"A DREADFUL firm - avoid at all costs!

I ordered 2 Pentax lenses on 15th February and received an email on 18th that they had been dispatched. I believe that they use City Link so I asked for a tracking number in order to make sure someone was at home to receive the delivery. They promised they would let me have this but I never did receive tracking info and one week, 3 emails and no lenses later I was told that the carrier had lost them and new ones would be sent. (I very much doubt if they were ever sent in the first place).

Phone calls, emails and empty promises produced nothing so three weeks after the order, on Tue, 8th March, I emailed asking for the order to be cancelled and for a full refund. Giving them some credit, it only took 3 days for the refund to get to my bank.

Although the people I spoke to were pleasant enough, I couldn't believe a word they said.

I would not use camerabox.co.uk again!!!!"

"Careful not to confuse Camerabox.co.uk with TheCameraBox which has good ratings!

Camerabox.co.uk should be avoided!

I brought a camera from Camerabox.co.uk having been given a gift voucher and recommended by a friend. To redeem my voucher I was told that I first had to pay and then they would refund the value of the voucher which I did....

Two phone calls, two emails and 1 month later, I'm still waiting for my gift voucher money back. When I call I'm told that "it will be chased with the accounts department and it will get sorted" (which they then dont do) and when I email they just ignore my emails and dont reply.

I would recommend avoiding this company; the camera's arent cheap enough to make it worth risking their shocking customer service. There are plenty of other good internet camera companies.

Hope this review is helpful."

"Wish I'd seen this before buying!

Bought camera online (8 in stock as per 'live stock figure)
Phoned to checked delivery - all OK.
Didn't arrive.
Called - was told item was discontinued, but they said they haven't taken my money.
Checked Paypal - money had been taken.
Called - said they would refund.
Checked - no refund - called again said they would investigate - no call back.
Called again - said they had refunded - I asked for proof of transaction - they said they didn't have any and couldn't provide any sort of proof! and they couldn't halp any further.
Called again - asked to speak to accounts - they can't transfer a call to accounts !

All this and they are EXTREMELY rude over the phone - don't go near.

Further investigation shows a whole raft of eviews showing similar stories.

Do NOT go near this company."

"I wish i'd found this web page before i'd had the misfortune to deal with such a terrible company!

Use cameras box if:
- You are prepared to deal with rude,abrupt staff.
- If you have problem with your camera. Be prepared to not be able to talk to any one. But instead leave countless e mails and voice messages that go unanswered.
- That when they do get in touch( only via e mail) its a genric fobbed off response.That in no way helps or offers any feasible solution.


Camera box has to be rated as one of the most unhelpful, awful companies to deal with..... BUYER BEWARE!!! "

"Ordered a Lens and a flashgun in January. Lens arrived in a respectable time frame, though that was all that arrived. I contacted them immediately and informed them of this, wondering if there was a problem with stock for the flash unit. They apologised and said that I would receive them item early the following week. I waited until the friday and then when it had still not arrived I contacted them again, and several times thereafter, being told each time that this item would be sent out. In the end they would not even answer my emails, but the phone calls resulted in false promises of delivery too. Almost 7 weeks after I placed the order, and having made the purchase through paypal, I began the process of a dispute before it became too late through paypals buyer protection program. A couple of days later I received a refund. No way on earth, in this or any other lifetime would I ever purchase anything from these people again. Their attitude regarding customer service is appalling to the point of ignorant. I would not recommenf these people to my worst enemy. The chance of me using these again.... the day petrol costs 1p to fill a 70 litre tank"

"Worst company that it's been my misfortune to deal with. Ordered a flashgun and arrived damaged due to insufficient packing. I returned it at my expense and received an "exchange" which turned out to be the same damaged unit. I returned the unit for the second time and am still awaiting a refund seven weeks after ordering. Camerabox has maintained a disinterested and cavalier attitude despite several emails. I have been in touch with Visa and Oxfordshire Trading Standards Office and will pursue the matter in court if needs be. My fault for not checking out Camerabox before parting with my time and money. Don't make the same mistake. Spend a few pounds more and buy from a reputable company."

"

Hi, I have placed the order at 12/11/2010 of the Canon EF 24-70 f2.28, with fast delivery. A week later I asked for the lens and they sayd that the lens was sent, 2 weeks later I have got the same answer. 3 weeks later I asked for a cancelation of the order, the cancelation took an other week. 2 months later I have got no the money back and no the lens, today is the 7/01/2011 and my account is out of the refunding money. Bravo CameraBox !
Jack
email; ****@****"

"Whilst they purport to adhering to the Distance Selling Regulations (DSR's), this merchant has absolutely No conception of these Regulations.

On 8 October 2010 I ordered a camera lens from them. I received the lens at 5pm on 11 October 2010. On 19 October I decided to cancel within the 7 working day cancellation period. I notified the merchant by email and also by using their online returns/cancellation form.

However, they advised me that I was not entitled to a refund as I did not inform them within the 7 day cancellation period. Initially they confused the order date with the delivery date when calculating the 7 days. Between 19 October and 10 November 2010 there was a series of terse emails regarding the refund request.

On 10 November they emailed me stating that as the weekend was included as part of the 7 days cancellation period I was not entitled to a refund.

I then received an email on 29 November from them informing me that they had refunded the amount. The time period between cancellation request and refund notification was 42 days and therefore in breach of the Distance Selling regulations 30 day refund period. I eventually received my refund on 1 December 2010. I have sent full details of this matter to Trading Standards.

