Who to believe - B&H or UPS?

Much to my disappointment, the last step of my UPS delivery tracking says my B&H shipment is being returned to sender due to an incorrect street address.

UPS says B&H addressed the package to a "Road" address rather than "Court," and without any follow up with the shipper or recipient has already sent the package back to B&H.

B&H customer service says it's impossible that the error is from their end, and the only way for me to get my package by New Year's Eve is to place a new order with expedited shipping (an additional $48), and cancel the previous order which will be refunded when the returned shipment arrives at their store.

Either way, it really blows for me. I was really surprised at the poor quality of B&H customer service. The rep wasn't the least bit sympathetic, and made absolutely no concessions. His take was that the UPS driver was probably "crazy or overworked."

The things I find really upsetting are that:

1. UPS would return the package without first calling the telephone numbers on the shipping label

2. B&H customer service is so dismissive, and not willing to investigate further or even entertain the mere possibility that the error was from their end.

3. Since I'll never see the package, I won't know which of these companies was at fault.

bp1 said:

1. UPS would return the package without first calling the telephone
numbers on the shipping label

Click to expand...

UPS should answer this. Irrespective of what B&H did, UPS seem to be doing a shortcut here.

bp1 said:

2. B&H customer service is so dismissive, and not willing to
investigate further or even entertain the mere possibility that the
error was from their end.

Click to expand...

Are you listening Henry. If true, It surely is something worth looking into

bp1 said:

3. Since I'll never see the package, I won't know which of these
companies was at fault.

Click to expand...

Both are at some fault. UPS for not calling and B&H for not assisting the customer. At least B&H can either own the error or clarify that it was UPS so that the customer can take action against UPS

--
PicPocket

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Just be glad you didn't receive a damaged shipment from UPS. That is a huge finger pointing debacle that I don't wish upon anyone. At least you will eventually receive you item

Sounds to me as if UPS is at fault for not phoning.

But, i don't shop at B&H anymore for just the reason you are citing. My experience is that they were great when things ran smoothly. But, as soon as there were problems, their customer service became rude and untrustworthy.

In one case, even though they acknowledged that I never received a shipment, they expected me to pay for it while they waited for their claim to be settled with the carrier. Wanna guess how long that can take? Why was my $1000 tied up while they argued with the carrier?

And make sure you watch for your promised refund. Again, my experience is that unless you follow up, it may just "slip through the cracks" for 8 weeks, or so.

Light is Might!

=

n2soaring said:

In one case, even though they acknowledged that I never received a
shipment, they expected me to pay for it while they waited for
their claim to be settled with the carrier. Wanna guess how long
that can take? Why was my $1000 tied up while they argued with the
carrier?

Click to expand...

wow, this is unacceptable. If they ever did that to me...I'd stop using them as well.

Nimnar

there may have not be a phone number on the package or it may have been wrong. things happen.

Wonderful insight Boo Boo, but if the address on the package was wrong, then it would have been B&H's fault. If that's the case, then the response I got from their customer service rep was unacceptable.

Boo Boo said:

there may have not be a phone number on the package or it may have
been wrong. things happen.

Click to expand...

I have stopped using B&H for this same issue. A package arrived late, and they have thus far not refunded the cost for the 2 day shipping. I complained to B&H, and they told me that they won't refund my money until THEY get a refund from UPS. I'm out only the $8 difference between 2 and 3 day shipping, but it's the principle that matters. I wonder what would happen if something arrived broken. Would they wait until UPS looked into it and then refunded them before they would refund their customer?

As was stated in a previous post, B&H is great when things run smoothly, but when there's a wrinkle, it seems like they couldn't care less about their customers.

I would recommend to those reading this that they use a different company. I will certainly not take any more chances with them.

Darren

As one who works in customer service, I know that if I was running a company and had repeat problems with a delivery service I would be more likely to empathize with my customers who experience problems, and if the problems persist, would find a different carrier. That's why the company I work for dropped DHL/Airborne Express.

In any case, I did as others suggested and emailed Henry at B&H a couple of hours ago. I'll report back on what he has to say.

You won't get a reply until Sunday, since they close at 1 PM on Friday. So far, I have no issue with UPS, the service is great, their tracking system is excellent (real time). There is no reason for them to lie.
--
Yongbo



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Sorry to hear you had a problem. I do lots of business with B&H and have never had a problem ~ also do lots of business with UPS and never have problems. I too like their real-time tracking.

Curious about one thing. Did you order your item over the net?

It is just a guess, but I would think if you ordered the item over the net, the data you entered when you ordered your item would be used on the shipping label, and not be re-typed or re-entered by the folks at B&H. Could you have entered the information incorrectly when you ordered? What does your confirmation e-mail say?

The reason I say this, I include the name of my subdivision on the second street adress field when I order from B&H and my shipping label is printed the exact same way. Maybe they do transcribe the order ~ but I just assumed they electronically forwarded this info to the warehouse for pulling and shipping.

Wishing you a prompt resolution to this matter.

Also, Henry will most likely not see your e-mail until 6PM EST Saturday in observance of his Sabbath. (I hope this is the correct terminology and I apologize in advance if it is not).

All the best,

jim

--
Shoot more, ***** less!
galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/sandman3
photography workshop schedule at:
http://www.pbase.com/sandman3/schedule

nimnar said:

nimnar said:

In one case, even though they acknowledged that I never received a
shipment, they expected me to pay for it while they waited for
their claim to be settled with the carrier. Wanna guess how long
that can take? Why was my $1000 tied up while they argued with the
carrier?

