Shyster Alert: Broadway Camera

[fln8tive]

Not to use this forum as gripe, but my father in law just purchased two Canon SD1000 cameras that were touted as being upgraded with "long life" batteries and a "one year warranty" and "extra memory".

The $199 camera ended up costing $300 after the $29 shipping, the battery was the stock Canon battery, the carrying case was a bottom of the barrel China Special, and the memory was the old slow 1gig.

When he called to tell them they were getting the whole kit & caboodle back they told him they have a $60 restock fee. That was the last sentence they were able to get out..

Shysters.

WalMart.com sells these for $195

[PersonaNonGrata]

Originally Posted by fln8tive

Not to use this forum as gripe, but my father in law just purchased two Canon SD1000 cameras that were touted as being upgraded with "long life" batteries and a "one year warranty" and "extra memory".

The $199 camera ended up costing $300 after the $29 shipping, the battery was the stock Canon battery, the carrying case was a bottom of the barrel China Special, and the memory was the old slow 1gig.

When he called to tell them they were getting the whole kit & caboodle back they told him they have a $60 restock fee. That was the last sentence they were able to get out..

Shysters.

WalMart.com sells these for $195

That is BS! I have always been aware that any camera shop in NY would be crooked with the exception of places like B&H, Adorama, and I thought, Broadway. For whatever reason, NY is a hotbed of camera store scammers. I guess this is why I just buy digicams from Amazon (not one of the stores offered as an alternative) or Costco.

So what is he going to do?

[fln8tive]

Originally Posted by PersonaNonGrata

That is BS! I have always been aware that any camera shop in NY would be crooked with the exception of places like B&H, Adorama, and I thought, Broadway. For whatever reason, NY is a hotbed of camera store scammers. I guess this is why I just buy digicams from Amazon (not one of the stores offered as an alternative) or Costco.

So what is he going to do?

He called VISA and will challenge the "restock" fee. I am sure it will work out. B/t/w, it is Supergreg's fault...my F.I.L. saw my camera that SG suggested I buy and the F.I.L. got so jazzed he wanted his -n- hers.

[motordavid]

FLn8,
Have never heard anything good about them, from way back in the
late '80s. Hope you Pop stuffs them.

Here's Epinions ragging, fwiw, though not current:
http://www99.epinions.com/content_49...4/show_~allcom

And, for you shoppers, a dated blog, but an outfookinstanding
detective job on the myriad gang of storefront cam&vid joints
that come and go like "rolex" salesman on 9th Ave, yet advertise
like they are B&H Photo...:
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/


B&H is about the only NY area joint I would and do buy from...
GL out there, shoppers.
BR,mD

[Thunder22]

never ever buy anything online without first checking the store out on

www.resellerratings.com


that being said, only buy from b&h, adorama, or 17thstphoto.com in NY....

trust me on this.

[ylwjacket]

I had a similar thing happen. I don't remember the name of the company though. I'll have to find it, but it was a camera company from NY.

I placed the order overnight, and they called to confirm in the morning. I told them to cancel it when they called. The reason I told to cancel was because when they called, there were a million add-ons and fees that were not listed anywhere on the website. A $3000 camera set-up was actually going to cost me liek $4300. I told them no thanks in no uncertain terms.

They said there was a 15% restock fee, and I told them they hadn't taken it out of stock, because they hadn't even run my card yet, so I would not be paying any restock fees. They told they were already boxing it, had taken from the warehouse, blah, blah, blah. I told him to stick it - ain't happening. If he sold it to me for the price that was in my shopping cart, I'm in. Otherwise, no thanks. He tried to barter the fees, like from $1300 to $800. No thank you, brother, cancel.

I told them I would call Amex and tell them not to pay any fees, transactions, or anything from this company. The rep was actually threatening me, so I told him to go to the hot place, called Amex, and all was good.

Well, about a month later, I get a call from Amex about unusual charge activity to my card. I had, it seems, over the past few days, subscribed to about 20 online dating services, a bunch of porn sites, a few overseas kiddie porn sites, and some other things, using my Amex card. All told, something like $800. I had to cancel that card and get a replacement.

I couldn't prove it, but I know that bastard, who had actually said things like "I'll get even for canceling this order" did that crap.

I go to the store for stuff like now, even if it does cost a little more.

[Thunder22]

www.bhphotovideo.com
www.adorama.com
www.17photo.com
www.onecall.com


Are all very very reputable, in fact, probably the best in the country. You can confidently buy from them without a problem.

[X5FX]

Broadway has been doing this for many years. I always go with B&H, they are slightly higher but in 20+ years I have never had an issue with them.

[asawadude]

That's a shame... These fly by night Brooklyn electronics companies have
been fleecing people out of their hard earned money for decades operating out the back pages of all the mainstream photo magazines.

One more thing to check - is the camera a U.S. model or gray market import? If it's not a U.S. model, Canon will not pay for repairs at an authorized repair facility.

Make sure your dad doesn't return the items until he receives full and complete credit. Have him pursue getting the charges removed from his CC account from the credit card issuer. He should reference the BBB report on Broadway Photo when reviewing the matter with the CC company.

http://www.bbbnewyork.org/reports/bu....aspx?id=68047

I buy my camera items and supplies locally from Samy's Camera, only because I want to see, touch, and try out what I'm buying. However, I would recommend B&H Photo highly. They are one of a 3 electronics companies (B&H, JR Music, and Crutchfield) who provide provide corporate discounts to my company. They have also partnered with our organization on various charitable events in the NYC area. As a result, there's a lot of B&H customers among my colleagues, and they all are very happy with B&H's prices and service.

[alpac]

Yes Broadway camera sucks big times. I was recently looking for buying a Panasonic lumix fz50 bridge camera and they were offering the best price by far. Since I never bought anything from them I was suspicious and decided to call them rather than ordering over the Internet. They tried to BS me by saying that at that price it was not coming with a rechargeable battery nor the charger. When they added that plus the shipping the price was higher that what I saw on other reliable sites. I finally bought my camera from B&H and they rock.