Broadway Photo RipOff

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Originally Posted by UnhappyShopper

Having read all the other shopper's experiences at Broadway Photo, I wish I had researched here before placing my order! Bottom line, I got the same bait and switch tactic and cancelled my order. However, this was the 3rd place I had gotten the same treatment from and I decided I'd had enough. I filed complaints with the FTC, NY Attorney General, NY Department of Consumer Affairs, and the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs. I've heard back from the FTC and the NYC DCA. Folks, these scammers are going to keep screwing the unsuspecting public until enough of us get fed up and report them to the authorities that control their business license. I recommend filing a complaint with the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/html/home/home.shtml or www.nyc.gov/consumers
Document everything! I copied the webpages that showed Broadway Photo's deceit and mailed the whole package to the DCA. If they get enough complaints - they'll act!

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Thanks for the advice. I will certainly do that and hope others will, too!

Just wanted to say that I ordered a 40D through Broadway and, though I had to call customer service due to an opened box the first time, they immediately sent out exactly what I ordered along with a great camera bag, a 5 year extended warranty from RepairTech and a 2gig CF card for my inconvenience.

Not sure I would order from there again unless I did so through Customer Service rather than Sales. That is where the problem was. Once I talked with Customer Service it was all good.

Great deal. It took an extra two days (they expressed shipped it), a little hassle, but with what I received for under $1k, I'm pretty happy.

GCV

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Originally Posted by gcv

Just wanted to say that I ordered a 40D through Broadway and, though I had to call customer service due to an opened box the first time, they immediately sent out exactly what I ordered along with a great camera bag, a 5 year extended warranty from RepairTech and a 2gig CF card for my inconvenience.

Not sure I would order from there again unless I did so through Customer Service rather than Sales. That is where the problem was. Once I talked with Customer Service it was all good.

Great deal. It took an extra two days (they expressed shipped it), a little hassle, but with what I received for under $1k, I'm pretty happy.

GCV

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GCV... this is your first post, you have no profile information, AND you had a positive experience. How are we supposed to believe that this is true?

My suggestion from research and this forum tells me to stay as far away from Broadway Photo as you can, Jeff

It seems like it's getting to the point where there should be a sticky that just says:

"Broadway photo is bad and avoid anything in Brooklyn, just order from Adorama or B&H"

That would save lots of server space, time and effort.

Beware of the stores with the 718 area code. That is Brooklyn, N.Y. There are only two major camera dealers in Brooklyn that I'm aware of that are legit. . .Abes of Maine and another but cannot remember the name. All others are the same shady practice. Broadway Photo, Digital Liquidators, A&M photo, and I think CCI are all the same operation. They have no storefront here in Brooklyn, but are run out of a private house with the stock kept in a garage locally. I was going to purchase a lens a few years ago from them and wanted to go and pick it up since I live in Brooklyn. They told me to come by the address at a certain time, and cash only if I was not paying for shipping. This all sounded too shady for me, and i rather spend a bit more to support the legitimate dealers than these hoods.

I really wish I knew all of this about Broadway Photo! I purchased all of my other photo gear from B&H, over 10 yrs experience with them, absolutely no problems. I decided in April that I wanted the new EOS Rebel XSI as soon as possible, as I wanted to be comfortable with the camera before my baby was born. So I believed the quoted price online, got suckered over the phopne into buying additonal stuff, wound up spending $1799 for a $800 camera package. Didn't get the iSI, got the grey market version, "Kiss," which does not work at all. I called Bwayphoto today, complained, now they want me to send the camera and batteries back for them to inspect it. I am sure I will be scammed in this process. I have the 3 yr warranty, another thing I was suckered into buying that will probably not provide any coverage. I am sure, based on what I read here, that they will find some excuse for not sending me a new camera, or will charge me another exhorbitant price to restock this garbage camera, so they can sell it to someone else. They'll say it works fine, etc. and I will be like everyone else here, no recourse but to write the attorney general etc. In the end, I will not have a camera before my baby arrives (any day), unless I order another, though that is not ossible, as the money is spent. It's almost 2 months since my credit card was charged, so I don't think that route would help. I bought the camera, didnt discover the problem until now (go figure, with a baby due, I had little time to spend time with and test the camera). Now I realize the thing can only take 2 pictures before going dead, get an "Error 99" message. Lesson learned!Stay away from BWay photo!

hat does your camera sticker on the bottom say? Made in China or Made in Japan?

