Complaint Review: KL Photo & Electronic

I was on vacation with my family in San Francisco and we stopped into this store to purchase some postcards and keychains that were advertised 10 for $10. I was approached by a salesperson who offered to demonstrate an infrared lens that could be screwed onto my exiting SLR camera lens. He asked me for my camera and attached the lens. He had me point the camera at him to see the difference in the wide angle of the lens, how it captured a wider field of view. Then he took the lens off the camera and began to demonstrate it's infrared capability. I didn't realize at the time that he was demonstrating the lens on another camera, which itself was infrared capable. He proceeded to demonstrate to me how much light the lens allowed into the aperture of the camera such that you could take perceivable images in in extreme low light conditions. He even showed me on a computer monitor how it could take images in the dark. The package he showed me had a price tag if $899. He told me I could have it for $300. I told him no thank you. But he kept on insisting. He pulled out a magazine to show me how other lenses that were infrared capable were selling for close to $1000 but that since there was some event that had resulted in very low sales for that day, he was willing to lower the price to $200. I still said no. But he tried one more time, he showed me how the camera could take pictures of individual whiskers on his face, the incredible detail, all on the computer screen, and he even said he would throw in 20 keychains for $10 if I purchased the lens for $150.

At that point I was convinced and fell for the high pressure sales pitch. Immediately after purchasing, my family and me went to try out the new lens on my Canon SLR camera to attempt to recreate the effect he showed us. But no matter how many times I tried, I could not. I realized instantly that I had been deceived after my family members pointed out to me that the whole time I was looking at an image on a computer screen using a different camera and one that was capable of infrared. The lens itself is a wide angle and macro lens that you can purchase on Amazon for around $50, which I have since investigated and found out. I went back immediately, not even 10 minutes after purhase and demanded a refund. I was told that there could be no refund. I asked to speak to the owner and was told that the owner was unavailable and wouldn't be back for several days. So I decided to try to get satisfaction through my card company, my bank. I had used a debit card, instead of insisting on it being rung through as a credit transaction. Unfortunately it doesn't have fraud liability coverage.

The salesperson lied about product being infrared. Wouldn't refund the product 10 min after purchase. I went to my bank to initiate a consumer fraud complaint and asked for a charge back to the account and offered to ship the product back to the vendor. The charge back was put through again on my card. 

There hasn't been any communication whatsoever to resolve my complaint or concerns. This business seems to engage in deliberate fraud and deception of customers, perhaps due to the fact that it is a highly traveled tourist area across from the Fisherman’s Wharf.

I want to return the product for a refund. It remains unused, except for the one time that I used it to recreate the demonstration, and have notified the seller that I am willing to ship it back, when I submitted my complaint and charge back through my bank. Now that this vendor refuses to deal with this issue, I am complaining here and will be complaining in as many venues as possible, until I get satisfaction, or until as many people as possible know about the deceptive practices of this business.