How *NOT* to Win Customers in the Information Age

Wow, you hear about the horror stories from buying online, but this one takes the cake! I am glad to hear about this one, as I was starting to think about buying a new Digital Camera online myself. Now I know who to avoid like the plague!

At this point I thanked him and informed him that I would be writing an article about my experience with his company. It was at this point that he went ballistic. He first told me that if I did this that he would not cancel my order but just never fill it. If I cancelled it he said he'd charge me a 15% restocking fee. When I told him that that would be unethical he went nuts. He accused me of trying to "extort" him and said that he was going to have two local police officers come over and arrest me. He then went on to say that as a "professional photographer" I should have known better than to try and buy a camera this way and that he was an attorney and would sue me if I wrote an article about my experience.

The funny part in this is the camera store owner's apparent complete lack of understanding that if you do business online, you can expect to have info posted about you online. If play in the sandbox, you have to be ready to get some sand in your eye from time to time. Especially when you are the one throwing the sand!