"I was forced to cancel an order with this store because the product was not complete.
I tried to order a Canon G11 for the advertised price of $349. A few minutes after the order was placed, a company representative called me to "up-sell" the maintenance contract and the extended life battery.
I declined and was told the camera would be shipped as a body only; I insisted that I wanted the camera as shipped by the Canon factory (lens, battery and charger included) or cancel my order. After several minutes of high pressure sales I reiterated my desire for the factory boxed camera and was told that since I would not buy the additional products/services for $149 that the order would therefore be cancelled.
I agreed. Then the representative told me that per website policy I would be charged a 15% cancellation fee. I told him he would have to deal with Amex on that and he hung up on me.

I have since learned that the Canon G11 is a fixed lens camera and it is not possible to sell the body only. So they obviously cannot sell the G11 at $349 so they have to upsell the package for the extra $149 or they will cancel the order.
So this is a total SCAM - advertise a low price for an incomplete item, then up-sell to get the regular list price that is available ANYWHERE. "

"The GCP is really horrible. I placed an order for a camera online, then I got an email for order confirmation. 3 days later no any other email sent to me. I called GCP. A polite woman asked me to hold on. Several minutes later a guy asked me for the order number last name, etc. Then he started to sell the battery and battery charger for the camera. Do you know how much are they? He asked the battery and the charger for $4xx. Then I start to know the experience of those people gave negative review here is exactly true! I declined the battery and the charger. I just want the body I said. But he answered they won 't allow to sell body without battery and charger. Then I said I just want the lens, it does not have to be with a battery and charger. He said the lens was sold out! What? Why he did not tell me in the beginning? The he introduced me another lens for much more expensive. I persist my order again. He finally lost his patient and said "OK, you order has been canceled!" What a big SCAM! DO NOT TRUST THE POSITIVE COMMENTS HERE! "

"I ordered the Canon EOS 5D Mark II kit (Silver package) for $2309. I didn't hear from them, so I sent an email to follow up. They didn't reply. So I called. I was transferred 2 times (talked to 3 guys, and none of them answered the phone saying their names). The third guy told me the camera I ordered has no battery/charger. I agreed $350 more. Then he told me the camera I ordered is a Taiwanese model and it's a cheap plastic easily broken camera. He recommended the USA model... I asked How Much? He then suggested to void the order and custom build my camera package. I knew what he's trying to do. I immediately told him to cancel the order. This is a typical BAIT & SWITCH technique that is consistant with other negative reviews."

"Ordered a Canon 7D from GCP. Called prior to placing the order to ensure that the "USA 1 Year Warranty" as stated was in fact a Canon USA warranty, and I was told it was the Canon manufacturers warranty. I purchased the camera along with a lens. Call the next day to see when the order is going to ship. My call is answered initially by a female, who asks for my order #. The second I provided it to her... she pulled up my order and put me on hold. I hold for a few minutes and a guy picks up the phone, and we start over. He asks me for my order number, and he confirms my information. He notices that I have used AmEx to purchase my order, and he offer's me a $50 rebate to use another card. I decline. Again, I'm just trying to get a ship date. He then asks me about filters and accessories. I decline. He goes do you need any information on the body? Again, I say no. However, this time he launches into a description of the camera, features, etc. and then he finally gets to the point. "This body will be just the body in a white box, with a USA warranty provided by GCP." Again, I explicitly asked about the manufactures warranty prior to placing the order.

I've figured out their MO. First, if you are going to do business with these guys, you had better use American Express. They will protect their card members at the expense of the retailer, and they know this. There is no doubt in my mind that they would've shipped the white box camera out, and let me return it so that they could charge me a re-stocking fee. They will lie and tell you what you want to hear, and put the burden and expense of figuring it out on you, the purchaser!

Again, If you decided to roll the dice with these guys, then USE AMEX... They will not pay these guys if there is any form of misrepresentation. "

"I really doubt the positive comments for GCP here. All other negative ones are very correct, and help me to avoid dealing with such a big SCAM, and to avoid affecting my travel schedule. GCP just try to lure you to buy products with missing parts, e.g. batteries, then try to force you to buy that missing parts at ridiculously expensive price. Otherwise, your products are not in stock."

"I ordered an G11 from this site despite that the negative reviews on the site. I prepared myself when the customer service call for pushing sales on insurance and extra battery. The customer service called and didn't threaten me, but he did say "If your camera breaks in next few year, and if you didn't buy the insurance, don't say I told you so.". I didn't like the tone of it, but insisted not to purchase any insurance. Then the guy said he will go ahead and process my order.
Next morning, I received this email "Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience, your order is on a backorder and unfortunately we will not be receiving the product anymore. Due to the backorder, your order has been cancelled. We apologize once again." . The whole experience made me feel that they cancel the order because I don't purchase the battery and insurance from them. This is a true story, and I suggest everyone..... DON'T BUY FROM THIS SITE."

