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

[DArora]

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

[wadesbrain]

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?

[scottkinfw]

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

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

[tpatana]

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.

[woodenpunch]

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!

[BrandonKing96]

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.

[Don Haines]

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.

[bycostello]

oh no...  thanks for the heads up though

[Marsu42]

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 :->

[dafrank]

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

[nonac]

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.

[RustyTheGeek]

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!

[jdramirez]

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. 

[Faxon]

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.

[Don Haines]

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.......