"Ordered two Sigma lenses online because of the cheap price and reasonable past experience with Hotbuys. Bob called to say that there was no stock of the cheaper (web page) grey market lenses. I could buy the US version with a better warranty for $40.00 more. I said I'd wait. One week later I spoke to Syd (?) who informed me that there were two versions of the same lens available: one from Taiwan with a plastic lens mount and one from the US with a metal lens mount. The US version was $60.00 more. I balked. An email reply from Sigma verified my suspicion -- there is only one Sigma factory (Japan) and these lenses have metal mounts! I cancelled my order (without fanfare, by the way) and will never deal with Hotbuys again."

"I ordered a pair of Leica 10x42 BN Binoculars. Advertised at $695. The dishonest salesman asked me if I wanted a low quality us make for $695 or high quality glass made by their German Co. Of coarse wanting good optics I ordere the better glass costing $40 more. Then I wanted the green finish in stead of the black finish, another $35.The other companies include choice of color at no additional cost. I checked in to find out that Leica only makes one set of glass. So basically I was lied to and rippd off for $75. Then they charged me $26 to ship them priority 2 to 3 day delivery. This was a month ago and guess what the tricycle they were riding here must have broke down. I feel totally stupid for doing business with such theives. So if I add up my great savings I am $101 in the hole from what I could have spent at a reputable place. If you call expect to wait a minimum of 15 minutes on hold. Cover ups, lies, deception, theivery, overcharging is the basis behind this so called company. Isn't this all illegal."

"THESE PEOPLE ARE THIEVES

Mine is the same GRAY market story as all the rest BUYER BEWARE!! they have VERY deceptive selling practices,

On the day that I bid on this camera I called the seller's company and asked about the camera because in their auction ad, they titled it one way as a ELAN 7 E. QD then as you read farther down it's also listed as another item the EOS-30,(the gray market version of the ELAN 7) I asked which camera is it? the American or the European one. I was told they are the same camera and this IS the ELAN 7 (American version). Being told it was an AMERICAN version I used the BUY IT NOW option, later as I was looking over their website I saw a statement saying ?? All items sold on Ebay unless specifically noted as USA, are imports. this statement is NOT easy to find. I called them and asked again this time pointing out the above comment on their web site now they told me it is GRAY MARKET i told them I don't want it, and I thought the way they listed the item was deceptive, when I told SOL that I want to return it he said sure but it will cost you 15% I don't think I should be charged this fee
"

"I ordered a camera and lens through this company, sadly thinking that the website looked professional enough...especially tricking me further with the Verisign logo. Well, I'll never do that again! I called before ordering and was assured there were 2 cameras in stock. After ordering there were none! Amazing! Well, let's just say they were snatched up quickly...it is possible, I guess. I called to confirm the order and was then told I had to buy different parts because they were "better" and would, in turn, cost more money. Obviously, duh. Plus the camera would be in stock shorthy. I called back when the camera was to be in stock and it wasnt...this went on for 2 weeks.
They never got the item in stock when they said they would, and I was through babysitting the order...especially since, at this point, I didnt trust them. I randomly ran across this site (resellerratings.com) and immediately, after reading these reviews, cancelled my order and cancelled my credit card so that I would be done with my mistake and safe at the same time. I ended up buying the camera elsewhere for a few hundred dollars more...but, even though I am cheap, I got over it! Be Safe!! BUY FROM A SOLID _GOOD_ COMPANY! NOT THIS ONE!!!"

"I purchased a Minolta Digital Camera from this company over the telephone with a credit card. The camera came in 3-4 days by Fedex. When it hadn't come in two days, I called and asked about the order and was given a tracking number, which was accurate. No complaints. The transaction was just fine."

