"I called Jerry for the Sony DSC F-717. He was not too pushy with accessories but I did want to buy a battery and a memory card. He convinced me to get the filter kit at a fair price and warranty from Mack for less than half of what they list it for. He also reduced the price for the battery and memory card. I was not familiar with Mack Warranty but for $80 for 3 years, it seemed an OK deal especially when he threw in free second day shipping. Jerry told me I could take it to any Sony service center which I found out is totally untrue. Further, the battery he sent me was an after market and not a Sony battery. I have sent them an email as when you call them there is a one hour hold time. I have requested them for an RMA # for the battery and the warranty. I will post again after I hear from them."

"Never again! I guess you get what you pay for. I ordered a camera on Saturday. On Monday I got a phone call "to verify my order", and to try to sell me additional accessories. They were polite, and took no for an answer. I was told it would ship on Monday or Tuesday. On Tuesday I was told it would ship on Tuesday. On Wednesday I was told it would ship on Wednesday. On Thursday morning I was told that it had shipped late Wednesday, but that they didn't have a tracking number yet. Thursday evening, I was told it had shipped Thursday morning, but they didn't have a tracking number yet; I should receive an email in a few minutes. Friday morning -- a week -- I'm on hold waiting to find out what today's story is. And asking for order status seems to be something they've never heard of - it sometimes takes a half hour!

Update - 2003-01-20.
I may have been a bit harsh. When they finally did ship my order, they shipped it overnight, though I had originally only paid for non-expedited delivery. And when the camera died a day after it arrived, the whole return/replacement process went very smoothly, including again expedited delivery. I'll probably buy here again - but only if I'm not anxious about status, feedback, etc."

"I called Tuesday morning & ordered a Sony 717. Took the basic accessory kit, which was fairly priced. Salesman tried to sell me add-ons, but was not too pushy. It was sent basic ground service & arrived in Kansas Thursday morning at 11:30. Product was in factory sealed box. Great transaction, no problems. Very fast & straightforward."

"I recently ordered a Sony DCR-TRV840 camcorder with a manufacturer rebate being offered of $100. Of course, the vendor called "to confirm" the order and tried to sell additional accessories and extended warranty. I did agree to purchase the exended warranty. I also asked at that time if they would be forwarding the Sony rebate form along with the camcorder. The customer service person said they did not have them because "Sony only provides them to vendors selling at list price." He advised me download it from the Sony website (which I had already done) but said some of their customers have had trouble getting the rebates and I should be prepared to argue with Sony, but that I should be able to get it because the product is not gray market and is USA factory sealed product. BOTTOM LINE - THE CARTON ARRIVED WITH THE UPC LABEL (WHICH IS REQUIRED FOR THE REBATE) REMOVED FROM THE CARTON. When I called customer service they claimed that "SONY REQUIRES ALL RETAILERS NOT SELLING A MSRP TO REMOVE THE UPC LABEL." Their attitude was basically - too bad, we didn't promise you a rebate! In my opinion, this firm has stolen $100 from me by removing the manufacturing labeling and prohibiting me from claiming the rebate that I expected to receive from Sony! Since reading this site , I have learned and confirmed that the BBB says "THIS FIRM HAS AN UNSATISFACTORY RECORD." "

"Purchased a Minolta 7HI for a GREAT price. High presured into buying a 256 Compact Flash Card, 5 year Mack warranty, and a DigiPower AC adaptor. I did get a price reduction on each accessory and no increase in shipping costs but I am now finding out I paid too much for these accessories but not the camera. I think Digital E Tailer makes up for lower camera price with higher accessory prices.

Non the less I ordered my Minolta on a Monday evening and it was on my front pourch the very next Thursday morning at 8:05 AM via standard fedeX delivery. Less than 3 days delivery.

Bottom line is to say NO to accessories and save on the camera. I would buy from these folks again."

"I ordered a Minolta digital camera from Digital E-tailer. The next day, a salesperson called to confirm the credit card and to try to sell me accessories. He accepted "no" for an answer on all of the accessories without much hassle. The camera shipped that day and was received four business days later. The camera was (as advertised) a full USA retail box. "

"After trying to get Sony DCR-TRV950 in 5 online stores I finally got my at Digital E-Tailer. I’ve ordered it Wednesday 10/30/02 and made a confirmation call by my initiative in few minutes after it. As usual it was a try to sell accessories, but _not_ in pushy manner. My intention was buy camcorder with nothing extra which I did. I’ve ordered ground shipping and was told that camcorder should be shipped before Tuesday 11/5/02. Just in case I’ve made another call Friday 11/1/02 regarding status of my order, may be it was coincidence but an hour later I’ve noticed that my AmEx private payment number (credit card number that good for only one transaction) has been processed.

I’ve called them on Monday 11/4/02 and got FedEx tracking number. I’ve picked up package at Gaithersburg, MD FedEx Tuesday evening. Sealed Sony box was packed in bigger box with paper padding.
I’ve noticed funny things about FedEx: they hold my package on their ramp for more than 24 hours (Saturday 6:30 PM – Tuesday 7:30 AM), I’ve seeing “delivery attempt” in their log, but no sticker on my door and no package received by my wife. At local FedEx office I was told that they scheduled on Wednesday. I have feeling that FedEx artificially extend delivery time for ground service to force their customers use 2nd day or overnight delivery. UPS never did this to me.

