Anyone buy from bestbuydigital ???

The price of the CP 4500 seems to keep going up every day and now
is about $600 or more (before the famous Nikon 200 dollar rebate).

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Does anyone have any experience with this company? I have read
the comments at resellerratings website about this company and it
seems to be mixed. Most people say they are happy with the service
and price but there is a hard sell to buy accessories.

Maybe I could weather the sales pitch and just say I cant afford to spend anything more.

Thanks!

Linda Grant said:

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Click to expand...

I am sorry, the company I am asking about is buydigitaldirect.

I am not asking about bestbuydifital. My mistake! I just got things
comfused in my mind.

Just received my CP4500 from this company. I submitted my order with them Monday night, received an email from Justin on Wednesday asking to "confirm credit card info." I called the next day, and was pleasantly surprised. He was quite nice and didn't try to pressure me into buying anything. The camera shipped the same day (Thursday) via Fedex saver. They must've raised the price, I got it for $499 shipped. The UPC code is rebate eligible as well, so grand total after rebate $299. Pretty good! I'd recommend them! HTH

Justin

Linda5510 said:

Linda Grant said:

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Click to expand...

I am sorry, the company I am asking about is buydigitaldirect.

I am not asking about bestbuydifital. My mistake! I just got things
comfused in my mind.

Click to expand...

cu-jaz said:

Just received my CP4500 from this company. I submitted my order
with them Monday night, received an email from Justin on Wednesday
asking to "confirm credit card info." I called the next day, and
was pleasantly surprised. He was quite nice and didn't try to
pressure me into buying anything. The camera shipped the same day
(Thursday) via Fedex saver. They must've raised the price, I got it
for $499 shipped. The UPC code is rebate eligible as well, so grand
total after rebate $299. Pretty good! I'd recommend them! HTH

Justin

Click to expand...

Thanks! Thats exactly what I am looking for. You have put my mind at ease. Very much appreciate your help!

Wednesday morning 10:51. I just got off the phone with Mike from Buydigitaldirect. Very nice guy and more than willing to play around with the prices on accessories. But here's the deal. He freely admited that they are a reseller and not an authorized dealer for Nikon. Since it takes a while for the Nikon rebate to arrive he still doesn't know if any of their recent custormers have been oked with the rebate. He suggested contacting Nikon to make sure first. I really appreciate his honesty. That's something special coming from a New York discount online site. I'm going to see if I can find someone at Nikon to give a yes or no on this. Mike did mention that their boxes of the Nikon products do have the correct bar code for the rebate.

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Linda Grant said:

The price of the CP 4500 seems to keep going up every day and now
is about $600 or more (before the famous Nikon 200 dollar rebate).

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Does anyone have any experience with this company? I have read
the comments at resellerratings website about this company and it
seems to be mixed. Most people say they are happy with the service
and price but there is a hard sell to buy accessories.

Maybe I could weather the sales pitch and just say I cant afford to
spend anything more.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Linda Grant said:

Thanks! Thats exactly what I am looking for. You have put my mind
at ease. Very much appreciate your help!

Click to expand...

Ummm, you might want to get un-at-eased :-(. Here's some text from the Nikon rebate program:

1) Time period: Nikon Mail-in rebate is valid only for retail sales
of new Nikon Coolpix 2000, Coolpix 2500, Coolpix 3500, Coolpix
4500, Coolpix 5000 and Coolpix 5700 Digital Cameras purchased
from Nikon Inc. by Nikon authorized dealers or distributors...

3) Purchase confirmation: This application must be completed,

signed and mailed... with: A)a copy of your bill-of-sale (do not send original) showingpurchaser’s name, address, date of purchase, item(s) purchased,Nikon product’s serial number, and stating that the item has been delivered to the purchaser, and your bill-of-sale must also indicate
the name of the dealer from whom you purchased the product(s);
B) The original UPC code label from the side panel of the Nikon
product box; and C) The original serial number label with the bar
code from the side panel of the Nikon product box.

