I almost ordered a Nikon 80-200mm lens from this outfit, but I happened to notice that they were selling the Nikon D200 several hundred dollars below the lowest prices at places like KEH and Adorama and B&H that I got suspicious. Called the president of a very-good-but-pricey camera outlet I've dealt with before and asked about BPC. He is a (nauseatingly) straight shooter, and he gave me much the same story I found described repeatedly when I Googled "bestpricecamera" and "scam." FYI, word in the retail world is that they make a good bit of their income by investing the money they receive, so even when (or if) they eventually return money for unreceived merchandise, they've made a substantial return on it. This is second-hand information, so I cannot vouch for its accuracy--but I trust the source.

I sympathize with those of you who wrote to report your own sad experiences, and while it is little consolation, those of us who were warned off by your reports are very appreciative of your efforts. Is there any way to get these scam artists blocked from coming up on Froogle and other internet search engines?

Take them to court. Go to small claims court. They will wither show or not. If they don't show, you get a defaul judgment, thus you win. When they don't honor the judgment, go to the sherrif to have the judgement enforced, and the wages will be garnished and the like. That's why we have lawyers and courts!

FYI, you don't need a lawyer for small claims court.

Take them to court. Go to small claims court. They will wither show or not. If they don't show, you get a defaul judgment, thus you win. When they don't honor the judgment, go to the sherrif to have the judgement enforced, and the wages will be garnished and the like. That's why we have lawyers and courts!

FYI, you don't need a lawyer for small claims court.

mOTHA**&^%*S Worthless &%&*(%$*&, I hope they rot. Almost fell for them. They got all my creditcard info and stuff, then they asked about buying batteries..lol. I said WHAT..lol Just cancel the order. Now, I have to call by bank and cancell my checkcard and replace it. DO NOT BUY ELECTRONICS THAT COME WITHOUT THEIR BATTERIES. This is a sign of refurb and also it may not be authentic brand.

P.S. Sorry for the choice words on top.

Like others on this message board, I've been scammed by BPCs. Story: Great price advertised on their web for a Canon EF 24-105 f/4 L lens. Place the on line order, then receive an e-mail requesting I phone them. E-mail back saying just send me the lens, don't want anything else (note: they never respond to any e-mails). I finally call, and get talked into paying for an additional processing fee (not listed on the web) plus an extended warranty for the lens (sales rep said the lens only had a 90 day warranty, although Canon provides a 1 year warranty). Skipping ahead, refused the shipment, which UPS returned to them on 6/15, and am still awaiting a refund (so the post which says that they make money by using the money for investments before providing the refund might be correct). The customer service rep was extremely rude and hostile, and said I wouldn't get jack. Have filed a complaint with the BBB and a credit card dispute with my CCC, but even if the dispute is resolved in my favor, will probably be out a significant restocking fee. Do not buy from these crooks!!!

I can always count on epinions to give me the heads up. I almost just jumped in to an insane deal from BPC for a panasonic PT-AE900u high def. projector. I couldn't believe that thier advertised price was $400 below the typical retail on the net.... Aparently they woulda got their $400 one way or another. Thanks for the warning everyone

Jeremy

More power to you if you can do that! I know many unhappy consumers who would hail you as a hero!

Patty

I was just shopping around for a Fujifilm s9000 and comparing prices, when I saw this site InfinityPhoto.com selling it close to 300 dollars below retail. Everything looked legit, but I just got this strange feeling. Usually when something seems too good to be true there's a catch.

So I decided to research the website to see what came up. I tried the Better Business Bureau first using their phone number, and what came up was "Best Price Cameras." There were plenty of complaints, mostly about selling practices, and close to half of complaints filed were unaddressed or ignored.

I came upon Epinions after typing "InfinityPhoto Scam" on Google and found many had been ripped off by this company. I feel bad for everyone who got lured in, and I feel lucky to have second guessed myself.

This company is 100% scam, there are many shell sites with different names all owned by the same parent company/person.

Best Stop Camera

Century 21

Hello Camera

Infiniti Cameras

Infiniti Photo

Infinity Cameras

J&K Cameras, Inc.

Mr. Accessory

Regency Camera

Regency Photo & Video, Inc.

These are just some, there are probably more out there.

Here's the BBB link if anyone wants to check it out.
http://www.newyork.bbb.org/reports/businessreports.aspx?pid=44&page=1&id=12668

Hope this company is somehow litigated or brought down, their business practices are shady and unethical.

DO NOT BUY FROM THESE SCAMMERS! They offer a low price on a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT and then make you call up to confirm and try to get you to buy battery and charger and more at prices even higher than their online price. The rude salesguy actually told me if I bought a Lithium Ion battery or used an existing one I owned that I would have to send it in to have them program the camera! By the time they got done it would have cost much more than many other stores I reviewed. The sales guy was pushy, rude and abnoxious and hung up on me when I cancelled the order. THESE GUYS SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN!

I started to place an order for an Epson Powerlite S4 projector on the BPC site when I noticed the url where I was entering my credit card info was not secure (a secure site should begin with https not http)
I erased my info and did a quick search only to confirm my suspicions. I would definitely avoid this site.

