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Archive 2016 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit

  
 
Abuttolph
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


This discussion is a venting of some frustration and just to put it out there that 42nd St Photo appears to be very dishonest. Here is the issue. My husband purchased a Nikon camera for me from them in March 2014. He specified that he wanted a USA model, they assured him that he was getting a USA model, and went ahead and purchased the camera from them. It was on sale, or so he was told, and came with an extended warranty. He was adamant about getting a USA version.

Fast forward to May 2016. I dropped the camera in mid-May and am having the terrific folks at Bozeman Camera help me with getting it serviced. Nikon notified them that they won't repair the camera because it is gray market, which was news to me and to my husband.

I called 42nd St twice today, fairly ticked off. The first representative just kept referring back to the 3-year warranty and would not even talk about the fact that the camera was gray market. He kept saying that he could not know what went on in the discussion with the rep that my husband talked to two years ago. He hung up on me. I called back and spoke with another person, who basically gave the same spiel - that the camera was sold with a USA warranty. He absolutely would not address the issue that they sold my husband a gray market BODY after he specifically stated that he wanted the USA version of the camera. This rep actually told me that the company that the extended warranty was with would repair the damaged camera, even though the issue was not a warranty problem. I called the warranty company to find out if this was actually true (that they would repair a gray market camera that was not a warranty repair) if you had the extended warranty with them. The person that I talked with at the warranty company was very helpful and informative. And, as I expected, the answer is - no, they will not service a camera that is not in for warranty repair.

So - to sum it up: 42nd St sold my husband a gray market camera after he specifically told them that he wanted a USA camera. They will not do anything in terms of customer service to resolve the problem and go as far as not even dealing with the issue, just diverting to the warranty. They then misrepresent the warranty company stating that the customer can get a damaged camera repaired if you have a warranty with them (specifically - that you can get non-warranty service on a damaged camera) - you cannot.

Had my husband known that 42nd St is such a dishonest company, he would not have purchased from them. I had heard bad things about them, but did not know that he was even purchasing the camera since it was a gift.

Anyway - sorry to vent, but just felt like I needed to.



May 31, 2016 at 02:30 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Sounds like a fair rant, to me. Too bad. I hope it works out OK.

Have you been in touch with Canon USA? One of the first things I'd do in this situation, would be to call Canon Canada.



May 31, 2016 at 03:20 PM
anthonysemone
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


No need to apologize. I expect there has been a fair # of folks here who have been jerked around by the likes of this dealer. While it's reputation itself can be called into question (the site apparently requires companies to purchase the opportunity to reply to evaluations provided by customers), www.resellerratings.com I have found helpful back in the day.


May 31, 2016 at 03:24 PM
mitesh
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Sorry to hear this happened to you. Hopefully someone who would have otherwise bought from this seller sees this and saves themselves the headaches.

jcolwell wrote:
One of the first things I'd do in this situation, would be to call Canon Canada.


They would probably be as much help as 42nd St Photo was in getting the OP's Nikon camera repaired, but I'll bet a doughnut they would be nicer about it .



May 31, 2016 at 03:58 PM
Abuttolph
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Thanks, everyone. I will check out the resellerratings.com - good idea.

I am hoping that this discussion will help other people avoid 42nd St. People just don't need to be jerked around and these are big purchases. It is hard to believe that they are still in business if they pull this kind of thing frequently, which apparently they do.



May 31, 2016 at 05:00 PM
Abuttolph
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Turns out that 42nd St is not even an authorized Nikon dealer. Here is their authorized dealer list for the US:
http://cdn-6.nikon-cdn.com/where-to-buy/nikon_img_auth_dealers.pdf

So - I think that what this means is that 42nd St may not even sell USA versions, even though that is what they were supposed to have sold in our case.



Jun 01, 2016 at 11:32 AM
15Bit
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


I'm curious as to why a company would refuse to repair their own products. I can understand them not honouring the warranty, but refusing a paid-for repair seems like shooting yourself in the foot.

If a company did that to me i would not buy their product again, legit or grey market.



