"Hello,
I am an active duty Marine. I have been in the corps for ten years. I recently attempted to purchase a camera from Best Price Electronics. For unknown reasons I was request to call them to confirm my order. I did so, however upon calling them, they imediately stated that the item that they stated on their website was in stock, was no longer in stock, and attempted to bait and switch me to a higher priced item and tried very gruffly and ebruptlly attempted to sell me extra items. Due to my stupidity I folded after about 15 minutes of this stress bargening. For unknown reasons the package was returned undeliverable to the company. The package was returned on the 29th of may, I was on leave and was unable to follow up on this package and upon calling the company over ten times, and being yelled at hung up on, i filed a report to the BBB of NY. I then tried to call the business again for an update and see what they were doing about getting a refun of my $1500.00. I was hung up on once again. I no longer have any way of contacting the company for an update due to them hanging up on me each time I try and call. My BBB report info is pasted below.




Dear :

This is in reference to your complaint against Best Price Electronics LLC. Your complaint was assigned ID #8616456 .

Your complaint has been sent to the business for their response. Once they have responded to the BBB, we will contact you again. In the meantime, if you have further communication directly with the business that results in a resolution, please send us a message to let us know.

Sincerely,

Gordon Hong
Mediator
Phone: ***-***-****

Also included in this email is the tracking number of the package that was returned and the dates that this event took place.

9471 0102 0079 3690 6625 90
I do understand that packages get lost etc, my biggest concern is the shady practice of the bait and switch shceme that is being played on many thousands of consumers. I believe this company needs to be investigated for consumer fraud.

As an Active duy DOD member I feel taken advantage of as a servant and a consumer.

The website host is snappydesign.com

Please help.

Attached below are some of the other consumer complains from around the web pertaining to this company BestPriceElectronics.com

Best Price Electronics aka BP Electronics, bestpriceelectronics.com: BAIT AND SWITCH ALERT
Per resellerratings, Best Price Electronics is the latest incarnation of US1Photo, an infamous bait and switch operation. Here's a photo of their world headquarters and a detailed history. Fancy diggs!
US1Photo apparently has been abandoned (their phone number no longer works) and their current focus is Best Price Electronics. Here's a number of reasons to be concerned:
Consumerist article on US1Photo.
Resellerratings reviews on US1Camera.
More Reviews.
Complaint.
Please post your experiences below.
Anonymous Stryker said...

Hmm... I ordered from them two days ago. Immediately I knew something wasn't right because I got no confirmation email. A few hours later I called, the guy said that the order was processing and that I'd get an email once it got to their shipping dept. 24 hours after I had placed the order I still hadn't gotten any kind of email. So I called them (which was next day) and the guy said that it was still processing and then he asked me (pushy but not as bad as some places) if I wanted to buy a camera card, batteries, etc. I quickly declined as I have been through bait and switch before. I promptly called my credit card company (discover) and they said that if it is fraud that I have to wait ten days to see if the charge materializes. This morning I promptly called bestpriceelectronics and stated that I needed my order canceled immediately, and that I am a reviewer for epinions.com and would cause a big stink if they gave me any trouble. After hearing that, the guy put me on hold for a minute then transferred me to "Kevin." Kevin started asking me what I was accusing them of, I promptly said "bait and switch." He asked me what bait and switch is and so I told him. He then proceeded to tell me that bait and switch is "old school", that they are just a small company and they ship out what people order. The whole time he was trying to reassure me that everything's okay (I wasn't yelling at him or anything, I just kept telling him that I wanted my order canceled), he kept telling me not to make a big stink over it, that he would cancel my order right away if that's what I wanted. So he wanted to make sure that I got the email stating that my order was canceled while I was on the phone, which I did receive. He reassured me that I will get an email on Monday with a refund transaction ID. We'll see... If not, I'm calling him up and my credit card company.

The reason I fell for bestpriceelectronics.com in the first place is because I was in the market for a Pentax K-x and their price was only a small margin below reputable sites like buydig.com, etc. And there are only positive reviews for it on 2 total on resellerratings.com and 27 on pricegrabber.com. I guess I shouldn't have fallen that easy. Scary, scary. I'd much rather pay $50 than be on shaky ground.

Every time I have called them I could hear other phone operators in the background doing the total bait and switch and being very pushy. "YOU NEED A MEMORY CARD... YOU NEED BATTERIES... YOU NEED THIS AND THAT..." blah, blah, blah.

