"I bought over $2000. of camera equiptment and had some issues with the wrong price but they did fix that. I now have a problem with the 2 Digital Concepts BP511a battery packs for the Canon 30D, which have a 3 year warranty and I emailed them for help several times. This is the third week and no reply, they are in my contacts and I check the spam folder too but no reply. Their phone does not answer and today there web site is down. I will never buy from them again. All I wanted was some info. on how to handle this and if I had to send them to Digital Concepts, which I could not find initially. The manufacturer, Sakar, was great in their C.S. help phone line and is going to replace them. I had to do some searching to find out who made these batteries myself.
Do not buy from bluestripephoto.com!"
"I bought a Panasonic AG-HVX200 Video Camera from Blue Stripe Photo and am sorry to say that I found out today from Panasonic that my camera is not warrantied in the U.S. Blue Stripe claims on their website that all merchandise has full U.S. warranties; the one they sold me does NOT, and I must now pay Panasonic to fix the defect. Recently, I almost bought a second camera from Blue Stripe Photo,(before I started having problems with the first one) but was saved when their sales person was so rude to me on the phone that I canceled the order. Never do business with these people; you WILL regret it."
"I looked and looked for a realistic price on a Canon XH-A1 video camera. When BSP showed the item in stock and advertised shipping within 2 days, I checked this site out before I ordered it. On Sunday (6/10/07), since I didn't see any progress on my order, I called to check-in. After 10 minutes and 2 transfers I was talking to Peter. He began the usual double talk about what was and wasn't included in the box from the manufacturer. After refusing numerous sales options, that even included a pitch for a different brand and style of camera, I reassured him I just wanted what I ordered. He said fine and I'd have my camera in 7 to 10 days. My wife's suggestion, I checked information Peter gave me by calling Adorama. That information confirmed that the positive experiences shared by some on this site about BlueStripePhoto was not the experience I was having, so I called Blue Stripe back to try to confirm each piece of the box contents. Steven spoke with contempt for me and eventually confessed that the camera wasn't in stock. Boy, what a cheap lesson to learn. I only lost 6 days. (PS...I make a living by knowing when someone is and isn't telling me the truth.) Good luck out there!!"
"I have to warn everyone... DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY.
As another reviewer said they lie ! They get ya to call in with low prices and do a bait-n-switch.
They don't have the item they advertised at the low price, that is used to get you to call in. I was trying to buy a Canon 100-400L IS lens . They of course don't have the item you want at that low price so they try to talk you into buying something that they make lots of money on. They told me the Canon 100-400L IS is a piece of crap and I should buy this sigma instead. When that didn't work the guy says they used to work for Canon and the 100-400 is a piece of crap lens and everyone is sending it back. OMG can you believe this. I will contact Canon and inform them of the sales tactics used here.
Don't buy from this company... and any positive posts written here are probably written by them!"
"Buying photographic equipment today may seem easier than years ago when one needed to physically travel from one brick & mortar shop to another; in fact to many of them. Besides wearing on the shoe leather, it took considerable time and patience. Easier today? Maybe. The question remains because without face-to-face contact, it is difficult to judge if the invisible salesman and his store is honest. Promises are frequently made to be broken. Deals are constructed upon the flimsiest of ground. Hidden costs are shrouded until the last moment. In other words, things are rarely what they seem to be.
All of this is here to dramatize the honesty and accuracy of my dealing with Blue Stripe Photo. John, the guy who mans the “sales” phone sounds honorable and, surprise. surprise, he is. Yes, he does, on orders from the front office, advise you of other ways to increase your purchases but that is standard for the course. What is not standard is his pushing just so far and then saying “OK” when it’s clear that you are just buying what you want and not much more. After being bounced about for ten days from photo store to photo store on the net for my purchase of the new Canon Rebel XTi 400D black body and actually placing two orders with credit card and all, I came in desperation to Blue Stripe. I had encountered a litany a disasters including endless delays because the camera was “back ordered with expectant delivery” and, of course, when the order was enhanced it would be in my hands within a few days; a variety of hidden costs and the best hoot of all, their Canon XTi at that super low price was a “Japanese only” edition with no English or French or Spanish or whatever other language in the menu. I could have laughed a bit more and said “bring it on” but it is difficult to trust such low life with your credit card info. Blue Stripe came through at a great price with no hidden charges and 2-day delivery even though I opted for the cheapest and longest transit time. So it is three cheers for Blue Stripe and a special cheer for John."
"Very good on price, but not too good with shipping, Very good on customer support.
I ordered a Canon 17-85mm lens, which arrived out of the canon box and rolling around in the inner box. I was skeptical if it was still working so I returned it for a replacement. The customer support was OK, Took me a while to get the manager to approved the exchange. I was afraid that there as internal problems. The lens itself was OK, but there was a small scratch on the outside. I guess that would be UPS's fault.