Jun 01, 2016 at 12:08 PM
Danpbphoto
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Abuttolph wrote:
Thanks, everyone. I will check out the resellerratings.com - good idea.

I am hoping that this discussion will help other people avoid 42nd St. People just don't need to be jerked around and these are big purchases. It is hard to believe that they are still in business if they pull this kind of thing frequently, which apparently they do.

I use "RR.com" ALWAYS!!!! Both for reference and to post......It is a great resource as Tony states..

While I have dealt with 42nd before, I did NOT like their selling tactics...I wanted a slr, Canon and that was it but hey kept battering me to buy more.
I never went back.
Dan



Jun 01, 2016 at 04:16 PM
Fred Amico
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Somewhat surprised that 42nd St. is still in business. Used them once about 10 years ago, and their tactics then were the same - vague warranty references and multiple attempts to get you to buy additional products and services.

Canceled my original order and never used them again.



Jun 01, 2016 at 06:00 PM
EB-1
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Danpbphoto wrote:
I use "RR.com" ALWAYS!!!! Both for reference and to post......It is a great resource as Tony states..

While I have dealt with 42nd before, I did NOT like their selling tactics...I wanted a slr, Canon and that was it but hey kept battering me to buy more.
I never went back.
Dan


Many of the degenerate online shops "stuff the ballot boxes" at RR, so you need to read the negative comments and use them as a gauge rather than the glowing reviews.

EBH



Jun 01, 2016 at 06:43 PM
Abuttolph
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


I would not have purchased from 42nd St in the first place, but my husband did not know about their poor reputation and the camera was a surprise gift. I would never do business with them.

Fred - I agree. I don't know how they can remain in business. The way that they operate is definitely not legit and people are getting swindled left and right. Too bad that someone has not filed a class-action lawsuit against them. I am not a litigious person, but do feel that they need to be reined in and held accountable.

I went onto Yelp yesterday and saw that many people have had bad experiences at 42nd St. One person noted in his review that they are not authorized Canon dealers either. I added my own review. Hopefully, since Yelp is a popular place for people to look for reviews in general, that at least some people will go elsewhere. I also posted a review on www.resellerratings.com.

15bit - they are not in the business of customer service. I think that their aim is to make the sale with new customers and then not care if there is repeat business. Since they sell their equipment at a lower cost (because it is gray market), people will just look for lower prices and that is about it. Like my husband, people who are not familiar with the photo market would not even know to purchase from an authorized dealer or that the big equipment companies like Nikon have strict pricing controls. These are the kinds of things that swindlers like 42nd St rely on.



Jun 02, 2016 at 11:02 AM
anthonysemone
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Quite remarkable that ResellerRatings has these guys valued at roughly 9.5/10. Absolutely glowing reviews. Hell you'd think they were BH or Adorama



Jun 02, 2016 at 01:57 PM
Danpbphoto
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Adele, did you post negative feedback on YELP? OR Resellerratings.com? Everyone has to do that. Both were not around when I bought from them.

Tony...would love to know if those positive reviews are real customers!
Dan



Jun 02, 2016 at 04:34 PM
anthonysemone
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


The "hit" I take away from these + comments is that they are engineered. Hell, some of them almost duplicate previous ones.

I had the intriguing thought while checking out my FN-TSR for a range outing, wouldn't it be nice if, when calling these guys up to inquire about ordering up something, that, following the bullshite of "this call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes," that, when voice contact is made, prior to saying anything to the rep about the order, that the caller inform him that he or she was also recording the call "for quality assurance purposes" and that any further response from the rep would constitute explicit permission for recording the conversation.

How long you reckon it'll take for the sucker to hang up.



Jun 02, 2016 at 07:57 PM
mikeinctown
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


First, i feel your pain and anger. I've been burned by companies like this before, though thankfully not with anything photographty related, and not with anything of great value.

One of the things I've learned over the last few years with photography equipment, and especially with the Canon rebates I seem to frequently get is that if you want something to be from an authorized seller, that you check their seller list and go off that.

