So many times I have felt slighted by the shoddy customer service of companies I have patronized and scams that I have almost fallen prey to.

But this story disturbs me and delights me at the same time. It is of special interest to me being a New Yorker and a photographer. To summarize, a man named Thomas Hawk did some research on purchasing a Canon EOS 5D and decided to buy it from a company called PriceRitePhoto in Brooklyn NY. After experiencing a less-than-satisfying customer service experience, he advised them that he was going to write an article on his blog.

At this point, Thomas was verbally harrassed and since, has had to explain to his boss why he was receiving harrassing phone calls from this company, he has had to change his credit card number, he’s reported the company to the NYS Attorney General’s office, and posted his article on Digg.com.

Digg users then took the situation to a whole new level. According to Aviransplace.com Digg users posted the store’s aliases, phone numbers and addresses and started calling the company’s 800 number with phone calls, wrote scripts that would call and then disconnect, made prank calls, launched DOS attacks on their website, flooded them with emails, posted complaints to the Better Business Bureau, and brought down their live chat feature.

Never, ever underestimate the power of an angry internet mob. Especially when there are geeks among them!

Thomas Hawk’s website with comments from visitors

Digg it! The Digg page with member comments. Currently at 552 comments.

*****UPDATE*****

Thomas has received an apology letter from Mr. Lopez, the owner of the company. They also miraculously found the “backordered” camera in stock and are offering it to him at the original price. He declined.

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