It sounds like the UPC label must be correct AND it has be be purchased through an authorized retailer.

--
Warm regards,
Uncle Frank, FCAS Charter Member
http://www.pbase.com/unclefrank/cp995&page=all

"Uncle" Frank and anyone else who may be concerned about this, please refer to this post: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1007&message=4822580

Uncle Frank * said:

Linda Grant said:

Thanks! Thats exactly what I am looking for. You have put my mind
at ease. Very much appreciate your help!

Click to expand...

Ummm, you might want to get un-at-eased :-(. Here's some text from
the Nikon rebate program:

1) Time period: Nikon Mail-in rebate is valid only for retail sales
of new Nikon Coolpix 2000, Coolpix 2500, Coolpix 3500, Coolpix
4500, Coolpix 5000 and Coolpix 5700 Digital Cameras purchased
from Nikon Inc. by Nikon authorized dealers or distributors...

3) Purchase confirmation: This application must be completed,
signed and mailed... with: A)a copy of your bill-of-sale (do not
send original) showingpurchaser’s name, address, date of purchase,
item(s) purchased,Nikon product’s serial number, and stating that
the item has been delivered to the purchaser, and your bill-of-sale
must also indicate
the name of the dealer from whom you purchased the product(s);
B) The original UPC code label from the side panel of the Nikon
product box; and C) The original serial number label with the bar
code from the side panel of the Nikon product box.

It sounds like the UPC label must be correct AND it has be be
purchased through an authorized retailer.

--
Warm regards,
Uncle Frank, FCAS Charter Member
http://www.pbase.com/unclefrank/cp995&page=all

Click to expand...

I talked to someone named mike today about my order from yesterday and he confirmed that they are not an authorized dealer and the rebates do not apply to their cameras. the rebate form from the nikon web site clearly states that it must be an authorized dealer or NO REBATE. As an attorney it looks like they are about to inforce this clause. This is not a normal clause in rebate programs. After all Nikon got paid full price by an authorized dealer before it was resold to a secondary dealer.

Mike was polite and canceled my order. At 529 they are one of the highest priced 4500s around. He was also ready to issue a return if I had received the camera (14 day return policy)

I am very upset with nikon and their dealers over this rebate. Many people are going to lose a lot of money over denied rebaltes and if Nikon wants to lower the price why hold our money 4-6 weeks the say it will take to rebate the money. Now that the dealers have raised the price $50-100 since the rebate was announced the rebale has been cut in half

Nikon may have wanted to cut down on the non-authorized dealers cutting prices but this was not the way to go about it.

I have owned Nikon for 30 years but I may have to look at the new digital canons. they are beating nikon on specs and price and if nikon is less than honorable over this issue.

I may be just madder than normal since my stero speakers (TANNOY) which cost me two years pay when I was in high school and purchased with a lifetime warrenty need repairs and the company admits that though they were sold with a lifetime warrenty they will not honor the warrenty. Times are bad and companies are going to try to take advantage of us

candid camera said:

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Linda Grant said:

The price of the CP 4500 seems to keep going up every day and now
is about $600 or more (before the famous Nikon 200 dollar rebate).

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Does anyone have any experience with this company? I have read
the comments at resellerratings website about this company and it
seems to be mixed. Most people say they are happy with the service
and price but there is a hard sell to buy accessories.

Maybe I could weather the sales pitch and just say I cant afford to
spend anything more.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the information on your research and glad you were able to get
your order cancelled. Maybe I will just forget the whole idea of getting
a Nikon 4500. Its getting awfully complicated with a lot of uncertainity.

Jerry Meola said:

Mike was polite and canceled my order. At 529 they are one of the
highest priced 4500s around. He was also ready to issue a return
if I had received the camera (14 day return policy)

I am very upset with nikon and their dealers over this rebate.
Many people are going to lose a lot of money over denied rebaltes
and if Nikon wants to lower the price why hold our money 4-6 weeks
the say it will take to rebate the money. Now that the dealers
have raised the price $50-100 since the rebate was announced the
rebale has been cut in half
Nikon may have wanted to cut down on the non-authorized dealers
cutting prices but this was not the way to go about it.

