Poor After Sale Service, B+H Photo

[pgriz]

The front-line workers in a retail establishment are usually given a limited range of responses to the public, covering maybe 80% of the likely scenarios. The rest are bumped up the chain to the supervisor, who has a few more options, and if that doesn't work, up to the manager who has many more options. While "the customer is always right" phrase applies to the front-line, we all know that some customers are just not reasonable, and the way to handle them is usually in the hands of the supervisor or manager. The reason for this is simple - the manager usually has the discretion to do what is needed, whereas the front-line worker does not have that authority or access to the means to resolve such issues. In this case, the proper escalation process would have been to ask to speak to the supervisor, explain your expectation and what actually happened, and then have them respond. If the response is not adequate, again you escalate it to the manager. If I have issues with an organization, I ask the person that I'm talking to if they have the authority to authorize what I may propose as a corrective step. If they don't, I ask them to bump my request up. That's how large organizations work.

 

[TonysTouch]

You might want to consider why they gave you that answer. Why would a retail store open another product to replace the piece you are missing? If they do that then they have two opened products that they cannot sell for retail price. Instead they will ask you to exchange it so they can take it up with Pentax themselves.

As for them ordering a specific piece from the manufacturer, that takes time. Usually longer than waiting for a specific item to come in stock.

 

[Tee]

I can totally see how they missed the OP's claim. Has anyone ever been to the store? It's a freaking madhouse regardless of time of day.

I ordered a $1200 studio lighting kit and it arrived to my door looking like it was used as a pinata. I immediately took pictures then went online for a live CS chat. Initially my thought was it was Elinchrom's packing to B&H but realized I got a damaged one from B&H (shattered flash tubes, peeled and faded stickers, scratch marks). Initially they tried to send me replacement flash tubes only. After I got done laughing for 5 minutes and explained that the shattered glass was inside the unit itself they agreed to send me 2 full replacement units. What they did was send me 2 units and charged my card then I had to ship back the units and was credited back. In the end my issue was resolved but I was utterly shocked they sent such a horribly looking package and didn't catch it.

I have bought many things from B&H since that incident but after having been to the store a few times I left with the impression that customer service is not priority one. It doesn't have to be. They are swamped from the minute they open until they close.

 

[07Vios]

Items can and will be damaged after it ships from a store's warehouse. One cannot simply blame a store for receiving damaged goods as it could have been mishandled in the transportation process.

 

[07Vios]

As for the car example. When I bought my car new from the showroom floor, I had the dealership install a power package (third party, authorized by the dealership). I had 8 problems with it within about 1000 miles. Each time I contacted the dealership, but they could not handle the complaint. A tech from the third party had to be the one that dealt with the car, either at their store/HQ or at the dealership I bought my car from. I think it's also hard to use a car as a goods example as it's brand specific; i.e. Toyota at a Toyota dealership, Ford at a Ford dealership, etc, and one, is in a way, dealing with the manufacturer. If a dealership fails to provide adequate customer service, who do you go to next? The manufacturer's HQ. B&H sells different brands, and items are not opened and inspected for content that the manufacturers should be including in their products (for open box depreciation sake). Cars are (supposed to be) thoroughly inspected prior to "deliver." So that also adds to the difficulty of using cars as an example.

 

[sm4him]

I'm glad you all have such great experiences with B+H, I don't share your fondness for them. NOT because of the missing piece per say, but because of the runaround and lack of interest in trying to resolve this! What ever happened to " the customer is always right "?? I worked retail for 12 years, our pay envelopes had the saying "a satisfied customer made this check possible" printed on them, I know a thing or two about Customer Service. I also know that if you provide outstanding service to a customer, they may tell 1 or 2 friends about it, but, provide a customer a bad experience and they're sure to tell 7 - 10 people about it (hence the customer is always right saying). B+H would be wise to remind their associates of this regularly.

What happened to it? I'll tell you what happened...somewhere along the way, someone finally realized what a horrifically STUPID statement that was. The customer is NOT always right. The customer is often ignorant, hateful and/or just looking for something free by making complaints about problems that don't even exist.
"The customer is always right" was a far better little sentiment back in the day when people wouldn't call 911 because Burger King messed up their order, or sue because they stuck their hot coffee between their legs while driving, then spilled it and got burned....or stick something in their food at a restaurant then complain, just to get a free meal.
Today's slogan--"the customer cannot be trusted."

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I'm glad you all have such great experiences with B+H, I don't share your fondness for them. NOT because of the missing piece per say, but because of the runaround and lack of interest in trying to resolve this! What ever happened to " the customer is always right "?? I worked retail for 12 years, our pay envelopes had the saying "a satisfied customer made this check possible" printed on them, I know a thing or two about Customer Service. I also know that if you provide outstanding service to a customer, they may tell 1 or 2 friends about it, but, provide a customer a bad experience and they're sure to tell 7 - 10 people about it (hence the customer is always right saying). B+H would be wise to remind their associates of this regularly.

What happened to it? I'll tell you what happened...somewhere along the way, someone finally realized what a horrifically STUPID statement that was. The customer is NOT always right. The customer is often ignorant, hateful and/or just looking for something free by making complaints about problems that don't even exist.
"The customer is always right" was a far better little sentiment back in the day when people wouldn't call 911 because Burger King messed up their order, or sue because they stuck their hot coffee between their legs while driving, then spilled it and got burned....or stick something in their food at a restaurant then complain, just to get a free meal.
Today's slogan--"the customer cannot be trusted."

My favorite amazing sammich shop got a 1 star Yelp! review...It simple said "Samwiches are too messy to eat while driving."

:shock:

Yeah, gotta love customer complaints. Here's your sign.