"I find myself constantly checking other sites to see what kind of a "deal" I got. When I originally made my purchase I was happy with the price and anything else I needed I would buy seperately. Then I received the confirmation email please call to verify. I have never experienced such high pressure manipulative sales people outside of a used car lot in my life. I am still not sure of what I have bought or if I can trust what I purchased. I was convinced that I was getting a better lense for a slightly higher price. When I checked it is the standard lense that is offered with this camera.
All in all if this is the standard Nikon not a grey model camera it is a comparable price or even a little better than most web sites. I was told by the salesman the camera comes with the manufactorers standard one year warranty. I can not find a warranty card anywhere.
In short I would not do business with this company again. Just for my own piece of mind if nothing else.
Thank you



"

"As a holiday gift for me, my family went to Thunder Cameras to purchase a Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS lens. The lens usually sells for $500-$600, but they had found an advertised price of roughly $450 through Thunder Cameras.

After placing the order, my family was contacted by a representative with Thunder Cameras. He advised that the Canon lens was outdated and inferior to another option, a Sigma 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Macro Autofocus lens, and that purchasing this lens instead would be an "upgrade" to the Canon lens. Not knowing much about either lens, my family agreed to his suggestion and the order was changed to the Sigma lens.

When I received the lens as a gift, I was very appreciative to my family, but also curious as to why they had purchased the Sigma model. As the story unraveled, I learned of the push by Thunder Cameras to change the order and their explanations as to why.

Initially, I actually thought I'd be fine with the alternative lens, even though I'd researched it and found it to be much less expensive (around $200) and lacking the IS feature that has served me well with other lenses. It was only when I discovered my family was still charged $459, the price of the original Canon lens, that I started to realize what had really happened. My family had been lured in with the offer of a good deal on the Canon lens, then manipulated into taking a different lens, while still being charged over 2 times more than its worth.

I spent the afternoon researching other customer comments and was shocked to find that mine was not a unique experience. There were numerous experiences by individuals who'd encountered the same issue. The similarities in their stories were shocking in that they nearly paralleled mine.

The only benefit of the doubt that I'll grant Thunder Cameras is that I haven't given them a chance to address the issue. But honestly, I have no interest in that. We attempted to make an honest business transaction with them and were intentionally mislead and overcharged. If, and I say "if" very generously, Thunder Cameras honestly believed the Sigma lens to be superior to the Canon lens, and an upgrade over the Canon lens, then why would we have still have charged $459 for a $200 lens? So no, I will avoid any further falsehoods from them, return the Sigma lens, and have my family dispute the charges with the credit card company. The 10% restocking fee, plus the customer paid shipping fees that they list in their "policies", are in my opinion, just an attempt at deterring unhappy customers.

I would strongly, strongly, recommend that others not use Thunder Cameras for any purchases. While it might seem like you can save money with them, they very well might subject you to the same kind of manipulations as they did my family. And this isn't just me...there are many folks who've had the same problems. I wonder how many more are out there who had these problems, but just didn't have the time or desire to pursue the issue."

"I recently purchased a camera from Thunder Caneras. When I called the salesperson to review the order he told me that I had purchased the foreign model, and it was plastic and asked if I wanted to upgrade to the USA model which came with a battery and charger. I agreed, and he said he could save me some money because I paid for 3 day express shipping, but just standard ground shipping would still arrive in time for the holidays. I thanked him, and agreed. However, they still charged me $67 for 3 day express shipping, but sent the item ground. So, in short they stole. When I called their customer service dept, they tried to say that it was shipped 3 day, but that didn't include the weekend. I pointed out to him that the UPS.com tracking information said that it was sent ground. He then started to yell, and said he would contact his manager and get back to me within 24hours. He said I needed to calm down, even though he was the one yelling and screaming like a toddler throwing a tantrum. I will never buy another item from them, and strongly recommend that no one else does either. They are just thieves. I highly recommend spending your money elsewhere, even if you think your spending a few extra dollars, it's definitely worth the piece of mind.

Update: They eventually called back and apologized about the tantrum that was thrown. The difference in shipping was refunded and a 4gb compact flash card was sent out to make up for the hassle. "

"I ordered a Canon 70-300 lens because Thunder Cameras prices were the lowest by far. I received an email from them telling me to call to verify my purchase. I did and they told me that the lens I had ordered would not work with a digital camera. Since I had ordered it based on recommendations from a website called the digital doctor, I demurred and said I wanted my original order. I also told them I had read reviews that said the company liked to bait and switch so I really wanted the lens I requested. He went away for a while and when he returned, he said they had to order it from Japan and it would take 4-6 weeks. I said that would be fine. I immediately received an email saying that it would be 7-13 weeks and offering me the option to cancel the order. I opted NOT to cancel the order to see what would happen. Four days later, I received an email thanking me for cancelling my order and saying that had discarded my sensitive information.

I filled out this form through "reseller rating", giving them the lowest score. Within 15 minutes, I received a phone call from the "president" asking what they could do to change my score. I said that I wanted the lens that I ordered. He said he would put one in the mail to me immediately (so much for the 7-13 week backorder). He told me to look at my email, which I did, and a new order had come through, including the credit card which had been supposedly discarded. I put my feedback on hold to see what would happen. I did receive the lens that I wanted the following week.

Lessons learned - stand your ground and accept no substitute and complain loudly. Also, just so there can be no confusion, I have a copy of all correspondance for verification of my story."