Similar experience, looks like a good deal on-line and hardball up sell when you have to call to confirm your order. They get really mad when you do not bite. But the fun only starts here; when I received my order the extra item I ordered from the up sell was not even in the box, it was on the shipping invoice. But the invoice is one total amount no price by item. Plus, they charges by $45 more than what I agreed and the charged $70 for 2 day shipping, not the $25 on the website. I called the next day and after 45 minutes on hold I got a person. He was actually cool and credited me the difference and sent out the unshipped item.

But the next day when I went to the Nikon site to register it turns out to be a gray camera, so no factory warranty. Pay the extra and stay away.:mad:

It's very interesting to see this forum; but somehow I had a feeling that a forum like this was probably out there simply because of the experience I just had with them. I attempted to buy a Canon XL-H1S that no one seemed to have but Braodway was offering cheaper. When I queried about it and they asked if I wanted the US or Gray, I chose US as I am aware of the warranty difference. I gave the necessary information to the sales person who then proceeded to attempt to sell me accessories and an extra warranty that I already knew I wouldn't buy so I let him know that upfront and then he tries to tell me I am being rude by not letting him finish this high pressure sale. Up to that point I was only being direct...not rude. However, after that it's a matter of opinion.

I believe that they did not actually have the camera in stock as they claimed based on what I am reading here as well as experience from another place called Tri-State that swore they had an item, which they didn't have but didn't want to lose the sale, so they decided to send me the wrong thing despite my having told them I was absolutely not interested in getting put on back order.

The salesman's attack on me for not dragging out a sale was enough for me to cancel the order on the spot and call my credit card company and tell them not to allow any charges from Broadway. This is a good forum but it is apparent that they need to be put on notice that their actions border on fraud.

I understand that you are hurt about being cheated by Broadway Photo and other dealers but not everyone who sells in brooklyn is a bad dealer and deserved to be called "hoods". I live in Brooklyn

Tried to buy a Canon Rebel XTI about a year ago, They tried to sell me the canon battery for 119 even though it comes in the box and can be bought for about $20 on ebay.
Salesman was rude and arrogant.

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Originally Posted by Kukujang

Beware of the stores with the 718 area code. That is Brooklyn, N.Y. There are only two major camera dealers in Brooklyn that I'm aware of that are legit. . .Abes of Maine and another but cannot remember the name. All others are the same shady practice. Broadway Photo, Digital Liquidators, A&M photo, and I think CCI are all the same operation. They have no storefront here in Brooklyn, but are run out of a private house with the stock kept in a garage locally. I was going to purchase a lens a few years ago from them and wanted to go and pick it up since I live in Brooklyn. They told me to come by the address at a certain time, and cash only if I was not paying for shipping. This all sounded too shady for me, and i rather spend a bit more to support the legitimate dealers than these hoods.

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I Am Surprised They Have Been In Business Since 2005!

I have recently ordered a camcorder a couple of days ago. They emailed me stating they still need to complete my order and ask for a phone call back. Then they said the camera I am ordering is in German, not English and if I do want the US one, it would be $60 more. They also said the factory made battery (JVC) lasts only 15 minutes and tried to sell more batteries. I was lucky because I got fed up and canceled the order. Can we report them to BBB or something?

I just ordered a digital camera from Broadway Photo yesterday. Today they called me at work and said they'd give me a good deal on a memory card. I said I didn't want one. So he said he'd give me a half-price deal on a battery. I said I didn't want one. So he got all nasty and said that I was getting my camera in all Japanese and if I wanted the English version I had to pay another $60. I canceled the order and he sort of laughed and hung up on me. I ordered it through Wal-Mart instead -- they have a $1 shipping fee, no restock fee, and 30 days to return it to any local store.

You Can Beat Broadway Photo, There is Recourse

June 17, 2008

If you are one of the many victims of Broadway Photo’s tactics, don’t be let them get away with it, there is action you can take to mitigate the problem. If you take matters into your own hands you should be able to, at best, get your products for a reasonable price and, at worst, get a full refund and put the credit card companies on their backs. I got overcharged 260 USD on a Broadway Photo and Video order and was able to get most of my money back after contacting customer service, using the “iron ass” style of negotiation, threatening to dispute the order with American Express and return the shipment, and constantly repeating five words: “I will not accept that.” Below I’ve detailed my experience in the hope that others who’ve been cheated will have the courage and knowledge to fight back.

