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03/09/2006 04:41:12 PM · #26 |
rip.off
sorry, 'bout that. |
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03/09/2006 04:42:18 PM · #27 |
| uh oh. Not good at all. You send the money and then they say it will be a while? What? They'll ship it 3 years from now when the merchandise is 50% of the cost you paid today? |
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03/09/2006 06:07:07 PM · #28 |
| I sent them an e-mail requesting a bit more information and they got back to me and said it will be a 2 - 5 day delay. They say I should have the item in hand within seven days - so I am hopeful but still not a happy camper. Thankyou everyone for your support today and I for one will be visiting brick and mortar stores from now on! |
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03/09/2006 06:09:06 PM · #29 |
Originally posted by Lesidhe:
I sent them an e-mail requesting a bit more information and they got back to me and said it will be a 2 - 5 day delay. They say I should have the item in hand within seven days - so I am hopeful but still not a happy camper. Thankyou everyone for your support today and I for one will be visiting brick and mortar stores from now on! |
gosh.. i wish you good luck... what is it that you purchased... and how much? |
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03/09/2006 06:18:18 PM · #30 |
Lesidhe - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, but I bet you'll eventually get your merchandise. Some of the places like that wait until they have a bunch of orders for the same thing so they can do bulk buys. And it does sound like if you don't want to wait, you can get a refund - just make sure you read the fine print on their refund policy. If it hasn't shipped yet, you shouldn't have to pay any fees.
Best of luck - I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how it goes!
And for the record, I love B&H. Maybe not the lowest prices all the time, but very, very good service with respect to my purchases (all of 'em so far) from them. |
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03/10/2006 09:31:39 AM · #31 |
| Hi guys. I just wanted to let you know that we woke up this morning to find that the site is blocking out IP address now and we cannot even access elsider.com. (yet for some reason, people on different computers can). From our IP address, when you type in their site address, it goes directly to google. I have tried it from several different computers on our network. I tell you - these guys are good! That is a big signal to me that these guys are fraudulent. so, whatever you do, avoid them like the plague. Hopefully, through my stupidity, others can avoid being taken. I have been in contact with my bank who are going to investigate them too. I have made all kinds of attempts to contact the administrator for the website but no luck there either. (they don't return my calls) Bank of America have been wonderful though and have assured me that should I not get my merchandise they have a 100% security feature that will see them credit my account for all I have lost on the deal. I tell you, I will never switch banks after this, they have been awesome. So, at least with that bit of security, I may get to enjoy my birthday after all. Thanks for all your support as it helped me get through a very gloomy day yesterday! |
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03/10/2006 09:37:35 AM · #32 |
| Well, I am glad you have some reassurance from BOA that you'll get your money back. When is your birthday? |
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03/10/2006 09:48:21 AM · #33 |
Originally posted by persimon:
Well, I am glad you have some reassurance from BOA that you'll get your money back. When is your birthday? |
My birthday is March 21st, so there is hope that I will have a camera in time (from a reputable company!) |
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03/10/2006 09:48:57 AM · #34 |
| The fact that they have a Western Union icon at the bottom and that it is an accepted form of payment definately makes me hesitant. |
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03/10/2006 09:54:17 AM · #35 |
Originally posted by md8speed:
The fact that they have a Western Union icon at the bottom and that it is an accepted form of payment definately makes me hesitant. |
Yes, it certainly has been a lesson for me! In some way (which now seems stupid on my part) I thought that perhaps they used it to protect themselves from customers who get merchandise them charge it back. BUT, never again will I be so gullible! In one way it was a good lesson to learn. |
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03/10/2006 09:55:15 AM · #36 |
| Glad to hear you've had some good news. Don't forget to submit to Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) at //www.ifccfbi.gov/ so we can put a stop to this. |
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03/10/2006 09:56:31 AM · #37 |
| Thanks for the link Bluenova, I was just working on trying to find that! I will go there now. |
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03/10/2006 12:07:42 PM · #38 |
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03/10/2006 12:36:28 PM · #39 |
Lesidhe, I hope this situation works out for you. This is an unfortunate situation that many people get themselves into when shopping online. You don't have to switch to brick and mortar stores, you just have to be willing to do a bit of research before you buy. (And I don't mean you specifically Lesidhe, as you're certainly not the only one to get into this sort of situation.) A few things...
1. The look of a website really means very little. I could put together a professional looking sales site in an afternoon and have it ready to go and yet I don't have much to sell you besides dirty dishes. There are enough web design saavy people in the world and enough packaged software available for those who aren't that the appearance of a website has no correlation to the authenticity of the seller.
2. If you find a site you've never heard of it, research it. Start with a basic google search. If absolutely nothing comes up, that's a warning sign. If you get a bunch of search results, check them out. There are a number of places online that people can complain about the service they've received - other message boards, BBB, ripoffreport, personal websites, etc.
Check //resellerratings.com. It's a great resource for ranking online businesses.
Search the Better Business Bureau: //www.bbbonline.org/consumer/
3. Check for seals of approval, like the BBB Reliability Program or the TRUSTe site privacy seal. Clicking on these seals should take you to the company's profile on each of those sites. Just having the graphics there is not enough - anyone can steal a graphic and slap it up there.
4. Look for an actual physical address, not just a post office box.
5. Pay attention to the age-old adage "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is." If you just found a product for some super deal at half the price it is everywhere else, there's likely a good reason for that (which is usually that they're never going to give you the product). Definitely price shop but you should be able to determine a general range of prices and anything that falls way out of that is pretty suspicious.