"After reading reviews, I decided to call the company and ask if all the supplied accessories were included, specifically the EN-EL3e Li-Ion Battery when buying the Nikon D700. The sales person said yes. I cited the information I found on the web and asked if I would be required to purchase another battery and he said yes, because the one it comes with is not good enough. I said that I would not need another and if I refused to buy another would my order be canceled he said "um, no.. but you will need another." I explained that I have purchased Nikon cameras before and I am confident in the battery that is supplied. He then said "Well, this camera is not in stock anyway."

Just as I suspected- too good to be true. Thanks for your reviews!"

"Once again, I repeat, Grand Central is a scam. After I posted my review, I got a call from them. Someone who was extremely rude, claimed that they would have never have claimed that a product was in stock when it was not. I called before and after I placed an order and was told by someone named Joe that the camera was in stock. they now claim that they would not have done that. They told me that I should have read that it takes a few weeks for a customer to get an order after ordering. When somethingg sounds funny, it is funny. I learned the hard way and got burned. Stay away from Grand Central.

Grand Central Photo is a huge, huge scam. I had read reveiews but decided to give them a try since I had never done busine with them. I called the store to make sure they had nerchandise in stock.I spoke to a guy named Joe, who confirmed that they had the item in stock. I asked if I ordered the product with the UPS 3 day delivery guarantee if it would be sent out, and I was told that it would. I went ahead and ordered online and then confirmed with Joe, who cofirmed that the order had been placed. When I called 2 days later to check if my order had been sent out, I was then told that they had been out of stock and that I had to wait 8 weeks for the order to come in. I was told to cancel the order if I did not want to wait, which I did. They are a huge scam, and what has been said out there about them is extremely true. Steer clear of them and their tricks and antics of replying to complaints making customer's believe that they resolve issues. They do not. Thay are a huge scam."

"After 30 minutes of placing an order for the Sony HDRFX7 camcorder and other items, I ask for order number and email confirmation. I was told it would be generated automatically. It never came. So I called next day and was told be Cust. Service that my order did not exist. Next I called again and talked to sales. They said my order was there but was not entered into the system because the camcorder was not in stock and wouldn't be for about 5 weeks. I cancelled the order. I had agreed to next day shipping and was promised the camcorder in three days. These people are bait and switch all the way no matter how many good reviews you see posted. "

"These guys are a bunch of liars and they do anything to trick you into giving them money. I ordered a d700 body. i received a confirmation email with my order number and receipt. 5 days go by and i did not receive the product yet so i called grand central photo and they lied saying that they didnt send the product because the address could not be verified. the representative's name was "tom". after telling me the lie about the address he tells me i need to buy an upgrade battery because the one that comes with the camera doesnt work well. then he tried to sell me a lens and other miscellaneous stuff. I told him i just wanted the body and thats it. his attitude got nasty. he said the camera body alone is a piece of junk and what not. i didnt like how he was acting so i told him to cancel my order. then he comes outta nowhere with a cancellation fee. i asked where did the cancelation fee from and why was i never informed ahead of time about a cancelation fee. he gave a bogus answer and then he said because he like me, he would give me a free set of filters for a nikon lens i told him i already had for the cam i was ordering. i was ready to end the call so i said whatever. i received a set of filters 3 days later and the filters were the wrong size. and to further prove that they are a dishonest and dirty dealer, they sent the filters to the address they said couldnt be verified with was the reason they said they wouldnt ship anything in the first place. and instead of charging me the cancelation fee i was quoted over the phone they charged me more money because they charged me the price of the filters + the shipping cost ($125). they hustled me and honestly im not mad about it, im just not gonna let it happen to someone else if i can help it "

"My experience was very similar to the recent reviewer who posted on July 2, 2010. On June 26, 2010 I ordered a "CANON T1I ADVANCED PACKAGE W/ Canon 18-200 and More!" kit from the website. This package is to ship with the following lens: "1 of New !!!!! 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S IS LENS For Canon ($1,199.99 value!)" This quote is directly from their website. I was sent an e-mail receipt with an order number and transaction summary. My wife received a call at home on June 29th with one of their sales reps telling her that I needed to purchase a battery for the camera because the one that came standard would not perform properly (see other reviewers with a similar scam reported). She told them they would need to talk directly to me and that I would call them back. I did so on June 30, 2010 and told the sales person that I wanted the exact package I had ordered and that an extra battery was not desired. The representative told me the order would be filled and to "enjoy" my camera kit. Much to my surpirse, I called today (July 12, 2010) at 11:10 am ET and spoke with "Joe" about why my order had not been shipped. He informed me that according to their records the order had been cancelled on June 29 by the "customer" (notice I called them on June 30th and was told the order was being filled - strange??) I told him no such thing occurred and that I wanted my package as promised. He said the order would be reinstated and shipped accordingly. We hung up. I was suspect of their promises, so I called back to get a confirmation number and to verify that they were going to honor the original order price. Joe answered and proceeded to tell me that the lens I was ordering was not an autofocus lens. What? Go look at the Canon website for this lens and you will see that is is indeed a fully auto-focus lens. Joe then admitted that the lens was not "available" and that the original order had been cancelled by their company - contrary to his claim just five minutes prior that I was the one who cancelled the order. This company is obviously operating with false promises and lying salespeople. Although I wanted to force them to deliver on the legal sales claim based on my oder summary, I cancelled my order promptly because I will not do business with dishonest people. My conclusion - they didn't have any intention of fulfilling my order and would have done just about anything before I would have received my camera kit. That is not worth the agravation, wasted time and financial risk. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!"

