Bad Reviews for 1 Way Photo; My Review of Abe’s of Maine

Remember when I asked about zoom lenses? I decided to go with the Nikon 70-300mm. Via an Adsense ad on my own blog I saw lowpricedigital (no love, so no link) which advertised the lens for $379. Turns out they’re a price comparison service and it was 1 way photo that had the $379 price (again, no link, no love, for reasons that will become clear).

Luckily before I ordered I did a quick Google and found dozens of horrible reviews for 1 way photo:

Do NOT do business with these cheats. They advertise low prices, take your order, then call you to “verify” your order. During the call they tell you lies about how the product will perform poorlyu unless you upgrade the memory card, add a lens, buy the filter, etc. – and then they give you prices for these “additions” that are 4-5 times what you can buy them for at any retailer. They will tell you a camera doesn’t come with a battery or charger, when the manufacturer says it’s included in the box. It’s all about scamming you.

Another:

This company’s prices are fictitious. They have no intention of letting you buy the item at the stated price. If you resist their aggressive up-selling your item is now suddenly back-ordered. This will give them some time to work on selling you more accessories which should rightfully be packaged with the product. Example: I tried to order a Nikon D80 w/18-135 lens at the unbelievable price of $710.00 (I know, I know, if it sounds too good…….). After looking carefully I couldn’t find the “Whats in the box” button common with most electronics retailers. Well, they don’t want to say “whats in the box” because they have removed alot of it and will now attempt to sell it back to you at an OUTRAGEOUS price.

And one more:

LIARS, misrepresentation, wrongful advertising, etc… they claim to have “in stock” but they DO NOT have the items (I first ordered the Canon EOS40d and later the Nikon D300 – similar stories on both accounts!!!). A friend subsequently told me that he’d heard of someone who received the body, but no battery pack, no charger, not even a cover for the lens mount – to which they said that was how they kept their low prices. THIEVES!!!

And possible aliases:

FYI – I hate scumbags like these…. in the past I was burned with adoramacamera same crap, but I was actually a gov contractor trying to buy product for our military and couldn’t fulfill my contract and they never delivered but took the money of course. I found this info and thought it would be helpful-
J&V Marketing Inc., d.b.a 1 Way Photo, 1WayPhoto.com, Lenses N’ More, LensesNMore.com
5407-5409 18th Ave, Borough Park
Address from web site. Corporate name from front door. Entity database has 5409 address. The 5407 number appeared at one time on ShopCartUSA and would be the wider red door. The white one at the far left is labeled 5405. Lenses N’ More has this address in their whois.
http://donwiss.com/pictures/brooklynstores/#out

Lots more at that link. Me, I won’t be buying from them and I’ve blocked lowpricedigital and 1wayphoto from buying Google Adsense ads on my site.

Abe’s of Maine

I bought the lens for $453 from Abe’s of Maine, which has been around a long time and has good reviews. Here’s mine. I called and confirmed that the item was in stock and would ship the same day. (I had passed on another store that was 15 bucks cheaper because they would only commit to shipping the item in “three to four days.”) Their overnight shipping charge was very reasonable. As soon as I placed my order I received an order confirmation email.

A little later I got a call from Abe’s to confirm my shipping and billing address. Then they tried to sell me $70 worth of filters. I politely declined. They asked again, and I declined again. Within an hour I had shipping confirmation and a UPS tracking number.

The box arrived when they said it would, but it wasn’t packed especially well. The box looked like it had been through UPS a couple of times before and the package felt loose. Inside it was padded with inflatable plastic, but the boxed lens was wedged up against a corner where it could be damaged from either side.

For all this I only saved $20 or so compared to buying from Amazon with my Amazon Prime membership (unlimited free two-day shipping for $79 a year). I’d buy from Abe’s again, but only if I could save more than $20 over Amazon’s price.