BestCameras review

Customer service is the worst i've experienced online... I had a Ricoh superzoom digital camera gifted to me for christmas. It was purchased a few days before christmas, and arrived on time, which impressed the person who bought it for me.

On christmas day, I did what anyone does...switched the camera on; after all, how can one tell if an electrical item that is given as a gift is suitable, without opening the box and switching it on? It turned out that the zooming mechanism was ridicolously loud, and the camera wouldn't take pictures indoors without being really dark and grainy. (I played about with the menus, trying to improve its performance...yet, it failed to perform anywhere near the 3 year old Sony V1 it was to replace; and markedly worse than the budget Canon Ixus 70 that my brother purchased from America.)

As such, i got in touch with the company; informed them that i had switched the item on, as you do on christmas day when you receive something that may well suit your needs 100%. I was duly informed both by the discourteous girl that answered the phone, and then by the manager, that there would be no chance of a refund of any kind, as the camera had been switched on. I found this incredulous---how could it be legal for a camera company that sells at distance, to sell items around christmas, and be so adamant that they were not going to offer a refund ?

So, i consulted the distance selling regulations, which stipulated that I was fully entitled to a refund, given that the item was purchased within 7 working days, and had been treated with due care...

I sent them a fax after spending time reading the distance selling regulations, to which the manager conceded that i was indeed entitled to a refund. So, i sent the camera back, fully protected with bubble wrap; markedly more protected than it had been received. However, I hadn't realised that the person who purchased the camera had taken the camera out of its plastic bag, and so, it arrived at BestCameras without this bag.

I was left an answermachine to say that the camera would not be refunded because items were missing. I called up and was once again talked down to, only to find out that it was because of a plastic bag that the camera wasn't being refunded. Given that I agreed to the £10 restocking fee, and that i had chosen to purchase the camera from a smaller stockist, believing that it's good to support the smaller retailers, i found it once again unbelievable that they would be so petty !

They eventually agreed to a refund after i questioned whether they really expected me to go through the rubbish to look for a plastic bag that had been thrown out in error.

It is ashame that they offer such poor aftersales service, given that the purchasing and delivery of the items was exemplary...

If you are purchasing a camera that is not available on the high street, and therefore can't be tested before purchase, don't expect this company to meet their legal obligations, should you wish to return it. It has been a huge waste of time, and given me real reason never to purchase from small independent online sites !

Any company that makes rules up about returns that clearly are not lawful, will rightly never get a recommendation from me ! I suggest you tread with caution when debating whether to purchase from this company.