"I placed an order for a 52 inch Sony XBR4 LCD HDTV for $1600 bucks on my Visa card. Everything seemed legitimate about the website so I didn't have any issues placing the order. However, the next day I get this email stating that they are having system related issues with their credit card processor and can't give an eta as to when they will be able to actually process my payment and that I should send them a bank transfer to their bank account of the money and then they'll ship out the item. I replied back stating that was the stupidest thing I've ever heard and that I have no trouble waiting for their credit card processing issues to get resolved. They replied again telling me how safe and secure a wire transfer was and that if I did not choose this method they would cancel my order and I would have to submit it another time when their credit card issues were resolved. I replied back telling asking them how was I to know when their issues would be resolved and that a wire transfer is not safe because if they don't send me the tv, I can't get my money back from them. They then sent me an email stating that they were going to cancel my order. So, seems to me like they want you to do this wire transfer awfully badly. If you try calling their 1-800 number it just goes to a busy signal. So I looked up their domain name and called the phone number registered to their domain and got a voicemail with a mailbox that has been full and stayed full for 3 weeks. So the best thing I can say about this so called company is SCAM SCAM SCAM. It looks like they also took their website down as of today."

"I had a similar experience that jimmy532. I ordered a Precor Elliptical 576i with my American Express. After the order was placed I received an email that said:

"Dear Customer,
Thanks for showing active interest in our products. We feel that UniversalElectro.com products can bring lot of value and comfort to your life.
We’d like to notify you of, and apologize for, an unusual service interruption that occurred today.
It was caused by a virus that had a cascading effect to the servers that support our merchant.
We mobilized the highest authorities at UniversalElectro.com and our merchant to address this situation. Although we identified the virus quickly and took the necessary steps to resolve the situation but it seems that is for an undeterminate period;because of this for the moment we are unable to charge any credit cards.
However, we are willing to accept payments made through bank transfer to our bank account.It is safe ,fast,credible and it is very cheap.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and hope to remain our customer.

Our Commitment
On behalf of our entire team, please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this outage may have caused you and your customers. Your business is very important to us and we value your loyalty to UniversalElectro.com.


Order Department
UniversalElectro Team
www.universalelectro.com
***-***-****/8473801863"

When I emailed them back and asked them to process my order once the virus problem was resolved or cancel my order, they promptly replied back and cancelled my order.

They are based in Spain but the three phone numbers go to a generic voicemail box. I left a couple of messages with them but they never returned my call. Their site looks legit, they make it appear they are members of "Trusted Shops" , "Verified by Visa", "MasterCard SecureCode", and "RSA Secured" but none of these sites list Univeralelectro as a member. Buyer beware.

Shortly after writing this review, I emailed Yahoo Business to complain about the site they were hosting and it appeared to be a scam. Two or three days later the site is unavailable. Has been that way for about two weeks now."

"This site is a SCAM.

I tried purchasing a Mitsubishi 73" WD-73833 from them via Visa card yesterday. They took all my info, then emailed me today saying their credit card processing was down and they needed a wire transfer. NO WAY! Checked their WHOIS record and the website was created on 2007-09-19, just in time to scam some holiday shoppers. Another one that is apparently a scam is DigitalElectronics (www.yourdigitalelectronics.net or www.yourdigitalelectronics.com).

Text from their email:

Dear Customer,
Thanks for showing active interest in our products. We feel that UniversalElectro.com products can bring lot of value and comfort to your life.
We’d like to notify you of, and apologize for,that our contract with the credit card processor company has ended since our company has been bought by Grande Punto S.R.a L. from Spain;because of this matter we can't charge credit cards in any way.
However,Grande Punto is willing to accept payments made through bank transfer to their bank account.It is safe ,fast,credible and it is very cheap.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and hope to remain our customer."

"Great customer service,fast shipping,a little delay on updates regarding my order."