SOBE Electronics Fraudulent pricing, totally ripped off Miami Beach Florida

Whilst in South Beach we purchased a Canon Digital SLR from SOBE electronics. The original quoted price was a little higher than Amazon but still an acceptable price hence we assumed all the items in the store were not overpriced.

The salesman insisted we looked at a Digital Professional Lens, .48X wide angle with macro that he claimed was worth $800 and even showed us the price tag and offered to sell it to us for $400.

He then offered to throw in some memory, a filter and a tripod for free if we purchased both the camera and the lens. Looking at the prices on the items it appeared a good deal so we purchase the package. Looking back we now realise that the package price was $100 more than the combined price of the camera and lens originally quoted, however the salesman confused us by quoting different prices, calculating sales tax and if we questioned him he would change the subject or offer another free item.

There was a comment on the receipt indicating that some items are sold above M.R.P but the salesman assured us all the items we purchased were below.

On leaving the store we could not work out how to connect the camera to the tripod so I returned to the store and asked if they could show me how to use the tripod, they replace it with a smaller one without inspecting the original tripod. In hindsight we believe they gave us the tripod knowing it was damaged.

Examples of the over pricing include:
2 Gb Compact Flash (Dane-Elec) priced at $399.99, this was $34.99 on Amazon
UV filter 72mm (Sakar) priced at $199.99, a $9.77 on Amazon
5 piece Photo care kit (Digital concepts) priced at $59.99, a 3 piece kit is $1.45 on Amazon
Digital Pro HD series .48X professional deluxe super wide-angle lens with Macro quoted priced at $800, paid $400, similar ones starts at $30 on Amazon. An almost identical one is $64.99 on ebay.

Whilst I agree with the statement buyer beware, this overpricing is extreme. In addition the salesmen work together, often speaking in another language and are fantastic actors.

Personally I would call the pricing fraudulent and the salesmen con artists

c
London
United Kingdom