canon 24-70 lens and canon 30d digital camera & online fraudulent selling practices by Camera City

My complaint is with Camera City, Inc., 342 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY

11223 and their fraudulent advertising practices.

(I have hard copy documentation to back up this complaint.)

I ordered a Canon EOS 30D Digital Camera (body only) and a Canon 24-70 F2.8

L USM lens from Camera City online on June 22, 2006. When I received my

package in the mail on June 28, I immediately contacted their office to

report that I had mistakenly been sent the incorrect lens along with the

correct camera body. They proceeded to let me know that they sent me a Sigma

camera lens because it was better, in their opinion, than the Canon lens. I

was not notified about this product substitution before it was sent to me. I

told them I wanted to return it for the model I ordered. They gave me a

sales pitch about trying the lens in-hand and that I could return it at any

time up to 3 weeks before finally deciding to return it. As I was about to

go on vacation and needed to take the camera, I delayed returning the lens

for about one week+. When I called their office upon returning home from my

trip on July 12, I was told they would give me a $300 discount not to return

the lens. When I insisted on returning it and obtaining the lens I had

originally ordered, they told me they did not have the Canon 24-70 lens and

that I would have to return the lens to only have my credit card reimbursed.

The customer rep, Peter, said the cost of the lens had been reduced from

$999 to $599 ($999 was originally charged to my credit card...I have

documentation to prove it). Then I was told there would be a fee for

restocking the returned lens. The restocking fee along with shipping &

handling costs was $55. I was being charged a restocking fee for an item I

never requested in the first place. They would not agree to waive that fee

in spite of the circumstances. I then asked that they pay for the return

shipping cost. They agreed to pay up to $15 to be reimbursed to my credit

card. I was very pleased with the camera body they sent me (which was

advertised as selling for $745.00) and only wanted to return the incorrect

lens for reimbursement. After checking to see that the package was returned

in a timely way to Camera City (USPS tracking), I contacted their office to

see when my credit card would be reimbursed. I was told it would take 5

business days for the transfer to take place. I waited the 5 business days

and called today to see the exact amount that had been put back on my credit

card. When the first person I spoke with told me my card was reimbursed

$599, I told her that was the incorrect amount. She then connected me to

customer rep, Peter, who I'd dealt with on the previous call. He was quite

dismissive and told me the reimbursement was correct. When I asked about the

initial expenditure of $999.00, he told me the cost of the camera body was

more than was shown on the original order print-out since it was an American

model! This was the first I'd heard that the camera body was not the one I

originally ordered. So now he was saying the difference in cost between the

Sigma lens and the upgraded camera body worked out so that I only received

$599 as a reimbursement. I complained that I'd never heard about this and an

upgraded camera body. He got defensive and said Camera City stood by their

products. I accused him of fraud and deceptive advertising and told him to

replay the recording they were supposed to have made of all our

conversations (which I don't think are really done). I can live with the

reimbursement amount of $599 even with all their screwed up math because the

different between the lens added to the original price of the camera body is

still a bit less than what I'd pay from a shop in person. My complaint is

the way they falsely advertise and manipulate a customer with no regard as

to whether they actually carry the product shown online. For someone to send

a substitutionary product without contacting the customer and then expecting

the customer to just it is the same mentality that would think if a customer

ordered a new Toyota that they should be glad to have a new Honda instead

(or vice versa...wherever you stand on car preferences). To offer items and

then not send them to a customer whose credit card has already been billed

is fraud. This company should no longer be allowed to practice free

enterprise...they give the rest of the hardworking individuals who have

morals a bad name.

Angered but sincere,

Brenda Jobe

Germantown, TN

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