Protechstore - legit?

[Barlettaborn]

With regards to Protechstore. I visited the address given on the website to see if a store was visible. However all I found was apartments so unless it run via the owner bedroom I can't see how it's a legitimate business.

If it's too good to be true it usually is.

[Bibby_83]

Thanks again for all these replies.

I keep checking this thread mainly because I imagine the guys that run these websites are going to see the search engine hits and join AV Forums to defend themselves. I'm almost expecting a comment.

Actually to be fair to them they probably have an automated comment device for this sort of thing, with HTML links to their servers.

[senecan]

Ditto - thanks for all the investigative work.

Just to reiterate regarding Protechstore specifically, I'm not sure if we have much anecdotal evidence of wrongdoing and it's entirely possible and not unethical to run a business from your home appartment with a website hosted en masse by Yahoo. At least their address actually exists!

I think the message with Protechstore is that the business might not quite be as large as the impression created from their website. To the consumer this might just mean adjusting expectation around after-sales support and/or stock levels! In fact their home page seems to prepare for an out-of-stock experience.

Has anyone actually ordered from Protechstore? Do tell... did the goods surface?

[radriderx]

Originally Posted by JoeSound84

Regarding Protech me and a freind are looking at purchasing a HD projector, had seen the 'amazing' prices on the Protech store site, emailed them to see if they had one of the projectors in stock to pick up, no reply. So as me and my mate didnt live to far away from Evesham we decided to take a look to see what was going on as something didnt seem right. Arrived at the said address, and surprise surprise, no such shop or warehouse exists,Mod comment: line removed, lets not speculate
DO NOT BUY FROM PROTECH STORE!

Hi All,
Thought I'd join in the discussion - was looking at a 40" samsung and found NewTechLink on google products. The price of the tv was very cheap, about £200 less than everyone else - that and the amateurish looking website made me pause before entering my details - to give them the benefit of the doubt I entered my e-mail address and asked them for a delivery quote - so far no answer Now I'm worried, can they get anything from an e-mail address?

[Chris Muriel]

Only thing they can get is the opportunity to send you spam or pass the email address onto an entity that collects such lists (for spamming purposes).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[morteASH]

Seem the company "protechstore" and "techsohos.com" are one and the same scam. I have just had to cancel my credit card and still had time to cancel payments thanks to this website.
You can also try the website www.cqcounter.com/whois/ as they were able to confirm the information you provided.

[Bibby_83]

Before debate starts up again I would like to point out that there are facts on these websites which are at best, suspicious, which you can read about at some length from this thread.

Edit: Spot the difference -

http://bigproshop.com

Business Address -

227 Grandview Avenue
Nashville
TN
37211
USA

sales@bigproshop.com
1-888-259-2500
1-888-259-2500

http://newtechlink.com

Business Address -

12 Harefield Road
London
UB8 1PH
UK

sales@newtechlink.
0800 10 10 33
0800 10 10 33

http://protechstore.com

Business Address -

ProTechStore

30 Port Street
Evesham
Worcestershire
WR11 3LH
UK

sales@protechstore.com
08716 629 300
08716 629 300

http://techsohos.com

Techsohos isn't available to me.

Note how long it takes to access these websites - they need to increase their server space I'm sure. It's one hell of a business empire though isn't it? And each shop has thousands of TVs and other units listed, I only wonder where they are kept?

[Chris Muriel]

Originally Posted by mrhavana

[COLOR=black]
Finally,


WRONG! If you give a fraudulent website your email address and credit card details, which do you think has more value to the criminal? Wake up!

These are wholly my personal opinions and do not represent the views of this forum, website, it’s owners or employees/moderators. People are free to make their own choices, just take a moment to think before you click.

erm....
The person I answered said that all he left was his email address - not his CC details.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[Bibby_83]

None of these websites (Protechstore/Newtechlink/Techsohos/Bigproshop) appear to have a secure server, so anything could be going on at their end. I honestly wouldn't trust them with my personal details.

