"I ordered a Canon 100-400 IS.Had an e-mail with a number to call,spoke with a n extremely unplesant individua,who refused to give his name,tried to sell me a 120-400mm Sgma,(Made by Canon,to quote his remarks).said how slow the Canon lens focused,(&suggested I should buy the new one with the Plastic mount)Needless to say,these people are to be avoided at all costs."
"I purchased a Nikon D700 SLR camera for the advertised website price of $1399. Like with all other online transactions I figured I'd received an email confirming my order but instead I received the below email on January 2, 2009 at 7:20 am:
Dear ...,
Thank you for your order. Your order number is: ####
This email is to confirm receipt of your online order with us. For your security, please call us at 1-***-***-****, Option 1 to provide a verbal confirmation so that we can ship out your order. If you have already called and confirmed your order, you may disregard this request.
Thanks again for shopping with us.
Sincerely,
Sonic Cameras.com
Our Business Hours
9:30 AM - 7:00 PM MONDAY-THURSDAY
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM FRIDAY
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM SUNDAY
CLOSED SATURDAY
*All times are Eastern Standard Time
------------------------------------
At 7:26 am I received a second email fron Sonic Camera with the same email request.
I received a 3rd request: Mon 1/05/09 9:19 AM
I finally decided it must be a legit request and that I should call to confirm my order and not delay shipment any further.
On Monday, January 5, 2009 I called to confirm my order. I was kept on hold for a very long time. When I finally got a rep on the phone I was asked for the 3 digit security code on the back of my credit card. Once he got my 3 digit code he did not simply confirm my order. At that point, the Sonic Camera's customer service representative began to try to get me to buy other items (memory card, 8 hour battery, a lens etc...). When I told him what type of lens I was interested in buying he said that it wasn't compatible with my camera and that he had a better lens for me. I agreed only to see what the final amount would be. At the end of the call the rep said thank you for your purchase and was going to hang up when I said, "wait what is the final amount?," To which he answered $2899. I asked how it could possibly add up to that amount knowing well that it didn't add up. He began by saying, "the camera is "$2100," I quickly stopped him and told him he was incorrect because the running advertised sale was $1399. He told me that was only for the body and that it was plastic. He had taken the liberty of upgrading the camera to an aluminum alloy version (which is what the website claimed I was buying for $1399). After I told the Rep that his website said I was buying the aluminum alloy body and not the plastic he got very angy and began to raise his voice and yell at me. He said, "Mrs how can you think you're going to get that camera for that price...Plus I added the USB cord and battery etc. which the camera doesn't come with!
I then told him I did not plan on spending that much money and that I would like to cancel my order. He kept talking over me and would not listen to my requests. It was extremely frustrating. After I persisted on cancelling he said he was going to charge me 10% for the cancellation fee. At this point I'm wondering how can I be charged a 10% cancellation fee if the item hasn't even been shipped. I told him that I had read the website's policies:
http://soniccameras.com/catalog/help_center.php
7. We do not charge your credit card until your order is ready to ship.
9. Orders can not be cancelled by email. Please call our customer service department at ***-***-**** to cancel an existing order.
Returns & Exchanges
Should it be necessary to return an item, you may return it for refund or exchange, excluding any shipping charges and with a minimum 10% Restocking Fee , within a period of 21 days for Computers/TVs, and 7 days for Photo equipment,Video, Audio, Digital Photography.
After he refused to cancel my order he said, "I will upgrade the shipping at no additional fee, you will receive your camera in 3-4 days" The call ended there.
I called the following day to try to cancel again and was told that the camera had already been shipped. When I asked for the UPS tracking number the rep told me he wouldn't have that information until 7pm his time. At this point I'm assuming they were stalling to at least get the 10% out of me for the return fee. So I waited until 7pm and called back and he said he still didn't have it. It was during this call that he said, "Mam I told you I would email it to you this evening." Which he never did say that.
Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday evening passed with no tracking number emailed.I have blocked any future fraudulant charges from this company by being reissued a new card.
