I was in the market for a Waterproof Digital Camera that my wife and I could take on our vacation to Hawaii at the end of August. I came across techondigital.com. I found the page from a google search for Olympus 1030 SW. This was the URL for the Ad: http://www.lowpricedigital.com/item.asp?item_Id=161557
They had a 5 star “Trusted” Rating so I proceeded to make the order. I was called back soon thereafter by them and was told that I needed to buy a battery for the camera. This was the first red flag. Why would a reputable company like Olympus sell a mid-range camera with no battery? The sales person then clarified that there was actually a battery but it was a stater battery that was only good for about 15 – 20 pictures. What the sales person didn’t know is that I was already planning on purchasing a second battery for the camera and had found a battery on another site for about $30. So you can imagine my shock when he told be the battery would cost $89! WTF!?
I politely declined his offer and asked if there was anything Else I needed to know about the camera. He said there was. And…..? As it turns out this camera was an “Gray Market” camera from Japan, all of the markings and instructions would be in Japanese. And If I wanted, I could upgrade to the US Model for an additional $179, which put the price way above what I could by the camera for locally here in town plus an extra battery. When I called him on the price of the battery and the fact the model number on the website was for the US Model and told him this sounded like a bait and switch he asked if I would like to cancel my order. He did and I was send a confirmation email the next day saying my order was canceled.
This is when I started to do some more research into this company.
The ratings company that had given this merchant a 5 star rating has its reviews listed here: http://www.lowpricedigital.com/merchant.asp?merchant_id=20, as you can see each and every review has only a pro comment, very generic, and no cons. Not a single negative review I don’t care who you are, you don’t get 200 reviews that don’t have a single negative comment, or con for the product. Also there is no place to add your own review…. hmmm very fishy.
Checked out other websites that had linked this company to many others with similar practices. It all came together when I found this site. http://donwiss.com/pictures/brooklynstores/
There are a dozen or so of these companies operating in New York that are on the same street. Again, very fishy, many of them are even in the same building.
From what I can gather I believe that all these companies are inter-related.
- Broadway family
- Broadway Photo LLC
- BwayPhoto.com
- A&M Photo World LLC
- AMPhotoWorld.com
- DigitalLiquidators.com
- RegalCamera.com
- CameraTopia.com
- Preferred Photo
- Preferredphoto.com
- preferedphoto.com
- wilddigital.com
- Milleniumcamerera.com
- Time 2 Envy
- stores.ebay.com/Time2Envy
- Camera Addict, LLC
- cameraAddict.com
- Prestige Lamera, LLC d.b.a Prestige Camera.com
- dBuys.com
- iBuyDigital.com
- iBuyPlasma.com
- RealDealShop.com
- DigitalMegaStore.com
- CentralDigital.com
- Time2Envy.com
- Quest 4 Cameras
- Quest4Cameras.com
For those of you who are wondering I ended up buying the camera from NewEgg.com. Best price I found, I even got a 2yr Accidental Damage Warranty (Trust me I’ll probably use it twice) and an XD photocard.
Thanks to my reader (to this day I think I only have 1) I found a much better website warning the consumer of these jerks. http://www.broadway-photo-warning.com
Yes, they should be run out of business. Reading a few of a thousand or so complaints all over the web about them kinda makes you think, Why can they still be in business? What will happen when that irate supervisor confronts and attacks that certain kind of person that won’t take it?
Here’s another great site to warn others http://www.broadway-photo-warning.com/
Same thing Just happened to me these bastereds should be shot.
After I had to call up I got the same run around and told him sweet Just send the Jap model then.
One Min later I get this email .
Dear:steve navis,
We thank you for your order and appreciate you shopping with us .
Due to the product you ordered being out of stock for 6-8 weeks from today’s date. We regret to inform you that the order is canceled due to the product being on backorder. when or if we get the product again in stock soon will send you an email to place an order please do not resubmit your order again . sorry again and thanks for your understanding .
Good thing I found your blog. I was wondering about CentralDigital.com because their price for the Pioneer Kuro 5020 is the lowest. It’s a $2K item so I am a bit wary. I think I’ll just pay extra and buy from a reputable or authorized reseller. I also looked up TechOnDigital and ShopDigitalDirect and I have found fake positive reviews posted for them. Also googled them with the word “scam” and found many complaints about them. I figured that if the merchant has “digital” on their name, they are related and are most likely scam artists.
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