1/5

posted May-27-2011

I ordered an Olympus MAL-1 macro light from 17th Street Photo through Amazon. After a few days with no information about my order, I followed up with the seller to ask if they had shipped, and if they had a tracking number. They did not bother to respond. This item is very hard to get and is sold out everywhere, except if you want to pay double the price on eBay. A couple of days later, I followed up with another email, and once again, they failed to acknowledge my inquiry in any way. I suspect they sold out and never updated their information on Amazon. Finally, I was forced to go through the Amazon Third Party Guarantee Program in order to extract a refund from the seller. 17th Street Photo failed me at every step of the process and never even offered a reason why, a refund, or an apology. The only thing that separates 17th Street Photo from the notorious Brooklyn Camera Scam shops is a bridge.

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1/5

posted Nov-02-2008

AVOID - CARMAN"S STOLE $130 from me!!

On 8/17/2008, I placed an order through seller's eBay arm called Prodigital2000 for a Pentax a10 for $107.99. It did not work - the LCD screen went all fuzzy and never worked properly.

I contacted the seller and for 4 weeks, proceeded to get the run around. Finally, I threatened a PayPal dispute. Then I get a response from someone named Stephen Budge who claimed they were training new customer service people so they did not know how to respond to me.
Sounded like a lie, but they offered a refund to avoid a PayPal dispute. Since I no longer trusted this company, I did file a PayPal dispute anyway. I sent the broken camera back by USPS Priority Mail International. It took a few weeks to get it over there - mailed from the USA But USPS tracking updates are notoriously slow and did not show delivery until much later.

So the seller started to pressure PayPal to close the dispute because USPS was showing that I only printed a label - even after 2 weeks time. To my horror, PayPal did close the dispute siding with the seller despite my pleading with them to give it a few more days at least since it had to go through customs.

Well, finally I got confirmation that the package was delivered to the seller on 10/24/2008. But Stephen Budge did not have the decency to say anything about it. As it is right now, they have the camera, my money plus $20 return postage I spent, plus all the time and effort I had to expend to get justice. PayPal wound up giving me all of my money back out of their pocket and I advised them that the seller has the camera and they should get their money back from them.

An honorable seller would never have put me through what Carman's put me through. They are NOT to be trusted. Do not do business with Carman's or their eBay arm Prodigital2000 unless you like to be taken. There are plenty of more reputable sellers competing for your camera dollars.

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1/5

posted Sep-16-2008

I bought a Sunpak FP-38 flash unit and because of my work schedule - I can work long stretches of 18 hour days - and my faith in the seller - I did not examine it immediately upon receiving the item. But when I did (5 weeks later), I found it was a used item - all scratched up and the instruction book was a photocopy. B&H advertised it as new. So I contacted B&H, and their response was, well they rely on me to examine the item right away so tough luck they will not refund my money or even offer a replacement. I told them, and it is true, that I spend thousands of $$$ in the store every year and I am surprised they would not bend the rules a little, on a $60 item, to accomodate a good customer. Especially when they sold me a piece of junk. Yes, I admit I am partly to blame, but still, this is hardly what I would call good customer service. KEH in Atlanta for example, and even Amazon have on more than one occasion stretched the policy for a loyal customer like myself. That is what distinguishes good customer service and integrity, from someone who just sells things for profit. Now I have a piece of junk B&H will not stand behind and have decided that in the future, I give my business to someone who appreciates it.

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5/5

posted Mar-17-2006

On March 12 give or take a day, I won an eBay auction for a new Olympus C-7070 digital camera from the seller. The camera arrived on the 17th, so shipping time was acceptable. I was not pleased with the way they packed the camera, with only an outer box with no padding or cushioning. This is a hard to find and expensive camera and I wish more attention were paid to that. However, the camera arrived in perfect working order. I tested it and it takes beautiful photos as it should. All the accessories were there. They stuck some kind of papers on the box with their company numbers or codes on it, which marred the box. But overall, it was a positive experience. I got a very tough to get camera at an excellent price, so I really can't complain about the deal I got. A little more thought and care and the seller would have a combination that is tough to beat.

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