6. Read read read the fine print. Make sure the item they are selling is genuine. Check the return policy. Check the shipment policy. Etc.
7. Pay with a credit card. These tend to have limited liability and you may have an easier time recovering your funds if needed.
8. When you're entering your payment information, make sure it's on a secure site. Check for the little lock symbol in the lower righthand corner and that the url says https instead of http.
And I'm sure there others. But tt really is possible to shop online safely. You just need to be willing to do the work ahead of time. Hopefully this will help out someone else before they get into this situation. |
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03/10/2006 01:17:24 PM · #40 |
I myself would not wait to see what happens. I'd cancel NOW.
I did a quick google search and they came up numerous times, but when you actually go to the listing of stores offering the product, they are nowhere to be found.
I did find one review at epinions.... not good.
//www.epinions.com/msg/show_~threads/cat_id_~13/id_~6623/forum_id_~127
I am kind of a paranoid online buyer... when they say there's going to be a short delay, I get the feeling they just need more time to grab your money and cover there tracks.
At least you've got good news from BofA.
Good luck to you.
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03/10/2006 01:28:28 PM · #41 |
PM sent about the owner of the website
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03/10/2006 01:36:39 PM · #42 |
Now I know that this is against the grain here, but I wonder if it is actually possible that you may get your product.
I think it's wise that you have put all the people that need to be alerted duly on full alert, and all things are currently pointing to red flag area, but I'd also say that it may be a good idea to put it out of your mind until the days have passed.
Check the company that they say they will use for shipping too.
It may actually get shipped.
The reason I say this is that the few negative reports online also seems to have a message. It is possible that there is a small amount of legitimacy to work with.
Keep your traps ready, but give them the few days they need.
If it really does fall apart, figure out how much time that 900 dollar refund from your credit card company/Bank of America will buy out of your schedule and CRUSADE against them in the form of multiple letters and posts to as many warning and internet safety websites as you can find.
If you get money back from this due to fraud protection insurance, think of that as money that can help others to not be defrauded (just as you have done here).
That way, there is less ambiguity on the net when the next person goes to check. |
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03/10/2006 01:43:16 PM · #43 |
| Hopefully, this company is just drop shipping your order. This sometimes takes a while |
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03/10/2006 01:58:51 PM · #44 |
That is what I started thinking that they are perhaps a dropshipping outfit, although I can't imagine with the prices they quote that they could afford to make any profit on top of things if that were the case.
eschelar, as of last night, I was somewhat convinced that I had a small chance of getting the camera, now I don't believe I will. The fact that other people can log onto the site, yet when I do (from my home IP address..the same IP address that I ordered from) it will not bring up the page and they have it redirected to a fake google site. (the fake site, then gets redirected to what looks to be the real google site). It just all seems far too bizarre to be real. I also have not had any luck at getting them to contact me. Yahoo Shopping Guarantee Program people also got back to me and told me that they are NOT actually affiliated with them in any way. (even though on their site they have a full page assuring customers that they are a member of that program) All in all, it looks pretty darn shady and I would be very surprised if I saw the camera. I do intend to make sure their name is plastered all over the net as a fraudulent company, should they turn out to be con artists. They are selling some pretty expensive items on that site too so my hope is that others do not get suckered in like I did. |
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03/10/2006 02:00:12 PM · #45 |
| thanks jfredin for going to so much trouble to get that info for me! |
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03/10/2006 02:07:21 PM · #46 |
Looking at Google cache, they were listed on various referral sites and comparison sites for a couple of days (with some v attractive prices) but these have since been dropped: they are nowhere to be seen on referral sites. I bet they took a few tens of thousands or maybe hundreds through WU in the couple of days that they were included in the referral programs, however.
I would not expect any product ordered through this site. Credit card is always the way to go with big ticket and remote purchases: the nature of a credit card transaction is legally very different to buying with cash or a debit card and affords you a significant degree of protection.
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03/10/2006 02:08:44 PM · #47 |
Thanks MK, I read your entry and your right, it is not reason to only go bricks and mortar from now on. I will be doing all the checks though. I did check this mob out with the BBB and did a search on their name with yahoo search engine. They actually gave physical addresses on their website - but I am sure they are not accurate. Nothing bad seemed to appear.
I certainly didnt find that link that Roland B posted! (thanks Roland..seems I am not the only one!) I will never trust the yahoo buyer protection plan pages again..I have since heard that they don't really even have a program anymore!
I do plan on going to the reseller ratings site if they do not get in touch in the next few days. (just in case there are just administrative problems at their end..although I think there is not much of a chance of this) |
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03/21/2006 02:06:51 PM · #48 |
Have you heard any more on this? Was curious if you ever received your camera or if it ended up just being a scam.
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03/23/2006 05:32:26 PM · #49 |
Lessons to be learnt for Everyone:
1. If it looks too good to be true then it's NOT true!!! Avoid like the plague.
2. Check Resellerratings.com
3. There is absolutely NO way that some small unkown oufit can sell some hot product for some 50% less than the price at big names like B & H and Adorama |
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03/24/2006 07:39:04 PM · #50 |
I was wondering as well and I'm betting she got taken since I can no longer access the website either. I could before but not now ;(
Deannda
that just sucks
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