"I was in the market for a pair of Leica binoculars, and found a decent price at Hotbuys website. Before placing my order I came here to check the ratings on them, and I must admit I was a bit doubtful when I saw all the negative feedback. However, there was some positive ones as well (e.g. arod1234 below), and I decided to give Hotbuys the benefit of the doubt. I can tell you right now, arod1234, that I definitely don’t think other companies are using this site to give Hotbuys a bad name, they manage that all by themselves! My story goes as follows: I called Hotbuys to verify that they had the item I wanted in stock, and that they would accept an overseas credit card (as I live in Europe). They confirmed both, and told me to fax copies of my passport and drivers licence, which I did right away. I then placed my order on their website and chose the two day priority shipping (to my family in the US). On the last checkout page it states that customers electing for ‘priority shipping’ should call Hotbuys to confirm orders. So I called to have my order confirmed and I spoke to ‘Frank’ who said everything was OK, but he wanted to know whether I would like the one made in Portugal, or the better quality one made in Germany at an additional charge of $90. I told him that as far as I knew Leica only manufactures in Germany, but he insisted on there being two different versions. I called Leica USA, and they could confirm that their binoculars are made in Germany --ONLY. Hotbuys’ website does not mention anything about these different versions with different prices. I confronted ‘Frank’ with the information from Leica USA, but he just continued to claim there was two different versions! Even though the price was still fairly good, I cancelled my order right away. I just don’t want to deal with people like that. This was a total waste of my time, but I hope that by posting my experience here, I will save someone else the trouble of dealing with these people."

"Purchased a grey market Canon EF 28-70mm f2.8L lens from HotbuysElectronics. The day after I placed the order, they called with the old "have to verify your order" scam, where they tried to sell me extra accessories and a phony "warranty". When I refused to buy any extra items, they jacked up the shipping cost to more than double the actual cost. Stay away from these guys!"

"I have successfully sued Hotbuys Electronics in Small claims court after they committed fraud by selling me a camera other than what I ordered and not giving me a warranty card for the camera. Long story short the Nikon camera broke after a short time and Hotbuys would NOT provide a warranty card so I could get it repaired. I sued in Small claims court, won, and got to keep the camera. I am now going to seize bank accounts, etc. to get the money I am owed + 9% interest."

"I stumbled onto this store on eBay when I was looking for new photographic equipment. This was my second purchase on eBay, the first from Cord Camera in Ohio was a great experience. This one was terrible, I ordered a flash attachment and when I received it I was disappointed to find that it was a gray market unit including a Xerox copy of the manual. Nowhere on their eBay Web site did it mention that it was a gray market unit, only that it was new and the price was near the low end of the range for a new unit with a U.S. warranty. They said I could return it but I would be charged a 15 percent restocking fee plus I would lose my shipping in both directions. No thanks. I wouldn't trust these people to even give me a credit. I buy a lot of stuff online and mail-order and this is the first time I've been burned. Beware!
"

"On May 29, 2002 I ordered online at the website hotbuyselectronics.com a Canon 28-90 lens, which I paid $120.14 with my Mastercard debit card. The same day as I ordered, I decided I did not want this lens, called Hot Buys Electronics by phone at their store in Brooklyn NY, spoke to Bob who answered the phone, explained to him I wasn't interested in purchasing the Canon lens and please cancel the order, and Bob gave me a verbal okay that the order would be canceled.

Unfortanately, the Canon lens was shipped to me a few days later and arrived the first week in June. I called Hot Buys Electronics again, Bob answered the phone again, I complained about the Canon lens being shipped to me when I had canceled the order by phone with Bob and had received a verabl okay by him that the order would be canceled, told Bob I wanted to return the Canon lens, and Bob told me I needed a return authorization form. Bob told me he would send me a return authorization form by mail to my address here in Mass. Unfortanately this return authorization form never arrived so the second week in June I called again, Bob answered the phone again, I told him I never received the return authorization form, and he told me he would send me another one to my address. Unfortanately this return authorization form never arrived in my mailbox either. The third week I called Bob again, told him I really needed to return the Canon lens, complained about never receiving the return authorization forms he had told me twice he had mailed me, and finally during this third phone call he gave me the return authorization number I needed to return the item. I mailed the Canon lens back to Hot Buy Electronics in Brooklyn July 3, 2002.

Today, July 15th I called Hot Buys Electronics, they gave me the phone number of the return department, the sales lady who answered the phone immediately sighed and seemed to have an attitude as she asked for my zip code and last name. She then announced to me on the phone that Hot Buys Electronics never received the Canon lens I had returned to them two weeks ago. Thinking there had to be some kind of mistake, I called this number again and the same sales lady answered the phone. I gave this sales lady my zip code again and information again, she called me an "annoying customer" and told me again the Canon lens was never returned to them. I know for a fact that I mailed the Canon lens back to Hot Buy Electronics on July 3 2002, and I want my $120.14 back.
I want Hot Buys Electronics to refund my $120.14. They gave me a problem when I called them two times in June to request a return authorization form, told me twice they mailed me the form, but they never mailed one to me. It was only when I called them a third time that they gave me a return authorization number on the phone. Also, I know they received the Canon lens I returned to them and they are just trying to find an excuse not to refund my money back to me or any customers.

