Digital Camera Repair Blog

The Better Business Bureau has been around for decades, and most people know the name. The problem is people think the BBB is a government agency or has actual power to assist them with a dispute with a company.

You don’t have to agree with what I say, but I ask you to prove me wrong! Watch this video by the ABC News show “20/20″ on Youtube, just search for “BBB 20/20 investigation” on Youtube and you will find it easily; here is a link:

ABC News 20/20 BBB Investigation – Youtube.com

I have actually been told that I faked the video above and that it’s not real by someone that has never done business with us before. It’s amazing the things people will say to you through email if they don’t have to say it to your face. Did I fake ABC News? I don’t think so, sorry.

Let’s be clear about one thing: the BBB is a BUSINESS, they are NOT operated by the government, nor are they given any power by the government to assist you. The BBB is a business out to make money, just like every other business out there.

Don’t tell me they are a “non-profit” and don’t do it for money. The top execs at the BBB get paid over $100,000/yr. Why do they need so much money? Where do you think that money comes from? If they were “non-profit” why do they pay themselves so much?

The BBB charges other businesses to be “Accredited” with them, and then consumers can go onto the BBB website and file complaints about the business in question. Nowhere can a happy customer relate a positive experience with a business, it’s negatives only please.

If you do not pay your yearly dues to the BBB you cannot be “accredited” and your rating GOES DOWN. Paying for membership increases your rating… why is that fair? Is a company better because they gave the BBB money?

Here are some BBB ratings for YOU to check out yourself. Don’t take my word for it, go to www.bbb.org and search on your own:

- Wolfgang Puck – “F, not accredited”

http://www.la.bbb.org/business-reviews/Kitchenware-Retail-By-Direct-Selling/Wolfgang-Puck-in-Beverly-Hills-CA-100048262

- Ritz Carlton Hotel – “F, not accredited”

http://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-reviews/hotels/the-ritz-carlton-hotel-company-in-atlanta-ga-6004182

- Canon Repair Department “F, not accredited”

http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/photographic-equipment-repair/canon-repair-department-in-elk-grove-village-il-88364386

The BBB has ACKNOWLEDGED that this is true, that if you pay you get a better grade, and has just now said they will stop connecting their rating to paying for membership. After DECADES of shady practices they are starting to take steps to improve their image only because of pressure from the public to do so.

I paid for a BBB membership for one year, the cost was $600 per year to join. They told me the cost is based on your business size, so imagine how much a huge company would have to pay! The thing is, most big companies DON’T CARE what the BBB has to say, because they know that the BBB is just a place to register complaints and nothing more.

When my BBB membership expired I was told I would have to pay my dues, plus meet with them and explain to them why I was getting complaints and basically beg them to take me back as  a member. I refused to do it because there was no reason for me to pay them, they did nothing for me so why would I give them my money?

My rating went from an “A, Accredited” to “F, Non-Accredited” in a very short time. Yes I had complaints, and yes I responded to all complaints about me and I resolved each and every one of them with the customer.

Why would  I pay them $600 again when I did everything the same without paying for membership as I was doing when I did pay for membership?

I’m tired of being told by people that have never done business with us that we are scammers and thieves because we have an “F” BBB rating.

We have thousands of happy customers, we have repaired thousands of cameras and shipped repair parts around the world. I’ve been running this website since 2006, and one of my repair techs has been with me for 6 years! He was my first employee and he’s still here doing repairs and shipping.

If you want to do business with us we would be happy to help you with your repair part or repairing your camera for you. If you don’t want to do business with us that’s fine, but it doesn’t give you the right to email me and call me a scammer, or post libelous comments online saying that I am.

Our address is clearly listed on every page of our website; if you have any doubt we are a real business then I invite you to come here and see for yourself. I realize this isn’t always possible, but if we were anything other than legit would we have our address on the website and have customers come here to drop off their cameras or buy parts from us?

