One star not because of a camera problem, but because of a customer service problem.
This is a "Beach Camera, Fulfilled by Amazon" item. That means the Amazon warehouse stores merchandise provided by Beach and, when an Amazon customer wants one, ships it from the Amazon warehouse. In the case of a camera bundle, Beach packs and seals a box containing the camera and the various bundle items. You can also order the identical bundle from Beach in NJ, for the same price, including free shipping. My Amazon warehouse is one state away, so UPS delivered the package the day after It was shipped. Amazon does a great job and their fulfillment service adds value for businesses, expanding their market and adding to Amazon's volume.
But Beach forgot to include the spare battery in the box I received. And that little fault exposed a big flaw in the fulfillment service. I contacted Amazon and was informed I could return the entire camera bundle, but they would not send the missing battery. I called Beach and was told I had to deal with Amazon because they had shipped me the incomplete package. The very friendly Beach customer service rep seemed not to know that Beach, not Amazon, had left the battery out of the bundle package. Both answers were not helpful. I had opened the camera and tried it out as soon as I got it. It is now a used camera and someone would lose money if I returned it to Amazon, and I would lose the return shipping cost. Beach sells this generic replacement battery for $15. I bought one at an Internet auction site for $4.33 including shipping, which is less than what it would cost to return the bundle to Amazon.
So now I know that I should have bought this bundle direct from Beach. The battery might still have been missing, but they would have replaced it without any buck passing and finger pointing.
Pros:
The camera is quite nice.
The 32 GB SDHC card is genuine Sony and works.
The battery charger is OK.
The card reader is OK
The tripod is OK
The lens cleaning kit is OK
Cons:
The spare battery was not in the box.
The "Digital universal case" is big enough to hold four of these cameras. I will buy a better-fitting case.
Amazon does not correct missing item issues on fulfillment sales by sending replacement items.
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