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2009-02-03
4/5
"First the bad news: don't order from the company if you need things RIGHT NOW in all caps.
Now the good news: the prices are good, as is the service, so patience pays off.
Due to the lack of reviews and the number of low-price scammers out on the net, I was somewhat nervous ordering from that company. What somewhat calmed me down was that they are listed in the BBB listings as having been in business for several years, and have only a single case of complaint, which subsequently was resolved.
I ordered a SONY DSLR A-900 from them, at a pretty good price. Unfortunately, there were 2 or 3 minor delays in shipping due to a variety of reasons (MLK day, inauguration, and some related to their business).
Still, the company kept me in the loop, at every stage offering me the opportunity to cancel the order, and in the end sweetening the deal (without me haggling about it) as a thank-you for my patience.
The camera arrived, not some grey-market item, but with a proper US warranty card, etc.
Throughout the entire process the company responded quickly to my e-mail inquiries, answered or returned phone calls, etc.
So from both the price and service point of view I'm happy.
Which brings me back to the first line of the review: in many cases they do not stock the items themselves. If I had to guess their business model, then they act as a front through which retail stores and/or distributors can get rid of excess inventory without getting into trouble with the manufacturers for selling stuff to cheaply. In any case, it seems rather than stock items, they have a list of what is available to them, so if one of their suppliers screws up (as was the case with my camera), then your shipment will be delayed.
Bottomline the few days patience paid off: I got a great camera at an even better deal than originally anticipated, but if I had tried to order the camera "just in time" for a trip, then I'd have been on the trip without the camera. If you plan ahead, this may be a good place to shop. People in quest for instant gratification will have to go elsewhere, and pay the proper premium."
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1/5
"After more than ten days, the order is cancelled.
For the entire time, the product (Sony DSLR-A900) was listed as "in stock". Now it's still listed as "in stock" albeit at a higher price.
Still I got this lame excuse for the cancellation:
"Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen shortage in our supply of merchandise from our wholesalers, many of whom have been affected by today's weakened economy, we have to cancel your order."
If there truly were a shortage, the web site should not list the product as being in stock, and if it truly were a shortage, then there would be no price change, since an unavailable product has no price.
So they update the web site enough that they can put in a new price, but not enough to update availability? Hardly convincing.
Much more telling was, that I wrote in the order comments that I would not accept any upselling, extended warranties, etc. The result was that my order went into "review" status and stayed there for days until I called, I was then offered to cancel the order, because it would take up to ten days to get the product. I said I could wait. So then they cancelled the order.
I bet, had I been willing to buy their overpriced memory cards (I bought a 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV from Adorama for the same price they try to sell the 8GB version) and/or extended warranties, I bet that camera would be in my hands by now. But then I might as well just buy it at the Sony store a few minutes from here.
Web shops should not pretend to be discounters, if they can't stick to their end of the deal. I expect no service, recommendation, but I want rock-bottom prices with no fuss. I know what I want, and I want to order that, and nothing else. Drop ship directly from the distributor or factory, that's what I want."
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2007-08-06
2/5
"2007-07-14: order placed
2007-07-16: credit card charged
2007-07-19: Shipment notification: US Priority Mail (2 Day!)
2007-07-24: electronic postage printed (see below)
2007-07-30: e-mail inquiry about where the product is
2007-07-31: e-mail answer, showing a USPS Delivery Confirmation number that when looked up on USPS' web site was listed as GENERATED on 2007-07-24 (five days after the package supposedly shipped), but shipment was not yet received by the post office. They can do that by generating electronic postage, whch includes free delivery confirmation, so they get the number into the USPS computer system w/o actually dropping off the package for shipment.
2007-08-05: Still no status change, USPS.com still has the status as waiting to get the package into their possession. I still have not received the package, nor any further response when I asked them to clarify why the postage was printed five days after the package supposedly shipped.
The whole operation stinks of fraud, no phone number listed, no address, etc. Keep an eye you your credit card statements.
Likely, this will have to go to dispute resolution via the CC company, doesn't look like there's another way.
2007-08-06: Surprise, package shows up in the mail. Even more interesting, the delivery confirmation number is TOTALLY different from the one they sent me in their e-mail from 2007-07-31. And I mean, it differs in all of the last 8 digits. Looking it up on the USPS.com web site, it says that electronic shipping info for that number was submitted 2007-08-03.
Bottomline: no, they didn't defraud me; no, I didn't have to take this up with the CC company, but why ini hell they had to send me a shipping confirmation more than two weeks before the actual product shipped, and why when I was inquiring about it, they send me a bogus delivery confirmation number, is beyond me. A simple: "sorry, due to <insert circumstance> the shipping will be delayed by approx. <number of days>" would have done just fine. Instead, they gave me contradictory information that must raise red flags with everyone who knows how to think logically.
Their price was good, but if they would just get their act together in terms of how they communicate with their customers, I might actually be able to recommend them to other people. The way things are right now, I wouldn't tell anyone about them, without a major cautionary note attached."
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2006-06-16
0/5
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