# Don't order camera gear from Dell.com online store



## DArora (Jan 17, 2013)

Just bumped into this *ridiculous story*, floor wood instead of 5D3!!  
I wasn't expecting such thing from Dell.


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## wadesbrain (Jan 17, 2013)

*saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*

http://fstoppers.com/new-5d-mark-iii-box-arrives-full-laminate-flooring-no-camera



Has anyone else had an issue of receiving junk instead of gear they ordered?


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## scottkinfw (Jan 17, 2013)

Perhaps a good thing.
Look into billmelater.com if you need an alternate credit line. Think about an apple.

Hang in there, and thanks for sharing.

sek



 DArora said:


> Just bumped into this *ridiculous story*, floor wood instead of 5D3!!
> I wasn't expecting such thing from Dell.


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## tpatana (Jan 17, 2013)

*Re: saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*

Story is really fishy, and reading the comments I'm not the only one thinking that.

Like taking picture of the exact moment when you cut open the tape. Even if you photo the unboxing, you would never take that exact moment, unless it's the meant for evidence the tape wasn't tampered earlier. So in this case it proves it's fake/scammer wanting to steal 2 cameras from Dell.


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## woodenpunch (Jan 17, 2013)

*Re: saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*

Sorry but looks like a scammer! Can dell really afford that bad publicity? I think thats his way to get 2 bodys and his money refunded!


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## BrandonKing96 (Jan 17, 2013)

Convenient how it looked as if he knew it was going to happen. If I were to photograph an unboxing, I'd photograph it when I get to the product (or at least the product's actual box), not photograph from the parcel's packaging box. Videoing is another story, but it's awfully convenient he was photographing his "unexpected" floor boards.


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## Don Haines (Jan 17, 2013)

There was a story here a month or so ago how one of the local stores had sold an iPad, the person took it home, opened the box, and found a hunk of wood.... They brought it back to the store and were in a heated argument with the store manager when another customer came back with the same complaint. An examination of thier stock found a box of wooden ipads.... and all the boxes looked like they were factory sealed.

This type of thing does happen.


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## bycostello (Jan 18, 2013)

oh no... thanks for the heads up though


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## Marsu42 (Jan 18, 2013)

BrandonKing96 said:


> Videoing is another story, but it's awfully convenient he was photographing his "unexpected" floor boards.



Sure, the unboxing of the outer parcel has been repeated to make a good web story (the shot of the cutter alone...) - but that doesn't necessarily mean it's all made up or a hoax.

On the other hand it might be an ingenious idea, so bold few people attempt it - just say you've received some wood, make a big splash on the net and have fun using a couple of 5d3 camera bodies :->


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## dafrank (Jan 18, 2013)

*My own experience with Dell*

Back in April 2012, when 5D3's were as rare as Unicorns for those like me who had not prepaid and preordered them, I was calling to and searching on the net for _anyplace_ which had a 5D3 that they would sell to me. Nothing came up for more than a week. Then, in a complete surprise, while on line at another photo related site, I spied an easy to overlook, tiny, postage stamp sized display ad from Dell saying they were offering 5D3's for sale. Not really believing it, I called them anyway, as I had bought computer gear from them before and I had very little to lose. To my utter amazement, they had just gotten about 30 or 40 in stock and were indeed able to sell me one - at the $3,500.00 full price, of course, while many others were selling it at $300.00-$500.00 over retail to non-preorder customers at the time. I got the perfectly new, perfectly clean USA model just when they said I'd get it, and it has served me very well since.

Just sayin' that you don't need to ordinarily fear ordering from Dell.com. They're a big company with a reputation to protect, and they would never, ever purposely "stiff" a customer with a scam like the OP described. Say what you want about their customer service or their computer gear quality, but the OP's story goes beyond any mistakes in those areas by miles; this is criminal fraud, not bad customer service management. As to them needing to investigate it, well, think about it. I'm not questioning the OP's honesty, but put yourself in Dell's position for a minute. I could ridiculously easily get a camera shipped to me, remove the camera and the other content from the Canon box, put woood in the box, and then photograph the "unboxing" as though the wood were what I actually received in the first place. Dell was nice enough to offer $100.00 for the unfortunate OP's trouble, without any corroborating evidence, but they will have to investigate, and perhaps have criminal charges filed against whatever middleman might have been the guilty party here, before they can try to ship a camera to the OP again.

Insanity is the definition of continuing to do the same thing over and over, but expect the results from your identical actions to be different, just because you are repeatly doing it. The people at Dell are not insane.

Regards,
David


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## nonac (Jan 18, 2013)

There was a scam very much like this a couple of years ago in my area at Best Buy. Someone was buying items like stereo receivers, dvd players, speakers, etc. and returning them to the store where they were restocked on the shelves. The next person to buy them got them home and found boards and/or bricks in the box.


