[jakehere]

I am on plasmaextreme.us waiting list for a PWD6UY and I received an email this morning saying that their sister company, pcvideoonline.com, has the tv's in stock and can ship immediately... I looked at the epinions on this pcvideoonline.com company and they aren't good. Lots of people saying they have had problems with them delivering what they promise...


But here's the weird thing, plasmaextreme wanted me to reply to the email with my credit card #, name, address, exp date, SECURITY CODE, etc.... in an email?


E-commerce 101: email is not secure.


*Brian from plasmaextreme sent me an email saying that I can phone in my order, that's a lot better but still, not sure about this other company...


~jake

 

[steuert]

This does indeed sound fishy, but given the good reputation of plasmaextreme.us on this Forum I would not jump to any conclusions.


Maybe LisaJ will chime in with a good explanation. Meanwhile, IMHO you are wise to proceed with Visual Apex.

 

[JuiceRocket]

Hey Jake,


I got the same email, we must be on the same waiting list. I spoke with Brian today, he was very helpful and explained the situation. Reading what you said, I just check on the reseller ratings website, and you are correct, pcvideoonline.com has a horrible reputation.


I'll give Brian a call and see what the deal is!


-Juice

 

[ThumperBoy]

I wouldn't do anything like that unless you talked to Lisa on the phone. Someone could be spoofing their email address or something.

 

[Lamm]

First, they are no longer advertising on this forum.


Then, their web site says they are no longer taking orders for Panasonic plasmas.


Now they are telling customers to place their orders with PCvideoOnline and to send credit card info by email!


Whatever you do, DO NOT place orders with PCVideoOnline. They are a NY City firm with a horrible reputation for price switching, overbilling, etc.


You can see by the feedback on price engines that PCVideo stinks.


Just my opinion.

 

[Vaggeto]

I'm pretty sure their merchant company would have a HUGE problem with them doing this.


NEVER send your CC # over email.

This is almost like getting an ICQ/AIM message asking for your CC#, and then you giving it to them.


"Our Payment Methods: Plasma Extreme accepts Visa and MasterCard through PayPal ONLY"


So apparently, they either lost their merchant account and can no longer charge credit cards on their own(Which I wouldn't doubt), or them asking you for your CC # is a scam.

 

[djs]

FWIW, PlasmaExtreme has never accepted credit cards directly - that's been a source of discussion over the last year. Those of us who purchased from them in the past have been very happy.


And, just to be clear, we're talking about plasmaextreme.us, right? plasmaextreme.com has always been someone to avoid.

 

[Lamm]

Quote:

Originally posted by djs FWIW, PlasmaExtreme has never accepted credit cards directly - that's been a source of discussion over the last year. Those of us who purchased from them in the past have been very happy. And, just to be clear, we're talking about plasmaextreme.us, right? plasmaextreme.com has always been someone to avoid.

yes, plasmaextreme.us. I had an email discussion with a Brian there a few months ago.

 

[rogo]

The Panasonic plasma backorder problem remains severe. Taking orders for something you can't deliver makes little sense.


This "sister company" matter is something else and I'd reserve comment without much more info -- personally. Others can feel free to say what's on their mind.


Mark

 

[Nez]

It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode with the rental car reservation. Something like:


"You can take the reservation (for the plasma TV), you just can't hold the reservation, and that's really the important part, holding the reservation. Anyone can take a reservation..."

 

[Sodo Mojo]

Here's my theory: maybe she found a source that has an abundance of Panasonic plasmas in this ever elusive allocation back-pile that are due to land and just wants her customers to be able to get what they want in a timely fashion. Regardless of reputaion, if she says they have them, I will trust her judgement. If she is willing to lose the sales in order to keep her customers happy by sending them where they can get one if they so choose, then that is her perogative. Maybe she is too far down the allocation list herself??? I just want it for SuperBowl Sunday!

 

[cheridave]

Lisa hasn't posted here in awhile. I think I would search this through completely. You have waited this long so a little while longer will not hurt. Companies come and go all the time.


Trust is a must, but in this case I would trust, but verify!!!!!!!!


Dave

 

[JuiceRocket]

I spoke briefly with LisaJ today, and she is doing what Sodo said, willing to lose customers due to the fact that her own companies delivery time has been pushed back.


They found that PCVideoOnline had a large amount of the displays available, and she is working as an overseer between her customers and PCVideoOnline.


I voiced concern that PCVideoOnline would a) not honor Plasmaextreme's policies and b) would use a freight vendor that is not knowledgable about shipping plasmas. She said she would get back to me about confirming what policies and shipping methods would be upheld/used by PCVideoOnline.


I find it admirable that LisaJ and Brian are doing they're best to keep the waiting customers happy and get them the monitors they've been waiting for. LisaJ did confirm that we also had the options to cancel the order or wait for the proposed February arrival date.


