Just got BURNED by Cotax!

[KRMQQ]

Well I feel a bit foolish but after 25 years in Honkers I really fell into a big hole. I bought a Tamron lens from Cotax in the Wan Chai Computer Centre. My family and I have dealt with them for years and have always received fair advice and prices. That's why I went back. I got the stuff I wanted and then got conned into buying this lens at a super special price! Knot in stomach (should always listen to that!) I bought it and within an hour found that the very same product is available online including shipping to HK for 10G less than I paid! I got no receipt! Yeah it was at the end of a long hard day but still..
I went back and asked them to explain. They became very hostile and I requested a full refund. They refused. Called the cops but all they do is record a case number. I have fired this one off to the Consumer Council but just so you guys don't get taken like me - watch these fellas!!!! So much for being a long suffering and loyal customer. Don't you just love Hong Kong!

[CodyBlade]

WC comp ctr?

You have my sympathy bro..

[badairsucker]

Jizz monkey,

Seriously, shut the f£ck up. I really hope you don't fly planes.:ugh:

[Frogman1484]

What Tamron lens did you buy that could be 10 k cheaper?

[onetrack]

You bought a very expensive item and got no receipt??

You bought a very expensive item on a whim, without doing market research first??

The seller refuses to refund your money and cancel the deal??

You're effectively $10K out of pocket?

Sounds to me like you just purchased a Masters Degree in Life Skills, from the University of Hard Lessons, for $10K.

Stand in front of a mirror and recite 50 times - "A fool and his money are soon parted". :(

[Mullah Lite]

The guy posts his experience on a forum to give others a heads up and the armchair quarterbacks come out of the woodwork to add to his grief.

Good job fellas. Let's encourage the sharing of information and learning from bad experiences by others with a slap up the backside of the head.

The man has already acknowledged his moment of caveat emptor. Leave him alone to nurse his wounds. Surely you must have something better and more becoming of your omniscient selves to do than kick someone while they're down. Needlepoint, or colour-by-numbers perhaps.

[badairsucker]

Agreed Mullah,

The posts above are a slice of what CX pilots have become....embarrassing and self serving!!!!:ugh:

[KRMQQ]

Well it takes a special kind of person to kick a fella when he is down! We have lots of those on this forum. Same kind of personality as the guys who ripped me off.
I am hurting badly enough without those unkind jabs guys.

And yes, I do fly for a living. I was just having a very bad day having received the news of the loss of two very dear friends in separate incidents. And no, I was not flying on that day nor will I for several days, so put the knives away please.

Thanks to CodyBlade (http://www.pprune.org/members/204651-codyblade), badairsucker (http://www.pprune.org/members/174619-badairsucker) and Mullah Lite (http://www.pprune.org/members/140988-mullah-lite) who seem to be part of the very slim minority that can appreciate me sharing that humiliating and expensive experience with you all.

[oriental flyer]

kRMQQ,

I feel for you, almost everyone has been burned at one time or another in HK
If you have days off and are prepared to spend some time what I would suggest that you do is take the lens with you, stand outside the shop and tell every European who is about to enter the premises that these people are dishonest and you suggest they shop elsewhere
I guarantee that you will be threatened by the staff but if you stand your ground for a couple of days I would think that you might find that they are far more likely to refund your cash for the lens
Good luck

[local]

Gee mate, if you were in range, I would turn the garden hose on ya.
25 year's in Hong Kong. Get Real.

[SMOC]

It's common practice in HK to sell the item you've researched at the best price and then completely shaft you on the un researched second item. I was done many years ago on the spare battery for a camera I just bought. Luckily only $100 or so but learned my lesson. Plus never think "your guy" won't shaft you the second he knows you haven't done your research.

Other classics are selling old stock as the latest for only $200 more than what your looking at when it should be $500 less.

Or just go to fortress.

[broadband circuit]

My family and I have dealt with them for years and have always received fair advice and prices

My experience is that the long term relationship you build is with the individual staff member, not with the business itself. Just because you've been going there forever, the new guy doesn't know or care, and only sees you as a 1-off sale.