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## RustyTheGeek (Jan 18, 2013)

The retail and consumer sales business has a name for this... it's called "Rocks in Box". It happens more than you might think. I remember several years back when an elderly couple received a bottle of spaghetti sauce instead of a new camcorder while travelling around Thankgiving. That made national news and they still didn't get a refund or a camcorder from Best Buy.

Back when Western Digital Raptor 10K RPM SATA Hard Drives were all the rage, I drove around to 3 Best Buy stores with my son and bought up 11 units because they were being clearance priced for an unbelievable $99. The best price anywhere was $150 online or local. I sold all but a couple on eBay easily for $140 each BuyItNow. Then I got a message stating that I had sent one buyer phone book pages! Turns out, I could peek in through a crack in one of the boxes I kept and it had phone book pages in it too! And they were shrink wrapped and everything. I had the guy return his phone book pages and I took them and the unopened box I still had back to the store. Best Buy wouldn't admit any wrong doing. And at that time, I was buying over $30K of stuff from Best Buy a year through my IT consulting business. I never would have received any refund or help if I hadn't known the "secret" contact info of several high ranking execs. Pathetic.

People (and service managers) forget that all this stuff travels through many channels and storage/logistics facilities before it arrives in the store or on the doorstep. Little theft rings can pop up just about anywhere!


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## jdramirez (Jan 18, 2013)

I know D&H... they are about 7 miles from my home. I can't vouch for their staff, but that's surprising to see.


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## Faxon (Jan 18, 2013)

I once received a Ham Radio Transceiver Kit by USPS Priority Mail, and it was an empty box, still sealed. The vendor was suspicious of me, but finally sent me a replacement kit. I guess crooks know how to empty a Priority Mail box. The postage on the box indicated it had something in it when mailed, but it was completely empty.

Why would anyone order a Canon Camera from DELL anyway..
B&H gets all my business since Amazon started collecting Sales tax for the State of Kalifornia.


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## Don Haines (Jan 18, 2013)

jdramirez said:


> I know D&H... they are about 7 miles from my home. I can't vouch for their staff, but that's surprising to see.


It's probably not them.... A crate of tampered product arrives, they open the crate, the camera boxes all look good and seem to be the right weight, so it goes on the shelf..... And they can be filling orders and nobody there suspects anything wrong.......


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## timkbryant (Jan 18, 2013)

*Re: saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*

If it is true, it confirms my preference to buy from actual brick-and-mortar stores. It gives you the ability to open the box in the store and remove any doubt of tampering.

If it is a scam, it is an ingenious way to go about it. It would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt when the alleged camera-flooring switch occurred.


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## lrf (Jan 18, 2013)

I recently ordered a 24-70 2.8 from Amazon. When I opened it a 24-105 lens was inside instead. All of the documentation indicated a 24-70 only the lens was different. It looked like someone had bought both and returned the less expensive lens in the 24-70 box.

Amazon customer service was excellent in handling the situation. I would not hesitate to purchase camera gear from them again.


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## jdavidse (Jan 18, 2013)

*Re: saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*

I once bought a Sony PSP from Walmart and when I opened it had a big rock in it. I don't doubt this happens but this guys story, especially the pictures are fishy.


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## Wildfire (Jan 18, 2013)

*Re: saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*



tpatana said:


> Like taking picture of the exact moment when you cut open the tape. Even if you photo the unboxing, you would never take that exact moment, unless it's the meant for evidence the tape wasn't tampered earlier. So in this case it proves it's fake/scammer wanting to steal 2 cameras from Dell.


My friend sends me unboxing pictures like that all the time for fun. Doesn't mean it's a hoax.

It's quite possible someone ripped of several cameras from the Dell warehouse.


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## BrandonKing96 (Jan 18, 2013)

Don Haines said:


> There was a story here a month or so ago how one of the local stores had sold an iPad, the person took it home, opened the box, and found a hunk of wood.... They brought it back to the store and were in a heated argument with the store manager when another customer came back with the same complaint. An examination of thier stock found a box of wooden ipads.... and all the boxes looked like they were factory sealed.
> 
> This type of thing does happen.


That type of thing does happen, but come on.. Twice?? And just happened to take pictures of everything before the actual product box? And well yeah it does happen... the amount of customers I had complain to me when their CD/Game case was completely sealed and there was nothing in it. 

Oh well some people are lucky, others aren't, and others are just good at lying too.


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## tpatana (Jan 18, 2013)

*Re: saw this blog about recieving wood instead of 5d mk3*



Wildfire said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > Like taking picture of the exact moment when you cut open the tape. Even if you photo the unboxing, you would never take that exact moment, unless it's the meant for evidence the tape wasn't tampered earlier. So in this case it proves it's fake/scammer wanting to steal 2 cameras from Dell.
> ...



