Savvy Shopping 'n More Blog June Archive

It isn't great, because the warranty you're given is only as durable as the company you buy it from. I wouldn't even dare to dream how many were raked across the coals with their uncommonly favorable 7-year warranties on their old Hyundai's, but I don't feel bad for them. They knew the cars were the worst of garbage, so even if the warranties were real (which they were at the time, technically) they should have known they were only as good as the company, which quickly was spending half its domestic revenue fixing their garbage and the other half trying to control their tailspin into the drain.

So when you're promised a [404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. thisisbroken. com/ . shared/ image. html?/ photos/ uncategorized/ lifetime_ 1. jpg , anchor: warranty] that sounds too good to be true, make sure the people backing it are worth the warranty in the first place. Sears isn't what it used to be, but they're still solid enough to insure you're $100 purchase. Ford is fully 100-years-old, but the only reason they're still alive is because they borrowed $20 billion last year, so if they fold, your warranty is gone… and they're going to fold any day now.

While you're at it, take the time to complete and mail in your warranty forms, because they aren't binding without them.

If you're looking for a camera like the thousand-dollar Sony prosumer model, you can find it as cheap as maybe $500 or so, which is worse than "suspiciously cheap", it's an outright scam.

What they do is import a handful of them, which they may or may not actually sell, perhaps even at a deep discount, but it's not worth it, and here's why.

- The camera probably isn't in English, not the controls, labels, menus, and not the manual. If you can't understand what it's saying to you, you can't bloody well use it.

- If it's on overseas model, your warranty may not be valid, unless of course you move back to Asia, where it came from, in order to ship it in for service.

- Often times they'll try to upsell ancillary goods like the camera strap in order to get back to profitable.

- Too commonly they'll try to detach included items, like the battery, lens or manual, and charge you extra for them, just to bring the price back into line.

- From the very minute you place the order, your credit card will be billed, and you may not get your camera for a month or more. Many credit cards won't let you de-authorize your purchase by that point, and it won't help if the company is already gone, which is plenty likely enough.

- Before making your purchase, take the name of the company and Google it with extra term "scam" to see if they're bad. For example, search something like, "Joe's Camera Supply Scam" and see if the complaints are already rampant.

- Check out the [404 Check: was link to http:/ / www. badbusinessbureau. com/ reports/ 0/ 001/ ripoff0001343. htm, anchor: Better Business Bureau] site to see if there are complaints. A lack of complaints means little, since businesses always get their complaints deleted, but if there are indeed outstanding complaints, it means it's a really, really bad sign.

- Since the price will still be roughly the same either way, just buy it from somebody you know. Go ahead and shop it by price online from a site like Froogle, but only buy from somebody you've already heard of, with a long reputation, like ECost.com, B&H, Best Buy, Staples, Target or Wal-Mart.

- Come what may, if they have an address in Brooklyn, they're statistically bad. Sorry Brooklyn, but you guys earned it the hard way. Try complaining to your credit card company to get the charges reversed, but expect an uphill battle, these guys do this for a very profitable living.

- Make sure the company has a real address and real, verifiable contact information. If they don't, you may be hosed when things go south, which they very likely may, and right quick too.