Claire's Random Thoughts

When I see a deal good enough for me to profit from, I simply can’t resist. This mess started with this thread.

Seems like a good deal, right? Buy the Canon SD1100 camera which is a very popular and easily resellable model for $89.99 plus shipping and ebay it for $150+, even a better deal if you buy two, because shipping is the same price. So guess what? I bought two.

A few days later, I got a call from Chase (I used my Chase card to pay for this purchase) with a potential fraud alert. They had me verify a charge from “an electronics store”, so since I remembered that I ordered my two Canon SD1100 cameras, I verified the charge. Obviously, a company should be held suspicious if even credit card companies know that they may be fraudulent. I briefly considered this when I got the phone call, but I still wanted to trust Conns and hoped to received my package soon.

For those of you who don’t know, I buy and sell a lot of things on the internet to make a little money that I treat as my allowance. I ordered two Canon SD1100 cameras online about a week ago for a great price and have been waiting on them for over a week so I could have inventory to sell. Today, a FedEx package that I had been anticipating for about a week arrived on my front porch. I was momentarily excited when it came, because I was running low on inventory, and it would be a great replenishment.

I was expecting two Canon SD1100’s, because they were what I ordered. Simple, isn’t it? To my dismay, I opened the package to find two unfamiliar looking boxes (yes, I know how Canon boxes look like by now). It turns out that I somehow received two worthless Samsung BL1050 cameras. Obviously, the initial excitement quickly faded away. You know what was even more ridiculous? The enclosed note it came with. So, they finally admitted that they didn’t send me the products I ordered. If you’re out of the damn item I ordered, let me know and give me the opportunity to cancel my order before you substitute whatever piece of shit you could find! I find it almost hilarious how they tried to convince me that their replacement could possibly be better than the camera I ordered. If so, then why is the retail price only half of that of the Canon SD1100? Maybe because there is absolutely no contest in image quality? One’s a well known camera brand name while the other’s just some regular electronics manufacturer? Seriously, Conns. If you don’t want to honor your sale price for the product you were advertising as “on sale” for $89.99, the right thing for you to do would be to simply cancel the order. You clearly had no intentions of selling me the camera I ordered if you just baited and switched. Calling the Samsung BL1050 an “upgrade” from a Canon SD1100 is just absolutely ludicrous. It’s like buying a Ferrari and receiving a Mustang as an “upgrade”.

On top of everything else, I’m personally insulted that someone would think I’m stupid enough to accept the evidently inferior cameras as an “upgrade”.

Maybe if a company names itself “Conns” it should hint that they’re con-artists. I have officially first-handedly experience the bait and switch scam. I guess when you buy and sell as many things as I do on the internet, it’s only inevitable that you will get scammed every once in a while. That’s what credit card buyer protection is for, I guess.

I’m really tempted to send some crappier $30 digital camera and write a note saying “Sorry, but the camera you sent me was not the one I wanted, so I’m returning one that’s an upgrade over the one you sent me.” Unfortunately, I still value my refund, so this plan will not take effect.

Anyway, as the note instructed me to do if I didn’t want to accept my “upgrade”, I sent the cameras back using the provided shipping label. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if later they pretend that they didn’t receive the cameras I sent back, in which I will have to dispute the charge with the credit card company. Maybe it won’t be so difficult, considering they already recognized the charge as potentially fraudulent earlier and even had to call me about it. Obviously, this company’s already somewhat blacklisted in Chase’s database of merchants.

Bottom line: Don’t order from Conns when they have anything “on sale”. In fact, boycott their B&M stores too, because a company like them doesn’t deserve your business.