Look at the evidence:

1)Telling me twice on the phone when I called on two different occasions they mailed me a return authorization form to my address, but neither of these forms ever materialized in my mailbox here in Mass. I only was able to receive a return authorization form from Bob when I called a third time and firmly told Hot Buys Electronics I needed a return authorization form in order to return the Canon Lens. I told Bob "I will be able to receive my refund when I send the Canon lens back to you, right?" and he told me "Yes" on the phone during that third phone call.

2)I returned the Canon lens to Hot Buys Electronics on July 3, 2002 by mail and was told by the post office here where I live it would arrive in NY by Friday July 5th, 2002.
I called Hot Buys Electronics on July 15th, 2002 and was told by their return department they had never received the Canon lens I returned on July 3rd, 2002. When I called the second day on this date to give them my information again to make sure, the sales lady who answered the phone called me an "annoying customer". Is this really how you want your sales people to answer your phones and treat your customers? I was already upset with Hot Buys Electronics, but the way your sales lady treated me on the phone July 15th, 2002 made me even more upset.

Again, I know Hot Buys Electronics did in fact receive the Canon Lens I returned to the following address:

Hot Buys Electronics
12 Boerum St.
brooklyn, NY United States 11206
***-***-****
www.hotbuyselectronics.com

****@****

on July 5th, 2002. I want my refund of $120.14 from Hot Buys Electronics credited back to my Mastercard debit card immediately. Bob, since you are the one I spoke to several times on the phone regarding this matter I request you, your supervisor, or the owner of Hot Buys Electronics to call me regarding this very important matter within the next few days. I expect to hear from you and receive my refund within the next few days. Thank you.

"

"I would never do business with these people again, I hope you won't neither.I ordered a Canon Elan 7 camera kit with 28-105mm AutoFocus (AF) zoom lense from http://www.hotbuyelectronics.com . They told me the batteries doesn't come with the battery, so I placed an order for battery also. They charge $519.98 for the camera and lense, $15.96 for the batteries.
The camera I recieved is not Canon Elan 7, but Canon EOS 33 (same as Elan 7, but international version. I can not get warranty service in US - it's a gray market item). The lense I recieved is not Canon lens, but Sigma lense (which is only half price of Canon lense).
The camera is listed on their website for $348.00 (http://www.hotbuyelectronics.com/canon_35mm_slr_cameras.htm) and the lense (Sigma 28-105mm F3.8 - 5.6 UC Aspherical IF) for $108.98. If you add price of lense and camera together, it should only be $457.96, not $519.98. They also charged for the batteries that comes with the camera at no charge - they told me battery doesn't come with the camera, but it does as it clearly says on the box - they charge $15.98 for batteries that were already included with the price of camera.
When I called them, they told me the the price on their website for the lense is for manual, not automatic focus. However, I am not convinced of this fact. I can buy the autofocus lense (one I recieded) at other merchants for $108.95 at http://www.focuscamera.com and $123.49 at http://www.amazon.com (which has highest price on the net).
It appears that this merchant is engaging in fraud and there is a pattern, see http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1938.html
Conclusion: They sent me wrong camera and lense, overcharged for the wrong lense, charged for batteries that comes with the camera, and when I aksed for a refund, they would charge 15% restocking fee (which will translate to $82.00 in profit for them).

"

"On 5/20/02 I contacted HotBuys after seeing the scanner I wanted to purchase on Ebay. This company has over 1000 positive feedbacks on Ebay, so I felt pretty safe. I now believe they have somehow found a way to cheat Ebay's feedback system, and have posted those feedbacks themselves.
Anyway, the price was terrific, so I called to make sure the product advertised was brand new and to find out what the store policies were. "Frank" confirmed that it was a brand new scanner with warranty. I was told by Frank that if I bought it over the phone instead of Ebay, he would give me a discount on the shipping. I agreed and gave him my Visa number.