"
"DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SONICCAMERAS.COM Like others before me, I have to wonder why this company hasn't been shut down by the State of New York or the FBI. What an enormous waste of time both for buyer and the seller who runs an operation like this. Honesty would be so much simpler and profitable. I ordered a Nikon 18 x 200 mm. lens from them and received an email asking me to phone to confirm my order. When I phoned, a salesman tried to talk me into adding a ridiculously overpriced set of filters to my order. When I told him I already had filters he asked in an abrupt and nasty tone of voice if someone would be home to sign for the delivery. When I answered "yes" he hung up on me. A couple of days later I received an email informing me that my order had been cancelled because the lens was out of stock and on backorder. By this time, I had read some of the negative reviews of SonicCameras.com on this website and I promptly cancelled my credit card. "
"This store is nothign but a scam,I placed an order fro a camers package Nikon D90. When the comfirmation came through and chose not to but the battery and charger I received an email telling me that my order was over sold and that I was put on a notify list and would receive notification when the Camera was avaiiable. I treid to order over the phone and was told that the product was in stock, but when I declined the accessories upsale I was told that the product was not available. After reading some of these reviews, I am finding that Sonic Camera is not a reputable company and I would warn anyone against using them ever"
"My experience with Sonic Camera's is the same as everybody elses. I just wanted the Canon 40D. I originally purchased it from ShopDigitalDirect(another scam company) and once the order was placed,I could not get through to them so I sent them an email and cancelled my order. I then went to Sonic Camera for the same item and found it for 319 plus 219 for the 28-135 IS USM Canon lens. When I called in to "verify" my order, it took 4 people and 20 minutes before someone could help me, then, I asked if they had the camera and lens in. They said yes. When I told them that I was not interested in purchasing the battery and charger b/c it was way overpriced, they all of a sudden did not have the camera in stock and said that it would be 4-6 weeks before it came in. Their USA warranty - it was with Sonic for parts only. Shoot, what's the difference b/w that and toilet paper, got me right now after reading all the other posts by others. I will be checking my cc to see if additional things have been added from others and dispute them. the next day i received an email from them stating that they are going to be putting me on a wait list until the camera comes in stock. No thank you. I cancelled my order when they said that the camera had no battery, no charger, no software or firmware. Sounds shabby to me. Stay away from. They would have been glad to sell me the "upgraded" kit for 1099.99. I turned them down! Stay away as the others have found out too!"
"Made the mistake of ordering the Nikon 18-200 VR DX Lens then finding this site on line about the service and reputation of the company. I immediately called the company to find out if it was in stock. Talked to Mark in sales and he told me this is not a good lens, that he wants to get me a Sigma instead. There was no service, he actually yelled at me!! Told me it was in stock, but he had no idea when they would ship it. He told me he is the salesman and it was up to the shipping department to ship.
Best part is I have all this recorded in case I need to go back to them as proof of how I was treated. Sad part is after listening to this several times I am canceling the order. I do not want to take the chance of them sending a subpar product knowing that other people have had a bad experience with them. Be cautious. Sometime the cheapest isn't always the best. I will be willing to pay $100 more from a reputable company. "
"NOT A STORE, A SCAM
Ordered a Nikon D60, was persuaded to 'upgrade' to a better lens, received a (gray market) D40 with standard lens and their accessory pack (of course for more money).
Join this thread in the forums if you have updates:
http://www.resellerratings.com/forum/merchant-discussion-shopping-advice/134987-sonic-cameras-scam.html
Do not despair. I have just received a full refund from these people less shipping. It took a couple of hours on the phone to 3 or 4 people, a couple of whom hung up on me. Do not pay their restocking fee. Set the credit card company, the FBI, the BBB and the state's attorney on them.
The manager of this store appears to be Steve Phillips. This is the same name as the person who ran Price Rite photo that was featured in a NYT article three years ago - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/11/nyregion/11cameras.html?pagewanted=print
He is mentioned in Thomas Hawk's blog entry of the time regarding a $3000 order - http://thomashawk.com/2005/11/priceritephoto-abusive-bait-and-switch.html"
"After reading these reviews I called to cancel my $200 order. Guy on phone told me it was cancelled. A week later a box arrived! I called to return it and these crooks wanted 35% restocking fee (their site says minimun 10% restock fee. "But that is only the minimum" they say.) plus shipping to return my order! Which turned out to be $85 dollars for a $200 order that should not have been shipped anyway. They also wanted a check included in the return box.
DON'T BUY!
WHY CAN'T WE GET A CLASS ACTION SUIT TOGETHER AGAINST THESE CROOKS/CHEATS/LIARS?????"
"I placed an order with this company after finding quite a "deal" on-line for a new Canon Lens. I was SO excited to find it on an "end of year clearance" sale. However, days later I got an e-mail asking me to confirm the security numbers on the back of my credit card. Lucky for me, I didn't have it with me (my husband had it) so I was unable to give them the numbers. They they told me the lens I ordered was discontinued, but they could give me an even better lens for the same price. Sounded really fishy to me, too good to be true. They said my husband would need to call them back and give them the security numbers and they'd offer the new lens to him. That is when I "googled" their company and found all the poor ratings and that they were a scam. I quickly called to cancel my order. They did cancel it quickly, no questions asked. They hung up before I could say a word. Needless to say, I'll be watching my credit card statements to make sure no charges appear. STAY AWAY from this company!!!"
