true or false?

[dcrin3]

http://www.prestigecamera.com/product.asp?id=cnxha1&l=ShopCartUSA

the darn thing is going for $3300!! is that to true to be true? :) a canon a1 for that cheap?

[Barry_Green]

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

(also known as Prestige Cameras)

[dcrin3]

for the love of everything holy!!!

[Duff]

What about this one? http://www.digitalfotoclub.com/sc/product-features.asp?id=964672981
"Digital Foto Club" has it for $3350.

Reseller ratings gives them a 9.03 / 10 from 1600 reviews: http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Digital_Foto_Club

Epinions gives them a 4.5 / 5 from 6 thousand reviews: http://www.epinions.com/content_134333107844

Still, $3350 seems too good to be true when B&H has it at $3700 and everywhere else reputable for $4000. Has anyone had any experience with this vendor? I'm assuming most of those reviews come from consumer electronics purchases, and I'm wondering if they're just as reputable with multi-thousand dollar purchases.




EDIT: Nevermind, I looked around and found a previous thread: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=79233

[Duff]

From the other thread, it seems as though the vendor came through, but it's just that they aren't an authorized dealer. With an unauthorized dealer, is it just that it isn't covered by manufacturer's warranty if it breaks? And you could be buying a refurbished product without knowing it?

[Interpolator]

I put little more than casual interest in resellerratings.com as they are very easily manipulated. I spoke with the moderator of the site about one Brooklyn camera store with a personal residence as its business location. This company had a higher resellerratting than B&H; with numerous daily positive reviews. I looked further and the previous 73 posters I sampled all posted outstanding, were first time posters and the vast majority mentioned how great the extended warranty was. The moderator stated that they had eliminated over 1100 ostensibly fraudulent posts for the same vendor. Many of these merchants are totally unscrupulous. Buyer beware of these lowball operations that make the sale cost up on shipping, extended warranty, the battery, or selling a returned, used or remanufactured unit.

Here is a look at the earlier referenced Broadway Photo, aka A&M Photo World. Look at AKA's address next door to Broadway Photo next to the adult bookstore. Are they all one business?

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0006.htm

Here is a look at the Digital Foto Discount Club which is the "Discount Foto Club" referred to above.

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0038.htm


Here is the link to Prestige Camera's storefront which was earlier touted in this thread. Note the Better Business Bureau reference to Broadway Photo being the same company on its records. Now why would the BBB know anything about these guys?

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0180.htm



Now don't tell me looks aren't everything!
True or False

[t-h-e-w-h-o]

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY FROM A&M photoworld or "broadway" aka bwayphoto. They ripped me off $2000 and try to force you into buying shit. I hope they go to hell. :)

[Duff]

Hmm... I can understand these businesses making money off of high pressure sales tactics, but if you keep outright refusing everything they offer you other than the camera you're buying, how can they still rip you off without performing something downright illegal like taking your money and not shipping your product? (I'm assuming they wouldn't still be operating if they were doing something that was illegal). Just curious.

Also, I would have thought websites like reseller ratings would have some sort of protection against bots spamming positive reviews, like limiting the number of reviews per IP per day, but that was just an assumption. I guess I could be wrong. Thanks for the pictures.

[philnerd]

<snip>
Here is a look at the Digital Foto Discount Club which is the "Discount Foto Club" referred to above.

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0038.htm
<snip>

Come on now, that photo is of a mail drop business where they used to handle returns.

These are probably more appropriate pictures to use for digitalfotoclub.com:
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0053.htm
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0021.htm

They're not an authorized dealer for Canon's XL/XH camcorders. FYI however, they are an authorized dealer for Canon consumer cams like the HV10. I've purchased multiple items from them and they've always been legit. They've also proved to be responsive on the phone and via email. They've also never once tried to sell me anything over the phone. Everyone's mileage may vary of course, but I've certainly been happy with their service and split most of my online purchases between them and B&H.

[Interpolator]

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY FROM A&M photoworld or "broadway" aka bwayphoto. They ripped me off $2000 and try to force you into buying shi*. I hope they go to hell. :)

To bad you lost out with those crooks. Why did you not charge back your credit card with the improper charge when you were cheated? I have successfully done this before with these Broklyn camera outfits until I gave up buying from them and started doing business exclusively with B&H.

The credit card chargeback is a powerful weapon for consumers. Not only do you get your money back, but the interchange rate of the offending vendor is generally increased substantially reducing their profit margin on each sale. If there are to many chargebacks VISA or Mastercard will terminate there credit card rights. Of course this inevitably spawns a new company to start the fraud all over again.


Philnerd - Sorry about the picture of only the "shipping and receiving" location for digitalfotoclub.com.

[Huy Vu]

Hmm... I can understand these businesses making money off of high pressure sales tactics, but if you keep outright refusing everything they offer you other than the camera you're buying, how can they still rip you off without performing something downright illegal like taking your money and not shipping your product? (I'm assuming they wouldn't still be operating if they were doing something that was illegal). Just curious.

If you refuse to buy all that extra stuff from them, they immediately tell you that the item is out of stock and won't ship for weeks or months. Or they might ship you the camera without charger, battery etc. and overcharge you on shipping. This forces you into the position of having to dispute the transaction, which is an unpleasant experience.

[King_Dontae]

Yeah, I was gonna say...that's an odd price. It's under dealer cost.

[Barry_Green]

The bigger question is: why would you want to give your credit card number to a pack of baldfaced liars? Seems like that's just dumb any way you shake it.

Why not just deal with a reputable honest dealer, instead of trying to "game the system"?

[Duff]

The bigger question is: why would you want to give your credit card number to a pack of baldfaced liars? Seems like that's just dumb any way you shake it.

Why not just deal with a reputable honest dealer, instead of trying to "game the system"?

In the end, that's what I'm going to end up doing. Initially I was just surprised that one of the "budget" places didn't seem to be a scam from their reseller rating. My last post was just curiosity, since I always see on reseller ratings for the scam places things like "...and then they called me up and he was talking fast and next thing I knew I had order $2000 worth of accessories!" I know they wouldn't be able to pressure me into purchasing accessories, so I was wondering if it was possible to "beat" the scammers.

I think this one is the best: http://www.bestpricecameras.com/prodetails.asp?prodid=674426
"Wow! Why would I buy it from B&H when I can get it for half the price here!"
I doubt they even own one of the cameras, haha.

[t-h-e-w-h-o]

To bad you lost out with those crooks. Why did you not charge back your credit card with the improper charge when you were cheated? I have successfully done this before with these Broklyn camera outfits until I gave up buying from them and started doing business exclusively with B&H.

The credit card chargeback is a powerful weapon for consumers. Not only do you get your money back, but the interchange rate of the offending vendor is generally increased substantially reducing their profit margin on each sale. If there are to many chargebacks VISA or Mastercard will terminate there credit card rights. Of course this inevitably spawns a new company to start the fraud all over again.


Philnerd - Sorry about the picture of only the "shipping and receiving" location for digitalfotoclub.com.

this was around 3ish+ years ago. i used paypal and got F-ed. I contacted the BBB and stuff and somehow i was given a settlement from them. I think i ended up getting around.... $1700 back. lol.