"Very satisfied. I bought 2 digital cameras Canon S3 IS at the lowest price of the market. In the process of order verification a polite representative asked if I am interested to buy any accessories. I declined; there was no pressure or insistence. The order was shipped next day (free ground shipping) and arrived on time. I would buy from them again."
"Very Satisified. I have purchased two Panasonic plasma tv's online from this store and they have always delivered a quality product on-time and much cheaper than I can find elsewhere. This time I bought a 58" Panasonic Plasma for $400 cheaper than I can buy it through where I work and we're a Panasonic plasma dealer."
"I ordered a Panasonic LX1 from Butterfly Photo over a year ago, and got the nearly the lowest price I could find online. The product arrived as promised, no problems at all.
So, I decided to buy a Canon HV10 and Nikon SB600 flash from them yesterday. The guy "Bob" did try to upsale me on some extended warranty, filters, etc. Pretty much the same as last year. But, he took about my 3rd "no" without problems. Can't blame a salesperson by trying to upsell. :-) My products arrived overnight as promised. I would buy from them again."
"BEWARE!!! BUTTERFLY PHOTO BEWARE!!!
My mom purchased a camera for me for Christmas. She gets the email to call Butterfly Photo to confirm order. Salesman Victor pressures her into purchasing a filter kit, telephoto and wide angle lenses. ALL HIGH DEFINITION which are double the price. I get the gift realized she got scammed. The camera was fine but it’s not a high def camera. The lenses are useless, plus they didn’t send the wide angle lens and the charged us almost double on the telephoto lens. Called got RMA # sent the 2 lenses we did receive back on our dime.
Called several times trying to get a refund in January, after they received the 2 lenses. One customer service agent apologized for Victor’s pressure sale. We tried to just get them to exchange the lenses for regular lenses, but it was too difficult and frustrating so we told them just credit our card. Now they want the dreaded restocking fee and shipping fee they didn’t pay for. Each time we called we would get the same answer your refund will show up in a couple days. One day we talked to 3 different people and a manger and they waived the shipping and the restocking fee, and you’ll see it in a couple days. NOT!
Long story short, it’s now March 6 and we finally got a refund that’s about $58.00 short. We battled with Vicky another great person to deal with. She said we lied we never called the week prior and said we never had the restocking fee and the shipping fee waived. And she hung up on us.
For those people who think you’re getting a bargain at BUTTERFLY PHOTO you are to a certain point. Until you have to return an item, or they sent the wrong item or the item is not in stock. That’s how they make their money. Their salesmen get commissions on how much they sell. That’s why you have to confirm the order in person. They also make money on the restocking fees. So you almost think they send out the wrong items on purpose to make this money. BEWARE!!!
From now on before I purchase anything online I will do a review search on that company. This is a good web site for that information
Good info here also http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t52497.html
"
"Ordered a Panasonic GS 300 camcorder, and on-site confirmation failed to note the 2-3 days shipping I had ordered, so I had to call. Calling in to verify the confirmation, I sat on hold for 30 minutes, and then hung up, and called back and chose the prompt for ordering. Bob, ***-***-**** ext 251, was on the phone in seconds, and proceeded to talk me into the overnight delivery, (and yes, he confirmed the camcorder was in stock) if I wanted the camera before the vacation I had planned, (and now returned from). He talked me into other stuff, too, but I've learned that this is common, even if wrong. I was irked when 6 days later there was no delivery of my camcorder, and I knew I was going on vacation without the camera. I wrote an e-mail to Bob, and my wife called me on the way to the airport with his e-mailed regrets, but no explanation, and offer of a different Panasonic camera, with "high quality, High definition" wide angle and telephoto lenses free. My wife could NOT get him on the phone to clarify, though he had invited us to call, in the e-mail. On my first day back from being gone 6 days out of country I noted that there was still no camera, despite the 6 extra days. Wrote another e-mail to Bob, citing my belief that they don't have my camera, and clearly had never shipped it. That I considered the order undelivered, and expected there to be no bill to my credit card. I copied his manager. He wrote back, to tell me that he would call during the day today to clarify a resolution, but didn't call. After reading this site, and seeing the below average ratings for this vendor I am nervous, and will call American Express tomorrow to ask their help in stopping payment.
Too bad, I did a lot of research in picking out the camera, and checked on the C/Net site for Vendor ratings. Butterfly Photo has 4.5 out of 5 stars there. But when I went to that site (C/Net), and registered, I was unable to get on ANY of the stores rating pages to make my own rating.
That sounds pretty fishy, too.
I'm glad, now, that I haven't received the camera, but I fear that it's not going to be easy to keep my money from those folks at Butterfly Photo.
I hope ONE PERSON will choose not to buy from them because of this note.
(Any more that that would be just gravy.)
I am afraid that my internet buying will be much different after this.
Addendum, 3/4/07
I have called American Express, and have officially "disputed" the charge. They haven't sent anything, but AmEx confirms that the charge has already been put through. I am not to pay it, until they complete their investigation into the matter.
