DO NOT buy a digital camera online until you read this.

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Wisebread readers, take note. This is not just a case of buyer beware. This is “buyer run for your life clutching your credit card close to your chest.” Bestpricecameras.com, one of hundreds of Brooklyn-based digital camera stores with very shoddy reputations, is out to do one thing…deceive you and take your money. In my opinion, they are performing a classic fraud called Bait And Switch (more on that later).

So, my wife has her own photography business. I decided it was time to upgrade her camera to something rather special. A Fujifilm S5 Pro, which has an RRP of $2400. I did what I always do when searching for a new product…I went to Google Products and did a search.

THE BAIT
Many results came back from Google Products, but I was surprised to see a result for $1089. No, that’s too cheap. It’s too good to be true, right? Well, the web page said no. A very professional site gave me the lowdown on the new camera. It said it came with a full one-year US warranty, instantly calming my fears that this was gray market (Chinese) product. They don’t carry that kind of warranty. And the deal, wow, what a deal. Not only was I promised the Fuji Camera (body only of course, she has all her own lenses) but I also was offered an MP4 player, a digital flash, full-size tripod, cleaning kit, and express shipping FREE. I patted myself on the back for getting the deal of the century, entered my payment details and sat back, smug and impressed with myself. I got my wife a great camera for half price. Sweet.

THE SWITCH
A few minutes after placing my order, I got the email saying I had to call and confirm. No big deal, sounds professional. And that’s when the whole world came tumbling down.

A very pushy salesman called Richard, with an accent right out of The Sopranos, answered the phone. His first job was to tell me the camera I had ordered was a Chinese model and came with nothing else but the body. “That’s what body-only means” he said smugly. “No battery, no strap, no charger, just the body…and it will take 6-8 weeks to deliver. Oh, and it only comes with a 90 day warranty. You’ll need to upgrade to the US model, I can do you a special deal on that, just $2100.” I haggled and haggled and was very confused, eventually he put the price of $1999.99 out there and before I knew what was happening, he said my new order would be on its way.

A few seconds after I put the phone down, I felt sick. What had just happened? Was this bait ‘n’ switch? Had I just been through the oldest con in the game? I called back to immediately cancel my order. By that time, it was too late. The store had closed. I set my alarm to get up at 7.30 (9.30 NY time) to instantly call and cancel, and get a refund (you can see how badly that went in a second).

Bait And Switch. A rough guide.

Wikipedia defines Bait And Switch (BAS) as…

“…a form of fraud in which the fraudster lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute good is. The goal of the bait-and-switch is to convince some buyers to purchase the substitute good as a means of avoiding disappointment over not getting the bait, or as a way to recover sunk costs expended to try to obtain the bait. It suggests that the seller will not show the original product or product advertised but instead will demonstrate a more expensive product.”

You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that Bestpricecameras.com are experts in Bait And Switch, even when the deny furiously that they are. I urge you all to visit their website right now and look at the myriad products and deals they have. Everything is well below retail, sometimes half of retail. There is no mention anywhere of Chinese models on the order page. In fact, on the whole site I found one mention. It was buried at the bottom of the help page, and read as follows….

BestPriceCameras carries US & Non-US products. Non US products may be considerably less expensive. The product packaging may or may not include all software, accessories, and features intended for US customers. Please allow three to four weeks for delivery on some international products. USA warranty may be additional. Images and specifications are for illustrative purposes only.

Since my experience, and logging a complaint with the BBB, it has been reworded slightly and moved up the page. But it’s still deceptive and well-hidden from the main order pages (and now, I cant even copy & paste it...they have disabled that feature, hence the screen cap below)….

What does that all mean?
Well, in either case, this one piece of verbiage is keeping bestpricecameras.com from being shut down permanently. They are basically covering their butts by saying ANYTHING on the site could in fact be gray market, stripped down and not available for immediate delivery. Crooks? Fraud? Make your own mind up, but I know a scam.