I looked Broadway Photo and Video up for a new camera purchase based on a recommendation from a friend. They had the Nikon D80 bundled with a Nikkor 18-200mm lens for under 1,200 dollars, a killer value. Purchasing the Nikon D80 body with the 18-200 lens on B&H would come to about $ 1,470 after shipping. After placing the order with a couple of filters I called Broadway the next day to change my shipping from express to overnight. I was warned that they could be pushy, and oh man, were they ever. I ended up having to pay extra for accessories that should have come with the camera standard, mainly a battery recharger, warranty and rechargeable battery. I upgraded to “multi-layered” UV and polarizer filters and eventually talked the extra battery and recharger that down to just 18.95. They hassled me about memory cards, 278 dollar 3-year extended warranties, camera bags and everything else in the book. Bundled with a one-year warranty that otherwise wouldn’t be included I ended with, what I thought to be a total purchase of 1,450 USD, a price way more than I originally intended to pay, but hey, at least I’m getting all those great “multilayered” filters…

When my shipment arrive by UPS the following evening, I opened the box and the first thing I examined was the invoice. The total was 1,710.99. I was shocked. The invoice was oddly itemized:

Nikon D80 with 18-200 AF lense pack: 1,710.99

Multi filter kit: 0

Cleaning kit: 0

1-year warranty: 0

Extended life Battery: 0

It was obvious that some shenanigans were going on here. The Multifilter Kit was a set of three filters, something that I was pressured to add to my purchase but refused, and here it was in my box. I checked on the internet and my heart sank when, after a simple search, I found story after story, article after article of Broadway’s scams, bait and switch tactics and high pressured rip-offs. I felt like such a sucker, but I definitely wasn’t going to let my money escape so easily.

Preparing the Counter Attack

First I contacted American Express and explained that I’d been overcharged by a rather unscrupulous merchant and asked what my options were. American Express explained that, if negotiations with the company were unsuccessful, I could return the product and dispute the order. Although the payment had already gone through, American Express would happily refund the amount to my account and they would handle getting the money back from the company. I could also dispute the order for just the part I was overcharged and American Express would pay me the difference. When asked how successful they were in getting the money back in disputes like this the rep confidently replied “oh, we win these disputes most of the time.”

Next, I researched all the stories on the internet about Broadway to familiarize myself with their tactics. It was obvious these guys were machines and ran by a system of pressure under the assumption that customers can be easily worn down and tricked. They lured people in with impossibly cheap deals, then rip them off with accessories and “deals” claiming that products are back ordered for those customers that refuse to buy anything in addition to the camera. Many victims were threatened with a 15% restocking fee and others just gave up after their protests went nowhere. Broadway claims to record the conversations and will look them up to prove their claims. Others were scammed into accepting the order with a few added-on extras to “increase the value” of the order. However, there were a few who stood their ground and were able to get refunds after much headache and hassle, so there was hope.

I talked to some of the people around me who had successfully resolved similar situations from internet purchases and learned that if you’re persistent and unwilling to be deterred by their pressure tactics, you can win most of the time. Companies like Broadway, while unscrupulous and manipulative, are companies in legal standing and do not want to face the Better Business Bureau and lawyers from credit card companies if they can avoid it, especially since the undoubted mountain of disputes and complaints on their records put them at a disadvantage from the start in any legal dispute. They can be persuaded to negotiate.

The next step was to itemize what I should’ve paid, and what kind of amount such a deal would cost from reputable sources. I used B&H and Wolf Camera as benchmarks. I wrote everything down and worked out exactly what I’d been overcharged, how much other companies charge for the same thing, and decided on a maximum amount that I would accept the order for, which was about 100 dollars more than I originally expected to pay, but 175 dollars less than what I paid. Of course, I could’ve just returned the camera, but since I live internationally, being able to find the camera for a reasonable deal would have had to be put off. I wanted to use my new toy.

The Battle

With all information laid out in front of me I was ready to take on their frontline of soldiers. I knew that the fact that I specifically refused the three filter kit added on was going to be a major card in this match. Since I definitely didn’t order it, I had every right to return it.
The following Monday morning I called up Broadway. Once directed to customer service I was put on hold for 30 minutes. Eventually a rep answered and I explained that I believed I’d been overcharged for an order. He asked what the order was and how much I’d believed I’d been overcharged. I gave him my order number told him what I purchased and how much I think I should’ve paid for it. Just as a disclaimer, I’m paraphrasing what was spoken and can’t guarantee word for word accuracy.

