Royal Camera and Video Inc

[Woodman7]

Has anyone bought anything from these guys. They have some ausome prices on L lenses. So good that I am scared to buy? They have an add in Photographic does that make them some what legit?

[CyberDyneSystems]

You should be scared!
...and no,. there add in a magazine does not make them any less scary! All the worst con artists advertise in the photo magazines

(here comes the slander suit)

A&M, Broadway, Smile, and yes,. Royal are essentially theives.

Check this,. they got a Zero rating;

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1895.html

[scottbergerphoto]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
You should be scared!
...and no,. there add in a magazine does not make them any less scary! All the worst con artists advertise in the photo magazines

(here comes the slander suit)

A&M, Broadway, Smile, 17th street, and yes,. Royal are essentially theives.

Check this,. they got a Zero rating;

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1895.html


Great link. Thank you. In the USA, it's been my experience that B and H, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home, and J and R, http://www.jandr.com/, have the best prices with solid service and return policies. A few more bucks for peace of mind is worth it.

[MediaMagic]

Wow, I had to go read the reviews just for the knowledge. Incredible! The sad thing is, there are people who fall for this kind of sales technique, otherwise they couldn't stay in business.

Sounds like "Royal Camera and Video" is really a euphemism for "Royal Asswipes and Con Artists".

Thanks for the heads up.

[Woodman7]

Thanks for the information. I was very cautious to begin with because there prices were in some cases 500 dollars cheaper than say B and H or Wolf camera on a single lense.

[BCdives]

Hey CDS, you panned 17th Street as theives, perhaps you a bad experience with them.

Just FYI the rating on the reseller website is a perfect 10 for the last six months. I just had one of if not the best purchasing experiences on line with them this past month.

Just my .2 cents

BC

[CyberDyneSystems]

Really 17th st. ?

Maybe they have changed ther tune!
Yes they pulled the same bait and switch routine with me early in my online purchasing career,. I just hung up though,. so it did not end to badly :)

(here comes that slander suit!)

Off to edit my post! :)

[BCdives]

Hey CDS, It's all good. :) BTW, Cameta Camera is also another place that I have had lots of good luck and great customer service with and they too have an outstanding Reseller rating and their Ebay feedback is nearly perfect. Nice guys to do business with. They are all 10D shooters too. I only say all this because I have dropped about $9K in the past 3 months building my photog fortress. L Glass, toys etc.

[jray]

17th St. Photo has had an outstanding reputation for a long time. I know their name makes them sound like one of the NY ripoff shops, but their not...

Here's a few links:
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1755.html
http://www.photo.net/neighbor/one-subcategory?id=2
http://www.bizrate.com/ratings_guide/cust_reviews.xpml?mid=30232
http://www1.dealtime.com/xMR-17th_Street_Photo_Supply~MRD-9182
http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getreview.php/retid=522/ut=3fcc8519f3b6373f
http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buyer/UserReview.jsp?seller=126249&page=1&product=55418149&lgsearch=canon+g3&retrace=3

[CyberDyneSystems]

BC and Jray,. this is weird,. I went back to look at my original "Issue" with 17th St.,.. and It wasn't 17th Street!!!

It was "Tri-State",.. I have no idea why I switched these two in my head,. but I do remember that when I was looking into that purchase,. I was looking at both of there magazine adds. Somehow my memory switched the two in my head.

Thanks for catching my error.

BC,

I have heard good things about Cameta as well. Also on the West coast there is Canooga camera. Very good people there.

[Belmondo]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
Also on the West coast there is Canooga camera. Very good people there.

I can second that. I live about 3 hours drive from their store. It's worth the trip. I've also purchased online and by telephone. Their service is excellent, although sometimes they aren't real deep in inventory. Like everyone else, they're at the mercy of their suppliers. They're good people.

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

I wanted to buy my 10D from Royal because they were giving a good price on the body (read at that time the 2e cheapest).

I mailed them to ask if they delivered to the Netherlands and they did, no problem sir.

So I mailed them to order, no problem sir but please call us.

So I called, after being on hold for 5-10 minutes (they knew I was calling from far away) they asked what lens I wanted, well after looking at their lens prices the answer is VERY simple NONE, they started yelling that they don't deliver to the Netherlands if I'm too cheap to buy a lens from them and hang up.

Nice customer service, NOT.

Greetings,
Frank

[thriftykittie]

I am definatley cancelling my order. WHY didn't I look for reviews on these guys BEFORE I ordered? I should have known they were too good to be true.
They are very unprofessional, unfriendly, and short with you on the phone, hanging up at the first possible chance and making you feel like you're a nuisance no matter what you're calling about.
Their info page says ground shipping is 7-10 days unless you ordered an international or backordered item. Was I informed that my item was either of those things? NO. But I am told that my shipping is 3-4 weeks. YAH RIGHT as if I'm going to wait that long.
The kicker: on their info page, they say that all items are shipped within 24-48 hrs of your order UNLESS they have to confirm because either they had a problem with your address or billing info. LIARS. They confirm EVERY SINGLE ORDER not because there's a problem, but because they want to sell you waaaaaaaaaay overpriced extras.
So, I ordered on a Thursday, and my camera was listed as 649.99 (a nikon d70 body only). Friday they contact my husband to "confirm" and to ask in a condescending tone "Well, doesn't she need a lens? Well what about a battery? AC adapter? Memory card?" He was flustered and just told them I'd call back to confirm. Well, they aren't open Saturday or Sunday, so the earliest I could call back was Monday. I told them I didn't need their extras, and then they told me the shipping time. I asked if I could up my shipping from ground and he said "No, you cannot" *click* What??!??? So then I look them up online and find all these bad reviews. Arrggg. So, anyway, by the time I "confirmed", the price had gone up 200 bucks, and their info page says they can't provide priice protection...so do I get the price at the time I ordered, or the price at the time I confirmed? I'm not waiting to find out. I'm cancelling my order and filing a commplaint with the better business beurau (I can't spell) and the FBI link listed in someone else's post.
DON'T BUY FROM THESE IDIOTS!

[SoCal69]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
Also on the West coast there is Canooga camera. Very good people there.

I can second that. I live about 3 hours drive from their store. It's worth the trip. I've also purchased online and by telephone. Their service is excellent, although sometimes they aren't real deep in inventory. Like everyone else, they're at the mercy of their suppliers. They're good people.

I live like 15 minutes from Canoga Camera, and I agree that it is a good outfit. Only problem for me is I have to pay sales tax, so I usually end up buying from Canoga when I need something ASAP or its a relatively small item. I buy from B&H on big ticket items.

[photamat]

Don't buy anything from any camera store until you checked resellerratings. On the other hand thank god for such stupid stores such Royal camera and others. But for them there wouldn't be any advantage of having American express BVG. Buy the camera from a reputed store. Pay their asking price. Call American Express and claim that you found another ad in a magazine showing a cheaper price withing 60 days of purcahse. they will refund upto $250 per item. That's how I got almost $500.00 back on 10D, sigma 15-30 & 28-135 IS. Total money spent - around $2500.00 (ordered in Adorama). Money got back from AMEX - $500.00. My net cost - 2000.00 for a very good camera package.