Slashdot Mirror

Sure, Google DecorM****s.com and the top five hits are all for that company, followed by a link to Resellerratings.com where the company has a stunning 1.39 lifetime rating out of 10.

Googling Lafont (with multiple suffixes), designer glasses or designer frames brings up a number of vendors, DecorMy... not being one of them.

Seems to me people need to hone their search skills and *always* search for ratings on vendors when ever they make a purchase, particularly when using them for the first time.

[Please note, I munged the company name, just to insure he gets no wuffie from this post]

Now compare it with Newegg

Dell has a lot of problems with their machines and customer service.

Now compare it with Newegg

Dell has a lot of problems with their machines and customer service.

Not surprised, camera shops are one of those things that are commonly operated by scammers. Camera scammers tend to give you a low price for the camera, but try to make you pay extra for the battery that was already included. Sometimes they sell units with no domestic warranty (gray market), and sometimes they won't sell you the camera unless you buy extra warranties or extra accessories. If you refuse to buy the things, they might just not sell it to you. Or just take your money and run.

Check this shop's ratings at resellerratings.com: http://www.resellerratings.com/store/ButterFly_Photo

http://www.resellerratings.com/ - post your honest review there.

I guess her husband wasn't tech savvy enough to do the online research for her. ;-)

He could have found her a cheaper local substitute (one of those models that can charge multiple types of phones), or he could have ordered one for a couple of dollars, and paid the extra fee to get it rushed delivered by Fedex or something (that would have still been cheaper that way).
http://www.monoprice.com
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/monoprice

Some shady companies have reportedly astroturfed at reseller ratings.

Looking at Reseller Ratings Dell has a really shitty customer service team.

I would suggest:

• Write a snail mail letter explaining your situation and what you want - state only the facts NO EMOTION. Emails and phone calls do not work with shitty customer service and this will be creating a paper trail for future legal action.
• File a complaint with the BBB.org
• File a complaint with the Office of Consumer Affairs in the state you are a resident for.
• File a complaint on resellerratings.com
• Call or email here
• You may have to talk to your JAG office.

Good luck

More importantly, how was your buying experience with them? It takes me about 10 seconds to opt out of an e-mail list (and I would trust them to actually remove me if I asked), but speed of delivery, price, and quality of service actually make a difference to me.

They have a pretty average rating here: http://www.resellerratings.com/store/ThinkGeek

> I really like American Digital. They're very competitive on price, and have the same high quality TY media you'll get elsewhere.

I would find somewhere new:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/American_Digital

As a previous poster mentioned, supermediastore or rima are popular with the cdfreaks crowd.

For reference store.apple.com is terrible. This is likely a rare case, but it happened.

Objective: I ordered a refurbished iPod from store.apple.com but it wouldn't charge via my computer or the wall adapter. I called their tech support, but they wouldn't help me at first because my warranty had expired. Eventually they decided the wall adapter was the culprit, and sent a replacement. It didn't work either. I had to return the iPod.

Subjective: My "refurbished" iPod didn't work at all. I was sure it was the iPod because it wouldn't charge via the firewire connector in my PC or the wall adapter. I called tech support, but the "genius" on the other end told me my warranty expired two months ago. How the hell did a one year warranty expire 1.5 months _before_ I made the purchase? Eventually, said "genius" claimed the iPod was not broken, the wall adapter was. The fact that the firewire port didn't charge the iPod either was because it was a PC's firewire port. Sometimes PC's firewire ports are only 4 wires instead of 6. I informed the moron that I had built the PC myself, it was a front panel port connected with a wiring harness, and it did in fact have 6 wires.
"It's probably the wall adapter, we'll send you a new one."
...
After waiting a week the new adapter came and it didn't charge the iPod. I called to complain, but my warranty had expired. I was forced to return the iPod, but they wouldn't tell me how I could ship the broken, never refurbished (this is why the serial number lead to an iPod with an expired warranty; it was returned as broken and they simply threw it in a pile of refurbished iPods and sold it to me), piece of junk.
They shipped me a completely broken piece of hardware and I had to make several calls to DHL to figure out how to return it.

It just works.

Try http://www.resellerratings.com/

Resellerratings says to avoid that store.
But, they don't have many reviews, so they might just not be very popular.

Millennium Camera is one of the seemingly endless number of scam-stores based in Brooklyn. They have a lifetime Reseller Rating of (drum roll...) 0.31/10.