"OMG!!! These guys scared me! I placed an online order for a Nikon 80-400 VR lens for $949! WOW! thats cheap. then I get a phone call on Jan 2, 2009 to 'confirm' the order. they tried the up sell at a blistering level. I did not give in. I was asked for my security code. gave it and immediately the alarms went off. I called my VISA card company and they immediately canceled my card. no posts from sonic camera. they are the biggest scam! I bet they work out of one of those NY camera stores in times square or something, scamming people all over the world.
Camera stuff. I WILL ONLY BUY FROM B&H. they are the only truly reputable store with the lowest prices."
"These guys are a train wreck!!! When I saw all of the deplorable consumer reviews I almost puked on my computer. I did try to purchase a new canon 5d mark 2 camera from Soniccamera.com. They had it for $1899. I had called them directly because I never heard of the company. They did bait and switched me on the batteries in the end my total was $4200. Like an idiot I gave them my cc # and agreed to the sale. All day I sat around thinking something was wrong so I googled there company name and BAM thousands of the same reviews. Thank god it was Sunday they had not charged my card yet and I cancelled my CC # as lost. I will never make a big online purchase again without checking in to the company. It is really sad that these jokers think they can scam us. There are plenty of great online retailers out there that have thousands of good reviews. Why is it so hard for Sonic Camera to realize that customer service is what keeps you in business not scamming the consumers. IDIOTS!!! Soniccamera.com you are the worst and I will make sure anybody that comes in contact with me I will make sure they know who NOT to buy products from!"
"On 12/17/08 my husband ordered a cannon rebel camera from Sonic cameras and called in with a specific order with cannon lenses that were listed on their web site which came to $1350.00. After placing the order, the sales rep told him that the package did not include a battery, and they sold for $200. He then told him he could offer him a much, much better package for $1599 that included the battery, and also 2 much better quality lenses that would sell alone for $599 each if bought separately. He led him to believe that they were also cannon lenses. So my husband agreed to buy the higher priced package. When it arrived on 12/23/08, we did not get cannon lenses, but sigma. I called in to sonic to complain, and he assured me that these were much better lenses and worth $599 each. He even told me to contact sigma to find out, which I did, but the lenses were only $219 each. I then called sonic again, thinking they must have sent me the wrong lens. This time, he said Sigma would not verify the high cost of these lenses because they were not yet released in the United States, and I had a special Japan lens. I have verified that all of this is lies. We also tried to get them to exchange the 2 sigma lens for cannon on 12/24/08, and they would not without us returning the entire order and paying a 10% restock fee. They kept assuring us that the product we have is better quality, even though we can get it for about $700 cheaper anywhere else. After researching Sonic cameras and finding thousands of complaints against them, we decided to dispute the charges with my bank and send the camera back. I called into Sonic to get a return address on both 12/29/08 and 12/30/08, and he refused to give me and address unless I first sent him certified funds in the amount of $330.00, and then he would give me a return address with a RA code. He said if I sent it back without the RA code, they would refuse it and it would come back to me, and then I would have the camera more than 7 days and I would be stuck with it and not get a dime back. He was also unbelievably rude to me. I can not believe that these people are allowed to be in business with this much fraudulent business going on."
"As almost everyone else has written, a classic scam organization. If I had seen this site first, I would have steered far away from their site. When I passed on the initial "up sale" the sales rep was polite and "processed" the order with no further sales attempts. One hour later I got an email saying that my order was 6 to 8 weeks backordered, had been cancelled, and my credit card was not billed. A quick check with my credit card company confirmed no billing. Based on other posts on this site, I am in the process of killing the card number that I gave them. Always remember, if the price is too good to be true then it is."
"Tried to buy a Nikon D80 package from these guys at a price that was a lot less than other online sites. Watch out guys! These guys are CROOKS! After placing my order they called me back to get the last 3 numbers on my credit card and then said "of course your going to want a battery for your camera at only $199 or $299 for the 'high powered' model" When I told them that I could get Nikon D80 batteries on the net for $15 each and I did not want a battery with the camera then all of a sudden they said the D80 was sold out (while I was talking to him on the phone) but he could "back order it" for delivery in 8-10 weeks. I know its tempting but DO NOT USE these guys. They are old fashioned rip off artist. They are also extremely rude and short on the phone. The reputable places include batteries with the camera at no extra charge (Nikon sells them that way). I told them to cancel my order. I regret that they now have my credit card number."
"I tried to order a Panasonic AG-HVX200 for $1349.00 and was told it did not come with a lens, mic, battery, cord to charge the camera, or anything else needed to start recording out of the box. I asked the guy "Luis" if that was deceptive trade practice and he said you get what you pay for. As soon as he said that he asked "well are you going to buy anything or not?" "Hell no!" I said and hung up. I have reported Sonic Cameras to the BBB of New York. We'll see what happens."