I have owned Nikon for 30 years but I may have to look at the new
digital canons. they are beating nikon on specs and price and if
nikon is less than honorable over this issue.

I may be just madder than normal since my stero speakers (TANNOY)
which cost me two years pay when I was in high school and purchased
with a lifetime warrenty need repairs and the company admits that
though they were sold with a lifetime warrenty they will not honor
the warrenty. Times are bad and companies are going to try to take
advantage of us

candid camera said:

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Linda Grant said:

The price of the CP 4500 seems to keep going up every day and now
is about $600 or more (before the famous Nikon 200 dollar rebate).

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Does anyone have any experience with this company? I have read
the comments at resellerratings website about this company and it
seems to be mixed. Most people say they are happy with the service
and price but there is a hard sell to buy accessories.

Maybe I could weather the sales pitch and just say I cant afford to
spend anything more.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jerry, I am ticked off as you are about Nikon's apparent policy. I sent them an email earlier today specifically asking them if they would rebate a purchase from buydigitaldirect. They sent me back a form letter stating that they had received my email and would reply within four days. I'm hoping but do not expect a positive response. Regardless, I will post their answer when I receive it. This rebate is good until the end of May so things may work out in the end.

I can understand that they must be under pressure from their authorized dealers whom I can sympathize with. However, where do you draw the line in "protecting" the retailer? The brick and motar stores, like Ritz, sell this camera at $699. Authorized dealers like Amazon and Buydig are $649. Proteckdirect is currently $584 with shipping. Why is it ok for there to be a spread of over $100 within this group of dealers but not ok for someone like buydigitaldirect to sell even cheaper? Their cameras are legit, not grey market. If Nikon wants to protect a certain group of retailers then they should enforce a set price for all of them.

This attempt by manufacturers and/or retailers to maintain a certain price is failing repeatedly in USA. I guess it still works in certain closed societies like Japan and Latin America. It's a nice idea in theory but in reality it only screws the consumer over. I have looked at the 4500 as a purchase even though I don't like what I hear about the complex menu and the fact that it is obvious a new, and improved, version must be shortly forthcoming. A $200 discount put, or seemed to put, this camera up very favorably pricewise against models by Canon such as the new 4000 and the recent S45 which have received fantastic reviews. Now that Nikon, and it's greedy authorized dealers, are playing games by offering a huge discount on one hand while rapidly raising their prices on the other, it only antagonizes present and future customers. You really have to wonder sometimes about the mentality of the people that run so many of these companies. They seem to be utterly oblivious as to how their actions are perceived by the very comsumers they depend upon.

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Jerry Meola said:

I talked to someone named mike today about my order from yesterday
and he confirmed that they are not an authorized dealer and the
rebates do not apply to their cameras. the rebate form from the
nikon web site clearly states that it must be an authorized dealer
or NO REBATE. As an attorney it looks like they are about to
inforce this clause. This is not a normal clause in rebate
programs. After all Nikon got paid full price by an authorized
dealer before it was resold to a secondary dealer.

Mike was polite and canceled my order. At 529 they are one of the
highest priced 4500s around. He was also ready to issue a return
if I had received the camera (14 day return policy)

I am very upset with nikon and their dealers over this rebate.
Many people are going to lose a lot of money over denied rebaltes
and if Nikon wants to lower the price why hold our money 4-6 weeks
the say it will take to rebate the money. Now that the dealers
have raised the price $50-100 since the rebate was announced the
rebale has been cut in half
Nikon may have wanted to cut down on the non-authorized dealers
cutting prices but this was not the way to go about it.

I have owned Nikon for 30 years but I may have to look at the new
digital canons. they are beating nikon on specs and price and if
nikon is less than honorable over this issue.

