USA Photo Nation
Bait & Switch, deceptive practices New York

On Sat., Nov 24, I ordered a Canon Rebel XT digital camera as a Christmas gift.

The base price was $229. Several accessory kits were offered at various additional costs. On the day I ordered the camera & extras, Kit #2 included, among other things, a wide angle 28-70mm and a zoom 70-300mm. This brought the total package to $599. A really good deal. When Jason @ extention 215 called on Sunday Nov 25, to "verify" my credit card he said, just as DJf of Phoenix had experienced, that I needed the better battery pack, memory card, etc. That brought my total to $749. At no time did Jason tell me that by going for the battery, etc it changed my base price with Kit #2 to the "USA upgrade", meaning that I would ultimately not receive the wide angle 28-70mm or the zoom 70-300mm.

I received an incomplete shipment via FEDEX on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

I then received a series of emails telling me that "the remainder of my order has shipped". These emails always showed exactly the same tracking number as the original package. I left messages for Jason Ext 215 to inquire if the remainder of my order was the 2 lenses. He never returned my calls. On Thursday, Nov. 29th I finally got Jason to answer and he put me on hold for nearly 15 minutes listening to terrible opera music. I'm sure the intent was for me to just hang up.

When he did finally get back on the phone he did a great job of running me in circles about the "upgrade" to the USA package changing my original Kit #2. He said there were no additional shipments on the way; I had received my correct order. He transferred me to Michelle, ext 300, who stated she was the Customer Service Manager. She also did a great job of running me in circles, telling me I must have misunderstood the order process. She offered to "open an investigation" which could take up to 3 months to complete. Michelle said they could never have included the wide angle 28-70mm or the zoom 70-300mm in a Kit for the price I paid. BUT! In the interest of good customer service she would sell me the wide angle 28-70mm at the discounted amount of an additional $150. The zoom 70-300mm could be mine for a larger amount which she never specified.

Michelle repeatedly refuse to provide me with their physical address, stating that they have, "so many locations, warehouses, that we would be on the phone until tomorrow". I told her I was happy to take all the time she needed to provide me with the addresses, which she never did.

Within days of my orginal order the website was competely different; Kit # 2 had entirely different items at a different price. Fortunately I had printed out the items listed in Kit#2 on the day I placed my order. When I mentioned this to Michelle she acknowledged that the website changes frequently, no doubt to further enable their deceptive practices.

Company: USA Photo Nation
Country: USA
State: New York
City: New york
Address: 164-15 Jamaica Ave
Phone: 8008723143

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