B-I-N-G-O spells SCAM!

Give me a "B"

Give me an "I'

Give me a "N"

Give me a "G"

Give me an "O"

What's that spell?

SCAM!

Yep, we've been scammed, and this unbelievable nightmare story is not for the faint of heart.  This whole business has made me SO MAD!!! (Not some ordinary hey-that-guy-cut-me-off-and-stole-my-parking-space mad, or the how-dare-she-talk-to-me-like-that mad, but the heart-pounding, fist-pounding, I-think-blood-will-squirt-from-my-eyes-if-my-head-doesn't-explode-first kind of mad.  OK.  My fingers are pounding the keys as I write this.  I better calm down a bit.

There.  Much better.

So for my birthday/anniversary present, I asked, well, begged, for a new zoom lens for my camera.  I asked around, did some research, and told Dennis exactly which lens I wanted, then hoped for the best - like my very own version of a Red Rider BB Gun!

On my birthday, Dennis told me he had bought my lens, and that it would be coming in the mail very soon.  I asked if it was the Canon lens I wanted.  "Yep," he said, "even better!"

Hmmm, thought I, I don't want better, I just want the lens I asked for.

When the lens arrives I couldn't wait to open it up.  The box was a taped together crumpled mess and when I opened it I was certainly surprised when it wasn't the lens I wanted.  It was a lens with the same distance and f-stop as the one I wanted, but it was made by Sigma, and I knew right away it was not near the lens the Canon was.  Dennis didn't like the look on my face when I opened it - like I had just opened pink bunny pajamas.  Poor guy.  Not the reaction he had payed out the big bucks for.  I googled the lens I got, and it retailed for about half of what the Canon lens had cost, and, unfortunately, about half of what Dennis had paid for it.  Dennis had bought the lens from Bingo Cameras, and online company who had the lowest price he could find for the lens I wanted.  He had originally bought the lens I had asked for, but then received an email that stated that he needed to call the company to confirm the order.  When he did, the guy said that there was a small problem.  The lens Dennis had ordered was in the process of being discontinued by the manufacturer, so it might take weeks to months to send it, because they had to get approval from Canon before sending any out.  Of course Dennis was disappointed, because this was a birthday present.  So the guy, Ralph (if that is his real name - he sounded just like the ShamWow guy, Vinnie) who claimed he was a manager, said he had a suggestion, a brand new lens that is SO much better than that Canon I thought I wanted.  He said it had top reviews, and was so new, that it was hard to find.  He said that it was retailing for $1,600 but that because it was my birthday and all, he would sell it to Dennis for $1,000, about the same price as the Canon, out of the goodness of his heart.  Then he spouted all this information about the specs of this lens, knowing full well that Dennis knew nothing about lenses, and promising I would LOVE it.  Dennis asked if it was a Canon, because he knew I was very specific that I wanted a Canon.  The guy said, "Ya, ya.  Its for a Canon.  Definitely."  

That's why Dennis was so shocked that the Lens was a Sigma, and not a Canon.  Not knowing anything about photography he didn't know there was a difference between a lens by Canon, and a lens for Canon.  How would he know?

He called Ralph and explained that they sent the wrong lens.  He said, no, it was the lens Dennis ordered and there was no mistake.  Dennis told him that the lens we received sells for about $500 everywhere else.  And the guy explained that no, we were confused, that that is the "old" Sigma lens, and that it is clearly labeled on their website the "NEW!" Sigma lens, which is so extraordinarily better than the old one, that any photographer, even a pro, would be excited to own it.  Then again he espoused the great specs and advantages of this lens in a ton of technical terms that Dennis could not possibly keep up with and then just told Dennis that he needed to let me try the lens and promised I would love it.

Well, I wasn't so sure.  The "new" lens looked exactly like the "old" lens, and the box said nothing about it being new.  It even had the same model # as the old one.  Common sense tells me that if this "new" lens was so incredibly different and fantastic as to make it three times the price they would label it differently, and stamp something new on the lens itself - a new letter or number to differentiate it from the old one.  I went to the Sigma website, and they had nothing on the site about a "new" lens.  Things were looking more than a bit fishy, so I called our friend Ralph myself this time.  That was an exhausting call.

I explained to him what I had found.  He brushed of my concerns like I was a silly school girl, saying of course the lens looked exactly the same on the outside, but was totally revolutionary on the inside and that it was so new that they didn't have a chance to make it look different or label it differently (ya, sure.  How hard it is to stamp an extra letter on a lens?)  When I asked why this new lens wasn't on the Sigma website, he gave me this long explanation about how the new stuff comes out in Japan first and comes to the US much later, and how when a certain new Japanese car came out, he had to get it ordered straight from Japan, because none of the dealers in the US carried it yet.  He told me that if I went to the Sigma Japan website I would certainly see it there.  Then he sent me on my computer to a couple other online camera stores, his "competitors" to show me that they also carried the "NEW" Sigma lens, selling for much more than the "deal" he had given us.  I asked him if these companies were really his competitors, of just run by the same folks.  He acted offended at such a suggestion. The phone call ended without him giving me a return authorization code, only a plea that I actually take out the lens and use it and decide if I like it or not.

