Caveat Emptor
Dec. 12th, 2005 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saint_monkeyA couple of years ago, we got scammed for $99 over a digital camera that we ordered from an online website based in Jersey City. They were recommended by a search on C-Net, and had many positive reviews on online sites like e-pinions. They were offering the camera for about $50 less than other retailers. After we ordered, they tacked a line item onto the invoice that was "free" on the web invoice, and then they charged us $99 for the item, and did not notify us of the change, until we received the printed invoice along with the camera. When confronted, they routed us to voice-mail hell, and they gave our credit card company a bogus story when they called, asking "what valid retailer would give a warranty away for free?" as their defense.
Fortunately, we saved the online invoice,1 and after providing this proof of bait-and-switch to our credit card company, they refunded our $99. (Interestingly, research into other complaints found that if you refused the warranty, they would not ship you any items at all, but cancel your order as "out of stock.")
Anyhow, a link in today's Slashdot references similar scams, and how the companies avoid the stream of consumer complaints and negative reviews. 2
But by far the most interesting thing came from one of the comments. One of the commentators linked to a fellow documenting the "storefronts" for these fly-by-night web based photo retailers, based upon the Whois information provided when they registered the website. Quite enlightening.
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/
1 On the "dispute a charge" claim paperwork for Citibank, they asked us NOT to provide any paperwork with our claim. Citibank then called the vendor, and asked them to respond to our claim. The vendor faxed them back a misspelled reply, and they forwarded that to me, denying our claim. I got angry that they would accept documentation from the vendor, but not from me, and I wrote a letter back to them, referencing the claim number, and providing the invoice, our original web invoice and after a wait of six weeks or so, they approved our claim and refunded our money.
2This site changed company names in the middle of our order! The printed invoice referenced a different order number, and a different company, than the invoice that printed out on the web. The claim, I guess, would be that we had forged the information, or were providing a order receipt from another company. The only correlating information was the time on my saved pdf and the order placement time on the company's printed shipping invoice, which were identical.
Fortunately, we saved the online invoice,1 and after providing this proof of bait-and-switch to our credit card company, they refunded our $99. (Interestingly, research into other complaints found that if you refused the warranty, they would not ship you any items at all, but cancel your order as "out of stock.")
Anyhow, a link in today's Slashdot references similar scams, and how the companies avoid the stream of consumer complaints and negative reviews. 2
But by far the most interesting thing came from one of the comments. One of the commentators linked to a fellow documenting the "storefronts" for these fly-by-night web based photo retailers, based upon the Whois information provided when they registered the website. Quite enlightening.
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/
1 On the "dispute a charge" claim paperwork for Citibank, they asked us NOT to provide any paperwork with our claim. Citibank then called the vendor, and asked them to respond to our claim. The vendor faxed them back a misspelled reply, and they forwarded that to me, denying our claim. I got angry that they would accept documentation from the vendor, but not from me, and I wrote a letter back to them, referencing the claim number, and providing the invoice, our original web invoice and after a wait of six weeks or so, they approved our claim and refunded our money.
2This site changed company names in the middle of our order! The printed invoice referenced a different order number, and a different company, than the invoice that printed out on the web. The claim, I guess, would be that we had forged the information, or were providing a order receipt from another company. The only correlating information was the time on my saved pdf and the order placement time on the company's printed shipping invoice, which were identical.
