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Archive 2012 · B&H What are you thinking???

kwalsh
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p.11 #1 · B&H What are you thinking???

You know, normally when someone has a problem with B&H and posts about it almost anywhere Henry gets it sorted out quickly, fairly and intelligently. Sometimes the customer has unreasonable expectations and sometimes B&H slips up, either way it gets resolved reasonably.

I don't know what is going on here, but I am not impressed by Henry's response at all. It defies logic and mirrors the abysmal service one gets on the phone from B&H. If Henry is turning into one of the rude, senseless drones they have working on the phone there I'm not sure I'm comfortable with doing business. I've been a B&H customer for 21 years now (that is scary to realize) and their website is the only reason I've continued - dealing with the phone staff "back in the day" was never a good experience. Knowing I wouldn't have to deal with the phone staff anymore and that there was at least one customer service oriented individual in the organization (Henry) was enough to hold my business until now. They do, however, have excellent competition out there and maybe it is time to move on. That's one EM-5 and a few lenses I'll probably be shopping around for...

Ken

Mar 16, 2012 at 07:50 AM

Cliff L.
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p.11 #2 · B&H What are you thinking???

netexpress wrote:
I've been a B&H customer since the 1980's. I've spent over $200K with them. See my profile. This is gear for my own use. You would think they would appreciate the business. I placed a back order for a Canon 1D X yesterday and they canceled my order without explanation. I contact sales and they say that they can not help me. So I contact customer service and they say they can't help me. I just get the run around. They say I've purchased too much gear so I must be a reseller. I say that's silly I have all...Show more →

You've spent nearly twice as much as I have with B&H... I've spent a little over $100K there since I started doing business with them, but you're right - they place absolutely no value on that whatsoever. I'm sick and tired of dealing with them - you get much better (and more honest) service out of eBay sellers nowadays.

Mar 16, 2012 at 07:52 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.11 #3 · B&H What are you thinking???

RCicala wrote:
(For those not aware, a fairy tale begins "Once upon a time . . . " A Southern fairy tale begins "Y'all ain't gonna believe this shit. . . ")

That's great.

It used to be that B&H & Adorama were about the only two reliable NY stores with the rest being somewhat suspect and dodgy. All have a poor reputation for curtness/ rudeness over the phone in my experience - though my phone experience was pre internet ordering. I have noticed over the past ten years or so that B&H has improved quite a bit with regard to customer service/ returns and so forth. In this respect, they are much easier to deal with than Adorama in my experience. Adorama still tends to misrepresent items from time to time, which happened to me not so long ago (and the return was a hassle). In contrast, a recent B&H return was really quick and pain free. In the end, competition from Amazon and other online sellers has dramatically improved things.

Mar 16, 2012 at 08:45 AM

sorpa
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p.11 #4 · B&H What are you thinking???

Thread bookmark worthy. Did it.

iGeekPro wrote:
What the hell is your day job...?

Why would you assume that he has a day job

Mar 16, 2012 at 08:56 AM

you2
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p.11 #5 · B&H What are you thinking???

Yea I will admit I favor b&h over adorama for various reasons. To be honest while I have found b&h (over the phone) to be a bit brisk I've never been bothered and have never had issues with dealing with them (by email or phone). There are a few other ny places I used as a kid that I also liked (wall st camera was one) but most of these have not faired so well over the years. Also today there are alternatives (amazon for example) though I still tend to use b&h for photo equipment for various reasons (it helps that standard shipping typically takes less than 24 hours if I need something in a hurry and returns are fairly painless). Stories like this one do not deter me as I don't see b&h doing something doddgy (though on the surface I think they have made a bureaucratic mistake that is unnecessarily painful to correct and they definitely have damaged their relationship with at least one customer).

Hum. Henry is a really good and effective pr person but I suspect from his comments in this thread the decision is not one he can overturn but rather he can collect information and pass up the chain so it does not surprsie me if this takes 48 or 96 hours to run its course (though to be honest I think I would have contacted henry before going to the inet).

Mar 16, 2012 at 09:05 AM

Bifurcator
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p.11 #6 · B&H What are you thinking???

Bifurcator wrote:
I only read the 1st post so far so I dunno if anyone has made this point yet but:

It's IMPOSSIBLE to be a reseller at B&H's always high prices! Your customers would have to think they were supporting you as a charity! No, I'm serious! B&H always charges top dollar for everything (except maybe something small like a $15 table-pod or a $20 filter). If a person ever wants to know what the top going rates are for any gear just check B&H.

