Hello all, I agree, I wish there was a way to post a link on expresscameras.com connecting to these reviews. Long story short, we fell into their trap in the same way as everyone else on here, unfortunately to the tune of 3000 dollars (my husband is looking to start a freelance videography business and was wooed by their prices on professional cameras)  
We found THIS site the next day and quickly got to work trying to get out of it. We filed a dispute with the credit card company and refused to sign for the package, because they refused to give us an RAN.  
The one good thing about this mess is that this company just doesn't put up much of a fight if you can move quickly enough. Two days after we saw the package was returned to them and signed for, they refunded the money to the credit card company and it was all over. Yellow bellied cowards - we had the UPS tracking and the phone bill and emails, ready for hte fight. The two weeks of gastrointestinal distress right before Christmastime was not appreciated... but at least it's over.  
We will be filing with the BBB and the New Jersey attorney general.  
I wish you all luck and success and hopefully some real action can take these a-holes down.  
We've certainly learned our lesson about buying online. If anyone hears any updates on their court case or HOPEFULLY imminent demise, please let us know.

This is not an updated review, rather it's the only way I can answer some of your questions.  
 
Regarding those scum of the Earth at Expresscameras.com please give all of your information to the following:  
 
e-commerce@dca.lps.state.nj.us  
 
This is the E-mail to the Dept. of Consumer Affairs for the State of New Jersey that has an ongoing case againt Expresscameras.com  
 
Again give them every detail and document possible.  
 
On a personal note I only shop with B+H.

This review was modified by its author, shaktibud, on 2/12/08 8:38 PM.

Express Camera had the lowest price on a Canon 430EX flash so I ordered one using a temporary credit card. The next day I received the obligatory "Please call to verify your order" email. When I called, the person answering the phone asked me why I wanted that flash and tried to up-sell me to a Canon 530EX flash (there never has been such a model from Canon, I guess they just add the number "1" to whatever to try and make it sound better). Already being familiar with these tactics, I said I wanted the flash I ordered. He continued for awhile, but when he saw I would not budge, he then tried to sell me rechargeable batteries and a charger. I told him that I already had those and didn't need them. Seeing that I was not one to be BS'ed, he said "fine". And that was the end of the conversation. Later, I get an email saying that they over-sold the flash and that my order was canceled, yet the flash still shows in-stock on their website. It's obvious that Express Camera does not intend to sell this flash at such a low price and it is just a way to get you to call for an up-sell. What a waist of time.

I ordered a digital SLR for my wife for Christmas. They had the lowest price by far and I was a little scepticle but after reading the reviews for this merchant on shopping cart USA I decided to order. All comments on those reviews were positive. I chose a package that include the camera body, wide angle lense, zoom lense, case, full size tripod, LCD protectors, cleaning kit, lense cap keeper and 512mb memory. All of this was to be shipped for free according to the website. They emailed me stating that I would have to call to confirm and I expected that they would hit me up to buy and extended warranty. They didn't mention warranty but they did convince me to upgrade the memory to 2gb for $140. I see now that I could have purchased that memory in the $30 range elsewhere but I agreed. Then they asked about recharable batteries. I declined and was told that he could offer me the 2gb memory, rechargable batteries and an upgrade to pentax digital lenses for only $9 more than I was paying now with the upgraded memory. I agreed to this. The package arrived several days later with the camera body, one sigma wide angle lense, a case, table top tripod, cap keeper, LCD protectors, 2 gb memory and a ckeaning kit. I was missing the zoom lense, full size tripod and rechargable batteries and they charged me $49 for shipping. I called on Monday when customer service opened and spoke to Kevin. I told him that my order was incorrect and he informed me that I got what I had agreed to when I agreed to the upgrade and he didn't understand what I was "crying about". He said the one lense that I received was an upgrade from the two lenses that were supposed to come with the original package. When I questioned this he stated that the lenses that come with there packages are 35mm lenses that will not work with the camera ordered unless you purchase an adaptor. They did not state this on the website or on the phone and the person I spoke with about the upgrade led me to believe that I was still getting the two lenses but that they would be digital Pentax lenses. Kevin was very rude. yelled at me. accused me of lying about the recharable batteries not being in the package and stated the he could tell from the weight of th package that it included the batteries and charger. When I asked him for a return authorization number he stated that it would cost me $49 plus 10% restoking fee. I told him I refused to pay those fee for there mistake and he said "well then I'm not giving you a RA number". I asked to speak to his supervisor and he told me he was the supervisor and the owner of the company. He eventually offered to send me the batteries I had already paid for and another lense for an additional $50 and I was so frustrated I agreed. Then I called my credit card company to determine if they could help and after talking to them called him back within 15 minutes of our orginal conversation to cancel. Kevin told me that the order had already processed and shipped. I told him that I would deal with that the same way I was dealing with the original order and could hear him yelling at me as I hung up the phone. I believe "Kevin" is the same person that others talk about on this forum who goes by several aliases. Don't do business with this company they are scam artists. I am going to dispute the charges with my CC company but in the mean time I had to order the camera from another company in order to give my wife a Christmas present. I'm very worried that I will end up having to pay Camera Express either for the camera or the return fees. Any suggestions on how to fight this would be appreciated.

