PriceRitePhoto

[yendi]

A post by windswept caused me to Google and find this saga of bad customer service. I realize that I'm late to the party on this one, as I don't read Boingboing, and barely ever read Digg and Slashdot. Still, a damned interesting saga (especially since, growing up in NYC, it reminds me of 47th Street Photo and their various competitors, just online instead of in person).

Comments

[crystalrowan.livejournal.com]

WOW - I went through a similar experience last year when my husband ordered me a camera (Christmas present) from a similar type of company. We never did get the camera (3 months later we finally just bought it from another vendor) and they did the whole "call back to verify and upsell" several times. And every time we called (though the site said the camera was in stock) they indicated it was still on "backorder" and would be shipping in the next 3-6 weeks.

Shady. But at least we didn't get any threats and they never charged our card.

[yendi]

About halfway through that post, there's a list of other names that PRP uses -- it's posssible that it's one of them (but, alas, there are certainly plenty of other scammers out there).

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

As someone just getting started in higher-end photography, I'm sticking with Amazon and Fleabay. I realize the latter could cause some nightmares but I think people selling this type of equipment on a place like Ebay are probably a lot more reliable than people selling highly-sought after items (like an Xbox 360, etc).

[litch.livejournal.com]

one thing the article mentions is that the badguys are also listed as ebay power sellers

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I've seen a LOT of those ebay powersellers/stores selling cameras. They'll take a nice camera (like a Canon 20D or Nikon D70) and bundle several absolute crap lenses/accessories and then then claim "$4000 in extras!!!" Sure rings bells in my head! I'd seen several people mention the high number of mutually withdrawn feedback as a scam alarm too.

I bought my camera and lens from individuals who've had 100% feedback over a long period of time. But then I've been shopping online since Bookpool.com was email-only in '94 or so, so have learned a thing or two about detecting frauds.

[rowancat.livejournal.com]

"Still, a damned interesting saga (especially since, growing up in NYC, it reminds me of 47th Street Photo and their various competitors, just online instead of in person)."

I did a lot of photography and i remember stories on them in various photography magazines, saw their ads in others, never bought anything, rather bought through local Boston/Cambridge area stores.

There were finally a whole lot of tv "consumer report"
type stories about these stores in NY way back when those tv news shows actually ran that type of expose (they stay away from this now due to being sued too often)

And i remember the SNL skits ;)