Bottom line:
+ I’ve got what I wanted: camcorder for a good price without any extra accessories.
+ Not pushy with accessories.
+ Order was shipped in reasonable timeframe
- I didn’t receive tracking number automatically after shipping order.
- I wish they use UPS instead FedEx.
"

"Bought Nikon 4500. Came to this outfit through CNET. Placed order online. Received a call back from salesman trying to verify credit card number. Here're the bad things:
1. Extremely rude salesman. Put me on hold constantly and the hold is always long. Almost wanted to hang out on him.
2. Extremely pushy salesman. Tried to sell me a so-called great deal accessory items. Found out through the web that those great deal were not that great after all. The only reason I cave in was that I was planning to get those items anyway and I was afraid they were going to tell the camera is no longer in stock if I refuse to buy the accessory items.
3. No email confirmation after I placed order.
4. I was promised to receive tracking information through email. Nothing happened. Had to call them up.

The only good thing, my camera snd the accessories arrived as promised."

"I attempted to order a Sony DSC-F707 from these guys last October. They had posted a good price on the unit. I called to make sure they had the unit in stock and they said 'yes'. Even though I had phoned my order in, I later received an email requiring that I call to confirm the order. The call was simply a ploy to try and sell me a bunch of extras I didn't want. They never did ship the camera. They would give ship dates and when I would call to verify shipment they said "oh it'll go out tomorrow". After going through this routine 2-3 times AND having the customer service person hang up on me for a polite inquiry about "when am I going to get my camera", I gave up and cancelled the order."

"I had previously ordered the Sony DSC F707 from Digital Dealz and cancelled my order the next day when given the "now out of stock" line. (see my comments on Digital Dealz's reseller listing) I use CNET for their ratings and went to Biz Rate, both gave positive ratings, so I was happy to spend about $125 more than what Digital Dealz price was, but still, at $818, much less than the going rate of $990. Then I went to this site and read the comments below and got nervous again. (shades of Digital Dealz!) I read Eli's (Digital E-Tailer customer service rep) concerns and for re-assurance, I sent him an e-mail.
Here are the events:
Ordered online 6/3/2002. "In Stock"
Received e-mail verification of order, comment in body "All orders must be confirmed by an account representative before processed"
Called that night, verbally told "In Stock" would I like some filters/accessories? No, not yet I said, No problem they said, deliver should be the 6th of June.
June 4th, Sent Eli query, called again, camera still in stock, order being processed.
Evening June 4th, Eli called me at home and gave me the UPS tracking number. I told him why I had had concerns, he is very customer service oriented. He also spoke of some past software glitches which have since been fixed.
June 5th, order arrived at local UPS depot.(Ain't online tracking neat?)
June 6th, camera arrived as promised, brand new in original box, manufacture date last month!

Thank you Digital E-tailer and Eli. I recommend that you use their services. They aren't the lowest price, but I would say that they have the lowest price in which you actually receive the product!
"

"I ordered a Canon S30 online from Digital E-tailer on a Wednesday, and their site claimed it was in stock. I received no email confirmation of the order.

Later that day I received a message on my answering machine asking to "confirm" the order. Calling back I received the upsell pitch that so many others have talked about on this forum. The salesman, Joe, assured me the camera would be sent out. I had requested second day mail. I never received a confirmation via email nor a tracking number.

On Tuesday of the follwing week I called them again requesting information on my order. I spoke with Kevin who told me the order had not shipped, although he promised me they had it in stock. When I asked him why it had not shipped he told me they had taken Friday off. I placed the order on Wednesday and it was in stock. When I told him I wanted to cancel my order, he said "I want to make you happy." He would ship it next day mail that day. I agreed to wait.

The next day comes around no camera. I call back again and this time talk to Jack, he assures me it had shipped the day before and that he would momentarily email the tracking number. Hours later no email, so I call my credit card company. No authorization was placed on the card, i.e. no claim on the card, so they did not ship it.

Calling back again I finally talk to Louis, a supervisor. He tells me that the order is on hold because billing needs to verify some information with me. All the information they have is completely accurate. When I ask him why billing needs to verify it, he says doesn't know and that he doesn't work in billing. I tell him to cancel my order, which begins a 20 minute pitch to again "make me happy", overnight mail and a free camera case. Too late I say. No one else has this camera he says. Uh huh. I cancel the order.

This company is rated 3 stars by CNET Shopper, their highest rating, but they violate their agreement with CNET. They do not send out confirmation emails, and CNET explicitly prohibits "confirmation" calls. How this business manages to make money when they can't even make a transaction is beyond me.

I highly recommend you take your business elsewhere like I did . . . but do it a week earlier than I did. You may save $50 but you'll never get your merchandise."

"I used the online order form. They had the absolute lowest price I could find for the hand held pc that I ordered. They shipped in 2 days and sent a tracking number via email. This is my first purchase through Digital E-Tailer and I couldn't be happier. I haven't had speak to customer support."

"I ordered a Sony digital camera and a memory stick from these folks based on their low advertised price. After I placed my order, I began to read about people's experiences with this company - some were good and some were bad. My experience was very good. I did have to confirm my order via the phone at which time the account rep tried to sell me a bunch of stuff that I didn't want (I didn't buy anything more). I received a UPS confirmation email a couple of days later and the camera arrived on the date promised. Unfortunately, they had forgotten to include the additional memory stick that I had ordered, even though it was marked on the invoice as "shipped". I called them to let them know about the screw up and they shipped the memory stick the very next day and it arrived a week later. All in all, I'd have to say that my experience was a positive one - especially since I saved almost $100 compared to Circuit City's prices."

"I tried to order a Sony VX2000 camcorder. The website proudly states that they sell only US warrantied products, no greymarket items.

After a lengthy pitch on overpriced accessories I was told the camera could not be sold without a 4 Year Extended Warranty. He said it was only a "pre-qualified warranty". If I wanted one with the manufacturer's warranty I would have to wait 6-8 weeks for another shipment.

I hung up on him. "

"The Better Business Bureau has now downgraded these guys to the crook level. Please review them at www.bbb.org. All positive reviews on this site are bogus and inside."