Ritz Camera Warning

I just want to share with everyone a recent experience with Ritz.
Back in December while I was dropping off some film I was offerd a free subscription to 3 magazines for 3 months. I filled in the card and a month later my magazines came.
While checking my bank account yesterday I noticed withdrawls that I did not recognize. On checking I found out that they were subsriptions for these magazines.
At no time did I give my debit card to the subscription company nor did I authorize Ritz to give them that info. (the card I filled in had no account field nor did it say that you would be billed after 3 months)
I for one wont buy fron Ritz anymore !

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Originally Posted by Shmulb

I just want to share with everyone a recent experience with Ritz.
Back in December while I was dropping off some film I was offerd a free subscription to 3 magazines for 3 months. I filled in the card and a month later my magazines came.
While checking my bank account yesterday I noticed withdrawls that I did not recognize. On checking I found out that they were subsriptions for these magazines.
At no time did I give my debit card to the subscription company nor did I authorize Ritz to give them that info. (the card I filled in had no account field nor did it say that you would be billed after 3 months)
I for one wont buy fron Ritz anymore !

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I'm surprised Ritz would do something like that. I've always found them to be good to deal with.

Of course, B&H has better prices...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shmulb

I just want to share with everyone a recent experience with Ritz.
Back in December while I was dropping off some film I was offerd a free subscription to 3 magazines for 3 months. I filled in the card and a month later my magazines came.
While checking my bank account yesterday I noticed withdrawls that I did not recognize. On checking I found out that they were subsriptions for these magazines.
At no time did I give my debit card to the subscription company nor did I authorize Ritz to give them that info. (the card I filled in had no account field nor did it say that you would be billed after 3 months)
I for one wont buy fron Ritz anymore !

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I'm not surprised. Ritz tried to rip me off many years ago ("Pentax sells the Quantary flash with the camera as a package, it can't be split up.") and then again when they had a sale but tried to charge me the regular price, good thing I looked. Very nasty people. Avoid Ritz.

That can't be legal. Best case scenario is that they hid something in the fine print somewhere - at least very shady. I had a bad experience with them once and their local store doesn't stock anything anyway. Most of my stuff comes from mail order and there are a lot of good places to deal with that way.

I don't usually participate in any dealer-related discussions. Especially when it's a complaint. But I want to make sure everyone is aware that the Ritz stores and Ritz online are two different companies. Ritz online uses the same name, but they have completely different ownership and carry different types of inventory. So whatever happened in a Ritz store probably won't happen, and doesn't have anything to do with the online Ritz Web site.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shmulb

I just want to share with everyone a recent experience with Ritz.
Back in December while I was dropping off some film I was offerd a free subscription to 3 magazines for 3 months. I filled in the card and a month later my magazines came.
While checking my bank account yesterday I noticed withdrawls that I did not recognize. On checking I found out that they were subsriptions for these magazines.
At no time did I give my debit card to the subscription company nor did I authorize Ritz to give them that info. (the card I filled in had no account field nor did it say that you would be billed after 3 months)
I for one wont buy fron Ritz anymore !

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I don't deal with Ritz either - wildy overpriced - will tell you the Quantary lens is better than the Nikon version -- will tell you they beat any price and then say it has to be local -- then go in the back and tell you what they can sell it for -- it's like buying a car.

I've heard of a smilar scam at CompUSA, where buyers bought with a credit card and unkowingly signed up for internet access charged to that card.

I don't like signing up for magazine subscriptions for just that reason. I don't like how they billed your credit card without you giving it to them; however, magazine subscription companies *DO* bill after three months. They don't give up that easily. You can't get away with just letting your subscription lapse .. you have to actively cancel.

Ever join a CD club? ~eyeroll~ Same dealio.

the same thing happened to me through BestBuy. The cashier neglected to tell me that I had to cancel the "free" subscription or my card would be billed. It took about 20 phone calls to get a refund.

as i recall "ritzcamera" on ebay didnt have very good ratings when I was shopping for a camera.

Not sure if they are the same as ritzonline or their B&M locations or a different person altogether.

CircuitCity and Newegg are good enough for me :lol:

same thing happened to me. i was able to get my refund for one of the magazines because the (very helpful) site gave me an 800 number to the company that ritz went through to order the magazines. i forgot to write that number down (i assume all three mags were ordered through the same company) and now i can't find any information!! :(

im so unhappy because the girl told me that it wouldnt cost me anything and that they'd send me something in the mail when it was time to cancel/renew. i didn't receive anything, and i also had money taken out of my checking account without my consent. fifty four dollars (3 mags @ 18) is a lot of money to sneak out of an account when you only work part time and youre trying to pay off student loans.

so if anyone knows the numer im talking about, i'd really appreciate it if you'd reply and let me know.

Mastercard and Visa(and most banks that issue the card) both have a policy that if an unauthorized purchase is made they will reimburse you the amount until they investigate. because you didn't physically sign or give anyone permission to sell you these magazines you may want to look into it. Good Luck

Non of what has been said surprizes me in the least. I dated for a VERY short time a manager of one of their stores. He used to brag about how DUMB his customers were. One day he even showed me how he re-shrink wraps items that people return, to appear new.

Stay clear of this company!