"I ordered a Yamaha RX-V659 receiver from Butterflyphoto.com on Saturday(09/23/2006) and promptly received a confirmation e-mail. I received no additional communication for the next 6 days.. this despite their website still showing the receiver 'in stock' and 'usually ships 1-2 days'. Checking the order status online did no good as all that could be seen was a blank space in the status field.
I e-mailed customer service asking for a status update on my order and surprise, surprise.. a few hours later I got an e-mail asking me to call their 800-number to discuss my order. This I did, spoke with a couple of perfectly agreeable people, declined the service plan or whatever it is they call it.. finally I was told my order was on its way. Coincidence?
My order was shipped DHL 2-day and I got my order on 10/03/2006.
Overall, I had a technically proficient yet personally smarmy experience with this vendor. You will not get the feeling of the warm-and-fuzzies ordering from them. There seems to be no priority in communication, and their 'you must call us before we'll ship the item you've already paid for' policy defeats the entire purpose of ordering online. "

"I placed my order on 9/14/06. I decided to call Butterfly Photo because I wanted to avoid the call back mentioned in the reviews. I talked to a very professional service rep and informed him I wanted to avoid the call back. He said no problem. I ordered a Sony DVD camcorder for $552 which is about $250 cheaper than websites/stores like circuit city, Best Buy, etc. I also ordered a second battery which was cheaper than circuit city's price. The sales rep did attempt to sell me a couple items. This should be expected when the price is so good. I ended up ordering the 4 year warranty which was much cheaper than priced on their website. The sales rep never tried to pressure me and was professional the entire time. The rep told me the order would ship within 48 hours. A few HOURS later I received an email with the tracking number. I paid for the 2-3 day shipping and BP shipped via DHL. No fault of Butterfly Photo, my package was late. Apparently DHL only delivers to small towns like mine (population 1,000) three days a week. Then DHL went to the wrong house (houses are numbered) and couldn't deliver the product. I finally drove to the big city and picked up the product myself. I called DHL and they are going to refund Butterfly Photo for DHL's mistake. Bottom line is that I received everything I ordered at the prices I expected. I got the camcorder, battery and 4 year warranty for cheaper than Circuit City sold just the camcorder. My advice to Butterfly photo is to only ship via UPS. DHL and Fed Ex are terrible at shipping to rural/small towns because they use contract carriers. My advice to people ordering from Butterfly Photo, treat your sales rep with respect and be upfront with what you want and they will treat you well. Remember, the price is worth many inconveniences."

"Bought a canon eos digital rebel xti from these guys. Had to call them to complete the order. They did try to sell accessories and extended warranty, but not too much pressure on it. I was put on hold a few times. Order was shipped out immediately via DHL and got here pretty fast. Camera is in working order, everything is accounted for that's suppose to be in the original box. "

"I did the internet order. Sony KDL-40XBR2 40" BRAVIA XBR. Got an email confirming that order. I had messed up my billing address, so called to correct. I got Mark. He was polite, confirmed my order, said he would correct the address. No hard sell. I did buy an hdmi cable. This set is a gift to my parents for their 50th anniversary. Got an email that thanked me and gave me a tracking number. Followed that link to my order...it is on backorder for one item? Still showing the wrong delivery address. Replied back to the shipping email with the correct address and a question about which item, tv or hdmi cable. My credit card called to confirm the big sale earlier in the day. Now its on back order! Site still shows in stock.Will wait and see how this goes. Reading here, I am a little worried, but they have been good so far, so will take them at their word. Patience on back orders is short, as anniversary date is three weeks away. I will do an update based on my outcome. We received the XRB yesterday. The TV is excellent. The delivery guy even helped carry it into my house. Kudos to Butterfly. Will buy and recommend them to all!"

