Bad Online Merchants

[Greg]

A friend of mine recently bought a camera from an online company based in Brooklyn, NY.

What he was delivered was a refurbished camera with scratches, minus original packaging and warranty information.

When he tried to return the item they gave him the run-around for weeks.

Hopefully he has learned his lesson, as when I did a little research on the company (through epinions) this company has dozens of complaints (going back 3 years!) almost idententical to my friends situation.

My question is, what is the best way to deal with situations like these? Is there any legal recourse?

 

[PetersCreek]

Being a photographer and a member of several photography-related boards, I've seen this same kind of post far too many times. There's one vendor name that keeps popping up it seems, who's operated under several company names, that's got a particularly bad history.

There's always legal recourse...but it may well be more expense and trouble than it's really worth. I truly hope your friend used a major credit card to make the purchase. If so, I think the best option is to dispute the charge with the credit card company on the basis of a misrepresented product.

 

[Kingston]

Being a photographer and a member of several photography-related boards, I've seen this same kind of post far too many times. There's one vendor name that keeps popping up it seems, who's operated under several company names, that's got a particularly bad history.

There's always legal recourse...but it may well be more expense and trouble than it's really worth. I truly hope your friend used a major credit card to make the purchase. If so, I think the best option is to dispute the charge with the credit card company on the basis of a misrepresented product.

Yup. Hit the nail right on the head. There are a few good NY-based camera shops (B&H, etc), but there a bunch of shady ones that deal in "grey market" goods that aren't covered by US warranties.
Dispute the charge by saying the magic words "I did not receive the product I purchased".
Also certain AMEXs (for example, the Starwood card), give you return protection, which allows you to return any product to AMEX within 60 days if the merchant won't take it back OR if the merchant charges a restocking fee.

PS: If you're gonna do a CC dispute of this nature it's best to do it in writing.

 

[Greg]

There are hundreds of these stores in Brooklyn, and for what it's worth, the NY Times wrote a column about this practice after they had recieved thousands of complaints about these dealers, one in particular through what is now a pretty famous web log by a photographer named Thomas Hawk.

He has been complaining online about a particular merchant, so much so that Yahoo has blocked that store from operating through yahoo shopping.

Oh well, live and learn. I gave my friend the advice to let his credit card company take care of it. The only thing he's worried about is that if he returns the camera, the merchant will deny recieving the camera, or that the merchant will say that he sent an empty box, or whatever.

These companies are real shady.

 

[Electric Sheep]

I buy all of my camera equipment (video, not photo, but the shops are the same) either from B&H or from local store. Otherwise, you never know what kind of shady deal you'll get, especially from most of those NYC shops (B&H excluded, of course).

 

[N2Advnture]

Dispute it with the credit card company - they print a form on the back of every statement :thumbsup: