"Worst experience ever. Rite Buys or TVsDepot - same store. After canceling my order by phone because the item was not in stock as promised, I never received a cancellation email. I emailed the store for a confirmation, never got it. Two weeks later my credit card is charged. When I call, they tell me the order has been shipped, I should be getting it shortly and I should not be wasting my time calling them. The guy actually hung up on me."
"After reading all the bad reviews, I still felt adventurous, so I decided to take a chance and order a DLP TV from these guys, since the price was almost $200 less than the lowest priced store with a reasonable rating. Turned out to be a very bad experience. I first called up to check that the item was new, in factory box, US warranty, etc, and the rep said yes. He also said they had 3 in stock. So, I went to the website and placed an order. The order process was definitely odd (no mention at all of what you are ordering after you click the order button from your cart, no order preview before your order is final, and no receipt). I went to my order history and looked at a copy of the invoice, and it looked as expected (right price, right shipping).
I got a call about an hour later from a rite buys salesman trying to push extended warranties and the like. First he tried to sell me an extended warranty, and I said no (and lied about the length of the manufacturer's warranty -- Samsung website and the rite buys spec page for the TV say 1 year parts and labor, while the salesman claimed only 90 days). Then, he tried to sell me a bulb replacement warranty, and I said no again. Then he declared that there would be an extra 8% charge for insurance on the shipping. This was an extra $140 that did not show up in the website checkout process. At that point I told him that I wasn't going to pay the extra charge, since it didn't show up when I ordered the TV, and asked him to cancel my order. He said OK, and I got an order cancellation email a few minutes after I got off the phone. So far my credit card does not appear to have been charged, but I'm going to keep an eye on it for a few days.
Overall, it was a very distasteful experience dealing with these guys."
"I placed my order for the Toshiba Gigabeat S30 mp3 player from them on June 24. They told me on the website that the final price would be $278.99 including shipping. That's a great price and all, but they charged my card $295.73... The tax in NJ is 6 percent, so I'm assuming (278.99 * 1.06 = $295.73) that's what the extra charge was. The price for tax on the website was still $0 however, which I believe it should have been. I didn't bother contacting them about it after seeing the reviews on this website a few hours after I saw the charge. They called me to process my order and confirm my address. While on the phone with me, they (like others said) rudely tried to convince me to buy one of their extended warranties by trying to tell me that Toshiba didn't offer a manufacturer warranty. They told me to check Toshiba's site if I didn't believe them. And I didn't, so I checked the site, where I quickly found the warranty that they provide. Anyway, I ended up getting the mp3 player on the 28th or something very close to that (maybe the 29th) in perfect working condition. So I can't say I had any trouble with the object itsself or the shipping. I still would never order from them again based on the experiences that some people have mentioned on this website. From now on I should remember to check these reviews BEFORE I make my purchase instead of after."
"Rite Buys offered the best online price I could find on a GPS, but after placing the order I received a phone call with a high-pressure sales pitch for accessories, extended warranty, and faster shipping. The rep provided false information about the specifications of the product, which I knew to be untrue.
The rep finally steered me to cancel the order, then promptly hung up on me."
"Two weeks left on the Fuji S9000 digital camera $100.00 rebate. My search intensifies. Rite Buys offers my camera at an unbelievable price $499 before rebate, a week later the price drops to $449 before rebate. I can resist no longer I ordered it. At checkout the total with shipping $465, at this point I'm somewhere in between bliss and euphoria. Then comes an e-mail, requesting a call to confirm the order. On the call they offered me four or five different packages all of which I declined. At the end of the conversation he jacked the price to $549. Oh my!, after I wouldn't accept the $100 increase he said he will kindly cancel my order and hung up on me!!! STAY AWAY FROM RITE BUYS You can bet money that the unbelievable price really is unbelievable."
"I ordered a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx from RiteBuys online. Afterwards, I found reviews for the store here. I got kind of scared, but kept my order there and decided to keep a very close eye on it. The next day, I call them and they tell me that my order is being shipped that day. The next day, I call them again and the person tells me that the item I ordered is not shipped, but out of stock and it may be 14 days before they get it in stock.
Nothing more I had to hear. I immediately cancelled my order, and surprisingly, he sent me a congirmation email that said my order was cancelled. I am now looking for somewhere else to buy the GPS from."
"When I ordered the website said my stuff was in stock, but they called the next morning and tried to tell me the olympus zuiko digital lenses I ordered wouldn't work with my E-500! They then rudely tried to talk me into buying Sigma lenses instead (ick!). Bait and switch all the way."
"I bought a portable DVD from this website that I said I needed for the plane for my children. I asked if it came w/ headphones and they said yes. I opened the package the day before I was leaving for our trip to find out it is not rechargeable and can only be used when connected to an outlet or a car charger. I called to return it or exchange it with 3 smaller DVDS (I have 3 children) and they said No. I asked to speak to a supervisor. Again, No. I asked for the owner. Again, No. I wasn't allowed to speak to anybody. This is $858.94 later, mind you! I never touched the DVD player and I can make an even exchange, pay for the shipping, anything. They said No. Customer service is terrible! Never buy from them!"