The product arrived 5/21 and I opened it when I got home from work that evening. I knew I had been had when I saw the cheaply Xeroxed manual and the homemade CD label. There was no warranty card and no software licenses. The manual itself, which HotBuys Xeroxed, says that those items should be included.
We videotaped those false documents. I did not actually take the scanner out of the packaging. I called my Visa company and informed them I would be disputing the charges. They told me the charge had not come through yet, but that they were noting my account.

On the morning of 5/22/02, at 9:00 am EST, I called HotBuys and spoke to "Sidney". I explained that I had received a product different from what was represented by their salesperson and requested a Return Merchandise Authorization number. After I refused his offer to send me a “real” manual he agreed to fax me a form that I was to fill out in order to receive the Return Merchandise Authorization #. Three hours later I had not received the fax. I called again, waited on hold for ten minutes, and Sidney told me he “had just sent it”. I went to the fax machine and got the form, which was simply a statement that I agreed to pay a 15% restocking fee, $111.75. If I signed and faxed back the agreement, I would get the return authorization number. (I fully support a company’s right to charge a restocking fee, except when the return is a result of dishonesty on the part of the seller.) I called Sidney and told him I refused to pay the 15% due to the fact that I had received a product different from what was represented. I was told that I could not get a Return Authorization number. ( I have since read many complaints from customers who say that HotBuys refused to accept delivery of their returns even if they had a valid Return Authorization number. When I accused Sidney and HotBuys of being dishonest, he hung up on me.


I have not been contacted by HotBuys and have not contacted them since. I am waiting until my credit card company gets the charge and will await instructions from them on how to proceed.

If you do a search on the internet for HotBuysElectronics you will find scores of cases similar to mine. I always thought I was too smart to be taken advantage of this way, but I was wrong.


Scott Gordon
"

"I've never been so disgusted by any retail business as I am with HotBuysElectronics.com. The salesman "Sidney" offered to sell me a Minolta Dimage 7i with US warranty, rather than gray market, for an extra $50. This seemed reasonable. What I received, however, was a gray market version with all material (including the on-screen menus on the camera!), in Japanese. "Sidney" assured me that was a mistake and offered to exchange it for the USA version that I had paid for. He apologized for the mistake and offered to refund my cost to return the camera to him. After I returned the camera, he kept stalling in sending out the replacement, and never did. When I finally told him to cancel the order, he promised that he'd refund the full price including shipping, as well as my cost to return the gray market camera back to him. I called back repeatedly to check on the credits and I was assured that they "were down in accounting" or "were to the bank for processing" and similar excuses. When my account did not properly reflect these credits, I called and talked to "Sidney". He told me that he hadn't originally sent me the wrong camera. He told me that since the camera existed in the US, it was the US version and I hadn't been deceived when I ordered. He went on to tell me that I was "just lucky" that he'd accepted that camera's return. When I asked for a manager, Sidney told me that he was a manager, and that he reported to no one. He became abusive on the telephone, and then finally hung up on me. Do not, under any circumstances, order ANYTHING from this company. I'm contacting my credit card company to try to get the promised credits, as well as various consumer agencies in NY. As a previous reviewer indicated, I may not get the refunds that were promised, but I hope that the trouble and my bad recommendation makes up for it. Bad HotBuysElectronics! Bad!"

"I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS GUYS IS STILL IN BUSINESS. I BOUGHT A BINOCULAR FROM THIS GUY AND REALIZED LATER THAT THE CASE HE SOLD TO ME WAS PACKAGED WITH THE BINOCULARS AND THE COMPANY ADVISED ME THAT HOTBUY IS NOT AN AUTHORIZED SELLER AND THEY OVERCHARGED ME! HE TOOK MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER PRIOR TO LETTING ME MAKE A CHOICE AND BEGAN TO ARGUE WHEN I QUESTIONED HIM ABOUT THE CASE. THEY PUT A ON LINE AD FOR SUCH A VERY LOW PRICE, BUT AFTER THEY SCAMED ME ON THE PHONE; I PAID MORE THAN MANY OF THE OTHER BUSINESSES.

PLEASE AVOID THIS BUSINESS!!!

I filed a Complaint w/ NYC comsumer affairs after reading all these comments and their ebay complaints. The complaint form is On-line at:

http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dca/html/dcacompl.html
"

"Pure bait and switch. They advetised Canon bionculars and I ordered 2 pair.
A week later, I received an email "We don't not have this item available".

You are wasting your time AND money by dealing with this company.

"