My continuing customer service nightmares.
So, back to my hell. I called the customer service department the next day, very early, and talked to someone called James. I told him that I had been railroaded into a fraudulent deal, and wanted an instant cancellation before the order leaves their warehouse. The website states a 48 hour processing time, so no problem. Well, not so. He explained that the camera was in a warehouse ready to be shipped out with over 2500 other products and they could not find it (hmm, that’s handy). I stated clearly that as I had called to cancel, I was not going to pay a restocking fee, and he agreed. He also put a note on my account saying ‘no restocking fee’ so that when I received the camera I could return it without losing any money.

Lies, lies, lies.
A few days later, the camera arrives. I don’t even open the box. I just call and ask for my return authorization number. And that’s when bestpricecameras.com went on high alert. I was passed around from one rude salesman to another, speaking to over 11 people in all, just to get a return number (which to this date I have not received). Guess what? No note had been placed on my account. I owed them 10%, or $200, to return a product I had tried to cancel less than 24 hours after ordering it. It hadn’t even been opened.
I was shouted at. Verbally abused. At one point I was even questioned about why I would want to return a product, and that as a company they only make about $6 on a camera like a FUJI S5 (somehow I’m doubting that). Then, they hung up.

I called back again and talked to another CSR. Explaining why I thought I had been victimized, I pointed out that I was well aware of the phrase body-only, and that every reputable site includes the battery, charger and so on with the body. Body-only means no lens. He was adamant, I was wrong, he was right. “But hang on, the site said 1-yr warranty” I said. “The site is wrong” he said. Hmm, good to know.

I had another question. “Why then, if it takes 6-8 weeks to deliver, does the site offer shipping options as quickly as overnight?” I was given no answer. “And why doesn’t it state on the site that this model is Chinese?” I asked. “It does” he said, look at the help center page. Well, I have already shown you that verbiage.

I asked another salesman if he had heard of the term Bait And Switch. “We are not bait and switch” he said, parrot-fashion. He said it several times. When I asked him what he thought Bait And Switch meant, he fell silent for a few seconds and then said “we are not bait and switch.” This guy would not have done well on a debating team. Then he hung up on me.

I called again, a day later, still trying to get a return number. This time I was shouted for asking for the customer service rep’s name. “HOW DARE YOU ASK THAT, YOU DON’T DESERVE TO KNOW THAT” he screamed before hanging up on me. My total number of hang-ups to date…seven. This company will not talk if they are backed into a corner.

Do everything you can to protect yourself.
Across the Internet there are hundreds of very professional sites offering amazing deals. But save yourself a lot of time, money and effort and follow these pieces of advice, which I have garnered from several newsgroups, blogs and news stories about this epidemic.

Do a Google search for the camera store name, and most importantly, add something like scam, rippoff or problems in the search. Read every comment.
Visit the BBB and do a name-check. If they have an unsatisfactory record, or no record, run like the wind. Here is what the BBB says about bestpricescameras.com (aka www.infinitycameras.com, www.infiniticameras.com, www.mraccessory.com, www.regencycamera.com, www.hellocamera.com, www.beststopcamera.com, www.jandkcameras.com, www.eastcoastdistributor.com) 

Complaints to the Bureau allege that Best Price Cameras engages in high pressure sales tactics and false claims in order to intimidate consumers into buying extra items while they are placing their original order. Reports allege that these extra items are usually not compatible with the camera and consumers are not given an exact total of all items at the time of purchase. As a result, consumers are charged for warranties, batteries and other camera accessories that they did not know they were buying and that were advertised on the website as being included with the camera. Consumers report that invoices from Best Price Cameras are not itemized so it is difficult to know what consumers are being charged for and it is very difficult to obtain a refund. Consumers also detail grievances with the company such as being lied to about order status, cancelled orders without notification, purchasing and never receiving a product, being charged in excess of their original purchase without their consent, and difficulty contacting the company.

Check out this amazing collection of Brooklyn Camera Store images by Don Wiss . If your camera store is included in the collection of images, run screaming.

Do not trust ratingsplanet.com. From what I have uncovered, this is a front for companies with bad reputations. Bestpricecameras.com got amazing reviews. But go to a legitimate site like reseller ratings for a true picture. As you can see, it’s appalling.

Bestpricecameras.com -

0.27 out of 10 - Lifetime rating

0.42 out of 10 – 6 month rating (wow, they’re getting better)

If it’s too good to be true, IT IS. No-one is going to sell you a $2400 camera for $1200, and I feel ashamed that I fell for it. Go to reputable sites like Adorama.com or Wolfcamera.com. They have great reputations and good customer service.

