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be careful ordering from b&h photo

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ryebuddy said:
I have dealt repeatdly with B&H, both online and in the store. They
are professional, competent and honest and the best to deal with.
They are not responsible for what happens to a box after it is
shipped with a reputable shipper. The air filled packing material
is used by other companies as well and appears to be a very common
method of shipping today.
B&H is one company I know I can rely on and your one experience is
notably atypical. Anyone reading this posting should take it as an
isolated incident. I am about to make a few purchases shortly and
B&H is the only vendor I intend to use.
Click to expand...
I too have spent probably too much at B&H. I get their "throne bibles" on a regular basis. I don't care for the NY attitude, but I don't take phone orders all day and try to understand that they probably get some jerks. I THINK they work on commssion, so they need walk the line of efficiency and pal. With all the info on the web available, if you have your purchasing decisions made before your call to the order line, they will not get PO'ed that you are asking their opinion on which item is best.

There orders have ALWAYS been sent when they quoted and arrived on time, so far in good condition. Not so with the other one from the big Ador, oops, I mean big Apple comapny. The other has tried to remedy the problem after the fact, which means after the need. Partial orders sent with no notification that whole order was not sent when they said it was in stock. If I need it fershure by certain time and must mail order, I will go to B&H first.
Regards
Shooter2
 
At the beginning of the year I set about ordering an Ikelite housing system for my S2. I contacted B&H, dealing with a guy named Howard.

I found the service to be exceptional, informative, and not in any way "pushy".

I decided to travel to NY in March to finalise everything, and get a few odds and ends while there.

There aren't many places that would take my fancy to fly 3,500 miles to deal with. They were a joy to do business with!

Everything I had ordered arrived safely, packaged well. I wish their likes were more common on this side of the Atlantic.

Maybe their current "lack of form" is down to a disgruntled employee, or similar reason. I seriously doubt if there's a change of policy as regards packaging.

My .02c

Seadeuce
 
I totally agree about the efficiency and integrity of B&H, and I am a loyal 30-year-plus customer.

Still, they need to take responsibility for the slip in their packaging, which seems to only effect expensive items like my new Olympus E-1 with 14-54mm lens.

Yes, the name is Henry Posner. I am going to email him and make sure he knows about this thread. I suspect he already does because he responded to one of my posts.

Bob
--
Bob
E-1, CP5700, V1, TVS III, T3
 
I just posted (separately for maximum exposure) an email that I sent to Henry Posner reguarded that recent deterioration in B&H packaging. I would encourage anyone who has had a problem or concern to select an appropriate email address from the "contact" page of the B&H Wedsite and relate your experience. This has been a very reputable company, and I do not want to see them "go bad."

Bob
--
Bob
E-1, CP5700, V1, TVS III, T3
 
bbcp said:
i ordered a $1500 camera from b&h. the package came in horrible
condition. the camera box was loose inside the shipping box with
about an inch of play on all sides. it had shook around to the
point of breaking the shipping box tape open on the edges. the
packing material used are like a few ziplock bags full of air that
easily moved around inside the box and really do nothing to protect
the camera.

rather than take chance on this, i chose to exchange the camera.
customer service was not easy to reach (put on hold for too long)
and short with me about my questions. they did agree to replace
the camera, but the manner in which they operate is questionable.
ritz camera has proven to be more professional.
--
http://www.bbcp.nu
Click to expand...
First, we're always sorry when a customer is dissatisfied. Had this individual elected to e-mail me, I'd have beenn happy to discuss this at length.

Because we're concerned I wanted to know who packed this -- we keep track. So I looked for the profile. No e-mail but a URL which took me to a fellow from Texas. Using the name I found at http://www.bbcp.nu
I searched our customer database and I simply cannot identify this transaction.

If I knew what the deal was I could discuss this with the shipping dept managers.

I will take issue with one aspect of the post though. We ship several thousand parcels each day, both within the USA and overseas. I understand bbcp is upset, but his individual experience does not betoken a tidal wave of trouble. We simply don't have a massive pile of similar complaints. We did with the "peanuts" which is one reason we're switching to the air-filled bags, as is much of the rest of the mail-order industry.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
 
dpophyte said:
Tom W said:
What is up with
B&H anyway, last i checked, they didnt have a "cheap" option for
shipping, there was no ground ups or fedex.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Our deal with UPS is so good there'd be no $$ savings to us or to you with a ground option.
dpophyte said:
dpophyte said:
I'm somewhat
disappointed by the fact that some companies won't ship to my work
address, only my home where the credit card bill is registered.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Credit card companies are spending big bucks advertising to you and to me that the card and your life are safe no matter what the next pirate does. This safety is expensive. Banks which allow retailer to accept cards are cracking down and this will ripple throughout the pond.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
 
B-team said:
In Fact the last order I had with B&H, I sent a email to Henry
direct with the order number and asking he could make sure the
packing was correct.