Just because you read something on the internet about a person or a company doesn’t make it true. Anybody can post anything online anonymously. You want to call me a scammer online? Do so on our Facebook page so the world can see your real name and I will be happy to address any concerns you may have.

www.facebook.com/darntoothysam

Thomas Drayton
Owner, Darntoothysam.com

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I don’t know how to explain this any better than I’ve tried before… we are a SMALL repair shop. I answer the phone myself as best I can all day from 9-5, and right now I have ONE person that works for me doing repairs and helping with shipping and everything else.

To keep my prices as low as possible I don’t have a dedicated person to just answer emails and the phone, I wish I could as it would make problems like the one below not occur. Problem is, I can’t afford it at the prices we charge.

For example, Sony charges $171 to fix a broken shutter button on their DSC-H2 and H5 cameras. We charge $69.97 for the same repair BUT we use a solid aluminum shutter button that we guarantee will never break again and they use the same old plastic one that already broke! $100 LESS and lifetime guarantee… we’ve done the repair HUNDREDS of times now, it’s our #1 repair of all time! Wouldn’t you say Sony is scamming people here? Of course not, they NEED that extra $100 to perform an inferior repair on your camera… Wait, what???

We typically charge only $30 more than the part itself to install it AND ship back the camera! That’s about $10 for shipping and $20 for labor. My mom just had her card worked on and it was $120/hr labor!! It’s DISGUSTING that people charge those rates and expect us to pay them! I hate it, so I don’t charge like that.

Go to Best Buy, how much do they charge you to just LOOK at something? Pretty disgusting isn’t it? A kid at Best Buy told me I MUST buy a $70 cable to use my DVD player. REALLY??? A $70 CABLE??!? I’m not paying $70 for a $2 made in China cable, sorry!! And I’m not charging my customers $70 for a $2 part. Know how many MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of dollars Best Buy makes every year off you? Wonder how they can afford the millions of dollars they spend on advertising? It’s those $70 cables!! I barely make anything because I try to charge reasonable rates; you most likely make more than I do, trust me.

Yes, I moved my business back to my home about 3 years ago.  I got tired of paying $3,000+ a month for an office and warehouse and when my lease was up I jumped at the chance! I have about a 400-500 sq ft office in my home, and at one time I had 3 full time people here doing repairs, emails, shipping etc.

YES, a real business can be run from the home and I bet there are hundreds of thousands of them that are all over the country! Photographers, lawyers, accountants, daycare providers, maid services, lawn care…. and I’m sure many many more other types of businesses as well. Our address is clearly listed on the website, and we have customers stopping by to drop off cameras for repair at least 3-4 times per week.

Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Harley Davidson and more all started from somebody’s basement or garage!

I can’t get every phonecall, I wish I could. Yes we miss emails and I’m working to get better at answering them. And no, I’m not always good at making sure everyone is updated when their part is on backorder or there’s a problem with their repair; that’s my fault, sorry.

What I can’t stand is when I get a call like the one I just got, I knew I shouldn’t have even answered it.

It’s 11pm on Tuesday night and my cellphone rang. My cell # is the one I used on my credit card processing account for some reason, and forgot to switch it to the office number but it’s no problem; I don’t mind if customers who are concerned with their order call me on my cell.

The person making this call was using a voice changing app on their cell phone and also faking their phone number. I answered the call “Hello, this is Thomas” and recieved “You f****ing a******e you stole my camera” etc etc over and over. The caller wouldn’t tell me his name or order number or anything else, but did seem to enjoy trying to insult me and swearing at me.

Over and over and over again I asked for the last name, order number or something but he wouldn’t tell me a thing that was useful. “It’s in my wifes name Michelle, it’s a Sony.” Ok, well we have NO OUTSTANDING ORDERS for anyone named Michelle, and there are no Sony cameras here that are problem repairs.

Her last name is “Nenya” or something like that he says, but he wouldn’t spell it no matter how many times I asked. I told him I searched for every name starting with “nen” and he said “No a******e you spelt it wrong, you’re too stupid let me talk to someone else”. I asked him how to spell it, and also who else he thought might be here at 11 at night to answer the phone? Of course he wouldn’t spell it, just kept on insulting me and not offering any information to help.