Check the blogs for Digital Camera Scams. Here’s a story I found about wawadigital.com, and it’s way scarier than my experience. 

They list cameras for the lowest prices out there and then after you give them all your credit card information will not sell you the camera unless you purchase inflated and unnecessary accessories to go with it," wrote Kristin of Troy, Mich.
"When I told them I didn't want to purchase anything else, just the camera that they advertised, the representative yelled at me, spoke belligerently and told me that if I didn't buy the extra accessories he would cancel my order and charge my credit card a 20% restocking fee," Kristin said.
One blogger recounted the frightening experience one of his coworkers had. After refusing to purchase accessories, a representative left this message on the coworker's answering machine:
"You better not pick up, b****. I'm gonna to come down there and break your god**** neck. You heard me, alright? Kid, you better hear me, b****. Do you hear me, b****? Yes, you'd better believe it. You're in big trouble, my friend."

And if you haven’t had enough punishment yet, try these links for yet more stories and complaints about bestpricecameras.com. Bottom line…they will lure you in with a great deal, then try and take you for as much as they can. You have been warned folks.

http://www0.epinions.com/msg/show_~threads/cat_id_~22/id_~6938/forum_id_~145

http://www0.epinions.com/msg/show_~threads/cat_id_~22/id_~4653/forum_id_~145/sec_~forums/pp_~1#posts

http://www.marketingsyndrome.com/blog/stay-away-from-bestpricecamerascom/

http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=738509

http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?t=10918&page=2

And...the status of my camera horror story…
As you can imagine, I gave up calling bestpricecameras.com. They either verbally abuse you, transfer you to someone else, or hang up. So, I have filed a complaint with the BBB and the Internet Crime Complaint Center . I also called my credit card company to dispute the charges. I will let you know how it goes.

Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.

Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


Andrea Karim's picture

I'm wondering if these people are actually mafia. I can't think of any other reason that they haven't been shut down. The web is full of stories of their threats, lies, criminal behavior, and more.

Guest's picture
Duston

Sounds like this maybe a common scam. It was a Brooklyn's based business too. I wonder if it's the same people?

Good luck and I must say you have amazing patience for being treated as you were on the phone.

Good luck,

Duston

Paul Michael's picture

conduct there affairs wih a little more class than bestpricecameras.com. I should add that at one point, one of the irate salesmen said 'look, if we did bait and switch, how could we be in business for 12 years?" Hmmm. Let me think. Because you're a bunch of crooks that know how to navigate the law and intimidate people? Just a guess.

Guest's picture

It still seems like a good deal for the body-only. Why not go on Ebay and get chargers and batteries? The accessories are extremely cheap there. Couldn't you piece together a Franken-camera for around $1250. The only thing I can think of being wrong is that you'd probably want a warranty and it seems like the website explicitly lied on that front (as opposed to the disputed definition of "body-only").

Guest's picture
G

"It still seems like a good deal for the body-only. Why not go on Ebay and get chargers and batteries?"

The scam company is selling you the body for a huge $ loss to them, trying to make up the loss by over charging you with other items. If you refuse to buy other items and try to get them from ebay later or something like that they will tell you the order is delayed 6 weeks. If you are stupid enough to wait that long you will just continue to get other delays until you eventually call and cancel, maybe you'll have to pay a fine too. In other words you can not buy just the body itself.

Guest's picture
Guest

The point is that they NEVER send the stripped-down gray market body, if you don't fall for their bait-and-switch or accessory scams. I spent six weeks calling them and being promised that "the shipment arrives tomorrow, and your camera will be sent right out" until they finally admitted that they weren't promising that the camera would ever be available.

Andrea Karim's picture

Because you're a bunch of crooks that know how to navigate the law and intimidate people?

Sounds just like the mafia to me.

