WARNING: fotoconnection.com

[pgillman]

I ordered a Canon camera from FotoConnection based upon their published price including shipping PLUS the fact that they were offering a free accessory kit that was "automatically included in the order". Went through the checkout and gave my credit card for the amount indicated on the website including shipping. I was notified later that I had to call to verify my credit card, which I did, and the salesrep proceeded to try to sell additional addon memory cards which I declined. He reiterated my order would be shipped INCLUDING the Free accessory kit. Several days later, the camera arrived, but not the kit. I called and was informed that I needed to pay an additional shipping fee ($10 - $12) to receive this kit. I revisited the website and retraced the order steps an in no place did this company indicate that the FREE kit required additional shipping. Quite the contrary, it stated clearly that the kit was automatically included in the order. I talked with another customer support rep who said he would take care of this, but no action was taken by this company. Foto Connection appears to be a hard sell, disreputable sales organization that uses false advertising to obtain its business. I would avoid doing business with this organization AT ALL COST.

[boon4376]

Originally Posted by boon4376

oh great, I just bought a GPS from these people.... ugh well i dunno, about 50% of reviews on nextag were positive, as if they actually do well on some of their orders, and 50% were rip-off warnings. I hope i'm one of the lucky ones.

So to follow up, they mailed me the WRONG GPS, and guess what, the wrong one retails for $100 less than the one i thought i was purchasing. I have returned it via UPS with insurance, and hopefully will get my refund in a timely matter. God... you'd think they would do better being honest..

[have-none]

Buyer Beware!
You know the adage. Well it applies here.
This company is one of bait and switch!
I ordered a Canon 40d body from them. The website states that the camera is NOT a grey market camera and has a USA warranty card.
Most sites selling these low price cameras don’t state that the warranty card is USA one. That was the reason for ordering.
A few hours after placing my order I received a called from one of their sales people stating he needed to verify my account information.
All well and good.
Then he asks if I want any lenses, which I did not.
Then he asked about memory cards, which the 8 mb cards on their sited were $350.00 for a $80.00 you could buy any place else.
Then he said the battery that came with the camera was not any good and I needed to buy the upgraded one.
Which I agreed too only because I wanted an extra battery.

Here is the bait and switch.
Then he asked if I wanted the good quality USA camera or the cheap Plastic imported one.
I don’t think canon makes a cheap plastic 40d camera, but I told him no, I wanted the one advertized on the web site with the USA warranty card.
He says that must be a mistake, the camera I ordered is the imported one, which I would have to send to them if I wanted any warranty repair service on it.
How could it be a mistake I ask, your website clearly states this camera I ordered is warranted in the USA? Again he says that the website is wrong and I needed to pay an extra $100.00 if I wanted the USA camera.
He assures me that the camera has the USA warranty, is an unopened box with the warranty card.
I take the deal, the price is now the same as you can buy it from any other place online and I get the extra battery.
I received the camera, it came with the USA warranty card as promised, the serial number on the box matched the camera inside. All well and good. Well almost. The box is for a camera and lens, but I did not receive the lens. They open the box and took the lens out.
What a joke.
I registered the camera with canon with no problem.
I received my camera, I paid a fair price for it. But why should I have to go through all of this just to save a few bucks. I was not worth it.
I learned my lesson, I’ll stick to buying from Amazon. They are the most hassle free place to buy from.
My advice to anyone thinking of buying ANYTHING from fotoconnection.com is not too.
Just spend a few dollars more and buy from someone you can trust.
I have purchased tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise on line and this company is the first that need to call to confirm my information and then to pressure me into buy more or something I did not need or telling the item I ordered is not the one I would receive.
These guys will try to get more money from you and won’t stop until they do, guaranteed!
Worse than any car dealership on earth!
Just stay away!

[boon4376]

to follow up, My package was returned with a full refund RMA # about two weeks ago it was delivered. Still no money back on my credit card and they wont answer their phones. Am i going to have to report fraudulent charges to my credit card company? I'm out $260 and have nothing to show for it.

