B&H is driving me nuts...

...with its sadly inadequate packaging.

I ordered an Elinchrom beauty dish from B&H four weeks ago, about $250. It arrived in a box that had been around from the looks of it. The dish bore marks of some pretty bad abuse. Like this:



I arranged to ship it back for an exchange, and asked B&H to make sure the next one would be double-boxed, as the manufacturer's packaging has no padding, nothing to absorb impact. Interesting side note: While packing up the damaged dish, I found a return form at the bottom of the box that had been filled out by another B&H customer -- HE apparently hadn't wanted a damaged product either... And yes, B&H sold me the dish as new, not as a dented/refurbished/pre-owned item.

So I waited a couple of weeks for the replacement dish to arrive. Today was the lucky day. The item showed up -- again -- not double-boxed. The thin cardboard had a four- or five-inch gash in it, and unsurprisingly, the dish turned out to be damaged. Not as badly as the first one, but still no cigar.



B&H has agreed to another exchange, but the customer service rep I spoke to (after an accidental hang-up on B&H's part, I might add) could not promise that the packaging will be adequate next time. So I guess we'll repeat this silly, unnecessary process until we both luck out and I get the undamaged product I'm paying for.

To be continued! ;-)

wait till january to get the replacement - you're in the midst of the christmas shopping and shipping season and the workers are overloaded, overworked, tired, irritable, and many are temps that don't perhaps care as much as the ones that know they'll have jobs in January.

Good point, but the return authorization I received is only valid for 10 days. At the rate it's going, I won't have a proper replacement until well into the new year anyway. I'm not talking January, I'm talking about possibly next summer, on the 14th try. ;-)

dc

PenguinPhotoCo said:

wait till january to get the replacement - you're in the midst of the christmas shopping and shipping season and the workers are overloaded, overworked, tired, irritable, and many are temps that don't perhaps care as much as the ones that know they'll have jobs in January.

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he works there and said a while back if people had a problem to email him
[email protected] so email henry and see if he can help

If as you say...

"the manufacturer's packaging has no padding, nothing to absorb impact..."

then perhaps it's not B&H's fault to begin with. It's Elinchrom's for not securing their products in proper packaging.

--
Insert obligatory quote here...

http://www.picsure.net

This is sadly not just an issue with B&H. I received an expensive box of paper from Adorama that had been mangled in transit (luckily, the paper was in good condition). The outer boxing was clearly a used box, with worn seams, bent sides, and worn edges that couldn't have happened in transit. When I complained, they said that it was the shipping company's fault and that the boxing had been adequate.

therickman said:

perhaps it's not B&H's fault to begin with. It's Elinchrom's for not securing their products in proper packaging.

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Yeah, you know, I'm not touching that one. There may be a good deal of truth to it but I don't care. Bottom line is

(a) I'm repeatedly receiving a damaged product from B&H

(b) B&H has been made aware of the problem and still will not guarantee that this flimsily-packed product will ship double-boxed next time.

dc

I ordered a box of premium 13x19 photo paper from Amazon last year. I arrived dented in one corner. Not a single sheet was undamaged. I sent it back for an exchange. The second box arrived in exactly the same condition as the first one, again with unusable paper. I sent it back for another exchange. Then Amazon informed me the item was "temporarily out of stock," refunded my money and canceled the order. Hmm. I bought the same paper online elsewhere, no problems.

Amazon has been known to ship "naked" hard drives in a box without any padding at all (just check the reviews on the site for the WD green drives). I ordered five of the drives last week and was lucky to receive them in good working order, with adequate protection provided for shipping. It's a crapshoot.

Clearly, then, not everyone who works in a warehouse, pulling clients' orders and packing them up, is incompetent or unmotivated or careless. But enough of them are that it's a recurring problem for hundreds of thousands of mail-order customers across the country, and for the companies that employ those workers.