Disclaimer: I don't mean that as a put down! If anything it's a compliment. They're skilled enough salesmen...Show more →
cputeq wrote:
I have to say my experience with B&H is completely opposite of yours.

Just my opinion, feel free to call me a B&H shill or something

Hehe, naw, prolly not a shill. Just absolutely NO CLUE how to shop!

I check prices every day and have for 3 years running. So there's no conversation here... B-z-z-z-z-t Thanks for playing! Next

Mar 16, 2012 at 09:17 AM

goosemang
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p.11 #7 · B&H What are you thinking???

kwalsh wrote:
You know, normally when someone has a problem with B&H and posts about it almost anywhere Henry gets it sorted out quickly, fairly and intelligently. Sometimes the customer has unreasonable expectations and sometimes B&H slips up, either way it gets resolved reasonably.

I don't know what is going on here, but I am not impressed by Henry's response at all.

i feel the same way, although there is one thing that i'm not sure is being considered here (just to play devil's advocate)

perhaps b&h really does have legitimate reasons for their behavior, and is making the choice not to make the details a public matter.

i know nothing about the gentleman who started this thread, nor do i have a horse in this race. just thinking, is all...

Mar 16, 2012 at 09:23 AM

Bifurcator
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p.11 #8 · B&H What are you thinking???

Good points. But that would assume deceit on both sides. I think it's better to think both sides are being honest.

If so it looks pretty straight forward to me. B&H slipped up, caused someone some harm, and are being too slow in rectifying the situation. Remember, even though this thread is looooong... it hasn't been that long of a time since it was first posted. So it may still be remedied.

I do agree with the "Harry not being cool" part tho. Considering Harry's previous posts in the past on this board his posts in this thread are pretty close to calling the guy a lier to his face. Very undiplomatic!

I do kinda wonder why these pics are from February tho.

Isn' this like the middle of March already?

Mar 16, 2012 at 09:26 AM

redisburning
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p.11 #9 · B&H What are you thinking???

goosemang wrote:
i feel the same way, although there is one thing that i'm not sure is being considered here (just to play devil's advocate)

perhaps b&h really does have legitimate reasons for their behavior, and is making the choice not to make the details a public matter.

i know nothing about the gentleman who started this thread, nor do i have a horse in this race. just thinking, is all...

if they had a good reason then Henry should have posted it when he decided to involve himself in this thread.

did you read the email they sent netexpress? that to me read like a clear "**** off, we dont care enough about you to explain ourselves".

Mar 16, 2012 at 09:53 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.11 #10 · B&H What are you thinking???

redisburning wrote:
if they had a good reason then Henry should have posted it when he decided to involve himself in this thread.

did you read the email they sent netexpress? that to me read like a clear "**** off, we dont care enough about you to explain ourselves".

Unless there exists a legal reason that prevents Henry from doing so.

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:00 AM

henryp
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p.11 #11 · B&H What are you thinking???

netexpress wrote:
Anyway - it looks like Henry is MIA.

I am right here. First, please accept our apologies. This was obviously stressful and should have been better and more efficiently handled on our end. I am sorry you did not reach out to me before starting this as this would no doubt have been resolved before now.

But I am pleased to report that I've just gotten off the phone with the manager of the department which made the initial determination and with our treasurer. The orders and your place in the queue are all being reinstated.

Your account was originally flagged after an order for some computer accessories. At that time your email address and the website information for your store raised understandable red flags. I'm informed we attempted to contact you then but receiving no reply cancelled that order and your account was flagged.

I've asked the people on our end to lift this flag which should mean future orders can proceed without issue. I would suggest you consider an alternate email address for personal transactions which does not so blatantly identify you as a person in sales for a retailer. You may choose to accept this suggestion or not. Either way, should you ever have even a moment's difficulty with a future order here, reaching out to me should always be your first response.

In closing, I apologize again.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:01 AM

millsart
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p.11 #12 · B&H What are you thinking???

If only the rest of the citizens of this country could get as worked up over social issues as members here do about a wealthy gearhead not being able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on camera equipment......

I'm not saying its right what happened, but at the same time, wow....9 pages of collective outrage over it ?

I mean really now, whats the worst thing thats happened ? Someone lost their place on a waiting list for a D800e, D1x and a bunch of other high end gear.

I know we all love our equipment, and probably for some it teeters close to an unhealthy obsession over this stuff, but does it really matter that much in the big picture (pun intentional) of life ?