The excellent Brooklyn StoreFronts project lists Millennium Camera as being at the same location as several other known scam-shops: A&M Photo World LLC (AMPhotoWorld.com), Preferred Photo (PreferredPhoto.com), Wild Digital (WildDigital.com), Time 2 Envy (stores.ebay.com/Time2Envy)

Needless to say, the $999 price is not real and no one should order from Millennium Camera.

Yeah, or I could just take my business to NewEgg.com, which has one of the most amazing customer satisfaction ratings in the industry. Oh, did I mention competitive prices, unfathomable quality of customer service and reliability that has spanned the breadth of their online existence? Pfft, The day I started using NewEgg 7 years ago was the day that I lost interest in the computer/electronic superstores of the past.

I absolutely love their ironic tagline... "Shentech - Get Your Money's worth!

I strongly recommend PowerNotebooks.

They don't pre-install Linux, but they are somewhat clueful about it, and they will sell most laptops without Windows.

I recently got the PowerPro A 2:38, a re-branded ASUS. It is a butt-kicking Linux powerhouse. Pretty much everything works out of the box on Kubuntu Feisty (not the camera, and I haven't tried the modem).

As always, check ResellerRatings:
PowerNotebooks
Dell
HP
Gateway

Any questions? ;)

I strongly recommend PowerNotebooks.

They don't pre-install Linux, but they are somewhat clueful about it, and they will sell most laptops without Windows.

I recently got the PowerPro A 2:38, a re-branded ASUS. It is a butt-kicking Linux powerhouse. Pretty much everything works out of the box on Kubuntu Feisty (not the camera, and I haven't tried the modem).

As always, check ResellerRatings:
PowerNotebooks
Dell
HP
Gateway

Any questions? ;)

I strongly recommend PowerNotebooks.

They don't pre-install Linux, but they are somewhat clueful about it, and they will sell most laptops without Windows.

I recently got the PowerPro A 2:38, a re-branded ASUS. It is a butt-kicking Linux powerhouse. Pretty much everything works out of the box on Kubuntu Feisty (not the camera, and I haven't tried the modem).

As always, check ResellerRatings:
PowerNotebooks
Dell
HP
Gateway

Any questions? ;)

I strongly recommend PowerNotebooks.

They don't pre-install Linux, but they are somewhat clueful about it, and they will sell most laptops without Windows.

I recently got the PowerPro A 2:38, a re-branded ASUS. It is a butt-kicking Linux powerhouse. Pretty much everything works out of the box on Kubuntu Feisty (not the camera, and I haven't tried the modem).

As always, check ResellerRatings:
PowerNotebooks
Dell
HP
Gateway

Any questions? ;)

It is bad because it drives out retailers that might offer better service and support. It drives down prices to the point where only the superbig high-volume retailers can exist.

It used to be you would know when someone offered you a product on the street for 10% of the retail price that it was not legitimate. Today, there is virtually no protection for the consumer. The Internet retailer doesn't have a BBB rating or a writeup in a local newspaper - they have low, low, low prices and Froogle delivers hits.

http://www.resellerratings.com/

Just because you're a moron who can't check where you're buying from doesn't mean I should have to pay more. Hell consider this an idiot tax, maybe after you get gouged enough you'll learn some common sense (doubtful).

http://www.resellerratings.com/

Just because you don't know how to do a "is this a good site" search doesn't mean that there aren't tools out there to do just that.

Suit yourself. But that store is ranked virtually perfectly on resellerratings. I as a customer am as happy as everyone who has commented there.

Sorry my friend, but it seems that Google's fault here is to have added Ritz Camera to its Checkout service. Why am I saying this?
1. Did you notice that Ritz Camera has a 1.37 reseller rating? http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Ritz_Camera_7
2. On the above link there is at least one story similar to your own where Ritz had to admit it was their fault (that customer apparently did not take their BS) and even offer a $25 gift card!
3. It should have been obvious to you that for a system, especially from a company with such an excellent track record in online applications, it would have been a little hard to send an event to the end user without receiving an event from Ritz Camera. Similarly, when Ritz send the cancellation event, Google Checkout send the cancellation message as it should.

There's just too many product types out there to expect any site to track the feedback of, well, the entire market of stuff that's out there. For stuff I've looked for recently, garden equipment and robotic vacuums (ends up there's a bit more than just Roomba out there), I've found specialist forums and even commercial ads to be useful in tracking down details to search further on.

As far as generalist sites - I've found the eclectic community over at Slickdeals.net to be fairly useful in getting a quick grip on what to look for - but forum-goers there are intentionally against bad-mouthing products (thread-crapping), so you have to take a large variety of recommendations there with much due skepticism. Great place for leads though.