UPS and Fedex can also be part of the problem. I shipped a pricey stereo turntable to a buyer a few years ago. It was destroyed by the time it came off the truck. He showed me the pictures. As if a tank had driven over it. I did receive money from UPS's insurance but it took a lot of paperwork and patience. I'm sure that billions of dollars are lost every year in damaged merchandise and lost productivity. Sad.

dc

professorgb said:

This is sadly not just an issue with B&H. I received an expensive box of paper from Adorama that had been mangled in transit (luckily, the paper was in good condition). The outer boxing was clearly a used box, with worn seams, bent sides, and worn edges that couldn't have happened in transit. When I complained, they said that it was the shipping company's fault and that the boxing had been adequate.

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In fact, Posner showed up on a previous thread offering to help this customer. If he hasn't talked to Henry yet, it'd be a good idea.

Tom Bennett said:

he works there and said a while back if people had a problem to email him
[email protected] so email henry and see if he can help

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On your other thread about the same subject, Henry responded and was waiting for you to contact him. But since that time, you've started this thread. Did you respond, and did Henry help you?

deuxcent said:

...with its sadly inadequate packaging.

I ordered an Elinchrom beauty dish from B&H four weeks ago, about $250. It arrived in a box that had been around from the looks of it. The dish bore marks of some pretty bad abuse.

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I am sorry for this and want to do what I can to see it's fixed. If I could ID you or this transaction I would know exactly who here was involved at every step of the process. You'd be doing us both a favor (as well as other customers) if you'd email me with the order information.
--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

deuxcent said:

Good point, but the return authorization I received is only valid for 10 days.

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There's no need to wait but I think under the circumstances we can be elastic about the RMA.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

samuel49 said:

On your other thread about the same subject, Henry responded and was waiting for you to contact him. But since that time, you've started this thread. Did you respond, and did Henry help you?

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I'd forgotten about that. Thank you.

That older thread is now almost two weeks old and no, deuxcent, never did contact me then. Kind of ties my hands.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

looks like he or she just want to run their mouth instead of resolve the problem
some people are like that

Henry:

Thank you. FYI, and contrary to samuel49's assertion, the other thread wasn't mine, I made one contribution to it that seemed relevant. I didn't revisit the thread so I never saw your offer to intercede.

(Tom Bennett, your response is especially aggressive and especially unkind. I hope the rest of your day goes better!).

Henry, I will send you an e-mail with the order numbers. Please bear in mind that since I first mentioned the problem with the dented beauty dish, I received another one from B&H, packed just as carelessly and also damaged in transit, although at least the second specimen seemed new and didn't have a previous customer's return form at the bottom of the box.

It was puzzling to learn that your rep would not or could not promise that the third dish would be packed any better than the first two. As I said, at the rate it's going, we could be repeating this process for a while...

I appreciate your help.

Best,

dc

henryp said:

samuel49 said:

On your other thread about the same subject, Henry responded and was waiting for you to contact him. But since that time, you've started this thread. Did you respond, and did Henry help you?

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I'd forgotten about that. Thank you.

That older thread is now almost two weeks old and no, deuxcent, never did contact me then. Kind of ties my hands.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

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I think this is harsh. You don't know the person and you haven't been through his/her frustration. Remember what your mother taught you: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Tom Bennett said:

looks like he or she just want to run their mouth instead of resolve the problem
some people are like that

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deuxcent said:

Henry, I will send you an e-mail with the order numbers.

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Respectfully you had time to post this two hours ago , but have yet to email me.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

I just received two large packages from B&H yesterday and there were enough protective peanuts in them to cover my next four shipments to clients. So I'd have to say that you have an atypical situation.

so it looks like you are just as bad as me
I was told to stick to them before I got stuck
daddy told me to always beat them till they wished they were dead
Its not how you win it is do you win that is why the US cannot win a war

they fight fair what a jock kill them all and burn the country then start over with the people you want to live there

Respectfully, I find it amazing that you would post this. Really, you're upset that I haven't e-mailed you IMMEDIATELY -- within five minutes? 90 minutes? Would that have been acceptable to you Henry? I have a life, including a sick kid and half a dozen customers who are awaiting print and album orders. Check your inbox, I have just e-mailed you the information you need. Thank you.

dc

henryp said:

deuxcent said:

Henry, I will send you an e-mail with the order numbers.

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Respectfully you had time to post this two hours ago , but have yet to email me.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

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