Ripoff alert! Here is some of the BS the representative told me on the phone: "Your camera doesn't come with a battery", "The lens that comes with the kit is plastic" (After paying for an 'upgrade' I received a Nikon D40 kit lens), "There is a 12% handling fee" (not mentioned on the website or e-mail). This is the kind of company that gives internet sales a bad name. Do NOT order from them. The descriptions on the website are incomplete and misleading, then they upsell you on the phone.

I too placed the order (Sony HDR-SR12) and received an e-mail to confirm. The price was too good to be true. Before I could even place the call their sales rep called me. First I was asked what battery I wanted. He informed me it didn't come with a battery. I told him I thought this should have been included in the box....wrong! He stated that they sell to professionals that only want the camera - without any accessories. So if I wanted the "retail" box it would cost well over $900 (this is double the internet pricing). Thankfully I was able to cancel the order. As I research pricing I now check your ratings before considering placing an order.

I can only reitereate what previous posters have said. This company is a complete scam. I ordered 2 canon G10 packages totalling $1100 only to be told via a phone call a couple of days later that no battery or charger was included with the package, and I'd have to pay another 400.  
 
Couple of points for anyone who's dealing with them right now:  
 
If you're talking to a sales agent, hang up and call customer service. They're a little more helpful.  
 
Say you're disputing the charge on your credit card unless you're satisfied. The credit card company are happy to do this, and the sales agent will do a backflip not to lose the sale.

BEWARE....SCAM!!!!!!!!  
I placed an order on the net and shortly thereafter received a call from Ken offering me all these great "deals". He said the Nikon lenses I had ordered were plastic lenses and that I really wanted the glass to avoid distortion. I fell for it. After adding all the special deals my order went from $830 to $1500. After I hung up I decided to call Nikon and ask about their plastic lenses.....well Nikon does not make plastic lenses! So I called Ken back and told him...he argued until I said I wanted to cancel then he started offering me more "special deals" just to keep the order, I refused and demanded the order be canceled and he began to be VERY rude and told me it would cost $286 just to cancel. We argued and finally he hung up on me. I called back and when he heard my voice he hung up again. This place is a hoax!  
AVOID - AVOID - AVOID - AVOID - AVOID - AVOID

I found an awesome deal for the HV-30 CANON HD camcorder on 8 Nov at this website. At first I did not believe it but after doing a search and finding 3 other sites I figured it was the real thing. I placed the order. On 10 Nov (Monday) I received an email from ken@shopdigitaldirect.com stating that my order was canceled because it is currently not in stock . . . not what the website stated. The claim was that they are restocking in 6-8 weeks and will notify me by email. I found this very unusual. Today I did more research and found out all of the bad experiences people have had with this reseller. In retrospect I know for sure 1 of the other 3 websites was a companion site to the main one. I highly suspect the 3rd was as well. STAY AWAY from this reseller.

Hi,  
 
Thanks a lot for all your reviews, I was just about to order Sony HDR SR12, I wanted to see reviews of this; landed up in reading review of shop digital, I got carried away with the price. I will not do this mistake in life, I went back to best buy and payed 1299.99 and brought, its doing good.  
 
Thanks a ton for all your feedback, you saved lot of my money and time.  
 

ShopDigitalDirect.com They got me good !  
I've been shopping online for years and never herd of this before.  
I ordered the Canon XSI kit from them for only $449.00, a bad ass deal so I thought.  
I got a call from one of there Ripoff Specialist saying I needed the battery for 145.00 so I bought it  
told them to go ahead with the 145.00 charge and send me the camera. They ended up charging me  
255.00 for the charger and 50.00 for the free software you can download from Canon.  
 
A 799.00 Dollar camera cost me 949.00 by the time it was said and done and I did not know about the other charges  
for almost a month..  
NEVER AGAIN will I buy from a none recognized company again also do a Ripoff report search on them before I buy.First off I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to write these reviews and saving potential buyers, myself included, the time and headache that comes with dealing with these scam artists.  
 
Second, after some extensive research I would like to let others know that Shop Digital Direct falls under a company umbrella that operates under many other names, including;  
 
Best Price Camera  
Best Stop Camera  
C.I.S. Brokerage Inc.  
C.I.S. Trading System  
Century 21  
CIS Brokerage Inc.  
CityWideDigital.com  
Crystal International Services Inc.  
Digital EBuys  
Enterprise Photo  
Hello Camera  
INF/MRAC/JF  
Infiniti Cameras  
Infiniti Photo  
Infinity Cameras  
J&K Cameras, Inc.  
Mr. Accessory  
PhotoDynasty.com  
Razz Photo  
Regency Camera  
Regency Photo & Video, Inc.  
ShopDigitalDirect.com  
 

I ordered on line 3 Nov 08 0200hrs. $299 Nikon D80 SLR body, and $89 lens... Cheapest price on ebay goes $500 for body and $120 for lens on ebay...  
 
3 Nov 08, I called them at 10am... They told me I had to buy battery for $149, because camera does not come with battery, when i told them that i only want to buy the body and lens, at 2pm they cancelled my order. They are scammers indeed... I just needed to prove it myself. They will cancel your order if you do not buy into their "upselling". Ha ha ha... I didn't believe at first... I just had to prove it myself... and I did... Go try buying Niko d80 slr body via the web, wait a business day... your order will be canceled for sure or they will make you wait 6-8 weeks then still cancel before 8week... YUP scammer indeed...  
 

This review was modified by its author, shopdigitadirect, on 11/3/08 4:29 PM.

All I can say is they are scammers. How do we put these internet crooks out of business? They tried all the games with me, and when I wouldn't purchase extra, they stated the product was on back order and they would cancel my order. What a lie. Stay away from this store. If it sounds too good to be true, you can bet it is.

