"Ordered a digital video camera Tried to have it shipped to my work address, and had to call and change to my billing address. (This was my fault -- the credit card company didn't have that addy on file.)

After my phone call, they changed *most* of the address. Just not the zip code. Which means FedEx couldn't deliver the package. FedEx either wanted a $10 address-correction fee to re-deliver on Monday, or needed me to drive 20 minutes outside my city to pick it up. According to what Butterfly had told FedEx, there was no signature requirement, so my boyfriend went to pick up the package. When he arrived, he was unable to get it, because Butterfly had added a "signature required" sticker to the box. I had to drive out again the next day and sign for it myself. (A signed note was inadequate.)

Email to customer support was ignored. A simple apology would've been nice."

"I ordered over phone, a Sony DCR HC40 on Nov 30th 2004. I had to call them again to send an order confirmation email. I called up on Dec 1nd 2004, to check the order status. They told that it will be shipped today. I called up next day (Dec 2nd) to get the tracking #, but they told me that it has not been shipped and will be shipped by Dec 2nd evening. I called up on Dec 3rd to check the status (by now the price of the camcorder had increased by another $100, may be they were out of stock). I got a reply saying that, it will be shipped by Monday, Dec 6th 2004. I called up on monday, they tell me that they are having problem in recieving the shippment from sony. It may take 5 to 7 days for them to recieve it, after which they will ship it to me. Then why should they prompltly bill my credit card on Dec 2nd itself?? While ordering, I had told them specifically that I need it before my kids birthday. Since that was not going to happen, I cancelled the order. Will think many times before purchasing from this seller."

"Excellent service- the day I placed my order, I got an email asking me to call Butterfly Photo. They asked if I wanted to buy any accessories, but there was no pressure and the call lasted less than 2 minutes. The camera shipped the next day, and I was upgraded to 2nd day shipping for free. Camera arrived 3 days after placing my order in perfect condition. I would definitely recommend this company to anyone. "

"Ordered 11/8. Received email 11/10 that there is issue in having different billing and shipping address, so I changed the shipping address to the billing to further process along. Only negative is that they hassled me into buying accessories, which I politely declined. Arrived promptly on 11/11. Will do business with them again and recommend to friends and family."

"Bought a Digital Rebel/300D camera kit, saitisfied, recommended to a friend who bought the same camera, no problem."

"I had read a good portion of the reviews from others here. It seemed to me that while there had been a string of unsatisfied ppl in the last month that most ppl were pretty happy w/ Butterfly so I decided to go ahead and take a chance.

I placed my order on Sunday, anticipating getting an email on Monday to call them regarding my order to upsell.

And indeed, they did. Since I knew this was going to happen, I wasn't particularly put off. I knocked one star off because of this (yes I knew but it wasn't posted on their Web site as a policy so I reserve the right to penalize them for it). I had to wait for 10 minutes before he picked up, which annoyed me a little bit, but I had it on speakerphone while doing emails etc - so ultimately I didn't care. Had the 10 minutes turned into 15 or 20, I would have redialed and cancelled my order though.

Now, what was refreshing is how professional and pleasant the Butterfly rep was on the phone. Sure, he was "trying to sell me", but NOT a hard sell. Jeremy asked intelligent questions as to my NEEDS regarding memory, cases, extra battery, etc. If I said I wasn't interested, he moved on and didn't push the point. Nice.

So, here I was all set to simply "just say no" to all upgrades ...

Then, Jeremy asks if I might be interested in the spare battery if they would take off an extra $10, for $39 total. I had already looked up prices in various spots for Canon brand batteries (many 3rd party Canon replacements have a bad rep). So, this did make sense and I bought it. If I got stuck for $10 or so too much, I think it's a small price to pay to save all the time trying to find an alternative good battery for less.

The whole rig is for my father (this will be his first digital), and I don't want him to sweat the details. So, I bought extra memory and a card reader/writer at newegg. This aside, my dad has been a very serious shutterbug over the years.

In theory, the camera will ship out today, and since I'm in NJ, I figure it will arrive on Friday - we'll see. I'll update when I get the camera.

UPDATE:
The camera arrived in a timely fashion and everything was as expected. So, a good experience.

Final Summary:
Would I use Butterfly again? Probably, so long as they provided a significant cost savings vs. the competition. Knowing that I'll always lose at least an extra day (if not two) to their upsell process will definately factor in. If I ever wanted/needed something very quickly, I would buy elsewhere, where they would simply process my order and ship it. In this case, I had an extra week on my hands and didn't have to worry. "

"I placed an order for a Sony camera Sunday night. Monday afternoon I got the expected phone call to confirm the order. Just before hanging up, the caller almost reluctantly asked why I didn't buy a spare battery from them. He accept my explaination and didn't pressure me to buy any accessories. The camera arrived Thursday afternoon.

The camera just came out so not many places are offering it at a discount. They had the best price (for a well-rated store)."

"On Friday 11/12, I ordered a camera, online, with free ground shipping. In a matter of minutes I received an email confirming the order. I also received another email with a phone number and extension asking me to call Patrick concerning the order. I called him and he asked if I needed any accessories. I told him no, and he said the order should ship Monday, and I should receive it in about a week. On Monday 11/15, I got another email giving the FedEx tracking number. On Wednesday, two days later, I received the camera, well packed with air bags protecting the camera box inside a larger shipping carton. Their price was the lowest I could find anywhere, and the shopping experience couldn't have been more professional or pleasant. I really appreciated the upgraded shipping at no extra charge. It's too bad everyone can't receive this kind of service."