I wanted to thank you all for identifying bogus photography sites. As most of us, I was tempted by low prices that are advertised on the web. I first got uneasy when I started encountering phrases like "NEW* UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED; CARRYING WARRANTY *IN MOST CASES; SHIPS IMMEDIATELY UNLESS OUT OF STOCK"; etc. I tried to contact them by sending e-mails with questions about specific products, 3 different stores - NO REPLIES! One guy kept me on the phone for 10 min, replied, then put me on hold indefinitely. If that is how they treat their sales leads, I can clearly see how they would follow-up if there are problems. I understand from your remarks that I avoided making a big mistake. Thank you again for your help.

Best price cameras:

I asked the customer service about the free shipping on Sunday and was told to call sales on Monday. I called Sales and the man said that this offer had expired and I’m getting the 2nd free offer of the light, which he said that I could sell it and I was lucky to get it. I told him that I did not need it and he said that I could sell it for $55.00, but I asked how come the “special offer” offer of the free shipping was right next to the specific camcorder I was going to order and that there was no reference of the free shipping being expired. He said that it expired 6 days ago when I asked 2 times about when it expired and I said that I could not see anywhere where it said that. I asked for his name about 2 or 3 times during the conversation, as I wanted to speak with his supervisor, which I asked for a few times. He became more and more rude and that’s when he made the interjection of my being so lucky to get the free light and he could cancel my order and I could spend $500 elsewhere. I said that he was being rude and he said that I was being rude and that I should apologize to him or he would cancel my order. I told him that I wanted a supervisor and he said there aren’t any because of the holiday, which I found was a lie after I called back the operator afterwards. I told him that I do not think it was fair that it doesn’t clearly state the free shipping and he said that he was canceling my order and I said that I wanted a supervisor and he said it was cancelled and hung up on me!

I called back and spoke with the operator and she transferred me to a supervisor, Lance, and I explained everything and asked why they have people working at this company like him, and he said that there are two sides to every story and that he was going to listen to the tape of the conversation, which is said would be great and let me know, but he said it would be internal. However, Lance said he would deduct the shipping cost after telling me that it was minimal of what “only $20” and I told him that it was $25, but then he told me that this product is not in the inventory and your company would have it maybe in 2 or 3 weeks! I am not certain if that is factual as both men seemed defensive and left me to doubt whether or not I am getting this item late as a result of my complaint. He said that if I talked with a sales dept. personal that they would have told me if it was in stock, which is why I called back afterwards (see next paragraph). I told him that I might try to find the product elsewhere in the meantime, as there has been no mention of getting it beyond what the confirmation said of taking 2 or 3 days minimum to process my order. After talking with these people I have to believe that it is intentional that my order is delayed. I will not be doing business with this company again and tell everyone I know about my experience including Internet blogs.

I called back the Sales Dept. and asked the availability of the camera and was told it WAS IN STOCK AND COULD BE SHIPPED IN ABOUT A WEEK! Lance is also part of the problem, as he intentionally delayed my order, unless he is so very, very confused. I tried to call him back, but he did not take my call as he was conveniently on the phone for 20-minutes and then he left for “30-minutes.” They asked if I would leave a message, but I had a feeling that I would not be called. Don't buy from this company!

agree with everything. Let me tell you my experience:

I saw canon powershot s3 is on the internet for $269.00. I followed the link and put in an order. I got confirmation email. I called a few days later to get an idea when I could expect delivery. I was told that the order had been cancelled because item was no longer in stock and an email had been sent out, which I never got.

The next day I saw the same camera for $289.00 from bestpricecamera. I put an order in and got confirmation email.

I then emailed them and said that I expected to get the original price. The very next day I got telephone call telling me that item was out of stock and not expected for 5-6 weeks. I said that i was willing to wait.

Last week I got eamil stating that the order was cancelled as per my request. I never cancelled.

They are in NYC and I filed a complaint with the department of consumer affairs saying that I expected the camera for $269.00

My God! I think the company you are talking about changed their name to Best Price Camera/Infinity Cameras. The same thing happened to my husband. We paid for a camera with our Discover Card and printed out the order with the confirmation number. The next day, someone called my husband and said they needed to "confirm" the order. They also said the camera didn't come with a battery and my husband said, "That's odd, on the Web site it says it comes in the box". My husband said he didn't want it and thank you for contacting me.

We received the camera two days later and that's when the fun started. They sent a "kit" with a battery and lens for an additional $500. We never authorized them to charge us for these additional items. Meanwhile, my husband tried in vain to call Best Price Camera/Infinity Cameras) to tell them they over-charged us and to fix the order. The battery came with the camera, but they charged us anyway for this stupid kit. Anyway, for four months we disputed with Discover. Don't even get me started on that! We tried and tried to get hold of Best Price Cameras via the phone and the Web. They always had a recording on. Meanwhile, Discover kept taking our charge in and out of dispute. My husband showed how they changed our order (the order number even changed because the crook on the phone put in a new order). We couldn't get hold of the company to get an RMA or even discuss the order. Finally, Discover said they would not dispute any further because we still had the merchandise. We decided to just FedEx it back and then Discover said they would dispute again. Best Price Cameras accepted the return. My husband called them after accepted the return and said he wanted the credit back. The slimy sales guy he originally talked with said that since we opened the box, we couldn't return. We had no choice but open the box. They opened it first and put the receipt in the camera box. My husband had thoroughly documented the whole transaction, took pictures of the box and showed they had changed our order and charged our credit card without our authorization. Two weeks later we had a full refund on our credit card. We threatened them with going to the Better Business Bureau and also filing a formal charge with the NY Attorney General.