If you look at the information godaddy shows for the website, it looks mighty shoddy to me. And sure, maybe their site is "perfectly" secure, it's just secure in the hands of the bad guys. When I saw this: http://www.sitelogr.com/s/bestpriceelectronics.com I wondered how this place could stay in business, but now I know... this place is linked in with primo cameras and all the other scamers.

My advice: ignore all the positive reviews on pricegrabber.com and steer clear from this place.

I'll let you know if I actually get my order canceled Monday.



Anonymous said...

I purchased a camera from them, they pulled the bait and switch, and somehow they still suckered me into buying from them. The item valued at $1500.00 shipped but for unknown reasons was returned to them. I have waited since 29 May for the package to return to them so I can get a refund. I waited a month and got no response from BestPriceElectronics, so I called them, they were rude, and after many many calls (over 10) I was yelled at belittled hung up on. I turned to the BBB and filed a report. They will no longer even try and cary on a conversation with me. I contacted the shipper to try and investigate however the USPS only has basic information with no nitty gritty details. My next plan of action to try and get a refund is wait or the BBB to get back to me from my report, in the meentime I am going to research their hosting service and ensure the host of their website understands that they are supporting a bait and switch opperation as well as shoddy customer service. I am a United States Marine and feel that these people should be shut donw, for taking advantage of not only civilians but folks in the Armed services. WHATEVER YOU DO don't buy from these guys, use amazon or some other proven trustworthy source.
June 3, 2011 9:05:00 AM PDT

Anonymous said...

One word…….nightmare!. Please for the sake of your peace of mind, DO NOT BUY from Best price electronics. They are simply scammers. I was so blind, and stupid to try buying from them. Actually a friend of mine introduced me to price grabbers, and that was how I knew about them.
I wanted Nikon D7000 and their price was about 100 usd lower than that on amazon website( I shop and trust amazon). Anyway I did place my order and wanted the camera in 3 days. A few hours after I placed my order, they called my cell phone while I was at work and they were too pushy to sell me batteries, camera case and all sort of items.
After 3 days I was worried because I did not receive confirmation e-mail, no tracking number. It was at this point that I realized that I have gambled with my 1569 usd, and I became more worried when I learnt that the company was a few miles from where I work in Brooklyn NY. Anyway after the 5th day and no camera and all funny excuses from them, I went online and wrote a very bad review about them. They immediately called me several times and promised that the camera was being shipped and will be delivered in 24hours. I waited all day for UPS and there was none coming.
I called them back, told them that I was a physician and that I have enough money to fight them legally! I demanded for refund and told them I will stay online until I see a cancelled order in my e-mail, which I did see, and within 2 days my account was credited. I have abandoned that particular account that I used for the transaction because of fear of my card being misused. I reordered the camera from amazon on a Thursday and on Friday the next day, I received my camera.
Lesson: Please and please, stay away from these guys. They sound like criminals and scammers. Spend the extra usd somewhere else, and get your item on time without having to be humiliated by people whose morality has been sold to the devil!
May 24, 2011 6:48:00 PM PDT
Anonymous said...

One word…….nightmare!. Please for the sake of your peace of mind, DO NOT BUY from Best price electronics. They are simply scammers. I was so blind, and stupid to try buying from them. Actually a friend of mine introduced me to price grabbers, and that was how I knew about them.
I wanted Nikon D7000 and their price was about 100 usd lower than that on amazon website( I shop and trust amazon). Anyway I did place my order and wanted the camera in 3 days. A few hours after I placed my order, they called my cell phone while I was at work and they were too pushy to sell me batteries, camera case and all sort of items.
After 3 days I was worried because I did not receive confirmation e-mail, no tracking number. It was at this point that I realized that I have gambled with my 1569 usd, and I became more worried when I learnt that the company was a few miles from where I work in Brooklyn NY. Anyway after the 5th day and no camera and all funny excuses from them, I went online and wrote a very bad review about them. They immediately called me several times and promised that the camera was being shipped and will be delivered in 24hours. I waited all day for UPS and there was none coming.
I called them back, told them that I was a physician and that I have enough money to fight them legally! I demanded for refund and told them I will stay online until I see a cancelled order in my e-mail, which I did see, and within 2 days my account was credited. I have abandoned that particular account that I used for the transaction because of fear of my card being misused. I reordered the camera from amazon on a Thursday and on Friday the next day, I received my camera.
Lesson: Please and please, stay away from these guys. They sound like criminals and scammers. Spend the extra usd somewhere else, and get your item on time without having to be humiliated by people whose morality has been sold to the devil!
"