[No Tact]

On 07-08-08 I placed an order for 2 Sanon SD1000 cameras. $19.38 shipping. I received an email asking me to call 800-457-0889 to confirm my order. A "Sam" then proceeded to attempt to sell me accessories, a longer lasting rechargable battery and battery charger. I told him no thanks. He then said there will be an additional $20.00 per camera for shipping insurance and that this was a good idea. I told him that I did not care for shipping insurance and I would but it elsewhere if that was the case. He said I would be charged this amount anywhere I go. I told him I begged to differ. He then said he would throw in the accessories that he offered to sell me previously (a longer lasting rechargable battery and battery charger) for free to make it up to me. I told him no that I now just wanted to cancel my order. He said okay but there will be a 15% restocking fee since he has processed my order! Do I have to say anymore anout the shady practices that this company has in store for "customer" (victims). I have filed a dispute with my credit card company. If I had done a small amount of research on this company I would have found that this behavior is their normal mode of operation and they are getting away with it daily to the dread of unsuspecting customers all over the USA. Internal terrorists.

[tuckermanreturns]

I feel this company is a bunch of theives. Their whole objective is to "process" the order, that way when you try to cancel, you have to pay a 15% restocking fee plus you have to pay them back for the "free" shipping.

I personally will never buy from them again. I purchased a Nikon D80, got the hard up-sell after being told the lens with the original package was incompatiable with digital cameras. I should have canceled right then, and I learned an expensive lesson. After the package didn't arrive overnight, I cancelled the order, was charged approximately $350 bucks to "re-stock" and for shipping. I have nothing from them, and they have $350 from me..... kinda funny, don't ya think?

After over an hour of searching their website, under what seemed like hundreds of sub-folders, in real small print, the 15% re-stocking fee...

Hard, expensive lesson learned, and learned well....

[Kaos120]

i was lucky in that they did not charge my cc. It was two days and i did not receive an email confirming that my order was shipped. i got worried and called them and they said that the order was processing so that it should ship soon. finding this suspicious i googled this website to see so many negative complaints against these people. i called my cc company to see is they had been charged and not yet. i called fotoconnections and canceled my order got the email confirmation and everything. i then called my cc company again and had my card canceled as well.

[Kaos120]

i was wondering since i canceled my cc before they were able ti charge me, can they send my information to a collection agency and ruin my credit?

[jimjomack]

There site was the least expensive for this camera by about $60.00. The ad says these cameras are factory fresh unopened cameras. Panasonic shows that a battery is included with the camera. I placed the order and they e-mail you with a concent form and talk to you over the phone asking what battery and sd card did I want to purchase, as he claimed no camera comes with a battery. So I purchased the battery and a 1 gig sd card that put the price way over the price if I just bought it direct from Panasonic. When I got the camera the original factory battery was in the package and there was no additional battery, so I dont know what I really bought. The only good thing is that I did get the new camera in a few days.

[A2kSux]

Being from NY and having met many people that are in the electronics M.O. business I can honestly say that they are not terrible guys. One thing people fail to understand when purchasing stuff online and reading negative reviews is; For every negative review a merchant might have there are at least 50 happy customers that didnt write a review. For example, when you go to the corner store to buy a stick of gum, if the transaction went well and you placed the 50 cents on the counter took your gum and walked out. Do you think you will be stopping people on their way in telling them how fantastic a merchant this is. NO. You got what you expected and it ends there. So, keep in mind that happy customers get tehir products and move on with their lives, mostly they do not write reviews. On the other hand, if the clerk at the store snared at you and said something uncalled for you might consider thelling the people walking in that this person is a little nuts. And so, it should be understood that once an item is recieved they consider the transaction complete. They dont feel they have to go write a review. The few that are extremely unhappy do want to vent and thats what review pages are for.