“Well sir we have here that 1,710 is the amount agreed upon by both parties.” He said.
I argued that this was not the amount I agreed on and asked if he could explain the price breakdown of the order. “I’m sorry sir but it says here you bought it as a package so I can’t bring up an itemized order.” I responded by breaking down the order as I saw it. “Are you getting those prices from our website?”

M: “No, these are the prices that we talked about on the phone.”

B: “Well sir it says here that both parties agreed upon this price.”

I calmly replied “I’m sorry but I did not accept this price, I did not order this filter kit included, but ordered a UV filter and a polarizer separately. I will not accept this and will be forced to dispute the order with the my credit card company and return the shipment if I’m not refunded.”

B: “Sir, this is the amount you agreed upon and it cannot be changed.”

M: “Then I have no choice but to contact my credit card company and return the order.”

B: “Sir, it says here you agreed on this price. We record all conversations like this one now. Let me go back and check the recording. Could you hold for a minute?” I agreed to hold.

I was the put on hold for about ten minutes, the Broadway rep would intermittently interject “just a sec’ every now and then. Eventually, he came back. “Sir, you definitely agreed upon 1,710 as the total. Do you want me to play it back for you?” Of course I did. I then heard my own voice talking to the original sales rep. They had indeed recorded my phone call from the week before!

The part he played was towards the end of the conversation after I’d been exhausted by his aggressive pitches over the course of the long conversation that was originally just a simple call to change my shipping. The salesman spoke in this low, grumbling voice. It was as if he was making a sale after being woken up at three in the morning. “Sir we can give you the extra battery as a package with your current purchase for an extra 18.95 will that work?”

“Uh, well…yea. Yea, that’ll work” my voice said.
In a hushed but hurried voice he replied “OK so that’s sixteen forty-nine and with the battery we’ve got seventeen-ten, is that fine sir?”

M: “Yea, yea that’s fine” my voice replied. The final price was spoken so unclearly I had to get the recording repeated. But then I understood it. I’d been tricked, on tape, to agreeing to pay 1,710 for the set. He had me! I could almost see the customer service rep’s smug look on the other side of the line. Even though the equipment we had been talking about didn’t come anywhere close to 1,649 dollars he arbitrarily raised the price in the last sentence, hoping I wouldn’t catch the mistake. Then he didn’t just add 18.95 to that imaginary amount, but whopped on an extra 40 bucks betting, correctly, that in my impatience I wouldn’t do the math and trust his sum. Ah, I was such a sucker! But I was determined not to fall easily.

I disputed the 1,710 saying that you couldn’t really tell if he was saying seventeen-ten or seventy ten. It could’ve been seventeen dollars and ten cents.

B: “It’s definitely seventeen-ten. This is the price you agreed upon, we have proof of it on the recording.” he was starting to get aggressive now.

“Mmm, I don’t know about that. I’m sorry, but I will not accept that price. That’s not how I saw the agreement.” He then agreed to refund the 40 dollar difference admitting that was Broadway’s fault but wouldn’t refund the money I wanted. We kept going back on the issues. When asked how the 1,649 dollars broke down he was unable to give me any details since it was a “package.” Finally I calmly said to him. “I’m sorry but I will not accept this price. I did not agree on this price and did not order the extra filter kit of three filters but ordered two filters, no package. If we can’t cut a deal, I’m prepared to dispute the price and will be forced to return the shipment and file a complaint with my credit card company.”

B: “Sir, American Express will not accept this, we’ve had it happen before. We have your recording agreeing to this price—“

M: “I’ve already talked to my credit card company extensively on this. If we can’t reach an agreement they’ll happily reimburse me. Then it’s between you and them.”

B: (agited now) “Sir we have the recording and will fight this. All you’ll get after you’re reimbursed is then get charged by the credit card company again when they see that we’re in the right—“

M: “But you’re not in the right, I didn’t order the filter kit and I did not agree on this price. When you look at the items we talk about on the phone, it is clear I’m being overcharged. I will not accept this.”