Is it really that big of deal if Roland doesn't get the first 1Dx and has to wait an extra month before for it to go along with his other $200k of equipment ?

He didn't get the respect he deserves for spending a lot of money ?

Again, I'm not saying I agree with B&H, but off all the horrible things I've read about going on in this world this week, someone getting an order canceled for photo gear just seems pretty low on the list.

I wonder if there is a 9+ page thread about Jerry Seinfeld not being able to buy the first NSX like in that superbowl commerical ?

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:05 AM

Smiert Spionam
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p.11 #13 · B&H What are you thinking???

23 hours and 41 minutes after the first post, it's resolved.

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:10 AM

kwalsh
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p.11 #14 · B&H What are you thinking???

Hey, there's the Henry I'm familiar with!

Glad to here things are getting resolved.

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:13 AM

Jacob D
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p.11 #15 · B&H What are you thinking???

millsart wrote:
If only the rest of the citizens of this country could get as worked up over social issues as members here do about a wealthy gearhead not being able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on camera equipment......

I'm not saying its right what happened, but at the same time, wow....9 pages of collective outrage over it ?

I mean really now, whats the worst thing thats happened ? Someone lost their place on a waiting list for a D800e, D1x and a bunch of other high end gear.

I know we all love our equipment, and probably for some it teeters...Show more →
Sure there are more important things in the world. However, here we all are (including you). Some of us have even posted here thousands of times when we could have been out protecting the destitute. Shame on us.

It's a forum, it's here for discussions of all matters. There is no reason to trivialize the situation, I'm sure nobody here thinks this is life or death. Even the OP has approached it lightheartedly, and the thread has been quite entertaining in itself!

Good to see it has been sorted.

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:19 AM

netexpress
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p.11 #16 · B&H What are you thinking???

Thanks Henry!

It's nice to know if things get derailed at B&H that there is at least one human there that can put them back on the tracks.

I consider the matter resolved.

Best regards,

Roland

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:22 AM

netexpress
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p.11 #17 · B&H What are you thinking???

Jacob D wrote:
Sure there are more important things in the world. However, here we all are (including you). Some of us have even posted here thousands of times when we could have been out protecting the destitute. Shame on us.

It's a forum, it's here for discussions of all matters. There is no reason to trivialize the situation, I'm sure nobody here thinks this is life or death. Even the OP has approached it lightheartedly, and the thread has been quite entertaining in itself!

Good to see it has been sorted.

Agreed that's why I posted this in the lower traffic but more mature Alt gear forum. If I had posted this in the more volatile and higher traffic Canon forum I think it might have done more harm than good.

As it is nobody went on any hunger strikes or resorted to occupy B&H. Just a few friends telling jokes, sharing stories and keeping all of us on track, impartial and clear minded.

Many thanks for Fred and Henry's team for resolving this! And many thanks for all the support from everyone that posted here.

Henry has done everything I asked for 36-hours after placing the order so the issue is now closed. I'll look for my 1D X order to be re-instated.

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:29 AM

henryp
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p.11 #18 · B&H What are you thinking???

Smiert Spionam wrote:
23 hours and 41 minutes after the first post, it's resolved.

Sorry I was so slow. I have an ill family member for whom we are waiting for authorization to hospitalize and my dad had outpatient cancer surgery Thursday. Also, at some point B&H closed for the evening and I was unable to finalize this with others here until this morning. I regret the situation, for which we have apologized, and am sorry the OP did not reach out to me at the outset.

I am happy to note the OP wrote, "Henry has done everything I asked for 36-hours after placing the order so the issue is now closed."

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:34 AM

Mike Liu
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p.11 #19 · B&H What are you thinking???

good ending =)

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:42 AM

netexpress
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p.11 #20 · B&H What are you thinking???

henryp wrote:
Sorry I was so slow. I have an ill family member for whom we are waiting for authorization to hospitalize and my dad had outpatient cancer surgery Thursday. Also, at some point B&H closed for the evening and I was unable to finalize this with others here until this morning. I regret the situation, for which we have apologized, and am sorry the OP did not reach out to me at the outset.

I am happy to note the OP wrote, "Henry has done everything I asked for 36-hours after placing the order so the issue is now closed."

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

I'm sorry Henry. Everyone on FM sends their warmth and best wishes for a healthy, happy and long life for your father and other family member.

Mar 16, 2012 at 10:44 AM

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