Online Bait and Switch

[Pumapayam]

This is more of a PSA, than anything.

I was searching for a new flash for my camera, and did a Google Shopping search, and started from the cheapest up.

The flash sells for $199, and the first place I ordered was a legit site, for $115. Later that afternoon, I get a message the item is out of stock, and backordered til 6/27/08. I need this flash for an upcoming 10 year reunion in the middle of June, so I canceled and went to the next cheapest.

This flash was $123 at another familiar site, I added it to my cart, shipping was $5.95. As I am typing in my info, and checking out, the website was "updated" to reflect new prices and now the item is $133 and shipping is $7.95. I called customer service to complain, and they said they can't do anything about it since it reflects the new prices they get from their suppliers. So again I cancel. It was literally a 5 minute window.

Frustrated, I go to the next site, Preferredphoto.com. The site looks legit, never heard of it though. The flash is $127, so I am filling out my info, and out of curiousity, I "Google" the site's domain name.

WOW, complaints galore. You order from the site (most of the items are cheaper than Amazon, BHPhoto, and JR Music World), but they respond with an email after you order, and tell you to call them back away to confirm the order. Then when you call, they try to sell you accessories and claim that the product is the international version. The guy on the phone gets nasty with you if you reject the offers, sometime cussing you out and hanging up. Tons of complaints, funny reading. I cleared out my info before I even had a chance to click submit. Lucky me.

I ended up spending $129 at onSale.com for the flash. Oh well. The life of a frugal shopper.

Here is the complaint link for Broadway Photo, the parent company of PreferredPhoto.

Anyone on here a victim of this site(s)? Similar horror stories of online shopping?

[Jax]

Haha yeah I did the same thing a few years ago, saw the cheapest price on a Rebel XTi on this sketchy site, thought about ordering, read reviews/complaints, never went to that site again. It sucks that so many people fall for it. Apparently if you don't want the overpriced accessories they will yell at you and then tell you the camera you want is out of stock and take your money and never ship it to you or something like that. If you order the overpriced accessories, the total price is way more than the value of the camera and accessories anywhere else (the accessories push the total price up so much that it makes the overall deal a bad one).

[cottonmather0]

In general, any company with the word "photo" in the name and based in Brooklyn is going to be sketchy: bait and swtch scams, "gray market" merchandise, and extra charges for stuff that should be included in the same box. i read a good article somewhere a while back about these places. I'll see if I can find it.

UPDATE: Took a while, but I found it.

UPDATE 2: Here's the other one.

[HoustonMidtown]

Very similar thing happened to me when I was looking for a Macbook Pro.

Another website to check out these online retailers is: www.resellerratings.com

The site I was about to buy from was about $250 less expensive than everywhere else....they would send you an email telling you to call them to verify your order, when you called, they would tell you the item you ordered was either out of stock, a non-english version, etc.....the "right" version would cost alot more....

if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is !!

[Mark F. Barnes]

Puma I bought a few lenses from Broadway's eBay sight, with no problems, they even RMA'd one without a hitch. This was about 2 years ago, maybe they've had issues since. But since I started doing business with B&H I don't do anything else now. Broadway deals in factory seconds and refurbs mostly, IMHO B&H is hard to beat for the top shelf stuff.

[editor]

I never buy online before checking Reseller Ratings. In fact, sometimes I just go there to read people's complaints about the various types of scams that e-tailers try to pull.

According to the site, Preferred Photo operates under a whole load of different names including Broadway Photo, A&M Photo World, Regal Camera, Prestige Camera, Royal Camera, and the list goes on.

Here's the list of 693 complaints. It's interesting reading.

FWIW, the only places I trust online for photo equipment are Amazon (and only directly from Amazon, not one of their partners), B&H, and Calumet.