Not happy with Dealer on purchase

I have always purchased my photographic equipment from the shops in NYC....I

have always had good service and quality products...After nearly 30 yrs of

being inactive in photography, I made a recent purchase. I purchased a complete

kit from Digicombos in Brooklyn. The kit was a Canon EOS 400D XTi, Three lens

set 18-55mm, 28-105, 70-300mm, of course they were all the lowest priced lens

in the Canon line, The flash was advertised as the 580 speedlite (it was not

Canon) I purchased seperatly a 2X teleconverter that I thought was canon, but

was just a cheap piece of glass that sells for 30.00 and I paid 249.95...I

could go on and on, but anyway the total tab was 1,749.00....I emailed the

company and told them what I thought. I know I can't do anything about it now

its been 2 weeks since I purchased....I wish I had used B&H, there is a

company! Anyone else in this boat? Wally

Walter, I didn't even do a reselleratings on "Digicombos", but I would bet they are scam artists like all the other companies in threads here. My recommendation, and I am totally serious, is to contact Chris Hansen or his producer at NBC who does all the "catch a predator" type shows. This would be a fantastic topic, would love to see him going to all the "store fronts" and confronting these clowns. Sadly, even if that happened, they would pop up somewhere else, but at least more people would know about them. Personally, I only deal with B&H, KEH, and a handful of others. Regards, Tom.

Checked Digicombos reviews at resellerratings.com. Seven reviews total; 7.5 out of 10 rating.

 

Hmm, that doesn't sound right. Looked again. All of the seven reviewers have rated only one camera store: Digicombos. One can assume that the positive reviews were from employees.

 

Wish there was a way to put this kind of place out of business.

Walter: Have you contacted them about returning the equipment? Also, is there an ad anywhere that we can see. If they are advertising stuff as Canon equipment and providing it I think you have a case of bait and switch. Now if you just assumed you were getting all Canon equipment that may be another story.

 

W T: I like the Chris Hansen idea. I can just here him now "Hi, I'm Chris Hansen and you sold me a pile of crap..."

Walter, a legitimate, ethical photography store that I have been satisfied with over the past two years is Hunt's Photo and Video headquartered in Melrose, Mass. They have about 4-5 other satellite locations in the New England area. I think Melsose is near Boston.

 

A local professional photographer, whose articles appear in Outdoor Photographer magazine, brought Hunt's to my attention when I was shopping for a Nikon lens and had complained about how hard it was to tell the honest dealers from the crooks that advertise in the photo mags.

 

The advantage with them is that I can deal with the same person every time, their prices usually are as good as B&H (and if not they will price match) and they will send your purchase to where you want as compared to B&H who will only send it to the address on your credit card.

 

Have bought three Nikon lenses, a Canon P&S and an Epson R2400 printer, and in every case they were the authorized dealer and the items came with the factory USA warrenty. Shipping was prompt. No bait and switch. No hard sell on acessories. Just the legit product at a fair price with no unpleasant surprises.

 

Thought the readers of this thread might like to know of a good alternative to the big boys like Adorama, etc.

 

Al

I would suggest if you used your credit card to report it to them. Document conversations with Digicombos. I always use American Express when I purchase on line because they are very quick to respond to complaints just like the one you have experience. They set up a charge against the company until it has been resolved properly. I had a similar problem with AOL many years ago and they resolved it for me.

 

Good luck. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Actually, their resellerratings score isn't too bad - 7.5 out of 10. Check it out <A HREF="http://www.resellerratings.com/store/DigiCombos">here</A>

Thank you to all who replied. I purchased the outfit with my Visa card from Capital One. I'm going to call them first, then I might call that Chris Hanson at NBC Something should be done...the salespersons name on the phone at Digicombos was Mark X120. The tripod was very flimsy, the camera bag was really small and low quality, etc, etc etc. Walter

Walter, you are describing fraud. It is a tort for which you can typically recover damages (or at least your money back), and there are probably consumer protection statutes in NY that provide for payment of your attorneys fees if you win. I'm as skeptical of junk lawsuits as anyone, but that is not what you are describing. And a good NY lawyer could probably convince them to give you your money back over the phone. Just my two cents.

"Actually, their resellerratings score isn't too bad - 7.5 out of 10. Check it out here."

 

Please see my post above about those seven(!) reviewers at resellerratings.com: for all seven, Digicombos was their only review.

 

Gotta read beyond the numbers...

Also, three of the seven reviewers use the abbreviation "def" or "deff" (two of them spelled it with 2 f's) for the word "definitely". At least five of the reviews are worded such as to sound like the same person. I don't buy the 7.5/10.

Walter - posts like yours drive me to despair. You say "After nearly 30 yrs ..." - so, you are not a young naive kid, and must have been around the block couple of times. Presumably you searched on the Net for the lowest prices.

 

The dead givaway are the prices of accesories: Hitachi microdrive ($125 at B&H) - they sell it for $300; 4Gb Compact Flash card ($70 to $80 at B&H) - they sell for $350.

 

But...lets check if you have actually been ripped off.

 

I guess you bought the "Digicombo #2". It includes 400D, and "free" accesories to the total "value" of $2650...at grossly inflated prices, of course. They include: Canon 28-105, Canon 75-300, Canon 18-55 (listed at $999.99 !), 4Gb microdrive (listed at $350 !), flash (no saying it is 580EX, so your post is not entirely accurate, looks like Sigma - but no name on the picture), tripod ($90 - looks like cheap Velbon or Impact), card reader (at $79.95), no-name filter set (at $149.95 - probably UV, circular polarizer, plus maybe warming filter), table-top tripod (looks like little Sunpak), hard shell case (at $149.99), soft bag for the camera, lens cleaning kit, wide angle converter (listed at $199.99).

 

Now to B&H: 400D - $592; Canon 18-55 - $199; Canon 75-300 III - $180; Canon 28-105 - $150; Lexar 4Gb - $69; (assume) Sigma EF-530 - $189; tripod Velbon DF-30 - $28; card reader - $16; table-top tripod Sunpak - $4; wide angle converter Kenko KR-W075 - $70; camera bag - probably about $20; hard case - hard to tell, B&H does not list anything that resembles what is shown - say $50 (very optimistic); filter set - $12 (UV), $30 (polarizer), assume third filter - another $20.

 

Sum total: $1629 - not including the 2x teleconverter. Not too far from the $1749 which you paid.

 

So, IMO, while I would never buy from a shop which tries to sell me a compact flash 4Gb card for $350 - you probably got pretty much (or close to) what you paid for.<div></div>

Yes Leszek,

That is the kit I ordered. In addition, I wanted a 2x Teleconverter Canon and he said on the phone it was 249.95 and I ordered it. When I got it was a Merkury lens that just screwed in like a filter. I thought all teleconverter fir between the lens and body? Walter

Well, if you actually ordered a Canon 2x TC - then you may have a case here, but if the order was by phone - then it is your word against his as to what you actually ordered and paid for. Regarding the original order of Digicombo #2 - as I said before, you got what you paid for, give or take couple of bucks. What you didn't get - is the advertised $2650 free value - but surely you did not expaect that ?

 

So, IMHO you do not have a case here (or not much of a case)...you haven't been ripped off much - except that maybe you got a bunch of things that are of questionable usefulness and quality (with the exception of 400D and lenses). The lenses - while (as you said) are the cheapest Canon stuff - cost what they cost, but overall you wouldn't pay much different price elsewhere, if it makes you feel any better.

And, in the future - this is the place to do on-line shopping:

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/