"This is a mixed bag. I gave an online order for DMC-FZ20S digicam on 11th. Next day, I got a mail asking me to call their 1800 number. Since I am travelling out of country, I caouldn't, though I sent an email to them about this. No response for a couple of days, so sent a reminder. Again, nothing. Then I had a friend call them. They said the billing and shipping address were different, so they couldn't process it. Anticipating this, I had already informed AmEx and added the new address as an additional shipping address on my card. I had even used this to buy something else from a different website.

The status on butterflyphoto changed now to "Billing Difficulties". I followed up the earlier call with another couple of emails explicitly stating that there should be NO problem charging my card, butiff there is, will they please email me. Nothing. I again had a friend call them and asked them to charge my card. This ias on 15th. Today morning I see the status unchanged from "Billing Difficulties".

I can accept the "Difficulties", but in the meanwhile the pric e on the website had gone up by $20. Maybe that's why they didn't complete the order, or maybe they really did have billing issues. I have NO way of knowing because they NEVER responded to ANY of my emails. Finally I cancelled the order 15 mins back. I was pleasently surprised to see an "Cancellation Confirmation" email in my inbox. Will I buy from them again? I think I will atleast try, giving them a benefit of doubt.

ButterflyPhoto: Please please improve your communication!!!"

"Highly delighted with the service I received from Butterfly Photo, I can’t recommend them highly enough. I was very cautious about buying this expensive camera (Canon EOS 20D) over the Internet. I read some complaints about rude high-pressure sale staff – this was not my experience. I did have to ring them to confirm my order, I spoke to the Sales Rep Victor. He did try to sell me accessories, which I did not have a problem with; the guys have to make a living after all! Victor was very polite and courteous. The camera was shipped the same day I ordered it and arrived in perfect condition. I will definitely use them again."

"THIS STORE IS FAR OVERRATED:
- Certain problem individuals in customer service
- Soft definition of what is "in stock".

INEPT CUSTOMER SERVICE
- Every time I asked a question, the CSR had to put me on hold to get an answer.
- The CSR claimed there is no way to correct the address in my customer record. Every time I order, I have to tell them to adjust the address on the order.

FAULTY ON-LINE ORDER FORM
- Not enough characters in the address field means some addresses get cut short (like mine).
- No confirmation screen of address before order is placed in case of typo's (like mine).
- Orders don't show up in their system for a full 30 minutes (like mine did). You have to wait and call back to talk about it.

DISHONEST IN-STOCK POLICY
I called every day for four days to be sure my item would ship by the end of the week. I even talked with managers. Each day, they ensured me it would. Then on the fourth day, they called back and confessed the item wasn't in. I said, "You mean it wasn't in stock?!" and they lied, "Yes, it was in stock, but the supplier didn't come through."

Fifth day I called to cancel because I'd found a supplier with the item in stock. I was astounded to hear the CSR say, no, a limited number of items were found last night, and my order would ship that day, and to expect an e-mail by closing time, 3 p.m. EST. None came.

Sixth day, I waited until 6 p.m. late opening, and asked why I didn't get an e-mail. I was told the previous CSR was in error, and it would be another week before I got it.

Eighth day, I called early and cancelled my order--no discussion. The CSR I got was courteous and professional.
---------------------
BOTTOM LINE: 8 days, 7+ calls, 5 lies.

The people at this company are generally very nice, honest and anxious to please.

1) I would find a good, dependable individual and insist on business only with that person.

2)I would only do business with this company only if I was in no rush to get the item.

"

"These guys are great. I ordered a Pentax compact digital camera from Butterfly, their price was $100 less than most shops wanted. They called to confirm the order and tried to soft sell me some accessories, there was NO pressure and they still shipped my order out that day. To top it off they sent my camera 2nd day air for the price of ground shipping, so now I can use it this weekend. These guys are GREAT!"

"Took a couple of extra days for them to process so they upgraded to overnight shipping. In the end the Canon 20D I ordered from them had a problem and I was leaving the country and I couldn't wait for a swap, so they suggested to refund my money. Great service."

"Smooth transaction. Of course, they asked me to call, so that they could hard sell me accessories, but they were cool about not making the sale. The camera, a Nikon Coolpix 5700 arrived on time, in perfect condition. I will definately recommend these guys. they were about $50 cheaper than some of the other vendors, with a good rating here. I had ordered and cancelled the same camera from VIP, who tried to sell me enough accessories to bring up the price to what I paid here."

"I purchased a 50" Panasonic Plasma HDTV from Butterfly Photo. Overall my experience was excellent. I was hesitant at first to purchase anything of this magnitude from an internet vendor. I researched many online vendors and decided to take a chance with Butterfly. I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. I placed my order online on a Saturday night, and received it 10 days later. Lightning fast, no. But it arrived in perfect, brand new condition. This TV is incredible! Well worth the purchase price, which was practically the lowest I could find online. Justin called the Monday after I placed the order to try to sell me some accessories. I declined and he DID NOT push, like other online vendors I have dealt with. I highly recommend this vendor and will buy from them in the future. "