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PriceRitePhoto Update #21, Changing Names at eBay to Barclay’s Photo

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.

Thanks for the tip David.

Also here’s another piece of evidence (an old Google “sales representative” job offering ad from 2000) tying Chaim Pikarski to this maze of camera company names and businesses. Thus far the names that seem to be tying together include PriceRitePhoto, Barclay’s Photo, Film4Less, Edigix, CP Industries, The Camera Zone, TheCameraMall, Film Shop, Film Shop Clipper USA.

The Film Shop in the job offering above, with Pikarski’s name, is at the same address as Don Wiss (who yesterday received a death threat) documented as being associated with TheCameraMall. Evidence suggests that TheCameraMall may be linked with PriceRitePhoto.

The BBB had other names associated with PriceRitePhoto but it would appear that their entry at the BBB, which had originally fallen under Lets Go Digital and Jack Heffner, is now under review. Per the BBB: “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.” Originally, PriceRitePhoto’s purported owner “Ed Lopez” had denied that Jack Heffner or Lets Go Digital were associated with his business when I spoke with him — although he admitted to knowing Jack Heffner.

It would also appear that PriceRitePhoto as of December 8, 2005 has now registered the domain name barclaysphoto.com.

Update: I received a phone call today from the owner of film4less who informed me that although PriceRitePhoto had been using that name that they were doing so illegally and that this is why they changed that name on eBay. According to the owner of film4less (who has held the copyright on film4less since the 70s) he is in no way affiliated with PriceRitePhoto. In fact he was the one that got eBay to remove their ability to use this name on their site.

36 Replies to “PriceRitePhoto Update #21, Changing Names at eBay to Barclay’s Photo”

  3. We need more people like you. You do a good service to consumers. Although make sure you have a lawyer’s ear in case a company threatens litigation.

  7. Taken from this photo forum: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-194.html

    “DeanO
    26th of April 2001 (Thu), 01:30 AM
    I got one for $350 – with the travel adapter included. For $15 more, they overnighted it to me. I paid with credit card by phone after they contacted me.

    I made the purchase from a camera company that sells on EBAY.

    Their seller name is FILM4LESS — email FILM4LESS@aol.commail, or just check on EBAY. Last I checked they had 1 GB units for sale for 359.00 with the “buy it now” option. I won a dutch auction — and there were 20 units available, but only 3 were sold.

    Normally, I’d be hesitant to buy anything like this on Ebay, but the experience turned out to be a pleasant surprise — far better than the outfit I bought my camera from via mail order — CENTORE. They were cheap, but shady. I got the camera for 689.00.
    nadim
    26th of April 2001 (Thu), 08:31 PM
    I got the same from the same company, called either Film4Less or empirePhoto or similar… I got an IBM 1GB with PCMCIA card reader…. the Package says FUJI, but inside is a real IBM 1GB. Got it for 359$, they shipped the next day ground for 9$.

    Risky business, but it worked… Can’t recommend it if you’re risk averse, you never know what’s behind these companies.

    Nadim”

  9. Great job hawk. as a an avid photographer myself and who has been in this country not too long to know all the intricacies of the American business, you have done a great service to us all by outing these bad people.

  10. ugggh…these people need a roundhouse kick to the face!!! good work keeping on top of them! Maybe they will be the fish that doesn’t get away in this bait and hook.

  12. Googling for ‘”CP Industries” brooklyn photo’, I found a cached copy of this resume of a Carlos Cruz, who back in 2001 worked for CP Industries, and designed the following websites:

    2001 Advertising Art Director/Desktop and Pre Press Designer for CP Industries: Unique Photo
    2001 Camera Zone Inc. http://www.camerazone.com
    2001 Photo Specialist Inc. http://www.photospecialist.com
    2001 Camera Mall Inc. http://www.cameramall.com
    2001 The Film Shop Inc. http://www.filmshop.com

  14. Why not register barclaysphotosucks.com, put up everything you’ve uncovered so far, and Google-bomb the heck out of it? Just keep following these guys as they change identities, “sucks”-ing them all the way.

  17. In regards to ebay seller reputation… I had a very very foul experience with a seller by the name of “super.good.deals”. The person had 6500 positive feedback, and we ordered 30ish disposable cheap cameras for our wedding, for guests to use. when they didnt come initially(took almost 2 months total), I tried to contact them via email. no response, no response. it was getting to about 2 weeks before we left for our wedding across the country, and I threatened bad feedback if not recieved. She threatened me with bad feedback if I posted bad on hers, so being the obstinate person I am, I immediately posted bad about my experience there. they immediately posted bad feedback on us and said they would only withdraw it if we agreed to withdraw ours. I dont know about you, but I view this as extortionistic in nature, and I was having none of it. I flat refused and posted onto their feedback a response, which at the time was appropriate.

    My entire point is, neutrals dont count against bad feedback, negatives can and are regularly removed after the seller pressures the buyer with bad feedback. The ebay feedback system is seriously broken and designed to cater to the vendors.

    just my 2c. for a more detailed description of the events that transpired(I think I even still have all the emails), write me at j/m/o/r/g/a/l/i/@/h/o/t/m/a/i/l/./c/o/m

    (sorry for the slashes)

  19. You’d think that a public record search of business names or ficticious business licenses could be looked at to see how many names they’ve really gone through?