But I didn't dare get it out of the box and use it for fear that they wouldn't let me return it.  Instead I got online to the Sigma Japan website.  I don't read Japanese, but my sister does, so I thought I would have her look at it with me.  But when I got to the site, I realized the the names of all the products were in English and right on the front page was a list of what was "NEW" with the date next to the entry.  The list went back several years.  The supposed "new" lens was not listed anywhere.  I didn't have to know Japanese to see that.

So I called Ralph right back and told him enough was enough.  I wanted my return authorization code.  He asked why, again.  So I explained the whole thing to him again, and he gave me the same old lines. When he explained to me again,  like I was a complete idiot, that this lens was so new, etc., I told him that I had seen the Japanese website and that there was nothing about a new lens on it.  He just brushed it off saying "That's strange.  Maybe you didn't know where to look."  Um, don't you think a new lens would be listed under "what's new"? Where else could one possibly look?  He said I must have gone to the wrong website.  Huh?  It was the sigma.com.ja site.  Pretty sure that was the official Sigma Japan site.  Then he just dropped the subject all together.  Again he asked me if I have tried it.  I told him no way.  I don't want it.  I want to return it.  I want the Canon.  Period.  I have no interest in even trying it because it is not what I wanted to begin with, and I didn't want any trouble about it being opened  when I returned it.  He told me I was being silly, and that I can't return a perfectly good lens without even trying it first. He promised me that it was not a problem to try it out.  In fact, he said he wouldn't let me return it unless I tried it first.  He told me to put it on my camera right now and try it.  I refused, but he wouldn't go anywhere in the conversation unless I did.  So I unwrapped the lens and put it on my camera and took a picture.  "What do you think?"  he asked.  I don't know.  I was in my bedroom and took a picture of my dresser.  "It's fine."  "Just fine?  It is incredible!" he tells me.  He can't even see the picture.  No, it was just kind of ordinary.  "OK, I tried it, can I return it now?"  Nope.  He went on to "educate" (his words) me about camera lenses, since it was obvious by the fact that I was unimpressed, that I was clearly uneducated about camera lenses.  Then he went on to tell me all the technical jargon and mumbo jumbo in hopes of losing me.  Finally he told me to take the lens to a real photographer who actually knows something, and they will tell me how incredible a lens I have and what a great deal I got.  He wouldn't let me return it until I did that.

Ugh!

So that afternoon I took my lens into the local camera shop to get their opinion, but unfortunately the camera guy wasn't in.  They asked me to come back tomorrow.

That night I couldn't sleep.  I was so mad!  I didn't know what I could say to get these idiots at Bingo Cameras to listen to me!  I knew I was being scammed, of that I was certain.  Ordinary companies, that are straight up, don't give you this much trouble, and they never require you to open something and use it before returning it.  So I decided to do a bit more research.  I called my brother in law, a computer guy, and he looked at the bingo website with me, pointing out all the signs that this company wasn't legit - the security icon did nothing when you clicked on it, there was no address or email, only a phone #.  The products had no specs listed, and the prices of the most popular items were WAY below retail.  Too good to be true - all part of the classic bait-and-switch scam.  I did more digging online, and found a blog post where someone had warned about Bingo Cameras as a scam operation, and there were about 200 comments by people who told how they had been scammed with a bait-and -switch where they ordered a Canon, and were sold something else, or had ordered a camera at the low price but were sold all the accessories at hugely inflated prices, etc.  Others said that their card numbers had been used to make unauthorized purchases, etc.  What a mess we had gotten ourselves into!  Yikes! 

 I also found this website done by some ordinary guy who had been ripped off by a similar camera operation.  He lives in NY and most of these operations operate out of Brooklyn.  So now for fun he rides his bike around Brooklyn looking for the addresses to photo companies and takes pictures of their storefronts.  He has hundreds of them on his website.  Most are mailbox places or back alley doors.  But he also puts on the legit photo places, like B&H photo, which, surprise, surprise, is a real company with a nice big building that is being expanded.  It is eye-opening.  I looked through all of the many entries and couldn't find Bingo Camera listed, but did find a different company, High Point Cameras, at the very same address, same floor even.  Apparently this guy gets death threats all the time for having this website up, but he keeps doing it.  Hurray for him!