"Bought the Canon 60D along with the Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD lens and accessory bundle. Wasn't too keen on the upselling bit but Best Price Electronics do give good value and I would recommend them to others. In fact, a friend is looking to buy an SLR and I have pointed them towards Best Price for value. The sales assistants I talked to were all very nice. The Tamron lens I purchased turned out to be a 'Grey market' one which could not be registered on Tamron USA for the warranty. I contacted Best Price and they gave me a 3rd party International warranty instead which is excellent and better than the Tamron warranty so thank you Best Price Electronics. On the whole, I felt I got excellent value, good customer service and product that I really wanted."

"This company was fine to deal with. I purchased a Nikon 28-300mm Nikkor lens from them. The price was great."

"I ordered one Canon Rebel T2i with EF-S 18-55 IS lens (for $809) on 05/16/2011 for Memorial day weekend(05/28/2011) as a had plan for this long weekend. The next day I got a call from them to confirm my order, they tried to sell me some accessories like extra battery, Case etc. I politely refused to add extra accessories. He confirmed that the Camera is in stock and would ship-out the next two business day and told me that I’ll get by 05/25/2011 in worst case. He also asked me to write a review and give 5-Star rating to their store but I told him I would not write any review unless I get my camera. I again called them on 05/26/2011 to find out only that they are Back Ordered but told me that I would definitely get the Camera before 06/03/2011. He offered me few extra accessories e.g. one extra battery, case etc. I was disappointed as I was not going to get the camera before coming long weekend. Called today(06/01/2011) and they provided me tracking information and told me that I'll get it by this Friday. I had read good reviews on Best Price so I went for them. I am excited to get camera in this week. Will update again once I get the camera.
06/06/2011: It was really quick, I was not expecting this much. Got camera on 06/03/2011. Today got invoice information of extra accessories which he promised."

"Got a pretty good deal (I thought) but most of the items in the camera "package" I bought were crap - but that was to be expected. What I didn't expect was for the lens to fail after a year and upon returning it for service was told that it was "dropped" (it wasn't) and that it wasn't covered. Offered 50% off a new lens which fumed me, but I felt I had no choice so accepted, but then they never shipped it. They tell me it's because of the problems in Japan, which is understandable, except that it shows "available" on their website and it has been about 8 weeks now for me without a lens. BPE's customer service is quick to answer the phone, but they put you on hold for long periods of time and don't end up doing any "servicing". Their hours are a joke, and the arrogance of their sales staff is off the charts, just call them and try to get a straight answer out of them. Also, they are not an authorized re-seller of most camera items they sell so it's almost like buying gray goods. In any event, after they used the Japan Tsunami as an excuse not to send the replacement lens they have now, finally after 10 weeks, they basically told me to get lost, in a very unfriendly way.

In response to BPE's response - It was under a year when i returned the lens and on my receipt they specify a 1 year warranty - so I'm not sure what the problem is. There is no manufacturer warranty because they're not an authorized re-seller.

I never threatened to give bad feedback - that's hogwash.

Unfortunately, BPW sells at a great price and so they're enticing - just hope to god nothing goes wrong because they're customer service is beyond horrible."

"They had the lowest prices and very pleasant to deal with. I recommend them highly!"

"Got my camera and the best price. I'll buy again from this site."

"I cannot rave about Best Price Electronics enough! Their prices, selection and especially customer service and response is impeccable and unmatched. They are superb and a great company!!"

"They had the best price and the item was in stock and ready to ship."

"It was delivered in a timely manner.
I am satisfied with the product I ordered."

"I ordered a Sigma 18-200mm lens in Nov 2010 and it works perfectly with my canon T2I, I am very happy with it. The transaction was easy and fast. Shipping was very fast and the price was the best I could find anywhere. This is the best online store I have ever used. Thanks"

"I bought a Canon 55-250 mm lens with image stabilizer.It works just great. In fact I got one of my first photos that I took with it, published in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper. Best Buy was very easy to deal with.There shipping was prompt and the price was very good in comparison to other electronic stores and photo shops I had checked out."

"The prices are very competitive, and the delivery was prompt.

The goods arrived in excellent package and condition.
I will definitely order from this merchant again."

"Best price, free gifts, Good communication, fast shipping, will buy again."

"Great price for my canon camcorder."