"My experience was very much the same as many of the items I just read. I purchases a Canon camera & lens that was packaged together. I received a confirmation of the order being placed, but did not get any other followup. When I called after waiting 3 days, I was told the camera was an international version and had no battery, strap, or any of the things that normally come with the camera. I was then told I should upgrade to a Sigma lens as it was faster & better along with a number of other items. I told the sales person to e-mail the details, and when I received the details they did not include some of the items he had offered, just a higher price and special deal on a 3 year warranty. When I called back to say I just wanted my original order he got nasty, and said I was just looking for the cheapest camera I could get. The next day I received an e-mail that my order was canceled because they were out of stock on the camera body, and did not know when they might be restocked. I'm glad they canceled the order now that I've read the rest of these reviews."

"WELL My story is slightly the same as all the rest. I placed my order in late August and picked the free shipping (because I can't afford much, gotta pay for school). I recieved my 2 emails stating I had to confirm my order, which I did. It was actually with very little "upselling" attempts but there were a few. So a couple of weeks went by and I hadn't heard anything from the company. When I tried to do an online tracking the gentleman I spoke with stated that my order was on backorder for 6-8 weeks and that they had sent me several emails. I said it was news to me, and hung up on him and went to check my email. When I checked it, there was a cancellation notice! I immediately called back and, after about 20 minutes on hold with customer service, he said my "attitude" was the reason he had cancelled my order. I sent a complaint to the company first thing (although I have yet to recieve a response. Probably because they don't exist!) and have filed a complaint with the BBB. If ANY charges come through to my card, they will have hell to pay.

***please read***

I work for a credit card company, you can, at any time, call to dispute an unauthorized charge and have them issue you a new card number. It only takes a few days to recieve the new one in the mail and about 10 minutes of your time to get a new number out. It's well worth it. It is companies like this one that make the online purchasing world so difficult."

"I placed an order for a Canon flash. A switch to another, "off brand" flash was suggested, but I declined.
When the delivery deadline came and passed, I called to check the status of my order. I was told that it "was backordered" and would be available in about another month.
I cancelled my order on the spot and went to the Sonic Camera web site. The flash was shown as being "on sale", with no hint of being out of stock, or "back ordered."
I don't think they had any intention of fulfilling the order, but have no proof, of course.

I will never do ANY business with them again."

"I ordered a Canon 28/135 zoom lens and then received the call to confirm the order. I was recommended a 70/300 lens but was NOT told that it was a SIGMA. I went on vacation, missed the short return period and now am stuck."

"I am yet another in a long list of people caught in the bait and switch, I tried to cancel but item already had shipped and when it arrived I weighed the several months with a restocking fee and decided to make this a valuable lesson to not repeat this mistake. DO NOT SHOP THERE.
The camera arrived it is for Japan only, I called my credit card company who instructed me to mail everything back and send them proof of the fraud, which I did and now Sonic is supposedly issuing a full refund, no re-stocking fee and no open box fee. I bought the same camera on Amazon for $1100 less and it's for the USA, not Japan. Still, DO NOT SHOP THERE!"

"absolute 100% scam bait and switch. Ordered the Canon 40D. No battery or charger. Fine, I can get a cheap charger and battery anywhere. But then it's a plastic body, and costs more to upgrade than just buying elsewhere. Heck, I didn't even know the 40D came in all plastic. Where they dug it up, who knows.

Don't walk away . . . RUN !!!!!"

"Scam. If you order their ultra low price products without ordering the ultra expensive accessories, expect your order to be cancelled. They'll tell you that they're sold out even though their website is still advertising the unit. Do not do business with Sonic Cameras. It's a bait and switch company."