Guest's picture
Guest

So I had finally saved up enough money to buy the camera I really wanted. The Nikon D90. As many people do, I searched the Internet, ebay, Adorama, BH photo, and many others to get the best deal I could.
These guys I found on ebay call themselves "Get it Digital". They offered a "package" deal, that included extra lenses, and a bunch other stuff. They had the D90 Body, two Tamron lenses (zoom and regular), and the fixed 50mm Nikor lens, with 1.8 aperture, for US$1200. It was the best deal that I had found, so I went forward with the purchase. It included 16G memory.
When I contacted them by phone, they went over the package deal again with me to confirm. They told me that the Tamron lenses that were in the package were not the "D" type lens, and asked if I wanted to "upgrade", as the original ones were not true digital lenses for true digital pictures. The upgrade was about $130. I went with it believing what they had told me.
About a week goes by, and my box shows up FedEx. Naturally I'm excited and am ready to get it all unboxed. Then I notice something is wrong..........
The Camera body was in a box from Nikon that was from the VR package, but without the VR Lens. They removed it, but oh well I thought, I wasn't expecting it, nor did I think that i was getting the VR Lens.
I unboxed the Tamron Lenses, and knew I had been had. They were the cheap ass Chinese knockoffs, which are feather light. They are the cheapest lens you can possibly buy. Both the Tamrons were these type. I searched through the box for the 50mm Nikor, and it wasn't there.
I called the people at Get It Digital To find out what happened, and I was pretty furious.
The guy on the phone was an arrogant jerk, told me "well you see,.....you ordered a different lens package, which didn't include the Nikor 50mm. They pulled the Bait and Switch trick on me when I "upgraded". They DID NOT TELL ME THEY WERE GOING TO REMOVE THE NIKOR 50mm. I went ballistic. I was so mad I could feel the blood boiling in my ears. I was mad at myself mostly, to have gotten tricked. And the jerk on the phone smirking and making a joke of it didn't help.
I told them to put the f***ing lens in the mail NOW, and they just laughed and said it was not part of my package. They made me repurchase the lens by itself, and threw in an extra battery to try and compensate for me being so mad. I explained to them the bait-and-switch operation they had pulled on me, and they really didn't have much to say.
A week later I got the 50mm Nikor. And the cheap ass start up battery that sells for $7 on ebay. Not the solid full battery that can go for as much as $30. I did what I thought was appropriate and Trashed them on the feedback. They freaked out and called me 20 times in about 4 days. They were trying to get me to remove the negative feed back, in exchange for crediting me the extra $75 I spent on the 50mm that I had already paid for. This is called "Feedback Extortion". I ignored them.

Here are some facts about the "Get it Digital" clowns, in NY:

The feed back is faked. Look at the feedback history closely. See the UV filters and HDMI cables purchased minuet to minuet? If you go back really far you see the same user names pop up again. They are pumping their feedback, and also try to bury people like me who legitimately leave negative responses. I think I can safely say that their feedback is about 90% faked. I researched it for a long time. You can see the really obvious ones. (....UV Lens...got it...great product incredible ebayers...incredible products.....++++AAA+...) Yea right. And minuet to minuet like this? Please.

They have pulled the bait-and-switch on many other people. I have gotten over 40 emails in the past month from people wanting to know what happened. I have even spoken to people on the phone about them, and one guy in particular has a case with the NY attorneys office, and the BBB in NY.

The cheap Tamron rip offs are exactly what they are. Knock off Chinese junk. The upgrade is baseless. Tamron does not have upgraded lenses for these cheap chinese types.

I know they deal with the grey market, and claim to sell all new. My D90 has an issue that is well known. Its call the "F ee" or "F --" problem, and it can be fixed through the Nikon dealer service and repair. My camera had to have been used. Or an attempted refurbish.....it has the problem. It was probably returned and sent back by someone else. The Nikon box also was in really rough shape.

The extras they sell you in your package deal are plastic garbage. The cheapest possible tripods and uv filters, and carrying bags.....all crap. The memory also is Chinese built generic junk that has been known to have viruses.

The "Get it Digital" people are boils on the ass of humanity. Please don't deal with these people, and fund anymore of their scams. I think I have successfully killed thousands of dollars in sales for them. The last guy I talked to was about to spend $3500.

I hate being tricked. And what sucks is that I am a purchasing agent for a big company, and it is my job to carefully watch orders, and catch this kind of stuff. All the fast talking and the heavy NY accent spun me a little. But NEVER again.

