42nd Street PhotoReviews of 42photo.com

I agree with a previous reviewer who said, "Great price, horrible everything else". I wish I had read these reviews before placing my order. It would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. Despite what you see on the web site, orders don't ship without a helpful call from a sales person to tell you the camera kit you just ordered will not work unless you upgrade. Luckily for you, they'll have a special deal to offer. I agreed to the upgrade because, who spends money on a camera that won't work? The sales person said my camera kit didn't come with a battery. Ater re-checking the website and confirming that a battery was included, I immediately called the company back to cancel this "upgrade" but no one would answer the phone. I left a message. I called later and left another message. Wouldn't you know, I got through just after my order had shipped. Now I'm stuck with an overpriced camera kit that I can't return unless I pay a 20% restocking fee, paid for by money order. My calls and emails to "customer service" (and I use that term losely) have been met with rudeness, more lies, and intimidation...when I could get through. Seriously, how is this company allowed to do business? What they're doing can't be legal! Bottom line: if you enjoy being deceived, overpaying for items you don't need, and alternately being ignored or bullied, this is the company for you. Everyone one else should avoid. Update: Just spoke with a customer service rep (Tom) who was very helpful and polite and agreed to take care of everything. Thanks!

"The only thing good, was the Canon T3i being priced at $647, more than $50 less than Amazon. I buy it, and go about my business. The next day, I'm deadlifting in the gym, and get a call from a strange number. It was a employee from 42nd, who was calling me to "confirm" my shipment, asking me if I wanted a signature or not (Mind you, I never received an email of this confirmation). He then went about, coaxing me to buy a battery and lens filter. Now, we've all learned persuasion in marketing classes. But what he did was LIE. He told me the stock battery only lasts 25 minutes, BUT he could sell me a SIX hour battery for the FOUR hour battery's price. Now, how does an official CANON battery (That is also warranted) good for 25mins? He never specified if it was 25mins for PHOTO or VIDEO let alone, just "It's only good for 25mins". However, I was not home to Google this, and he caught me at a bad time where I couldn't think logically. So I bought it. He then tells me I need a lens filter (Which you don't NEED, but you should HAVE). He tells me if I touch it, it'll break, and it's real fragile and etc. I'm thinking he's referring to the lens filter itself. So I buy that as well. I went from $659 to about $739. I get the product, LMAO, this kid sends me a THIRD PARTY BATTERY. One of those batteries made in a sweatshop in China, that doesn't even work when you put them in. Mind you, the battery was $50. Canon's official batteries are $50. The lens filter was $30, for some cheap knockoff, when you can clearly get an official, MULTI-COATED one from B&H for the same price. We call in to refund, and the manager (Elliot) claims my mom was attacking him, trying to justify his own employee blatantly lying just to get a sale. My mom was talking to him calmly, and in fact, if anything, "I" was the one raising my voice, because at that point I was annoyed by him justifying and trying to play the victim role. He continues to act butt-hurt and really defensive, raising his OWN voice while my mom is still calm. After a while he said he would give us a full refund, NO RESTOCKING FEE (Which was the whole point of it, anyways) Long story short, I'm not the only one who has been scammed by someone calling 1-2 days later after the order is received. DO RESEARCH on what you need, as well as the parts that come with it before ordering from these guys. It's sad that you have to do that, though, and they take advantage of people in deceitful ways. The one star is for the amazing price of the Canon T3i. Plus I'm in the city so I received it two days later. Everything else = HORRIBLE.

Simply put, this is the best camera store in the USA. They have educated personnel, a huge reliable stock, speedy service, and rock bottom prices; what more can you ask for in a camera store? My dad has been shopping here for years and I plan to continue on in his tradition.

I was looking for a replacement camera to my favorite digital camera which got broken a few weeks back. I love taking pictures, so I felt kind of weird not having a camera, so I broke down and ordered another camera from here - and they had it shipped to me next day, it arrived exactly as I ordered and has been working like a charm. Great service, fast shipping.

i have shopped here for years consistant results with great prices help with gear.

When looking to invest in a new camera look no further! I thought that I needed to step up to the 'higher end' I was so wrong! The video ability, the clarity of your shot, the features are to numerous to name. The day after my camera came I went to a seminar and low and behold this is the camera that the pro of over 20 years was shooting with! My only complaint is that it is a bit heavy so I purchased a had strap :)!

got a free shipping upgrade brand new T2i with 18-55 kit and great deal on the memory. Salesman answered all of my questions respectfully and informativly. What more can i ask for.

I called 42nd St Photo to order a camera. Initially the sales associate seemed like he wanted to be helpful by offering me all kinds of additional products. But after I declined offer after offer he began to get pushy, basically trying to make me feel like I was clueless for not accepting things like $120 insurance coverage on my new camera, and similar products I didn't want or need. The one extra that I wanted was a memory card. I opted to take advantage of the "double your memory" special, and told him that I would pay for a 4 gb card and get a 8gb card. I expected this to be around 10 bucks and didn't think much of it. I also requested 3-day shipping, which should also be around $10-15. So I was unpleasantly surprised when I requested the total at the end, and found it would be around $150 more than expected. It turns out the associate tried to sell me a completely unnecessary and ridiculously priced 4gb memory card, plus charged at least double what is normal for 3-day shipping! He then tried to convince me that my camera would not work unless I bought this card. I pushed back and he relented, finally selling me a $70 4gb memory card, telling me that was the absolute minimum that my camera needed. After I hung up the phone I did a bit of research and found out that a $6 memory card would work fine with my camera! I called back immediately and said I wanted to remove the card from my order. He then tried to tell me that my camera was already being shipped (this is 15 minutes after placing my order) and that I would just have to mail it back for a refund. This was the last straw, so I told him to cancel the whole order. He didn't even offer to place a new order for just the camera, or didn't try to be helpful in any way. If he couldn't swindle me into paying for things I didn't need, he wasn't interested in my business.