Obviously the callers whole plan was to call me up and harass me about something that he is upset about. Why not tell me what the problem is? You complained you can’t reach me during the day, fair enough. You’ve got me on the phone now, so why not tell me what’s wrong?

“I don’t want the camera back you can keep it” he says. Know what mystery caller? I don’t want your camera, I didn’t steal your camera and I’ve never stolen anyone other cameras either! Tell me who you are and what your order is and I will tell you the exact status.

You say I’m a scammer and ripped you off? Tell me who you are and what your order is and I will PROVE that I am NOT what you say. How can I help you in any way if you won’t tell me who you are??

I sometimes enjoy this business. I talk to a couple very nice people each day usually, and I help them with repair advice, arrange repairs for them etc. When I can’t help a person or find them a cheaper solution when I make NO MONEY they thank me for my help and I’ve been asked “How do you stay in business when you give out such great free advice?” I won’t treat people like they are to be used for their money; I can’t do it. If I had no morals I could probably make more money.

When there’s a problem, and EVERY BUSINESS has problems, I realize I don’t communicate well enough with the customer and they get worried. I understand that is my fault, and I am making sure I get better at keeping people informed! No you’re not being ripped off, I’m just not the best at communicating and there’s nobody else here to help me get it done. BIG companies charge BIG prices so they care hire LOTS of people to do little things like that all day long.

I’m trying to make this a business that helps people and provides a service that is needed by so many people! I know I have large improvements to be made and we are working to improve. We have over 18,000 happy customers over the past 5 years or so, but you rarely hear from them.

When something goes wrong with an order or a repair and the customer has a hard time reaching me, then they go WAAAAAAAAY out of their way to tell everyone that I’m a scammer. I can’t count how many flat out FAKE reviews I’ve had other website owners remove because one person signs up under multiple fake names to spam fake reviews about us. A happy customer doesn’t do that, you never hear from them again and they never go out of their way to leave feedback online; that is why I ask all customers if they would take a moment to leave us a review on sites like Sitejabber.com. Good or bad, because I know the thousands upon thousands of happy customers will outweigh the few problem orders if only I could get them to respond.

I know I need to make improvements, and I am. I make mistakes, and I try and do my best to make up for them. This is a real business, I’ve been running this website since 2006, and I have never stolen anything from anyone.

Thomas Drayton
Owner, Darntoothysam.com

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Today I have been trying to assist a very upset customer, unfortunately I’m not having very much luck. I understand that he is upset and worried about his camera, and I’m trying to solve the problem!

I spoke with Mr. Aziz’s brother about the repair this morning for about 30 minutes. I just tried to call him back a few minutes ago but Mr. Aziz is blocking our phone number, I can’t call him!

From what I have been able to learn by talking with his brother, Mr. Aziz sent in a Sony camera for a shutter button repair and we haven’t gotten it back to him yet. The problem is, we don’t have any Sony cameras here for shutter button repair! They have all been repaired and shipped back to the customers.

I spoke with Mr. Aziz’s brother and reassured him that we would love to resolve the problem of the missing camera with him and his brother. I asked that they call back or email me with the tracking information for the package and whatever name might be on the Repair Form along with the camera.

Mr. Aziz himself then called me from his work, but I don’t know if he had talked to his brother or not before calling me. Mr. Aziz was still VERY upset and would not listen to anything I had to say. He yelled at me for some time, then hung up the phone.

Mr. Aziz: I want to solve the problem we are having! I want to find where your camera is, and if we have it we will repair it and send it back for you right away! Your brother told me you wrote your credit card information on the repair form you sent with the camera and that WE HAVE NOT charged your credit card anything. This makes me think the camera is still here somewhere (and I’ve gone through every camera we have here already) OR that we never received it from the US Mail.

PLEASE contact me and let me know:
- the exact model number of your camera: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H2 I think?
- the tracking number for your shipment
- the name used on the repair form or box

Please help me to fix this problem Mr. Aziz, I did not steal your camera.

Thomas Drayton

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