At Broadway Photo, we were told that

• We could purchase a special battery that was not available at their competitors
• We would get a better flash card than we could get else where
• A tripod was included
• Shipping would be free

The first clue should have been that their web site is a mess. Oh, it looks good, but there is no way to find useful information. That is why we had to call them to make the order - their web site is simply worthless.

When the package arrived

• There was no packing slip ... so there was no way to even know if we got what they said we would get
• The battery was not what we ordered, but just the standard battery
• The super-duper memory card was a no-name from China with no indication of how fast it is
• The "free tripod" was 4" high and too small to even hold the camera
• There was a $150 handling fee the we did not know about

Buyer beware - these people are nothing but cheats.

According to the specs, this camera uses 9.8 watts at 7.2 volts when recording.

(5800 mAh * 7.2 V) / 9.8 W = 4.2 hrs of recording

The sales person at Broadway Photo managed to sell us a VW-VBG6PPKS which would be good for 8 hours of recording. He also said that this would be better than the 5800mAh VW-VBG6PP.

Part Number	mAh	Price	Comment
VW-VBG260	2640	$100	Comes with camera
VW-VBG6	5400	$150
VW-VBG6PP-K	5800	$170	Standard upgrade
VW-VBG6PPKS	na	$300	Does not exist

(And you wonder why I am upset.)

Brand - DigitalExtreme (a no-name from China)

A web search obtained no information on this product.

DigitalExtreme.com is a spammer site (nothing but advertisements from other companies).

The guy at Broadway Photo said that this was a 30 MB/s card ... but there is no speed information on the product packaging.

My experience is that if the speed is not stated, then it is the minimum possible (based on the other provided information). According to wikipedia, the minimum Class 6 speed is 6 MB/s. These are a few prices.

Item	Speed	Cost (as of 05-28-09)
		Amazon	B&H	Cosco
SanDisk Extreme III	30MB/s	$97	$102	$130
SanDisk Extreme II	15MB/s	$51	na	na
ATP 16GB SDHC	22.5MB/s	na	na	$50
Transcend 16GB SDHC	Unknown	$40	na	na

By the way, the video camera requires a 21 Mbps memory card to record at the highest resolution.

When we tried to return the order, the person on the phone said that the cards were considered error free, therefore they would work in any camera. He apparently did not understand the concept of different speed cards.

Scam - they included a lens cleaning kit that includes a 4" (that's four inch) table top mini-tripod designed for pocket sized digital cameras.

This "tripod" might hold a 4-pound video camera but why bother - who shoots video with a table top tripod.

Further proof that this is an unethical company to do business with.

Well, it was "free" (after we overpaid for the battery), and it was mentioned that it was a table top version ... but really, a toy for a $3,000 camera?

They said that filters would be ProOptic (or something that sounded like that), but they sent Bower 72mm kit - UV, Polarizer, Fluorescent - Part Number DFK72C3.

All efforts to find this filter kit online failed. The closest I could find was new on ebay - $30.

www.cpscentral.com

Private DNS listing - I wonder what they are hiding?

The supplied literature says Newark, NJ, but their web page says Brooklyn, NY.

Broadway Photo claimed that they were providing a 5-year warranty for $400, but included a 4-year warranty that lists on their web site for $250.

I searched the internet and found the same $400 4-year warranty for a "video camera under $3,000" for $90. However, this may be too low.

I also found these

I purchased a $2153.00 HDTV in July 2007. I also bought a two year extended warranty ($399.00) with Consumer Priority Services 1-800-905-0443. With this I supposed to get an annual tune up on my set. When I asked for a tune up I was told that ValuePlasma had cancelled my warranty. Of course my warranty was with Consumer Priority Service. I was basically told to drop dead. When I tried to call ValuePlasma.com, the phone was disconnected. In my opinion both of these so called companies are dishonest. I may have lost $400.00 but I plan to make it up with the satisfaction of informing others of the hazards of conducting business with these thugs.

