Mike,
I believe you are absolutely correct about protection from the scam artists. I withdraw all my "tongue-in-cheek" suggestions as it was only meant in jest anyway. Perhaps a disclaimer statement that the opinions expressed are of the contributor and do not reflect the opinions or policy of the management or sponsors of the forum. Otherwise, it's business as usual and buyer beware.

Thanks for ALL the replies. You guys are great. I am a newbie and so I didn't realize that this scam was so common.

When you go to amazon.com and look for an item and then amazon.com says that they don't stock it, but one of thier associates do, then you trust them! Or so I thought.

I have talked to my credit card company and have taken care of that. So I am safe, BUT I am still puzzled as to why a company like that would do such a thing. What do they have to gain? Obviously they were adamant to charge me another $500 one way or another, whether it be for worthless "filters" or an included "battery and charger". I don't think anyone would agree to that! So they wouldn't get any customers this way anyway. So why the hell would they play this stupid game and waste everyone's time? Does it really work for them???

Oh well, looks like I won't be getting an VX2100 for $1799 after all :(

P.S. I know B&H is very reputable and one of the sponsors, but thier price of $2400 is out of my reach... I guess that is the lowest price for one of these, huh? Maybe I will wait for the new HiDef 1080i VX3000 ! ! ! :)

Oh yes it works very well as those people and others like them have been in business for many years. I remember their ilk from 30 years ago when I was into still photography.

But you might be able to buy a VX2000 for that price.

One way to do save money is to email some of the reputable companies. B&H regularly sells their demo stock. Ask them what they've got.

Could be they have a demo 2100 that they'd be willing to sell.

They will deal.