Believe everything negative written about these people...When I called to confirm my order "Chris" informed me that the lens I wanted was inferior to one that they just got in stock. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry & believed him & placed the order. He had lied. The lens was not manufactured by Nikon and was not superior to the lens I originally wanted. When I tried to cancel my order, they hung up on me twice. I am going through my bank to cancel the charge & my card.

This review was modified by its author, jeana efroymson, on 12/10/07 3:23 PM.

Expresscameras.com needs to be shut down. I’d have a hard time believing this unless it happened to me. I bought a Canon XTi camera and a 75-200 zoom lens package for $489 on 12/4/07. Should have known, the price was too low. They called my wife when I was out of town and put the sales pitch on her on 12/5. All the items added increased the price to $799. Most of the items he convinced her to add were already included in the package I bought. So, he added a battery and 512Kb ($39 for 2Gig on other sites) more memory and changed to a lesser lens (Sigma 28-70, I’ve read they are black market) for $310. The free shipping showed up as $49 on the invoice. I read the reviews on these guys on CNet on 12/9/07 and asked my wife about the added details. I quickly decided to cancel the order. I called Adam (apparently he has many aliases based on other complaints), the same guy who spoke to my wife. When I told him I wanted to cancel the order he called me “an idiot,” “a worthless piece of sh*t,” “sh*t for brains,” “a low life idiot” etc. This is just a small sample of the numerous personal obscene insults I heard for the next 10 minutes from this clown. It seemed surreal to be talked to like this. I wondered about his mental state. After hitting the roof, I began to laugh at his insults – he was sure on a roll. I began to write them down and did not respond back. He asked if I hung up and why I was so quiet. I said “I am stunned that a customer service rep from a legitimate business could talk to a customer like he did.” He said, “Yah, I’m sure you’re stunned every time you look in the mirror.” He called me “cheap,” “small time,” and said I have “no balls” for canceling the order. He also said “You’re the kind of guy who buys a Mercedes and thinks he owns the road, and then complains about getting ripped off on the car.” I own a Jeep, not a Mercedes. He threatened to call my local police to file a harassment claim on me. All this and I'm the one harassing? He said he would be calling the credit card company and filing an unauthorized use of a credit card claim against me. He even said he was coming down from New Jersey to take care of me and my wife. I asked who owns this company and he said he was one of the guys near the top. We will not be accepting the delivery from UPS and my wife has contested the $799 charge on her credit card. She even canceled the card so a shipping and return to stock fee could not be added. Hard to believe these guys stay in business.  
 
I’ll be filing a complaint with the New Jersey Attorney General’s office and the BBB.  

Same story as the others here. Price on a Canon EF lens was very good, but after ordering, I received an e-mail to call them to complete the order. I was told that I had not provided the CCV code (on back of my credit card) which was BS, because I had. Had to wait on "hold" for about 15 minutes for the pleasure of then getting a hard sell for a different (Sigma)lens. When I told the salesman that I would not switch my order without doing my own reseach, he offered to send it for "trial" period. I still refused to change my order, and so he said the Canon 70-300 lems that I had ordered would be sent. A day later, I got an order cancellation e-mail because the lens I wanted was "backordered" for 6-8 weeks. When I checked the store's web site a few days later however, it still showed the particuar lens I wanted "in stock" at a great price.  
Please do believe the stories here on this store... and keep your distance from this group of e-lowlifes.

This review was modified by its author, Secretan, on 12/9/07 7:31 PM.

The most lousy purchasing experience ever. Their business practice is that you have to call them to verify your order, and then they try to talk you into another purchase, more expensive of course. In two(of three) instances, the salesperson on the phone got extremely rude when I didn't want to buy what he autoritatively suggested. One of my orderswas cancelled, the other one came with less items than ordered, but $500 more expensive. Never ever again!!