Some of your readers mentioned this company CPS - Consumer Priority Service, www cpscentral com based in New York. We got involved with them as an extended warranty vendor for a TV we bought from ... The bottom line is: Do not give your money to this company. They not only won't provide service for the money you pay them, but they also require you to provide a credit card when you file a claim, and if they decide on a whim that the service call was 'erroneous' - they will bill your card $160. I have filed a claim with NY BBB on them, because they have also done many other things trying to avoid having to provide service, and they seem to be crooks, and I'm going to find every single blog and forum where their name is mentioned and warn people away from them.

Apparently, they lied about the battery and would credit some money to our credit card ... but not enough since the higher quality, longer life battery was the primary reason we selected this company.

The tripod was a scam ... sorry. (Then they agreed to send something that might be usable.)

Trust us, the no-name memory card is 30 MB/s and worth more than a brand name card. (Sorry, I don't trust them ... they have already admitted to lying twice.)

So, we called to arrange a return ... they closed for the holiday and would not reopen for one week. At that point we opened a dispute with the credit card company.

After many hours, someone noticed that the packing slip was on the back of the warning notice. That was when we discovered a $150 packing fee that we did not know about before.

By the way, the box they used was crushed and repaired. When I picked it up, I could hear and feel items sliding around inside. As far as I know (because we never actually opened the camera box), nothing (except the box itself) was damaged.

And boy can he fast talk. It was hard to get a word in edgewise. Sell! Sell! Sell!

Adding insult to injury, they said that the restocking fee was %15 ... not the %5 in the small print.

In addition, they said that the $300 filters were complementary and that we were not charged for them. (Wow, that made the camera much more expensive than I thought.)

After the conversation, I decided to check a few things When I searched Google for AGHMC150, the first advertised entry was Panasonic AGHMC150 $3179 at www.BroadwayPhoto.com

Item	Web	Charged	Value
4-year warranty	$250	$399	There is no way to verify the value or to verify if this is even a legitimate warranty - based on what I found, I would never trust CPS with my camera
16 GB Hi-Speed Secure Digital Memory Card	$270	$199	$50 - no advertised speed means 6MB/s, the camera requires 21MB/s
Filters	$350	$299	$50 - when trying to return them, he said they were free
Battery	not listed	$300	$170 - we originally called Broadway Photo because this was not listed, then they lied to us about what they had
Shipping	Free	$150	Not my definition of free
Camera	$3,179	$3,980	$3,200
Total	$4,349	$4,500	$3,699, but only $3,370 once the junk (warranty, memory, filters) is removed

Together, the warranty, memory card, and filters represent $900 of junk that I don't want and would never use. Since the invoice was not itemized, there is no way to assign fair values to these and, therefore, the entire shipment should be returned at their expense and with no restocking fee.

Apparently, information posted on a web site is not legally binding unless you sign something. If these people had sent us a contract to sign, then we would have discovered their dishonest billing and refused to complete the purchase. Therefore, despite the claims they make over the phone, nothing is binding - specifically, the restocking fee is not binding.

We tried to get return authorization from them - they emailed us a form that we had to sign and fax back. If we were that stupid, we would have agreed in writing to giving them almost $900 in free money.

I have no idea what will happen next.

• Was able to include a special battery that was not available at their competitors
• Was providing a better flash card than we could get elsewhere
• Included a tripod

On top of everything

• The small print says that there is a 5% restocking fee - but they said it was %15 when we called to return. The email they wanted us to sign charged over 16%. (Another lie.)
• The small print says that they will keep the $150 "packing" fee

My analysis is that they over charged me $700.

Buyer beware - Do not trust these people.

After writing this page, we found Broadway Photo RipOff - apparently, a lot of people have significant problems with this company. The bloggers claim that Broadway Photo

• Sells expensive equipment without manufacturer warranties (gray market)
• Repackages refurbished products as new (no manufacturer warranties on these either)
• Quotes low shipping costs (like $35) and then bills your credit card for more ($205)

Shedding some light Provides extremely good information on "Buying Cameras & Electronics Online". It explains that several of the low price photo companies are actually groups of related shady companies. Specifically, their coverage of the Broadway family is gold.

