Camerabox reviews and complaints

After lot of pressure we eventually received the money back from the bank :-)

Are they not bankrupting? The same happened with me. I ordered a camera on 14 June. On 15 June I received the following message "It is with regret that we have to inform you on this occasion your order has not passed our fraud checking system. We have therefore cancelled your order to protect the cardholder and ourselves in the event that this may be a fraudulent transaction. Refunds are made immediately and take between 2-14 days depending on your card issuer." I had several refunds on my card and they are immediate. I really worry. It is impossible to reach them on the phone :-)

Did you get your money back? I am in exactly the same position as you, amount debited from my card on 15th June. Why didn't I read reviews first?!?

If you do get your money back then go to your local camera shop and deal with a real person, spending that much on the internet is never a good idea, good luck tho.

Camerabox accepted payment of £632.97 on 7th June 2017 and monies left my account on the 8th June 2017. On the 9th June 2017 Camerabox cancelled the order 433083 because of a glitch on their website that does not recognise an apostrophe in a person's surname. When I have asked for my money back - I have repeatedly been greeted with sarcastic and nasty employees who do not care that I have spent hours trying to reach them by phone and cannot get through. Email replies are argumentative and I have been told that by law it can take up to 30 days to fefund my money. Refund? I didn't get near to receiving any goods - there is nothing to refund. My money is held by Camerabox and its been over a week.
I know of two other people who have paid for lens showing "in stock" only to be told they aren't and are still waiting after a month. This bogus retailer needs to be shut down until they have staff who can deal with customers in a civilised way - do not use Camerabox. They source outside the UK and your money goes offshore and does not benefit the UK economy

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.

I place an order with Camerabox on the 15/04/2017 for a Panasonic HDC-SD800 camcorder cost £544.99 the live stock counter said two units were available after the order was complete the live stock counter went down to one unit available.
Camerabox claim to deliver in 2 to 4 days so after 4 days I rang them to ask where the camcorder was I was told the camcorder had been dispatched and the courier had lost it and a replacement would be sent out and would be with me in four days, at this time the live stock counter said 7 units were available. After 4 days I rang Camerabox again they said it would be with me in 4 days after 4 days I rang Camerabox again they said it would be with me in 4days after 4days I rang Camerbox again they said it would be with me in 4 days after 4 days I rang Camerabox again they said it would be with me in 4 days its been 30 days now and still no camcorder and the live stock counter still says 7 units available they have never contacted me to explain why, They never offer an explanation when I contact them. It’s been 30 days since I ordered the camcorder my bank statement shows the money was taken out 27 days ago. They have never supplied any tracking numbers to confirm that the camcorder was shipped in the first Instance. I will be cancelling my order today .

I paid for a camera via the Camerabox website. I chose them because they claim that their cameras are “Not HK Import Like Simplyelectronic” and that they give a “Free 5 Year Warranty”. You will probably find these statements in one of their ads on most comparison sites. DON’T BE FOOLED.
Before telling my story I’d like to point out that I eventually called the Trading Standards Office in Oxford where Camerabox are based. the Trading Officer I spoke with was very aware of this company and confirmed that Camerabox do trade in grey imports. Whether their stock comes from HK or not they certainly try to convince you that what you buy from them is not an import.
Anyway, I made my purchase but didn’t receive a confirmation email from them. The following day I left a message for them to call me (they say they’ll call you back within the hour – they don’t). I finally got through to someone who told me not to worry that the item would be with me in the next few days and I would receive an email. I had paid for the item through paypal so I checked both my bank account and Paypal and the money had definitely been transferred. After 4 days with still no email I called again. I was told to send them an email and they would check paypal to confirm the money was in their account and they would email me back. The following day, with still no email I called to speak to a supervisor. The person who answered the phone (Chris Allen) said he was a supervisor. And how rude was he! I have never been spoken to by a retailer like that in my life. He looked at my account and said that the money had definitely not been transferred. He refused point blank to even check their paypal account to see if the money was there saying “we’re not here to check our accounts – we’re here to sell cameras”. He refused to do anything more about it so I was left with the money not being in my account and Camerabox refusing to check their accounts to see if the money had indeed arrived. I contacted Paypal and they advised me to set up a dispute which I did. I wanted to let Camerabox know this was happening in case they “found” the money and posted my item. So I called and asked to speak with Chris Allen. He refused to speak to me or call me back. The person I spoke to (Thomas) asked for my order number which I didn’t have because I had no email correspondence from them. So he told me “if you don’t have an order number then you can’t have an order, so why are you bothering us?” I’m sure his mother would be very proud of him!
I finally got my money back through paypal and bought another camera for only £5 more from a reputable site and the camera ISN’T AN IMPORT!
Although it is always tempting to buy from the cheapest source, the moral of this story is that it’s not – I should have read their feedback before purchasing from them. I urge you to do the same.

They don't deliver your purchase - it's that simple. They promise delivery within 2-4 days but the staff tell you 2-5 on the phone! Money taken from account 8 days ago but the camera is STILL sat in the warehouse. Staff at the end of the phone on 'option 2' don't know why, they don't answer emails either. When I finally got to speak to a different person I offered them the option of sending it express or to promise it will be posted 1st class the next day, but they couldn't so now I await my refund. I've a feeling this could also require several phone calls... Save yourself the hassle and order from Amazon, or better still, a shop!

