"DO NOT BUY A THING FROM THESE CON ARTISTS!!!!! I placed an order for a camera and then 3 days later was sent an email stating that I needed to call to confirm the order. I called and "James" tried to sell me a 2 or a 4 hour battery. My $289.00 order came out to $499.00. I told him I was not happy with the price and he hung up on me. I called back and spoke to "James" again and told him I needed to speak with his manager. He informed me that he was the manager. He then told me he would cancel my order and then hang up on me again. I have called several times to speak with someone in charge and I keep being placed on hold where no one will speak to me, the hold just continues to play over and over and over. THESE PEOPLE ARE SCAMMERS!!!!!"
"DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS STORE. they take your order then require a "phone" verification where they try to sell high priced accessories etc. this sounded a little bogus to me but when they immediately sent me an email saying the item was backordered and i would have to now wait 3-4 weeks, i knew it was a total scam. again, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! "
"WOW! What a scam this company is...below is the email I sent them after I called them to "VERIFY" CC info. I also sent the New York Better Business Bureau this email & filed a complaint. Everyone should do the same... go to www.bbb.org...the company appears to be listed under wisetronics.com in Brooklyn, NY
To 86th Street photo & Video:
You guys are a bunch of scam artists.. I Paid online for a video cam and then you ask me to return your call to "Verify" the CC info. Then your "pitbull" James tries to sell me overpriced accessories. When I refuse your obnoxious James was more than happy to agree to cancel the order after I refused to buy the accessories and was unhappy with the 15- 21 shipping days that he stated.
You will be seeing a lot of my bad comments about your company online!....Your company is a disgrace. I should have never ordered when I didn't see any address listed on your website. I have contacted AMEX to make sure you crooks didn't charge me and will also contact the Better Business Bureau.
PS: Nice gimmick....price yourself lower than all the others on a comparison website then reel in the suckers and spit out the informed consumers!
Robert de la Torre , MD"
"Wow, I learned a lesson about googling a seller before placing an order. Placed the order on Friday, received no confirmation until tuesday, which included the "we need you to call us to confirm the order dialog". Luckily I had seen these reviews in the meantime. I called and was sent to WiseTronics customer support??
I told "Steve" that my CC had been lost and to cancel the order as soon as he started in on his sales pitch. About 3 minutes later I received an email canceling the order. But I called the bank and canceled my CC and ordered a replacement anyways. I have to give them some props though, if they could fullfill orders as fast as they cancel them they would be premier business, and would not have to resort to the tactics they do. Valuable lesson learned."
"I was looking for a Garmin GPS with built in European maps for a trip to Europe. 86th Street had the one I wanted.
When I spoke with a salesperson there, he told me that the Garmin GPS I wanted did not come with a car charger. I had thought they always came with a charger and that I need to buy it separately. I definitely needed one for my trip; so I took his advice and spent the extra $50 on the charger.
When I got the Garmin, of course it had its own charger. I tried to return the extra charger, but I couldn't contact anyone at the company by phone. I was on hold--seemed like forever. When I emailed them to try to make something happen, I got nothing back.
So either the overly aggressive salesperson either lied or didn't know what was in the Garmin box. He was very aggressive, but that didn't bother me.
If you buy from these guys, I suggest you know what you're getting because at least one guy on one day didn't; and their customer service is as good as non-existent."
"I too was foolish enough to order a camera from these jerks without being thorough enough to check seller ratings. Place an order on a camera they advertised at an excellent price with hopes of getting it by Christmas. Two days later I get a call for 'verification', which in english means they try to sell memory cards or batteries at 3X retail. I said no to all of that. Two more days go by and I haven't got notification of shipment (I paid $20.00 for 3 to 4 day shipping, and 4 days are gone). So I call them up and they say the camera is out of stock. I told them to cancel the effing order, and went shopping somewhere else.
Don't be tempted to order from 86th Street Photo. They'll ruin your day. "
"I feel like such an idiot after reading all these reviews. Like everyone else, I was a victim of this company's bait and switch tactics. I knew I was cutting it close to get my order here by Christmas, but they guaranteed delivery in time AND had the lowest price I found online, so I made the mistake that eventually brought me here.
I wanted to buy a digital camera as a Christmas gift for a friend, so I did an online search for merchants that sell the camera I wanted to buy. I selected 86th Street Photo & Video because they had a great rating and were priced the lowest. I placed the order online and provided my credit card information. Later, I received an email requesting that I call to verify my order, so I did, and the sales rep (Clark) tried quite forcefully to sell me an extended-life battery, saying the one that comes with the camera is only good for about 10 minutes – just enough to familiarize myself with the camera. The prices he quoted for the battery options was quite high, so I declined, and he hung up on me. I figured it was just basic New York rudeness, but I was worried when my camera didn't arrive by Christmas Eve as promised, so I called them to check on the status of my order. I was told that my order was actually on hold because the camera was backordered. I decided to cancel the order after getting an unsatisfactory response to my inquiry of why I was not told that when I placed the order and then later, when I spoke with Clark.
I placed my order online the day before Christmas 2008 with Prestige Camera - after being burned by 86th Street Photo & Video (which I expect is actually the same company based on the similar experience). I ordered a Sony DSC-T700 digital camera and provided my credit card information. Later, I received an email requesting me to call to "verify" my order, but it actually turned out to be just an opportunity for them to try to up sell me. Because of my experience with the other online company, I asked the sales rep (David) DIRECTLY if the camera was in stock, and he said it was and would ship that day. After he tried to get me to buy an extra battery, I politely declined and told him I just wanted the camera. He was polite and we rang off.