It came back with an autoreply that they were out of the office and
to write him later. By the time I was going to resend, I had a
email with the tracking number.
Click to expand...
Even I take a little vacation every year or so. And we do close for a couple of Jewish holidays which are well publicized on our home page and print ads.
B-team said:
Henry is a great guy
Click to expand...
I'll tell the wife. :-)
B-team said:
and B&H is a great company.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
 
Dangit. How will I ever replace the several large trash bags full of peanuts I have after I've used them all up? ;)

This must be recent, as my last order there (late October, early November) came packed with peanuts, I think.
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video said:
We simply don't have a
massive pile of similar complaints. We did with the "peanuts" which
is one reason we're switching to the air-filled bags, as is much of
the rest of the mail-order industry.
Click to expand...
--
http://www.outboundmusic.com
Your link to independent music!
 
shooter2 said:
I too have spent probably too much at B&H. I get their "throne
bibles" on a regular basis. I don't care for the NY attitude, but I
don't take phone orders all day and try to understand that they
probably get some jerks. I THINK they work on commssion, so they
need walk the line of efficiency and pal.
Click to expand...
No one here works "on commission." When a B&H sales guy makes a suggestion he thinks it's a good idea for YOU, not for his next pay envelope. Likewise, the sale sguys don't know what we pay for stuff so they can't try to do the company any favors by selling higher profit items.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
 
DavidP #28649 said:
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video said:
We simply don't have a
massive pile of similar complaints. We did with the "peanuts" which
is one reason we're switching to the air-filled bags, as is much of
the rest of the mail-order industry.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
DavidP said:
Dangit. How will I ever replace the several large trash bags full
of peanuts I have after I've used them all up? ;)

This must be recent, as my last order there (late October, early
November) came packed with peanuts, I think.
Click to expand...
We have mnore than one warehouse and offhand I'm not sure which is switched and which is switching. I'm also not sure if there are some products "marked" for one packing or the other. I do know that no one here wants unhappy customers nor do we want to hear or read that your stuff arrived in other than pristine condition.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
 
Wow a nice guy and a sense of humor. I bet your wife will be surprised. :-)

Thanks for taking the time to "appease the masses"

Mark
 
Henry, I'm sure I speak for lots of folks that we appreciate you dropping by and answering questions. I'm not sure I can recall anyone taking such a responsibility upon their shoulders.

Personally I've had nothing but great service from B&H.
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video said:
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video Inc. said:
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video said:
We simply don't have a
massive pile of similar complaints. We did with the "peanuts" which
is one reason we're switching to the air-filled bags, as is much of
the rest of the mail-order industry.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
DavidP said:
Dangit. How will I ever replace the several large trash bags full
of peanuts I have after I've used them all up? ;)

This must be recent, as my last order there (late October, early
November) came packed with peanuts, I think.
Click to expand...
We have mnore than one warehouse and offhand I'm not sure which is
switched and which is switching. I'm also not sure if there are
some products "marked" for one packing or the other. I do know that
no one here wants unhappy customers nor do we want to hear or read
that your stuff arrived in other than pristine condition.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
Click to expand...
 
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video said:
shooter2 said:
I too have spent probably too much at B&H. I get their "throne
bibles" on a regular basis. I don't care for the NY attitude, but I
don't take phone orders all day and try to understand that they
probably get some jerks. I THINK they work on commssion, so they
need walk the line of efficiency and pal.
Click to expand...
No one here works "on commission." When a B&H sales guy makes a
suggestion he thinks it's a good idea for YOU, not for his next pay
envelope. Likewise, the sale sguys don't know what we pay for stuff
so they can't try to do the company any favors by selling higher
profit items.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
Click to expand...
Henry,

Good to know that it is not on commish. If you keep your customer service going like this and keep responding on dpreview you are going to surpass my high opinions of Kodak and My Digital Discount's customer service. Good job and thanks. We all know repeat customers and referals are the back-bone of survival.
Shooter2
 
howdy (couldn't resist), thanks for your interest in this. i'll email you with the details of my transaction. your concern is appreciated, as are the replies of the experienced photographers on this forum.

on the topic of packing material, i vote for peanuts and bubble wrap. the air bags are too big and slide around in the box. it may help if they were secured with tape.

--
http://www.bbcp.nu
 
Just to let everyone know, I also got a personal email response from Henry Posner. I have had many years of very positive experience with B&H, but I have been very concerned about some recent deterioration in packaging expensive equipement, like my E-1 with 14-54mm lens.

I know we all appreciate Henry taking the time and interest to respond to our concerns. Hopefully, he can track this problem down.

Bob Eastburg

--
Bob
E-1, CP5700, V1, TVS III, T3
 
I have never had a bad experience with B&H and I've had plenty of transactions where they really went out of their way to get me the product. I'd say I've spent around $20,000 with them since the mid-80s. I received a filter and some microphone cords today and it was fast and expertly packed, despite the holiday rush. Their people on the phone are always short, but generally friendly. If you want a deep conversation call one of those 900 sex talk numbers. That way you can talk as long as you want.

James Mason
Alaska

--
'He's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond
the pale of any acceptable human conduct.'
  • Apocalypse Now
 
bbcp said:
i ordered a $1500 camera from b&h. the package came in horrible
condition. the camera box was loose inside the shipping box with
about an inch of play on all sides. it had shook around to the
point of breaking the shipping box tape open on the edges. the
packing material used are like a few ziplock bags full of air that
easily moved around inside the box and really do nothing to protect
the camera.

rather than take chance on this, i chose to exchange the camera.
customer service was not easy to reach (put on hold for too long)
and short with me about my questions. they did agree to replace
the camera, but the manner in which they operate is questionable.
ritz camera has proven to be more professional.

--
http://www.bbcp.nu
Click to expand...
I could be wrong but I believe B&H is a "old style" [predates http://www] NYC company and thus: being polite, efficient and cooperative is not allowed and not considered professional. The only company of that type that was ever polite on the phone was Adorama and that was only if you were luck or they needed to sell something.
--
Ray
RJNedimyer
 
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