I ordered a camera and twin lens pack on the 1st March, paid for next day delivery, and received the camera the next day (as expected) with a small note saying "lens to follow" and no other information.
I gave it a few days before ringing customer services who told me that the lens was actually out of stock and had been for a while now. I thought this strange as when I placed my order, their website was displating 10 in stock on their "live stock" system, and has been displaying between 4 and 8 ever since - never did the website show the item as out of stock. This proves that they are falsely advertising stock to gain customers. Dispite the product being out of stock, camerabox happily took my money. They told me I would receive the lens "in a couple of days".

I waited a couple of days and still no lens. Since then it has been a constant battle to get anything other than lies and unhelpfulness out of their customer service department, who kept telling me; "the lens will be sent out tomorrow", "you will receive it by monday", "you will receive it by the end of the week".
It soon became apparent that they never actually intended to ship the lens at all, but were very happy to help themselves to my cash!
24 days later and no lens, and absolutely no information as to what was going on.

I have cancelled my order and I'm currently awaiting a refund (although I can't see this being straightforward either). They said that they were allowed to take 30 days to refund my money - great. I've contacted Oxfordshire Trading Standards (who seem to be familiar with camerabox!) and I am just about to get in touch with BBC Watchdog.

A quick search on google will tell you all you need to know about this company, there seem to be hundereds of people being tricked into parting with their money (and a lot of what look to be fake reviews written by camerabox themselves). I only wish that I'd looked at these before I ordered! Their customer service is absolutely useless and are willing to make up excuse after excuse just to get you off the line.
They just do not care about their customers at all, and it's so frustrating.

Stay well away from this company, and order from somewhere reputable. It's wrong that Camerabox can go on trading like this. I can't believe they haven't been shut down by now!

After ordering a lens from this company they failed to deliver after 1 month I asked them to cancel order and refund back on to my card another month and still no refund. I emailed them yesterday to have a return automated email stating they have ceased trading for the moment. Beware they are con merchants and very rude and they will be back under a similar name.

This is lmao plane, you should pop a cap in their white boy ###, or prehaps beat them on COD, that woiuld show them who is boss.

We bought my son, who is a film student a Canon 60 D camera from Camera Box. He was counting on it to be delivered in time for a major piece of work he was doing for Uni. As weeks went by and time got closer to his deadline, we were calling Camera Box almost daily and got all kinds of responses, beginning with " we're trying to track your camera" to " we don't know where it is" (The Professionals choice? Really? ) until finally a Camera Box customer care employee said over the phone that their stock was frequently being stolen from Wimbledon depot because of CityLink's poor security. At this point, we realized that the camera was not going to arrive in time for my son's project to even get started, so we got onto our credit card provider which took yet more time and explaining. In the end, we were out £800 for a camera we never received, and had to pay £200 for a rented camera so my son wouldn't fail his module. I make that £1000 all told, never mind all the aggravation and stress that Camera Box ripped us off for by their incompetent team, added to by City Link who routinely have merchandise stolen from their depot. And that is according to a statement from Camera Box staff. Their deliveries constantly get stolen. Tough luck, customer, caveat emptor.
It's a good thing we paid by credit card, as they eventually forced a refund of the purchase price we paid to Camera Box. If we had paid by debit card or other, we could have been stiffed for the whole lot. Of course there was no compensation for the £200 we had to shell out to hire a replacement camera at short notice. In fact, Camera Box never responded to us again on any matter. They had their arm twisted by Visa to refund us, but we never got an apology or an explanation. Just nothing. This dragged on for two whole months where we tried to find out where our camera was and their response is the WORST case of customer care by ANY company I have ever dealt with. Camera Box just stopped replying to our email enquiries, as if we didn't exist. It took two months to get our money refunded.
I would like to know what kind of professional would choose to do business with this company. From beginning to end it has been a catalogue of disasters. Their telephone staff have no clue what is going on, their computer network must be dying in spasms and they continue to use a courier that is known by Camera Box to be notorious for losing equipment and unhappy customers.
The whole thing is beyond disgraceful. Camera Box are worse than useless. the fact that they never bothered to acknowledge their bad service just puts the cherry on the icing. I won't be surprised when they go under, looking at how they treat customers. I won't shed any tears when they go belly up as they deserve, either. Thoroughly rotten company to do business with.

You need to contact consumer direct and ask them to report this company to trading standards. It amazes me how it takes them less then 24hrs to debit your account of money but upto 30days to credit it back, but these payday loans can credit your account in under an hour, shocking.

It is what is called phishing, they email you saying they are from Camerabox and ask for your card details, you might see them all the time from Amazon but it's not really Amazon as they are a huge company and there are many people with Amazon accounts, on this occasion they targeted a smaller company Camerabox, there are a lot of emails pretending to be your bank, buidling society or retailers come through all the time, my advice is any email asking for your card details is a fake... do not enter any card details.

