[Tatume]

Hello Folks,

Saturday I ordered a K-5 kit from ajrichies.com for $919. The invoice said to call "to have your order expedited," so I called. During the call the fellow told me I had ordered a camera packaged for European markets, and that it does not carry a warranty.He said that to get a warranty, I had to pay $1189 instead. This is what I ended up doing.

Just now I checked with Rythercamera.com, and they are doing something similar. For $979 they sell the same camera kit, without the Pentax warranty, but with their own 90 day labor, 1 year parts warranty. A difference is that Ryther sells the camera with the two-hour Pentax battery, whereas AJRichies packages a reduced-capacity battery that is good for only 30 minutes.

Is this fishy business? It rather smells of “bait and switch” to me.

Thanks, Tom

[Adam]

Those cheaper cameras are "grey market," meaning that they aren't "authorized" for sale by Pentax. That's why they don't come with a warranty.

The minimum US price set for the K-5 right now is $1096.95:
Pentax K-5 Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) (Black) 14748 B&H

The kit costs $150 more.

[DeadJohn]

Yes, it smells fishy. Lure you in with a low price, then tell you the low price has some problem (no warranty in this case), get you to upgrade to a higher price (and the same upgraded item can be found elsewhere for less money).

Online stores that trick you into calling them before they'll ship your order tend to be scams. They use the call to aggressively push high-margin accessories.

[Anvh]

2 hour and 30 minute battery, how does that work?
Look at the mah rating instead.

[Tatume]

I was pretty unhappy about this, and I called them to cancel the sale. They gave me another $100 off, expedited the handling, and upgraded the shipping to a faster delivery. So, I kept it.

[Tatume]

Hi Anvh,

The amp-hour specs weren't given to me, but the battery that is being shipped is the standard 1900 mah (1.9 amp hour) Pentax battery. I also ordered another from a third-party vendor for a tiny fraction of the cost of a Pentax replacement.

Take care, Tom

[riff]

You may want to search this site for ajrichard as in www.ajrichard.com. That is what these scum bags called themselves for a few months prior to becoming ajrichies.com. It's easy to tell when they are lying, their mouths are open! These are the lowest of the low. Try canceling the order, it will not be easy, I finally had to get the Visa dispute center involved.

You just know the biz is great when the name changes quarterly.

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Last edited by riff; 05-07-2012 at 05:35 PM.

[Tatume]

Well, they certainly got a lot of bad press! I wish I had known before I placed the order. I found them through one of the comparison-shopping sites (twice, actually), and supposedly they screen retailers for bad apples. My credit card has been billed already, and the camera is scheduled to ship, so I'm going to let the deal go through. I'll report back here in a few days when the package arrives. You guys have me scared though.

[riveredger]

Stay away from any retailer with a (718) area code.

I think it's wise to stick with the big guns, personally - B&H, Adorama, Amazon, etc.

[riff]

found them through one of the comparison-shopping sites (twice, actually), and supposedly they screen retailers for bad apples.

Well for one nextag apparently doesn't. I wrote them in brief about the shopping experience I had. They replied that they were very concerned about that sort of thing but never asked for any details of my complaint. I call BS on that.

My credit card has been billed already, and the camera is scheduled to ship

Of course your credit card was billed, they do that immediately regardless. My camera was scheduled to ship too... several different times.

I was pretty unhappy about this, and I called them to cancel the sale. They gave me another $100 off, expedited the handling, and upgraded the shipping to

bahahaha, that is exactly what happened with my order, but they still didn't ship a camera.

My advice, don't talk to them on the phone period. Write an email. Tell them you refuse any further telephone communication. In it include everything they have promised to date, include the shipping date. Requesting a detailed invoice be emailed (you won't get one). An finally demand, nicely, email confirmation that they agree with the terms you included in the email. Do this now.

The next time they drop the ball call the CC dispute center and let them know what's going on, they will likely try to placate you. Then email the clowns and tell them you have an open CC dispute against them and you expect a complete refund and email confirmation of such ina timely manner.

They may be reading this, I know one of their trolls has been banned on this site.

I just can't stress this enough, these are not nice people, in my experience they will lie, bully and cheat you as much as you let them.

Good luck!

[Tatume]

So far I haven't received the camera yet, but they insist that I will have it on Friday (two days from now). When (if) it comes, how can I tell if it is an "authorized" camera (for which I paid considerably more), and not a "grey market" camera? Does Ajrichies.com sell cameras with the U.S. warranty, as they claim? Can I call Pentax with the serial number and verify that it carries a U.S. warranty?

[jmg257]

I was pretty unhappy about this, and I called them to cancel the sale. They gave me another $100 off, expedited the handling, and upgraded the shipping to a faster delivery. So, I kept it.

Wow ...chance to cancel, and you let them hustle you again, for "another $100 off"...AFTER they raised the package $270???

Sure the 'faster handling'(?!?) AND 'expedited shipping' will make up for the 'reduced power battery' (??)' but at what point do you just say..."ya know what, I'll pass". Sometimes you have to skip trying to save $50 and start listening to that little voice in your head that says "this just ain't right"...before you give out your CC number.

Well...good luck!

[twilhelm]

I had a similar experience two weeks ago. I called every retailer (including AJrichies), every time I brought up US warranty I got the story you did, and the price went up considerably. Every one of those companies had scores of bad reviews. I just didn't feel comfortable giving them my hard earned money. I know the camera I received from B&H last week is legit and covered every way possible.

Also, I've yet to confirm that a "30" minute battery exists packaged with a camera.

Good luck with your purchase.

[mickey]

I'm interested to see how Tatume gets on and if the camera is delivered on Friday.

Some good advice here, especially about avoiding phone conversations...there is no evidence of this.
Like was suggested, an email is good as a record if things go pear-shaped.

It'd be good to keep this thread on page 1 at least to let other potential buyers be aware.

[Tatume]

Back to my question, when it comes, how can I tell if it is an "authorized" camera, and not a "grey market" camera? For example, will a legitimate camera have a warranty card with a U.S. address?