Wow - scam-lightening strikes twice

My trusty Sony Cybershot of 3-4 years finally died. So I've been in the market for a new digital still camera. This post is about a couple of internet scams that I have ran into not once - but twice.

Update: I got a box from FotoConnection.com yesterday. I called them today to confirm what was in the box before opening it. They assured me they had sent a rechargeable unit. Against my gut instinct, I opened the box and sure enough, its NOT!. After an irate call with them. I am filling out the RMA. Looking forward to the call to AMEX to dispute the 15% restocking fee. What slime balls!


After looking around for deals at Costco for a new camera, I decided to go online. Checked-in at Sony Style and then did a Google search. The first match that Google returned was FotoConnection.com. So I went online and placed an order.

The next day, I got an email asking me to call some 800 number for "security" reasons. So I called and I found myself talking to a character from The Sopranos with background noise of a some boiler room operation somewhere (I'm guessing) in New York. So the guys goes on into a high pressure up-sell. It turns out that the device that I bought has some 15 minute battery and an overnight charger (meaning it slow charges) that they have put in after market.

The "buttons" for this suit were going to cost an extra $80 (reference to the saying "Oh, you want buttons with the suit?"). When I told the guy to cancel the order, the price kept dropping and dropping to $14. I kept getting random emails from this outfit for another week directing to some site for security verification.

So I then went back on and this time looking for another Cybershot and found another outfit PreferredPhoto.com. And guess what? The same process started repeating. When I asked the guy on the phone if they were associated with FotoConnection.com he claimed no knowledge. So I canceled the order again.

Wow. Talk about bait and switch plus-plus slime. Yuk! A horrible experience. DEFINITELY AVOID!