"Cameras have an unreliable connection to the internet. I'm six months in owning these things, and they are worthless."

"As a previous reviewer said...FoSCAM. They will take your money fast, then good luck. Camera view is GREAT, but if you need support, then when you are dealing direct with China. No answers, "disconnected" calls, no way out. I am in dispute for my money back. Save every piece of paperwork you have. Three calls to China this morning because THEY could not pull up the info, although they seem to be capable of a recurring charge. The APP is horrible. Buy a camera from a store where you can walk in and return it if you have problems. You will be hung out to dry once they have your money. You have been warned. "

"Foscam is literally three companies: The Chinese company who designs and manufactures network cameras, foscam.us a US based reseller, and foscammall.com (possibly the same company as foscam.com). There are also uk and canada based resellers.

In the past I have dealt primarily with foscam.us. I found the cameras to be inexpensive but effective for monitoring motion on my property. Thieves have been working the area since the fallout of 2009 and the cameras are a good deterrent. However, there was a firmware bug on the VGA (640x480) models that I bought and they had to be updated with a special cable after being disassembled. This made more expensive cameras look much better. Also, after a couple of years the cameras developed the habit of adjusting their brightness around 250 times a day, this caused false motion detection 250 times a day and the cameras became useless. This is apparently an algorithm issue related to the aging of the sensor.

In January I got an email from Foscam announcing foscammall.com. I went to the web site and looked at the latest 1080P cameras Foscam is offering and bought an FI9903P and an R2 to see how good the quality is.

After playing with the FI9903P and installing it in the front of my house, I was impressed so I bought another one for the for the side yard. The second camera arrived with a defect in its image, a large black line in the shape of a blob that changed size according to the brightness of the scene.

I didn't realize there were more than one reseller in the US, so I emailed foscam.us tech support who immediately agreed to replace it. They sent me an FI9803P as a replacement and I questioned why they felt a 720P camera could replace a 1080P camera. They informed me that they don't sell the FI9903P. Long story short, they didn't sell me the FI9903P, foscammall.com did. Ironically and sadly, the FI9803P camera they sent me does not work. It produces no video output.

I contacted foscammall.com and they agreed to replace the FI9903P but would not agree to pay for return shipping. Since it is a factory defect I feel they should pay for shipping, but no matter how I called or emailed, they did not provide me with a shipping label. Because I don't want to be without a camera for too long, I paid shipping. This makes the camera $17.00 more expensive, assuming it works.

It's worth pointing out that foscammall's tech support seems very responsive, but they are very passive aggressive. They only discuss things they want to discuss, they do not deal with issues like a return label at all. I sent two emails within a few minutes of each other, one about the label and one about the fact that I can't return the power supply because it is in my attic crawl space and I don't want crawl around up there just to get it only to replace it later with another one. The tech I worked with replied to the email about the power supply saying it was okay, but did not respond to the email about the shipping label. This is bad customer service and it makes me not want to deal with them again.

Suggestions for the various companies:

For Foscam, the manufacturer:

1. Better burn in and testing procedures to ensure functioning devices ship to the end customer.
2. Better firmware testing, and when you make a major fubar, fix it.
3. Force both resellers to remove the word foscam from their name and choose new names so the reseller is not associated with the manufacturer.

For Foscam.us:

1. Ensure you are the seller when you get support requests.
2. Ship working cameras as replacements.

For Foscammall.com:

1. If quality is an issue, push foscam, the manufacturer, to do better.
2. If the camera is manufacture defective, pay for shipping, charge the manufacturer.
3. Stop being passive aggressive. Be proactive, direct, and honest. If you're not going to pay shipping at least say so.

There's a guy named Don on foscam.us forums. He's the best asset the foscam companies have. If you have problems, try google first then if nothing shows up, go to the foscam.us forums and start a thread.

My FI9903P on the front yard has been running flawlessly for over a month. The image quality is great, the night mode is brilliant and overall I'm very satisfied with it. I want one for the back yard but because of the side camera issues, I hesitate to buy another one."

"Bought some accessories. They were poor quality. Can't get them to answer requests for refund, RMA, or return. All their products are from China. You get what you pay for!!!"

"Bought the F18904 outdoor wireless IP Foscam and had issues with video file transfer to the Internet. Will only transfer video files to local network. Doesn't work and configure like standard IP cams. Tried to contact Tech Support three times and still have not responded back. Contacted Foscan Sales in US (Foscam.us) they called back but gave me the run around and tried to get me off the phone. Price is cheap but that is the same kind of support you will get. There web sites complain about buying bootleg models but they support like a bargain basement company. I don't recommend this brand to anyone, they are more trouble then they are worth. I will never buy another FOSCAM (made in China) product again."

"They are called foSCAM.com for a reason.

foSCAM ….SCAM

Distributor argued over $2 mounting screw for a month, then no follow-up or replacement screw. Then kept $26 when returned.

CAM mount screw doesn't fit Camera (CAM is worthless). They never responded after request for prepaid shipping label or to when I asked to "just send the $2 screw" and I'll go away. BTW: They put the price on the screw, not me. They asked me to "clean screw", "take pictures", and "file the screw down"…the filing it down was the last straw for me…and, oh yea, I can't forget that when they emailed the RMA they stated they wanted me to send back the camera "twice", and in the same email, said also stated to send "only the mount screw"…I can smell a scan; send back the mount/screw then they would claim I didn't send the whole camera and I'd never see it again…

Anyway, they stopped contact after I requested they just send the the $2 screw, -or- send me a prepaid shipping label..

STAY AWAY for these guys !!!!!!!

Contact VISA about this scam early, or these guys will run the clock out on your dispute case."