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On March 7th, after some debate and my reading of so many negative reviews of Ritzcamera.com, I decided to take a chance. Worse case, I wouldn't get my item and I could always do a charge back if needed.

I ordered a GPS system for a really fantastic price. I got the Magellan 4040 for $179.99 (price had dropped $10 from the previous day.) Also, they had a special where if you used paypal as payment, you got an extra 10% off your purchase. So, after the shipping charge of $6.95, I ended up paying $168.xx shipped for an item I have seen elsewhere for much more.

Strangely, about an hour or two after placing my order, I noticed that the item I ordered was no longer on the site. I decided to inquire via their online live chat and make sue all is well because it is possible that they may have oversold, which happens.

The gentleman I spoke with informed me that they had plenty in stock and once the item shipped, I would be notified via email. Well, I found that interesting so to double check, I decided to call their toll free number. The person I spoke with there took my information and looked at the status. He had a VERY heavy accent, most likely the outsourced employees in India. I couldn't understand much but did hear the words, canceled. So, I took that as my item will be canceled. Still not feeling assured, I went back to the live chat and was told, if it will be canceled, I would be informed. However, the status was still pending and since this item was an "online exclusive" she does not have the ability to see when the item will ship.

An hour or two passes and I check the status again online and see that it says, "1 item sent to warehouse." I decide to just wait and see what happens the next day. I did contact them once more regarding the price dropping another $10 but after I asked about a credit, not 5 minutes go by and the item is again removed from the site. During that five minutes, I sent an email (after the online live chat) requesting a credit due to the price drop. march 9th I received an email stating my request was sent to the account department and I would be notified of their decision. I never heard back from them as of this writing. Not a problem as it was probably just an error on their end.

Anyway, Friday March 8th I again contact the online live help and am given the same answer about not being able to tell when it will ship since it is an online exclusive and it is dealt by their distribution network. Not an hour or so goes by and I see that my item shipped and I was given a tracking number. I did receive an email confirmation.

My reason for checking on my item so often was due to all of the negative reviews and articles people have written about Ritzcamera.com. Also, give the price I got the item for, I really wanted to get it from them.

FedEx tracking was perfect and my item arrived on Tuesday Match 11, the date it was scheduled to be here.

Thumbs up to Ritz for getting my order here. Thumbs down to their outsourced phone reps. And a thumbs partially up to the online help.

I will say, there was one time I did contact their online help and basically sat there about 15 minutes waiting for answers, and never really getting any due to the 5 minute delay between answers from the rep.

Overall, I give it 3 3.4 stars out of 5 to Ritzcamera.com