"I ordered a camera online and got a call from Sales person suggesting I might want accessories. I was reluctant since I couldn't spend the time researching while on the phone. Sales assured me the accessories were high quality and I could return if I didn't like them. Received the merchandise and discovered the accessories are not name brand. In fact I couldn't find much information at all (like not even a www site) and what I did find (in forums) was negative. Was assured if I didn't like the accessories that I could send them back without a restocking fee. When I tried to return them I couldn't get a response. Finally, after trying for several days, Sales denied offering me hassle-free return. Sales wouldn't take it back without a restocking fee. Ended up using my credit card company to dispute the charges. Will not buy from again.
"
"Everything was a breeze. I bought a Fuji E550 digital camera. The price was the best around, but had to call an 800 number just to confirm my order. They didn't try to sell my anything so that was great. "
"I was a bit weary of Butterflyphoto at first, due to some horror story ratings and interestingly worded descriptions of service on the merchant's website. But I'm not one to be bossed around by hard-sell tactics or bad service, so I decided to take the plunge and order a sony DSC-T1 on New Year's.
Order was processed quickly, although I would have appreciated NOT having to wait for an email confirmation and telephone follow-up (to try and sell me more items.) It would have been easier if I had just called in the order to begin with instead of using the website, but all in all I think the process only cost me an extra day at the most. The customer service man didn't push too much during his "camera special sale" and did ask me if I had any questions about my purchase...
But he also lied to me about the length of my camera's battery to entice me to buy another from the merchant, and didn't seem to be very knowledgeable about my particular model.
Your mileage may vary however, as I could have just gotten a less-than-stellar employee that day.
So long as you don't mind having to decline extra offers, and know enough about your camera not to get suckered into ordering accessories you don't need, I wouldn't worry about it.
Order was shipped fast (merchant even bumped up the method at no extra charge) but packaged a bit on the light side. Nothing was damaged, but more padding should have been used when shipping high-cost electronics.
The box was factory sealed and no components were missing, thankfully.
Overall I would say I am satisfied with BP. I got my camera for the cheapest price I could find, but at the cost of having to deal with sell-happy customer service and worrying if my own story would end up like some of the other unfortunate ratings I've read.
So for the sake of trying to avoid anxiety, I would not order from BP again, even though they were not a particularly bad seller.
It all depends on how much of a risk you are willing to take to save a few bucks. A lot of people come out lucky, but others may not, so be aware and good luck if you decided to go with BP!"
"I ordered the PANASONIC MULTICAM PV-GS200. Got the usual email to call them for confirmation. The customer support person only asked if I need the Mini DV tapes which I said not because it's a gift for someone. They said they will ship it out today. But when I got home, I received an email that said my card decline the transaction. I called Amex and was told my card was charged. So I called back and told the store that they already charged my card. The lady said she will ship the item out. The next day I got an email w/tracking #. Got my package in 2 days."
"My experience with butterflyphoto in buying a Nikon Coolpix 5400 is as below
1- Dec, 9th 2004 - Order confirmation was fast
2- Dec, 10th 2004 - Unnecessary solitation for extra accessories e-mail
3- Dec, 10th 2004 - Unnecessary solitation for extra accessories e-mail
4- Dec, 13th 2004 - No response
5- Dec, 14th 2004 - No response
6- Dec, 15th 2004 - No response
7- Dec, 16th 2004 - No response
8- Dec, 16th 2004 - Response with tracking number that is not valid yet
Dec, 16th 2004 - Basically, the order e-mail confirmation was sent right away
and then the next day I got two e-mails that solicite extra accessories which
I turned down since I am not sure this place would deliver as promise yet. The
guy told me the order will be sent within 24 hours and that was last Friday
Dec, 10th 2004. I had bought the Fedex saver shipping for $19 more that suppose
to give me the camera in 3-5 days and it's Dec, 16th today and no camera yet.
No response from any e-mail either. By Monday I will call my credit card company
and dispute the charge. This place seems fishy to me at this point!
Dec, 16th 2004 afternoon, I got e-mail in item # 8 above which tell me the tracking
number but upon checking with the Fedex site it's not even valid yet. This tell me
that these people sit on my order all this time since Dec, 9th without shipping the
item. What a joke to charge me the 3-5 days Fedex charge and sit on the order for
a whole week and even got the nerve to e-mail me to ask me to call them to try to
sell extra accessories (item 2 &3). Will see if I even receive the product in
new condition. At this point, it's not fishy anymore but seems like it's a cons
games. If the tracking number is still invalid tomorrow I will cancel the order
and dispute the charge for sure. What a *#$%^%& place!
I finally got the camera on Saturday Dec, 18th 2004 which was shipped 2days Fedex and that kind
of save the day. Nevertheless, butterflyphoto should have just shipped the camera without the
BS to push selling accessories then the experience would have been pleasant and I would
give them a good rating. BUT, with all the anguish that I had gone through my final words
on this place is : " buy with reservation and
at your own risk". Use a credit card that you
can dispute to protect yourself. As for butterflyphoto : Get rid of your lowlife sale people and get real shippers/packers.