Expresscameras is ruthless, slick and fraudulent. They blatantly lied to me, misrepresented photo equipment, switched to cheaper equipment and attempted to refuse a return. In short, I called to order a "package" including Nikon lenses on their websie. They connected me to their "Nikon specialist" who informed me that the lenses I wanted were not compatible with the D300 camera and that the f2.8 aperture actually functioned as 3.5, due to the smaller sensor. They conned me into buying a "new model" Nikon lens specifically designed for the D300 at a higher price. They sent me no Email confirmation invoice despite my promptings to receive one. When I received the equipment, I discovered that the lenses were Sigma, not Nikon. They actually sold for much, much less. Also, the teleconverter was not nikon and the memory card was a $35 knockoff. When I called to return them, they were belligerent and demanded a $1000 "restocking fee" before "giving me" a return number. They also told me a way out was to try the lenses for 8 days. I later found out that they do not accept any merchandise back which has either been used or which the customer has kept for 7 days or more, so their 8 day orally offered "trial period" would have prohibited any return (ruthless and fraudulent). By fast action and a refusal to follow their hostile demands, I narrowly thwarted their scam attempt. I sent all of the merchandise back immediately and they backed down. They lied to me about the lenses I wanted, massively overcharged for cheaper equipment and basically tried to scam me from day one. DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM.

I stupidly let these people completely con me just like many of the other consumers that have commented about this online merchant. Almost all of the same tricks -- sent me an email to confirm my order and then started the games about why I didn't order batteries, a new lens that had just been released, they would give it to me at the same price as the lens I had ordered -- all a lie!

I went to the website to order a new lense for my camera as I was going to be shooting more indoor sports and needed the capabilities a new lens would offer. Relying on the expertise of the saleperson who was so rude and insistent on me having to purchase two lens to optimize the performance I was looking for I agreed. He indicated to me that these were new lens and they were "flying off the shelf." So I purchased the two "new" lens and a filter kit for both. They have the filter kit on the website for 300, and they dont have any manufacturer names listed on their website. Once I got the filter and searched prices, I found I could get it for about 40 dollars! Upon receipt of the lens, I started to search other sites for this new lens--- all that came up was the same lens I had, so I emailed the manufacturer with the model number, serial number and the upc code on the box-Sigma emailed me back with 24 hours and indicated that the lens I was inquiring about was released in October 2004--not NEW! The cost of the lens on the high side is about 420, they listed it as new and with a retail price of 1499.00! Needless to say, I called to return the merchandise and was initially told that anything could be returned within seven days, I received the package on Friday called Monday morning, considerable wait time as well at least 20 minutes. Upon reaching a customer service representative he indicated they had a restocking fee of 5% and the shipping was not refundable. WOW they are slick, they charged me $100. for shipping! And in addition, the invoice was not itemized in any way, just listed the items and had 100. for shipping! I told him I had contacted the company of the lens and they were falsely advertising in addition to excessive charges for merchandise, and I wanted to return in spite of the 100 for shipping and a restocking fee, he said they would refund 700.00 as a credit, which they finally did and it showed up on my credit card today. In spite of the credit, I was still overcharged by what I estimate as about five hundred dollars--I thought I was getting a new state of the art lens! This company is rude, ruthless and indignent to their customers, they use high pressure sales tactics and lead you to believe you are getting the absolute best merchandise for the money--what ever you do, dont give them a credit card number, it will be charged immediately--they need to be put out of business!

Why didn't I check here before placing an order? I called to "verify" my order. I was presented with the opportunity to buy a rechargeable battery pack for a flash that takes regular alkaline batteries. Needless to say, I immediately requested my order be canceled. Let's hope that was the last I hear from these scum bags.

BELIEVE all the negative comments about Express Cameras written here. I placed an order for a camera, lens, and flash, and Peter Hander convinced me he could offer me a better package for about the same price. After agreeing to the purchase, when I checked out the products on EC's website, I saw that I was being swindled. The package was of far lesser value. So I called Peter to cancel the order. He refused to cancel it without my paying $400. He convinced me to accept the package and told me if I didn't like it I could return it without a charge. I agreed since I wasn't going to pay $400. When I attempted to return the package, he said I needed a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) and to get an RMA I had to pay $1500+ for postage expense, restocking fee, and the merchandise warranties. I refused to do this and have filed my complaint with Visa and with the New Jersey Attorney General's office. This truly is the most devious company I've ever encountered. We must find a way to put them out of business.

I put an order with this site on behave of my dad 2 days ago. Although I insisted that the $449 price tag for a Canon 40D (which is worth $1.3k) could not be true, my dad wants to try it anyway. Not surprisingly, I got an email from them caceling the order due to "backorder" 1 day later.  
This site is a scammer.

This review was modified by its author, jini99, on 12/5/07 2:20 PM.

Expresscamera.com is one of the most inept sites I have ever used (they don't keep their web site up to date, thus prices, acceptable credit cards, and descriptions are of dubious accuracy); and the customer service supervisor with whom I spoke was so hostile I had to hang up on him. They advertise the lowest prices, but even if the items were free, I wouldn't 'buy'. They seem to take pride in their surliness. I highly recommend that all buyers should avoid this seller. Bad karma.