A&M Photoworld NO NO NO

[alamoscot]

Do not, under any temptation by prices posted on the A&M Photoworld website buy ANYTHING from these absolute crooks. If you are reading this then you are intelligent enough to be researching companies before buying, so you will read on these pages alone, how bad they are. Any dollars you manage to save (be assured they will try to squeeze them out of you) will not be worth the quality of life you will lose in the few weeks you have to deal with these people. Most diseases we can now cure or at least medicate, unfortunately this one just changes its name and continues ripping off anyone that is careless enough to get too close. In my time I have bought a lot online and this was the worst experience by a long shot!
This is wortth repeating DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THESE CROOKS!

[getjeffery]

I AGREE COMPLETELY. I have NEVER heard phone representatives so out of control. I was in the call center business for about 11 years and A&M has clearly set new standards in poor service. First off, they want you to call them back to "confirm" address info. When I questioned the rep about this (I mean, the address and billing was on my credit card), he became rude and said, "well I guess the reason is pretty obvious". He then started trying to sell me a battery for the camera which he says it doesn't come with (I don't know yet). So, becoming leary at the whole thing, I said "No, I think I'll buy it somewhere else, or cancel my order altogether". He said, "Well if I can help you with that, let me know.". The next thing I know is that my order is canceled. I called back to complain and spoke to a completely unmotivated person that showed little interest in what the other representative told me, but he did say he would reinstate the order, but he could not provide me a confirming email and told me to call back and speak with another representative if I didn't believe him. The next rep I spoke to was more motivated, but I still feel VERY leary about the whole thing.

[mjs1973]

I couldn't agree more. I had a run in with this company last week myself. I wanted to post a warning on here to let everyone know about how much they suck, but I saw that they are listed on this site as a partner store, so I held back, until now. I placed an order for a video camera after having delt with an even worse company trying to buy the same camera the day before... after being so frustrated with the first company, I went to A&M and talked to a very friendly rep. I even posted it here saying how nice they were to deal with. Boy was I misslead. After placing the order, they called me to sell me a battery for the camcorder (sound familiar). They told me that the one that comes with it will only last about 20 minutes. After telling him no he offered to upgrade the batter to a 4 hour battery for $20. Reluctantly I agreed. Then he proceded to push a 1 year waranty for the camera on me for another $29. When I said that I thought the camera already came with a 1 year waranty, he told me it didn't and that it only came with a 90 day waranty. I stuck to my guns on that one and said no. Then he offered it to me for $9, I still said no, then he said OK, I will throw it in for nothing. He gave me my final price, which I didn't pay much attention to cause I was just happy to get him off the phone. So the next day, I got to thinking about it, so I called them to find out what the final price of my order was. To my surprise, the $20 upgrade cost me $52. When I tried to get a hold of someone to explain to me why my $20 upgrade cost so much it just so happend that their computers were down and they couldn't get into the system to find that info for me. I wanted to cancel my order before it shipped the next day, but nobody could help me. I even called my credit card company to see if I could stop the transaction. Finally after a couple hours, I was able to get ahold of someone who could canel the order for me. Thankfully he did, but in the process he kept trying to sell me on the package. It was a very frustrating afternoon to say the least. The good news is that I gave someone at Sears a nice commision on the same camera yesterday at the Mall of America. After using my employee discount and some gift cards that I had, I ended up paying less for it at Sears than I would have online, and someone deserving got an easy commision instead of those bloodsuckers at A&M.

Thanks for starting this tread and giving myself, and others a place to vent!
Michael

[ram1gb]

THESE GUYS ARE CRIMINAL! Do not do business with them! I recommend reporting them to any authority possible. Their low prices are a scam. After trying to buy a Casio Exilim EX-P600 camera for $320, they ask you to call and then tell you the battery is not included, and will cost $120 more! I proceeded to explain to sales rep and supervisor that all of Casio's manufacturer websites "specifically" state that the battery is bundled. They claim it's an "international version" and refused to include it at the quoted price. I then found it at DigitallyDiscovered.com for $339 complete U.S. version (battery and all amazingly enough!)
Again, DO NOT BUY FROM A&M PHOTOWORLD.COM!!

[mjs1973]

I see that A&M is no longer listed as a Partner Store!!!!!! A BIG thank you to PJ, or whoever was in charge, for taking them off the list!

[fast_toy2000]

DO NOT PATRONIZE THIS BUSINESS! I ordered a Canon SD300 camera from them since they had the lowest price. The next day, a rep called and pressured my wife into buying an "extended life battery" for $50 more. The package we got was the base bundle per Canon's website, but at $100 more! When we called to complain, the rep was extremely rude and argumentative. We have disputed the difference in price with the credit card but are still waiting on getting our money back. Don't support these thugs with your $$$.

[JohnR84740]

AGREED! I was naive enough to order a camera from here, and was pleasantly surprised when I did not get any of the high pressure tactics I had been warned about. The only downside was that two weeks later, I had not heard back from them about my order. It seems that thier polite way of accepting my refusal to buy the outrageously priced memory, spare batteries, warranty, etc was to not process the order. When I finally called them back to see what was happening, they "transferred me to customer service" which resulted in my call being hung up. An email cancelled the order, and a respectable dealer got my business. AVOID A&M PHOTOWORLD AT ALL COSTS

[tkuhne]

These guys are a bunch of con artist! I shopped online for a new Sony camcorder. Most of the discount prices are around $500 - $550 for the model I was looking for. Their price was $400, I should have know it was a scam. I ordered the camera. The next day I get a call to “confirm my order”. The sales guy proceeds to tell me that I purchased the camera only and if I wanted to get the actual retail package with the battery and accessories I’d have to pay $650!
I was so irate that I tried to cancel my order, he lowered the price to $539, which was pretty competitive with others but I was still pissed off so I tried to cancel my order. He tells me that I can but that they will charge me a $50 fee since I already placed my order… not thinking I just told him to go ahead and send me the camera for $539.
Afterwards, I realized that they probably couldn’t charge my card until the item was shipped and that I probably could have argued the $50 fee.
Buyer be warned A&M Photo World are a bunch of crooks!!