Spoke Too Soon (and Almost Was Scammed!)

(photo from Cnet)

Okay, I'll admit it. I spoke too soon about TECHON Digital. 

When I made my order and filled out my customer profile, I accidentally mixed up the "a" and "i" in gmail when I typed in my e-mail address. Despite it being frustrating to not be able to "edit my e-mail address" on TECHON's user information page, I didn't think this was a big deal. I did, however, e-mail the customer support e-mail address to ask them to change my e-mail address in their records. I didn't get a response. 

I will also be the first to admit that I sometimes will be tolerable of nuisances if it means I'm getting a really great deal (examples: a poorly organized web site or physical store, bad customer service, etc.). 

Yesterday, while standing in line at the post office, I got a call from a TECHON representative, saying they'd been trying to e-mail me to confirm my order. I said I would be happy to confirm it over the phone—and mentioned that I tried to correct my e-mail address online but their site didn't have the functionality allowing me to do so. The rep tried to upsell me a few different things, including a lifetime battery, but I declined. Then the call was dropped (I believe on their end, not mine).

I called back. The representative to answer the phone could have cared less about my dropped call and said he couldn't help me without my order number. I vowed to call back when I was in front of my computer, which ended up being this morning since their customer service office closed before I made it home yesterday.

The representative who took my call this morning picked up the phone with a rather perturbed-sounding, "Yeah?" I explained my situation (again), only to have him respond that the camera I wanted was out of stock. I thought this was odd, since it sounded like it was in stock yesterday. I mentioned this aloud as well.

I picked out a similar camera and inquired about it. The "gentleman" tried to upsell me with batteries and a nice carrying case. I declined. Then he told me that the camera was out of stock, but I could buy the battery and carrying case but get the camera elsewhere. This was becoming annoying. 

From there, I looked through the online inventory a little more to see if they had any similar cameras in stock. I asked about two different ones, including the exact camera I misplaced/lost/whatever during our travels. When those searches yielded zilch results, I asked, "do you have ANY other cameras in that price range?"

"No, we don't have any cameras in that price range," was the dude's response.

Forget it, TECHON Digital. Seriously?

So, I navigated my way over to Buy Dig and found the same camera we had pre-Italy trip (except in blue, you know, to mix things up a little). That set me/us back $162 but included free shipping. I received a prompt confirmation e-mail... and I'm crossing my fingers this round of camera shopping works out a little better for us. 

UPDATE. Dan e-mailed me the following, so I filed a Better Business Bureau complaint: "Couldn’t add a comment on your page without logging in but here it is - Report them.  A number of others have... "

Also, this link has a slew of other consumers complaining about the company. Several others found that when they declined the fancy battery or add-ons that their cameras were mysteriously "not in stock." Scam! I can't believe they almost got me!