Shortly after that, I received an email saying my order had been processed, and I thought my camera was finally on its way. Unfortunately, about 5 hours later, I received another email saying the product I had ordered was on backorder and would take several weeks to ship. This email arrived just before midnight on Friday the 26th, and there "store" is closed on Saturdays, so I was not able to call customer service until Sunday. I called and spoke to someone who was very rude and ended up canceling the order because of the "unavailability" of the product. He admitted they have about "150 online stores," and I am certain they all operate with similar bait and switch tactics. Prestige Camera and 86th Street Photo & Video are not reputable businesses, and I highly recommend people do their homework before shopping online. This company obviously makes their money by using strong-arm tactics to sell batteries at exorbitant prices. That's how they can afford to sell their cameras at such a lower price than other retailers. I will NEVER do business with them again, and I strongly caution others to avoid their shady brand of dishonesty!!!!!!"
"My experience was very similar to all the others. What really bothers me is that GOOGLE is taking $$$ from these guys to get their ad at the top of the search page. Also, where is the New York State fraud department? How much evidence do they need to shut these guys down?"
"Same experience as everyone else. I post here to simply make a record that it's still going on.
My twist on it is that to settle a balance owed me of $620., I was sent two lenses--a wide angle and a telephoto lens--priced now on the internet at a combined price of about $75. I haven't tried them on the camera yet, but have *very* low expectations for quality.
This is business at its most rapacious.
Like all suckers, I was taken in by my own greed."
"We ordered a digital camera at a low price from this merchant, and were sent an email saying they had to talk to us on the phone, then essentially demanded that we buy a $10 accessory for $115, which we mistakenly did (my mom was LIED to and told the camera would not work without it which is not true at all), then when we called back to try to return it they were very very rude and gave us a total run-around, saying we cannot return it, etc etc... They are dishonest and would not have sold us the camera by itself, had we refused the accessory the camera would have magically went from "in stock" to "backordered"... From A to Z, this company is scamming people like crazy. We are totally dissatisfied and would return the entire order if it weren't for the 20% mandatory restocking fee and no shipping compensation."
"WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD!!! I JUST READ ALL THESE REVUES AND FEEL LIKE A TOTAL IDIOT FOR MAKING SUCH AN IMPULSIVE DECISION BASED SOLEY ON PRICE!! Ordered my daughter a Sony Camera... got the usual call us email everyone else got.. called the guy and WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH HIM... supposedly he was going to check on my order.. and was in the middle of trying to sell me a battery i was reading these revues!!! As he was talking to me i was trailing off reading these negative revues and my heart sunk... so i told the guy on from 86th street, that I was just reading some revues on line about the company and before i could say anything else he just said.. Ok I am going to cancel your order.. i said What?? He repeated he was cancelling my order and he HUNG UP ON ME.. If that doesnt STINK OF GUILT i dont know WHAT DOES!! I just called my credit card company with what happened because now Im freaked out that this crazy company has my credit card information, although i havent read in any revues that they ever actually charged anyones account after saying they were cancelling the order.. and they told me its safest to cancel my card.. and if any charges come onto my account it will be investigated. Oh man.. my daughter is going to be so upset. It was the only present I got her this Christmas. All I can say is from now on there is no way I am just TRUSTING a site because its ONLINE. Niave, is what I am.
Whatever you do DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY EVER!!!
As I said in the beginning. WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD!!"
"WOW, ALMOST got scammed by this site. My wife has started a new job that requires a lot of travel so we decided she needed a Garmin Nuvi 880. This site offered it at $399.00 when most other sites have it at $599.00 and up. We called them, and the placed the order and they tried to sell us a $19.95 AC charger for $199.95. They take RUDENESS to a new level. We called back to speak with the manager, and the rudeness now became Authoritative Rudeness. I came to this site and saw what happened. My wife called them back to cancel the order and I called my Credit Card Company and canceled my credit card, they made a "lost/stolen" report on my credit card so that number is DEAD. I WOULD NOT Order from this company if they offered to PAY me to buy from them. STAY AWAY!!"
"Here is what I am REALLY afraid of: What are they doing with all these credit card numbers, CVP codes, expiration dates, etc? These are so obviously unscrupulous people that need to be stopped. Are they selling our credit card info to others for future frauds? I am considering canceling my cards - and I'm an idiot for not remembering whether I used my Amex or MC so I'll have to cancel both....
Subjected to all things listed here. THIS GUY HAS HUGE ONES. Found this website after their attempt to sell batteries and memory cards, thought it was fishy. I canceled the order with them. They did send me their typical cancel order email. Called my credit card company just to be sure, but they advised me to wait and see if charges appear and then dispute it. That doesn't leave me feeling comfortable...
"
"I was very displeased with this company. I elected to pay extra so that it could be shipped quickly. On the 2nd day i received an email that said I had to confirm by calling a phone number. I had already received a confirmation email right after placing the order. When I called the number, I was EVENTUALLY put into a voice mail. I left a message but no one called me back. I called the next day and the rep told me that they had neglected to tell me that the camera did not come with a battery and which one did I want. This is now the 3rd day. I canceled the order. The price of the battery put the total cost way over the cost from other retailers. (The battery was included at the other stores.) I strongly recommend not doing business with this company."
"I made an online order on Tuesday..Received an email to call on Wed. They tried to pressure me into purchasing add't items, when I did not, they rudely hung up on me. I called back 4 days later to find the status of the order and was told they were sold out. No email or call. They are just out to make a sell and don't care about customers."