CloseOutDigital
Complaint 268557 Details

We purchased a red Nikon D3200 camera kit and several accessories on April 23, 2013 via telephone after seeing their internet ad. The ad was for a NEW Nikon D3200 digital camera. It came UPS in May. When it got here, it was actually black and only a shell. No lenses. I got on the phone and called them again. We told them we could live with black instead of red, but the missing accessories which included lenses,were necessary for the use of the camera. They were very nice and said they would get them sent right out. They also came to us UPS. We were unable to try the camera to see if it worked. The original ad said we had 90 days for refund, replace or repair. When the email came, it said 30 days. We didn't know anything at all about the camera and didn't want to take a chance on ruining something before we had a chance to go through all the instructions and try everything so we waited until our photographer daughter-in-law came from 350 miles away and had her check it for us. She put the charged 7-hr battery into it and turned it on. There was nothing but lines on the screen. I got on the phone again and called them. They gave me an address in New York to send it to. I was told to put everything that came in the original camera box along with everything that came with the original camera box in case it was in need of being replaced. We requested replacement. It was sent back to them the middle of June and we received an acknowledgement of receipt from them on June 24, 2013. It said it could take up to 30 days and we were told that we would be sent another email to let us know when it was sent back to us so we could be watching for it. It was nearly a month before we got it back (without the email notice it was coming). The week it came back was a very busy one for us (we had to be out of town for most of it), so it was the middle of the following week before we had the camera checked out again, this time by my boss, who owns a newspaper and is a photographer. He had purchased a red one identical to what we had ordered just before we purchased ours. He started checking it out and was about to tell me it looked like it was just fine when the screen started to fade away, then went black and the lines came back. I got back on the phone again.I again told them we wanted the camera replaced instead of repaired. They said, "We can't do that! Maybe if you had called us within 30 days..." I mentioned the advertised warranty and the purchase of an additional 5-yr extended warranty on the camera.They said, "Good! you can find an authorized repair place near you and take it in and have it repaired there!" I was furious and informed him there is no such thing in the area where we live. That we literally live out in the boonies and that the camera had never been used.I repeated what their original ad had said and they said I could contact Nikon but Closeout Digital would not do anything about it.I asked for Nikon's number then used it. Nikon said they would send me a return shipping label within 24-48 hours. They asked me for the serial numbers. I gave them to them directly off the camera. They said that camera was registered to someone in Manhattan in New York. I thought maybe I had not enunciated clearly enough and they had just misunderstood one or more of the numbers. It took at least 2 weeks for Nikon to send me a label after I contacted them more times and put in bad responses to their follow-up survey. I'm sure it was because of the questionable ownership. They finally sent me a shipping label and we wrote down the numbers on the camera because we did not want the same camera back. I sent a letter to that effect. I spoke with one of their techs who told me the 16 G cards we had purchased (2) from them were not for use in our camera. A few days after they received the camera, I received a telephone call and an email from Nikon telling me the camera was registered to someone in Manhattan. We are in the inter-mountain west. They wanted to know the serial number for our camera and proof we had purchased it. We had purchased a 5-year extended warranty so I called the phone number on the back of the card and asked for the serial number associated with the card. They gave it to me and I both phoned and emailed the info back to Nikon and sent them a copy of the first email from Closeout Digital which referenced everything purchased by us, including a NEW camera -- in capital letters. Nikon said they would research the situation and try to find out what happened to our camera, but that the camera we returned to them had already been sent in for repair 2 previous times, the first time the first week of April -- and that it was shipped out on April 20 -- 3 days before we purchased a New camera from Closeout Digital. They said our camera was used. They also said today, August 20, 2013 that the serial numbers I had given them matched those on the camera and that they were going to repair it and send it back to us and re-register it in our names.They said the only thing they could do was to give us a new warranty on the used camera. They would not give us the name of the person who's name the camera was registered in. I asked them to please contact that person and see if he had a camera and get the story from that person. They promised to do that for me. I again called Closeout Digital to ask for the address they had had me send the camera to. They said they could not give me that information because that was for their records and not for mine. I told them I needed it because Nikon was checking on the camera. I also told the man that I needed it for them because either they had sold me a used camera or the repair place had accidentally sent me someone elses camera. He flat out refused.
Nikon has been very nice and tried very hard to help us. The lady told me this morning after going through their list of authorized dealers, that Closeout Digital is not authorized to sell their products and that the camera was definitely used. It had been sent in to them 3 times, the first time before we even bought a camera. Nikon has the camera at this point. We are checking all our options, including this one. Nikon is going to talk with the person in New York it is registered to. The camera obviously has issues or it wouldn't be back in to be repaired for the 3rd time. We are very frustrated and don't know which way to go. Any help you can give will be appreciated. The new camera we originally ordered in good working condition would be great, or our money back so we can purchase what we originally paid for would be appreciated. Any help you can give will be much appreciated.