Then, of course, there's the Resellerratings-style sites. Once you've scoped product details, it's quite important to get feedback on who you're buying from. Again - due skepticism in all regards will help you in various ways, but large negatives or fake praise for rarely-rated stores can be an important part of an investigation for a large purchase.

If it's not a big purchase though, I'm usually comfortable just hitting Froogle, Amazon, or NewEgg and being done with it.

Ryan Fenton

This is a brainstorming post,

I don't believe that turning customer service over to the same people who brought us the lines at the DMV is a good idea. Rather than set up another government bureaucracy, I would suggest that people use existing methods, including BBB and http://www.resellerratings.com/. If before buying people would check the quality of the merchant, and after buying post feedback both positive and negative, then we can have a working eco-system.

Alienware products are awful. Don't take my word for it - http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1650.html

I bought a system from them and all of the following failed within three months:

- Microsoft gaming mouse
- IBM hard drive (these are notorious for failing, why did they use them?)
- Motherboard or CPU (don't know which, replaced both at once)

In addition, I got my choice of case colors. Turns out it's just spraypainted on. The slightest scratch of your fingernail on the keyboard and the paint comes off, with black plastic underneath. The warranty for the broken parts is worthless, they always assume the customer did something wrong and give you a total runaround until you're discouraged enough to quit calling.

Alienware customer service is abysmal, they told me over and over I'd be receiving my system in a week and it took them close to two months for me to get it.

The best thing Dell could do to save its brand name is beat all the Alienware employees with a rubber hose and then close the doors.

Isn't mwave.com better than Newegg?

I thought their customer service was supposed to be better.

As for customer service, Newegg has better customer ratings at ResellerRatings.com and BizRate. Anyone know if these are reliable store rating sites? Here's links to Newegg's and Mwave's store rating pages and RR and BR:

• Newegg at ResellerRatings.com
• Mwave at ResellerRatings.com
• Newegg at BizRate
• Mwave at Bizrate

Isn't mwave.com better than Newegg?

I thought their customer service was supposed to be better.

As for customer service, Newegg has better customer ratings at ResellerRatings.com and BizRate. Anyone know if these are reliable store rating sites? Here's links to Newegg's and Mwave's store rating pages and RR and BR:

• Newegg at ResellerRatings.com
• Mwave at ResellerRatings.com
• Newegg at BizRate
• Mwave at Bizrate

http://laptopmag.com/Review/WidowPC-Sting-917.htm
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8781-p3-s1-d1 .html
http://laptop-notebook.blogspot.com/

Yeah I'll defintely second you on B&H. When I was looking to buy a digital camera, there were always a few places that had better prices than them, but all of them seemed to be one kind of sketchy or another. There is an outfit called "Broadway Photo" in particular that if it's still around, I'd advise everyone to avoid like the plague. (They've probably changed names three times now -- but they were a classic bait/switch/upcharge scam.)

But B&H and Adorama are both great. I've never bought anything from J&R but I've visited their store and if I was ever going to get some computer-audio equipment I'd probably look at them (well, them and Sweetwater, who I can say have the best customer service of any company I've ever dealt with, for anything).

The thing I like about B&H is that they offer you a choice generally of the U.S. or "Imported"/Graymarket/Made-for-export equipment. If you buy U.S. stuff, you get a warranty; if you get the Imported version (which is a misnomer, it's probably manufactured in the same factory) then it's slightly cheaper but the warranty is through B&H instead of the mfr. To me it's worth it to get the U.S. version on cameras and equipment, but I routinely buy Made-for-export film at the savings of a few dollars a roll on the more exotic Kodak stuff.

I recently did a lot of research before dropping a lot of money on a new digital SLR and ended up going with 17th Street Photo who had a very high rating and they too were very professional and shipped my order quickly. It's always good to check http://www.resellerratings.com before you buy. Another place someone at work recommended had a very bad rating and must have been one of the only positive ratings they ever had.

Another place to check is the Better Business Bureau.

I recently did a lot of research before dropping a lot of money on a new digital SLR and ended up going with 17th Street Photo who had a very high rating and they too were very professional and shipped my order quickly. It's always good to check http://www.resellerratings.com before you buy. Another place someone at work recommended had a very bad rating and must have been one of the only positive ratings they ever had.

Another place to check is the Better Business Bureau.

