"The story goes...hate these people....love my camera from BEST BUY. "
"These people are scum!!!
In all my online purchases over the years 86th Street is far and away the worst vendor I have ever delt with. I ordered a camera 7 months ago as Christmas present. That was in late September. It is early May now. I finally cancelled my order today after I was told it would be another 9 weeks "Might get it this summer sometime".
They don't return calls, e-mails or anything. I had just spoken with the camera department that had told me they were in stock and could get one this week with no problem. Gave him my order number and asked why can't I have mine then? He hung up on me. I can't imagine how bad it would be if I were trying to return something. The grade I would give them would be an F minus. BEWARE!!"
"Wish I'd known about this site before placing my order (Garmin Zumo 550) on May 4. The price from this vendor was over $100 below the next best price.
After I placed my order, I saw the reviews here. I waited for the vendor to contact me to sell over-priced accessories. Received an e-mail on May 6 asking to contact them, which I did, and, no surprise, the "customer service" rep. tried to sell a memory card at a ridiculous price, as well as an extended warranty. When I advised that I had no interest in any such items, he abruptly changed his tone, told me that the order would be mailed out in 3 to 4 weeks and then hung up on me.
Within minutes, I received an e-mail stating that after I placed my order, they realized their inventory was "negative" and that I would have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for new stock to come in (I was already told 3 to 4 weeks).
The e-mail further stated that I could "reply" to cancel, which I did. However, despite 3 attempts, my e-mails were returned as undeliverable. Surprise.
So, I called "customer service" again and canceled my order. This time, I was told that inventory was delayed by at least 5 weeks. I then received an e-mail confirming the cancellation.
It would be nice if someone could refer this place to the local prosecutor's office.
Update: I have submitted an online complaint to the New York State Attorney General's Office, at http://www.oag.state.ny.us/online_forms/complaint_alert.jsp. I encourage others to do the same. I would expect that multiple complaints will have to be made before their Office will take notice."
"Thanks to every one for the heads up, I came across this site last night, because I had an uneasy feeling about 86th street photo. After reading 6 pages of bad reviews here I just called and canceled my order this morning. I just checked my email for the cancellation email, it was there along with the one to call the company, well I am glad that I jumped the gun so that I did not have to deal with them, and I really hope they deleted my account info like the email said it did, I’ll just have to watch my banking for anything suspicious. Well I am off to some of the photo sites that I have used in the past. Again thanks for the heads up and this site."
"Same story as everybody else. I cannot believe it. Received e-mail today that I needed to verify my order by calling the store. Once I called, person stated that my item was backordered and that I would have to wait for six weeks. I expressed concern as item was listed as available. I told person I will contribute to negative reviews of this store to which person replied by arguing and stating that my name would be placed "on a black list" so that I could never order again from this company or any other."
"Similar bad experience. Web page showed Nikon P80 camera in stock. I ordered online and received email saying to call Kevin to "verify and complete processing your order."
Kevin politely asked why I didn't order a second battery because the one included had a very short life. He added, that 86streetphoto had the best battery prices. I found MUCH better pricing elsewhere and declined his offer. Kevin also asked about the need for a memory card. I told him I had everything else I needed.
Within minutes of talking with Kevin, I received another email saying there was a 3-4 week backorder. When I called the company the backorder time had become five weeks and my order status where I could cancel indicated "No Orders To Show". The reason stated for this was "their order status system was broken".
I canceled my order on their online "contact" system AND called Kevin back to confirm the cancellation my order. I no sooner got off the phone with Kevin when I received another email stating "Following your request. Your order with our company has been canceled. Your credit card has not been billed. All your sensitive data were deleted from our system."
That's all the documentation I need to charge back on my credit card if any charges show up from 86streetphoto."
"Sounds as though I am one of many who had orders go from "In Stock" to back ordered 5 weeks when I declined to purchase additional overpriced items. This seller should be banned from online selling. They are dishonest and unethical."
"Same experience as the previous reviewers... Camera was in stock and ready to ship until I declined the $249 memory card (Wal-mart price: about $30.) Now, suddenly, it's backordered a month (this time) and when I call to cancel my order I'm transferred to a number that never picks up."
"If you want my story just read everyone else's review. After almost getting burned by another online retailer 86TH ST assured me my order came with everything included. Then came the email asking me to contact them. Like many others they wanted to sell me an extra overpriced battery. Then the order was on 6 week back order but I was welcome to cancel it. Not likely, I wanted my camcorder at that price. 6 weeks passed and then came another email telling me it was on a further 6 week back order. Again I was invited to cancel. I was overseas so I emailed asking for an explanation. By way of reply I was informed that my order was canceled. I sent numerous emails demanding my order be reinstated. I received no further response from them. If only I'd found this site before I ordered."
"Do not, do not, do not have any dealings with this company. I ordered a Nuvi 660 from them and got the immediate runaround. Fortunately I smelled a ripoff and found out just how bad they are via ResellerRatings.com. The runaround they were giving me was exactly what everyone else on here was describing. They must be using a script to scam people. Anyway I immediately canceled my order and placed my order with Amazon.com. Yes, I paid a bit more at Amazon but at least I got a new unit and it came with all of the accessories that it is supposed to. The Nuvi is great and so is Amazon.com. Avoid 86th Street Photo like the plague. I'm sure the scammers with close that name and reopen under another name, so be on guard."
"Complete waste of time, placed my order on 4/19, got an email on 4/22 saying I need to contact them, they called me that afternoon trying to get me to purchase additional items for ridiculous prices, called customer service today (5/1) to check the status of my order, without even a 1 second pause the little crook says my camera is on back order for 5 weeks, asked to have my order canceled, received an email that says it has been canceled, these crooks have my credit card number, going to immediately cancel it and have it re-issued. They received a 4-star rating from some pricegrabber-type scam website. I'll be much more reluctant to believe everything I read from these hack websites."
"I placed an order in Dec of 2007. It is now May 1st of 2008 and 86th St Photo & Video states the camera (Canon Powershot SD950 IS) is still on backorder, yet their web site states it is available. Every few weeks that I called I received the same story, "your camera will arrive in 5 weeks". I believe because I did not purchase any of their "up-sell" items (extended battery, memory cards, etc) that my order went unplaced. Very rude customer service as well. Do not, under any circumstance order from this company."
"As if you need one more negative review to convince you to shop elsewhere, these guys are BAHAHAAADDD news!!!! They give all honest, upfront etailers a black eye. Beware of the deceptively low priced merchandise, it really is too good to be true. Don't be fooled, or you will be in for a frustrating, maddening experience. "
"This store is a ripoff. I placed my order and then they emailed me to call them. That's when the upselling and backorder problems started.I can only say STAY AWAY. Tom"
"Wow, should have stopped here before I went to their site. No kidding about the cons - placed on line order and was informed via email that i needed to call and confirm. did so and was asked why i did not want a battery. i said that i thought the camcorder came with a (2 hour life) battery? i was told (by several at 86th) that the batteries are only 20-40 minutes but they can add a better one to the order for a (significant) premium over market price. was also told that they were 4 weeks out of stock (seems that they did not like that i would not include high margin battery in order). cancelled order promptly as i was not confident that they were not switching the batteries out. "