Biggest scam I've ever encountered online, and I've been shopping online since the dawn of the e-commerce era. I ordered the Lumix DMC-FZ50 camera from Wisetronics because the price was $75 less than any other I could find, online or offline.
They e-mailed me three times to ask for "additional information" about my credit card. Each time I called them (they refused to take an e-mail response) within 24 hours to verify the same question. I spent an average of about 15 minutes on hold each time I called. On the third verification call, the customer service department supervisor tried to upsell me on a battery ("the camera doesn't come with one"; I told him that the Web site description said it did and he said I would "need" a "longer life" battery) and on memory cards (I asked the price; he quoted me $75 for a 512MB SD card — roughly quadruple what such a card would cost anywhere else). I declined to add anything further to the order. He confirmed the order — the third person to do so — and said that the camera would ship out the following week and take roughly 10 days to get to me. That was on Jan. 6.
On Feb. 5, when I still had not received the camera, I contacted Wisetronics again. "Bobby" at extension 203 said my camera was "on back-order" indefinitely, but he'd be glad to send me the silver one — for $200 more than the Web site was quoting for the black one (which also still showed on their Web site as "available to ship in 1 to 2 business days" and which had dropped in price by $30).
When I protested the bait-and-switch, he said he had never heard the term before. I explained it to him. He then said he could sell me a silver "camera body only" for the price originally quoted to me. I explained that the camera body and lens are fused together so they'd have to take a blow torch to the product to sell me only the camera body. He then back-tracked and replied that of course the lens would be attached to the body, but there would be nothing else in the box — no battery, no cables, no software, no user's manual. When I said that the Web site claimed that ALL those things would be included with every order, he said that they often "sell parts to other suppliers" and that the "part" — the camera, all by itself — was the only thing available at that Web price.
"So it's black market?" I said. More like grey market, he replied.
At that point I did what I should have done weeks ago — I cancelled the order. But it won't surprise me a bit to see a false charge against my credit card in the next couple of months, so I'll be watching for it.
Word to the wise about "Wise"tronics — don't walk, RUN in the opposite direction. Bait-and-switch, false advertising, call it what you will. This operation is shady at best, but more likely out-and-out fraudulent. Another PriceRitePhoto or Chaim Pikarski, perhaps?
Please see http://thomashawk.com/11/priceritephoto-abusive-bait-and-switch.html for potential relationships between Wisetronics and PriceRitePhoto/Chaim Pikarski.
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