"I will make sure you will never be able to place an order on the internet again." "I'm an attorney, I will sue you." "I will call the CEO of your company and play him the tape of this phone call." "I'm going to call your local police and have two officers come over and arrest you." "You'd better get this through your thick skull." "You have no idea who you are dealing with."
These are all direct threats that I received today from an individual who identified himself as Steve Phillips, the manager of PriceRitePhoto in Brooklyn, New York when I called to inquire about my order with them. My crime? Telling him that I planned to write an article about my unfortunate experience with his company regarding the camera order I had placed with him yesterday."
Read the full article over at Thomas Hawk's blog.
I rather think the abusive salesman at PriceRitePhoto had no idea who he was dealing with when he tried to strong-arm Thomas Hawk. A compaint is on file with the New York Attorney General's office and outraged internet users have flooded the company with phone calls, emails, and even DOS attacks. None of these tactics are at Thomas' direction of course, but it's easy to understand the indignation when you read about the way Thomas was treated by this store. Not only was he repeatedly threatened, but the salesman even had the affront to call and harrass Thomas' boss!
It is simply unbelievable that a company could behave like this, and expect to make money doing it. It makes you wonder how many people have been pressured into spending far more money than they wanted to by unscrupulous companies like PriceRitePhoto. It really is a staggering story. If crooked salesmen are trying this pressure scam on the kind of people who would buy a Canon 5d, people who you would think, like Thomas, are well aware of what accessories they need or don't need, then I hate to imagine how many less well informed people have been taken in when buying consumer electronics over the internet.
If it wasn't for the overwhelming response of the blogging community, who have risen to challenge this assault on one of their own with such energy and commitment, this would be a sad sad story. It's wonderful to think of this bully being put so firmly in place by the defiance of ordinary people, an uplifting tale from the digital trenches.
Now it seems that picking on Thomas Hawk will be the last thing this company does.
For a play by play on developments check out Thomas' original post and the commentry on Digg.com.