"Wow! I have NEVER had such a terrible experience purchasing anything until shopping here. On June 23, I placed an order online for a Nikon D5000 for 549.00. The next day my husband received a message from "Ralph" to call back (i warned my husband about this tactic and told him that when he speaks to Ralph to not buy anything more other than what we already ordered). After my husband said he did not want the battery and to leave the order as it was, to my surprise, (i called on June 30th to find out when our camera shipped out) i was shocked to find out that our order had been "cancelled". Huh? why would we cancel? So after being put on hold for 10 mins a sales manager by the name "Brian" picked up the line and explained that there were no notes on file but that we cancelled the order-which of course we didnt because i then asked for the order to be re-instated and to my shock he said "we cant do that, you have to re-order on-line". Doesnt the website say in big bold letters "Order By Phone Toll Free 1-***-***-****. Needless to say, he was extremely rude and did not even want to take a new order from me. So i decided to go back on-line and now it all made sense....when i did a search for the exact same camera, it was listed at 989.00! So, they listed the camera price incorrectly and i happened to place an order for it at the lower price (and of course by law, must sell it at this price) and they didnt want to honor it. It was very unprofessional, he was very rude, raised his voice at me and even said "i'm not going to argue with you" when all i did was asked if i was charged any fees for this unsolicited cancellation (and he's the sales manager? wow!) Id be curious to see if they can respond by not stating their usual..."we dont use tactics" or "we didnt cancel the order, the customer did"...come on, i asked to re-instate the order or to place a new one with him and he said they dont do that!? now that didnt even make sense. So much for great customer service and their golden seal logo-100% satisfaction guaranteed. "

"I wanted to purchase a Nikon D300s from this store because their prices seemed really excellent. A camera body was advertised at $1029. A few days later I received a call stating that the camera does not come with a battery and the software needed to operate the camera. I felt pressured into deciding if I wanted a 2hr or 5hr battery for over $200. Long story short my new bottom line amount would be $1599. I told them to go ahead because I felt pressured into it but when I went home and researched it a bit more I realized batteries should not cost that much and I felt like I was being scammed. I called the company and told them to cancel my order. It had not been shipped out yet. I received an incredibly rude response from the man I spoke to telling me that I would be charged a 15% cancellation fee. He ended up hanging up on me. I called back again and asked for a manager but nobody would let me speak to one. The people I had the displeasure of speaking with on the phone were incredibly rude, insensitive and unprofessional.

This company sells incomplete products so the good deal you think you are getting will actually cost you more. Buyer beware! If it sounds to good to be true IT IS! "

"Notice that starting in June, company started policy of either selling non-existent battery upgrades for $99 to $149 or canceling orders for any customer that would not purchase the upgrade.


I purchases a Nikon D90 body only online. A few days later, I received a call from their customer service. The salesman told me the battery that comes with camera is not a normal battery and will last only 20 or so minutes. He insisted I needed to upgrade the battery, which normally run $200 to $300, but if I agreed to buy one from him at that time, I could get it for $149. My ignorance and his pressure worked and I agreed. Instead of an upgraded battery, the company simply took the Nikon EN-EL3E battery (which is a full-service battery and actually lasts longer than its predecessor - there is no such thing as a 5 hour upgraded battery replacement) and replaced it with a Vivitar battery (VIV-NB-EL3E) that can be found easily for about $25.
When I called the company and told them I did not want the battery pack delivered and told them I felt I had been ripped off, the customer service rep told me my only option was to return the entire camera and battery pack, pay a 15% restocking fee and lose the $250 I paid for the service agreement as the company would not replace the camera.

BOTTOM LINE: The company charged $149 to take the Nikon battery and replace it with a cheaper generic one. There was no upgrade of any kind and no interest in resolving the problem once they got caught.

NOTICE: I did file a complaint with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office (July 14). I don't know what action, if any will be taken. However, if each person who is a victim of this company's bait-and-switch tactics reports it, I am sure she will be more likely to crack down on this company. "

"Be careful this company CHEAT you: they offer "good" prices, but for incomplete items, so you have to buy something else to have your device working.
And of course the "extra" cost 3 or 4 times the market's price.
I almost forgot, the salepersons make themselves self-important and they are unpleasant.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND"