B&H Photo Experience?

Dragoness · Mar 29, 2007

I am wondering if anyone has ever had this kind of crappy experience with B&H Photo? I am so upset.

On March 8th I ordered a Pentax K100D from B&H, it arrived on the 14th. I took pictures on the 14th and 15th, then about 2pm on the 15th the flash went out! Naturally it was after the business day in NY had ended. I had to wait for Monday to call them, they issued a return authorization and I mailed it out that same day, Monday the 19th. It was supposed to arrive there in 3-5 days, but for some reason delivery was rescheduled by FOUR days, it didn't arrive till the 27th! I called on the 26th, was told "we will have the camera tomorrow from UPS and we will send you a new one either tomorrow or the next day" that next day should have been yesterday. Well today I still had not gotten a shipping notice so I called again. I was told "Oh well we haven't processed it yet, it usualy takes 1-2 days" and so I told him that its been 2 days and it was late to start with. I also explain that I am enrolled in a photography class that I am almost 3 lessons behind on now, total waste of money. So he says "When did you need this camera by?" and I told him "as soon as possible, I am losing money here and failing my class" but I wanted to say "I needed my camera 5 days after I ordered it the first time!" So THEN he tells me "well on the 2nd we are closing for 8 days of vacation, I will try and ship it out before then" Ummmm what??? TRY, TRY?????
So now I am really upset. Not only did I waste my money on that class I can't take, but I could have over 500.00 in my pocket right now if I have never ordered it to begin with... I have nothing to show for the money I have spent and the company I spent it with is dragging their feet processing my return. I don't know what to do!

A friend suggested that I call them on Sunday and if it has not shipped yet (since I am 3 hours behind them) I should ask for a refund and take my money elsewhere. am starting to think she's right. Heck I should have just shipped her the camera anyway, she lives in NYC and sould have returned the camera in person and shipped it back to me days ago.

I am just so frustrated. I will bve luck if there is a week left of class by the time I get this thing back, nothing like doing 5 weeks worth of work in one week while also raising 3 small children and tending my home.

RMThompson · Mar 29, 2007

No. Call them NOW.

Ask for a Supervisor. Explain to him that you either need the camera shipped TODAY or you want a refund on your card.

Companies get away with this because you LET them. Call Sunday? Seriously?

If they cannot ship today, overnight at no extra expense, ask for your money back. If they don't go to www.bbb.org and file a complaint.

Dragoness · Mar 29, 2007

Well they said they would try and ship tomorrow and I said I would call Sunday because they close at 1 tomorrow and re-open Sunday. They are Orthodox Jews so they close from Friday afternoon-Saturday as per their religon. But I am going to call tomorrow morning and make sure its going out, if not I want a refund.

RMThompson · Mar 29, 2007

Good idea.... but demand a supervisor. They usually are too busy to deal with things, and do what it takes to get things done. I wouldve given them a few hour ultamatem. Sounds to me that they dont have the item in stock and are trying to get it from somwhere else. Tell them your willing to take a drop ship.

JD in Socal · Mar 29, 2007

I have ordered many times from B&H and have gotten great service every time. It is not their fault that your camera broke and not their fault that your return shipment to them was delayed. They will do the right thing and do it as quickly as possible.

Yours is not the only order they have to process. My bet is that it will ship by Sunday, if not today or tomorrow.

B&H has some of the best service in the business. Of course you are unhappy that the camera broke and that UPS delayed the return shipment. It is not reasonable or fair, from the story you have told, to accuse them of "crappy" service.

Breath deep. Everything will be okay.

JD

Dragoness · Mar 29, 2007

When I hear "we are going on vacation on MOnday for 8 days, I hope we can ship it by then" yes thats poor service, especially when I was told it would be shipped yesterday. If it was going to be delayed another 12 days (8 for vacation, 4 to ship) they should have told me that in the first place.

