My scammed experience in BALLY PHOTO ELECTRONICS @Funan

[weegk]

Thanks for sharing . . . hope you enjoy the camera from now . . .

If unsure, you can always post here for advise on things to buy, etc.

 

[AhKar]

Feel for your loss, but make big purchase have to check the shops you are going to compare. Anyway please do some paragraphing, it's a bit hard to read the wall of text.

 

[evilorgi]

ouch! TS i feel ur pain! Bally photo never had a gd reputation and this shows other cs-er that if a deal is too good to be true, it's better to walk away.. Bally photo shld b catered to tourist market n can be classified along most of sim lim shops..

u can actually sell ur uv filter away in cs, but of course don't expect to sell more than the retail price. thanks for highlighting this to other forumers n I am sure many will benefit with ur sharing. for funan I would actually visit tk foto n Jo 3:16.. if nt I will juz head to peninsular for Cathay photo.. thou price might b a lil higher, u get what u asked for n of course, at the price they quote u...

 

[Hinata76]

it's your very 1st post and you are telling that you got scammed? oh dear:what: since you don't have a lot of experience to buy DSLR, you could have got an experienced friend to tag along.

that's a hard and painful way to buy a DSLR.

i second that....

bump for rookie

 

[lon3fly3r]

aiyo, nxt time see the goods b4 u pay. go market buy pork also can choose liao den pay

 

[SumoBear]

Oh dear....this sounds like a bad experience for a 1st timer. But if you did ask for a kit lens, shouldn't they give you a Canon Kit set? Anyway just shoot and be happy....the nice photos will make you bloom with a smie

 

[evermith11]

Wow that really sucks...Next time try reputable stores like MS Colour or Cathay Photo..
Always research online first before purchasing anything

 

[farbird]

My thoughts on this..
Users whom buy body with kit lens sounds like amateurs buying their first DSLR and thus appear to be "makanable" by these shop owners.

Moreoever, whatever kit lens u buy, I am quite sure u will be selling them soon enough to upgrade to a 17-50 F2.8 tamron or something similar.

my personal opinion...

 

[fireflyzhu]

it is outside of the kit box, yes, i know the lens should be in the kit box, that is how i realized that they are scamming me, but it was too late, i already paid the money. the brand should be Tamron,

Hi, can you tell us what is the "strange" brand that you are referring to? Are you talking about Sigma, Tokina and Tamron? Is that lens inside the box of the EOS 60D or outside as itself? Since you are buying the kit set EF-S 18-200mm, it should be a bigger box of the EOS 60D. Did you see the box written as EOS 60D with EF-S 18-200mm?

 

[fireflyzhu]

i am 28 years old, i went to there alone, i think you should go and buy things with your friends as many bros suggested here, more ppl will find out the scams more easily, and gel much less chance to be scammed.
and pls tell more ppl not go to that scamming shop. thank you.

Hi bro,

May I ask how old are you or how old you look like? I am curious to know if they try to pull stunt on young buyers or anyone in general.

Good thing you called the Police, dun let them be bullied. I shall up the thread often to inform others.

 

[fireflyzhu]

thank you bro,

Aiyah, papajanggo33, no need to be mean....there's a first for everyone. I'm sure u had your first time(s) too. When I first started, I too dont have ANY friends who were experienced with DSLRs! You probably have a wider social circle of friends? :dunno:

To TS: I had the same experience with Bally in SLS and that was 2.5yrs ago. But I learnt. Am proud of you that you had the courage to call the Police! Hope that this nasty experience will be a learning curve for you. Well, shoot more, and make more friends in here then! I have made some really good friends whom I learnt alot from! Keep shooting! All the best!

 

[engrmariano]

http://www.case.org.sg/

 

[fireflyzhu]

Hi there, you mentioned that the sales staff put everything into a plastic and throw it out of his store and asked you to go.
So he actually throw the plastic bag with the camera and lens, out of the store? Did you check for any damages on the camera and lens?
not actually throw, just get everything out of the store and ask me get out as well, then i have to wait just in front of the store for the police, then a ppl said he is the manager showed up and get everything back to the store and would discuss with me...

Matter of fact, you should not have accept the offer done by the manager as the items have been thrown out of the store; instead you should have just wait for the police to come and ensure he gets a new set for you with the right lens.
Anyway, it had already been happened. Just try to monitor the functionality of your camera, and if something isn't right about it; just bring it down to the store again with the receipt.
If you don't dare to do so, you ask some of the fellow guys here to accompany you to reason out on the possible.

Totally agreed that Bally is not being honest in their selling methods. Something needs to be done. As a Nikon user, I feel Bally should be ceased from being an authorized dealer for Nikon, who is supposed to be trustworthy & recommendable by Nikon.

Therefore, I suggest all Nikon users or other brands users should gather up & write into the respective manufacturers to withdraw their authorization to name Bally as their dealer to prevent any misleading selling to more newbies or inexperienced buyer in general.

i totally agree, how come such a scamming store can became a recommendable store. please tell as many friends as you can what Bally really is...

 

[kaylan2000]

I can feel your pain but think logically, it's you yourself is to be blamed. You initially took the right decision to call police but then you gave up.