"I did a web search for a price comparison on the Canon rebel XTI camera and got Sonic Cameras as the lowest price at a trusted site. The price advertised was $250 for body only. I don't know anything about cameras but my daughter had asked for this camera for her birthday. I ordered the camera over the internet, it was suppose to ship is about a week. When it didn't arrive, I checked the order and it had a button to click to "confirm order." I called the company and they said the order didn't go through. I was told that the camera was body only, no cables, manuals, neck strap, battery, lens, etc. The salesman said the camera was $850 with all parts; they had a big labor day sale on lens that were regularly $600 but they were selling two for $400, the sale had ended but he could extend it to me. I ordered the camera and lens and then checked the prices for those lens with Sigma and found they were only $80 and $200, and the camera could be bought for $600. Then I saw all the negative blogs about this company. I read that they don't even have cameras there, they get them from overseas and when you get them the instruction manuals are in Japanese and you never know what quality your getting. I called the company back the same day and was told I could not cancel my order because it had already been shipped. I asked for the customer service supervisor and was told the same thing. Their web site states the number to call and cancel an order but they want to make you believe that they shipped the package just minutes from when you ordered it when it takes them 45 minutes just to get back to you when you are put on hold after asking to cancel your order. This is the advise I got from an online lawyer:

If you receive the shipment via UPS or some other private shipper, reject it. When you get the statement with the line item, or any restocking fees, write the credit card issuer and report the transaction as "unauthorized." The card issuer will have no choice but to remove the charges. A misrepresentation about a product is fraudulent, and a fraudulent charge is legally "unauthorized." And, under federal law, a card issure "must" remove any "unauthorized" charge from your account.
"

"Unbelievable scam artists and rude too! I called to confirm my order and they said the battery for the camcorder I ordered was on backorder for 6-8 weeks, so I cancelled the camcorder part of my order. Daniel then tried to offer better packages to fit our needs for the digital camera we were ordering. He also had us believing that we needed to order a high speed memory card for the Rebel xsi and other battery and high speed chargers that we would need. I started questioning the bait and switch techniques, and Daniel became evil and demon posessed and was unbelievably rude to me and cancelled the order and charged me $186 cancellation fee and wouldn't even discuss with me my original order. I called back and asked for the owner or a different supervisor and yes, I got Daniel again. I don't believe that they actually have the camera equipment and that this is a scam just to charge the cancellation fees. By the way, the cancellation fees are not listed on the website under the customer service information. Everyone needs to contact the better business bureau and all the price comparison websites to get their ratings knocked down so they won't be an option when you search for camera equipment. Wish I had checked out the company before ordering."

"These guys are liars, crooks, and bait-and-switch artists, and you will not get a straight answer from them. DO NOT BUY FROM THESE PEOPLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!"

"DAMN IT!! I ordered a Canon 100mm Macro lense online. Then got the email to call them. So I did and was told that the lense was the wrong one, it was for a 35mm and not digital. So I asked if they had the one for digital and he says yeah but it's like 600 somethin dollars. He said that I needed the Sigma lens because it's better and a little cheaper. Well I went for it. He actally never told me how much it was. It sopposedly was shipped out today I guess. I called my CC company and told them what was goin on but unfortuneatly theres nothing they can do yet. Oh and I found out they they charged me $508. I'll admit I made it easy for them, I don't know a whole lot about cameras so I figured they new what they were talkin about. I still can't figure out why he didn't try and sell me the Canon at over $600? Hopefully these guys get taken down and locked up!"

"They are crooks! and giving internet business a bad name. I ordered from Sonic Camera's website a Canon HV30 camcorder with the professional package for $819. After placing the order I got a phone call telling me to confirm the credit card number etc. Then "Nick" gave me the blurb about no battery and charger. He went on with trying to sell more stuff and I said no thanks. So when the package arrived I didn't notice the invoice and was excited about setting up my new video camera. I noticed there wasn't a memory card and checked the box. No it wasn't there. So I got to looking and nothing matched the 'Professional' extras I ordered. I checked their invoice and it was for $1019 with none of the goodies I thought I was getting. I called and the person was very rude. He said if he gave me a $70 refund would that shut me Up! I said NO and also pointed out I never agreed to pay Insurance for $71.40. I told him I wanted to return all the things and he would not give me a confirmation # and hung up. I them called my Credit Card company and am disputing the purchase and canceled the my card. I am going to UPS it back to them and hope I have the correct return address????"

