Somebody I work with recently tried to buy a camera from an internet retailer called “WaWaDigital.”  He was telling me about the low price they had it listed for, when the guy called him to confirm the order.

At this point, I recognized what was going on.  For some reason, there is an entire cottage industry (in the little cottage called Brooklyn, New York) that sells the camera for below cost, but cancels the order on you unless you buy hundreds of dollars of over-priced accessories.

As the phone call progresses, it’s like watching a really cheesy horror film play out.  It’s bad, but funny in its predictability.

“No, thanks, I have all of the storage cards I need.”
_Mumble mumble on-the-other-end-of-a-cell-phone-mumble
_“The batteries only last for 2 pictures, do they?  No thanks, I have all the batteries I need.”
Mumble mumble don’t be so damn cheap mumble mumble

At this point, he’s walking into my office, with the expression on his face of, “You wouldn’t believe the phone call I’m on right now.”  I can pretty much hear both sides of the conversation now, and the next thing I was expecting to hear was that the order was canceled.  Instead, it continues…

“Don’t be cheap?  Listen.  That is ridiculous customer service.  Cancel my order and goodbye.”
_“Cancel your order?  You really want to pay the 30% restocking fee for canceling your order?”
_“What restocking fee?  There is no order, and you’re not going to charge me one.”
_“Oh yes I will.”
_“Go ahead, and I’ll dispute the charges on my card and it’ll cost you even more.”

Then, my jaw literally drops, as I scramble to help him record the phone call.

“Don’t you even dare.  You do that, and I’ll break your neck.  You hear me?  I’ll come there and break your f—–g neck.  I’ll …”

“Goodbye.”, and he hangs up.

As we get ready to record the return call, he calls back, but we let it dump into voice mail.  Evidently, intelligence tests are not part of “new hire training,” as this guy leaves a death threat on voice mail with an unblocked number.  [41 seconds, 665 kb].  (Warning, contains swears.)

Transcript:

..(718) 627-7192
Received at 3:22 pm

You better not pick up, b—h.  I’m gonna to come down there and break your god damn neck.  You heard me, alright?  Kid, you better hear me, b—h.  Do you hear me, B—H?  Yes, you’d better believe it.  You’re in biiiig trouble, my friend.

Wawdigital.com (and its pseudonyms, Stop4Camera.com, Starlight Cameras, Stargate Photo, and probably half a dozen others) is a complete and utter scam.  Such a poorly-run scam that their websites often contain text from the last domain name they had to abandon:

“…  wawadigital is not amanufacturer, but we are willing to replace a defective item”
http://www.stargatephoto.com/shopping/Policies&Services.asp

“Stop4Camera expressly disclaims all warranties…”
http://www.stargatephoto.com/shopping/LegalDisclaimer.asp

“Stop4Camera reserves the right to refuse …”
http://www.wawadigital.com/shopping/LegalDisclaimer.asp

I’m still agape at the absurdity of this all.  It’s amazing that any of these places are still in existence.  I don’t know their owners can avoid jail.  When you search the internet for the various incarnations of WaWaDigital, people have already reported them to nearly every authority I can think of.

Something tells me that JD Power won’t come-a-callin’ for WaWaDigital.com.

To make matters worse, the guy at work said he found good reviews about them at this site: http://www.everyprice.com.  Unbelievably, that site is a scam, too.  A meta-scam that must turn a blind-eye to (or simply not include) negative reviews: http://www.everyprice.com/merchant.asp?merchant_id=36&view=reviews.  Most of their many categories simply go off to the equivalent Amazon category.  But navigate down to anything that stays on their site.  For example:

Home & Garden -> Massage Recliner -> (Pick any.)

The top merchants are:
- IBuyPlasma.com
- CentralDigital.com
- DBuys.com
- RealDealShop.com

Now, I do my standard searches for these retailers – include their name, along with sundry expletives:

- http://www.google.com/search?q=ibuyplasma+scam
- http://www.google.com/search?q=centraldigital.com+scam
- http://www.google.com/search?q=dbuys.com+scam
- http://www.google.com/search?q=realdealshop.com+scam

Not a single legitimate shop.  Yet they have good reviews on the site.  You find good reviews everywhere for these scam retailers – they must have a full-time staff that runs around the internet posting fake reviews.

Thank goodness for the trusty “sundry expletive” search I rely on, instead.