"I have made several major purchases from Butterfly Photo and have been generally pleased with all of them. I actually check Butterfly first whenever I am considering a major camera or electronics purchase. With all online transactions, anyone can have a bad experience. Still, I have had better luck with Butterfly than with other online electronics/camera retailers. My most recent purchase was for a Canon Digital Rebel XT camera. The transaction was flawless, and the camera was on my doorstep 5 business days after the order was placed. Butterfly will have a very low price, but it will not be the absolute lowest. Usually one of the shyster online stores will beat them (read reviews of Broadway Photo--average rating on this site of less than one out of ten!) The thing that you must realize when dealing with Butterfly is that even though they have the product in stock, they still want the opportunity to upsell you. So NEVER place the order over the Internet. This will just delay the order as they will NOT ship anything until they talk to you. The simple solution is to call their order number and place it over the phone. You will get confirmation that the item is in stock and you will get an estimate of shipping times. You will also have to listen to an appeal to buy additional high profit items like extended warranties, memory cards, extra batteries, etc. Simply listen and then politely say "No, thanks". Tell them that you already have items that they try to sell you and politely refuse the extended warranty. If there is any problem with the order or with inventory, you will know immediately and can take your business elsewhere if you desire. Many of the mentioned problems with Butterfly on this site could have been avoided by simply placing the order over the phone."

"This is the 3rd camera purchase in 3 years from Butterfly. Great price, excellent service, no pesky calls, and prompt free delivery. Ordered on 9/7/06 and received the camera on 9/9/06.

I have not rated them before, as I didn't know about this site. I am very pleased with them."

"After reading so many horror stories about Butterfly Photo (and most of the discount internet retailers operating out of Brooklyn, NY), I was apprehensive about making a major purchase (Samsung LN-S4092D 40" LCD panel HDTV). However, the fantastic price and shipping for $.01 were too hard to pass up and I went ahead with my order. I called the 800 number to order since I knew that submitting my order online would only delay the processing due to the inevitable "call us back right away...there's a problem with your order" e-mail. The sales associate I spoke to, Eddie, did indeed upsell me (I originally was intending to buy the LN-S4051D model, which is about $150 cheaper), but I ended up getting the 4092D model for $40 more than the 4051 due to a pricing error on their end, so it worked out to my advantage in the end! They also tried to sell me HDMI cables and an extended warranty which I politely refused and they didn't haggle when I did. Anyway, they answered all my questions and addressed my concerns (mostly confirming that the TV was brand new, factory sealed, full warranty, etc), and within 20 seconds of hanging up the phone I had an order confirmation e-mail. The following morning (I ordered at 8pm on Wednesday Aug 22), I woke up to find a second e-mail indicating my TV had already shipped and included was a tracking number for DHL. Now, for $.01 shipping, I was expecting an economy freight/trucking company to deliver the TV in 2-3 weeks. However, the DHL tracking indicated that the TV would be delivered in 2 business days! Turns out that DHL was not able to deliver on the 2nd business day because the oversize box necessitated they deliver 1st thing on the morning of the 3rd business day, so I arranged to go pick up the TV myself at my local DHL facility (8 minute drive) because I didn't want to wait. The TV was packed in the original box with all accessories, in unopened/unused condition. There was absolutely no damage or indication that the packaging had been open or resealed. The warranty information was included, and the outer box had the original UPC label. Bottom line, I got a brand new, perfect TV for $1000 less that it would have cost at Best Buy or Circuit City or any other brick & mortar electronics store. I had no problems whatsoever with Butterfly Photo, and while I may avoid ordering from them in the future just based on the sheer number of negative reviews I've read (quit while I'm ahead, right?), I am extremely satisfied with how my order went. Your mileage may vary, but here's one success story involving Butterfly Photo."

"In a word: HORRID. I will NEVER try to buy from this company again. I got FOUR emails within 48 hours telling me that I needed to contact them regarding my order (and that includes one that I received AFTER I called them). Upon calling them I discovered there was nothing wrong with my order; they just wanted to give me a sales pitch for accessories and extended warranties. I had to take time out of my schedule to call them for a sales pitch before they'd process my order?? Then I get home and find a voice mail telling me there was a problem with my credit card, and to call them back. So I did, at 6:32pm, and listened to hold music and "your call is important to us" for half an hour. At 6:58pm a new recording came up telling me that - surprise! - their offices are closed. The voice then tells me that their normal hours are from 10am to 8pm and I should call back then (ignoring the fact that it was only 7pm). I canceled my order and bought from B&H instead, where they treat their customers with respect."

"I strongly encourage everyone considering buying a camera from Butterfly Photo to take your business elsewhere. They are a dishonest and deceitful company.

I ordered and received a Pentax *ist digital camera from Butterfly Photo in July of 2006. One of my reasons for choosing them was that, with the offered rebate on the camera ($100), theirs was the best price online.