I have also included the link to the Distance Selling Regulations here http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf
"

"I ordered a Panasonic Lumix from CameraBox in July. It arrived a few days later but was a USA version with NTSC video output only. The mains adapter was USA 2 pin and a 2to3 pin adapter had been shoved into the box, which was ill-fitting and looked like it had been round the block a few times. Various emails sent, online forms completed, etc but no response from CB. Eventually made contact via Visa company rep and CB asked for camera to be sent back to their Returns dept by recorded delivery. I asked for rec del postage refund as well as original cost - they repaid original cost to Visa card but not my postage cost. Pretty petty. No acknowledgement of error or apology from CB. I wasted a lot of time on this and am out a couple of quid. A company to avoid."

"I ordered a cannon powershot sx110 with case and ext memory.
The case never came and still hasn't despite >20 emails and 3 registered letters. Their customer service people are rude on the phone. Dont buy from Camerabox.co.uk"

"Camera I bought developed a fault - returned to Camerabox for repair under warranty - nightmare begins. Camerabox have refused to pay for repair and have come up with many and varied excuses. I have now filed a claim against them in the small claims court for cost of replacement plus costs. Their reaction? To blame repair company. They seriously believe they are above the law. Why they can still trade is beyond me and Trading Standards are a joke. Avoid this company at all costs and if you do have a problem make sure you stick with and dont give up because this is what they hope will happen. I have been in dispute with them now for 10 months and I am not going away."

"We purchased a Panasonic Lumix camera from camerabox in December 2009. 4 months later the zoom was sticking and making it very difficult to zoom in and out.

I duly returned the camera to camerabox. After one month they had not bothered to contact me, so I chased them, and spoke to a someone who was dismissive, unhelpful and informed me (like I was stupid), that there was no fault with my camera. I insisted there was, he said they would take another look and call me back. One week later, still no response, so I chased again.

To put it bluntly, we spoke to Chris and then Jake followed up by emails with a David Carter, who were three of the rudest, most patronizing and un-empathetic people that we have ever had the misfortune to deal with. They still claim there is no fault with my camera, will NOT let you finish a single sentance, call you names down the phone, and then say the only thing they can do is send it to Panasonic who will charge me £50 for a new lens (which is not faulty), (Panasonic have said they would do no such thing when I spoke to them directly and any repairs would be free of charge).

We have been appalled by their dreadful, shoddy service. We will now be going to trading standards and our credit card company about this company, who are breaking the law by refusing to deal with my problem camera that is still under warranty. My advice to ANY consumers out there is DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from this company under ANY circumstances. They should not be allowed to trade, let alone deal with customers in any way."

"Ordered a Canon 7D on 15th June due to the promise of 5 years warranty - wish I knew about this website then.
I had the usual security check and was promised next day delivery - stock levels were 7 - this quickly went to 0 with more due on 18th June
Next day order did not arrive so I called - promised that more were due on 18th June and it would be dispatched next day - 21st June no delivery so I phoned - told they had a backlog of orders and could not promise a dispatch date so I cancelled and got email confirmation and was told 5-7 days for a refund.
Phoned on 28th June and told the refund was being processed.
Sent an email on 2nd July as i had not had the refund - no response.
phoned on 12th June and was told the refund was being processed and it was unusual for it to take so long - but they had 30 days to issues a refund according to Distance Selling regulations.
16th July emailed again - no response so I contacted my credit card company for a claims form which I filled in and included all correspondence (despite it being ignored).
20th June decided to try one last time and phoned - informed them they were on day 29 of their 30 days. I was told that the refund had been processed the day before.
I finally got the refund on 21 July - exactly 30 days after the order was cancelled.
Lesson learned and do I will always research a company before such an expensive order.
My advice based on my experience is to avoid this company and ensure that the message gets around for others to do so unless the dramatically improve customer service."

"I purchased a Canon 50D from camerabox.co.uk before coming across the reviews on this website.

I had no problems purchasing and receiving the camera. The usual procedure applied, next day I received a confirmation call for my invoice and delivery address as the purchase was over £600. I'm a uni student so billing and delivery were different, but this was not a problem. The following day I received an email stating that the camera had been dispatched.

Received the camera a few working days later, note, I did NOT ask for next day delivery. Camera came in a kit box, without lens as advertised. All was packed in a much larger box filled with packing peanuts. Not the most secure method of postage, but nothing was damaged and no complaints.

Upon reading other reviews I feel that I got off lightly. The only issue I might have is that the camera is probably a grey market camera (due to arriving in a canon kit box, with the lens name crossed out in permanent marker), which was not specified on the website. I suppose the resellers warranty should cover everything, but judging from other reviews, fingers crossed I don't have to use it.

Despite all this, the 50D was delivered as described and has been a joy to use."

"Ordered late night on Sunday 21st March, based on their next day commitment, as I was going on a week holiday on Tuesday the 30th March. Checked e.mail and called them on Wednesday 24th March. Told me that this is a security check, the camera would be despatched tomorrow, Thursday the 25th, and would be delivered on Friday the 26th March. Not so. Called again on Friday for a reply " are calling for your security check?" No, I did that on Wednesday. It's for the delivery that was supposed to be today. The reply was the delivery would be on Monday the 29th March this time. Again not so. Called on Monday to get the same response. This time we asked to cancel the order and get a full refund. The adviser, however, said that he had already authorised the despatch and for the camera to be delivered tomorrow (Tuesday). After explaining our situation with the holiday, we accepted the outcome reluctantly, needless to say. This time we asked for name, and it was Patrick. On Tuesday it was the turn of Richard, incredibly, with the identical response and with no records of previous contacts. At the end he concluded that he cancelled the order and the refund would take 5-7 workig days to take place. Called after the Easter holiday on Monday the 12th April, this time it was Patrick, another one!, Cotter. Same conclusion. Monday the 26th April, Jake's turn. Same outcome. Monday the 17th May, Chris's turn. NO difference. What do we have to do to get our money back. They also don't respond to e. mails.
Help please.
N. Jbara "