Cameras & Camcorders

[qwintar]

Best Buy lists the camera, but it is NOT available in ANY stores and not available online!  Anybody know whats going on?  Called BB customer service and THEY are USELESS.  All they are capable of doing is reading off the same screen as we have, they say, "Well, it's not available on line... its not available in any US stores either.."  to which I reply "I just told you that."

Has it been discontinued?  It's for sale everywhere else including Canon website!

For a week it said, "backordered for two weeks" then when I placedd the order that message disappeared.

People have bought it from BB and have rated it too.

ANYBODY HELP WITH THIS?  I HAVE A BB gift card and want the best flash video camera/still camera suitable for a macbook pro.

I am OPEN to ANY suggestions!

[Entropy]

---

qwintar wrote:

Best Buy lists the camera, but it is NOT available in ANY stores and not available online!  Anybody know whats going on?  Called BB customer service and THEY are USELESS.  All they are capable of doing is reading off the same screen as we have, they say, "Well, it's not available on line... its not available in any US stores either.."  to which I reply "I just told you that."

Has it been discontinued?  It's for sale everywhere else including Canon website!

For a week it said, "backordered for two weeks" then when I placedd the order that message disappeared.

People have bought it from BB and have rated it too.

ANYBODY HELP WITH THIS?  I HAVE A BB gift card and want the best flash video camera/still camera suitable for a macbook pro.

I am OPEN to ANY suggestions!

---

There is no such camera.

There is the FS200, FS21, FS22, but no FS20.  Do you mean the HF20?  Or do you mean the FS200?

If you mean the FS200, I'm curious how you define "everywhere".  I just checked the sites of my two favorite reputable photo/video equipment vendors and both list the FS200 as backordered.  If they don't have any stock, I strongly question whether anyone who claims to have it in stock actually does.  Canon's e-Store doesn't even list the FS200.  (Their main website lists it, but that's not the site you can actually *order* from.)

[qwintar]

Go to cannon USA.  Go to bestbuy.com and search for the FS20.  It's listed right there for $349.  I told you I bought it - it was in my cart - comfirmation email.  THERE IS AN FS20, 21, & 22.  The FS20 is a 1.07mp camera with 16gig memory included -for $20 more than the FS200 it is far superior.  Did you even look?

[Entropy]

Yes, I did look.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=173

No FS20

If you go to the Canon USA eStore and search for "FS20" you get no results.

BB apparently does list an "FS20", but I find it strange they're listing a model not listed on Canon's website, nor on the website of the two most reputable photo/video specialists in the USA.  (Two NYC-based camera stores I cannot name here.)

Given that the far more popular FS200 is backordered almost everywhere, I'm not surprised the FS20 is since it's a relatively unpopular unit.  Almost all review sites reccommend against the built-in-memory Canons because the memory is only cost competitive for 1-2 months after release.  (For example, the HF10 had 16GB of flash and cost $100 more.)

[qwintar]

Try searching next time!  Here it is at Canon:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=SiteSearchResultsAct&functionid=1&fcategoryid=173&modelid=&keycode=&startIndex=1&endIndex=15&pageRows=15&categoryType=CATEGORY1&businessType=BUSINESSUNIT&catLevel=1&cuCatLevel=1&cuGuideLevel=1&wtSend=true&srchKey=fs20&searchOptions=Consumer&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

Here it is at Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9239745&st=canon+fs20&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218065984526

I'll send it to your private email if you want!

So now how bout an answer?

[Entropy]

I think it should be telling that you can only find information about the model on Canon's support site and not on their general product page that shows all models in current production...

The fact that Canon sees fit to advertise this model very little and the fact that the variant w/o built in flash memory (the FS200) is heavily backordered makes me unsurprised that this model is also backordered.  Production numbers are likely very low for this unit given historical popularity of built-in flash units vs. removable-only units.  (e.g. HF100 was WAY more popular than the HF10 in high def camcorders.)

You'll just have to wait - the FS200 (and the FS20 variant to a lesser degree) are clearly very popular models.

[qwintar]

It is available EVERYWHERE but BestBuy.  I'll sell the gift card and buy the camera at A*azon, or C*rcuitcity.com or any of the thousands that have it in stock.

Best buy DOES NOT even show it backordered.  It shows "unavilable" everywhere.

Kinda of a lame  warehousing system.

Customer service is even lamer - all they can do is read off the screen the same info i see.

Thanks

PS: For $20 it is far superior to the FS200 incl a 1.07 mp still (not great but better than the 200)

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi qwintar,
 
We try to have all our product offerings in stock on BestBuy.com and in our stores at all times but unfortunately this isn't always the case. I looked up this camcorders availability around the country, and although there is a very limited quantity available for purchase in our stores, there are some. We have many of these on order from Canon, and are merely waiting on Canon to fulfill the orders.
 
I would like to see if I can find one in a store in your area so I am sending you a private message to gather some personal information. To check your messages you should log into the forum and then click on the letter icon in the upper right hand corner of the page.
 
Thanks for posting,
Allan
Community Connector
Best Buy® Corporate

[qwintar]

I searched BB stores throughout the country and found it no where.  Which stores have it?

You notice your answers keep changing from it doesn't exist to none available - now it's in some stores?

Why doesn't it show backordered on line?  Is it backordered or not?

If not, then why?  Why do you show something that is not available?  How about fixing it?

[Entropy]

Allan is a Best Buy employee and official company rep, so he's got access to BB's internal inventory system but won't be searching other vendors.

I am not.

It almost looks like it might be a special Best Buy-only item and/or discontinued (although I don't see how such a new item could be discontinued since the 2x and 2xx series units were just released 2-3 months ago), given that:

1)  It is not sold by either of the top two photo/video specialty retailers (as opposed to BB who is a general electronics retailer) in the country.  I can't name them here, but they each have a single brick and mortar storefront in New York City.  If they don't carry an camcorder or still camera, it either is discontinued or is a special "exclusive" item for another vendor.

2)  It is not carried by any other vendor I have searched.  Amzn does NOT return any results for the Canon FS20 camcorder in its search.  The only FS20 results are the Panasonic DMC-FS20 still image camera.

3)  Canon's own website doesn't list it on their list of camcorders.  It can only be found by searching their support site.  Usually an indication that an item is discontinued.

4)  ccity also shows zero results (other than the FS200 and unrelated items) when searching for FS20.

Every other vendor you have claimed sells the FS20 does not return the item in any search results for the FS20.