Click to expand...

wow, this is unacceptable. If they ever did that to me...I'd stop
using them as well.

Nimnar

Click to expand...

I'd challenge the charge with my credit card company.

--
Steve
Digital Rebel
50 f/1.8 Prime
18-55 Kit Lens
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24-135 Tamron Lens
Sigma EF-500 DG ST Flash

Sandman,

Like you, I've had great experiences with B&H and with UPS without issue. That's why I was surprised by how dismissive their customer service was to me.

The confirmation email has the correct address. Someone from UPS was supposed to call me today to explain what exactly happened, and whether they would be able to reroute the package back to me. Of course I didn't get that call back either.

I'll likely wait to hear back from Henry. Right now I'm considering canceling the order and buying locally, but based on what others have said about difficulties getting their money credited by B&H, I'm not sure I want to put up with that hassle either.

bp1,

If you paid by credit card, I would call them now and ask that the charge be placed on "hold" and enter the dispute process. Forward your documentation of the events. You should not be out of pocket for one minute. I've asked my credit card company to do this, and the "hold" was placed immediately pending an investigation (not with B&H).

FYI, these are a PITA for the merchant ~ each must be addressed individually. Merchants can loose their privliges if they do not comply with the wishes of the credit card company.

Please do keep us posted on your progress with this situation, no matter what route of action you take. For me B&H has been a great company, but they have to earn their reputation every day with every customer. I feel bad that they have let you down, but maybe it is not even their fault ~ with all of the blame owed to UPS. Considering they were shipping millions of packages over the past few weeks, a rare screw up is inevitable ~ regrettable but inevitable.

All the best,

jim

--
Shoot more, ***** less!
galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/sandman3
photography workshop schedule at:
http://www.pbase.com/sandman3/schedule

Evil, wicked, nasty, dirty, no good package-droppers!!

If I have a choice (and B&H gives you a choice), I will ALWAYS use FedEx instead. I don't care if it's double the price, I don't care if it's triple the price. UPS is just a bunch of no-good evil package destroyers. Why bother to spend any money on anything just to put it into the hands of couldn't-care-less evil package-dropping UPS droids who will just toss your $7,000 lens over your six-foot fence??

NEVER, EVER USE UPS.

I'd believe B&H a million times more than I'd believe anything from the evil UPS package destroyers.

Oh. Yes, it's true, I've wasted dough on at least a couple of shipments that UPS destroyed. I simply won't ever use them anymore unless I simply have no other alternative. And I try to shop with vendors like B&H that give me a choice.

I now return you to your photographic forum messaging system....
--
Tom Hoots
My PBase galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/thoots

Hi Jim,

I'm not sure I'm ready to dispute the credit card charge just yet. The fact remains that I placed the order, and as far as I know, B&H filled the order. My beef with B&H is the CS rep's total unwillingness to work with me to get the thing resolved through UPS. I'm not an unreasonable man, and all I wanted was for them to also work from their end to find out where the screw-up happened.

My latest update is that I spoke with a UPS rep again. The package is back in NY now. Funny how it took 3 days to get to VA, but only 1 to get back home to NY. There was no explanation as to why nobody called me back by 7 pm today (as promised) to explain why the package was returned to B&H. They also said there was no way for them to call the distribution facility --that they can only send them email/text messages, and that nobody would be there to read it until Tuesday.

If I was dealing with a couple of fly-by-night operations, I'd think they were in cahoots with each other. They're both pointing the finger at each other, but not doing anything to help me find out who screwed up. UPS is telling me that there's no way for me to call my local sort facility, and is even going a step farther and saying there's no way for THEM to call the distribution center. But these are two companies I've dealt with and trusted. I suppose in the future, I'll continue ordering from B&H because of their prices, but now realize that the low cost comes at a price -- namely their customer service. I doubt I'll ever order from them again for something that's time sensitive, and that's a shame.

I'll keep you posted on how this one eventually resolves.

bp

Sandman said:

bp1,

If you paid by credit card, I would call them now and ask that the
charge be placed on "hold" and enter the dispute process. Forward
your documentation of the events. You should not be out of pocket
for one minute. I've asked my credit card company to do this, and
the "hold" was placed immediately pending an investigation (not
with B&H).

FYI, these are a PITA for the merchant ~ each must be addressed
individually. Merchants can loose their privliges if they do not
comply with the wishes of the credit card company.

Please do keep us posted on your progress with this situation, no
matter what route of action you take. For me B&H has been a great
company, but they have to earn their reputation every day with
every customer. I feel bad that they have let you down, but maybe
it is not even their fault ~ with all of the blame owed to UPS.
Considering they were shipping millions of packages over the past
few weeks, a rare screw up is inevitable ~ regrettable but
inevitable.

All the best,

jim

--
Shoot more, ***** less!
galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/sandman3
photography workshop schedule at:
http://www.pbase.com/sandman3/schedule

Click to expand...

--
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UPS returned it immediately? Are you certain? I just went through this with them. When they couldn't deliver the package (due to a dyslexic shipper), they held it at the local depot for a couple days per UPS policy. I called them and got it redelivered after declining to come pick it up from them.

Good luck!

--



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Following you so far, UPS smells fishy to me. Usually they should not return the package immediately. In fact somewhere on their site one should be able to find out their policy on delivery. If the policy and deed are totally out of sync, they can be challenged. This is harassing a customer. They can be asked to prove that the address was wrong once you are convinced that it wasnt. Then they are liable to pay damages

--
PicPocket

Did you order on the Web where the shipping info was entered via computer? Was is a person to person arrangement?
--
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