[LittleGreyCat]

I haven't hit Protechstore but I got here from a Google Product Search for a Pentax W60 camera.

This included 'newtechlink.com' and 'techsohos.com' both with ridiculously low prices and no customer reviews.

The web sites also looked remarkably similar in general layout.

Being of a suspicious nature I looked up the WHOIS records using Whois lookup and Domain name search (other WHOIS services are available) and found both registrations were created on the same day with the same registration details barring the owner's name.

O.K. - small businesses may use a global registration service and share a server, but two businesses selling the same product registered in the same place on the same day and both cheaper than anyone else (and no reviews)?

I Googled the PO Box number and hit this thread.

Oh, well. No cheap camera. However I am reasonably IT literate and so knew a little about how to check further.

I still have no absolute proof that anything is wrong [apart from the information in this thread], but enough doubts to avoid these sites.

Well done to those who contributed information, especially 'eyeballing' the claimed trading addresses.

Cheers

LGC

[mrhavana]

Originally Posted by Chris Muriel

erm....
The person I answered said that all he left was his email address - not his CC details.

erm....
you didn't quote anyone, so it wasn't obvious you were perhaps refering to the immediately preceding post.

My apologies for not making that tenuous link.

[mrhavana]

Originally Posted by Bibby_83

There is also a website coming up called techstore.com with the same HTML design. It appeared to have SSL certification from Thwaites but this could be copied from another site or used without permission. Either way it will probably link to their server.

Originally Posted by Bibby_83

I'm still not sure about techstore.co.uk, the business details and HTML are identical to protechstore but here is some customer feedback -
Information on Techstore - PriceRunner
PriceGrabber User Rating for Techstore - PriceGrabber.co.uk

Bibby_83, this is why the Mods get nervous. Techstore.co.uk seems to be a legitimate business called VAR Ltd T/A (trading as) Techstore.

In both pricegrabber links you posted, there are people who have actually received good and even several who were completely satisfied with their purchases. Whilst the company does seem to have many dissatisfied customers, there is nothing to suggest they are completely fraudulent or have anything to do with Protechstore.

How do you link Techstore to Protechstore in the first place anyway apart from the name? The websites are completely different! Have you actually looked at them? Techstore.co.uk also has a completely valid Thawte SSL certificate.

Even if the sites did look similar, that on its own means nothing. Many scammers copy 'real' websites in order to convince. SSL certificates are a good way of distinguishing real websites from fake ones, although it doesn't give any guarantee of quality of service!

Fortunately, most people on this thread are on the right track. You should be careful when posting about things you clearly know nothing about and your posts should be deleted.

[Deaks888]

[QUOTE=
Fortunately, most people on this thread are on the right track. You should be careful when posting about things you clearly know nothing about and your posts should be deleted.[/QUOTE]

Not being too Forum savvy I hope this quote is shown, taken from Mrhavana's comment's.
While you give some balanced comments Mrhavana how can you justify censorship of this level on some one's observations, most of which do seem to be backed up by others.
On this last site to be commented on techstore.co.uk, it's address given

VAR Ltd
39 Thames Avenue
Greenford
Middlesex
UB6 8JN
shows up on Google as a nice semi-detached house.
Ok there are VAT numbers and a companies registration number.

I myself run my business from home but I am not a box shifter requiring warehouse space and staff to run my business.
I see the purpose of these comments from various people as a way of making sure that they are not going to be ripped off.

So far I would not imagine anybody as picketed the front door of these firms driving away honest customers from honest firms.

Thank you to all those who have spent the time to check out sites that might be fraudulent, that's how I came across this forum.

Finally I would like to ask 2 questions.
1 from the people who did give their credit card details was payment taken or attempted?
2 I wondered if it is technically possible that with a google search you would find your way on to one of these web sites and the product you have listed has an unbelievable low price while the others seem about right. ie the site as made adjustments to your search item to make the price low based on your choice. Make another choice and the first item would appear with a normal price and your new choice becomes the carrot on the stick.

