I recently ordered computer and other electronic parts from this website. They sent me fake products and that were indicated to be manufactured from brand name companies such as sony and ibm.
I was very frustrasted and called the website. They keep on transferring my calls and avoiding to discuss anything about this product.
I just would like to warn everyone of shop4digital.com
also, are there any place online we could go to report their fraud activities?
posted on May 1, 2001 07:25:18 PM
There is a lot of fraud in the electronics market and I have written two articles about it so far. There are several sites (mostly in the East Coast, but they dont have a monopoly on fraud) which operate under a number of names. They get themselves listed at the top of all the search engines (mysimon, computershopper, cnet) for the lowest prices. What they do is:
1) sell refurbished as new
2) advertise a low price but not mention that this is including the rebate. In the meantime, the honest merchants wind up much lower down the list.
3) advertise a lowball price to get on the list but then change it on their site
4)tack on an exhorbitant shipping fee, like $70 per camera
5) remove the UPC code and take the rebate for themselves
6) take your order but not ship for several weeks until the rebate is over. This trick usually goes together with #3
7) take orders for items not in stock and not order until they have enough orders to get wholesale price. But they don't tell you that you have to wait for a few months. Sometimes they even charge your credit card well in advance of placing the order.
The Internet makes such practices easier to do. Buyer beware.
posted on May 2, 2001 08:47:18 AM
Also beware of a scam which goes something like this.
You place an order online, but you hear nothing back. Eventually, you call the 800 number they have conveniently provided for you to call to find out what went wrong with your order.
When you call, you find out that there is some problem. Easily fixed, they'd just like you to change from an X widget to a Y widget, Y is "higher quality than X".
The problem is, you know what X is: a name brand widget. Y is somewhat unknown to you, although you may well have heard the brand. You know what X is worth. You DON'T know what Y is worth. And when you agree to the change, you became a sale.
If you don't agree to the change, you find out about other problems. The digital camera you bought doesn't have something which is needed, that will be an extra $50. Or they're not in stock right now. Or the shipping charge on that one will be $75. Or, or, or. But you are not going to get what you ordered at the price you ordered it at, no way, no how.