Remarkably, Butterfly Photo seems to have placed a block on my e-mails, as they are returned to me. Attempts to fax them my evidence against them fail, because the fax number listed on the web site never "answers", and the phone rings on and on.
Finally, I mailed them the evidence and cancellation, Registered mail.
Whew. AmEx says they are looking into this, but not to mail the evidence of our e mails, and printed screen shots of the order until they request it.
3/8/07, edit
Butterfly must have received my registered letter, and they e-mailed to say they would credit my American Express in a 1-2 day. Frankly, I will believe it when I see it, but I will update with final resolution, if it happens.
I can't believe it was this hard, so far, and I don't trust them at all, so I am not claiming victory.
"
"They had a great price. They requested a phone call as everyone said they would. They were not difficult on the phone.
The only problem was they did not have it in stock (they never told me that) and they charged my credit card without having it in stock. I had no idea when I would get the item.
I called and canceled. No difficulty there. A great price is not worth much when you cannot get the item."
"**DO NOT BUY FROM THIS MERCHANT**
This business is a clear "Bait and Switch" company. I placed an order with this
company and got an email to call in. When I did so I was assured that the item
was in stock and bought a few upgrades as suggested by Jeremy their
salesperson. A few days later their website shows my order is backordered and
when I call back in I am told that they are out of stock it will be two weeks
before they will be able to ship....But, if I want to buy this more expensive
TV they can have it out the same day. I think that this business needs to be
taught a lesson. I see online that there are many complaints about them. With
the price they offered I figured I would keep an open mind, but they proved to
be a shifty company.... Beware.
"
"The worst transaction in years. They charged my card the day of the order,took three days to ship it (I paid for 2 day delivery), added additional shipping cost after order was placed, then gave it to DHL who held it for a week. Butterfly put me on hold for over 30 minutes, bumped me to voice mail and never returned the call. I am diputing the charge."
"I tried to order from this company but when I wouldn't take the extended warranty they all of the sudden didn't have the stock to fulfill my order. They are high pressure and give out false information about their warranty and the extended warranty. If you read the extended warranty contract terms, it clearly tells you it does not go into effect until the factory warranty is over, yet ButterFly Photo wants you to believe that it will cover you from day one.
They stated they would be shipping within 24 hours, but delayed and delayed until they could talk to me and see if I would fall for their scam.
Be very leary of Roy and Butterfly Photo."
"Short version: DO NOT SHOP HERE. You may be lucky 9 times out of 10, but that 1/10 time you'll have to battle and wait a long time to receive what you paid for.
Long version: I've ordered a compact digital camera, and some accessories. Everything went fine, even though I had to call back to confirm the order, and they tried to sell me a high speed memory card. After 2 days, I've received the package, with the accessory kit BUT WITHOUT THE CAMERA!!! I've called the customer support, and after waiting 20 MINUTES on the phone, they told me that I have to wait 7 to 14 days for the claim to be "processed", and that it's not certain that I'll have my money back (or the camera).
Advice: if you have to contact them do it via mail. You'll have to wait days, but at least you don't waste your time waiting on the phone.
Update: After exactly one month since I've placed my order, and after a week that FedEx sent them a check (via ordinary mail, so it can take a long time) they finally managed to send me the camera. Finally! I received it on 03/09/2007, everything is fine this time."
"Ordered on 1/25/07. Received 2/2/07. Would buy from them again. Satisfied."
"I'm disappointed. It's my first order for my senior citizen parents for a digital camera. An agent called them the same evening with a pressure talk that they need to purchase more stuff that they need for the camera. Being senior citizens, they agreed but was traumatized by the experience. I tried to cancel the "extras" the following day but was given what I expected them to say, "the shipment already went out." And if I return anything, I'll be responsible for shipping fees. I question their practice of unnecessary soliciting. This store sucks!"
"Ordered the Canon 30d and kit lens. Paul was very informative and no pressure to buy the extras, except the extended warranty for the camera. This was my second camera purchase, along with the Canon 70 - 200L IS from Butterfly. Shipments arrived on time, well packed. I wouldn't hesitate ordering from them again and as a matter of fact, I am already saving for the 5d."
"Only purchase known good name brand products from Butterfly Photo that you intended to buy...like a Sony camcorder. DO NOT BUY ANY OF THE OTHER NO-NAME JUNK THEY PUSH...LIKE THEIR ACCESSORIES, WHICH ARE FROM MERKURY (WHO??). The additional camcorder battery they sold me was from Merkury and would not hold a charge at all. It was past ButterFly Photo's 14 day return policy when I figured this out, so I now I am stuck trying to deal with Merkury (Who??)."
"Bought a Samsung Full HD 56inch DLP TV.
Cheap price (including the cost of standard shipping). Only knock was that they got out of me an extra 50 or so bucks. I am located in Manhattan, and my research indicated their warehouse was in NJ, so when I bought it online on Dec 11, I figure it would get to my place before xmas. When I spoke with the guy, he said the warehouse was in California, and I needed the express 3-6 day shipping to get it by xmas. So I got express shipping, and guess what, the next day a delivery guy called me and said he had it in the back of his truck ready for delivery. So much for honesty. "