B: “OK, so to return it I’ll have to give you a confirmation number. There’s a restocking fee as listed in our Terms of Service that you agreed upon when making the order. We’ll refund you 1,450 dollars but the difference will be the restocking fee.”
M: “That just ridiculous. I will not accept that.”

B: “It’s in the terms of service that you read and agreed on! We have the right to charge you a restocking fee and that’s all you’ll be able to get. American Express won’t refund you.”

M: “Are you kidding? I’m not going to pay an outrageous restocking fee for stuff I didn’t order at a price I did not agree upon. I’ll send it back to the address it came from and let American Express deal with it.” We went back and forth again and again, mostly with him repeating the above and me calmly repeating “I will not accept that.”

B: (Sigh) “Let me put you on hold while I talk to my manager.” I listened to the pretty music for a few minutes.

Let’s Make a Deal

When he came back on the line his tone was more positive. “Ok Sir, since the sales rep overcharged you we can reduce the price and even add some items to add value to the package.” His tone was rehearsed, I knew when I called that they would try to add some useless junk rather than refund the money. “We value you as a customer and can add valuable services and accessories to your order, even increasing its value beyond what you originally paid. This can--”

“Just tell me what you got.” I interrupted. He offered to knock the order down to 1,650 and add in an “extended life battery” and a 3-year extended warranty. Not acceptable, but on the right path. We negotiated back and forth, me still maintaining my iron-ass negotiation tactic and the sales rep continued to act as the aggressor. I told him I was not interested in add-ons only in refunds. Eventually he brought it down to 1,550 USD, ten dollars within what I was prepared to pay.

“Make it 1,545 and you got a deal.” I said. After a short pause he agreed. He asked that I reply to a confirmation email that he would send with the renegotiated deal. The refund would take five business days to show in my credit records. This was consistent with what the credit card company told me.

In the end I got the D80 body, the awesome 18-200mm Nikor AF lens, a UV filter, a polarizer filter and a fluorescent filter (WTF?), a “cleaning kit” (some q-tips and shammy wipe in a plastic bag), one of those tiny bendable tripods, two extra batteries, an external battery charger and a 3-year warranty with overnight shipping and a s&%#load of hassle for 1,544.99. Not a “great” deal, but assuming that the warranty, batteries and filters are adequate (quite presumptuous of me, I know) I’d call it a “fair” deal. Part of me wonders how much farther I could have driven down the price (and I’m confident I could have gotten an extra 50 from them), but I had more pressing issues at hand, like hanging out with my family and relatives while I’m still in town visiting them.

While the whole event caused me a lot of disappointment and stress, the actual confrontation was fairly painless. I felt calm and in control the whole time, and anyone else in this position should feel the same way. Broadway is not an offshore scam artist, just an unscrupulous NYC based company run by humans. They have to abide by US laws and know that they only stand to lose, in reputation and directly in revenue, from disputes with credit card companies, complaints to the better business bureau and complaints to the attorney general. Credit card companies are only hurt from companies like this due to returns and the expense in resources involved, so you can bet they do everything possible to win such disputes as to deter other companies from doing the same. You don’t need to be a hard-nosed negotiator, you don’t need to yell or sacrifice your integrity to beat them. Just know your options, lay the information out and be persistent, they’ll always strike a deal or be forced to accept your return if you hassle them enough.

But if you really want to be a winner, don’t shop at Broadway in the first place. It’s just not worth the hassle, especially since there are so many better companies that deserve to receive your business. In my internet search I found the following websites to comparing prices from reputed companies. Companies with dubious reputations like Broadway are removed from their price listings. They also have a valuable feature for examining the reputation of businesses. Broadway, of course, is a one out of five in customer satisfaction.

www.pricegrabber.com

www.resellerratings.com

Here are some good articles from PC World on what to beware of when shopping online. Broadway photo comes up many times.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,10...5/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,10...1/article.html

Wow, this sounds like the experience I am having with them right now. Same thing with trying to add a $100 battery to the camera because the one they are selling with the camera is a 20 min battery. All of the people there are as rude as they can be and keep asking you if you want to add more items to your camera. Will never use this company. Truly the worst I have ever seen.:mad2:

Hello all, and thank you for the warnings.

