We all know of a lot of the scams being pulled on the net, particularly those emanating out of a number of New York based establishments. Here's some information I thought might be of use to other Nikonians.
Not that I seriously though the prices could be legit, but when I did a search earlier today for current prices on the Nikon D3 I simply had to see what the game was when I saw a company called Razz Photo selling the camera for $3,000 ($2,999 to be exact) We all know the usual bait and switch tactics that some use, the stalling, warranty scams, etc, but what really caught my eye when I clicked on their page was the absolutely glowing reviews that numbered in the thousands and gave them a five star rating. How could this be, I wondered?
I slowly began trawling through the 300 on view (out of over 3,700) and began to feel like I was sensing some repetition. Eventually I copied all 300 reviews into Word, where I began doing a search for matches. Sure enough they existed - EVERYWHERE! Here's a classic example -
'Lowest price available for this product (Panasonic TH-42PX600OU 42 Plasma TV). I also purchased the Phillips TSU7000 LCD touchscreen remote which is so hot! Communication with this company was exemplery the few emails I sent before purchase were answered within hours and they sent me a tracking number as son as my package was shipped out. Original box was placed inside another and wrapped in bubbles. I'm very satisfied with the order.'
The first entry at number 52 purported to be from someone called Jake. The identical entry, errors and all, appears at number 86 under the name of Leah. Third entry pops up at 281 under the name of Morgan. Only difference is that the comments change on the Pros and Cons section.
As far as I can tell, many, if not all, of the customer responses are bogus, which would be staggering given the fact the total is nearing 4,000. After the entry mentioned above I started from number 1 and did a search through the 300 entries on view to see if there was a match. It was repeated at points 176, 183 (dumb to put them so close together) and 230. Entry number 2 got repeated 6 TIMES at points 42, 76, 184, and 224. Entry number 3 got repeated at points 185 and 232. Entry number 4 got repeated at points 186 and 233. Entry number 5 got repeated at point 189. At this juncture I stopped, as I'd proven my point. It simply beggars the imagination how much more repetition goes on, as the accessible reviews stop at 300.
Basically, it looks like they have a set list of 'customer responses' that they scroll through to cut and paste in at need, on some occasions not paying close enough attention to realize they've repeated the statement too close to the previous entry.
I called the FBI, who said they can do nothing about the matter. My view is that if all is as it seems and Razz Photo is filling in its own feedback with bogus entries from supposedly happy customers than they're grossly misleading consumers into handing over their trust and dollars under false pretenses. Perhaps I'm wrong in the matter, but it's certainly hard to see how I could be. Razz Photo could well claim that aren’t responsible for the reviews, but it's hard to figure who else would go to such laborious lengths to build up a business's image. What would they stand to gain? I leave it up to you guys to judge.
Perhaps the administrators might care to sticky this post as yet another suitable warning for others to be VERY wary of prices that are far too good to be true. To that can be added glowing customer reviews that seem too good to be true.
Hope this helps others to be very wary of this outfit. For those wishing to check my research go to ShopCartUSA.com and click on Razz Photo's feedback on the right. The numbering will no doubt change, unless it's listed from oldest to most recent, but a search will turn up the example I gave above, at which point you simply need to shift the other matches by the appropriate number. |
287 days ago by Tim [
210 days ago by Calvin Walsh [