XTi and lens purchase experience

[david maupin]

Well I've been watching this deal at Best Price Camera for awhile. Should have known it was a scam...you know, if it looks to good to be true, etc. etc. So I placed an order online. I then received an e-mail stating that before my order could be processed, I needed to call and verify the order. So I did, and was told by an abrupt and rude person that my order needed to be upgraded because the lens in my package was all plastic and the lens he was pushing on me was the kit lens for quite a bit more money. When I told him I wouldn't pay more for a cheapie lens, he got irate and told me I needed to make a decision. I told him I needed to think about it and would call him back in about an hour. He didn't want me to hang up and I had to cut him off. I immediately called my credit card company and explained the situation so they could place a hold on a possible charge. I also wanted to see if I had been billed, which thankfully I had not. I then called this jerk back and told him to cancell my order. He told me there would be an $89 dollar charge because, he said the order had been processed. I told him he was full of it, that how could my order have been processed if he was still waiting for my decision on the lens. I then told him that my credit card company had already been warned and that I planned to contact the New York Better Business bureau. He hung up. So I wonder has anyone else fallen for this trap? (I'm still mad about it!)

 

[Johnny in L.A.]

Should have known it was a scam...you know, if it looks to good to
be true, etc. etc.

That's not the only reason you should have known. Always look up an unfamiliar web merchant on resellerratings.com or Google them before buying. Here is the entry for this vendor:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Best_Price_Cameras_6

Overall Customer Satisfaction Rating:
Six-Month Rating: 0.43/10
Lifetime Rating: 0.26/10

Looks like they try to rip off everyone who walks in the door, so to speak!

 

[david maupin]

thanks...I will definitely bookmark that one.

 

[ctransj]

I don't want to be rude but aren't you supposed to know and do some research before placing an order?
--
http://pbase.com/ttransj

 

[david maupin]

my primary reason for the post was to expose Best Price Camera to anyone else who may make the mistake I made.

 

[PicPocket]

Sorry, I do not live in US so any answer to my question would be knowledge for me.

What I really dont understand is that in a country like US where generally consumer rights are much better than at least half of the world, how do these scam artists continue to operate. This scam technique is quite old and resellerratings etc is full of stories which sound exactly the same. So when it is a known problem, under what legal defense do they operate?

These guys dont seem to be fly by night operators, so seems its not easy to shut them down. Just curious what goes on

--
PicPocket
http://pictures.ashish-pragya.com/GalleryIndex.html

 

[cftrunt]

Don't get mad get even. Do what you are doing to spread the word. I almost fell for the scam too but thanks to resellersratings.com and a couple of other similar sites I was saved the embarrassment. Watch out for USA PhotoNation too who on 6/16/07 advertises the 400 XTi black body for $179 (there is one that is too good to be true), Broadway camera, ExpressCameras, Ranbow and on and on. Be careful of ShopCart.com as a portal as there is no screening or verification of ratings. These scam sites actually set up captive rating domain names and phony sites and fill them with glowing testimonials. Caveat emptor.

 

[Mascot]

Sorry, I do not live in US so any answer to my question would be
knowledge for me.
What I really dont understand is that in a country like US where
generally consumer rights are much better than at least half of the

I don't live in the US either, but I have just about the opposite impression of consumer rights from what you describe. My impression has been that you don't have a whole lot of rights set in law, but rather rely on what each store offers you.

Having said that, I vacation in the US a fair bit and have never experienced bad service when I've had to return to the store for some reason.

 

[z_diver]

Actually I bet while doing his research he found the site with the rip-off scam. I know I did while looking into my first online camera purchases. As someone mentioned further down in this thread the sites give themselves rave reviews.

After almost falling for a few of those scams I stick to the big name stores which is not the way I'd like to purchase my equipment but it's the only way I feel comfortable from a time/cost savings perspective.

Customer rights here in the US are probably better than 1/2 the world but is that saying a great deal? And if the shop is going to rip customers off, then they are not concerned with sneaking around whatever laws are on the books anyway. Up until now there doesn't seem to be a lot of enforcement of these scams so they are easily able to swap addresses and keep going.

The worst part is that good honest shops(online or otherwise) go broke competing against these rip-off artists.

 

[Naturalist]

David,

Thanks for sharing your horse-$h!t experience.

Please be sure and follow through with your threat to call the BBB, etc. We need to make sure that idiots like this do not stay in business any longer than necessary.