Two days ago I was stupid enough to think that the "TRUSTED SELLER" rating at http://www.everyprice.com actually meant something, so I ordered a Panasonic DMC-FZ50 from Broadway Photo. This morning I got an e-mail like the ones you describe. I called the number and got put on hold for ten minutes or so, during which time I found this site. I not only responded to the Broadway Photo e-mail telling them to cancel my order, but called my credit card company to ask if I could block transactions from them. The credit card rep offered to cancel my card and send me a new one with a new number, and I figured that was the safest option.

I have a question that so far hasn't been addressed here: Is there anything one can do against sites like everyprice.com? Based on this thread I can only assume that disreputable sellers pay them for a "TRUSTED SELLER" rating. I suppose all one can do is warn other people about the worthlessness of such ratings, yes?

Thanks again for the information.

-Hugh

Same thing happened to me. Look at pricegrabber.com for similar complaints. I filed a complaint with the better business bureau and urge all of you to do the same. This unethical practice calls for a civil action suit.

To all of you that took the time to post on this site....THANK YOU!!!!!!!

When I was looking for a "deal" so that I could purchase my Pentax Optio the Broadway web site came up. Silly me was blinded by the prices and did not take the time to reseach the company when I placed my order. BUT the prices seemed too good and my gut told me to look deeper. That was when I found this thread and started to read. Boy did I feel stupid. So within 24 hours of placing my order, I got up at 4 am westcoast and started to call. This one so far has a good ending. I was able to get through within minutes and they confirmed my email backup request. So far so good. I agree with other authors that maybe spending a little more money for peace of mind with a reputable company. Mind you this is just 24 hours into my dealings with them but I have my fingers crossed for a happy ending. My thanks to all of you that for your honest.

As an advertiser in google, they pay a hefty fee per click to be the number one position on the lowest price for any thing you are looking for.....of course they will never sell it for that price, do you want to buy a battery for 10x the cost, the one shipped is only good for 20 minutes, the warranty? do you want to have an usa warranty? the one that comes with the camera you ordered is for japan, do you want the american version the manual is in japanese, the menus are too, if the manual didnt stop you. Youre ok with all that, then its backordered.
forever.......

They pay a fee to be the number one position on google, I think they are so cool I click them alot.....Perhaps someone who wished to see them off the net may click them thousands of times a month, perhaps using a macro program to do it all night, or all month, would nt that be awful if it cost more to be in business than they could fleece off the public with overpriced batteries, warranties and other stories? How long would they be in business? a month or two? Just a thought,,, macro programs are cheap revenge........Sleep ez knowing your computer is putting crooks out of business...

My story regarding Broadway Photo (doing business as Millennium Camera and others) is not important. After a while they all sound the same. Here's the important information, including the names of the owners and physical addresses. See this webpage -

http://www.sheddingsomelight.com/buy...s-bwayfam.html

The owners are Albert Houllou and Marvin Schwartz.

The two main physical addresses are -

2922 Avenue L, Brooklyn, NY 11210

and 337 East 89th St., Brooklyn NY 11236.

I wish I came across this forum before I had my bad experience with Broadway Photo. After three frusterating calls, 2 failed orders, and more than two hours on hold, in addition to rudness and pathetic attempts to rip me off, I thught these guys can not be respectful sellers, they must be thieves or crooks.

I totally agree that they need to be put out of business. I'm amazed that they're still operating when the first compainet about them (on this forum) was in 2005. I'm planning to file a complaint with the BBB

Only want to say that I just saw Broadway's ad with unbelievable prices in Outdoor Photographer mag and that it is hard to believe that
- they still (try to) pull this scam, and
- that reputable mags like OP still accept this kind of advertising.

In fact,I tried to email OP and complain, but their Contact Info only shows snail mail, no e-mail, or phone #. Makes one wonder....

Yes, Broadway Photo continues to pursue dishonest and duplicitous sales policies. They have a policy of not completing an internet sale without first telephoning the buyer to sell him additional goods and services or practicing "bait and switch" techniques. Even worse, they tell customers that the items they ordered are from the grey market without either any warranties and or English language instructions. Of course, they then offer US market items for far higher prices. Steer clear of this company; they deserve to go bankrupt!

I will join the chorus of duped consumers. Same experience as everyone else. Ordered camera, received unsolicited phone call to sell warranty & add'l products, received email that item as backordered, dead website links to cancel my order, excessively long hold times on the phone, rude customer service rep.

I did cancel my order by phone & requested an email confirmation. I also called my credit card company to cancel any charges that Broadway might have made.

