UPDATE:

I was contacted by Scott from 6ave this morning following the post I made below. Scott was kind enough to take the time to give a very detailed explanation of exactly what happened with my order. I very much appreciated Scott's straightforward and clear explanation and also his persistence in tracking my order. Scott also provided me with a complete update of my order status and the steps 6ave and he is taking to make sure that the item is delivered to me as quickly as possible within the constraints of being fair to all customers. Kudos to Scott at 6ave for having stepped up and taken care of this issue. Therefore, I am deleting the text of my original post since, in hindsight, I feel it misrepresents the actual reasons underlying the situation I encountered. I'll be updating as the order progresses and the TV is delivered.

So... I went ahead and ordered a panny plasma from 6ave on Saturday since many people have had decent experiences with them. They gave me a good price and I made a point of asking the sales rep twice if the unit was in stock and ready to ship and placed the order immediately. Asked when it would ship out I was told Monday or Tuesday which was consistent with the 1-3 business days listed on the website.

Since I never received an invoice, I called today (different rep) and was told that it is back-ordered and they will not receive it from the manufacturer for a least 7 days. I used to hear about this type of tactic 5 years ago where a dealer would say an item is in stock when in fact they had none. I think the idea was to remove the customer from the market on the assumption that a fraction of the customers would not cancel an order once placed.

Has anyone else had this experience with 6ave? What do you suggest I do about it? The price is good but there is not enough price differential to make me wait with no certainty as to when the item will arrive.

Had the exact same experience about a month ago when I brought a Denon receiver. They advertise a great price and then after a number of people buy it, they put the item on back order. I called a few other online vendors and told them about my experience at 6ave and that I would like to do business with them instead if they can match 6ave's price. Once matched (2 out of 4 matched, the other 2 came down on price a bit), I called 6ave and told them to cancel my order.

It depends. The V10 is out of stock at many places, so if that's what you ordered, they could be telling you the truth.

This is typical for 6 Ave. I have posted my experiences with them a few times here. They can be very competitive with pricing and probably most of the time it works out okay. But they definitely have a cliché New Jersey (I say this living in New Jersey) buyer beware attitude that all is fair in sales and it’s up to the customer to avoid being a taken.

Your experience is similar to when I got my previous Panasonic plasma from them in late 2005. I confirmed verbally, in-person (they have stores here) that it was physically in-stock – they claimed it was sitting in their store at that time. I scheduled delivery on the spot. Then I get a call saying there’s been a mistake and it is no longer in stock (the one in stock when I bought was reserved for someone else) and I am “at the top of the list” when they get more in, which they expected to be very soon. That began a 2.5 month process of getting my set. They would never call me -- I would have to call them, always after the dates they estimated had come and gone. Usually they tried to sell me on switching to another set that I knew wasn’t as good – constantly pushing the bait-and-switch. At one point they finally re-scheduled delivery. AND NEVER SHOWED. I called after the fact (couldn’t get someone until the next day) and after a lot of transfers and evasive excuses they claim my set went to someone else and I am back on the waiting list again, and would I like to consider another brand instead. Throughout ALL these 2+ months their website continued to claim it was “in stock.” I continuously brought this up (we’re talking probably 20 calls over time) and they always made excuses – gee, the website group is run differently but we’ll give them the message, or gee, we’re having problems refreshing the website and are working on it, etc. It was a lie, pure and simple. They wanted to rack up as many sales as possible and worry about supply later.

I eventually had to complain up to their corporate management to get prioritized for a delivery. Once I got it, it was fine.

More recently I bought a camera from them and they tried to scam me about the extended warranty. Did this whole wasted dog-and-pony show of supposedly talking with the manager and working out a “special package deal” only to come back and make up a totally different $ for the warranty “normally” and try to get me to buy it for their full MSRP (they didn’t know I had already called and gotten it quoted over the phone the previous day), along with a case at $2 ABOVE their full MSRP for it. Gee , thanks. It was an out-and-out scam. And their in-store warranties are bogus anyway – they are 6 Ave underwritten, not Mack or a third party. And they won’t give you any terms & conditions – just a receipt that says “3 years extended” etc. So who knows what happens if you try ot use it or if 6 Ave got into financial trouble.

Again, they are local around here so I know a lot of of people who have bought from them and we all have similar stories. This is their style.