"In November 2009 I purchased a Canon 50D body with 2 lenses, 2 filters and a battery. Overall I would rate my experience with Thunder Cameras as my worst online purchase ever. I would consider myself an experienced online shopper as I have purchased nearly everything online from electronics to books and even a car. As the intent of this review is to inform other potential customers about what they can expect from Thunder cameras I will not include any other personal feelings other than the above listed "worst experience". The following is a list of the facts that I experienced and what I hope someone would consider before making a purchase from Thunder Cameras,
1) I ordered a 28-135mm and 70-300mm IS USM lens with the camera. During confirmation call the salesman confirmed these lenses, however when they sent me the email confirmation after the call I noticed the lenses were changed to the 18-55mm and the 55-250mm. When I called to inform Thunder Cameras about the mistake they claimed that this was an upgrade as the substituted lenses were steel lenses and not imported plastic ones like the 28-135 and 70-300. After explaining that if that was the case please cancel the order as I can get the "USA model" steel lenses on Amazon with the camera for $20 more than the price Thunder Cameras was charging they agreed to send the steel ones.
2)Yes the prices on Thunder Cameras website APPEAR to be less than other places like Amazon.com but if you read the fine print these prices are for "imported models" or the model is not listed.
3) When they call you to confirm the order and ask for the 3 digits on the back of your card this call is more than it seems. The true purpose of this call appears to be to "upgrade" your order. However if you research the upgrade that they are attempting to push on you, as I did, you will quickly find it is a downgrade.
4) The salesman referred to me as condescending when I called to challenge the upgrade that they had sent me via email. When I gave him a list of reasons why it was a downgrade (listing manufacturer specs and average internet cost of each lens) he continued to call me condescending, however he eventually agreed to “downgrade” me back to my original order.
5)The salesman offered me a high capacity battery to replace the original batter that came with the camera as he explained that the included battery lasted only 20 minutes. When I asked how many mAh the battery was the salesman said that it was 5000mAh. I researched Amazon.com and was able to only find a 1390mAh battery with charger for $40 so a 5000mAh battery with rapid charger for $100 seemed like a decent deal. When the battery arrived it turned out to be a 1390mAh battery.
6)I also ordered two UV filters one 58mm and one 72mm. When the filters arrived one was the correct 58mm and the other was an incorrect 52mm. I contacted Thunder Cameras to ask them to send the proper filter that I ordered and received no response. I have since bought a 72mm filter from Amazon.
Overall because of the mistake on the filter I would have been able to get exactly the same thing on Amazon.com for exactly the same price and none of the worries. I am not telling anyone to not buy from Thunder Cameras I am just simply sharing my experience to raise the awareness of potential customers of Thunder Cameras. If you are going to make a purchase from Thunder Cameras I would recommend the following:
1) Make sure all models you are buying explicitly say that they are the USA model
2) When the call comes to confirm the order spend some time to research the “upgrade” they are offering.
3) Ask them to include the mAh rating of the battery that they are offering in the invoice
4) Ask for some statement via email that says they are responsible for all shipping and additional charges to fix a mistake that they make eg. send the wrong filter.
5) Also consider the restocking fee and shipping fees that Thunder Cameras charges for returns into your decision to buy from them.

I hope this review can help you with your decision to buy from Thunder Cameras.

In Response to your Reply...
Thunder Cameras,
I do not wish to engage in a war of words on this review site. I have simply stated the facts as I see them in an attempt to raise the awareness of people looking to make a digital camera purchase. As for the prices of Amazon.com if you look at the “package” deals on Amazon you will see that you can get most of the stuff as part of the camera kit or lens package and the price is much less than when purchased separately, but again I will leave that up to the people looking to make a purchase to research on their own. In addition I would like to say that I do not wish to return the Camera or the lenses that I purchased as I am happy with them, I just would have preferred if it wasn’t such an ordeal to actually get them. Also I would like to point out again that I did not include the price of the 72mm filter or the screen protectors when I compared to Amazon.com as I did not receive those I the shipment (nor did I receive a response when I sent an email to notify you of the missing items from the shipment).
"

"After careful shopping I ordered a Nikon Lens from these guys, checking to make sure that the name, description and picture on their web site represented the latest edition ("G" generation) of the lens. I received the "D" lens. When I called, they tried to convince me that the older, cheaper "D" lens was more current, and finally after several minutes, they agreed to refund my money. I will say that once they acknowledged the error, they were very cool about refunding me the entire purchase price, although I was still out for return shipping."

"Attempted to buy a 580ex ii which I thought might be a import/grey model. Salesman tried to upgrade me to a "different" model which apparently was better even though the 580ex ii is the only model. Then the salesman said that the 580ex did not come with a hot shoe mount and that I needed an upgrade. I then had to cancel my order.
**updated. Their customer service has been contacting me. While I was not satisfied with their sales, their customer service has been on top of it trying to reach me."

"You should NOT buy from this company. The sales team is very manipulative and you do not get what you order. I ordered a lens that was priced at $829 then got a set of 3 filters for an additional $99 is how it was sold to me. With this purchase, I was told I got a special discounted sale package which included a lens hood, cleaning kit and lens pouch which never came in the mail so I had to call and request the rest of my order that I still haven't received. When I received my package, it only contained the lens so this was my first indication that something was wrong. After I received the filters a week later, I realized I got a very cheap product that was sold to me for 3 times as much as they really cost. The sales team made it seem as though I was getting a good deal when I wasn't. I called to return them and the AGAIN tried convincing me I was wrong. They said they upgraded my lens which wasn't true then the filters were part of the sales package. Obviously my sales conversation was never recorded so I had no proof and on my receipt everything is listed at $0 with a total at the end. When I called to resolve the issue, as I was VERY unhappy, the costumer service was less than satisfactory. They consistently manipulated me, raised their voice and then told me I either return everything or returned nothing. I wanted to keep my non upgraded lens but get my money back for the manipulative sale of the filters but that option was NOT given to me. I will NEVER do business with Thunder Cameras again and I hope you don't either. You will most likely have the same experience."