By morning, I had complied a pageful of notes in my defense.  Since it all began with the line that the Canon lens Dennis had originally ordered was being discontinued and thus the delay, I called Canon to see if this was true.  They guy at Canon was so nice, and confirmed that that certainly was not true.  In fact, that was one of their most popular lenses, and they had no plans of discontinuing it.  He said that Bingo Camera was not a authorized Canon dealer and that they had no contact with that company.  He said he'd be willing to bet that Bingo Cameras had no access to Canon lenses at all. 

So then I called Sigma, to ask if there was such a thing as this "NEW" lens.  She was also really nice.  She told me that there was no such lens, that the "new" lens and the old lens were one and the same, and that there is no "new" lens coming down the line.  If there were, she assured me, there would be announcements and promotions for months before, and everybody would know about it.  She said that if a new product came out, it would come out to both the JA and US markets at the some time.

Both the Canon and Sigma people told me the same thing.  Whenever you want to buy an electronics product, from whatever manufacturer, always go to the manufacturer and get a list of their authorized dealers , then price compare among those companies.  Then there is a lot less chance of having a problem.  And if there is a problem, the manufacturer can take recourse with that company and help solve your problem.  They both told me that they had heard a lot of this kind of thing before and wished me good luck.

Well, I decided not to bother taking the camera back to the camera store, as I was fully convinced by now that there was no new Sigma lens, and I knew exactly what I had in my possession and it was a $500 lens with that $1000 price tag.

So I called Vinnie, I mean Ralph, back.  This time I was armed and ready for a fight!

I told Raplh that I was ready to return my lens now.  I told him I had brought it to the camera store, and the camera guy told me it was the same as the old Sigma lens and was worth about $500.  (OK, so that was a lie.  I hadn't actually gone to the store.  But I knew that's what would have happened, and this creep had lied to me and Dennis enough already.  Two can play at this game.)  He acted really surprised, and then said, fine, I could return the lens, no problem.  I would just have to pay a 10% restocking fee of $150.  Hold on.  10% of $1000, is not $150.  he explained that $1,500 was the original price of the lens, and $1000 was the special deal that he gave Dennis, but that we had to pay the restocking fee for the original amount, thus $15o.

Is this story beginning to curl your hair yet?

But wait, it get better (if by better I mean worse)!

I say I will not pay a restocking fee since everything Dennis and I have been told from the beginning was a lie.  He seemed shocked and offended!  "Ma'am, I have only told you the truth this whole time."  So I began to list all the lies he had told.  I told him how I had called Canon, and disproved the very first lie he started with, that the Canon lens Dennis had ordered was being discontinued.  I told him of my conversation with Canon, and how they enlightened me.  Then I told him about my conversation with Sigma, and how the this "new" lens doesn't exist.  Then, again, I demanded my money back, ALL my money back.  "Of course that's what they said... ", he replied, like the folks at Canon and Sigma were not to be trusted, when he was the scam artist.  He finally said "Fine, you can have your money back" and sent me to another guy to take care of the return.  Good, I thought. Were were getting somewhere.

So this new guy, Kevin, says that he understands that I want to return the lens I ordered.  I say, "Yes, only it is not the lens we ordered, and that is why we are returning it."  He is very polite.  "Fine, and you understand that there is a $150 restocking fee."  Here we go again!  I said that Ralph agreed that I didn't have to pay the fee, but he said the Ralph didn't have the authority to tell me that.  (Funny, because earlier Ralph told me he was the manager.)  Kevin said I had to pay the fee.  I refused, of course.  Then he asked my why I wanted to return the lens.  Did I even try it?  I said yes, I had.  He asked how it was, and I said it was fine.  He said "If you tried it and it works fine, then you should be happy." I explained again that it wasn't the Canon lens that we ordered.  He said " So you are just upset that you paid so much for a Sigma lens.  How 'bout I just refund you $500, and you keep the lens, since you said yourself that the lens was fine."  I was really starting to loose my cool now.  "I don't want THIS lens, I want the Canon that we originally ordered!  I want a Canon, period!"

He tells me to calm down, and that he will be happy to return my money, but that I will have to pay the restocking fee, especially since by my own admission I had used the lens, and I would be returning a "used" lens!  AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH! My head is showing all warning signs of being about to explode! Can you feel the pressure behind your temples and the buzzing in your ears too?  