Pass this along. You an email me droemail@gmail.com, and let me know if you have had an experience with these jerks. The more ammunition I have the better to get these guys off ebay. They make ebay look bad.

Thanks for reading my post.
Dave Ogle
Lawrence, Kansas

Guest's picture
Helsifer Von Nova

re: getitdigital.

I don't make a habit of necro-ing threads, but I was *just* about to buy from them, and came across this whilst searching out coupon codes.

Danke.

Paul Michael's picture

Bait and switch. The body-only is a gray market monster with almost no warranty, and the chances are, they won't even sell you one. The bait is the cheap camera price, then high pressure salesmen will do everything they can to make you buy the expensive camera. It's all a con. Please, avoid them.

Guest's picture
Terri

Have you contacted your state Attorney General and the Attorney General of the state where the business is located?

Paul Michael's picture

I'm waiting to hear back from the BBB and the ICCC before I go any further. In my opinion, they are breaking the law. I suspect the law can be bent enough to keep these guys in business, especially if they have a smart lawyer.

Sarah Winfrey's picture

Having just bought a Canon Rebel XT, their prices are insanely low.  They're saying $279 for a camera I spent over $600 on.  But the 50% discount would have been hard to ignore.  I'm glad I didn't see this several weeks ago!

Paul Michael's picture

As consumers, we're all doing what we can to try and cut our bills and expenses any way we can. If we need a new camera, we want to believe there are great deals out there. Deals that can save us a lot of money. We somehow believe that Internet stores can get huge discounts and have low overheads, so hey, maybe it's true. This is what these kind of stores pray on. Our belief that there are genuine deals to be had.

Guest's picture
J.Kru

Anytime you're going to buy anything from a website you don't already know by national reputation, type in the name of the store, followed by the word "scam." Google usually brings the bad ones to the top.

I almost bought a camera from USACamera until they called me to tell me that the camera I ordered was not available, but I could upgrade. Pffft.

Guest's picture
Guest

I have made several purchases from USACAMERA and had no problems.....there was a company called us1camera...they are the bad ones.

Guest's picture
the pres

You a probably talking about us1camera...usacamera never plays games about online purchases. we are small and only have 3 online ordertakers and I personally (as the owner) won't stand for game and dishonest employees. We stand behing all of our orders and that everything is on the up and up. BTW there have been several companies with similar names...but non with usacamera.com

Guest's picture
dermot mulcahy

I have purchased a camera from 'usacamera.com' but have not recieved it. I have made repeated attempts to contact the company by e-mail, but no reply.Also tried to phone them from outside the u.s. but gettin a 'number does not
exist' message.

Uncertain as to what to do next.
Last resort i guess is to claim from my 'credit card'
insurance on the grounds of internet fraud.

Guest's picture

with my last camera purchase, but a friend talked me out of it. He showed me how to buy a coupon off of ebay, and purchase my camera from Dell, and everything worked out great.

Guest's picture
Cheryl

I am sorry that you got screwed on this, but appreciate your sharing it with the blogging community so we can ALL learn from it! Good luck with resolution, I hope you get more than a hard lesson out of it!

Guest's picture
Chris Jones

Was your card charged immediately after purchasing? If not, why not call your credit card company *before* this company charged your card and put a freeze on it?

Paul Michael's picture

...I called the CC company the day after I purchased but the dispute process is funky. I could not put a freeze, all I could do was dispute the charge. I get my card through USAA, so maybe they have a different process. 

Paul Michael's picture

Why aren't Google, a company I admire, striking these companies from the search engine? At least from the Google Products section?

Guest's picture
Cat

I experienced a different type of scam last December, buying a camera on ebay. I came upon the auction with 15 minutes left and ended up being able to snipe it for $40 less than anywhere else. The seller only had 15 sales total, but all the feedback was positive. After the sale ended, I sent him an email asking for a tracking number. He didn't reply.
The following Monday, I received a camera in the mail. But it had been upgraded! I now had a camera that for $80 less than what I had paid. Just as soon as the camera was delivered, I got an email from the seller saying that he had been out of the model I ordered, so he upgraded me for free. Also, he had been in a car accident and had his cousin send me a camera when he was in the hospital over the weekend, but there was a mix-up and he thought I hadn't been sent one, so when he was released he sent me a camera as well. Within a half-hour a different courier delivered a second, identical camera to me. The seller told me that he wanted me to hold onto the second camera, and then send it on for him when he sold it on ebay. I got suspicious.

