Techon Digital/ The Camera Wiz Rude at the least, Shysters for Sure! Brooklyn New York

I purchased a Sony Cybershot DSC-W80 from this company after seeing the company pop up on one of the online shopping comparison sites. There was nothing but great reviews for this company. The price beat all others by at least $20.00. So, I went to the site and ordered. 10 minutes later, I received THE phone call. Yep, Mr. Shyster said "Mrs. Braxton, I just wanted to let you know that the camera you just bought has a very low battery life. You will have to be charging it every 20 minutes!" I immediately said "that's not true". He said "yes, it is, you won't be happy with it unless you buy a backup battery to go with it". I empathetically responded again with "That's not true". He started again..I interrupted him by telling him "that isn't true, my daughter has the SAME EXACT CAMERA". He quickly said "oh, ok, we'll get this out to you". click. yeah, I thought that odd, however I knew during the online purchase process of the camera that the price was good because I looked at all the accessories they were selling for it. I knew I would want a Sony Memory duo stick for it and knew that I could get that at BestBuy for around $49 for a 2GB when I was looking for my daughter's DSC-W80. When I saw it listed on Techon's site for $167.00 I thought "yeah, ok...that's how they sell the cameras less expensively...they are making a killing on the accessories". And, honestly, I thought..if people aren't going to take the time to comparison shop the accessories and they get charged a premium for them by Techon, then why not? Then the fun started. First, I noticed that the charge to my credit card was for 191.99. The camera had been advertised at 165.00 and the shipping was supposed to only be $8.49. They processed it at 3 day shipping for a charge of $27.00!! At that time I also noticed that the company name was The Camera Wiz. So, I googled that name and found all the bad reviews and horror stories. I panicked but thought ok, if the worst that happens here is that I got bilked out of the $27.00 then I am getting off lucky compared to what other people went through (received wrong item, credit card ripoff, etc). I fully expected to not receive the right camera model and expected it to come a lot later than 5 days from the original order. The camera came today UPS. I ordered it last Friday..so that was reasonable. Holding my breath, I opened the outer shipping box. Inside was a white flip top lid box that had a label on the side printed with the words SONY in large type and the camera model #. This label was obviously generated on a computer. The box had another sticky label thing over the lid closure with the word SONY also printed on it. Apparently they think we stupid people are supposed to think that is "FACTORY SEALED". I took the camera out of the little foam pouch and carefully pulled the screen plastic off just to find a screen that is scratched and smudged. I immediately called them and told them I just received my order and was not happy. Don't do this..big mistake. I was put on hold FOREVER!. I should have told them right off that I wanted to buy more accessories! Someone finally gets on and asks "what do you need?" Rude. I told him that I just received me camera and I had some questions. First, I asked him why when I was under the impression I was buying a brand new factory sealed camera, I received a camera that was obviously NOT factory sealed and that it indeed appeared to be a re-furbish. He replied "that ain't a refurb, it's new..we just buy in large, large quantities and that's how they come". yeah, right. So, then I said "ok, we'll the screen is scratched". He said "no it isn't, it's a new camera". So, I said "are you telling me that the camera I'm looking at right this minute is NOT scratched?. Then he says "look lady, you only paid 190 bucks for the camera and it sells elsewhere for $250.00 and higher". I said "no, I can get it for $189 at Bestbuy..." and he interrupts me and says "well, you should just go get it at Bestbuy then" and he hangs up on me. So, apparently, since I saved a couple of dollars I should expect to get a defective product. Everything else appears to be ok. I am charging the battery now and keeping my fingers crossed. Everything WAS in the box so now it's just a waiting game. I feel stupid that I just didn't get mine at Bestbuy like I got my daughter's. I don't understand how the state of NY allows trash like this to stay in business. Makes me really glad I moved away from the East years ago. I learned my lesson too. I am never paying attention to those consumer shopping comparison/rating websites again and I will never purchase anything from any one who is NOT a major national retailer.

Joanna
Owasso, Oklahoma
U.S.A.