Fight Back! Express Cameras = Crooks

[tadphoto]

Well good luck cancelling. When I try to get confirmation of my cancellation they put me on hold, hang up on me, tell me "customer service" is closed and etc. These guys will simply lie - flat out. They lied when they tried to "upsell" me an inferior lens about the brand, the price and the capabilities. It should come as no surprise that they are also engaged in false advertising. I'd say that's one of their lesser sins.

[tadphoto]

Today "Scott" emailed me to tell that the lens had shipped, despite my every effort to get them to cancel. He said they had charged me $1369 - $1299 for the lens and $70 for express two day shipping. Of course I never asked for express shipping (they had quoted me $49 for regular shipping.)

Clearly these guys are rip off artists. They could have bought this lens from B and H and shipped it off for a profit, as B&H charges less. Is it gray market? Refurbished? There's no way to know. Now I'll have to refuse the lens and dispute the charge. Ugly.

[tadphoto]

I've decided that I'm going to fight these guys and make life hard for them, as they have made life so hard for me. Anyone who wants in, please email me. I am going to start a database of complaints. Please let me know any information about your experience. It's especially helpful if you have documentation.

Please let me know any suggestions you have as well. I propose to contact the following organizations:

1. New Jersey attorney general's office
2. Better Business Bureau (just to heap on the complaints - they already have a trashed rating)
3. The department of Trade and Consumer Protection
4. Various news organizations who may be interested in an investigative piece
5. Google - to try and have their advertising removed (this should get their attention)

To do this I need your help. Send me your stories, dates, names, etc.

Eric Tadsen

[Lucky_Joe]

I was searching for the Nikon D70 Camera body. (already have compatable lenses). I bit on the $669, even though the shipping brought the final tab to 699, it still seemed like the best deal I could get anywhere.

Had to do the phonecall to confirm order, and the fella that I got tried the 20 minute battery life deal. I questioned him about what came with the body (Nikon provides with battery, charger, video & usb cable, battery adaptor - for using throw away lithium cells, and Nikon picture perfect software) and he said only the battery adaptor, to get the full camera body package, I had to fork over $799. They also tried to sell a 70 dollar compactflash card for 700, but I told them I had everything else I needed and the guy didn't push it.

I went for it, still seemed like a good deal. Hadn't read this forum, or I might have tried to bail out.

1 week later received the camera, all the included accesories, and the free camera case, lense kit and tripod they advertised. The tripod was only 6 inches tall, but might be useful on a tabletop, bag wasn't too bad. Lense cleaning kit, standard couter top at the local photo store deal.

Camera appeared brand new, still had plastic protectors on the screens, but was obvious not made for US market - it had a european plug on the battery charger, with a 110V US adaptor! The 1 year warranty provided was not a Nikon OEM warranty, but a third party warranty provider.

Still got the item for less than what the competition was asking, (even after the Nikon $100 rebate - with no rebate hassle). Haven't fired it up to see if it works, as it was purchased as a gift. I will advise this forum if the deal sours in the future.....

Note that the ups package was from a Jack Silver at the Edison Jersy address. Telephone provided to UPS was (888) 828-0002

I may have lucked out...................

[tadphoto]

Lucked out? Maybe. You got a gray market import and you may not be able to collect your rebate. Let me know.

In the meantime, here is a little website I have created as a clearinghouse for complaints about this company:

http://tadphoto.com/expresscameras.html

Feel free to submit your complaints via my links. Yes, you are lucky if you got your product, but you were straight-up lied to, like many others. Go to this link and submit a complaint with the better business bureau, the department of consumer protection and with Google, who is as of now their de-facto number one co-conspirator!!!

Eric

[tadphoto]

Well, for those of you who suspect that expresscameras.com is fraudulently using other companies logos to make their site look legitimate, you are right. Here is an email I just got from Price.com

Dear Eric:

Thank you for your email We are sorry to hear about your experience with ExpressCameras.com. We have sent numerous requests to Expresscameras to remove the Price Assured icon from their site, and yet they have not done so. We take this matter very seriously and will be contacting the better business bureau about this.

In the meantime, please feel free to write your reviews so that other consumers are aware of this:

http://www.price.com/vendor_review_d...&maxperpage=20

Regards,

Paul Sawhney
paul@price.com3

[Hidalgo2]

If you look at their addresses, both Express Cameras and Save-here.com are actually at the same location, yet Express Cameras denies even knowing anything about save-here.com:

Express Cameras
1090 King Georges Post Road.
Suite 307
Edison, NJ 08837

Save-Here.com
307 Clearview Avenue
Edison Business Center #307
Edison, NJ 08837

Attached is a map of the Business Center of Edison. Look at it and see that it is the same complex, and both Express Cameras and Save-here share the same suite. If you call Save-here.com, you'll notice that the same Express Cameras people take your order, but just answer the phone differently. Strange that they don't even admit that express cameras is just another name for the holding company save-here.com.

[tadphoto]

In my investigations I discovered that they are indeed the same business. You can see it if you do a Whois on their website, I think. I think it's just a boileroom full of jerks who try to screw you, then call their fly-by-night warehouse to ship.

[Hidalgo2]

Bump!

LETS KEEP THE PRESSURE ON EXPRESS CAMERAS!

Anyone out there had any luck with the New Jersey authorities?

[MotoX]

I called there today to ask why the Nikon 70-200 VR lens was so cheap, the guy (Nick extension 252) said the price was after rebate, and it was still better than any other price I had seen, but he tried to talk me into a $800 Sigma lens that he would give me for $1500 (they had it listed for $1800). Stay away from them.