I opened the cameras. One was shipped directly from CircuitCity.com, one was shipped from Walmart.com. The receipts were included, showing the true amount paid for the cameras (like I said, about $80 more than I paid). Both had different buyer names and addresses in different states.

This took a little bit of thinking, but he had most likely purchased the cameras with stolen credit card numbers, after he sold them on ebay. I was afraid of legal repercussions, so I notified ebay and also called my local PD. The officer I spoke with was very nice, but didn't have much of a grasp of the internet. He told me that the "Internet Police" could deal with it (really) and advised me not to have any contact with the buyer until ebay advised me. Well, ebay never did get back to my many attempts at contact. The seller only tried to contact me once, and I ignored the email.

Well, it's been six months now, and nothing. I hope that the people who's numbers were stolen did chargebacks on their cards, so the only people who are out money should be the credit card companies.

In the end, I actually ended up on top--two cameras for less than the price of one. But it was scary and I could have ended up losing both cameras and being out the money.

Andrea Karim's picture

Um, shouldn't you have contacted the buyer's whose names were on the receipts that you had? I mean, you technically have two cameras that were purchased with other people's money - and who knows how much of their credit was ruined? I mean, when people steal credit card numbers, they don't often buy just one thing. They buy many, many things, and by the time the fraud is caught, they may already be screwed.

If you had contacted those people, you would have been able to let them know the ebay name of the person who stole their info. You should escalate things with eBay - don't just send them messages, call them! This guy has probably done this to a number of people and will keep doing it unless someone takes action.

eBay phone number: 1-800-322-9266

Paul Michael's picture

But at least you came out on top Cat. Thanks for sharing, this kind of fraud is something else we have to look for, but once again, if it's too good to be true...

Guest's picture
Guest

This is why I don't like to order online. Less it's from a company I know of. B&H for example. You can go to their physical store, see who's working on what movie there etc. etc. I wonder if we all will wind up dropping the whole "online" shopping experience in for talking to someone face to face. A nice trick also is to use a "buying" checking account, and only have the money in there needed for said purchase.

Paul Michael's picture

Would that go overdrawn, and put you in more financial trouble?

Guest's picture
Guest

I can't believe I'm reading this. The EXACT thing happened to me. I ordered a Nikon D50 on 3/6 from Camera City, Inc. On 3/7 I got the phone call from CCI and ended up paying $400 more for a D40 with a zoom lens. I never knew there was such a thing as a "gray market" until last night. I wondered why everything with this camera is in Japanese. I never could load the software which is what I wanted to do last night so I could take raw NEF photos. Now it's installed but won't open and I can't delete it because several of the files are locked so every time I boot up I get a message saying Picture Project can't be loaded. I found out about the gray market from Nikon when I tried to download their software and wasn't able to because my serial number was invalid. I haven't talked with Camera City. I thought I would call on Monday. It's been 3 months since I purchased the camera. What do you think I should do?

Guest's picture

Hi! I just wanted to let you know I thought this blog entry was excellent. We've linked to it from the following page:
http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Buy_Refurbished_Electronics
Thanks so much - it's full of useful information!

Guest's picture
Guest

Every time I buy anything I GOOGLE the comapny name and get amazing results.

Legitimate companies have very high satisfactory reviews while crooked tactic companies can be dicovered very quickley just by reading what others have publicly complained about.

We as buyers have ourselves acting as own own Better Business Bureau.

Guest's picture
Guest

I ordered a Nikon D200 through Best Price Camera over last weekend and had a similar experience. Earlier this week their customer service person called and asked if I would like to buy a battery to go with the camera. Thinking he meant an additional battery I said that since they were priced at $249 I would just go with the one it came with for now. He explained that my order was for a camera body only which did not include the battery, charger, or even the Nikon information that came in the typical box set. He explained "that's want body only means" attempting to make me feel incapable of informed decision making. He explained that the body was ordered like a part. I can only assume that it was also not the US version. I cancelled the order all together immediately upon understanding it was a scam. I hope now that they just do not abuse the credit card number I previously gave them.

