Digitalrev.com - Beware!

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billandben

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Daniel Radcliffe
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Hi,

I thought i would post this on the forums for anyone that was considering purchasing anything from Digitalrev.com.

I placed an order for a 50D with a load of accessories yesterday with them and then this morning woke to find that I had an email from them saying that my transaction could not be processed due to a discrepancy in the information provided (i know the information provided was correct) See below for extract.

Thank you for your order. Before we can proceed with your order, we need to verify your credit card for the protection of the card holder. This extra step is required for this order, because of ONE of the following: - The Card Holder’s Name does not match the Recipient’s Name as it appears in the Shipping Address. - You have not provided a landline telephone number or the number provided is invalid.- The security code you have provided is incorrect.- The invoice address does not match the credit’s card billing address. We therefore request you to fax us 1) a copy of a valid photo ID (e.g. Driving License with Photo, Passport or National ID Card) showing your - Name (must be the same as the cardholder’s) And 2) a valid proof of the shipping address. This can be in the form of:- Utility Bill (Gas, Water, Electricity or Landline telephone)- Bank Statement- Credit Card Statement
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This i thought of as very stange so i refused to send them information that could be used to "clone" me. After informing them of this via email then cancelled my order, which is fair enough, dont expect them to send me it without me paying for it :lol:

I then checked on my CC statement and it shows that payment has been taken, this is despite the site indicating that no payment would be taken until the items are ready for dispatch. So they wont send me the items because they want me to prove the card is mine yet have taken payment from it? :cuckoo:

So i phone them up and let them know this and they agree to refund the money, but this could take up to 2 weeks WTF?!?!?! but they could not give a reason why it would take so long to do so even though their site clearly states refund would be done within 72 hours.

So I am now left with no camera on the way and £1250 worth of CC bill to pay. Not very happy. But on the plus side should the refund not appear in 2 weeks time the CC company will refund me and chase the company up. So this has become a nuisance as it means i will not be able to get my new camera for at least 2 more weeks, if not longer :shake:

So if you do decide to do business with this lot, be VERY CAREFUL.

Regards

EDIT: I also to add that after refusing to send them the information they even frooze my account on their so I am unable to even log in to it. Guess they dont want me around anymore :p
 
Sorry to here the bad news

I have always been a bit worried about buying stuff from there, don't know but after what has just happened to you I'll stay well away

Hope you get it sorted out soon though!!
 
In all honesty it does sound very much like they were attempting to do some major CC damage to you by asking for that information.
 
Hope you get sorted soon thanks for the warning
Bob
 
Yeah, even teh CC company turned aroudn and said they should never have asked for that information. But there is nothing they can do until the 2 week period is up.

Things happen, just happy I am covered by my CC.
 
I have been buying from DigitalRev for a couple of years now. I have always found them to be reliable and honest. Nearly all my kit came from them.

I always pay by Paypal though.
 
I've bought from DigitalRev before and no problems to report. And the refund they offered for import duty was paid very promptly.
 
Sorry to hear you are having problems

After an experience with digitalrev that left me out of pocket for a couple of weeks to the tune of about the same value I will never use them or recommend them again.
 
That does sound really crappy service but what I will say is that I'm sure it's an administration blunder rather than an attempt to defraud you.

I was in Hong Kong at the beginning of April and stumbled upon DigitalRev's two retail outlets, which are extremely plush shops located near some of Hong Kong's top tourist attractions and not some backstreet operation.

In all honesty, I'm surprised anyone's buying from Hong Kong at all given the current state of Sterling.
 
My fiancee had a similar issue with them over a Hoya Pro 1 filter which eventually just got cancelled but they took payment and never recieved it!
 
I purchased a D200, 18-200, 50 f1.8, 105mm, D40x, SB600 & SB800 off them and paid by bank transfer. Never had a single problem with them at all and items arrived in 4 days, they even refunded me my import duty!

It would appear that this is just an error and I am sure they will sort it but they are an honest and decent company.
 
