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TriState Camera > Reviews
Reviews older than 6 months are automatically removed to reflect the retailer's current standards.
In reviewing this retailer you agree that it is based on your actual buying experience and that (except as fully disclosed in your review) (i) neither you nor any immediate family member is employed by the retailer; (ii) you have not received any payment or any other consideration for submitting this review; and (iii) our users may properly rely upon your review as an unbiased representation of your buying experience.
| Review by Junewild, submitted 7/4/08. |
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| Rating |   1 / 5 | | Comment | I ordered a Nikon camera battery after reviewing lots of batteries, seeing lots of super cheap generics and deciding I wanted a Nikon brand battery. I ordered one from TriState Camera but got a call at work the next day asking me if I wanted to substitute the generic battery at half the price of the Nikon battery. I was told the Nikon battery was on back order and would be at least three weeks for delivery. I said I didn't want the generic battery and would wait for over three weeks to get my item. About four days later, I get a generic battery delivered by UPS and the enclosed invoice shows I was charged the full Nikon battery price of $49.11. I had seen generics available for as little as $9.95. Needless to say, I'm upset. |
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| Review by rbrt12, submitted 6/20/08. |
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| Rating |  5 / 5 | | Comment | Ordered a Sigma "Bigma" 50-500mm zoom and 1.4X teleconverter. The salesman called to clarify the order and suggested an alternate teleconverter with better optics. He also suggested shipping insurance (I had requested USPS shipping & neglected to choose insurance). Kind and courteous. I held my breath after seeing some of the reviews above, but Tri-State came through just fine. Though shipping took a couple of days after placing the order, I had my lens and converter about a week later via priority mail. No gray market items. Only exception was a bit of overcharge for the converter considering it was Kenko MC and not PRO model (PRO model not available for Pentax) and the price was closer to the PRO version than comparable MC models. Otherwise, quite happy and would do business with them again.
Just a followup. I e-mailed TriState about the pricing discrepancy in the teleconverter (MC versus PRO), and it was an error on their part in the listing - they returned my e-mail within 24 hours and refunded the difference. Give them an A for customer service here. |
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| Review by robfmurray, submitted 6/19/08. |
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| Rating | 5 / 5 | | Comment | I ordered a Sigma DP1 from TriState Camera and it was a pleaure. I did have to confirm the order with Peter Ryan but he never tried to push other sales and the order was shipped promptly. Everything is in package and it has a USA waranty. I saved $60 and got basically free shipping. I would order from Tristate again. |
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| Review by alexr1973, submitted 6/11/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | Ordered a Tamron 17-50. The lens arrived in good condition but have a light front focus. I decided to repair at the nearest Tamron service center but can't do this - I got a grey market (made for Japan) version of this lens. I can't register it at the official Tamron web site. Stay away from them!!! They don't mention this on a site. |
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| Review by rich101, submitted 6/4/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | NOT Satisfied at All! Ordered camera, must call to confirm, got the sell me more routine.So I canceled. Set items after canceling.I returned items, I have proof. Was given credit minus shipping. 3 months go by and viola I am charged agin for the same items!! I am now in dispute with credit card. Stay away from these people. |
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| Review by RJRobbins, submitted 5/15/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | Shopping at Tri-State Camera has been a very unpleasant experience. After over a month I still have not been able to receive my full order. I ordered a Nikom Scanner and an APS adapter add-on. After a few weeks I called regarding my order status and was told it was on backorder. I asked for this information when I bought it but they put order through anyway. I then emailed about it and was given entirely different information that they were shipping it. Conflicting answers. When the scanner arriced there was no APS Adapter. I emailed about it amd they said I never ordered one and if I paid them they would send one to me. Being very angry I sent them copy of receipt and have not been able to get asny responses from them since then. I just want my adapter. I don't need the aggrevation to get it. |
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| Review by cpiontek, submitted 5/2/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | I purchased a camera from Tri-State Camera & Video and a 3-year warranty for $345, with memory card and other essential accessories the total cost was about $600. This was a large investment for me and I took great care in making this purchase. I thought I was buying a quality product from a reputable and legitimate business. However, my camera broke during a trip within the first year. It was still in the warranty period, so I sent it in for repair. After paying $15 to pack, insure and ship my camera to their repair center, I was also made to pay an additional $10 for the repair center to receive my merchandise. Tri-State Camera then sent me a bill for $150 to fix the camera. This is, incidentally I found out later, $10 less than the purchase price of a new camera.
When I questioned being charged for a repair covered under the warranty, Tri-State Camera then returned the camera unrepaired and wrapped up in masking tape. They cited numerous, completely false reasons for denying my claim – warranty void as of invoice date, unit returned unrepaired due to no response to the estimate, excessive force applied, need to replace lens block estimate $150.
I lodged a complaint and spoke with various Tri-State Camera representatives and managers over the phone, through e-mail and the regular mail – all to no avail. Needless to say, I’m in a bind now. With the memory cards, camera case and other items, I can’t afford to lose my $600 investment. Yet, I certainly do not want to give Tri-State Camera any more of my money. I also just want the warranty I paid for honored. I did nothing illegitimate to the camera, it simply broke on a trip – most likely because it was substandard quality or defective.
