As many readers know, I recently bought a digital SLR camera, a Canon EOS Rebel XSi. I'll have a review on the camera and everything that came with it a little later, but today I wanted to give you a Guerrilla Marketing review on the company I bought it from.

I had been checking out several web sites as well as local camera stores trying to decide where to spend thousands of dollars. Ultimately, my search led me to eBay, which I didn't have a good opinion of because of some experiences several years ago. A friend convinced me that they had changed, so I checked them out.

I found a package deal on eBay that included the following:

1. Canon EOS Rebel XSi camera body
2. Tamron 28-80mm lens
3. Tamron 75-300mm lens
4. .45x lens converter
5. 2x lens converter
6. 8 GB SD card
7. USB SD card reader
8. Carrying case
9. Lens cleaning kit
10. Screen protectors
11. Lithium ion battery
12. Battery charger
13. AV cable
14. USB cable
15. Camera strap
16. CD guide
17. Printed guide

The eBay ad stated that everything was new in never-opened boxes with warranty cards. And the price? A mere $764. Definitely too good to be true since I had already shopped the camera body and stock lens at the local camera store.

Gray market? Refurbished or like new instead of new? Ah, questions, questions, questions.

I went to the Internet to search for the company. Unfortunately, I found some bad reviews over at ripoffreport.com and resellerratings.com. Having been in retail myself, and having a husband currently in resale (as well as being a Realtor), I know that problems happen. I also know that in some instances, some people cannot be pleased under any circumstances.

So I went back to eBay to check out their ratings there. They were listed as a Power Seller and had 99.1% positive ratings. I read through their most recent reviews, as well as a sampling of other reviews for different months just to make sure that the company was not posting positive reviews for itself.

Finally, I took the plunge and placed the order using a credit card. All seemed to have gone well until I got an email from the company saying that my order had been canceled due to a shipping address that didn't match the credit card address. That didn't make any sense to me since I've been at the credit card address for five years, and I've only had the credit card for five years.

I visited my bank and found a problem, which the bank corrected. I replaced the order only to have it canceled again. I called the company and asked them to run it while I was on the phone. No luck. The lady I talked to said to call the toll-free number on the back of the credit card rather than going to the bank. She was right. For some reason, the address was my home address rather than my office address, and I got it corrected.

I called the company back, but still no luck. The lady I talked to told me to hold while she called my bank. In no more than a minute she was back telling me that everything was okay and that my order would be shipped within five days.

Late in the evening on the third day, I got an email from the company with the UPS overnight tracking number. UPS sent it all over the nation before it got to me here in San Diego on the fifth day.

The box was in good shape, and everything in my order was in the box, all packed very well and in original packaging with warranty cards. I've been taking everything for a test drive for the past few days and all seems to be working better than expected.

It's an awesome camera, awesome accessories, and an awesome company. I can highly recommend them and would not hesitate to use them again.

Oh, by the way, the company is Pyxis Camera out of Brooklyn, New York, also known as Camera Discount Warehouse and Sunshine Electronics. The extremely helpful lady in their credit card processing department was Marianna. I left them five stars at eBay, and I've also entered my review over at resellerratings.com and will be entering one at ripoffreports.com, as well.

Great customer service is Guerrilla Marketing at its finest. It costs little or nothing and can win customers for life.

*****

This week's posts (they'll open in a new window)

1. Walter Andersen's Garden Nursery garden railroad - 6/5/09
2. Frenetic Friday pop quiz: Foto Friday - 6/5/09
3. Home inspectors could learn from the National Association of Realtors - 6/4/09
4. WWW (Worldless Wednesday with Words): San Diego Zoo cats have it made - 6/3/09
5. Another great Seller disclosure: "There's a leak by the chimney...." - 6/3/09
6. I love it when Clients follow up with me.... - 6/2/09
7. Manic Monday pop quiz: "There is a small roof leak...." - 6/1/09

Last week's posts (they'll open in a new window)

1. Russel's Gardening Handbook: Grafting - 5/31/09
2. How to easily and naturally keep ants out of your home - 5/31/09
3. SST (Speechless Sunday with Text): S&S (not for the squeamish) - 5/31/09
4. After yesterday's inspection, I'm quite happy to be alive.... - 5/30/09
5. Frenetic Friday pop quiz: Kitchen sink cabinets and electricity - 5/29/09
6. I love it when the Seller's Realtor calls me.... - 5/29/09
7. Thunderstruck Thursday: Commander of the lake - 5/29/09
8. If you're trying to get your ActiveRain comments in for the day.... - 5/28/09
9. Suicide journey leads to a 15th anniversary - 5/26/09
10. Memorial Day for me.... - 5/25/09

Previous week's posts (they'll open in a new window)

1. SST (Speechless Sunday with Text): I can't inspect it if I can't get it - 5/24/09
2. Be proactive with your homeowners' association - 5/23/09
3. How do you determine if repairs were done properly, or even done? - 5/22/09
4. How to lower your blood pressure naturally - 5/22/09
5. My first Foto Friday: Tree textures - 5/22/09
6. Thankful Thursday: Hydrangea - 5/21/09
7. My new digital SLR camera system - 5/20/09
8. Providing FREE HELP can be fun (if there's a rose garden involved) - 5/19/09
9. Manic Monday pop quiz: Concrete cracks - 5/18/09

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