But I never said I got crappy service from them, I said it was a crappy EXPERIENCE

Eric Piercey · Mar 29, 2007

B&H is pretty darn good. I've had things go wrong with them and they made an effort to fix it to my satisfaction.

RacePhoto · Apr 1, 2007

I hope you understand that there are a number of things factored in here.

First problem is this. "I needed my camera 5 days after I ordered it the first time!" You ordered the camera five days before you needed it? Four days shipping from their store to you, with a weekend included. Kind of pushing the edge isn't it? But you got it, on time from B&H, didn't you?

UPS took extra days for what reason? You "mailed it" on the 19th and it took until the 27th to get there. That sounds unusual? 8 days for a UPS package to get to B&H? Something is wrong with the time line.

If they do ship, judging from what you wrote in the message, it's going to be another 4 or five working days, for UPS to get the camera across the country again.

I just can't fault B&H for the problems with shipping or a camera that broke through no fault of theirs.

I can understand that you are stuck in the middle and need the camera, ASAP. But the time issues have been caused by shipping, the distance, and ordering at the last minute. Not by B&H taking two days to process the return and ship you a new camera.

I hope you get it when you can still catch up and enjoy the class. Sometimes it's frustrating to have things, just not working the way they should.

Maybe the people giving the class can give you a refund and you can take it next time it's offered, when you aren't stuck behind and pressed to rush through the lessons. Photography should be fun, not stressful! :wink:

Lets see, three kids and housework (which is equal to at least two full time jobs) and you are still learning photography. Chin up! You are doing fine...

Dragoness · Apr 1, 2007

I think what might have happened with UPS is that they were scheduled to deliver friday afternoon and knew B&H was closed Friday afternoon so they rescheduled for Tuesday, not sure why it was not MOnday. If you would like I will show you a screen shot of the tracking information. It did indeed take that long. I was suprised too.

I said "I needed my camera 5 days after I ordered it the first time" meaning I ordered t, it was due to arrive in 5 days so thats when I needed it. If I wanted to wait a month I would have ordered a month later.

The class I signed up for while the camera was enroute when i discovered the next class was not until Sept. I am way too busy between July-Sept since everyone in my family has birthdays then, all my kids and me are August/Sept.

I think what upset me with B&H is the fact that I was told "I'll see what I can do" and "I'll try to get it to you before we go on vacation for 8 days" considering that by the time they go on vacation they will have had the camera returned for a week. It was the attitude of 'you can wait till after we take a week off for us to even ship' that upset me. That was the only poor service I meant. Otherwise everything else was just bad timing, but that still = bad experience no matter how you put it. Just because B&H isnt at fault doesnt mean it was not still a bad experience.

And about that "doing fine" thing... well if you saw my messy house you might disagree! LOL

Anyway, the camera is on its way, shipped Friday.

JD in Socal · Apr 1, 2007

Dragoness said:
Anyway, the camera is on its way, shipped Friday.

So, what you are trying to say is that B&H handled the exchange quickly and efficiently and should be commended for their outstanding customer service?

Good to hear. Hope everything works out well.

JD

dbyrd · Apr 1, 2007

Can be frustrating doing mail order! I have never had a problem with B&H. Been dealing with them since the day $200 would get you a K1000 and a YashicaMat 124G!
I have dealt with Nikon and Canon directly though, 6 months to get a warranteed camera fixed!!

DeepSpring · Apr 1, 2007

You might want to also think when he said we will be closed for 8 days and we will try to get it out. I'm sure right now they are extremely busy with people trying to get in their last minute shopping before they are closed for the holidays. They probally have an extremely large amount of orders to try to process and ship before monday. He didn't say we will do it, then he could be lieing. He told you they will try to get it out. It isn't their fault ups took a while or it broke as people have said. From my experiences with them they have always been very helpful and that is one of the reasons they are so big. Every time I have ordered from them (n.y. to cali... long trip) I get the standard 4-5 day shipping, every single time I have gotten it in 3 days.