Safe Shopping!

[BPS]

There's a new one called marketwal.com, which looks suspiciously like techsohos:

LG M227WD - 22" - widescreen TFT active matrix LCD d

LG M227WD - 22" - widescreen TFT active matrix LCD d

[senecan]

About Protechstore:

From some reseller reviews at ProtechStore - protechstore.com - Reviews, Ratings and Prices at ResellerRatings it seems some customers have received goods from protechstore, and there are a couple of positive reviews, although this was quite some time ago.

One of the reviewers at that link suggests protechstore had listed a lot of items on eBay. That fits with the kind of profile I was forming of protechstore, a (very) small company occasionally able to source end-of-line stuff and/or office closure items, maybe with a lock-up somewhere and with a head office of the proprietor's home residence.

However, I note there have been no reviews left for protechstore anywhere for some time. We are all capable of drawing our own inference from that.

Sometimes a reseller will obtain a quote for a bulk order and then offer the item at the promised price plus markup - in fact Scan.co.uk have recently revealed this practice with an erroneous super-cheap webcam deal which they subsequently retracted. (Their supplier had quoted the wrong price and then failed to honour it, so scan cancelled all the orders even after taking payment and didn't order with the supplier.)

In these cases the reseller is advertising something they don't yet hold in stock. If there are insufficient orders then the supplier's order never happens and the T's and C's caveat this by refuting the offer and acceptance aspects of contract law by stating the contract only exists upon despatch of the item. (In fact Scan's T's and C's aren't that smart but that is another story...)

About this forum:

I really do appreciate the subject-related comments on this forum for all the various threads and really believe in the power of this forum and this thread in particular as a means of consumers naming and shaming dubious suppliers. We consumers need this.

Previously I tried to move the debate on, to gather any recent first-hand experience with protechstore and to my astonishment the next reply was a personal attack. Free speech and all, but I am really struggling to understand how my comments could have been offensive.

I'd like to remain focussed on the topic and not get personal. Am I in the wrong place?

[Pontiac]

Originally Posted by senecan

About this forum:

I really do appreciate the subject-related comments on this forum for all the various threads and really believe in the power of this forum and this thread in particular as a means of consumers naming and shaming dubious suppliers. We consumers need this.

Previously I tried to move the debate on, to gather any recent first-hand experience with protechstore and to my astonishment the next reply was a personal attack. Free speech and all, but I am really struggling to understand how my comments could have been offensive.

I'd like to remain focussed on the topic and not get personal. Am I in the wrong place?

Offending post you mention has been removed. You're not in the wrong place at all, just some people can get carried away

[Bibby_83]

Hi,

One of the reviewers at that link suggests protechstore had listed a lot of items on eBay.

I've seen that website before but there was a seller on Ebay called Protechstore. However, it comes up as NARU (no longer a registered user) and there is some negative feedback from buyers who claimed that they paid money and did not receive any goods. There is positive feedback but also a fair number of negatives. I think this was the company which the customer feedback on Ciao and other websites referred to. Whether they are one and the same as Protechstore.com is another thing altogether. What is known about that website is that it was registered very recently (see domain lookup on Whois earlier in the thread) and those comments come from 2007 at the latest - the Ebay account has not been used since April 2006 and was apparently based in the US. Many people sell junk on Ebay which might be counterfeit or otherwise dodgy, also many sellers de-register and some come back with new accounts - there are probably too many examples to generalise from but I think most people who spend time on there know about it. I have bought goods on Ebay in the past which turned out to be counterfeit or poor quality products. Most of the time I had no idea about them.

The link to the Protechstore on Ebay is here - eBay My World - protechstore

Marketwal.com - Yes, this does look similar to the other websites. I should point out that I have been to Tottenham Court recently but for some reason I never saw this business. Should be fairly easy to check anyway, I suppose it is right next door to Techsohos.