I've also learned that for some reason Canon is better about servicing their gear that may be grey market than any other company is. Nikon and Tamron seem to refuse to even service these products even when you are paying for the work.

If you post in the Nikon area here I'm hoping you can get some suggestions for a place you can send your camera to in order to get some work done on it. The alternative is to see if a relative, friend, or maybe an outgoing member out of the US would be willing to have you ship them the camera for them to take in for repair.



Jun 03, 2016 at 01:37 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


mikeinctown wrote:
I've also learned that for some reason Canon is better about servicing their gear that may be grey market than any other company is. Nikon and Tamron seem to refuse to even service these products even when you are paying for the work.

What happens if you live in Europe and then move to the US? Suddenly you become persona non-grata, after spending maybe thousands of dollars on legitimate kit?



Jun 03, 2016 at 01:45 PM
mikeinctown
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


15Bit wrote:
What happens if you live in Europe and then move to the US? Suddenly you become persona non-grata, after spending maybe thousands of dollars on legitimate kit?


I suppose if you could prodcue a receipt showing that you actually bought it overseas then they may do the work. In that case you have proven the camera wasn't imported and sold here against their rules.

i've often posted your exact same question though. We have US service members all over the globe. I'd be upset as heck to have been stationed in Japan or somewhere else over seas and buy some gear, then get shipped back home and find out the company refuses to service it.




Jun 03, 2016 at 01:53 PM
anthonysemone
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


The precise reason why when I was in South Korea summer of 2013 I did not go to Seoul to buy a camera.


Jun 03, 2016 at 08:29 PM
Abuttolph
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Danpbphoto wrote:
Adele, did you post negative feedback on YELP? OR Resellerratings.com? Everyone has to do that. Both were not around when I bought from them.

Tony...would love to know if those positive reviews are real customers!
Dan


Dan - yes, I posted reviews on both Yelp amd Resellerratings.com. I even went to the government's fraud website and reported it there (not sure if that will help, but it probably won't hurt).

I suspect that some of the positive reviews are real. There are lots of people who purchase items either not knowing or not caring about the whole gray market issue and when they are pleased with the equipment itself and don't think that they have any issues with the order, then they post positive reviews. Undoubtedly though, some of the reviews are bogus. I tend to think that the bogus ones all tend to be similar - fairly short and praising the people who took the orders, fast shipping, and possibly loving the gear.

mikeinctown wrote:
First, i feel your pain and anger. I've been burned by companies like this before, though thankfully not with anything photographty related, and not with anything of great value.

One of the things I've learned over the last few years with photography equipment, and especially with the Canon rebates I seem to frequently get is that if you want something to be from an authorized seller, that you check their seller list and go off that.

I've also learned that for some reason Canon is better about servicing their gear that may be grey market than any other company is. Nikon
...Show more

I totally agree about purchasing from an authorized seller. My husband did not know to do that, and I suspect that many other people don't either. This is something that 42nd St counts on, I am sure

As far as the repair goes, I took the camera into a reliable camera store (came highly recommended - Bozeman Camera) and the tech there is sending it a place that he is confident will repair it. I have to wait a while to find out because the camera has to be returned from Nikon first and then reshipped to the other repair shop (I don't know yet who it is).




Jun 04, 2016 at 12:16 PM
Danpbphoto
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · 42nd St Photo - dishonest/bait & switch outfit


Abuttolph wrote:
Dan - yes, I posted reviews on both Yelp and Resellerratings.com. I even went to the government's fraud website and reported it there (not sure if that will help, but it probably won't hurt).

I suspect that some of the positive reviews are real. There are lots of people who purchase items either not knowing or not caring about the whole gray market issue and when they are pleased with the equipment itself and don't think that they have any issues with the order, then they post positive reviews. Undoubtedly though, some of the reviews are bogus. I tend to
...Show more

Good! IC3? If so it does work!! It has "bitten" 2 FM scammers here big time!!!!! And Yes I am sure that there are legit positive reviews....but as Tony states...That figure is WAAAAYYYY to good!
Dan




Jun 04, 2016 at 12:36 PM
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