Ordered a Canon 10D camera 1-16-2004, they called 1-20-04 to "verify" I said I didn't want to buy anything else,he said it was in stock and get it out right-away. I E-Mailed,no answer, I called 3 times, last time 1-26-04 and was told the 1 they had in stovk was "defective" and it would be 2 weeks to get another. This is a "bait & switch"business. STAY AWAY. Robert Gray

This review was modified by its author, dreadtoast, on 2/6/04 9:04 AM.

Bad overall experience! Would not think of buying from them again!  
Ordered on a Wednesday, Paid for next day shipping, and camera did not even ship the next day. I called ( Thurs ) to verify shipment, and got a salesman pushing accessories, went ahead and ordered lens filter kit to be shipped with camera.  
Camera shipped on Friday, and arrived on Monday without filter kit. Camera box was shipped inside of a larger box with no additional packing to take up extra space.  
Checked camera operation, and did not find any any obvious damage.  
Called to find out what happened to the lens kit, and also to inquire about a shipping credit.  
I was assured that I would receive the filter kit and a $10 shipping credit by Wed, or Thurs.  
Friday--No filters--No credit!  
Called Again! Was told filters would ship the following Tues, and shipping credit would be issued to my credit card.  
Cancelled filter kit, and I am now wainting for both shipping, and filter credit!  
10 days for a lot of B.S!

Shipping charges are not shown until you click "next" on the order page, very deceptive. No one answers the 800 number listed on their page.

Very Dissatisfied.  
Ordered C750 8/11/03 was told it was in stock. Never got a tracking number. Sent an email on 8/14 and never heard back. Called Monday 8/18 and said would ship today. Buying price was $549 and they billed the credit card for $668. Called today 8/20 and said they would ship today. I don't think they had this item in stock and were just stalling. I cancelled the order. Don't go here!

Ordered an OLYMPUS CAMEDIA C-750 with 3 day shipping on 8/3/2003. Received an e-mail on 8/4 requesting additional info on credit card. I called and they stated all was OK and the camera would ship same day, should arrive California on 8/7. Called on 8/8 inquiring about order status. They stated camera did not ship. Could not explain why. At their expense camera would ship FedEx Next Day and should receive by 8/12. No tracking number was provided, though requested. Called on 8/12 requesting tracking number and was given a number deemed invalid by FedEx. Called back to verify number. Was told they were contacting FedEx to track on their end. Personally called FedEx and was told tracking number was invalid. Called Buy Digital Direct and was told they were “still working on it”. Requested cancellation of order. Called credit card company to reverse charges.  
Bottom Line: This company has zero credibility.  
 
8/14/03 Still shopping for camera and found BuyDigitaDirect being re-rated at BizRate.com  
Caveat emptor!

This review was modified by its author, Gone 2 Deep, on 8/14/03 6:46 AM.

On April 7, 2003 I purchased a Canon Elura 40MC mini-dv camcorder with a bundled CP-10 printer from the buydigitaldirect.com website. This product is distributed by Canon as a single, bundled item.  
 
Before making the purchase I talked to a salesman on the toll-free line to confirm that they had the item in stock. The salesman said that the camera, alone was not in stock, but that the bundled camera-printer combination was. He gave me a very hard-sell to buy accessories, but I told him I intended to buy online so that I would have written documentation of the purchase. Based on his info I purchased the camera-printer combo online, even though the camera was the only Item I wanted and both the camera and the camera-printer were shown as in stock at the online store.  
 
On 7 April I received an email order confirmation and on 8 April I received a call from a sales rep confirming the order, with another hard-sell trying to get me to buy accessories, which I declined.  
 
On 14 April, after no deliver of a 2nd day air order, I called digital direct customer service and enquired about my order status. The cs rep told me that they could not get the printer. This was a lie, because the product is bundled at the Canon factory and cannot be separated without opening the box. I knew then that the runaround was starting. I asked, "does this mean the order is cancelled"?, He said "In effect, yes." In a disgusted voice I said "That figures." and hung up.  
 
That same day, I checked with my credit card company and found that my account had been charged $931.32 by buydigitaldirect.  
 
After several calls and an Hour or so on hold, I finally got customer service again and told them to get the charge off my card. They did.  
 
I will never do business with this company again.

Order a digital Canon DV camcorder from them.  
 
1. Camcorder has been used. The backup battery has been inserted and drained.  
 
2. Camcorder serial number on the body is different from the box  
 
3. Never able to get anybody to talk on the phone after calling their 800 number. Can't even return the item because I was never able to get a RMA  
 
4. No invoice, receipt or packing. I only have one confirmation email as my proof of purchase from them. I can't even mail in the registration card for warranty service because the serial number of the camcorder body is different than the one printed on the registration card.  
 
5. Complain to CNET (CNET gives a 3 out of 3 rating to this store). CNET demands them a 24 hrs email to resolve the problem. It's been over one week. They just ignored me.  
 
6. No response to email to orders@buydigitaldirect.com,  
support@buydigitaldirect.com  
and sales@buydigitaldirect.com.  
I have emailed to all these addresses 2 times each and it's been more than 2 weeks.  
 
Now I'm doomed!  
 

Purchased a home theater system online. Great Prices. They call you the next day to verify shipping info. Yeah right! They call with a hard sell on extended warranties and they don't take no for an answer. They start the price at $99...you say no and the price is dropped to $79...you say no and they drop the price to $49. Well if it sells for $49 why did you try to sell it to me for $99. Scam! They guy swears to me on the phone how he's not making any money on warranties. Then my question is if there's no money to be made why sell so hard. Will never shop these guys again. One big hassle!  
 

