Article Contributed on: 2/27/2008 10:31:24 PM
I'm typically not a soap box type of guy, but I feel the need to warn my friends in cyber land of the underhanded business practices of Wolfcamera.com.
Recently, my wife Judy called me at work and told me very excitedly that Wolf had an unbelievable deal on a 10.1 mega-pixel Canon Rebel EOS digital SLR camera. For $699.99, we were to receive the body of the camera and an 18-55mm lens. For an additional penny, we were to receive a Quantum 55-200mm zoom lens. It was this extra lens that represented the extra value offered by Wolf that could not be attained through any other vendor that swayed our choice in Wolf's favor. Judy accepted the offer and placed our order and all was picture perfect until today.
This afternoon, I signed for the camera along with the standard lens at 2:33 p.m. No, I'm not that anal. I looked up the time on the order tracking and that was the time listed. Judy checked her e-mail at around 7 p.m. and was chagrined to find that Wolf had cancelled the order on the zoom lens because it was discontinued from the manufacturer. This e-mail was time stamped 2:04 p.m. A subsequent internet chat with Wolfcamera.com's customer service resulted in "Sorry, that item is out of stock and has been cancelled." The hell you say! We read that in the e-mail. Judy chatted back that they should perhaps substitute the Canon 55-200mm zoom as satisfaction of their offer. The said they would happily do that.... for $279.99.
Now I know things happen, but this smacks to me of false advertising. First, in the ad Judy responded to, it was not legibly printed anywhere that supplies of the Quantum zoom lens were limited. Second, I find it hard to believe that Wolf was not able to notify us of the status of this lens before the day it was to be delivered and signed for. True, I signed for the camera nineteen minutes after Wolf sent their e-mail, but they had access to the product tracking every stop on the camera's way to Brighton just like we did, and would have known that it had left Fed-Ex's Denver sort facility this morning. I don't feel it is a stretch to believe that a company so blatantly indifferent to a customer's satisfaction would think twice about intentionally deceiving a customer in order to secure a purchase.
After Judy got off the internet, we called the customer service phone number and received the same story. I informed the operator that what needed to happen was that a comparable lens would need to be supplied for the agreed price, or I would contact the Better Business Bureau and would also consider legal action and contacting the customer advocacy reporters from our local news stations. He continued to offer no relief, and when we asked to talk to a supervisor we were told both that he was unavailable and that he had left for the day. Judy plans on calling again tomorrow, but we suspect we will receive the same level of service.
It should be noted that Wolf Camera's locations in the Denver metro area are owned and operated by individual franchisees and are not affiliated with Wolfcamera.com. We found this out because Judy mentioned that she would be happy to go to one of our local stores and pick up the advertised lens. The service agent responded as reported above and said as such they would have no way of knowing the store's stock situation and that the store would not be able to satisfy our claim. Regardless, a prudent person would be led to believe that the entities are affiliated from the manner in which they are named. I would welcome any local franchisee to step up and honor this offer for us and restore our faith in Wolf, a company with which we've done business for over ten years.
Until either the website or a local affiliate (sorry; your name implies this) satisfies their written offer, we can not in good concious recommend either the website or the local stores to our friends, neighbors, aquaintances or readers.
Well, I need to go. I have letters to write and links to e-mail.