I've never had any problems with them, but many retailers and cc companies are getting tough on credit card fraud, so you may just have inadvertently brought up a red flag in their billing system.
 
billandben said:
But there is nothing they can do until the 2 week period is up.
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Yes there is something you can do. Phone the CC company and tell them to put the charge in dispute. You will then not have to pay it. Why should you be out of pocket?
 
bigbigblue said:
Yes there is something you can do. Phone the CC company and tell them to put the charge in dispute. You will then not have to pay it. Why should you be out of pocket?
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Because of timing i wont have to pay the bill of until mid july anyhow. But they wont put it in to dispute until the 2 week period is over because i said that they said tehy would refund in that time.

This thread wasnt to say that they are an terrible company and not to trade with the, more just a warning that things can and do go wrong and they have put no effort in to resolving the issue.

Just 1 of those things. Just hope the 2 weeks doesnt happen or I will never get my camera :(
 
I have spent at least £2000 with them with no trouble at all. On two occasions when I was caught for import duty the credited me with in twelve hours.

From your experience it sounds like they are taking security very seriously. which I welcome.
I use paypal with them. paid on a verified account.

Refunds can take some time to process as scammers have been known to use the overlap time to do a runner. so traders now wait for your cash to hit their account before refunding. This is normal and a correct procedure.
 
People have had identical experiences with UK companies, if there is any discrepancy with the CC details they ask for loads of info to prove that you are the CC holder (protecting you and them from fraud).

However the two week delay in refunding the money is taking the ****
 
TriggerHappy said:
And the refund they offered for import duty was paid very promptly.
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Have they stopped doing this?

From their website ...

The item will be shipped to you from our Hong Kong office. The item may be subjected to customs import tax/fee when it enters your country. By buying internationally, you are considered an importer. Therefore it is your responsibility in case there is some import tax/fee to pay.
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I can't see a problem with their request - it's perfectly reasonable for them to ask for proof of your ID and billing address when there's been an issue with your credit-card details. And I can't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to blank out any personal information other than what they've specifically asked for as they wouldn't be able to use it to verify that what you've sent them was genuine.

There's a lot of things that can go wrong when processing credit-card information (address mismatches, syntax errors, problems with email domains and location of your bank account, etc etc) and it's more than likely that the information you've provided has been flagged up by their banking systems and they are simply trying to ensure that you are who you say you are and you live where you say you live before they send you an expensive piece of equipment that they might not get any money for.

I'm very surprised that money has been debited from your account though. It's standard practice for a sum of money to be 'reserved' for the eventual payment even before the money has been taken (so the company you are dealing with can be totally sure they'll get paid) but another for anything to be actually debited. But if it really has been debited and your bank can verify this, why not just contact DR and explain that they should have the money in their account and therefore can ship the goods in full knowledge that the transaction has been cleared?

If you are insistent on getting your refund the two week delay will just be a standard bit of blurb to inform you that it might take up to 14 days but in reality it will most likely be much quicker than that. Just like when a company tells you your delivery will arrive in '7 -14 days' but you find it on your doorstep the following morning. But unfortunately your bank is at the mercy of the retailer in this instance as it's you who have placed them in the situation, albeit inadvertently.
 
NorthernNikon said:
Have they stopped doing this?

From their website ...
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When I bought a Sigma 120-300 f2.8 from them, if bought direct from their website, you were liable for any import duty, however they often ran e-bay "buy it now" auctions with a guarantee to pay the duty. Also the price was less than their website price.

In common with some other satisfied customers, I didn't have any major complaints (payment took a few days more than I had expected to clear on their system), paid by bank transfer (after doing a lot of research on their history etc...), and they also refunded the import duty quickly - within hours of emailing them a scanned copy of the receipt for payment of the duty.
 
yeah, they do 2 auctions 1 with refund guarentee on tax and 1 without, also its quite frequent when importing stuff to have to supply proof of adress/cc etc, my first order at play asia i had to fax my credit card bill to them with a copy of my card, sounds dodgy but its what i had to do, mind if it was a small company id never heard of id of run a mile.
 
Another happ DR customer here . Never had a problem at all.
Have had similar requests myself from UK businesses.
 