I recently did a lot of research before dropping a lot of money on a new digital SLR and ended up going with 17th Street Photo who had a very high rating and they too were very professional and shipped my order quickly. It's always good to check http://www.resellerratings.com before you buy. Another place someone at work recommended had a very bad rating and must have been one of the only positive ratings they ever had.

Another place to check is the Better Business Bureau.

Nice, thanks for that, here are some reviews of the site in question, sounds EXACTLY what I experienced:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8613.html

Okay, except for maybe B&H Photo :)

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1914.html

I always check http://resellerratings.com/ for some kind of backup. I did buy a camera from 'bait & switch' mob a few years ago, I got it, but it wasn't pleasant. My last online camera purchase was from 'Beach Camera', no problems at all.

The two I trust:

PriceWatch.com

ResellerRatings.com

Having a look at the profiles of people posting positive reviews here is good for a laugh.

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8613-p4-s1-d1 .html

The profiles all look the same and were created within a couple of days of one another, and they are so ridiculoulsy glowing it's funny. Gee. They look genuine to me.

This happens with bigger names too. Case in point, Alienware, despite their reputation for quality, seems to be taking a hit. I'm not happy with them either, but I won't say why until the issue is persued further.

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8613.html

Customer Satisfaction
Six-Month Rating: 4.39

Average Store: 7.23

Seems like they are selling the product only if you buy overpriced accessories with them. This is very usual thing to do if you start to read the stories of customers that have bought stuff from the lowest scoring stores.

When I first heard about this yesterday, I was surprised. The victim in this tale is a fan (or employee? dunno) of flickr, one of the hottest social network web apps around at the moment. Yet when buying a camera, he didn't take advantage of them at all.

Look around any photography forum, every time a questions like, "hey, I just saw this camera at an incredible price at this store, is this a good deal?" people always reply with "check out resellerratings.com. How someone so technically and netsocially (for lack of a better term) savvy didn't ask around about this new store they were about to send $3k to is a mystery to me. Heck, a simple google search would've revealed problems.

There are so many tools out there to verify good sellers/companies to do business with. Why do you think B&H has so much business, even though its prices aren't rock bottom? They win on service and reliability, again and again. Of course, they're not perfect, but they've never failed me, and 'horror stories' with them are few and far between - especially compared to the volume they do.

Speaking of trust systems: I've had excellent results with ebay - buying from reputable sellers. There are quite a few chinese/hong kong sellers on there with 10-50k transactions and 1-10 negative feedbacks. I don't know *any* brick and mortar stores with those kinds of numbers.

Not so says, well, pretty much everyone else

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller9018.html

Others report similar experiences with PriceRitePhoto at resellerratings: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller8613.html

They shipped us a lemon and it was a total hassle to get it repaired. Their customer service sucks!

Proof:

http://users.net1plus.com/scottm/monarch.htm

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.periphs.ma inboard.epox/browse_thread/thread/c3d604246f2d3c8b /a65c057a21cf2d2d?lnk=st&q=monarch+sterling&rnum=5 &hl=en#a65c057a21cf2d2d


http://www.resellerratings.com/forum/t75350.html

I've bought from Monarch several times in the past and it's always been a really good experience. I've never had a system made by them, but I get all my parts there. The service is like something you would expect from a big name retailer, but prices much better. You don't have to take my word for it though, check out what other people have to say on reseller ratings.

I wouldn't say any . And I think astroturfing and paid reviews are pretty obvious to even the moderately savvy.

I'm not sure your actual rationale for the boycott. "doing crap like this" is rather vague. They provide good selection and great deals, they provide a very good service for their corporate customers (Target, Walmart, etc.). I guess maybe you'd rather they get sued (like Apple recently) by some guy in Asia who's hoarding patents rather than prepare now for that problem facing them and others...

I'm surprised you mentioned Buy.com, which has had a 2.93/10 customer satisfaction rating at www.resellerratings.com. I would recommend Overstock.com, but they also have rather poor ratings there.

I'm not sure your actual rationale for the boycott. "doing crap like this" is rather vague. They provide good selection and great deals, they provide a very good service for their corporate customers (Target, Walmart, etc.). I guess maybe you'd rather they get sued (like Apple recently) by some guy in Asia who's hoarding patents rather than prepare now for that problem facing them and others...

I'm surprised you mentioned Buy.com, which has had a 2.93/10 customer satisfaction rating at www.resellerratings.com. I would recommend Overstock.com, but they also have rather poor ratings there.

BZBoyz? Are you kidding Me?
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2048.html

HJ