Take-aways from our experience:
1. Always use AMEX for big purchases like this. I've NEVER, EVER had AMEX not go to bat for me.

2. DO NOT USE BEST PRICE CAMERA /INFINITY CAMERAS! THEY ARE CROOKS AND THE SLIME OF THE EARTH.

3. Your best bet is to go to a place like B&H Camera. That's where many professional photographers buy their equipment. We bought a camera from them and it was the best online shopping experience we have ever had.

4. Make sure you spread the word about these unethical, criminal outfits. Maybe we can put these people out of business.


Signed,

Learned a Lesson in Virginia

I forgot to add one other thing about our whole ordeal. Right after we ordered a camera from them, someone kept trying to use our Discover Card on the Web. We know it was them because we hadn't used this card for any other purchases. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD. Thank God Discover's Fraud Department caught the transactions.

I had placed an order at bestpricecameras.com without knowing that they are cheating. Now after placing the order I searched in the web and came up with the reviews that they are engaged in credit card misuse. Now I have been trying to contact them to cancel my order but no one receives the call. As soon as I have known about their scam, I have locked my card. What should I do now. Can they still use my card for transactions? Is there any other way to cancel the order?

I wish I had found this message board sooner! Like everyone else here, I recently had a negative experience with these criminals at bestpricecameras.com! After doing some research, I've discovered that all these "low price camera" companies are the same company, or owned by the same people, probably working from the same building. You'll notice on these websites that every single one of them is closed on Saturdays! ...hmmm. I ordered a Cybershot DSC-T10 from these SCAMMERS for $285 (Sony.com sells it for $399). Later that evening I received a phone call from a salesperson "confirming" my order. I was told I had choose a battery for either $120 or $150. WHAT? This would make the camera more expensive than what Sony themselves sell it for! He then explained that I had ordered the "overseas version" and it needed a US battery and charger. He then tried to sell me a US warranty (since this version has no warranty) for an extra $50. Total price to me would be $485...that's $200 above the advertised price on their website. I tried cancelling and the guy got really upset, especially when I said I would just take the camera as it is with no battery or warranty for $285. He told me I could NOT do that and started spinning a bunch of excuses! After I eventually cancelled the order, the next day they tried to charge my card for the camera. Fortunately for me, I only had $330 available on my credit card, so they called me saying my card was declined and they wanted another credit card number. I told them the order was cancelled and I didn't want the camera! Now I am going to have to keep an eye on my card to make sure there are no fraudulent charges in the future.

How can we put an end to this illegal activity? Many more people will fall for this SCAM if it is not stopped. Can we not get a signed petition with hundreds of names and complaints and present it to the local attorney general in the state where these guys operate from? Something must be done!!!!!!

Those lying, cheating, thieving #@*#$*!'s

Exactly 3 days after submitting my post (above), Best Price Cameras stole my credit card details and attempted to charge $1,100 on my card. Fortunately, the fraud unit of my CC company picked up the charges as being suspicious and put a stop on my card immediately. Now I have to wait a week to get another card, but luckily I had a low limit otherwise these CRIMINALS would have had a field day.

I have read dozens of complaints in many forums all over the web regarding these lying thieves! If anybody has legal connections in high places, PLEEEAAASE let's do something to end this ILLEGAL OPERATION. This is no worse than a stolen vehicle rackett or a drug cartel. These guys are preying on innocents like you and me, stealing our hard earned HONEST money and using it for who knows what!! For all we know they could be running all kinds of illegal operations. They need to be investigated, shut down and hopefully imprisoned.

REALLY MAD in Florida!

I've gone ahead and filed a legal complaint to the New York State Attorney General!

I encourage everyone who has been "taken" by these fraudsters to do the same. The more complaints the Attorney General gets, the more chance there is that something will get done!

Here is the link to the 'Online Business' complaint form:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/online_forms/complaint_alert.jsp

Thanks,

REALLY MAD in Florida

You know, this just happened to me today. I received a phone call from my CC security dept, telling me that unlawful charges have been added to my account and they suspected this to be fraud so we closed our account. Those guys are slimy crooks and I will do what I can to help others be aware of these thieves.

I ordered a camera thinking that I was getting a great deal. I guess I was wrong. They just sent me a UPS tracking number that weighs 4.0lbs. From the package that I bought (camera, lenses, hard carring case, tripod,etc...) I can't imagine that it weighs only 4.0LBs. I'm calling tomorrow and canceling the order. I am also writing to the NY Attorny General.

Angry from Boston Ma