It depends. The V10 is out of stock at many places, so if that's what you ordered, they could be telling you the truth.

You are right but it is not really the backorder the really concerns me. It's been told one thing and then exactly the opposite after the order is placed. Given the good price and a honest ETA I probably would have bought it anyway.

Same BS happened to me with them when I initially ordered my 54V10. It showed in stock, asked the salesman multiple times if it was indeed in stock, only to be lied to. Since I ordered over the phone, I called them Monday evening (order placed on Saturday), to confirm that the order had shipped out, only to be told that it was a mistake on there inventory systems part, and that it would be 3-4 weeks before they would be recieving anymore. Even though they gave me a good price, I immediately called Cleveland Plasma and ordered through them. Recieved my 54V10 by the end of the week. I know plenty of others that this has happened to from 6Ave. Needless to say, its been 2 weeks since I canceled today, and have yet to get a refund on my CC. Definitely for me 1 of the co. to stay far away from...

I had a great experience when I ordered a Yamaha RX-V3800 AVR from them 1.5 years ago on a deep discount.

Last Thursday I ordered a Panasonic TC-P65V10 and DMP-BD60 Blu-Ray player from 6ave using the Name Your Price promotion and got a great deal on both. I already received the Blu-Ray player today and the 65V10 is sitting on Team Worldwide's dock locally for delivery to me tomorrow afternoon. The Blu-Ray player came in perfect condition via UPS ground packed in a secondary box. The invoice included with the Blu-Ray was exactly as I requested showing both the 65V10 and Blu-Ray as separate line items for the Blu-Ray rebate.

I'll post tomorrow only if there are any issues receiving the 65V10.

Great experience with them, no bait and switch attempt.

I had a great experience when I ordered a Yamaha RX-V3800 AVR from them 1.5 years ago on a deep discount.

Last Thursday I ordered a Panasonic TC-P65V10 and DMP-BD60 Blu-Ray player from 6ave using the Name Your Price promotion and got a great deal on both. I already received the Blu-Ray player today and the 65V10 is sitting on Team Worldwide's dock locally for delivery to me tomorrow afternoon. The Blu-Ray player came in perfect condition via UPS ground packed in a secondary box. The invoice included with the Blu-Ray was exactly as I requested showing both the 65V10 and Blu-Ray as separate line items for the Blu-Ray rebate.

I'll post tomorrow only if there are any issues receiving the 65V10.

Ditto. My TC-P58V10 is being delivered tomorrow afternoon by Team Worldwide and the BD60 player is also scheduled to be delivered by UPS tomorrow as well... Will check the TV for any damage... hoping there's none. This is my first big purchase with 6ave... so far so good.

This really isn't a case of Bate and Switch. It's more like bad customer service. More and more places are doing this type of thing though. Keeping Inventory LOW and getting it from whatever Warehouse they get them from and then send it to you. So it takes a little longer. As long as you get the HDTV you Paid For, then it's not really Bate and Switch.

You were lied to the moment you talked to them. They are playing dumb. They have a computer screen right in front of them. They can easily look at what they have in stock. They didn't, and instead chose to lie. Cancel and go elsewhere or your nightmare will continue.

Thanks so much for your replies and comments... they were really helpful. I am going to see if anyone else actually has one in stock and then cancel my order. If anyone has a suggestion for somewhere reputable, even if the price is a little more, I would love to hear it.

I was contacted by Scott from 6ave this morning after he read my original post. My issues are now resolved as per the edit of the OP.

I was contacted by Scott from 6ave this morning after he read my original post. My issues are now resolved as per the edit of the OP.

Yeah, I worked with Scott too when I bought my receiver from them and it worked out fine (they orginally sent a damaged one but replaced it and threw in a free accessory for my trouble). He works as part of a special online sales channel that is different than the stores or the regular people you get if you just call the online store.

Like I said, I still use them sometimes because their prices can be good. And the online store at least offers legitimate third party warranties unlike their retail stores which still you with their dubious 6 Ave warranties. But none of this changes the pattern of buyer beware behaviour that is still part of their culture. It doesn't mean you shouldn't ever use them, but just that you should buy with eyes wide open. All things being equal, if I did do a major purchase with them again I would definitely deal with Scott and his group rather than the stores or the generic online sales.