If you want to see photos of the actual stores, I suggest BrooklynStores: Brooklyn Camera/Electronic Dealer StoreFronts. They show 7 different locations for the Broadway family of related companies. I don't have a problem running a business out of your home or from a small warehouse - everyone has to start somewhere. But when several companies are run from the same location, and there are significant problems with one of them, then they are all suspect.

The New York Better Business Bureau provides a summary of reported problems and a list of associated companies, telephone numbers, and addresses.

Personally, I hold Google, Amazon, and VISA responsible for a large part of this problem because all 3 of these are making a profit on the totally unethical practices of Broadway Photo, and many other dishonest businesses.

In the past, mailorder companies would advertise in magazines. Many of the better magazines had standards that the advertisers had to follow or their ads would no longer be allowed to run. I remember reading articles about how to handle disputes and details on how to contact the magazine when dishonest practices were suspected. The magazines made a point of how you could do business with their advertisers because the magazine would support you.

Today, Google and Amazon have replaced magazines as a source of mailorder type ads - so it is now their responsibility to protect the consumers. It is also in their best interest - if it becomes known that items bought via ads on their sites produce dissatisfied customers, then the value of those ads decreases - causing Google and Amazon to loose money. When the ads of reputable companies are placed near openly dishonest companies, then their names will be hurt by association.

At some point, the people who buy stuff via the internet will no longer trust ads on certain sites and the ability of Google and Amazon to make money will decrease.

If VISA and the other credit card companies refused to allow dishonest companies to accept cards, then these crooks would be out of business. Instead, the credit card companies are making a profit every time some third rate crook steals your money.

Rather than requiring the federal government to regulate this kind of fraud, I want the companies making a profit from these dishonest organizations to regulate the market because it is in their best interest to do so. I am sure that there is some kind of law were you can't discriminate against crooks just because they are crooks, but there must be some way to let customers know that they will be cheated if you click on an ad that Google is getting paid to show. Perhaps VISA should put a 48 hour security hold on any purchase from flagged organizations where you have to call VISA and ok the charge before it will be accepted.

Creative self-regulation can work.

If you had a problem with Broadway Photo, then I recommend filing a complaint with the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs. And if your experience includes interstate fraud, the Federal Trade Commission should also be notified.

The New York Better Business Bureau provides a summary of reported problems. If you were burned, be sure to let them know.

07-02-09 Update: As of June 25, 2009, the New York Attorney General’s Office found these crooks guilty of fraud. If you were ripped off by these crooks, the AG wants to hear from you.

Under the terms of today’s settlements, the seven companies will pay a total of $665,000 in restitution and civil penalties, and over $100,000 to cover the costs of the Attorney General’s investigation. “These companies engaged in the worst kinds of consumer fraud, from classic bait-and-switch schemes to blatant lies and bullying sales tactics,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Today’s agreements will protect consumers nationwide from these types of predatory online merchants, as well as deliver much-needed restitution to hundreds of individuals who fell victim to these illegal practices. Let this be a message to online merchants everywhere: such abuse of consumers and violation of the law will not be tolerated.” Under the agreements secured today by Cuomo, two of the companies, Camera Wiz and Sonic Cameras, will dissolve completely. The following five companies will completely revamp their business practices and be subject to ongoing monitoring: Best Price Camera, Foto Connection, 1 Way Photo, 86th Street Photo and Broadway Photo, LLC. All of the companies will pay substantial monies to provide restitution for consumers who were subjected to the companies’ illegal business practices. Attorney General Cuomo also announced that his office has created an innovative arrangement with the BBB and ResellerRatings.com to quickly and effectively detect, investigate, and prosecute instances of illegal business practices by Internet-based companies. The settlement funds will provide restitution to consumers who were the victims of the companies’ illegal business practices. Consumers who believe they qualify to receive restitution should submit claims to the BBB, which will then evaluate and issue the appropriate restitution from July 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009.

The merchant has refused to remove this charge ... {because we did not] ... provide a written response ...

URL: http:// mc-computing.com / blogs / BroadwayPhotoScam.html