To most of the people, a $2000 buy is a BIG BUY. It naturally requires a bit of research. Minimally research on
1. What model to buy
2. At what price
3. From where

In this internet age, don't complain about lack of clear information. :nono:

There had been plenty and plenty of bad news about Sim Lim in general, Bally, Alan and those. And there had been in general good remarks about Cathay, MS Color, OP. Just for your info, Cathay is just next building to Funan.

Sorry, I am a bit direct. Your intention of educating the other newbies are well appreciated...... but in reality this will happen again to another novice. I sincerely hope your this message will save atleast one novice .. but I doubt!!

Think positively, it's still not that bad, you hardly lost $100-200 only and you learned the lesson. There are many people who got chopped much more than that... that's the reason they are called chop shop.

Forget as bad nightmare and enjoy photography.

I really wonder, how these shops survives?

 

[fireflyzhu]

you are so smart bro, if you did not walk out, you might have the same experience as i had yesterday...

Dont ever buy anything from Bally Photo Electronic. When I wanted to buy my first SLR ... Canon 7D ... they quoted me a price ...$1400. I asked the sales guy... are you sure? He glared at me and said yes. I stared at him and decided to walk out... Too good to be true. I was just not comfortable.

Yesterday I walked into the shop to look for a camera bag. One of the salesmen quoted $ 190. Before that I have checked out the price from 2 other shops... $105 and $109 . Half an hour later , I went back to the shop again ....$140.

From that moment... I knew that this shop cannot be trusted. Shouldn't this shop be blacklisted?????????:angry:

 

[fireflyzhu]

i agree, there should be a list including all of these black stores and posted in this forum to remind every ppl

I think all the bro & sis who had been scammed should make a report them against CASE, post on their blog, and face book, and also, get the forum.....

A collective report will be more powerful!!!!!

 

[kiwi2]

I can feel your pain but think logically, it's you yourself is to be blamed. You initially took the right decision to call police but then you gave up.

To most of the people, a $2000 buy is a BIG BUY. It naturally requires a bit of research. Minimally research on
1. What model to buy
2. At what price
3. From where

In this internet age, don't complain about lack of clear information. :nono:

There had been plenty and plenty of bad news about Sim Lim in general, Bally, Alan and those. And there had been in general good remarks about Cathay, MS Color, OP. Just for your info, Cathay is just next building to Funan.

Sorry, I am a bit direct. Your intention of educating the other newbies are well appreciated...... but in reality this will happen again to another novice. I sincerely hope your this message will save atleast one novice .. but I doubt!!

Think positively, it's still not that bad, you hardly lost $100-200 only and you learned the lesson. There are many people who got chopped much more than that... that's the reason they are called chop shop.

Forget as bad nightmare and enjoy photography.

I really wonder, how these shops survives?

I don't think you are fair in saying it is fireflyzhu's (FFZ) fault. If you read carefully, FFZ did do some research by comparing prices.

The key word is 60D KIT. Obviously, kit refers to Canon body and Canon lens. But FFZ was given a non-Canon lens which was presumably a lot cheaper. That's downright cheating by the shop.

I can safely say there isn't any excellent photo shop in Singapore. Some shops come with some good points, but they also have bad points. For eg, if you want good service, don't expect the shop to sell you at best price. Or it may be super crowded making the shopping unpleasant (sounds familiar?) On the other hand, if best price is your priority, you must either know the boss or don't expect good service.

It's really a sad pathetic state. Time and again, we hear people getting cheated. It's an on-going thing for years. Yet hardly anything has yet to be done to these notorious shops. It's like we are still living in the Singapore back in the 70's or 80's.

Another sad thing is that those who are cheated are the ones with very good intentions. Eg wanting to pick up the joy of photography or buying the camera as a present. Remember the recent case about the wife who wanted to surprise her hubby with a camera lens as a present? In the end, she got cheated by several hundred $ cos she hardly knows much about photography.

I also wonder how these shops can survive. It probably only goes to show what crappy system we sometimes have here. You can get fined for littering, not flushing the toilet, drinking on MRT trains. But for shops that continually dare to cheat on the innocent and tourists. That's ok? Hmmm....

 

[davsmiths]

TS, at least you didn't get con by a lot. Kudos to you for standing your ground.

 

[fireflyzhu]

i really do not want to talk or see any ppl from the Bally shop, it really makes me feel very bad, yesterday, when i call the manager regarding the UV filter, i feel really angry again, his tone was completely different from when the police was there.
anyway, i will try my best to let more ppl know my experience, and hope less ppl will be scammed by the Bally shop. i will try the case thing, and see whether can blacklist this store.

in this event. you can log to case.
Call them up,can it be 7 days refund policy.
If can get refund from them, just get full refund from them.
You can buy from other shop.
Once it log feedback to case. that shop will be blacklisted.

 

[senray]

My friends and I have came to a conclusion when it comes to shopping for cameras. If we happen to see the sales persons slacking, reading newspapers, idling and strolling at their shop fronts looking for victims to cheat; more often than not, that particular shop is a scammed shop. Because good shops dun bother looking for customers.. customers go to them.

=)