Well, we’re only days away from my birthday , and from a consumer standpoint I feel like going on a well orchestrated rampage on two separate retail/commercial outfits.

The first of these is the ever dreaded Microsoft experience. There is quite a bit of history with regards to my console repairs and the support team, the latest being an absolute nightmare. After having shipped my console in for repairs, I received the console back with one glaring defect. I couldn’t pair my wireless headset to the console so it was useless. An unusual defect, but a defect nonetheless. So I proceeded to send the unit back to them, for the fifth time (long story going back to launch day). At this point, they told me they were going to send me a replacement console. YAY!!! Packaged up the unit, power supply in tow, and waited for about 2 weeks for said replacement to arrive. I thought nothing of it, and even held off on purchasing my pre-ordered copy of GTA4.

It finally arrives and guess what? There’s no f@!#ng power supply. What the hell am I supposed to do with this $300 paper weight. I have since called them on numerous occasions to try and escalate the delivery of my PSU, and not only was I told that it would be sent overnight but that I would be able to track it after I called them back in 24 hours. I call back the next day to find out that nothing was done and the power supply wasn’t being shipped. Finally get the order in place and it gets worse. They proceed to ship the PSU via the slowest possible mail possible and no way to track it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Now our next dreaded retailer not only tried to pull a fast one on me, but took advantage of my mother’s good intentions, trying to buy me a nice SLR camera package. This online retailer, SonicCameras.com, took the order my lady researched with my preferences in mind. This package was reasonably priced for the value they posted online, $900, not the $1450 final paid value. It came with a nice macro lens and had Canon’s new Rebel XSi as the base for the camera body. Definitely in the price range that was reasonable and something I could use to learn my way into SLR photography. Anyways, my mother filled out the info and made the order from the link Jennifer had sent her. After the order was placed a salesman thought he might have a sucker on the line and gives her a call. My mother only having the best intentions for my birthday gift was talked into changing the lens that the camera ships with. I know nothing about any of this at this point in time, as Jennifer and my mother were building on a surprise for my big day, this Wednesday the 14th BTW.

I get the package in the mail, which was initially delivered to the wrong apartment in my building. Almost a nightmare as it was sent without needing a signature for delivery, but the people in my building are very nice and I’ve never had any problems with any tenants and friends with most. I opened the box with the excitement of getting a new camera to play with. It is and I’m like a 4 year old boy on christmas morning. I open everything up and put everything together. I didn’t take any notice to the lens at the time. I was to excited. I waited for the battery to get at least a half charge before I slapped the battery in and started taking pictures. I started to take a closer look at everything and noticed one very glaring detail about the lens. It was a POS, well maybe not entirely but certainly not worth the money paid. I looked it up to find that it the lens, a Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8-4DG mount, retails for $135 at any other major retailer. Hell, even Sigma sells it for $180. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? This gets worse before it gets better.

I call up SonicCameras to see if I could straighten this out. I finally get through to one of the support reps and I ask him about the lens and its quality. I thought I might have a mix up or that they forget to send another lens that was part of the package. I’ve done my research at this point in time so I thought he may be able to help resolve the issue, but was aware that they’re selling the lens for $600. He explains that the lens is new and isn’t listed on Sigma’s website yet. He then asks me to look at the bottom of the box that the lens came in where it is stamped with an ever so small ‘PE’ which he stated stood for “Professional Edition”. I was a little suspect of this so called PE stamp of quality and started a little quest for knowledge. Couldn’t find a thing anywhere, but guessing your not surprised. Called back to see if it was a support guy who just didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but no such luck and to my surprise I got the same response with regards to the PE stamp of quality.

I finally decided to contact Sigma and give them the lens serial. This nice tech lady, whose name starts with a D, confirmed my suspicions that the lens was no more than the $135 lens listed on other retail sites. I asked her what this PE stamp “really” stood for. She was very knowledgeable about the packing box in question and new exactly the which ‘PE’ stamp I was talking about. It turns out this Professional Edition ‘PE’ stamp was actually a recycling stamp for the European Union. I had her send me an email to help confirm my findings of outright fraud, something in writing to show the guys at SonicCameras that I ain’t no sucker.

At this time, Jennifer calls them with this knowledge of fraud and before she lets on that she knows about the PE stamp and its meaning, she plays out the call as if she were asking about the quality. Until she gets to the point where he brings up this PE quality stamp for a 3rd time. Then, as he goes into where this stamp is and how she can find it, Jennifer stops him cold in his tracks and calls him on his BS. The agent obviously doesn’t know what to do and caught off guard. He goes back to the basics and starts with, “Who am I speaking with? I’m sorry, I can’t help you. I need to speak with the card holder.” My mom, the saint she is, needed to be on the line.

The moment I knew about the lens from Sigma, I had my mother work on the credit card dispute due to the fraud that was taking place. It was already in the process by the time she was conferenced in with Jennifer. After the Sonic team learned of the open dispute their tunes quickly changed, but not before they tried to hose us for another $200 in restocking fees and insurance. No how, no chance. Where do these guys get off. Something to be said about “Buyers Beware”