By David Ponce
This story is really explosive. It’s a stark reminder of the still present dangers of online shopping, and a jab at our latent complacency over this very tangible reality.
It is the story of one Thomas Hawk, photography enthusiast, who had the misfortune of trying to purchase a digicam from online retailer PriceRitePhoto. The problems started the moment he confirmed his order. First he gets a call from a rep, who tries to pressure him into an upsell: batteries, accessories, extended warranty. Thomas needs none of these, so he declines. It is at this point that the company gets abusive. They do not ship, they get angry, the manager finally gets on the line and gets very agitated, eventually going apeturd.
“I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again.” “I’m an attorney, I will sue you.” “I’m going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you.” Just a few of the fun things I got to hear today from someone who said his name was Steve Phillips over at PriceRitePhoto.
Thomas’s own account is a lot more compelling than my little summary, and is worth a read.
More importantly though, is the reaction this story is generating. It has so far received over 5,500 Diggs (more than I’ve ever seen), and been featured on various prominent sites, like Gizmodo, Boingboing and such. Last I heard, this has brought the company’s customer service department to its knees. And hopefully, if there is any justice, the combined efforts of hundreds of thousands of netizens will put these bastards out of business.
[PriceRitePhoto Nightmare] VIA [Digg]
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