"I never write reviews for stores, because it only benefits other people. However, I think that this review will benefit a LOT of people greatly, and the problem has over exceeded my cold-heart of caring.

THIS IS IMPORTANT!

So my camera broke, and I had all the pieces, so I thought I would just order the body.

THE WEBSITE STATES THAT IT IS ONLY THE CAMERA YOU ARE ORDERING, THAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM.

From most of the reviews, I thought that this was the major problem with the store, which didn't bother me because I only wanted the camera. However, this is totally not the case.

The real scam is 100% a scam. It is where they will claim they are out of stock, and make you purchase other stuff, or make you cancel your order with a 15% charge.

All will work well until you receive an email asking you to confirm your order, and that your order will take 8 weeks to ship. Really stupid.

I got lucky and canceled my card right after I ordered it. Please don't shop here, no matter how hard you are tempted. Even if you only want the body, you are still going to get jipped. The customer service is horrible, and very rude. Hope this saves someones life, or at least their bank account."

"People, these Sonic Camera scumbags violate every customer service company procedures by telling you what you should buy rather then you choosing for yourself. You can’t purchase anything from them, you get sold. Customers are not king - they are. All your analysis, research and decision to purchase what you always wanted will mean absolutely nothing to them & will be immediately swept away by their fast talking reps. It is a piloted orchestrated scam program to pawn stuff off to you. They have absolutely no intentions in selling you their cut rate priced products at the published going rate. It is only a trap to swindle you with their well rehearsed slick talk run-around into buying what they want you to buy. They will forcefully berate you for not selecting the correct product and will tell you you’re judgement is lousy, uninformed & unworthy of purchase. If you don’t accept the required accessories (which should be automatically included with any product) at sky rocket prices, they will simply & conveniently cancel your order. This company has to be raided, prosecuted and shut down by whatever authority that can wield jurisdiction. They do the public great harm! And if there are no authorities willing or able to go after them asap, then let a professional photographer well experienced in photographic equipment call them, simulate an order and record the ordeal and publish it on public TV to expose them as the liars & cheat they are to the American public. In Italy, where I write, there are a couple major TV stations who regularly go on the air at prime time exposing nefarious swindlers who thrive on shady business practices from behind the scenes, such as private local TV stations, or through the distribution of pamphlets in small areas. Gathered dissatisfied customers come to a public TV forum where the owners/directors of any particular rogue company are invited to give account of their practices face to face to the public they are suppose to be serving. I don't know if this is done in America or not. Plus someone should contact Sony, Canon, Samsung, notifying them that Sonic Camera are selling their products with unethical and I believe illegal tactics. (such as selling cameras without batteries, battery charger, mounts and cables)"

"Not proud to say this, but I am the most recent victim of SonicCameras.com. I ordered the Canon EOS 450D Black Express Package, but I have the same story as everyone - after I spoke with "Michael" to "confirm" my order, I ended up with completely different items with many other additions, including a 3-year warranty (yes, the old bait-and-switch). When I called back minutes later and try to cancel, I was given the runaround and was basically refused, unless I send a money order or cashier's check for the 15% restocking fee AND the "non-refundable" warranty. Let me be clear that there is nothing on the website saying that there is a restocking fee on items that have NOT been shipped (I was trying to cancel the order he "confirmed" just minutes before), and there is no written policy about the warranty being non-refundable. To make this short, dealing with Sonic has been such a nightmare, so BUYER BEWARE!

ETA: I tried to post a review on PricingDepot.com (where I initially saw GOOD reviews on them), but my review was just added to their database but not posted under SonicCameras.com!"