"B--- S---!"  I told him (I know, I know.  I'm sorry.  I just lost it.  We had been on the phone for hours over a period of days, and I just lost it! Sorry.)  "the only reason I opened and used it in the first place was because Ralph insisted that I HAD TO try it before I returned it!  He insisted and reassured me it was not a problem to try it!"  Kevin told me that I had no right to curse at him, and that since he had no idea what condition I was returning my 

"used" lens in, he had no choice but charge a restocking fee.  I said that I had taken ONE picture, and that it was in PRISTINE condition!  I yelled it actually.  He said, "Ma'am, you are yelling and cursing at me and I am as calm and polite as can be with you.  I said, "of course you are.  You are a scam artist.  You get paid to stay calm!"  Then he gets all offended and asks how I could possibly accuse him of such a thing.  OK, you asked for it, Buddy!  I then roll off a list of every thing - the bogus website, all the lies I was told etc.  He once again assured me that I was never told a lie and that I was not scammed.  I then asked him about this other camera company, High Point Cameras, with the same address.  He says he doesn't know what I am talking about.  He has never heard of them.  I said, "they have the same address, and you have never heard of them?"  He tells me it is a big building.  Both companies are on the 7th floor and he has never heard of them?  They are the same company!!!  He asked me where I got that information.  I don't say.  He says, "We know about that guy's bogus website.  What?  Do you think we are stupid?"  I say "No, I'm sure you know about that website.  I just want you to know that I know about that website."  I was yelling again, of course.

"Ma'am," he interrupts me, "you are being very rude to me, and I don't like it.  Have you ever thought of being nice.  Don't you think I would be more willing to return all your money if you were polite?"

Lost it again!!!  "Polite?  Polite?  I have been politely asking for my money back for two days straight, and my husband was super nice before that and nobody listened to either of us in our politeness!"  I was yelling louder than ever into that phone.

"Ma'am, perhaps I can talk to your husband because you seem to have lost your self control."

"You may not talk to my husband.  He is out of town.  You may talk to me, and return my money, all of it, or you can talk to the credit card company, the Better Business Bureau, the New York State Attorney's office, the the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, and the county DA!!!"

"Ma'am.  Calm down.  Lets try something.  I really don't like being cursed at (I only said BS once) and yelled at.  I think you should try being nice.  Why don't you try it and see what happens.  I might just give you your money back. Go ahead."  

I was not going to apologize and "see what happens."

Then he promised me that if I would just apologize for cursing and calling him a scam artist, he would return all my money.

Fine.  I figured that if he and Ralph would lie to me so much, I could certianly lie to him, so I apologized.  I mean I REALLY apologized to the point where it was anything but credible.  "OH, Kevin.  I am SOOO sorry that I said that NASTY word to you after you had been trying SOOO hard to help me in my distress.  Of COURSE you are not a scam artist, and you have had only my best interest in mind.  I am deeply apologize for any hurt or distress I have caused and ask you to PLEASE forgive me."  Sweet as butter, and not a lick of sincerity in it - just like a scam artist.  I have learned from the best over the past few days.

"Great," he said, and gave me the return authorization number and return instructions, just like that.

Unbelievable!

So it worked, right.  Well, not so fast.  The story doesn't quite end there.  That was Tuesday.

On Friday night Dennis tried to get a hotel room and our card was declined.  It was midinght, and he had no idea why.  Another LONG story, but he ended up having to sleep in the car with my two older boys becasue he could not get a room with a declined card.

When he called the card company in the morning, he was told that they put a stop on the card because there was an unauthorized purchase of $9,400 from Tokyo on our card!!!  $9,400!!! Any guesses who made the purchase?  I have no doubt that it was the folks at Bingo Cameras and Co.  Apparently they didn't accept my apology after all.  Huh? And I thought I had delivered it so well.  We were being punished.  Nice.

Fortunalety the card company didn't let the purchase it go through, but had cancelled our card, so we spent our getaway San Diego weekend with no card, and no access to our cash since it was a holiday and all the banks were closed.  Good times!

So that's where we are. I just spent $20 to send the lens back with delivery confirmation.  We will see if the money gets returned when they recieve the lens back.  How much you wanna bet it will get "lost" in the mail, or be damaged or such?  This story just keeps getting worse and worse. 

See what I mean about blood squirting from my eyes?

So the moral from this long sad tale is that Bingo Cameras is a scam, but so are dozens, perhaps hundreds of other camera/electronics online stores, many of them run by the same sleezy folks.  Buyer Beware!!!  If something sounds too good to be true, it is.  Buy from the manufacturer's authorized dealers, and you should be fine.

Please, warn EVERYONE!  This has been a nightmare for us!  If you can, all you bloggers out there, please post a warning about these online companies for your readers, and invite them to warn their readers.  Post a link back to this post if you want to.  I sure wish someone had warned me.  We would have never had this nightmare, had I known.  They change business names every several months, so it is not enough to warn about just Bingo Cameras.  These guys simply won't back down and are very good at what they do.  The only way to stop these guys is to to warn enough people about them so that they don't get any more business.  BEWARE!  BEWARE!  BEWARE!

(Sorry this was so long, but I had to document it all for my own sanity.  Thanks for hanging in until the end, although I think you just kept reading to see if my head really would explode, didn't you?  Almost, my friend.  Almost.  We will not be clear of the threat of my head exploding until I get every penny of my money back, and with the way these guys operate, I have probably not heard the last of them.)