My largest issue is with the wealth of negative feedback given both on epinions.com and resellerratings.com about PCVideoOnline. With that amount of negative feedback, I'm finding it difficult to slap down my CC info and wait to see what happens.


Hopefully LisaJ will respond here, if not, I'm sure I'll get more information from her tomorrow!


-Juice

 

[Nez]

Panasonic plasmas (42PWD6UY) are shipping though. They are coming in and backorders are going out. More are expected the first week of February (9 days away). If I placed an order and have been waiting, I'd be pretty p'd off to get an email telling me to order it somewhere else, especially when the units are becoming available now!


If you placed an order then you should be in line to get a unit soon. Unless they don't have the money to buy the inventory for these orders upfront.


They probably have to pay for units when they land from Japan and then bill customers after they ship back out. This requires the retailer to have cash because credit card deposits require 3-4 days to deposit. It's no different than buying 30 units and then selling them. If you can't afford 30 units it doesn't matter if you have 30 customers waiting or not.


Sounds more like a cash-flow problem than a customer service initiative.

 

[steuert]

I still have a few nagging questions (1) Why doesn't plasmaextreme.us just refer you to the other outifit rather than taking all your CC info, etc.? Could they be getting some kind of kickback?? (2) How come PCVideoOnline has a supply of these plasmas when nobody else does? Smells like gray market - or maybe a few of them "fell" off a truck on its way to Electrograph or somewhere. (I understand this happens all the time in New York!) (3) Why does plasmaextreme refer to PCVideoOnline as a "sister" company? This implies some commonality in staff, management, ownership, etc. - not a good thing if plasmaextreme is concerned about its reputation.


Getting curiouser and curiouser.

 

[Pres-Sean]

If you read some of my past threads, you'll see that I bought my Panny plasma online from a NY based vendor, search the thread for details. While i had a few hiccups, I wouldn't say that the vendor didn't come through. In fact, they got me what i ordered when I ordered it, and at the price I expected. I wasn't pushed into buying extras, nor was my display defective. 11 months now, and my Th-42PW5UZ has ZERO dead/stuck pixels.


It's not that I beleive that all NY dealers are great, but the amount of negativity against them really preplexes me, and I think is unfounded. I hope this isn't all based on *******************.com's words of wisdom, because there is a little smoke and mirrors going on there too..... Anyone have firsthand experiences on NY dealer mishaps? Or if not, at least immediate second hand (i.e. someone you actually know who got screwed)

 

[JuiceRocket]

Pres, did you buy your plasma from PCVideoOnline? Their ratings in epionons.com and resellerratings.com are HORRIBLE.


Here is their ratings on epinion and on reseller ratings .


Hence the reason the few of us on Plasmaextremes list are extremely wary about sending our CC info, etc. You know the old saying, where there's smoke, there's fire, and it looks like a LOT of smoke is rising above PCVideoOnline.


Plasmaextreme on the other hand has wonderful reviews written about them. Hence the reason I'm wondering if I should just wait for the February date....but then again...what's to say what's happening now with the pwd6uy allocation won't happen again in Feb.


-Juice

 

[cajieboy]

I thought I saw a putty cat...sounds fishky to me, and I wouldn't touch it w/a 10' pole. My dear ole Dad once told me, "if it smells bad in the beginning, it's gonna stink like hell in the end".


This TV is probably going to last you thru many many Super Bowls. Don't be in such a hurry. Why risk such an important & expensive purchase to some Jake Leg Joker in NYC w/a bad rep.? There's plenty of businesses out there w/hard earned good reputations that will deliver.

 

[Bill Ball]

Quote:

Originally posted by JuiceRocket Pres, did you buy your plasma from PCVideoOnline? Their ratings in epionons.com and resellerratings.com are HORRIBLE. Here is their ratings on epinion and on reseller ratings . Hence the reason the few of us on Plasmaextremes list are extremely wary about sending our CC info, etc. You know the old saying, where there's smoke, there's fire, and it looks like a LOT of smoke is rising above PCVideoOnline. Plasmaextreme on the other hand has wonderful reviews written about them. Hence the reason I'm wondering if I should just wait for the February date....but then again...what's to say what's happening now with the pwd6uy allocation won't happen again in Feb. -Juice

PCVideoOnline user reviews HORRIBLE? That's an understatement. Apparently they are the same operations as Plasmakings and a few other Web alias sites. It's disturbing to see plasmaextreme mentioned in the same paragraph with these hucksters.


Bill

 

[sbddvm]

Why would Plasmaextreme not check PCVideoOnline reputation first before referring customers to them?



As for replying by email with CC info; frock that! No way Jose.