Con Artists
My experience was similar to another review I read below, which reaffirms my belief that this place is run by a con artist. If you don’t know better you might unknowingly end up a victim. I ordered a Sony FX3. The advertised price was $200 less than anywhere else, which is why I decided to order from them instead of Amazon. The next day I received a telephone call from this guy who used, as someone else stated below, a bait and switch technique to increase the price. He asked if I wanted the U.S. version of this camera. Claiming that Amazon’s and anyone else’s was the “European” version, which makes no sense. He said that they had to be the European versions because they were selling less than MSRP and that “Sony doesn’t allow anyone to sell their products for less.” He claimed that the language wouldn’t be in English and that’s why it’s cheaper. Somehow, I started to believe it. He said he could sell me the “last U.S. version” for $4,400 ($500 above the Amazon price). He said to help me he’d give me an extended warranty valued at $499; they all carry the warranty he was claiming to give. Since I had no time to research I agreed. Luckily for me, my credit card company would not approve the transaction because of the high cost of the camera; fraud protection became suspicious. Even after I spoke with them it still got declined; he said he needed to speak with his supervisor. I told the guy to just hold off and said I’d just call back if I decide to buy from them. I didn’t want to hassle with long wait times with customer service so I decided to go ahead and make the purchase through Amazon, with no credit card issues. The next day I got a call from the guy and I told him I was no longer interested and didn’t want to try and run the card again; he didn’t need to know that I made the purchase already. The following day I started getting charges in the amount of $900 to $990 from 42nd Photo. WITHOUT MY PERMISSION…he took it upon himself to start charging my card. When I called to ask why, he essentially tried cussing me out and saying he was going to charge me a “cancellation fee.” I said, “Cancellation fee for what? We never ordered it because the card didn’t work.” He then tried saying “Fine, I’ll match the Amazon price.” Didn’t he say Sony wouldn’t allow that? I asked to speak to a supervisor and he said he was the supervisor; yet another blatant lie and tactic to get an extra $500 off of an unsuspecting customer. After yelling and cursing he got mad and hung up on me. I spoke to Sony and learned that what he said about the U.S. versus European versions was a complete fabrication made up to cheat me. I also spoke to my credit card company and had them block his business. If he tries again it’ll be considered a fraudulent charge. If you’re reading this, DO NOT fall for this con artist. I can only imagine how many people have fallen for this and have no idea. He did this to me and to someone else who has a review below; there has to be more. As a business owner myself, I refuse to deal with a company that’s dishonest. It makes me sick to think of how many have already been taken advantage of by this con artist. Be careful and do your research.