NorthernNikon said:
Have they stopped doing this?
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They don't seem to offer the "VAT Free" option on their Ebay auctions any more and when I bought my PWs from them the VAT was taken into account in the final price I paid and declared on the customs douane....
 
They added 15% VAT charge on top of the order (they show prices VAT inc and ex) so you are paying the import TAX. They also add a small fee on for handling it for you.
 
I sympathise with the OP - I had similar experience with Virgin - booked a holiday and got a quote for car hire that I declined. The processed my car hire and took the money form my credit card (the one used to pay for the holiday) - when queried, accepted that I did not accept the quote and promised a refund. It took 72 days to get the money back. American Express did not cover themselves with glory either.

Chris
 
surely the problem and suspicion here is due to the fact that they asked for confirmation regarding the charge, because there was an error. asked for extra personal data and then charged the card anyway.

the only thing that explains this satisfactorily is if your credit card company refused at first and then authorised the payment between the refusal and their contacting the OP.
I would check with your CC company to see if they did, at first, refuse the payment.

otherwise this is really out of order.
 
I'm still waiting for something I ordered at the begining of April, had to wait 4 weeks for them to think about resending it, then didn't get the dispatch notification for two weeks, but still nothing.

To rub salt in the wound I've since found out I could have got it cheaper from 7dayshop!
 
I've had a similar bad experience. They were initially very good at shipping lenses paid by credit card but for no reason they froze my account and declared that all future orders must be by wire transfer. They will not answer any product questions. I also cannot login in. My many thousands of reward points are gone.
Never have I been 'locked out' of a website. DigitalRev seem to be extremely arrogant. I cannot think why they no longer allow credit card payments or why they would not allow customers (who have spent thousands) to log in.
Anyway, perhaps I was lucky. Perhaps they do a few good deals with you before playing you for a 'wire transfer' that can never be reversed or reclaimed. Avoid.

Quote. 6 June 2011.

"In regards to your inquiry, all we can do for you are private orders. All payments must be paid via bank transfer. Please let us know if you wish to do so and we can continue with the order. Thank you
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us."

Best regards,
Jovi
Customer Services
 
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To provide a perspective from another side I work for a MAJOR travel company and yes there are gremlins in the system. there are times when the money gets taken and certain things dont get confirmed through no fault of anyone but a pc.

even though the bookings can go through to a few thousand pounds - there is no reason what so ever anyone would ask for copies of the stuff they asked. copies of ID's shouldnt be sent around willfully.
 
I've never purchased anything from them mainly because it's the Japanese models they sell and I wanted the UK model of my DSLR.

The customer service was very good and they are on ebay and always doing deals so you can grab a bargain.

I think you may jsut have been a but unlucky with them this time.

Hope it all works out for you :)

P.S. Try http://www.jacobsdigital.co.uk/ for your equipment - my personal favourite!
 
lja said:
I've had a similar bad experience. They were initially very good at shipping lenses paid by credit card but for no reason they froze my account and declared that all future orders must be by wire transfer. They will not answer any product questions. I also cannot login in. My many thousands of reward points are gone.
Never have I been 'locked out' of a website. DigitalRev seem to be extremely arrogant. I cannot think why they no longer allow credit card payments or why they would not allow customers (who have spent thousands) to log in.
Anyway, perhaps I was lucky. Perhaps they do a few good deals with you before playing you for a 'wire transfer' that can never be reversed or reclaimed. Avoid.

Quote. 6 June 2011.

"In regards to your inquiry, all we can do for you are private orders. All payments must be paid via bank transfer. Please let us know if you wish to do so and we can continue with the order. Thank you
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us."

Best regards,
Jovi
Customer Services
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For me makes me wonder why, have they been blacklisted by the CC companies becasue of the number of dis-satisfied customer or something.
Trouble is you have no protection that way. best leave well alone.
 
jamesoliverstone said:
Arent they a trader on here? They seem to have their own forum on this site...
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They are.

It must be pointed out that DigitalRev have committed no crime here. They simply refused someones credit card for whatever reason .... It happens.

It seems strange that someone joining today makes a beeline for a two year old post for their opening remark ... :thinking:
 
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