Consumer Strikes Back at Crooked Online Retailer 659
BigBadLad writes "Seems like customers are at a huge disadvantage when dealing with dishonest retailers. This is the story of a man who had a horrible experience with an online camera retailer. In short he was lied to, yelled at, and threatened to be sued if he posted the experience on his blog. He was also persuaded to sign an agreement that would allow the retailer to charge him an extra $100 if he left bad feedback."
Why are you complaining about the results? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why are you complaining about the results? (Score:1, Insightful)
I've seen enough situations where people did something out of their own negligence, stupidity, carelessness, or whatever and then try to push back the blame on someone else (i.e. the retailer, the manufacturers, or even other customers).
Accountability (Score:2, Insightful)
(I'm an Aussie; we know about corroborees and stuff)
But what's to stop someone with a personal grudge or a commercial agenda from doing the same thing? Sure, it's a lottery to see if your blog-rave captures any attention on /. or BoingBoing or Digg etc., but the costs are low and the potential damage high.
How can a reputable business (even one with a couple of justly unhappy customers; nobody's service is perfect) protect themselves?
Re:My mom's terrible experience with these croooks (Score:5, Insightful)
It's unusual because its, well, unusual. As in rare. I've been in retail business myself, and while this kind of behavior occurs, it doesn't happen at big firms like those you mentioned. That's because no business can get to that size with that attitude. Customers don't keep quiet about their bad experiences, they tell everyone they know.
I've never had any experience like this with any of the firms you name. A firm WILL try to sell you a warranty, but they won't pull an illegal bait-n-switch like what was described, since most businessmen don't like getting thrown in jail.
Re:Why are you complaining about the results? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why are you complaining about the results? (Score:2, Insightful)
There's no such thing as a free lunch (Score:4, Insightful)
Karma at work (Score:5, Insightful)
For whatever reason, this post has caused a flashpoint of activity as anyone who has ever been wronged by a shady New York camera dealer exacts revenge.
Honestly, I expect there's nothing for the people at the company to do now but run the shop under a new name, that one is done.
However I don't think the incidents are as isolated as you think. Just because they often get away with hoodwinking people into buying warranties and overpriced accessories does not mean they should get off scott free even if not everyone complains. They really are getting what they have coming to them. Even the complaints are not that isolated, just look at the horrible ResellerRatings score.
ALWAYS read the negative comments (Score:2, Insightful)
Also, if there is no physical address listed or a phone number on their web page, I move on to another retailer.
They still list pricegrabber on their site [priceritephoto.com]
I also google for their phone number, and their address and check the location on a map. One vendor I was about to purchase from didn't show up on any maps (it could have been a new building, but better safe than sorry for a few dollars).
Lastly, never let ANYONE yell at you on the phone. Just hang-up. Crank Yankers was so successful because of the false politness of people on the phone or with strangers. And NEVER let him talk to your boss. This is a personal issue, not a work one.
one time CC numbers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How can we persue the owner, not just the store (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I too was (almost) a victim (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, this ends up meaning that I don't do much business with the smaller online retailers unless they operate through EBay (or I happen to hear about them). Hmmm, I suppose that says interesting things about EBay. You know, I'll bet you could set up a transaction rating system like that that random merchants could opt into. Since you're only providing the rating system, overhead probably wouldn't be that high, and you could probably support yourself with ad revenue. Paypal is probably in the perfect market position to do something like this.
Re:How can we persue the owner, not just the store (Score:5, Insightful)
He's not talking about sales tax, he's talking about income tax. Even if you only sell intrastate, you are still responsible to pay income taxes on the profits that you make.
The IRS is the one organization that you don't want to fuck with. Remember, these are the guys who took down Al Capone.
LK
Re:Storefront Photos (Score:3, Insightful)
Do some research especially in forums. While some ratings sites get rigged by the stores, a simple question in a forum will bring response from customers that you can ask questions of. If a crooked store answers on the forum, you generally get a few quick bad responses right after them like where's my money?.
Try to buy small from a new company. Don't drop $3000 on your first purchase. Buy some film or something.
Talk to the store owner and ask some questions. You'll get an idea of honesty and how knowledgeable they are. Sure, I don't need to buy everything from someone who knows about it, but it's an added plus.
Re:There's no such thing as a free lunch (Score:4, Insightful)
When you scrape away all of the cruft, you end up with just a clever way of stating the law of causality. Specifically, that anything (a lunch, say) can only exist because of some cause (or set of causes) that made it. Why not say that if that's what you mean?
Otherwise, if I get a coupon for "1 free lunch at McDonald's", should I not redeem it, because TANSTAAFL?
There are plenty of valid, no-strings-attached, "free lunches" (ie: great deals, which is what you mean in this case) out there.
Besides, this wasn't a "free lunch" scenario, it was a scam scenario. Big difference.
I'm also having trouble being massively sympathetic to someone who decided where to buy a multi-thousand dollar camera based solely on price.
This isn't so much about sympathy (although if you can't sympathize with the guy, you might need to have a chest x-ray to verify you, indeed, still have a heart) as it is about exposing a racket for what it is, hopefully shutting it down, and "oh, ain't it cool" that it was us (the digg,
Now ask yourself this, how many "free lunches" did these scum-bags enjoy at the cost of innocent, and possibly naive, people who found a great deal on the web and really didn't know any better? How many people have been truly harmed by this scheme, people who were merely looking to make an honest business transaction?
And you say there's no such thing as a free lunch!
MOD DOWN ANTI SEMETIC BIGOT (Score:1, Insightful)
in my country, we put people like you in jail. inhuman racist scum.
