Be careful of where you pre-order your D4 at!

2WheelPhoto · Mar 4, 2012

BHPHOTO has always done me right

IgsEMT · Mar 4, 2012

I'm with other on contacting B&H. I never had any issues you're describing. Even when I ended up making errors in my order, they were more then willing to help me correct them.
Give them a call.
Good Luck

henryp · Mar 4, 2012

JerryPH said:
Hey guys, just a little thing to watch for... some places that are accepting pre-orders for the D4 are charging your credit card the FULL PRICE and not doing what most others are doing... which is accepting your order and not charging your credit card until they ship yours.

This is what B&H tried to do to me... I now have 1 additional month of interest charges for $6000US on my credit card to pay... and no D4 in my hands. Thanks B&H, but I am **never** buying from you guys again.

I am sorry for your dissatisfaction. FOR US customers paying with a credit card we only charge when an item's shipped. We do put a lien, a pre-authorization, of course.
The sole exception is drop-ship items; for those we charge when the order's submitted to our vendor.

For US customers paying with another payment method, and for all non-US customers, we charge when the order is submitted to us.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/HelpCenter/Payments.jsp?cm_sp=Footer-_-Help-_-Payments

JerryPH, I see you're from Canada. That raises two issues. The first is that you're a non-USA customer. The second is that Nikon USA's rules prohibit authorized US retailers from shipping any digital slr to any address outside the USA. If you have a US shipping address, that's fine, but if your order was submitted to us with a Canadian ship-to address we may be obliged to cancel and refund.

MLeeK said:
It's not even legal to charge until something ships. They can put a HOLD on funds for an amount of time, but can't charge till it ships

I believe you are mistaken.

bullitt411 said:
Not surprising to me at all, I don't trust B&H as far as I can throw the entire retail store location. I purchased what was suppose to be a refurbished D7000 from them a few months ago. What I received in the box was a used camera someone had just traded in to them the day before.

If this was a recent event I'd be happy to investigate this for you. Right now I cannot confirm or deny your allegations so I will limit myself to saying I am sorry if this did happen and if it has not yet been made right I will do all I can to see it is made right as speedily as possible.

Derrel · Mar 4, 2012

henryp said:
JerryPH said:

Hey guys, just a little thing to watch for... some places that are accepting pre-orders for the D4 are charging your credit card the FULL PRICE and not doing what most others are doing... which is accepting your order and not charging your credit card until they ship yours.

This is what B&H tried to do to me... I now have 1 additional month of interest charges for $6000US on my credit card to pay... and no D4 in my hands. Thanks B&H, but I am **never** buying from you guys again.

Click to expand...

I am sorry for your dissatisfaction. FOR US customers paying with a credit card we only charge when an item's shipped. We do put a lien, a pre-authorization, of course.
The sole exception is drop-ship items; for those we charge when the order's submitted to our vendor.

For US customers paying with another payment method, and for all non-US customers, we charge when the order is submitted to us.

JerryPH, I see you're from Canada. That raises two issues. The first is that you're a non-USA customer. The second is that Nikon USA's rules prohibit authorized US retailers from shipping any digital slr to any address outside the USA. If you have a US shipping address, that's fine, but if your order was submitted to us with a Canadian ship-to address we may be obliged to cancel and refund.

So which is it: "we may be obliged to cancel and refund"??? That's wishy-washy and indefinite. Or, following Nikon USA's rules, WILL B&H ACTUALLY cancel and refund orders with Canadian ship-to addresses?

henryp · Mar 4, 2012

Derrel said:
So which is it: "we may be obliged to cancel and refund"??? That's wishy-washy and indefinite. Or, following Nikon USA's rules, WILL B&H ACTUALLY cancel and refund orders with Canadian ship-to addresses?

I'm working from home right now so do not know the details of this transaction. If he has a US ship-to address, the order's kosher and will proceed. If he has a Canadian ship-to address we'll contact him, ask if he has a US address we can use and if not, will be obliged to cancel and refund.

Addendum -- in another forum JerryPH posted that he alled our customer service department and cancelled this order, so in this case the issue is moot.

HelenOster · Mar 5, 2012

CCericola said:
B&H and Adorama are both very nice companies. In fact the owners of the two companies are cousins. So, in a sense, no matter who you prefer, your money is pretty much staying in the family.

This is an interesting rumour that surfaces from time-to-time across the Internet as fact! Both businessses are entirely independent and not connected fiscally in any way at all.

henryp · Mar 5, 2012

HelenOster said:
CCericola said:

B&H and Adorama are both very nice companies. In fact the owners of the two companies are cousins. So, in a sense, no matter who you prefer, your money is pretty much staying in the family.

Click to expand...

This is an interesting rumour that surfaces from time-to-time across the Internet as fact! Both businessses are entirely independent and not connected fiscally in any way at all.

I was told once they may be related by marriage but in a close-knit community it's quite possible many people there are related by marriage to one degree or another.

FWIW a piece in the NYTimes this week said, "... one out of every 200 males on earth is related to Genghis Khan." So I guess many of us are related, one way or another.

bullitt411 · Mar 5, 2012

bullitt411 said:
Not surprising to me at all, I don't trust B&H as far as I can throw the entire retail store location. I purchased what was suppose to be a refurbished D7000 from them a few months ago. What I received in the box was a used camera someone had just traded in to them the day before.

henryp said:
If this was a recent event I'd be happy to investigate this for you. Right now I cannot confirm or deny your allegations so I will limit myself to saying I am sorry if this did happen and if it has not yet been made right I will do all I can to see it is made right as speedily as possible.

Henry,

Thanks for the offer to investigate the matter, but as far as I'm concerned I've moved on. I spent a few hours on the phone with customer service in regard to the incident, apologies all around from your end. At the end of the day that's carrion comfort to be apologized to. It doesn't address the larger issue of B&H misrepresenting an item and costing me my time, money spent commuting to and from the store 2 times and the inconvenience of tying up my camera purchase funds for a week.

If you want proof of the transaction to satisfy your curiosity in my allegation, the return was processed on 01/18/12 with the credit # 372330661

I'm sure this isn't common practice from B&H as a store, but this was my personal experience.

Dennis

lemonart · Mar 5, 2012

Never had an issue with B&H. In fact, being in Canada with the dollar the way it is, I usually end up getting a deal... Even after B&H takes care of customs for me (which is an amazing option for Canucks).

Adorama doesn't offer this service. They are also very good but because of the customs option I prefer B&H. I hate having to pay a second time to receive my gear. I prefer to rip the bandaid off all at once

Lem

henryp · Mar 6, 2012

bullitt411 said:
Thanks for the offer to investigate the matter, but as far as I'm concerned I've moved on.

It seems perhaps you have not, as you raised the issue here. I am sorry for our error and the inconvenience it caused and apologize.

I'm sure this isn't common practice from B&H as a store, but this was my personal experience.

In fact, it is not "common practice from B&H as a store." Nevertheless, we owe you an apology and we apologize.

o hey tyler · Mar 6, 2012

henryp said:
bullitt411 said:

Thanks for the offer to investigate the matter, but as far as I'm concerned I've moved on.

Click to expand...

It seems perhaps you have not, as you raised the issue here.

Would you have preferred that he raised the issue at Store Ratings & Reviews - ResellerRatings.com - Find Trusted Stores ? That probably would have been the more appropriate place to do it, rather than a photography forum... Where people buy from B&H.