[Frogman1484]

What lens did you buy?

[geh065]

Just stick to OEM lenses from shops that have several branches. Sigma do seem to do some decent lenses (sometimes) though.

[TWT]

Why did you shell out big bikkies and not get a receipt ?

[12wheeler]

How are you going to get warranty without the receipt and proof of purchase?

[onetrack]

Possibly even more importantly - how are you going to provide proof of ownership if some person in authority (e.g., Police) asks you where you got said item, when they're on an investigation, looking for stolen property? (and cameras and lenses are one of the most frequently stolen items).

I can't wait for the next instalment in this story - when you find the lenses are Chinese knock-offs of a top brand, and they come with a doorway warranty. :rolleyes:

[Nickoli]

How do you know when someone in a HK Phone / Camera / electronic shop is lying?

Their mouth is moving. There is a fundamental difference between lying and selling.....it's just nobody has told these people yet. :mad:

[12wheeler]

OP found it cheaper online from a store that was not even in Hong Kong. How do you know that online store is even legitimate? Has he checked the price at the other local stores? OP still has not answered what Tamron lens he bought and for how much. If he paid 10K more than the suggested retail price in HK, then yes, he has been conned...:*

[Yeager]

This is not bloody popularity test is it boyz? :}

That was God damn f@cking stupid - but, please just live and learn from it and move on mate. :ok:

Hope its a good lense :ok:

Ps. I do feel sorry for you, anyways.

[priapism]

I'm a keen photographer and frequent visitor to HKG. I avoid all the photo shops in TST and the Island because I got sick of being treated as fair game to be ripped off which happened to me once. I had a great experience with Sunning last month. At the moment Sunning and Broadway staff are given permission to discount from the usually uncompetitive ticketed prices. For instance, just for a bit of fun I haggled for a lens with a list price of 10800 at Broadway Yuen Long. I got the salesman down to 9350 which was cheaper than I was quoted at Wing Shing , Mongkok by 100. I got a great deal on a nikon 70-200 mm f4. Incredibly it was at Sunning at the Tuen Mun plaza. I got him down to 9800 with NO credit card surcharge. This was several hundred cheaper than anywhere else (including the Sunning store in Yuen Long.The only problem with Sunning is they don't stock a huge line but can get things in quickly if not on the shelf. As a guide to what the maximum I should pay for anything I check the Australian eBay site and check what the cheapest of the Hong Kong based sellers are asking. It is quite a competitive sales area and it usually is a good guide. I guess the moral of the story is to do your homework . There is a good HK based photographer's website that I have consulted on occasion. I will post the link if I can find it.

[priapism]

Camera and Lens Street Price List for Hong Kong | The World According to Roland (http://rolandlim.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/camera-lens-street-price-list/)

[Cumguzzler]

I have always been going to Stiles and I never have had any issues. Last month I picked up a Nikon 800 mm - F/5.6 and he gave me a price 2500 less than the best Internet price, can't beat that.

[Oval3Holer]

I think he means he bought a tampon from Kotex...

[priapism]

Cumguzzler,

Do you have an address for Stiles? I'll be back later this year hoping to pick up the new 80-400 AF-S

[Akali Dal]

OP starting a Chinese/Hongkie bashing thread...nice try! Shelling out tens of thousands, albeit HK dollars, and no receipt? Come on, unless it was at a flea market.

[Dan Winterland]

I always buy from the regular stores - all my camaera equipment is bought at Coxall/Cam2. You pay a bit more, but you save the trouble which befell a friend. We both bought the same camera, me from Cam2, he from the Nathan road and he was very pleased that his cost $400 less. However, he wasn't so pleased when he tried to register the warranty on line and told he couldn't as it was a previously returned item and therefore there was no warranty. And of course, it had the original fault!

[gerago]

OP starting a Chinese/Hongkie bashing thread...nice try! Shelling out tens of thousands, albeit HK dollars, and no receipt? Come on, unless it was at a flea market.

Smells fishy, doesn't it? My, oh my, it's probably due to some used kotex up OP's nose!