Check the link below to see my comment on this
saga :
http://www.angelfire.com/apes2/sht_magazine/butterflyphoto.html"
"Made order on Sunday for my Nikon digital camera. Got an email on Monday requesting me to make a call to their 1-800 number. I was asked if I need any accessories which I said no. The camera was shipped that evening (2-day Fedex) and reached me on Wed."
"Response to phone call was quite quick. I ordered a Sony DCR HC 40 camcorder with standard shipping. No hard sell on extras such as batteries. I was even upgraded to 2 day FedEx shipping what I thought was free. However, I realized later that they had miscalculated the price of the order, when I tried to call customer service to get my money back, there was an endless waiting time. So I gave up. Overall it was still a pretty good deal, but I am certainly not buying there again"
"Ordered Panasonic DMC-FZ20S Lumix digital camera online. The next day, received an email saying to contact them regarding my order. I called and was placed on hold for 10 minutes. When I finally spoke to the customer service rep, Brian, he apologized for the wait and said that they had a problem or concern about the address of my order, but that it had been resolved already and it would ship that day. A couple hours later I got an email with the tracking number, and it showed up on time as expected. Overall a very pleasant buying experience, except the call was not necessary and was a bit of a waste of time."
"Ordered a Nikon Coolpix 5700 from their online site after seeing it listed as a "Smart Buy" from Shopping.com. This means that they were the lowest priced dealer -and- a "trusted store." The following day I got an email to confirm the order and figured that they were going to try to push me to buy a bunch of things I didn't want. I was pleasantly surprised when Brian said that he has just confirmed the purchase with my credit card company and to have a nice day. He didn't try to sell me anything and said that the camera was shipping that afternoon. A couple of hours later I got an email with the FedEx tracking number and confirmed online that it was indeed on its way. Nice to see that they aren't another one of those shady Crooklyn NY dealers! The camera was delivered the next week and was a fully U.S. warrantied model."
"Great buying experience. Placed an order on 20th Dec with regular Ground Shipping. Got a call the same day and the sales person asked if I wanted to buy any accessories, which I declined. The order was shipped next day 21st Dec and to my utter surprise the shipping was upgraded to Fedex 2nd Day Air at no additional cost to me! On their website this shipping option costs double the cost of Ground Service... Great!
Will definitely buy from these guys again. Great price, Great service, Great product!"
"Order 4 days b4 Christmas. With 5 day ground shipping. Arrived on Christmas eve, I think thats just amazing how they went out of there way to see it was here b4 holiday w/o charging the extra for 2 day shipping. pretty awesome. Thanx
"
"Excellent price, prompt confirmation of camera being in stock, prompt delivery. Excellent experience."
"Purchased a digital camcorder and items were shipped and arrived promptly (I'm only about 2.5-3 hours away from the store). I got a call from a salesman before the item shipped and he sold me a second battery, but misrepresented it. He told me the battery that comes with the camcorder only practically lasts 45 mins, which is true, but their replacement non-Sony one lasts 2.5 hours. I bought it, but after receiving it I noticed the packaging stated that it replaced the same model battery that came with it (Sony makes other models that last longer). I called them and someone else told me that even though the battery is the same model it lasts longer. I charged it in my camcorder and it's saying that it will last the same amount of time that the original lasts. I've decided to keep it anyway due to the good price.
Also, I called about a question with my order, since there was some haggling about the price of the replacement battery and possibly some other extra's thrown in, but I was transfered to someone's voicemail and they never called me back.
So these guys do a good job of selling and shipping items, but seem to be pretty poor on customer support."
"These guys are schiesters!!! I purchased a slew of products from Butterfly Photo at a very good price. As stated previously, these guys are very good at pushing you into buying accessories. I ended up buying a nice Panasonic Digital Camera, and several accessories. On one set of three lenses, I got them to drop their price to $99.99 on an item listed at $299.99 on their website. I was very skeptical that this item would show up as described. As expected, when I got my order, they tried to pass off an inferior set of lenses instead of the actual lenses I purchased. I have now called these guys over 10 tens since this point to get what I paid for. First excuse was that I had to send back the incorrect product first - I did this (at my expense via UPS overnight,) then they said that they would immediately ship out via Fedex next day air - they didn't! Instead, they claim they sent the item via US Postal Service without a tracking number. They then said that it must have been lost and they couldn't send another one out until the first one was found - even though they confirmed with the US Postal Service that it was not delivered!!! Now they said they would send another unit out, but they have failed to deliver yet again. Buyer beware - DO NOT USE THIS RETAILER - ALTHOUGH THEIR PRICES SEEM GOOD, THEY ARE LIARS. Specifically, Jim in customer service is the guy that has been giving me the run-around. I own my own mortgage company and if I treated my customers as they have treated me, I would have NO CUSTOMERS!!!"
"Ordered the camera by phone, knowing the confirmation phone call was going to happen anyway, I got the sales pitch, not a lot of pressure, I was told the camera would arrive in 5-7 days, it did, after they upgraded my delivery method to 2 day Fx. The PV-GS400 is great."