Ritz camera

[AndrewWG]

Ok, so I thought I would pass this little bit of info on to all of you here. I just tried to order a 3 pack of 4GB Extreme III CF cards from Ritz.com. The price is free after rebate. $60 before rebate. Great deal I would say. I received a gift card for my birthday this year for $40. This was purchased at the local Ritz store. I tried using it online and it wasn't working properly. When I contacted the online customer service, I got this response:

I am sorry Andrew; RitzCamera.com and Ritz Camera stores are two separate companies, and we work with different policies.
Hence, we do not accept the stores issued gift cards

WHAT??????? This is the LAST time I will deal with this company. Sure, I'm still getting a great deal on these cards, but the stupidity with this company never ceases to amaze me.

 

[boBQuincy]

There is a lot of this going on, it probably has to do with taxes. With physical locations in most states Ritz/Wolf has to collect sales tax. As separate companies with few physical locations Ritz.com and Wolf.com do not, so they can offer competitive prices with Amazon and B&H.

I ordered 3 cards too, what a deal!

 

[Chikabowa]

Thanks for the heads up. I just bought 2 sets of the 3-packs! Exciting!

 

[boBQuincy]

My confirmation email arrived from Wolf and it refers to 2GB cards. I hope there is not a problem.

 

[ukcatfan]

I was thinking that they are a franchise for the physical stores. That may be why they do not have to follow the same policies, etc.

 

[AndrewWG]

I don't know what the deal is with this, but they should honor the gift cards online or at the stores. To me, this is a very unusual practice for a national chain. This combined with extremely poor customer service at 3 of the local stores, has made me make the decision to no longer support them in any manner. I placed my order today and will eventually have to go and spend the $40 gift card, but after that, I am done with them. Their prices are usually heavily inflated compared to the larger stores (B&H, Beach, etc.) anyways.

Bob, I checked my e-mail confirmation and it says 4GB on mine so maybe there is a problem. I would call them in the morning.

 

[jann1033]

I don't know what the deal is with this, but they should honor the gift cards online or at the stores. To me, this is a very unusual practice for a national chain. This combined with extremely poor customer service at 3 of the local stores, has made me make the decision to no longer support them in any manner. I placed my order today and will eventually have to go and spend the $40 gift card, but after that, I am done with them. Their prices are usually heavily inflated compared to the larger stores (B&H, Beach, etc.) anyways.

Bob, I checked my e-mail confirmation and it says 4GB on mine so maybe there is a problem. I would call them in the morning.

i don't think this is just ritz, a lot of stores won't honor the same sales online and in the stores. i get money off coupons/gift cards issued by the stores all the time and (since i don't read the fine print ) try to use them online and get told they are only good in the store or vice versa ie just this morning at Lowes online who has the same promo going online ( $10off $25)but doesn't honor the card i got in the mail for the same promo in the store .( maybe cause it's early my brain isn't working i read the fine print and it says in store only but has a button for it online, was trying to save hubby from getting in one of those black friday earlybird brawls but guess he'll have to face the angry hordes if he really wants that table saw ) ...

 

[oogieboogieman]

It's all about the taxes. One company for retail stores and one for internet. I've seen online it was cheaper, decided to go to the store and they would not match there online price. Go figure! It was not meant for me to buy from them.
Thanks for the heads-up on the CF cards. One can never have enough memory!

 

[jann1033]

It's all about the taxes. One company for retail stores and one for internet. I've seen online it was cheaper, decided to go to the store and they would not match there online price. Go figure! It was not meant for me to buy from them.
Thanks for the heads-up on the CF cards. One can never have enough memory!

which is also weird since some stores just charge you taxes online if they have a store locally ( ie circuit city, well they did when we had a local store before their bankruptcy)

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm with you. I keep "trying" to like Ritz but they keep disappointing me, too. I'm done with them.

OTOH, I had really fantastic service from Dell recently (they went over and above, I thought), so I'll be trying to give them my business if I can. Otherwise I generally like Amazon a lot (because when I place an order, I'll usually get more than just camera stuff).

 

[boBQuincy]

I just had a live chat with Wolf.com, they confirmed the order is for 4GB cards and they have already been shipped!

 

[handicap18]

I've not been thrilled with Ritz over the last few years with the exception of printing enlargements. Overall their prices are much more than others, some of the sales people I've delt with have been pushy and/or rude which is a big turn off.

I rarely go in their stores any more.

 

[Golf4food]

I wouldn't buy anything "big" from Ritz, but like them for prints and did pickup the 3 SD cards this morning and they were very friendly - we were the only two in the store at about 6:10 and they had plenty of the SD packs, but one of the other stores a few miles away was sold out. Either way, good experience today and good for prints, but not for anything else.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Well I have to say I also stopped in a Ritz today and the salespeople were pretty nice - and knowledgable without being pushy.

 

[webshark3]

Welcome to the world of online versions of brick and mortar stores.

Same thing at Borders. Won't honor online prices because they're separate stores.

It makes sense. Brick stores cannot compete against online pricing. But at the same time, they shouldn't mis-lead consumers.

 

[AndrewWG]

Welcome to the world of online versions of brick and mortar stores.

Same thing at Borders. Won't honor online prices because they're separate stores.

It makes sense. Brick stores cannot compete against online pricing. But at the same time, they shouldn't mis-lead consumers.

Im not so concerned with the differences in pricing, but using the gift cards shouldn't matter if it in a store or online. Taxes aren't charged until time of purchase of merchandise. The gift card purchase itself isn't charged tax. I don't understand why that would make a difference.

Pea, what store did you go to? I had one nice employee at the Taunton mall once. Other than that, they are undertrained and rude from what I have seen anyways.

 

[manning]

There is a lot of this going on, it probably has to do with taxes. With physical locations in most states Ritz/Wolf has to collect sales tax. As separate companies with few physical locations Ritz.com and Wolf.com do not, so they can offer competitive prices with Amazon and B&H.

I ordered 3 cards too, what a deal!

That is correct. They are two separate companies and is done so sales tax can be avoided. Any company that has a store in a state has to charge taxes. I came across this with Dell computers. I bought a Dell and there was no tax. Several years later I bought another one and got charged tax. What happened was they had set up locations in shopping malls in the state I live in thus obligating them to charge sales tax on phone/internet orders. They did not set up two separate companies.

 

[manning]

Here is a bit of useless information. Some years ago the owner of Ritz bought out Wolf after Wolf expanded too fast. The owners of each company are related, cousins I believe. As I said a bit of useless information.

 

[rileysmommy]

AC Moore and AC Moore.com are the same way. They are not the same store and so you can't use gift cards online nor do they honor prices on same items. Very frustrating, I admit.

I personally will never deal with Ritz. My mother had some major problems with them in the past so my view of them is very tainted. That said, I bought the 3 card 4gig deal from B&H.