Business details -

Marketwal

28 Tottenham Court Road
London
W1T 1BS‎
UK

sales@marketwal.com

020 7580 1791

020 7580 1791

http://marketwal.com

Server (Yahoo US again) -

WHOIS information for marketwal.com :

[Querying whois.internic.net]
[Redirected to whois.melbourneit.com]
[Querying whois.melbourneit.com]
[whois.melbourneit.com]

Domain Name.......... marketwal.com
Creation Date........ 2009-06-22
Registration Date.... 2009-06-22
Expiry Date.......... 2010-06-22
Organisation Name.... Shane Killian
Organisation Address. PO Box 61359
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Sunnyvale
Organisation Address. 94088
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Address........ PO Box 61359
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Sunnyvale
Admin Address........ 94088
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email.......... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Address......... PO Box 61359
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94088
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email........... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com
Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com

[senecan]

Originally Posted by Bibby_83

Hi,

I've seen that website before but there was a seller on Ebay called Protechstore. However, it comes up as NARU (no longer a registered user) and there is some negative feedback from buyers who claimed that they paid money and did not receive any goods.

Agreed - I checked the ids of those leaving feedback just to confirm a US-based operation and the vast majority were also US-based, so it does look like a different supplier. But the review was for protechstore.com ... it remains to be seen if the reviewer was getting his/her wires crossed or the protechstore eBay-er also owned the domain at that time.

I suppose that means we still haven't heard of anything ever being delivered from the current protechstore.com, and the fact there are some positive reviews for goods received from protechstore.com is misleading.

At the time it had been suggested protechstore.com had "suddenly appeared" with bargain prices, hence the need for suspicion. But that wasn't the case as there is a history dating back to 2006, although that history looks like it belongs to someone else.

The overriding message is still to avoid like the plague. Especially as at the time of writing the home page reads:

jtablesession::Store Failed
DB function failed with error number 1016
Can't open file: 'jos_session.MYI' (errno: 145) SQL=INSERT INTO `jos_session` ( `session_id`,`time`,`username`,`gid`,`guest`,`clie nt_id` ) VALUES ( 'b896eaf0ad6db04dcb7e407ae3c89517','1248284083','' ,'0','1','0' )


Hmmm....

[BostonCrew]

Just done some web-walking and the address that Marketwal.com have on their website (28 Tottenham Court Road) is actually home to P N R Audio Vision. I called them and they had never heard of Marketwal. Also, if you go on the Companies House website, Marketwal Ltd (the company name given in their Ts & Cs) doesn't exist.

So, the recommendation would be DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY MONEY!!

[BPS]

Originally Posted by Bibby_83

Hi,
Marketwal.com - Yes, this does look similar to the other websites.

Originally Posted by BostonCrew

Just done some web-walking and the address that Marketwal.com have on their website (28 Tottenham Court Road) is actually home to P N R Audio Vision. I called them and they had never heard of Marketwal. Also, if you go on the Companies House website, Marketwal Ltd (the company name given in their Ts & Cs) doesn't exist.

So, the recommendation would be DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY MONEY!!

Thanks both. I'll use the links posted earlier on the thread to inform Google etc that they look suspicious.

[Bibby_83]

Looked up Newtechlink.com again and found this interesting error on their front page.

NewTechLink was established in 2003 as a trade and Retail supplier of quality computers and computer components.

NewTechLink provides an online order and delivery service. You can rely upon us to provide you with quality and competitively priced products with an exceptional level of support. Our commitment to customer satisfaction means that you can confidently trust us at Micom for your total needs.

We also specialise in supplying computer systems and components to the education sector. We have a growing list of education customers including many universities, colleges, schools and many more. Micom can provide you with a single point of contact to provide a quality, consistent and reliable level of service whether for full systems or individual components. We have our own qualified engineers for customer support.

We accept payment by Cheque or Credit Card and we can also offer 30 Day credit accounts subject to status, ask our sales team for further details. We challenge you to put us through the test! Call our Sales Team or place an On-line order today!

