p.3 #1 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
Purchased on GT last Tuesday the 100-400GM , with the expedited shipping option. (I won’t disclose the price or retailer name to honor their conditions ) On Thursday the lens was still not shipped so I called the retailer. They couldn’t tell me the status of my order, or if the lens was in stock or not. So I assumed it wasn’t and I preferred to cancel rather than waiting for an indeterminate period of time. My credit card was charged on Tuesday. Now waiting for the refund, hope I won’t have to fight to get my money back.
I bought in the past 2 cameras on GT and transactions went smoothly, it was with other retailers. I thought the item was always in stock when an offer was accepted but it’s apparently not the case with every retailer. So I guess there is a bit of luck involved in the process.
p.3 #4 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
Cardinal accepted my offer on an a6400 kit on April 16th; still no word on shipping it. Despite repeated calls to them they can't/won't give an estimate on a shipping date. Will probably wait and cancel on Tuesday; that will give them 3 full weeks.
p.3 #5 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I had same problem with Cardinal Camera / Greentoe when they accepted my offer for Tamron 28-75. I have to wait 2 months for shipping after to many call.
p.3 #6 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
And your credit card was charged immediately too ?
Same, the retailer won’t give me any information about if and when it would ship, I didn’t want to wait weeks before getting my money back. Well now I hope it won’t take weeks.
PhotoTeacher wrote:
Cardinal accepted my offer on an a6400 kit on April 16th; still no word on shipping it. Despite repeated calls to them they can't/won't give an estimate on a shipping date. Will probably wait and cancel on Tuesday; that will give them 3 full weeks.
p.3 #7 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
marthagirl wrote:
Beware that some of the commenters here are from Greentoe/Cardinal...
Saying something like this without evidence is total bullshit and should get you banned from this forum. Not to mention the fact that as a part of the Greentoe purchase agreement you agreed never to share the name of the retailer online – so you're in violation of that as are others in this thread.
Greentoe has been very communicative with me over several purchases including one return. They even have responded to my emails after hours.
Redacted screenshots of a few emails (not that redaction matters since everyone has been discussing the vendor openly).
p.3 #8 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I'm continually amazed that people put up with all this nonsense, when you can usually just buy the gear directly from a retailer for the same (or even less) money...
p.3 #9 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I bought a Sony A7r III on greentoe for $2400. I don’t know any certified Sony retailer that will sell you one for that cheap. It was shipped immediately and arrived 3 days after I placed my order.
My buddy just received a 77” LG OLED that he got for $4400, with warranty and all.
I also bought a Canon EOS R, and it was through Cardinal Camera. I will leave the price out of it, but it was delivered fine. They forgot to enter the tracking info for my order, so when I contacted Greentoe after the order wasn’t marked as shipped after 3 days, they contacted Cardinal, who promptly entered the tracking and it was 2 days away from being delivered.
With current credit card and PayPal protection, I find it almost stupid to not try saving 20-30% off of camera gear.
I have never found a local retailer that is willing to offer discounts beyond manufacturer rebates.
p.3 #10 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I've also had several successful transactions through Greentoe that saved me money. However the last one was delayed several weeks. When I asked for an explanation from Greentoe after several days of waiting I got an email from them saying they would look into it and get back to me the next day. That was weeks ago and I'm still waiting. I did contact the vendor directly and they were honest with me that they didn't know when they could fill my order. This was for a Sony 1.4X teleconverter so it was hardly a new item. I let it ride and finally got it. They also told me they weren't supposed to accept a bid from Greentoe unless they had the item in stock. That would save a lot of grief.
p.3 #11 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
Jesse Evans wrote:
I bought a Sony A7r III on greentoe for $2400. I don’t know any certified Sony retailer that will sell you one for that cheap.
That's what every dealer in Canada was advertising them for during the recent rebates, but most of them would sell them for a few hundred dollars less if you asked... I paid S$2175 (in equivalent CAD$) for mine.
p.3 #12 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
molson wrote:
That's what every dealer in Canada was advertising them for during the recent rebates, but most of them would sell them for a few hundred dollars less if you asked... I paid S$2175 (in equivalent CAD$) for mine.
Retailers in the US won't sell it for that price. Greentoe is a good way to save, when it works.
p.3 #13 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I got an a9 off greentoe and fulfilled by cardinal in February. It was obvious they were drop shipping, but to be honest the communication from greentoe and cardinal were both prompt, consistent and decisive. I understood greentoe was not the way to go for an expedient transaction, but cardinal kept me in the loop as my camera was a week behind schedule, offered to refund me if I insisted, and overnighted the camera to ne when they did receive it so i had it in time for a trip where i shot lots if action. Overall i’m a happy camper.
p.3 #15 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
Fboss wrote:
Retailers in the US won't sell it for that price. Greentoe is a good way to save, when it works.
They aren't allowed to advertise those prices, but they can obviously sell for that if they choose to (and still make money) - otherwise they wouldn't sell to you for that Greentoe discounted price and still have money left over to give Greentoe a cut of the profit. Think about it...
p.3 #16 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
Stores won’t sell at loss, Greentoe allows to buy at the best price.
molson wrote:
They aren't allowed to advertise those prices, but they can obviously sell for that if they choose to (and still make money) - otherwise they wouldn't sell to you for that Greentoe discounted price and still have money left over to give Greentoe a cut of the profit. Think about it...
p.3 #17 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I just made a purchase through GT and item didn't ship Friday which is when the deal transpired. Looking at B&H and Adorama, the a9 shows to be out of stock so this has me wondering.
p.3 #18 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I think the acquisition about Greentoe/Cardinal commenters should be either proven or taken back. That type of thing is known to happen, so it’s fair to wonder about that. If there are this many negative stories it has to make you wonder—so if some of the positive stories are fake, that’s a really big deal.
A couple months ago I bien on an a7RIII and has my card charged for it by Cardinal. No reply, no response for at least 4 days. It took about 10 emails and 4 phone calls to get my money back. I almost didn’t think I was going to get a legitimate refund. I would never purchase from a Cardinal again. I’m not saying they’re a fraud, far from it, but I don’t think they know what they’re doing when it comes to filling online sales. My situation was totally beyond anything that could be explained away by circumstances or miscommunication. It was awful.
I don’t doubt Greentoe can be a legitimate way to purchase equipment, but the interaction I had (which I’ve only described part of) involved some high pressure fairly manipulative tactics. I bet some of their employees are great, but I’d also bet that not all of them are great. This is just my two cents and I’m being honest, but still, form your own opinions.
p.3 #19 · Do not buy from Cardinal Camera / Greentoe! You have been warned.
I did not have any issues with Cardinal Camera. I contacted them about shipping for my A7III and they said their shipment was coming in the following day and they would update me with tracking by the end of the day. They even offered to remove the kit lens from a A7III they had in stock if I wanted it shipped out that same day. They were very helpful and I received everything pretty quickly.
Also, they said we can contact them directly in the future for those prices instead of going through GreenToe
