low price they had it listed for, when the guy called him to confirm the order.

At this point, I recognized what was going on. For some reason, there is an entire cottage industry (in the little cottage called Brooklyn, New York) that sells the camera for below cost, but cancels the order on you unless you buy hundreds of dollars of over-priced accessories.

As the phone call progresses, it’s like watching a really cheesy horror film play out. It’s bad, but funny in its predictability.

“No, thanks, I have all of the storage cards I need.”
Mumble mumble on-the-other-end-of-a-cell-phone-mumble
“The batteries only last for 2 pictures, do they? No thanks, I have all the batteries I need.”
Mumble mumble don’t be so damn cheap mumble mumble

At this point, he’s walking into my office, with the expression on his face of, “You wouldn’t believe the phone call I’m on right now.” I can pretty much hear both sides of the conversation now, and the next thing I was expecting to hear was that the order was canceled. Instead, it continues…

“Don’t be cheap? Listen. That is ridiculous customer service. Cancel my order and goodbye.”
“Cancel your order? You really want to pay the 30% restocking fee for canceling your order?”
“What restocking fee? There is no order, and you’re not going to charge me one.”
“Oh yes I will.”
“Go ahead, and I’ll dispute the charges on my card and it’ll cost you even more.”

Then, my jaw literally drops, as I scramble to help him record the phone call.


“Don’t you even dare. You do that, and I’ll break your neck. You hear me? I’ll come there and break your f-----g neck. I’ll …”

“Goodbye.”, and he hangs up.

Even worse, this sleazy camera salesperson actually called back and left the death threat on the guys voicemail. You can download it here and hear it for yourself. (Note: Not safe for work).

Of course, like PriceRitePhoto, WaWa Digital also has an abysmal record with the New York BBB who rates their record as unsatisfactory. The number one type of complaint against WaWa Digital? Yep, you guessed it, selling practices.

By the way, the BBB reports the parent company of WaWa Digital as Starlight Cameras at 295 Avenue O, Brooklyn, NY. 866-621-1697. They also do business as Accessories Land, I.N.S. Digital World, Stargate Photo, and The Camera Whiz.

So the question is, when is Spitzer going to get off his duff and clean up this mess in his own backyard? I mean we were first warned about these bait and switch guys over two years ago by PC World. How hard would it be to find the lowest price camera stores and have a few cops call them as a mystery shoppers and then balk at the accessories. If a store then said they were out of stock they could then be fined for deceptive advertising. Hopefully at some point I will receive a response back from Spitzer's office to the complaint that I formally filed with them about PriceRitePhoto. It's shameful that here in the U.S. our law enforcement lets these Brooklyn camera outfits get away with what they do.

Update: Daniel went over to Brooklyn and took some photos of WaWa Photo.

Update #1: LO2 has remixed the threatening phone call above Cody Chesnutt vs. WaWa Digital mash up (not safe for work). Very funny.

Update #2: Another remix of the WaWa Digital voicemail is out, this time it's the slow bitch mix (not safe for work).