Watch out for the CAM SCAM

Now when I started researching the DVX100, I found it was hard to find. It had been upgraded to the DVX100b by the time I started looking for the camera. I looked around all over the web for the cheapest price. Cause as cheap as $2500 is for a movie camera...it's still $2200. And boom, I found it. $800!

My blog title is kind of a spoiler but pretend you're just as naive as I was and stay excited with me.

Now this sounds too good to be true, $800! I check up on other websites and I find about eight other websites that are just as cheap with the DVX's. And to think I was about to spend $2200 for one from NewEgg.com.

So according to the website at hand I could get all types of extras for adding a few hundred more dollars. Things such as a battery, some lenses, a camera bag, an AC/DC charger, and even a few tapes.

So I'm saving my money up for this camera, which wouldn't take long. Letting my cast and crew know we'll be ready to shoot in a matter of weeks. I'm also rushing to get everything ready so not only can I get the film shot during Winter Break, but the quicker I get it done the quicker I get the hell out of Warren, AR.

Just in case you were wondering how I was earning my money, I was subbing at the schools. Mainly the middle school and high school. Yeah, in case I didn't have enough stress with the movie I have to relive my year of being a teacher all at once. Shitty pay but better than any other job around, and it was never boring. I'd just plan and research my books while I let them do busy work and gossip. Just in case anyone reading this plans to ever teach, don't. If you're still desperate enough to do it call up Sir Richard Branson and tell him you'd like to sign up for the Mars Colonization, since you're life on Earth is worthless.

But I was making enough money, with moving in with my grandparents I had no overhead so all the money was going straight to the production untouched. Soon enough I had the money by Christmas, and called to order it on Black Friday. Called up the number, guy answers non-Chantilly with a Jersey accent. And if you want to imagine what he sounded like, just imagine some short, fat, balding, cigar smoking, guy who spends his spare time eating at a cheap Strip Club Buffet. I've got a weird imagination, I know.

I ask him if today is the last day to take advantage of the Black Friday sale, and he says "You bet". I told him my bank wasn't open that day, and was wondering if they could hold it one more day. He starts laughing and says "Can't help you chief". Completely unprofessional but for some reason I'm still talking to him (cheapness).

So I endure and ask him about the battery deal, and say "Even if I don't get the deal with the 2 hour battery, that's an extra battery anyway. The normal package comes with a battery already attached right?" Guy says "Nope, just the camera, battery's another $200."

As naive and dumb as I am, I still said "$200?!"

Jersey guy "Look you gonna buy something or not?"

I hung up.

Yayyy!!! I didn't fall for it.

I saw another website that had the same deal as them at the same price and ordered from them. So I get it cheap anyway. Boomshakalaka!

I don't even call this time. I just order it off the Internet and wait for my camera. I let the school and kids know that I'll only be around for a little bit longer.

Things work out sometimes. So I thought I'd check up on the company I ordered from while I had some free time.

You know where this is going.

Turns out there's all kinds of complaints on these people. They run a little shop out of Brooklyn. But it can't be the same people I dealt with before!?

It can! They've got over 30 different websites and phone numbers, and there were plenty of horror stories from previous dumb people that fell for it on a forum. The company even had an award on eBay, and they were con artists!

Things don't work out sometimes! Fucking bull shit! All this money! All this time! To go to some people who scam people and what's worse is they get away with it and laugh at their buyers like idiots!

I rush to the bank to beg them to stop my transfer. They said it's too late. It's been three days since I made the order. What the fuck! I plead with the staff to find away. One of the younger guys working there tries to help me out and looks it up. He said the money hasn't been received yet, so I could just cancel my card.

Bam, done. Like a movie with a last minute happy ending. Except this is just a blog about some whiny, idiot that fell for the fifth oldest trick in the book. Still similar though.

I get a phone call a few days later. Not the same Brooklyn/Jersey guy, his scam artist nephew or something. He says he needs my CVC 3 letter code on the back of my card.

What? This whole time I went through so much shit and they couldn't even get my money anyway till I gave them the number.

So I then just proceed to fuck with the guy, but it's been so long and it was so random I can't even really remember what I said. Probably was only funny in the moment anyway. Then I hang up on him.

He still calls back then I tell him he's a scam artist and he got caught.

If you want to prank call them, just call 888-450-4111. Tell them you want a buy something, then keep adding on extras and warranties, then tell them to cancel all the extras and you just want the camera. They'll hang up on you and maybe cuss you out first.

And in case you were wondering how they would've got away with the scam, it's easy. They just sell you a grey market version, with no battery, or lens, or mic, or LCD, or eyepiece, or...yeah you get it.

I'll post some of the websites if I find time to find them and feel like it. Which means I probably won't.

Just don't buy really cheap...or really expensive. Just buy from bhphotovideo.com and save yourself time and money.

Moral of the story, I was a lucky idiot.

THE END