Guest's picture
Stephan

Sometimes I think, we here in Germany live in a kind of heaven. The law allows everyone to cancel any online contract within 14 days - without having to name any reasons. But its soo much more expensive here.

So, what is your recommendation how to find a serious Shop around the Salt Lake City area, where I will be staying for holiday later in August?

Is there a way to send you private messages?

Thanks for sharing your story wiht us!

Greetings from chilly Berlin!

btw: how do you manage change my keyboard layout from german to US?
This is kinda awkward tzping with swapped z and y and a funny order of special charcters...
,,,<<...>>>::'''""]]]}}}--___000))0(((00--{{{[[}}\''::ll.><<,///````~~

Guest's picture
Stephan

Sometimes I think, we here in Germany live in a kind of heaven. The law allows everyone to cancel any online contract within 14 days - without having to name any reasons. But its soo much more expensive here.

So, what is your recommendation how to find a serious Shop around the Salt Lake City area, where I will be staying for holiday later in August?

Is there a way to send you private messages?

Thanks for sharing your story wiht us!

Greetings from chilly Berlin!

Guest's picture
dermot

further to my posting yesterday.
i have more or less determined that usacamera.com has closed up
& fled as this company is not contactable.There 1800 number
does not currently exist.
Buyer beware!!!
I am suprised that their website is still posted on the web.

Dermot

Guest's picture
chris

this company called "broadwayphoto.com" did the exact scam on me that i ended up canceling the order immediately realizing that it is a scam. i hope they don't mess around with my card information. thank God that i cancel the order. a battery for $149 that went down from $181 that is already included in the box that they tried to sell me. make me feel really angry.

Guest's picture
Mary

If you are looking for a cheap digital camera, check out.
http://www.cheapdigitalslrcamera.com

Guest's picture
Guest

Canon 5d Mark ll
***BUYERS BEWARE***
DBuys.com misleads and lies about selling Canon USA Cameras.
DBUYS.com are NOT authorized CANON dealers. DBUYS.com sell Gray market cameras with NO Canon WARRANTY cards even after specifying with the sales people and their customer service people that you want to buy a USA Canon Camera & USA Canon Warranty.
Once you have the camera and realize the scam, they will promise to send warranty cards, to prolong the return time period and then charge re-stocking fees or deny returns with RMA.
They have my $3600. I have no Warranty and its not covered by Canon. They have sent me two defective cameras with the promise of USA warranty cards and have not delivered and will not allow returning the product. Beware, they know the system and will scam unsuspecting customers!

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LoriC

Thanks for all the info here saved me from making a mistake. I looked on the reviews for GetDigital.com and they were good - but you never know who is writing them. They are more expensive then the other fly by nights so I thought they would be legit. Gladd I saw this first. Cheapest price I have found on Nikon D300 on Amazon for $46 with a 18-55 mm lens. Then you can get the zoom lens with VR for $100 off.

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Ray Barry

Use B7H camera in New York. I ahave been with them since 1968. NRVER had a problem. I spend in excess of $10,000.00 a year with them.

PS. It's not the mafia, they have a better reputation than that.

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erick njuguna

i thank you for this information on this kind of illegal dealing the basic thing i would suggest is that if such kind of people crop up they should be tracked down and sent to court.

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Guest

You remember how you hear that phrase "There's a sucker born every minute" well, there is and there are always people who want to get something as cheap as possible. Sometimes, this is a good idea .. I buy clothes, CD's and books at yard sales, for example. But when it comes to expensive items like a camera, I will only buy from a reputable, well-established company. I especially avoid ANY company which is located in New York or when I call their customer lines hear a voice with some kind of an accent, New Yorker, Arab, Jew, Spook or dot-head Paki. For sure, I might spend a little bit more money for something I want, but I will be spending that money with someone who is a red-blooded true-blue White American. Yep, Always shop White Power. ANyway, I hope this finds you all well and waiting patiently for The Arrival of the Day of The Rope. Remember, that you must choose WHICH end of the Rope will be yours.

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Guest

Wow! Great timing! My husband and I were just about to commence a deal with Get It Digital and yes, unbelievable prices. Thank you for saving a great deal of peace of mind!