The camera arrived on time and in fine shape. However, when I went to fill out the Pentax rebate form (made available for download on the Butterfly Photo website), I noticed that it said that only items with UPC numbers listed on the form were eligible for the rebate. However, the UPC number on my camera was not on the list. I immediately tried to contact Butterfly, to no avail. Nobody was answering their 800 service number, and I specifically left voicemail messages twice for "Victor," the sales representative who called me after I had placed my initial order trying to get me to spend more. I also e-mailed the only e-mail address given on the website, and got no response.

I sent the rebate form in anyway, hoping that it was a mistake, but alas, Pentax just notified me today that the camera I bought did not qualify for the rebate.

Therefore, Butterfly Photo knowingly LIED by posting a rebate form on their site and claiming that the rebate applied to the camera they were selling, when they knew it did not. I feel that they owe me $100. Haha, yeah, I know, I'm not holding my breath on collecting. The best I can do is steer others away from this disreputable firm. Take your business to one of the fine online camera merchants (like bhphotovideo.com) with a good and proven reputation.

preahko"

"Purchased a Pentax *ist DL camera body.. Recieved typical comfirmation sales pitch call the next day. Sales person wasn't rude or anything. Camera was sent out 7 days after order date, recieved camera 4 days after shipment date, so about a 2 business week delivery for the camera. I was a bit worried about the camera arriving at all due to reading horrible stories about people recieving broken cameras or empty digital camera boxes. But I think my camera was a gray market camera since I didn't recieve a US warranty card with the camera. So I am kind of screwed if anything happens to my camera since it cannot be warranted in the US. To say the least I will do better research next time when buying electronic equipment online."

"I am very, very disappointed with Butterfly Photo. The spare camcorder battery (costed me $60)that was included in my purchase package of JVC Everio camcorder was not JVC brand(it could have been ok it it worked but to my annoyance it didn't)Tried to return for replacement after I got back from overseas for 2 1/2 months, they said policy return has expired. The truth is, I emailed them about the defective battery a month after purchase while overseas and never have I got a reply from them. I returned the item to Merkury Innovations (manufacturer,I guess)for a replacement. All I got was the same attitude,I've emailed & phoned this company a few times but to no avail. Either I get put on hold then transfer to another person who welcomes me with a voice mail. I am really frustrated with Butterfly photo. I will never ever recommend them to anyone. "

"Ordered Pentax Optio SV online, get email confirmation. Next day they call for “verification” & belligerently tried to upsell extras at crazy prices. Finally received camera, noticed plastic bags torn open & manual looks used. Next I find the memory is full of photos from some retirement home!! Next I find camera is defective - photos have sizeable dead spot, which I suspect is why it was returned before.
Called again, after more debates & arguments, they agreed to take it back & replace with a new one. I spend $14 to ship it back, they call & argue with me again. Finally agrees (again) to replace with a new one.

Replacement arrives, I first check the serial number & sure enough it’s the same used defective unit!! Plus, they even charged me an additional $19.99 shipping charge without telling me, when the original shipping charge was only $9.80!!

Called again, more waiting, more debates, finally they agree to refund purchase price &
my costs for shipping it back twice. Finally got my purchase price back, but, not only did they not refund my 2x return shipping costs, they didn’t even refund the extra $19.99 they quietly snuck in there. I called my bank and filed unauthorized charge complaint for the $19.99.

They are nothing more than a bunch of GREEDY CROOKS."

"I was skeptical after reading the reviews but took a chance anyway. I had no problems. I got the item I ordered, for the price stated, with a quick turnaround time. Of course there is the usual sales call, but I politely answered no thank you and that was it. I was very pleased with my experience and savings using Butterfly Photo."

"Ordered $700 camera for my mom. Customer rep. called my mom, and sold $800 more.

Called him, he said "We do not upsell anything. She specifically asked for those items."

Well, first of all, my mom does not know anything about electronics. 2nd, when I called to cancel optional equipments, he was yelling, and kept on saying she ordered.

It does not matter if she ordered or not. If customer asked to change the order, the merchant is supposed to change the order, right? They did not even prepare the order before I called. If they shipped or prepared the items, I would understand. Anyway, I am just mad at how they take advantage of people who do not have much knowledge about electronics."

"I highly reccommend not to buy from this site. They cancelled my order without giving proper reason. I called them up after seeing the status online and they said that I cannot place an order with a different shipping address from the billing address. They also refused to place another order for me. I had similar problem with them in the past. I will never again purchase from them or recommend them to my friends."