Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!

SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

New York crooks
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:27 pm    Post subject: New York crooks Reply with quote

Just a general warning about NY/Brooklyn scammers who are well-known for this behavior:
http://www.photographybay.com/2009/06/25/sonic-photo-broadway-photo-best-price-camera-and-other-scammers-get-busted/


patrickh


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Patrick, could you please give some information on what these shops do?
Just in case someone of us ends up in NYC for some reason and wants to shop for photo tools.
In your link, I read of "nefarious bait & switch tactics", what would that be?


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Bait & switch" is where what you find in the bag is not what you saw them put in the bag Shocked


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These stores operate over the Internet and are often found on eBay in the Buy It Now featured ads section! (Don't you love eBay - they appear to many to have the ethics of an alley cat at times..)

They have really low prices for very current new gear - like a K-7 for about $300 less than you would find it anywhere else.. you get excited, you see their 45,000 feedback and all their 'endorsements' and you go ahead - only to find that the battery, strap and lens cap (NON optional extras) will be... $700 or some such mad price.

They are unwilling to make a refund, they will refer you to their small print (saying something like 'some items are non optional extras - written in a .00007 point size!) You get the feeling these scumbags would sell a digital SLR with the sensor as an 'upgrade option' if they could.

They are almost all based in Brooklyn, some have shop-fronts, many are someone's kitchen with a few phone agents.. all of whom are very threatening and unpleasant.

A friend of mine took the trouble to hunt one of these scammers down to their shop, and punched out two of a guy's teeth, saying that a full set was an 'option only' then ran for it...

Seemingly he got clean away, and no-one attempted charges..

STAY CLEAR of these people or risk heart-ache or a heart attack!

Doug.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have reports about them for years. I am very careful who I deal with.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocking. Looks like NYC might be worse than Naples! (hard to believe though...)


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doug's description is very accurate. They also do the same thing from the storefront - a sign advertising something very new for a substantial discount. Once you go inside "Sorry, just sold the last one, but I have something just as good..."
The disgraceful thing is that it took NY authorities so long to go after any of them. My advice would be to anyone just visiting NYC to go to 34th St where the main "decent" stores are and nowhere else. The problem with that is these are all very professional and you will NOT get a bargain unless the dollar falls out of bed (which it very well could do). Smile Smile


patrickh

PS Any store with a 718 area code or Brooklyn address should be avoided like the plague.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can go to http://www.resellerratings.com/ & enter in an online dealers name & get info on how honest & upfront they are...


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
Shocking. Looks like NYC might be worse than Naples! (hard to believe though...)



They are operate based on refuges from Naples Wink they grandpa run out before Mussolini catch them Wink


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually a different group - not the Italian mafia


patrickh


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
Actually a different group - not the Italian mafia


patrickh


I guess some other too Wink also run out from Italy.


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

have a look at the ratings for sonic cameras! 0.5/10 and pages and pages of victims complaining!
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Sonic_Cameras


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are so many gullible buyers out there that this group could pay $756,000 in fines as a "cost of doing business" that was acceptable! Wasn't it PT Barnum who said "you can fool some of the people all of the time"?

Staggering.


patrickh


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just look Madoff and his cheating America is full with trustworthy, but very naive people. No other nation same naive I think so profitable area for all cheaters.


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Broadway" would advertise in the back odf Photographic Magazine years ago. I had an incident with them when I first started out in photography and reported them to the BBB.

I called on a Nikon N90 with the kit lens, I dont recall the price but I believe it was around 750.00 advertised with lens.

The salesman who took my call didnt want to sell me the advertised camera with the kit lens. He insisted the lens was junk and I needed a much more expensive lens which would have jacked the cameras total price WAY UP!

This salesman actually became very NASTY when I insisted on the advertised item. He refused to sell me the item as advertised and I hung up on him. I called back and asked to speak with the manager and told the manager what happened. He simply said "sorry", and that was it. No offer of the advertised item. I then called the BBB and posted my complaint.

Dealing with them was a total JOKE! I never relied on the back of a photo magazine as a source for buyin gear again.


PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
Wasn't it PT Barnum who said "you can fool some of the people all of the time"?

Honest Abe http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27074.html

PT Barnum reputedly reckoned there was a sucker born every minute, but it's not so, apparently...
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

Me? I reckon the world will never suffer from a shortage of assholes. Smile


PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nor crooks to fleece them Smile Smile


patrickh