FRAUD WARNING!!!  
 
I too have order a Sony HDR-SR12 camcorder presidential package and paid for overnight shipping. I received an email which confirmed my order. Within 3 hours I received a call from a guy with a British accent trying to sell me a charger, an additional battery and a docking adaptor. I was surprised that the charger was not included and it immediately raised red flags to me. I declined and told him that I was not interested and only want to stick with my original order. The guy became pissed off at me for not ordering anything else and told me that in this case I had to wait 3 to 4 weeks before I would see my order. "Hey, wait a minute" I told him, " you just send me a confirmation email which states that I will receive my shipment tomorrow since I had paid for the overnight shipping $86.00". Click it made, and I was hung up on.  
 
I was in shock about what had just happened and the incredible rudeness. 15 minutes later I called shopdigitaldirect.com back. Same British speaking guy was answering the phone. I told him my name and that I had ordered a camcorder and if it was he who had called me a while ago to sell me additional add ons and he said no that it was not him. I knew he was lying to me because it was the same voice. I told him that I wanted to immediate cancel my order. He asked for my order number and then said "why did you pay with an international credit Card?" I said that I paid with an US bank card and that all Visa, Master cards are accepted worldwide and why such a strange question? I asked about the physical location of him and shopdigitaldirect, his answer was that they were in the UK and my order has been canceled because they were supposedly out of stock for Sony HDR-SR12. "Then why did I get an email confirmation for next day delivery"? I asked him. I was told that an order cancellation email was send to me which I never did receive. I requested per email to receive the written cancellation notice and 8 hours later still no email from them.  
 
I will call my bank first thing in the morning to make sure that no monies are being paid to them. I will file a complain with the BBB and make a report at the FBI at their economic crimes department. I will print all information and other complains which I can find on the Internet about shopdigitaldirect and give it to the FBI as well. They need to be investigated because they are doing Internet crimes by defrauding and scamming people out of their money. I hope that I will not be charged for anything or else all hell will break lose. I am a redhead and if you mess with me then you are done. I will keep you posted on what will happen next.  
 
BEWARE, they have many other websites doing the same thing, defrauding people.

i ordered a nikon D90 with a 18-200 nikon lens as a package along with a nikon flash. the interactions with the company were interesting. the battery and charger with firmware cost me a lot more and eventually the prices came a little under the competition. the reviews i read about them being frauds and all are now, i guess not really true because i recieved all my products as promised in excellent condition and very much on time. the person i talked to was victor and he was most helpful. he does insist on a lot to add on but im sure its all for the better. over all a first time good experience. i will recommend them for sure and definitely say that give them a chance to prove themselves. keep in mind there a few hidden costs but once all the numbers are on the table they are good people to deal with ! thanks

These are bigest crooks. I ordered Sony HDR-SR12 camera online. Next a salesman called me to tell me that the camera is a wholesale version and does not come with battery and charger. He had me pay additional $ 328. When I received the camera it was a standard and battery and ac cord are a standard package. Don't be fooled and don't buy from them. They also sold me four warranty by some unknown company that I never heard of.

DO NOT BUY FROM THESE CROOKS! Tried to purchase a digital SLR camera from them by calling first (I am so glad I did). Unfortunately, I gave them my credit card information before they started trying to convince me to buy all this extra stuff. First, the guy, tells me that the camera I was getting was not the "retail" version, and that in order for the battery to work, I needed to get "software" and an extra lithium battery which costs $180! Being an electrical engineer, I knew he was giving me some BS and so I started to probe him about his claims. He started to get aggravated and told me to call the OEM. At this point, I knew this was a very very shady online dealer. They bait you into coming to their store with their ridiculously low prices...then they try to get you to buy lots of things that you actually don't need by lying and saying that you need them or else the camera will not work. Needless to say, I canceled my credit card info. Also, when I called them back 2 mins later, to ask them more questions about the alleged "software" I needed for the battery to work, they said that they sold all 10 of the cameras they had in stock (just a couple of minutes ago) and that they did not have any more. STAY AWAY FROM THESE GUYS!

This review was modified by its author, waswk, on 10/18/08 2:13 PM.

I was actually trying to buy two Sony camcorder HDR-S12 (one for my friend and one for myself), therefore, I turned to this store to buy the second one (for myself). Again I received an order confirmation without order details on purpose. I was told that it would take 6-8 weeks to be in-stock. Same thing happened..when I called on 9/20, same answer "not available". This store is just another liar.

This review was modified by its author, ANNIE B, on 10/2/08 2:52 PM.

Yes, i agree to everyone here that the company called shopdigitaldirect.com is total rip off and a con artist. I just wish i read this review about this company before i purchase from them. I order a HDR-SR12 camcorder for presidential package it was $949.99 wow sounds like a great deal. The next morning i got a call from a guy name Victor that i order a camcorder online. I said yes, he said it doesn't comes with a charger. I said how much is the charger? He said there's two kinds the 24hr one it cost $249.99 or a charger that it only takes an hour to charge to your battery which is $349.99. I said oh gosh that is so much. I said nahhh... just cancel my order. He said it is ready to be ship i laugh because it is Sunday morning which i order my product Saturday afternoon. He said if i cancel it there's a fee i said how much? It's $279.99 i was basically trap. I end getting the product the same company with different person the next day which is HDR-SR10 but still they charge me too high. There website the presidential package they offered is $749.00 and they charge my debit card for $1,300.00 i am going to call them back as soon i get back from my vacation. I will never ever buy anything with the company anymore they are total rip off and a bunch of scam artist. Oh one thing also, i been sending them emails about my order before but they will not respond.