PhotoAlley going out of business - use your xmas gc'soon!

[RobK]

From fu*kedcompany.com:

Rumor has it PhotoAlley.com has pissed away around $10 million and will be shutting down any day now.
When: 1/24/2002
Company: PhotoAlley.com
Severity: 100 - new hall of fame inductee!
Points: 200
20 comments in the Happy Fun Slander Corner!

 

[XFreebie]

another one bytes the dust.

 

[Justincase]

Finally being put out of their misery. Good riddance. The sooner the better...although I feel for some of you that didn't put your PhotoAlley grievances into disputes with your credit cards.

After looking and looking through just about everything at the site, I finally used the only $100.00 GC that they actually sent me, to buy a Fuji 4800 bundle. Everything else at their crappy site is overpriced. I never did get the 2 PhotoAlley $100.00 GCs for the Minolta Dimage 7s from December, and put $200.00 into dispute with my CC...cash is better anyway

 

[RobK]

For the dishonest, remember - credit card disputes w/ bankrupt companies usually end in your favor, since no one is around to respond to the dispute from the ccard company.

 

[Bob151]

<< For the dishonest, remember - credit card disputes w/ bankrupt companies usually end in your favor, since no one is around to respond to the dispute from the ccard company. >>


Ohhhhh. That's a bad thought. I never would of thought of this situation it that way.

 

[RossMAN]

Phew glad I took the advice from Justincase and others to avoid PhotoAlley ... I hope a lot of AT and FW Hot Dealers see this and spend their GC's ASAP!

 

[GetReal]

<< For the dishonest, remember - credit card disputes w/ bankrupt companies usually end in your favor, since no one is around to respond to the dispute from the ccard company. >>



I would say that most of the time this is not true. It really depends on what you are disputing. Basically the only CC disputes that you can win outright when a company bankruptcy is involved is non-receipt of merchandise. In the case of quality of goods or not being able to return merchandise under the bankrupt merchant's published policies, the CC company will give the merchant a chance to respond to the dispute and then they may ruled in your favor. In such cases, your CC company almost always requires that you attempt to physically return the merchandise and in cases where the merchandise is not accepted by the merchant or the merchant is unavailable, they may requie that you ship the merchandise to the CC company. Most CC will require that you return disputed merchasndise valued at over $100, but this amout will vary by CC Comapny and state due to governing state laws. In either case, don't count on the fact that just becase a company files bankruptcy that there will be no one representing the company is these disputes. Companies othen maintain administrative staff for a period of time, even years sometimes. to address legal issues resulting from their bankruptcy. In cases where no one from the merchant is available, the CC company that handled the merchant's CC transactions will often take over such legal responsibilities for the merchants and will respond to your charge dispute(s) on the merchant's behalf. In case such as these merchant's CC company always requests that you return the merchandise to them before a chargeback is allowed.

 

[StageLeft]

<< For the dishonest, remember - credit card disputes w/ bankrupt companies usually end in your favor, since no one is around to respond to the dispute from the ccard company. >>

I'm not sure this is so true either. We've had to wait a number of months to get back money after paying for tickets on Canada 3000 airline after it went bankrupt because we did not get our flight. It's definitely not as simple as asking for the money and since nobody is working at the bankrupt company you can get your cash back.

 

[theedge]

Yeah F them! Good bye! After trying to buy the Nikon 995 this XMAS they cancelled my order because my CC was declined... total BS, It had 10000$ ready to be charged!

The good part (and maybe the reason they are going under) is that I got double credited $24 for ebates, and then $100 for the microsoft deal. But they only cancelled one of the ebates and the microsoft thing was confirmed yesterday .. $124 for them cancelling me... thanks basdads...

 

[LizReed]

PA credited me with $22 on ebates when I ordered my camera, then credited me another $22 when I canceled because the puds were out of stock.

Thanks Photo Alley!@!

 

[Ribbet]

<< ... credit card disputes w/ bankrupt companies usually end in your favor, since no one is around to respond to the dispute from the ccard company. >>

>I would say that most of the time this is not true.... the only CC disputes that you can win outright when a company bankruptcy is involved is non-receipt of merchandise.

There are no guarantees, of course, but .... Last year we got a $1,000 Maytag refrigerator for $22 (!!) when Montgomery Wards was going through bankruptcy. The fridge was slightly damaged when Wards delivered it. We disputed the charge (twice) after 2 attempts to fix it -- each time adding $350 (!!) for the "hour of our time each repair-attempt required."

Our CC issuer was Citibank -- which I expected to be "tight-assed." But they actually coached us on how to "phrase" our dispute letter; and they didn't flinch when we asked for $700 for the 2 hours we spent getting the fridge repaired.

So... there's hope, but no guarantees.

 

[tazmania99]

I feel happy about their bankruptcy if it is true although my MSN reward via the purchase from photoalley is in jeopardy. Anyone knows what will be the possible impacts about the MSN rewards if photoalley actually goes out of biz?

 

[GetReal]

<< PA credited me with $22 on ebates when I ordered my camera, then credited me another $22 when I canceled because the puds were out of stock.

Thanks Photo Alley!@! >>



eBates usually does an excellent job verifiying pending credits in your account before they actually cut you a check each quarter. I know they check at least twice per quarter and update you account balance accordingly. They also will not pay you until the merchant pays them even for valid purchases. This is why they are still in business while other similar programs are long gone. Having a credit showing in your eBates accountf rom Photoalley is one thing, eBates actually paying you is another.:Q

 

[kindest]

I ordered a Canon G2 from them last week, i expect it today/tommorow.
Ill let you know how it turns out.

 

[Justincase]

Hmmm...like everything else, your mileage will vary...I just looked at my Ebates history - they did catch an OfficeMax order that I cancelled, but I did receive full credit for a Dell order that never shipped (Ebates cut the check last fall).

 

[LukFilm]

<< Hmmm...like everything else, your mileage will vary...I just looked at my Ebates history - they did catch an OfficeMax order that I cancelled, but I did receive full credit for a Dell order that never shipped (Ebates cut the check last fall). >>



Me too. Cancelled two Dell orders and still got credited for both of them

 

[VaG]

A small discussion about this was locked a few days ago. link You have a better title though. There is some useful customer service number too.

 

[masterjp]

Finally they get what they deserve!!!

It is still unclear where Steve will jump-on-comission in the future?

 

[fishlet]

I ordered Nikon 995 from PhotoAlley. I returned it in one month, since I never receive the gift card. PA didn't return my money,after severl calls and emails. I even paid my credit card charge. I wrote to my credit card company to dispute before Christmas. I didn't get any information from CC after that. I lost hope. I suddenly received the letter from my CC last week. They notified me I got my money back!!! ))

Thanks, god!