I've been setting up home theatre equipment for many years and when the time came to finally setup my parents house I wanted to find the best LCD TV I could.
At any rate I finally decided upon purchasing a Sharp Aquos LC46D92U LCD TV.
The major selling points for this television is its 4 millisecond response time, the 120hz refresh rate, DVI-I connection, and removable speakers.
As always the first thing I do is jump onto google and do a search for the model and the first link was projectorexport.com which had this TV for $1,219.00 and $199.00 for shipping. All other places had this same exact television for at least $400 more. This should have been the first red flag but against my better judgement I gave them the benefit of the doubt and ordered.
Here's the email response I received:
Product Qty Price
7092 Sharp LC46D92U Sharp Aquos LC46D92U 46 inch 1 $1,219.00
Subtotal $1,219.00 Tax $102.09
Shipping $199.00 Total $1,520.09
The next day I received another email with a VERY suspicious (second red flag) subject line:
Subject: Please call 866-807-3372 ext 771 Verification for order# xxxxxx
Message: Thank You for Placing your order with ProjectorExport.com
We hope that you have enjoyed your shopping experience. Please contact our verification department to confirm your order. The toll free number is 1-866-807-3372 ext 771. Our hours:
Monday thru Thursday - 10am to 8pm EST,
Friday - 10am to 5pm EST,
Saturday - Closed,
Sunday - 11am to 5pm.
Since I was at work my mother called the number and waited a good 20 minutes before anyone answered the phone. When the associate finally answered the phone he was extremely rude to the point of being obnoxious. When my mother finally gave them the order number he said that for $150.00 he could *upgrade* the purchase to the newest "slim-line" professional kit model.
Now my mother is no expert about such things and is very trusting of people. So to spend an additional $150.00 to get the latest version... She agreed.
Two days later I decided to check the order status on their website and lo and behold the model number in the initial email i received had changed. That *upgrade* was actual a downgrade from the LC46D92U to the LC46D64U model. So they charged my mother an additional $150.00 for less of a TV at a much higher price. Oh and the PK version is nothing more than a bunch of cables (HDMI, Composite, Component)... Yeah that's the professional kit.
So I decided to cancel the order and when I finally got through another obnoxious jerk gets on the phone and tries to argue with me that the 64U model is better then the 92U model. I tell him that I am looking directly at the spec sheet for all sharp aquos models http://www.sharpusa.com/products/AQUOScompare / and that he's full of garbage. He hangs up on me.
I then had my mother call her credit card company and spent about 30 minutes explaining the situation which they in turn put a dispute claim against the charge and that they will handle the rest of the dispute and let us know in 2-3 weeks of the outcome.
Not feeling satisfied. I do a whois lookup on projectorexport.com and find out that the owners name is Edward Barnathan. I then do an additional google search for that name and this link is displayed:
Www.cityfeet.com/CityfeetSpaces/PDF/NewYork/Archive. 02.2006. Pdf
I open the link and search the pdf and well well well... Could it be the same guy. Its in NY and guess what his cell phone is listed as selling "Computer Warehouse" space. Bingo!
I then proceed to call the number and after 2 rings a voice answers. I ask the voice on the other end if the own projectorexport.com and he said "Yes". I then go into a tirade about how horrible his business is and how the prey upon unsuspecting people using bait-and-switch tactics. He then asks for my order number and I'm promptly put into the hands of one of his cronies who again goes into the whole song and dance about how much better the model that I am going to get is over the D92U. At this point I am completely annoyed and tell them to cancel my order.
Whatever you do, do not do business with these mutants. They will rip you off, especially if you're not educated about your purchase beforehand.
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