When I pointed this out to Tri-State Camera representatives, they just ignored me and reiterated I needed to pay $150. I wish I would have checked out this vendor as thoroughly as I did the camera I chose to purchase. Tri-State Camera & Video offers a series of toll-free numbers to order merchandise, but has a long-distance number for customer service. Various company names are printed on their invoices and company materials, which is suspicious - -Tri-State Camera & Video, Tri-State Camera Exchange, Inc., Tri-State Inc., and Mack Camera and Video Service. Tri-State clearly feels it can get away with dismissing customers once they have their money. There is certainly no level of accountability or legitimate customer services being offered. BUYER BEWARE. I am lodging complaints with numerous agencies for illegal business practices.
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| Review by SC05, submitted 4/11/08. |
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| Rating | 5 / 5 | | Comment | Ordered a Sigma 10-20mm lens over the phone Wednesday, and received it on Friday, with UPS 2-day shipping to California from NY. Pretty good service if you ask me. The lens arrived in perfect condition and works as well as I could want. There is no warranty problem, because Sigma lenses are warrantied worldwide, and Tri-State is an authorized Sigma dealer. |
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| Review by jhatha, submitted 4/9/08. |
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| Rating | 5 / 5 | | Comment | My order is for a Sony - SAL 100/2.8 MACRO LENS at a very good price, $459.00. On the phone today to verify my order and credit card information. Very helpful and NO high pressure sales. Order is shipping today, 4-9-08.
I will add to my review in about a week when the order arrives. Order arrived as promised on 4/15/08 well packed and in Sony Sealed Pristine Condition box. Absolutely recommend this seller who also has name, "Digital4Less". Jim Hathaway, Gold Canyon, AZ
Jim Hathaway |
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| Review by d2snake, submitted 3/29/08. |
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| Rating | 5 / 5 | | Comment | I ordered a Canon RC-1 Remote controller and a Kenko 2x Optical extender. The order came in good condition and sooner than I expected.I had no problems with this company whatsoever. |
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| Review by dsmoovest, submitted 3/26/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | Terrible service. It has now been one month and a week and I still have not gotten the vacuum belts I ordered. Let's be serious, vacuum belts? How difficult an order is this? 2 calls placed. One insisted the shipment was coming soon but the 2nd rep said he would get to the bottom of things and email me. Email said they are getting shipment from another company sent to them and will, in turn, send the belts to me... but the belts are on backorder. Ridiculous. Canceling and demanding a refund Friday, 3-28-08. |
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| Review by argie, submitted 3/18/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | First they wanted to "discuss" the order with me... surely to try to sell me something else. On March 13th the customer service guy said it was shipping that day... on Monday 17th he said it had shipped the 13th... then I got a UPS message saying it was picked up at 4:52pm on the 17th...! These guys will lie... I hope I get the proper merchandise, because I hate to image what stories I'll get if I have to return it... |
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| Review by jodz, submitted 2/24/08. |
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| Rating |  4 / 5 | | Comment | I was pretty pleased with Tri State. I ordered a Tokina 12-24mm and got it for a good price. The lens arrived on time and in good condition. The only thing I didn't like was that I believe the lens is grey market - from Japan - and they don't make that apparent on the website. |
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| Review by chatt28, submitted 2/17/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | I ordered a keyboard on 1/15/08 and received an email confirmation. On 1/17 I received an email stating that delivery would be delayed an additional seven days and that I was being notified in case I wanted to make other arrangements. The next day (1/18), the charge appeared on my account. (I never see charges from other companies until the item is shipped.) Since the item never arrived, I cancelled the order on 2/3 which was acknowledged by a company rep on-line. About a week later my account had not been credited, so I called the company's toll free number, only to be told to call another number with a 347 area code. When I complained that I had to call at my expense, I was told that '347' was toll free. Not having been born yesterday, I knew that was a lie. I have called that number twice and sent at two more emails. As of today (2/17), my money has not been refunded. |
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| Review by gendaw, submitted 2/7/08. |
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| Rating | 1 / 5 | | Comment | I received my Tamron 90/2.8 Macro DI lens from TriState two days ago. When preparing the mail in $90. rebate application I could not find the exact UPC bar code as specified on the bottom of the box. I also could not find the 6 year warrantee slip also required. The required UPC code had been covered over by a different code. I called Tamron and was told that TriState must be a "Gray-Market" dealer and that I would not be entitled to the 6 year warrantee nor the $90. rebate that is currently being offered from Tamron. Also, that I would have to take it up with the company. After many e-mail and phone attempts to communicate with a TriState supervisor, today my calls were answered, though not with resolution totally to my satisfaction. I was told that inasmuch as it is a foreign lens, they were not obligated to offer the Tamron US warrantee or rebate. After voicing my dissatisfaction with their policy and advertising disclosures, I was made an offer of a $50.00 refund to my credit card, plus a 7 year Tamron warrantee. Also, I could return the lens for refund minus a 15% restocking fee if desired. I agreed to settle for the refund and 7 yr. warrantee. Though I am not at all happy with the whole transaction, TriState was accommodating in trying to settle the matter in a mutual best interest. Buyers just need to be fully informed as to TriState's policies before hitting the "Buy" button. |
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