So I finally got it, that's why I'm modifying the this review. They shipped lens pretty fast. The moment it got there they shipped it out the same day. I personally think they should've gone with Fedex instead of UPS. From my experience UPS tend to ship it in bad condition more often than Fedex. Infact, I don't recall receiving a fedex shipment that was in bad condition.
I'm very pleased with the customer service, even though it took about a week to get.
I had to pay the initial 8 bucks to ship it back and they shipped it to me again for free. This time they got it right, Though the outer box was still messed up, the inner Canon box was still fine, Unopen and in pretty good shape.
Overall the store itself really makes an effort to send you the stuff, But in good condition or not, I don't really know, as I experienced. I bought a 50mm prime lens from them before and that was fine. That is why I came back to them.
Customer support is good I guess, they addressed my problem, but I did needed to go to the manager to get a replacement.
Price wise, it's excellent. One of the cheapest, if not the cheapest place I can find on the web that is legit.
I would highly recommend this store to anyone, but I personally would not buy again, not because the store sucks at sending things, but just because I would like to get my expensive things faster and in better condition. I would however buy cheaper products from them ~ 200 and less. "
"After purchased EFS 17-85 in 11/06, I waited Canon's double MIR almost over until I purchased this EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. I have closely monitored many on-retailer for 2+ months, I think this is the best deal I can get.
The experience is similiar to last order, friendly people called you to confirmed order detail and shipping, tried to pursuade you for some upgrade, promptly shipped the product out after I declined the offer.
Overall, nice shop and polite people, will come back myself and recommend to friends."
"After surfing the web and carefully compare price and store ratings, I decided to give Blue Stripe Photo a try. So I ordered the Nikon D80 Body with 1 Year USA Warranty. It shipped as promised within 1-2 days of processing. They did call to verify my credit card. During the call, the sales person was very professional. He offered me additional warranty packages and memory card (which is not part of the standard D80 package). At my declining, his answer had always been a courteous “That’s no problem.” The call was as short as that. Their website clearly displays order number, every included accessories, warranty and price – the same detailed information as their confirmation e-mail shortly after placing the order online. They promptly e-mail me UPS order tracking number upon shipping. I received my package today with all the accessaries and the Nikon USA warranty card. I’d order from BSP again."
"We love our JVC camera from Blue Stripe Photo, and were very pleased that it arrived so soon. We needed it within a certain time frame and they got it there a few days early. Later, when we discovered a problem with the extra battery we had gotten, they took care of it quickly and easily. We would highly recommend Blue Strip Photo for your camera needs!"
"The staff was friendly and helpful (and not pushy). Our camera and lense arrived right on time. Overall, an exceptional experience and value. I would highly recommend Blue Stripe Photo to any and everyone!"
"Fast delivery.Ordered Nikon lens and got it in time. No problems. Will order again. A+"
"I ordered a Nikon D80 body, after calling to confirm that "USA warranty" meant that it was NOT GREY MARKET. An order clerk told me it was not. When I received the camera, the warranty card was not Nikon, but some generic warranty that did not even identify the company.
When I posted my experience on another forum, I got a ton of replies saying I was lucky that I even got what I ordered, i.e. the body. Based on what is on this site, I have to agree.
I will never deal with these liars again."
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"I recommend Blue Stripe Photo. Digital camera was exactly as described, full US warranty, all included accessories, competently packed and amazing shipping -- two days even tho it was "budget". They smoothly corrected an error in the order (that was my fault) and were courteous & professional on the phone.
I will now say a few things about price. Blue Stripe had the lowest "real price". I say that for the following reasons.
(1) I tried to buy a camera on a "major" auction site and it it turned out to be a drop ship deal (seller did not possess the item and was using my money to buy it). When the drop shipper failed to deliver, seller would not return my money until he got it back from the drop shipper. This took weeks and weeks. This was a phony price because no delivery was made.
(2)I tried to buy a camera from an online source that had a lower price, but when I placed the item in the shopping cart, the cart listed the item but with a quantity of ZERO! I tried repeatedly to get the cart to say item one. Not possible. HOWEVER, if I placed a much higher (+$100) package deal that included the camera and a few very overpriced accessories -- guess what -- the shopping cart was happy to take my order in any quantity I wanted. This was a phony price because you couldn't actually order that item as described. Very clever and devious way to get a phony price listed at the top of major price/search engines."
"The shipping is really fast, but would like them to post more detail information about product online, as in this order I ended up getting an imported one(I didn't expect this though I have no problem with an import stuff) which is not very well pointed out on the webpage."