BTW, I ended up buying the same item from B&H at the same price with a U.S. warranty as well.

Caveat emptor!!!

9-5-08 Sure wish I had read this thread before ordering from Broadway this week. I ordered a Canon camera. I thought I was home free when 24 hours had passed and I had not received the dreaded phone call from Broadway with the usual spill: They said I needed to pay more for a USA made camera, the battery that came with it lasted only for 20 minutes so I needed to buy one of theirs. I also needed a 1 Gig card for $50, I needed a case, blah blah blah. I could not get the guy off the phone. I had sent them an email yesterday stating I just wanted the camera at the advertised $225 price and the free shipping. They then said my shipping address was different from my billing address on my credit card. I advised him I had an alternate shipping address on file with Bank of America my credit card provider and if he could not ship my camera today to cancel the order. I was thinking about reporting all this to the Better Business Bureau or the NYC Attorney General but on second thought I could not really say they had done anything illegal. They must torture their salesmen who do not upgrade all sales as these are the most persistent guys I have ever dealt with. My Camera should arrive Monday or Tuesday at the latest so I am some kind of idiot. If it is not what I expect or I have not received it by Tuesday I will cancel the sale and notify my CC company. These guys seem to work within the law and expect they send you what you order but their tactics are better than our military tactics. What an outfit. On some sites that list sellers of products and prices, Broadway is shown as a very good company. I always tell my friends that saving a few bucks on a product or service is not always the best deal. I need to follow my own advice. For only $25 more I could have ordered it from Amazon and had it in my hands tomorrow and know I got what I ordered and if I did not like it I could send it back for an immediate refund. What was it P.T. Barnum said? "A sucker is born every minute"?

Broadway Photo is still in RIP business. I sure wish I would have read this forum before ordering a Canon ZR 950 from Broadway Photo. Save yourself some trouble.

I am new to the board, but just like many of you, I too have been ripped off by these people. I will not get into my story right now, but I do want to encourage anyone that has been scammed by these people to send your story to John Stossel (20/20) at ABC news. I have sent my story in and I hope that with the help of people like you, we can get our story on National News. EVERYONE should know about this and companies like them that are taking advantage of hard working Americans and stealing our money.

I purchased a Fuji S100FS from Broadway in mid-September 2008. I added a fish-eye lens, a cleaning kit, an extra battery, and a polarizer. When I got the camera, a bill was attached which had soared to $1,250 and no fish-eye lens. The lens was supposed to be $369 but when they reluctantly sent me one subsequently, it was a Merkury .72mm lens (not a fish-eye) worth $50. The $1,250 total cost was --in my estimation-- twice the value I received from Broadway.

I agree. Broadway Photo is a RipOff and unpleasant company to be dealing with. I was excited about the new Nikon D90. I looked online and tried to find the best price. Who wouldn't want to buy a camera for a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the big names like Amazon or Best Buy. So I called in to order and they gave some speal about the battery only lasting 15 minutes and recommended to purchase the lifelong battery as well as 3 year warranty. The total came out to be well over $1,600. So you'd expect paying that much for the camera you'd get it the next day. A week went by and no camera. I called in and they said that there were many orders for the Nikon D90 so I had to wait till the end of the. Another week goes by. Nothing. After doing some research and reading reviews about the company to my dismay there were several negative reviews about the company and people with similar experiences. So I call to cancel. The said that the cameras were not in yet until next week and that you would find no one that would have the camera. To be nice, they offered to take $50 off the order. So I got swindled and decided ok I'll wait. After hanging up and thinking about it I checked out other sites that had them available. So holding strong, I call again to cancel. I wait 10 minutes finally get connected and the guy started to get angry and rude to me. I asked him kindly that I wanted to cancel and I was frustrated waiting two weeks on my order. Please cancel. They guy turned around and said I was rude..... I said I was unsatisfied with the customer service and reflected that I read several bad reviews online about them. I finally got him to cancel.

... Moral of the story, do your research when buying online especially when the price is cheaper. I'm all for getting a good deal when you purchase a product that is expensive. There are places that post good reviews as well as bad. When you find that most are bad your gut instinct will tell you that the place is seedy. I learned my lesson. Neh to broadway.

Thanks to all of you – I was lucky!