"I DO NOT recommend this company. They shipped me a defective CD player and refuse to pay for the shipping to ship it back to them. They want me to fork out MORE money on a brand new CD player I purchased from them that doesn't even work. They do NOT stand behind their products. Basically, whatever they ship the buyer is the buyer's problem. DON'T PURCHASE FROM THEM!!!!
They have about 7 different names they go by. I complained about them to the BBB. Look them up under FotoConnection in NY. They have a ton of complaints. "
"WHAT A RIPOFF!!!
Once again, another New York Bait and Switch Company! On the internet and when I placed the order, there was one price, but of course the e-mail and phine call that came after that bumped the price up $200.00.
They did say if I bought an extended warranty for $799.00 (HA!!! a comparible one is aboput $99) they would honor the original price!
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!! BUYER BEWARE!!"
"I had the same bait and switch tactics applied to me. I ordered a Panasonic digital camera and was called about an hour after placing the order to be told it was a "foreign" model and didn't include a battery and power adapter. The salesman offered to sell me a U.S. version for $120 more. I told him to cancel the order and he then said he would discount it $50. I thought I may have made a mistake so I agreed. I then got home and checked their website and there is no mention of it being a foreign model and it says it includes a battery and power adapter. I checked Panasonics website and the power adaptor is switchable 110/240v. I called the salesman back and told him about this and he hung up on me. I emailed him to cancel the order but it shipped the following day and was charged to my credit card. I've filed a dispute with the credit card company. I was going to file a complete with the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney Generals office but their address is nowehere to be found on their website. I had no idea where they were located until I read one of the other reviews here. Stay away from www.ritebuys.com!!!"
"I also had a similar experience with this store. I found the CD player I wanted & ordered it from them. About an hour later a salesperson called me to ask why I ordered the "European" model of the CD player instead of the "US" version, and they wanted to know if I intended to do that. Obviously I didn't & there was nothing anywhere on their web page about it being a European model at all. He tried to get me to "trade up" to the US version for an additional $45. I went back to their page, confirmed their advertised price for the exact model I was trying to buy. He said I ordered the same model number, but it had a "U" on the end to specify it was the Eurpoean model. I informed him that no, it wasn't what I ordered & that it was wrongly advertised on their site. I told him that if this is the case, that it's their mistake, not mine, and I wasn't going to pay them a penny more. It took about a nanosecond for him to hang up on me. I immediately called my credit card company to advise them about this & to keep this store from charging anything at all. It's the old "bait & switch" if I've ever seen it. "
"Yet another in the long line of shady Brooklyn-based electronics dealers. AVOID!!
I called Rite Buys to purchase a Panasonic camcorder at the end of September. They advertised a decent price, and I couldn't find any bad reviews about them, so I decided to give them a try, even though my experiences with these Brooklyn outfits in the past has been horrible. Right away I was concerned, as their web site "tricked" me into completing the purchase. Right after I had entered my shipping and billing info, up popped a "continue" button on the website. I thought this button would probably take me to a final confirmation page, with my order details, where I could make a final decision, and click a "Place Order" button to finalize the order. BUT NOOO! This button actually PLACED THE ORDER RIGHT THEN AND THERE! Very sneaky indeed, and without so much as an order total or even a delivery estimate.
Ok, I'm now growing more conerned so I call them. The order person told me the unit didn't come with a U.S. warranty. He said it had an "international warranty" instead, even though their web site (www.ritebuys.com) made no mention of this. He then (predictably) went into hard-sell mode, trying to get me to buy a whole host of accessories that typically come with the camera (battery, charger, tape, etc, etc).
I then asked him if it was an NTSC camera, since he mentioned it wasn't a U.S. model, and he said no, it was PAL. I told him I couldn't use a PAL camera because all my gear is NTSC, and he then tried to pressure me into continuing my purchase because I could "convert" everything from PAL to NTSC (with a converter, that they coincidentally sell by the way). After 10 minutes of declining all his upselling, I finally told him I wanted the unit advertised on their site (no mention of it being a PAL camera), at the price advertised or I would cancel the order. He then put me on hold, presumably to twiddle his thumbs for a minute, so I would think he was checking inventory. He came back and said they were "out of stock" all of a sudden, even though he promised earlier that it would ship the same day. I told him to cancel the order. To his credit, he didn't threaten me with the typical "chargeback fee", but I think it might be because he suspected I was fairly knowledgeable, and not some gullible schmo. I've been nervously checking my credit card account activity every day since, but so far no fraudulent charges. I finally would up ordering from Beach Camera in New Jersey. The old maxim is true -- spend a little more and avoid the headache. This place is definitely one you'll want to avoid if you're looking for a simple, clean and legitimate transaction."