I received everything except camera lense which was $70+. Shipping was VERY POOR! Took five phone calls to get my lens shipped. Finally Sunday I was able to get someone by the name of Chance. He told me to hold, I was on hold for 30mins. SO, I picked up my cell phone and called again, got the SAME MAN. I told him that was VERY bad customer service to place someone on hold then me get him on another line. CRAPPY SERVICE I will never buy from them again nor will I recommend. I did finally get him to overnight the stuff... but the lens were tossed into a box with no packing and its a wonder they weren't broken! PLEASE KEEEP AWAY FROM THESE GUYS!

Online order went smoothly. Received order confirmation, but no shipping confirmation.  
 
On June 3, 2003, I called dealer to inquire about my order. Was told they needed a special access code from my credit card. I think they can collect this during the order process rather than delaying my product shipment by five days before getting the code.  
 
Product was shipped out June 5 (another 2 days after my inquiry) via Fed Ex 2-Day, courtesy of dealer in an effort to make up for lost time. Although I appreciate the gesture, for some reason my product did not arrive at my home until June 9. FedEx seems to have admitted culpability, as they have not charged the shipper any delivery charges. I, however, could have driven to NY and bought my camera and returned to FL in the time it took to get this product: A total of 11 days.  
 
When I took my delay to the attention of Digital Direct's CEO, he did try to take action to correct my delay. However, his efforts depended on timely shipping.  
 
Firm is pleasant enough to deal with, but really needs to address fulfillment issues.

The level of service provided by BuyDigitalDirect in fulfillment of my order was pretty poor. Despite claims of 24-hour response times (already pretty slow for an online retailer), email correspondence was non-existent beyond the standard automatic reply to my order. Calling them (thankfully, toll-free) is an ordeal, with wait times in excess of 20 minutes. On several occasions, I was put on hold only to find myself talking to a new customer service representative who knew nothing about my conversation with the previous representative. Moreover, the representatives in a few cases were downright rude. I've dealt with and don't mind the attitude taken by many of the New York outfits, but these guys were by far the worst. BuyDigitalDirect's prices are not the cheapest by any stretch of the imagination, and if I had known that their support staff would be so unhelpful, I certainly would have taken my business elsewhere.  
 
The factors which prevented my experience from being a complete loss were that they sold the product I wanted, they had it in stock (and I've noticed they don't lie about their stock as some outfits do), and their price was not unreasonable. The product was also delivered on-time as promised. However, these are not enough to warrant any future business from me. I will be continuing my search for a reliable vendor for my consumer electronics needs.

This review was modified by its author, alsu, on 12/19/02 5:41 PM.

Good service. Expect a follow-up cross-sell call though.

I had a good experience with BuyDigitalDirect. Their online ordering system was secure and easy to use. They have very helpful customer service representatives. And most importantly they have great prices and good deals on shipping and handling.  
 
My only problem with BuyDigitalDirect was that they were unable to verify my alternate shipping address even though it was already listed with my credit card company. Fortunately they did a good job of clearing this issue up and getting my order out promptly.

They sell straightforward products at a fair price, no gray market stuff. I got a hard push on additional products and warranty even after I said I didn't want any. Their restocking fee is high but the people are easy to work with. I found some better prices but their shipping wasn't too high. A lot of these guys operate multiple web sites while using the same back room. I noticed these guys have at least two sites, buydigitaldirect and butterflyphoto. The prices are slightly different but the web pages are exactly the same. I didn't know this until after my purchase and I strongly disagree with this practice.

Ordered a Nikon Coolpix 4500 from BuyDigitalDirect.com as they had the best combination of price and ratings.  
 
I placed the order on a Monday evening, got an email confirmation roughly an hour later, received a call from Sam regarding my order on Tuesday afternoon. I called Sam back, at which point he confirmed my credit card security info, and offered me several opportunities at discounted items such as lenses, batteries, filters, and extended warranties.  
As this was my first order, I simply told him that I would see how this order went before I made any additional purchases. He did not press the issue, which I appreciated.  
 
For some reason, BuyDigitalDirect didn't get my camera out the door until Friday, 3 business days, which I find unacceptable ESPECIALLY when human interaction took place. However, I did receive an email shipping notice with tracking number from FedEx. For some reason, the tracking email listed the business name as DIGITAL ETAILER.  
 
In all, it was a satisfactory ordering experience, but the following issues irked me:  
* I would've preferred not having to return a call to get my order to go through. If I wanted to go through the trouble of calling them, I would've placed a phone order instead of online.  
* I still don't understand why it took 3 days to ship my camera AFTER I spoke to a live person.  
* They shipped it via FedEx, but specified that signature release would not be allowed, so I had to either change the re-route the package to my work address, or go to the FedEx facility to pick it up.  
* There was no additional packing material... they simply threw the camera's retail box into another box, and taped it up. I would've liked to have seen some additional cushioning in there.  
 
Despite the issues I had problems with, on the whole the order went through well and the camera arrived in perfect condition. I would likely order from them again if they had the item I wanted at a decent price.  
 
PS. I was worried about takyc's experience, but I checked the S/N, and they match, so I can't complain.

This review was modified by its author, DieselDan, on 4/29/03 9:59 AM.