I orderd a efs canon 70-200mm lens about 6 months ago . they didnt have stock, so i said no problem order the lens. After n month went buy phoned them to here wats going on . only to find out they never orderd the lens . so i asked them when the lens would be here . they told me only after the 12 of november. then i told the guy i need the lens before that . and then he told me it was not possible. so told him to cansel it and refund my money. he said no problem. and im still waiting for my money 6 months later. they dont even answear my emails anymore i dont want to be nasty i only want the money they owe me . thats all. i can provide bank statements to show the money have gone into there accounts

It is 01/2014. I ordered a panasonic camera from camera box. Huge mistake! I received a non-sealed box, a non packaged battery and used adapter and it isn't even the one that goes with the camera. The camera says memory full. I am just sick. Can't get any response from camera. Was planning on using it in winter trip with grandchildren. I am jus sick and don't know what to do.
Unhappy in texas

Oh no! They fooled me too!
I have just paid for the Nikon lenses and my bill came to 2.400 pounds!
Will I ever get it back?
This is unbelievable !
I have already notified my VISA credit card company and reported them to Traiding Standards and Trusted Commerce that is at the bottom of the Camerabox website.
I can not believe it !

If you do buy from here - also read under customer service POINT 2 they will take your money and then you have to wait for them to pay you back - they call it refund which it is NOT as they do not supply goods to return, they did not try to contact me just sent an email!. It can be something stupid as a typo. But monies will be taken!
Delivery Times

UK Super Saver Delivery - Deliveries will be made within 2-4 working days of placing your order.

Exceptions:
1) Free Super Saver Delivery is only available to UK customers.
2) Orders must pass financial security checks before being despatched - we will contact you if necessary to verify security information.
3) The delivery policy can only apply to items that are shown as in stock at the time of ordering.

I have complained to http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/consumer-issues/enforcement-of-consumer-law/super-complaints

I placed an order on the 8/11 for near on £500 on the premise that goods will be received within 2-4 days. on 3 days I went through a security check and told the camera would be dispatched that day. next day status showing as security cleared so I called them to be told it will be up to a further 4 days which was no good to me so I cancelled verbally and in writing. a week later and no refund so i emailed them (as phoning is futile) to be told it will be 2-14 days to hit my account. A week later I called to be told my order was dispatched and not cancelled - but nothing was received so what was going on. the Chap was very quick to send me another cancellation email so clearly nothing had been dispatched. 2-14 days for delivery... I also contacted their PR agency who have promised to help who also told me that a refund had been processed w/c 3/6. today having chased again I have been told - unbelievably - that the refund had failed as my card company had refused to accept it. a bunch of condescending / rude emails later - from them and not from me I might add it transpires that they had not tried to process the refund as even failures appear on card merchant services systems - so they lied. these guys are a joke and I have reported them to Trading Standards, Consumer Direct and Watchdog. they are also in breach of the distant selling laws which they are only too happy to quote - STEER CLEAR!

odered a sony camera from these idiots,
2 weeks later no goods, coming tomorrow again and again. Bank won't action for 30 days.
After reading about the card swindels it is frightening. They don't answer phone or reply to e mails

AVOID DO NOT USE THIS RIP OFF COMPANY I ORDER'D A CAMERA IT NEVER ARRIVED ON THE TIME SLOT, JUST GOT FOBBED OFF WHEN I CALLED THE HELP LINE MONEY CAME OUT OF MY ACCOUNT STRAIGHT AWAY 20+ EMAILS NEVER GOT A REPLY I ONLY WISH I SEEN THE REVIEWS OF OUR VICTIMS SO TO THIS TIME I STILL HAVE NO CAMERA ...TOTAL RIP OFF ..TOTAL SCAM ..NEVER DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY OR THE OTHER 2 IT ALL SO TRADES UNDER

Agree with everyone else, i have had exactly the same problems with Camerabox. I'm gutted i didn't investigate them before ordering to be honest.

I bought a camera for my wife's birthday. Lo and behold 20 days later and still no camera. I've (finally!) managed to get through to someone on the phone today, my order has been cancelled and I should expect a refund to my Paypal account (so glad i didn't just pay via CC, judging by some of the comments) wihin 10 days.

Needless to say I've also filed a dispute with PayPal to try and speed up the process!

Camerabox promised delivery of my camera. I called prior to going to work abroad to ask where it was and they said that it was not in stock. I cancelled and went abroad and received an email confirming this. The camera arrived when I was away but as I had already bought one I returned it when I got back, They have ignored all my calls and emails and the still have £320 of mine. This has been ongoing since Feb. I am also out of pocket for return postage and interest on this. My credit card company is still on the case.
I am thinking of going to Oxford to pay them a friendly visit!

This company is still trading and still using the same tricks as all previous comments describe. I was charged for a lense that never arrived! They of course took the money at the time i placed the order, lied numerous times when i called and finally promised to cancel the order and refund me. Yes - you guessed right! no refund yet. I will eventualy get my money back but i do not understand how this company is still around given all the complaints and the poor service and clearly fraudulent behaviour in the market. I would NEVER EVER EVER buy ANYTHING from Camerabox again!