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Guest

Appreciate your post. I was checking for the reviews before I was about to spend $1800 on their site. I would now buy from Costco. THANK YOU!!

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James

Thanks for this blog. For the past few days I have been anxiously waiting to press the ORDER button on getitdigital.com's website for an amazing deal on a Canon EOS Rebel T2i kit. Holding me back was the price. Odd to say, but the price is also what intrigued me so much. $1200.00 for the camera, a complete set of lenses, several great addons, carrying cases and tripods. You have got to be kidding me!?

I spent the time betwenn first seeing the advertisement and now researching the company. Several websites have reputable claims supporting and dismissing the company as a fraudulant retailer. Many comments were posted immediately ridiculing customer's testimonials and there were as many comments supposedly made from customers of getitdigital.com's with positive feedback on their experience. The whole spiderweb of feedback made forming my own oppinion very difficult.

Thankfully, blogs like this one (with proper English and grammar) make it much easier to ignore the too good to be true pricing and settle for a retail camera from a reputable source.

Thanks for everything, you've saved me and others thousands of dollars!

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Guest

Thanks everyone. I was getting ready to purchase from BuyItDigita.com also. I called and the guy that answered the phone was very unprofessional and then transferred me to another guy abruptly who wasn't what I would expect from a reputable company either. Between that experience and your comments I will look somewhere else.

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David Green

Thanks for the eye-opening posts… My Advice is to use Amazon and eBay ONLY!
I recently purchased a Kit from Silver Star Cameras on eBay. While I researched the company, I couldn’t find much info. Since the purchase was done on eBay I felt comfortable knowing that I was somewhat protected (I use eBay for the past 5 years and NEVER had a problem). I talked to no one over the phone and received my kit (Canon T3i with an 18-55IS lens) 2 days later! Bottom line - I had a good deal and got everything as described with no problems at all. My advice is to buy only on eBay or Amazon and to pay through PayPal ONLY!

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meep

Theres lot to be said for the consumer protection laws that a lot of european countries have.

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Jack

Go to the manufacturer's website and get an authorized dealer listing. I buy equipment only from those dealers and some of them are even in Brooklyn, thus saving me money. Some even sell on eBay cheaper so it's a win-win for buyer and seller.
Jack

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Guest

Sorry to hear your misfortune with this e-tailer. Seems to be the running trait with this business.

This is a shame because I am ready to purchase a Canon 60D with the 18~200mm lense package from GetItDigital but after digging more into this business (Brooklyn, NY based), I will be staying clear.

In the end, are you getting a savings? I think NOT, after being left standing out cold with a bad product, no warranty, extra costs by undue "upgrades", CHEAP product add-on, HASSLE factor with both the e-tailer and all the surrounding garbage that comes with it... Value for your money? Absolutely NOT.

Since this blog is getting up to being 5yrs old, GetItDigital is different from BestPriceCamera mentioned in blog ONLY by name but with exactly same in practices. Heck, they are probably the same folks just with different company title out to scam folks out of their money for the quick buck.

Buyers beware.

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F_po4

Thank you for this post , and also thanks to all the other people who put their comments too. I did research a lot and was going to buy from getitdigital.com/ get it digital.com. I am most certainly will not. Thanks again for this amazing thread, this proves there are good people among us.

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Guest

This is one of the reasons why I would never order a dslr camera from a website i'm not familiar with. I always go to authorized dealers, who are reputable such as J&R computer world, for example.

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DORIS DUTTON

Thanks so much for sharing. I am going to a store & buy mine. We use our discovery card on everything online. They seem to take care of the bad stuff that happens. If they want take a card hang up. Thanks again for your advice. It has helped so much. Sorry you had to go through all of this just to help us "babes in the woods". No good deed ever goes unrewarded. Doris

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Cesar R.

Question,

the whole problem of "grey market" cameras only affect the United States?

for example, I am from Mexico and I have a HUGE PROBLEM getting decent priced camera gear.
Vendors here love to overinflate the prices to ridiculous levels.(imagine a D810 priced at 60,000 pesos, that's nearly 4,800 USD)

Cameras coming from Korea or Japan can be serviced in other countries? or only Japan?