Re:MOD DOWN ANTI SEMETIC BIGOT (Score:3, Insightful)
You can not really wish to put people in jail for their opinions .
You should work to change those opinions , many people have been indoctrinated with false ideas , we should consider it a mitzvah to help them lose the hatred .
Re:Brightened my day (Score:2, Insightful)
Those Bastards (Score:5, Insightful)
To whom it may concern:
I am writing this letter to describe the experiences that I have had with a business called PriceRitePhoto.com. Their address is:1274 49th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219 and their customer service phone number is (888) 365-4300. I found this business through the PriceGrabber.com website and attempted to purchase a camera from them. However this company was more interested in lying to me and manipulating me than selling me a camera.
I am spending my time and effort in order to inform you of the dirty tactics used by PriceRitePhoto.com with the hope that my story will save other potential customers the headaches and lost sleep that I have endured. The manager of PriceRitePhoto.com has already tried to silence my opinion through bribery and extortion but I think that the potential customers *deserve* to know the business strategies employed by PriceRitePhoto.com before deciding to do business with them.
I understand that I am the kind of customer that PriceRitePhoto.com doesn't want. I am an informed consumer and a comparison shopper. If they had simply been honest with me and told me that they were unwilling to sell me the Canon Digital Rebel camera unless I purchased some other accessories, I would have just found another company from which to purchase this camera. I probably wouldn't have submitted a negative review on PriceGrabber.com - I just would have gone my own way. But what I got instead of honesty were lies and manipulation, and I think these strategies are completely unacceptable for a professional organization and ought to be publicized.
I first read about the Canon Digital Rebel camera more than a year ago, and I instantly wanted one. However I was not able to afford to purchase one until recently. Several months ago I began researching the Digital Rebel and several other cameras in preparation for a purchase. I found the PriceGrabber.com website which offered reviews of many different merchants selling this camera, in addition to their prices. I saw that the various merchants fell into several different strata - about 7 or 8 were in the very lowest price range, from $799 to $850 including shipping. I found a merchant in the middle of this price range with a high rating and mostly positive reviews: PriceRitePhoto.com. I knew that I would also need some other accessories with the camera, and I planned on purchasing a USB 2.0 Compact Flash card reader and a Compact Flash card. I found that PriceRitePhoto.com had a USB 1.0 CF reader for $49, but did not offer a USB 2.0 reader. However Best Buy sold a USB 2.0 reader for $15, so I drove to purchase this item at Best Buy. After some research I decided that the CF card that I wanted was the Lexar 80x 1 gigabyte card. I looked on the PriceRitePhoto.com website but found that this merchant did not offer this card for sale, so instead I purchased it from TigerDirect.com.
So the only item left was the camera. On Thursday, September 16th, 2004 I placed order #7490 from PriceRitePhoto.com for a Canon Digital Rebel camera with 18-55mm EF-S lens for $799 plus $24.80 shipping. I thought I was getting a great deal at this time, but I had no idea what abuse I was in store for.
It began on the following Sunday, September 19th. I received an email at about 11:00 am, stating that I needed to call PriceRitePhoto.com to "confirm the information on your order". This is where the deceptions began, because the real purpose of this phone call was not in fact to verify my order information, but to sell me some additional items. What follows is certainly one of the most unpleasant experiences that I've ever en
Justice, slashdot style. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Jewish businesses mostly, not the mob (Score:2, Insightful)
well...his statement on the ethnicity of the major New York photo retailers is actually correct...but he seems to have missed the fact that the stores which are primarily run by Jewish New Yorkers (read: B&H, which has a sales staff that's 90% Hasidic) are the large, reliable and ethical ones that are considered the most trusted in the region. they have nothing whatsoever in common with the shady installations. So.....his population stats = decent; his wild allegations of impropriety = not so much.
...anyone ever hear of a chargeback? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a very simple call or a personal meeting to a manager at your bank stating that someone ripped you off and you would like your money returned to you.
The company has to do a lot to prove the charge was valid. If they actually ripped you off, then they won't go out of their way to dispute the chargeback.
In fact, this works TOO well. One time I ordered a product from overseas - the payment was processed the next day and I received an email saying the package shipped a few days later. Two weeks go by, no package. I contacted their company with emails and calls where they assured me that the package was shipped. I requested proof of a tracking number or receipt for the shipment, but received no response. I became suspicious of the situation, so I charged it back.
Not only did I get my money returned to me, but a few weeks later the product finally happened to arrive. Oops! But hey, they failed to assure me that I wasn't getting ripped off, so I did whatever I had to do to make sure it didn't happen.
People severely underestimate the power of the consumer.
Re:What to do in such situations (Score:4, Insightful)
There is no reason to lie to the credit card company--in a chargeback situation, they'll almost always be on your side because they don't eat the charge, the merchant does. They're much more interested in keeping you happy (the one they make all their money off of, who can drop them in favor of another bank if they don't perform) instead of the merchant, whose only alternative is to stop accepting credit cards--which is no choice at all.
In short: "I am dealing with a scam artist merchant, please initiate a chargeback and issue me a new card number" is a much better approach than "someone stole my credit card and is trying to buy a camera with it."
Re:let's take down pricerite! (Score:2, Insightful)
Immature!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Complaints should go through normal channels. A few comments up there was a guy with the opposite perspective. He had an online store and was blown out of the water by a "conspiracy" that likely was due to the competition not liking him. He seemed like a nice guy.
So, what guarantee do you have that Pricerite aren't good guys and all the testimonials you have read are fictious? You would only need maybe 10 fictitious online identities to achieve this.
I think Pricerite probably deserve getting shafted. But not this way!
Sheesh...