Complaint Review: 86th Street Photo & Video

I ordered a Garmin Nuvi 760 from these guys on Friday, 12/26 for $199.00. I did my research, and this was the lowest price on the Internet. I did notice that when I was checking out, there was an entire page of overpriced accessories available for the item, like a 512MB SD card for $119.99! I ignored these items and placed my order.

I received an email on Tuesday, 12/30 stating that I had to call them to verify my order. I thought that this was a bit odd since this was a very straightforward order. Anyway, I called and entered extension 230 for "Steve" per the instructions in the email. After a pretty long wait, I finally got a human on the phone. He verified my shipping and billing address. Then he asked me why I didn't order an AC adapter. I said that I assumed that the unit came with an AC adapter. He informed me that it didn't. I asked him why I couldn't just use the DC adapter. He said that the DC adapter only kept the unit running in the car. I should really order an AC adapter as well. I asked him how much? He gave me two prices. $79.00 for the standard charger and $99.00 for the quick charger. I told him that something didn't seem right. I said that I would call back.

I went to the Garmin web site and found that he was indeed correct in that the base Nuvi 760 did not come with an AC adapter. However, Garmin offers a Travel Pack which contains among other things, an AC adapter, that you can by directly from Garmin for $34.99. Or, you can by the AC adapter alone for $25.00.

Armed with this information, I called back to ask them to ship me the unit with out any extras. I dialed extension 230 just as I did the first time. After a long wait, I heard the same voice, I assume it was Steve, that I spoke with the first time. I said, I was just speaking with you about verifying my order. He said nothing. I was immediately placed on hold. After another even longer wait, I got a different voice on the phone. I said that I received an email about verifying my order. He immediately said that my item was on backorder and wanted to know if I wanted to cancel my order. I cancelled it.

Hmmm funny how the first guy never mentioned anything about the item being on backorder. Wait, I know how this scam works, the item doesn't actually go on backorder until you refuse to buy their ridiculously overpriced accessories.

Don't waste your time with these guys.

Bobec
Stafford, Virginia
U.S.A.