  24. 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 identity.

    Back in the day there were a number of jewlers doing the same thing on Ebay. As I recall, companies like Global Bargain Hunters aka diamonds_by_nicole aka shenoa_and_co seemed to suffer from multiple personality disorder. If you do a search – you will notice that they all use the same (unknown) certification company, NGL, or National Gemological Laboratories.

    I was interested in making a purchase, but considering the price, I thought it best to inspect the merchandise before hand. I first visited Shenoa and co in NYC, and didn’t find what I was looking for. I gave a call to Global Bargain Hunters, asking for the exact address. They gave me the exact same address as Shenoa! I was shocked. I went in, again they didn’t have the items I was looking for. I called back and the vendor on the line was extremely rude, and told me that the merchandise wasn’t in the state and so it could not be inspected before purchase. He then said angrily, “are you going to buy something today or what?” I felt like I was speaking with a closer. I am very curious how these companies maintain their feedback score. Of course, I didn’t buy from them, so I couldn’t leave feedback.

    At the time, I also noticed that Shenoa and Global Bargain Hunters seemed to be selling the exact same piece of merchandise on ebay! This is because the pictured certifications were identical! I contacted ebay about TOS violations – and decided that I would never buy a high-value item from an online retailer.

  25. Film4Less.com GotFilm.biz web sites are not related to your posting about PriceRitePhoto or ebay Barclay’s Photo.
    Your posted statement: Nicholas said… Their http://www.film4less.com/ website will redirect you to http://www.gotfilm.biz/ which states that it is part of the
    Got Film? Film4Less™, Film 4 Less™, GotFilm.Biz™, Film4Less.com™ chain.
    Is WRONG AND BETTER BE CORRECTED. I forced ebay to not allow them to use my tradename on ebay. And now you link me to them! THERE IS NO RELATION between us and them. Remove your liable statement.

  26. My web sites: http://www.film4less.com/ http://www.gotfilm.biz
    and my tradenames Got Film? Film4Less™, Film 4 Less™, GotFilm.Biz™, Film4Less.com™ ARE NOT RELATED TO PriceRitePhoto or Barclay’s Photo.
    The posting by Nicholas was NOT researched at all and is untrue! And now the domain was removed by the hosting company because of it.

  27. it is documented in the link above that PriceRitePhoto previously was going by the name film4less on eBay. Anonymous states that his company film4less is in no way affiliated with PriceRitePhoto. Anonymous, drop me an email at thomas@thomashawk.com with your name and I’ll be happy to add this clarification to the post.

  28. —– The following addresses had permanent fatal errors —–
    thomas@thomashawk.com
    (reason: 550-“The recipient cannot be verified. Please check all recipients of this)

    —– Transcript of session follows —–
    … while talking to thomashawk.com.:
    >>> DATA
    <<< 550-"The recipient cannot be verified. Please check all recipients of this
    <<< 550 message to verify they are valid."
    550 5.1.1 thomas@thomashawk.com… User unknown
    <<< 503 valid RCPT command must precede DATA

  29. Film4Less.com is in no way affiliated with PriceRitePhoto – Barclay’s Photo, or with the use of film4less as a user name on ebay. I told ebay that someone was using my trade name as their username, and it was removed. PLEASE DO NOT Link PriceRitePhoto – Barclay’s Photo to our company again! AGAIN My web sites: http://www.film4less.com/ http://www.gotfilm.biz and more AND my tradenames Got Film? Film4Less™, Film 4 Less™, GotFilm.Biz™, Film4Less.com™ ARE NOT RELATED TO PriceRitePhoto or Barclay’s Photo. Thomas, your email bounced back and you have not returned my phone call.

  32. Thomas, Thank you for creating this blog. I was going to something similar after my experience with these people, but yours is so thorough I thought I’d post here.

    Barclay’s is now accusing the USPS of tampering with packages and taking the expensive items. They don’t insure their shipments and leave you short hundreds of dollars, without your merchandise, and they assume no responsibility for the product once shipped.

  33. these mongers have more names such as digital goodies and cameras gone wild and they have a new name which i will notify everyone when i get the name

  34. i bought a camera from them in aug 2007 for $850. it broke in sept 2008, was shipped off to the repair company under the additional warranty i purchased. wrong, warranty company no longer exists and now i have to pay $200 to get the grey market camera fixed.i feel ripped off and want some type of retribution. did anyone start a class action?

  35. Same here, I was given all kinds of incorrect warranty info. and now that my camera is giving me error messages, it is going to end up costing me more to send it to the CPS to have it taken care of than it would to just buy a new camera. I have tried dozens of times to contact all of the numbers associated with Barclay’s Photo and every other name I can find for them from the BBB and other places. NONE of the numbers work. They phone picks up with a Barclay’s photo message, but when you press a number to talk to someone, it goes to the same unrelated company. (or so they say…) I agree with the last person, where is the class action??

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