I may be just madder than normal since my stero speakers (TANNOY)
which cost me two years pay when I was in high school and purchased
with a lifetime warrenty need repairs and the company admits that
though they were sold with a lifetime warrenty they will not honor
the warrenty. Times are bad and companies are going to try to take
advantage of us

Click to expand...

So then was the person who posted here ( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1007&message=4822580 ) lying???

Jerry Meola said:

Mike was polite and canceled my order. At 529 they are one of the
highest priced 4500s around. He was also ready to issue a return
if I had received the camera (14 day return policy)

I am very upset with nikon and their dealers over this rebate.
Many people are going to lose a lot of money over denied rebaltes
and if Nikon wants to lower the price why hold our money 4-6 weeks
the say it will take to rebate the money. Now that the dealers
have raised the price $50-100 since the rebate was announced the
rebale has been cut in half
Nikon may have wanted to cut down on the non-authorized dealers
cutting prices but this was not the way to go about it.

I have owned Nikon for 30 years but I may have to look at the new
digital canons. they are beating nikon on specs and price and if
nikon is less than honorable over this issue.

I may be just madder than normal since my stero speakers (TANNOY)
which cost me two years pay when I was in high school and purchased
with a lifetime warrenty need repairs and the company admits that
though they were sold with a lifetime warrenty they will not honor
the warrenty. Times are bad and companies are going to try to take
advantage of us

candid camera said:

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Linda Grant said:

The price of the CP 4500 seems to keep going up every day and now
is about $600 or more (before the famous Nikon 200 dollar rebate).

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Does anyone have any experience with this company? I have read
the comments at resellerratings website about this company and it
seems to be mixed. Most people say they are happy with the service
and price but there is a hard sell to buy accessories.

Maybe I could weather the sales pitch and just say I cant afford to
spend anything more.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I took another look at the rebate form and tried to read what it said carefully and precisely. (I'm not an attornery!)

It says that the camera must be purchased from Nikon, Inc by a Nikon authorized dealer or distributor and sold to consumers by a Nikon authorized dealer or reseller.

Then it goes on to talk about the required markings of E4500(U)

Jerry Meola said:

rebates do not apply to their cameras. the rebate form from the
nikon web site clearly states that it must be an authorized dealer
or NO REBATE. As an attorney it looks like they are about to
inforce this clause. This is not a normal clause in rebate
programs. After all Nikon got paid full price by an authorized
dealer before it was resold to a secondary dealer.

Click to expand...

The following two emails end this discussion - I hope someone is still reading -

Nikon will pay the rebate on resellers

Buydigitaldirect.com has been very upfront with their dealings with me - informing me that they were not an authorized dealer and cancelling my order - I will reorder from them again today

************

This is the email I sent to Nikon
------------------------
Name: Jerry Meola
EMail: [email protected]

Message: I purchased a coolpix 4500 from buydigitaldirect.com this week
it is a proper camera (by serial number) for the rebate but the company
is a reseller not an authorized authorized dealer. Will nikon honor
the rebate? I still have 12 days in which I can return the camera
The confusion over these rebates may make more dis-satisfied customers
for Nikon than satisfied customers

Their reply restricts my posting it on this forum but the answer was that

any camera purchased in the United States Puerto Rico or theUS Virgin Islands will be given the rebate if the the serial numbers show it is not a grey market camera.

I suggest you go to the NikonUS web site and click on CONTACT US and ask them yourself - my reply in one day even gave a case number if I should have problems

I just checked, their price today is $549. That's quite an increase for one week!

cu-jaz said:

Justin

cu-jaz said:

Linda Grant said:

Does anyone have any experience with bestbuydigital? They are asking
$529 with free shipping. On their website it says it has a Nikon USA
warrantry. I want to make sure I can get the Nikon rebate too.

Click to expand...

I am sorry, the company I am asking about is buydigitaldirect.

I am not asking about bestbuydifital. My mistake! I just got things
comfused in my mind.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jerry, Nice job of putting minds to rest. This is sort of a replay of the Office Max scenario. Not the first or last of complicated interaction with corporate America as pertains to our field of interest.

Paul Linder