USAPhotoNation.com + My Review = SUCKS! CROOKS! BEWARE!
I put my Canon PowerShot SD600 through the washer this weekend… YIPPIE… I have always been a fan of the Elph cameras because they are easy to use and fit nicely in my pocket. I guess it fit a little too nicely. I didn’t realize it was there until after the spin cycle had destroyed it.
Needless to say we needed a new camera since the water logged one wouldn’t do anymore. I pulled my resources together and started looking at the SD900 Elph. I found some great reviews and then started to price shop. The retail is $499 on the cam which is a little steep for me so I searched the price sites and found it at $360 shipped. I thought I found the deal of the lifetime. I also made sure to check the reviews of the site to insure there wasn’t anything strange about the company. I guess I should have checked the review site out first vs. trusting they were good reviews.
Here are the links that I found about the retailer and the pricing for the camera:
ShopCartUSA.com
When you look at this you will notice that the site has USAPhotoNation.com listed with 1000+ 5 star reviews. Click and read them! They seem real enough??? Notice that NONE of the reviews have dates listed next to them.
» Link
USAPhotoNation.com (name seems like ShopCartUSA.com doesn’t it?)
Take some time to read the description of the camera… notice it doesn’t have anything out of the ordinary.
» Link
So… based off of this information I purchased the camera. I feel that I was justified in the purchase. I felt like I did my footwork on the company. I didn’t realize how wrong I was. After making the purchase I decided to check out Pricegrabber and see what they had to say about the company. I didn’t find them listed. I then checked Reseller Ratings and my stomach dropped. I have never seen a company rating so low before. Customers were all complaining about the same thing… bait and switch. This is actually pretty common with a lot of the NY camera companies. They will sell you the non-usa version of something which just includes the camera and NOTHING else. I am really not so sure how it is legal in the first place.
After doing some more research here are is what I found:
Better Business Bureau
Needless to say, these guys are around for a reason. I am making it a habit to use them on any retailer I have never purchased from. Check out what USAPhotoNation.com standing is with them. OVER 62 COMPLAINTS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS!!!
» Link
ResellerRatings.com
These guys are actually pretty good with there reviews and allowing customers to provide it. USAPhotoNation.com didn’t even score a 1 out of 10. Wow.
» Link
After learning this I decided to get on the phone with the company. The phone system is horrible. Just some jackass coming on the line and not even identifying the company and telling me to pick option 1 for all of the possible options. After sitting on hold for a bit someone picks up the phone and that is where my fun began. I found out the camera isn’t the full retail version and that I need to purchase the USA version they have on their website. When I said I didn’t see that he told me how to search for it. You need to type in SD900 USA in the search window vs just SD900. What a bunch of bullshit. I know how search works and adding search terms should narrow, not expand.
I told the moron to cancel my order about 10 times with him trying to upsel and COLLECT MY CID CODE FROM MY CREDIT CARD!!! Finally he did and the last thing I heard was “Fine, Bye!” and then silence. I was disconnected from their call center. I called my credit card company to report it and found a better retailer with a $30 increase. I’ll take it. Just another case of buyer beware!