Now this does seem out of place since Micom.co.uk is apparently a different company with a different business address (not a town street) -

Micom International Limited
T/A micomonline.co.uk
Micom House
Unit 2 Bodmin Road
Coventry
CV2 5DB

Another sloppy mistake by the website creator but then they probably copied the text from here -

About Us - Micom Online Cheap Laptop, Computer, Components & More - Coventry

The only difference is that the word Newtechlink has been inserted multiple times.

What is more worrying is that Newtechlink.com is still available. Edit: It does not seem to come up on Google Shopping at this time and I cannot see Protechstore or Techsohos. They seem to have been replaced by Marketwal, which uses the same Yahoo US server, again the server address does not match the business address which is in the UK.

[BPS]

Originally Posted by BPS

There's a new one called marketwal.com, which looks suspiciously like techsohos:

LG M227WD - 22" - widescreen TFT active matrix LCD d

LG M227WD - 22" - widescreen TFT active matrix LCD d

Any thoughts on this website?

LG M227WD - 22" - widescreen TFT active matrix LCD d

[Chris Muriel]

Australia with a similar Sunnyvale connection :




Domain Name.......... techknoxes.com
Creation Date........ 2009-06-22
Registration Date.... 2009-06-22
Expiry Date.......... 2010-06-22
Organisation Name.... David Peabody
Organisation Address. PO Box 61359
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Sunnyvale
Organisation Address. 94088
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Address........ PO Box 61359
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Sunnyvale
Admin Address........ 94088
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email.......... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Address......... PO Box 61359
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94088
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email........... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com
Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com



The previous information has been obtained either directly from the registrant or a registrar of the domain name other than Network Solutions. Network Solutions, therefore, does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Show underlying registry data for this record



Current Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
IP Address: 68.180.151.74 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-CALIFORNIA-SUNNYVALE
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
DMOZ no listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Data as of: 23-Apr-2008

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[Owen_Johnston]

I am seriously worried about this!!! i was on this site, not knowing it was a fake and ordered a TV because it was so cheap, used my dad's credit card. they said the card didn't work so i used to other one and they said that didn;t work, so now they have both his credit card numbers and i'm not sure how to tell him!

[Bibby_83]

Hi Owen,
I am sorry to hear about that but the advice so far has been to cancel credit cards, if your bank offers this service.

Hope that everything is OK,
Simon

[Owen_Johnston]

Hi, i havent seen much in the way of complaints about this site, however i will be phoning Mastercard tomorrow to let them know the situation

[satdoc]

Has any one actualy visited these addresses and phoned them as they do not reply to the e-mails.

[Owen_Johnston]

I phoned up and got no answer and the address on google maps is not marketwal, so i phoned up and cancelled my cards

[Bibby_83]

BTW some of these sites still appear on Google. Thanks, Google.

Their incompetence in dealing with this is completely unimaginable. I will not be using any of their websites and hope that they lose respect from the business and web community if this goes on any further.

[Lucksmith]

Originally Posted by satdoc

Has any one actualy visited these addresses and phoned them as they do not reply to the e-mails.

i think prior posts cover these questions amply. phone calls and visits.

On a more positive note i'd like to recommend a company that had an almost suspiciously low price for the montior i was after. [strangely google product search lists an incorrect silly low price, but the real price is cheaper than anywhere else still...]. I telephoned them had a chat etc, and was even more certain they were kosher:

As i was in the process of moving house, it was quite refreshing for a company not to want to take my order until the follwing day, when visa caught up with the bank and had my updated address logged...

The company i was very satisfied with is Computer components pc systems, hardware & peripherals, Gaming products at itdisti
ITD - PC & LAPTOP CENTRE, 143 - 145 Oldham Road, The Landings, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, OL16 5QY, UNITED KINGDOM, 01706 354455

Repeat: they are not scamming, very good service: a happy customer, finally.