I know this is a big post, but it's worth the time reading. It's sort of customer's justice.
Note: This review will contain pictures and screenshots with my personal and identifable information removed.
I, like a almost everyone else, were screwed by fotoconnection.com. I placed an order for a 58" Plasma, a Samsung UC HD DVD Player, and a cable. Not only did they charged me more than what I had order, they also switch my order to a $10 no-name generic DVD player without my authorization yet had the guts to charge me $300 more. They also didn't ship me my HDMI cable that I had purchased also. Below is how FotoConnection operates. You'd also be suprised how I found out about this website (RR).
Like many consumers, I placed an order trusting that a merchant will fulful its promise and commitment, in this case, from Fotoconnection.
I placed an order with them. The next day, I gott an e-mail asking me to "confirm my order." Below is the e-mail:
So I called "Ed Sharp" to verify my order and he tried to sell me a bunch of crap that I had no use for. He just didn't know how to take no for an answer. I told him I already ordered what I needed already, and that I want my order just as it is. He got very angry said that since I order a TV, I will need to pay an additional $150 on top of the $199.99 shipping charges that was already calculated and agreed upon when I had submitted my order. I refused this dishonest practice and told him I already agreed to the $199.99 shipping charge already when I placed my order, and if he won't honor it then I will cancel my order. He responded in a very rude tone saying, "Since I have lunch now, I will do you a favor and ship your items tomorrow an honor your invoice price." I was suspicous so I asked him to confirm the price that will be charged to my credit card, and his voice confirmation was the same as what I had ordered. That was the end of a 30 minutes phone call call that I thought would only take 2 minutes, but oh boy did he lie about everything.
After the phone call, I was sent another copy of my invoice telling me my order will be shipped soon. Below is a picture of my original order. The invoiced was everything I ordered and the price I agreed to:
A week later, I was happy when I got my shipment notification e-mail. When I opened my e-mail, I went into disbelief. The new "shipment notification" email show that they charged me $300 more that was agreed in my original invoice, yet they replaced the Samsung HD DVD player model that was in my original invoice with a $10 generic no-name DVD player. If you compare the screenshot below and the screenshot above, you will see how they falsified my order record, yet even dare to charge me $300 more. And that's not the end of it... when my order arrived, the HDMI cable was nowhere in the box. I did, however, received my 58" TV by freight, but it was a used model, and not "Brand New Factory Sealed With 1 Year USA Warranty" as promised.
Like many customers, I tried in good faith to resolved the issue with the merchant as required by law before I attempt to contact my credit card company to dispute. When I called FotoConnection number and touchtone the number for "Customer Service", I could hear the sound of the phone being picked up and slammed down. I thought it was accidental, so I tried again 2 times and same thing happened. Notice a pattern here?
When I called their toll free number again, and this time touchtone the number to reach the "Sales Department", it was picked up eagerly by a "John Silver" hoping to lure another customer into their trap. When I explained to John Silver my problem, he asked me if I was retarded to reach the Sales Department instead of the Customer Service Department. He was angry and hung up on me. Wow!!! I was very polite to him explaining my situation, yet he had serious anger issue.
So, I called my credit card company and I explained the issue to them. I submitted the proof of their fraudulent practice along with a copy of NYC BBB report and mail it to my CC company. A month later, which was last Saturday, I received a letter from my bank saying that their investigation is complete and that my provisional credit for $2k+ they granted me is now permanent. That's why I only place orders online with my credit card only.
Because of their fraudulent action, they have lost their 58" plasma TV and I got all my money back so I am happy that I got a $2k+ TV for free. I was nice enough however to send their $10 DVD player back to them and used the tracking # as evidence.
To sum it all up, they are a total scam. They overcharged me more than agreed, sent me used TV instead of a new one, modified my order in the "shipment notification" e-mail with a much lesser cheap model disc player, and didn't ship me the HDMI cable. And worse of all, you can actually hear them pick up and slam the phone down when you try to reach their non-existent CS department. I honestly have no idea how the government is still letting them run their scam operation. Are companies in Brooklyn above the law? As of today, the TV I ordered is still in stock.
Anyways, I will be looking forward to getting a phone call from them asking for their $2000+ TV back, so I can tell them to "Go F*** yourself" and slam the phone down on them like they did to me.
And here is the best part, I received this e-mail 2 weeks after my TV was delivered.
I believe all my trouble was worth it in the end. Also, I'd like to ask RR's staff to review all the ratings from fotoconnetion has a "Very Satisfied" rating. I highly suspect they wrote those reviews. Even though they have a very low score ratings, I don't see how anyone can honestly give them a "Very Satisfied" ratings given the experience I encountered. It seemed like they have done everything in the scammer's manual on me.
![The huge price of screwing a customer [fotoconnection]](http://images.resellerratings.com/forum/iconimages/merchant-discussion-shopping-advice/huge-price-screwing-customer-fotoconnection_ltr.gif)
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