Japanese model

[dirtlawyer]

Here's some useful advice. If you're really trying to stick it to them it ought to work.

 

Find a local lawyer who does consumer law. The Federal Trade Commission has, and your state consumer protection act may, have rules against "bait and switch" transactions. Many lawyers who practice in this area will take such a case on a contingency basis.

 

Have fun.

 

And, oh yes, let me know what happens.

[ebogaerts]

Call this a rant or not, but if some lowlife speaking to me from a retail establishment treated me rudely on a phone and called me a liar, I'd reply with something equally if not more ugly and hang up.

 

And, it's absolutely criminal that the state and city of New York have allowed (by inaction) these operations to exist, period.

[stuart_richardson]

These operations close and reopen all the time. They change address all the time, and are

very slippery. New York goes after them on occasion, but these places are hard to track.

They do not have storefronts, they have mailing addresses that are abandoned apartments

and so on. There was a website that showed the addresses of some of these places, I

forget what link is though. In any case, DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD OR

ADDRESS! These are not camera stores. They simply aren't. They don't carry any stock, and

they will only fill your order if they can find a way to screw you. They will either sell you a

used camera for a new price, send you a broken camera, send you no camera at all, or

worse. They are only out to take your money. There is no point trying to "lock and load"

and go after them, because they are like cockroahes. As soon as the light shines on them

they disappear. They will just open up under a different name and start again.

[stuart_richardson]

By the way, here is your store:

<P>

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0009.htm

 

<P>It has a few other aliases: Camera City Inc., d.b.a. CCI Camera City (CCICameraCity.com),

a.k.a. Royal Camera and Video Inc. (RoyalCamera.com), and The Camera Source, Inc., d.b.a.

TCSCamera.com, TheCamerasSource.com, a.k.a. BananaBoatCamera.com

[lee hamiel]

Ken:

 

With all due respect - it's a losing cause similar to trying to have a conversation with a drunk ...

 

I would simply let it go & move on - your time would be better served elsewhere.

 

I would also seriously consider canceling your CC & get a new one - they could always say some guy broke in & took some paperwork ... especially if you continue to badger them.

 

It simply a camera - not a war & no need to fight to the death over what is already known about these types of places.

 

By the way - would you go to the same area to buy a car?

 

By the way - welcome to photo.net

[._._z]

If you want to play perverse games with thieves who have your credit card info... have fun.

[walterh]

These salespeople probably are reading this thread roling on the floor.

[tumble2113]

I know it's been said many times, but it is a scam. I tried to buy a camera once and just walked away because if they ever sold it to me for that price I would take it or refuse the transaction, pretty easy when you trust your credit card.

 

The interesting part was that I had the time to research and most of these companies are owned by the same place. Even a DNS look up showed the same Host and IP address. Once they get enough negatives in the reseller lists they change names.

 

I have found a few reputable places that get you a decent deal and you still get it.

[ky2]

<i>"If you want to play perverse games with thieves who have your credit card info... have fun."</i><br><Br>

I for once, agree with Z here.

[janvanlaethem]

Ken,

 

I have been reading this post since yesterday, you now have replies from 24 different people saying you shouldn't do this. I'll be number 25.

 

It seems you are very determined to loose your 300 dollars. The D70s is advertised on the B&H website for 699.95 dollars. It is not in stock at the moment, but it will be shortly. I have dealt with B&H on several occasions and you can absolutely trust them. As someone pointed out before, B&H have a shop where you can actually buy the camera and meet the people behind the counter. Royal Camera and several others in the area are crooks. There is no way they will sell you the camera for 300 dollars. That means they would have to buy it in Japan for approximately 200 dollars, ship it over to the US and still make a profit on the sale, including the salesman's commission. These salespeople work on a commission basis only, that is why they are so eager to sell you all the extra items you don't need or want.

 

I used to work in timeshare. The salespeople would tell lie after lie and make up a beautiful story, too good to be true. Still, out of every 10 people they toured, 2 to 3 would buy. I was the guy who closed the deals, backed up all the lies, got the contracts signed and, more importantly, got their credit cards. We used to have a saying that was repeated in every sales meeting: "It doesn't matter what you tell them, it's how you tell them. Make your presentation convincing." If someone wanted to cancel, we would threaten them with legal action for breach of contract. That usually did the trick. If they still wanted to cancel, we would just keep their deposit. Easy money. I'm glad to say I quit the job after two months, I just couldn't handle it.

 

What Royal Camera is trying to do is exactly the same: get your money. They don't care about you as a customer or about the camera they are trying to sell. They don't have customers. They don't have the camera. These are the human equivalents of pitbull terriers. It doesn't matter how they do it, but that is their ultimate goal: to get your credit card details. Even if you back out now, they still might charge you for what they call "reservation deposit", "stockage fee" or whatever. These people are ripping you off, because that is what they do for a living. If it gets too hot under their feet, they close and start somewhere else under a different name.

 

Back out now and buy some gear from a reputable dealer, there are loads of them. 300 dollars will buy you a nice new lens. There are better things to do with your time and money. You might as well drive over to Brooklyn, park your car with doors and windows unlocked and leave those 300 dollars on the passenger seat. You'll loose your money just as quickly and easily.

[mars c]

Reading all these comments made me reluctant to go to royalcamera.com,

 

I was afraid they would put a spyware on my pc as soon as I click the link.

 

Ken , I know what kind of person you are, and I bet your own family don't like you. I know someone just like you, and I pity his sons and daughter, they are always frowning, as if showing the world that they're not happy with thier lives.

 

You are not a normal person, you are abnormal, you should admit it. But you can change , no matter how old you are.

 

As for the scammers, I hope bad karma will get them soon.

[ky2]

<i>"These are the human equivalents of pitbull terriers."</i><Br><Br>I think that's an insult to pitbull terriers...

[janvanlaethem]

I just finished reading all the links some other posters sent in. Some scary stuff, you're dealing with one of the worst compamies ever.

 

By the way, I found a picture of one of Royal Camera's salesmen.

[janvanlaethem]

This one also works at Royal Camera, but he's trying to disguise himself as something else.

 

By the way, is it OK to post pictures I found on the Internet using google or yahoo search engine ? If not, feel free to delete my posts. I by no means claim these pictures to be mine.

[dilip_chhetri]

i bought D50 with 18-55mm last year for $620 from one such store(now don't even remember the name), at that time B&H, adorama were selling it for $720. I was asked to call them after placing order and the order taker offer me too many things but i simply said ... whatever it is whether the camera will work or not without the offer just send me whatever i have ordered and i got it what i wanted for -$100, not bad