I just ordered a camera at Broadwayphoto.com and I also received the mail that I have to call them. The salesman tried to sell me some overpriced stuff additional to the camera, but I declined. Then he told me, I ordered the Japanese version, but he can offer me the US version (US warranty and more accessories) for “only” 70$ more. I still can not believe – I said yes. Afterwards I browsed the internet and find out, the new price was more than bad and he lied about the accessories. And I also found this thread! So I called them again to cancel the order and the guy very rude complained, that I’m wasting his time!

Finally I was lucky, thanks again. Fact: Next time I do the research before I order.

The story repeats, first in stock then is not, customer service is rude and a bunch of liers. DO NOT USE THIS SITE>! Wish it could be reported for their illicit and deceptive marketing tactics at least.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by K68NY1mm

My story regarding Broadway Photo (doing business as Millennium Camera and others) is not important. After a while they all sound the same. Here's the important information, including the names of the owners and physical addresses. See this webpage -

http://www.sheddingsomelight.com/buy...s-bwayfam.html

The owners are Albert Houllou and Marvin Schwartz.

The two main physical addresses are -

2922 Avenue L, Brooklyn, NY 11210

and 337 East 89th St., Brooklyn NY 11236.

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the old saying rings true. if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. i ordered a pentax k200 with a 2 lens pkg for $577.00. next day i get a call saying i nedd a $150.00 or a $200.00 battery packwhen i told the rep it was not needed he insisted it was. i told him i call him back. checked locally & confirmed that not only was the battery pack not needed but one did not even exist. called back & told him to ship the camera w/o the battery pack so he switches tactics. i had ordered an higher capacity memory card. he says the one i ordered won't work & suggest another at 3X the price. i tell him to ship the camera only & scratch the memory card order. he then asks do i want the U.S or japanese warranty. i reply U.S. & the price suddenly jumps to $577.00. I canceled the order. after reading this i also canceled my credit card. i ordered the same camera thru dell with a company discount for $629.00 with one lens.

My limited experience with them is mixed. I bought a canon G7 from them and had to "call and verify address" and had to listen to a sales pitch about the battery only lasting 20 minutes. (luckily i already did the research and knew this wasn't true). i simply asked if the camera is new and in the original packaging. The sales person said yes so i declined the additional battery. I do recall a sarcastic O-K! But the camera shipped in a matter of hours and made it the better part of the way across the country before it was destroyed by UPS. After the whole UPS messup i recieved the camera in perfect condition.
A couple months later i was shopping for a G9 and called them first because they were somewhat nice the first time i dealt with them, and the G9 was a great price and IN STOCK on their website. Tried to order it and discovered that it was actually on backorder. So their website does list things in stock that they do not, in fact, have in stock.

i filed a complaint with NYC dept of consumer affairs. they replied that they were the wrong agency & said i should contact the fedreal trade commission. here's the e-mail text.

Dear Consumer:
Thank you for contacting the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). We carefully reviewed your email of 9/29/08We found that we are not the correct agency to assist you. For further assistance, you may contact the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov; 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20580; and toll-free (877) 382-4357.
and/or the:FCC at (888) 225-5322 or by mail at Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554.

i wonder why they have no interest in a local scam artist.

I think Google & Yahoo should be culpable here they send untold thousands of unknowing consumers. When we search for these items those companies make millions from unscrupulous vendors while we put our trust and good faith based on their recommendations.

dang i was about to buy a lense from them....i googled their name cuz i didnt remembered the website but i knew it was broadway something then this thread popped up and i started reading....thnks guys

even after the camera fiasco i've thought about ordering a lens to see whatwould happen,

well i found a great way to teach these guys a lesson-google will charge them 10 cents everytime we click their link, type nikon d90 in google search and you will get broadway photo link along with several cheap price sites which are bait and switch. Click on those links and use backspace (SHORTCUT FOR GO TO PREVIOUS PAGE IN FIREFOX) to go back to google search result and click on those links again , do this 100 times and you just made google charge these guys $10.00, if every one who got a bad experience from these guys does this we can get them bankrupt pretty soon and we wont be having bait and switch headaches

Yeah, I have just been ripped off from BROADWAY PHOTO too. :cryin: Ordered a camera, and they shipped me two items that were unauthorized, doubling the initial cost! And of course, they will charge me almost $100 to return it. These guys have a real scam going. Wish I knew about they one week ago. Don't go there!