Possible yes, and I can't prove it's hoax, but it smells real fishy.

Check the photos your friend has sent, how many times he has photo of the exact moment when he's cutting the tape open?

Also unless more people come out with similar story, what's the chances that he gets exactly the two boxes of wood, especially when they shipped from Dell ~1 week separate?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 18, 2013)

It is possible that someone inside Dell is stealing merchandise and putting junk in the box, that sort of thing happens. Things like this also happen in shipping, where a shipping employee does the same thing.
However, it does not deserve a headline like this one, it seems more like someone has a grudge against Dell. 
Passing on unsubstantiated Rumors like this one is not the smartest thing to do.


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## Dylan777 (Jan 18, 2013)

DArora said:


> Just bumped into this *ridiculous story*, floor wood instead of 5D3!!
> I wasn't expecting such thing from Dell.



Just my 2 cents:
I just don't believe this story. I bought many items through amazon, BH, adoroma and ebay....never have this type of problem :-X


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## nonac (Jan 18, 2013)

This kind of thing happens. Whether this particular one is real, I don't know. However, I do know it happens. I'm an internal auditor in my day job and in my many years of auditing I've uncovered all sorts of fraud cases. The thing is, if someone is doing this at Dell or the shipper, they will eventually get caught. Greed is very powerful and it makes the crook steal more and more. I have worked with law enforcement to set traps in theft cases with hidden cameras to catch thieves that can't stop. Keep in mind, thieves don't think they are going to get caught or they wouldn't attempt it.


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## a-hopps (Jan 18, 2013)

I have to say. I just received my 5dIII from B&H today and I recorded the unboxing after reading this. Just in case.


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## TrumpetPower! (Jan 18, 2013)

I can easily imagine the guy taking all the pictures of the unboxing. I did the exact same thing when I got my 400 f/2.8, and something similar when I got my iPF8100.

It's pretty clear that there's some sort of fraud going on. While it's possible it's the irate customer is the one committing the fraud, I have no trouble believing that the distribution center got compromised, that several boxes had cameras replaced with flooring, and they do so little business that the replacement was sent from the same compromised batch (or that an employee was doing the replacement on the fly, and the same one handled both orders). One would think that Dell would have ordered an immediate inspection of the inventory, including sampling of that particular lot, but it's not at all hard to imagine the sort of corporate incompetence that would result in that not happening. Especially if order fulfillment was (as Dell admitted) outsourced to the lowest bidder.

I trust B&H, and they'll continue to get my business. Dell...well, everything about Dell that I've ever dealt with has been about nothing but the lowest bidder and driving down prices. I value my money too much to waste it by being cheap.

b&


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## Lenry (Jan 18, 2013)

I purchased an EOS 20D online from Circuit City and received a small camera bag instead. The shipping weight showed the weight of the box and the tiny point and shoot camera bag, and I used that as proof that I never got the camera. I eventually did get the camera, but don't remember if I bought it from Circuit City.


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## thepancakeman (Jan 18, 2013)

Dylan777 said:


> Just my 2 cents:
> I just don't believe this story. I bought many items through amazon, BH, adoroma and ebay....never have this type of problem :-X



I saw a new article the other day that there was a car accident. I don't believe it--I've been driving for 25 years in all 50 states and have never had an accident. :

Just because it's rare and/or never happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen. 

As for the pictures being staged--I guess if I was photographing an unboxing I might include a cutting the tape shot. And I'd certainly take pics (or preferably video) of every single step the second time around.


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## ChilledXpress (Jan 19, 2013)

Yea, this does happen a lot. Do any of you shop at Fry's Electronics (California)... this is a pretty common type of scam where people buy and then return either an older product or something of similar weight. There was an incident last year where a pallet of iPads was obviously sacked and had wood planks cut to match inside over 30 boxes. This was done with great care as no one actually found out until a bunch started to get returned. 

As for unboxing and photographing/video... Youtube search will show that tons of people think this is a awesome way to show off new toys. Lame I know but happens all the time!


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## Dylan777 (Jan 19, 2013)

thepancakeman said:


> Dylan777 said:
> 
> 
> > Just my 2 cents:
> ...



About "little green people" on youtube, do you believe that too?


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## tpatana (Jan 19, 2013)

thepancakeman said:


> Dylan777 said:
> 
> 
> > Just my 2 cents:
> ...



Normal person would use other hand to hold the box while cutting the tape.

That one is fake, I could bet on it. Can't prove it still, but it smells like month old sushi.


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## pedro (Jan 19, 2013)

Frist photo looks fishy to me. Can't see any tape attached to the box, so... :


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## digital paradise (Jan 25, 2013)

It is legit. Happened to a member at POTN and was raked through the coals but came out clean.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1264733


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