B&H Photo - Video: Once my favorite store but not anymore! (Updated)
Written: Nov 29 '04 (Updated Jan 11 '05)
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I have been ordering pro photography equipment from B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio for more than two years. I always liked their service, their shipping rates and their prices. In fact, for my birthday this year, two family members gave me gift cards to B&H.
So imagine my surprise when my husband and I ordered a big ticket item from B&H, and it turned out to be a complete disaster!
But before getting into our latest and last B&H purchasing experience, I'll detail a bit about my average experience with B&H beforehand.
About B&H
B&H is a brick and mortar store in Manhattan, and is the photographer's version of Mecca. The store is beyond enormous at 35,000 square feet. They've been in business for over thirty years and have some of the lowest prices you'll find from a photography retailer. B&H is open on Sunday, but not on Saturday in observance of the Sabbath. They also close in observance of Passover, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in addition to holidays such as Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas day.
Ordering from B&H
Those who do not live in or near Manhattan can order off the B&H website at www.bhphotovideo.com. Their site is well planned and easy to navigate and as I said earlier, their prices beat most other photography retailers. In addition to the standard items; photo gear, computer gear, books, video equipment and lighting, B&H also offers a used gear section where customers can sell and buy used equipment.
Placing an order on B&H's secure site is usually easy and their automated system contacts you with tracking information as soon as the order is filled and ready to ship. Those who live in the northeast usually benefit from overnight delivery of items purchased and shipped with UPS standard ground shipping.
Now for the Ugly
Based on my previous excellent experiences with B&H, we decided to order our new home theater screen, a 119" Da-Lite, from B&H.
We ordered the "Pro Trim" finish for the screen frame, which means that the metal frame is velvet-flocked so it absorbs any light or spillover from the projector. This option is not available via the online ordering form so we called B&H and placed the order over the phone. We paid an additional cost, on top of the $1,008 screen cost, for the Pro Trim finish.
B&H informed us that they would process the order with Da-Lite and our screen would be shipping direct from the Da-Lite factory. A week and a half later, our screen arrived and we unpacked it.
Pulling the frame pieces out of the box we realized that the frame was not the Pro Trim finish that we had ordered. We called B&H and were told that they had made a mistake in placing the order with Da-Lite. They said that we would have to order another $1,000 Da-Lite screen from them and we would have to ship back the screen we had received. Once Da-Lite received the original screen, they would credit B&H and B&H would then credit us.
If only it had been that simple.
My husband got the number for Da-Lite and agreed to place another order with B&H. This time he spoke to a supervisor and once again ordered the Pro Trim finish. He said repeatedly during the call, "Are you SURE you have it with the Pro Trim finish?" the supervisor assured him that they did.
After placing the order we waited a few hours and called Da-Lite to verify that they had received the order and that it was correct. The woman on the phone at Da-Lite couldn't have been nicer and she looked up the order for us. Unbelievably, B&H had once again messed up our order! They had again charged us for the Pro Trim finish, but had not put it on the order form with Da-Lite!
The woman at Da-Lite was very helpful and corrected the order for us. So our second screen was ordered but we still had to get the RMA number and shipping instructions for the first screen.
It took two weeks and about six phone calls for B&H to get their act together enough to schedule someone to come and pick up the original screen. By that time we had the second screen (with the Pro Trim finish, no thanks to B&H) all set up.
We finally turned the original screen over to the shippers three and a half weeks after we had received it. We still had $1,000+ charged to our credit card for this screen, which we had to pay interest on, of course. All of the people we spoke to at B&H were polite but utterly useless throughout this whole process.
With a single call to Da-Lite we verified that the screen was returned and that they had credited B&H on 11/14, before they even got the screen back. We called B&H a week after Da-Lite received the screen and were told that our credit was "in process" and they couldn't help us and couldn't tell us when the credit would be put back on our card. In the end, it took five weeks from the date we called B&H to let them know they had screwed up the order, to the date we received the credit for their error. We had begun to seriously consider disputing the charge with our credit card company, when the credit finally came through.
Final Impressions
Well, I've spent several thousand dollars as a previously satisfied customer of B&H, but will I shop with them again after this experience? Absolutely not.
B&H may be fine for run of the mill equipment orders, if they get the order right. But what was most disturbing was their refusal to let us escalate the problem within the company, and their refusal to provide us any details on the credit back to our credit card. We never once spoke with a person who had the answers to our questions, and it was baffling that they would not let us escalate to get to a person who could answer our questions. While the people we did speak with were polite, they were not once helpful. It was infuriating.
If this is how B&H behaves when they screw up a one thousand dollar order for a long-time customer, then I surely wouldn't trust them for any other order. If B&H doesn't get your order right, you have very little recourse within the company.
In the end, we finally got what we had ordered, but only because we personally intervened and called Da-Lite, B&H's supplier, ourselves. And that was only successful because the people at Da-Lite were so much more helpful and knowledgeable than the people at B&H.
At this point, I'm sad to say that my opinion of B&H has taken a 180 and I simply can't recommend them to anyone.
January 10, 2005 Update: I received a very nice e-mail from Henry Posner, the B&H Photo Video representative who responded to my review here at Epinions. Mr. Posner apologized for the excessive trouble that we had getting the correct screen from B&H and promised to review the matter further internally.
I appreciate Mr. Posner's response and his e-mail to me, and he said that if I had future issues with orders at B&H to contact him, that he might be able to help me. Even though I got a response from the company, it took well over six weeks and a very bitter review to get that response. I still fear that the average consumer will have a tough time escalating should they have issues with their order.
Nonetheless, I still have a couple of gift cards and with Mr. Posner's response I will be reluctantly giving B&H Photo Video one more chance with an upcoming order. I will be certain to update my review with my experience after that time.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Da-Lite 119" HDTV wall mount screen.
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| Response To Review from Merchant |
Re: B&H Photo - Video: Once my favorite store but not anymore!
Jan 10 '05
B&H regrets this customer's dissatisfaction. The customer and I have corresponded and I believe the situation has been resolved to the customer's satisfaction. We certainly regret the uncharacteristic difficulty.
Henry Posner / B&H Photo-Video, Inc.
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