I hate B&H

H

Huy Vu

Veteran
I ordered a tripod combo from B&H right before they closed for the holiday. The next day I got an email telling me that they can't process my order but didn't tell me why. I tried to call back at 12:15 P.M and of course they were closed. According to the heading, I received the email at 12:00 P.M.

That caused me to not have the tripod for an important shoot. And today when I tried to call them back I'm informed that I'll have to call them from the billing address' telephone # to ensure that I'm not committing fraud. I'm in school right now and I won't be home for another week which meant that there's no way I can get the order processed till then, which of course will cause me to miss another shoot.

The customer service really sucked as the guy there sounds really bored and haughty like I'm inconveniencing him or something. B&H certainly won't get any more purchases from me in the future.
 
I've never had any problems with B&H but I've been ordering allot of my stuff now from EVS. I just ordered a new 4X4 polarizer to replace the one I broke in Utah and they beat B&H's price by $30. Make sure you ask for the DVXUser discount.

I've also ordered from Abel Cine and they've been great too.

Another thing I like about EVS is since they're in California, I can order later in the day Iowa time and still get it shipped overnight if I need to.

But, like I said, I've never had an issue with any order I've ever placed with B&H. I've even returned defective gear with no hassles. I just prefer ordering from EVS and Abel Cine now.
 
Unfortunately, only B&H carries the tripod combo that I wanted (516 head with 3046 leg). I checked at both EVS an Abel Cine as soon as I received the email but they didn't have it. Every other combo either I didn't like or were too expensive for me.

Now I'm going to have to cancel the order at B&H, but I can't call them because they won't take the call at my telephone #, and I can't go home and order another one because we're moving to another house soon. What do I do now?
 
Can someone at home call for you before the move?

Heck, in the past I've ordered stuff from B&H from a hotel room on location in another state. I guess that's good to know if need something in an emergency.
 
Well, only my parents are there and their English skills are sketchy at best. This whole thing about having to call from the billing address is ridiculous.
 
Yeah, that really doesn't make any sense. I've ordered all kinds of gear that I've needed on location from other companies and I've never had an issue like that.

If there's a branch of the bank that issued the credit card can you get a cash advance and have someone in your locale order it for you instead?

I mean if B&H can't process the order then it should get cancelled by them.

Henry Posner from B&H is online here. His user name is henryp
Maybe shoot him an email or PM him and ask him what can be done.
 
I would try calling back and talking to a different customer service rep, and if I wasn't getting success with that then I would ask to speak to a supervisor. Then keep moving up the food chain until I got satisfaction.
 
I shot Henry a PM, but I'm not too keen on calling B&H back. If that their offical policy then it would take a lot more than nagging to get them to change their mind. I also don't like being put on infinite hold for 20 minutes.
 
n8ture said:
Heck, in the past I've ordered stuff from B&H from a hotel room on location in another state.
Click to expand...

Me too. Unfortunately B&H did stop that practice a while ago. Fraud being the main reason I suspect. A shame and it goes to prove once again that it takes only a few bad apples to spoil the bunch.

To the original poster: yes, like Horse said, October isn't a good month for B&H ordering, but to their credit they are VERY good in advising when and for how long they close for the holidays. In fact, they were VERY specific just before this last closing as to when what would ship if ordered at what time. I forget the exact times, but I don't think they ever promise they will ship the same day, especially when 1) they close that day for a holiday, or 2) there are some issues with their fraud department.
It is in ALL of our interest that they (the merchant) is strict in fraud prevention, as in the end, it is US who pays for all the fraud.
 
I read their shipping policy. All orders placed before 11 PM on Thursday will ship on Friday. I placed the order at 9 P.M.
 
What probably happened was B&H got flooded with orders on the Thursday before the holiday and your order was towards the end of the line. Did you place the order over the phone or online? In a tight situation like that, you're better off talking to a real person. Then you can find out if you're order will really ship on time.

When I ordered my DVX from B&H, they put a shipping hold on my camera and I didn't find out about it until I called to inquire why my camera hadn't shipped yet. My 2-day shipping turned into a week before my camera finally arrived. I wasn't on a timetable, so it wasn't a big deal.

It's too bad that you didn't get your tripod in time for the shoot, and I hope it didn't set back your production too far, but I wouldn't blame B&H.
 
I ordered online. I just think that if they put up that 11 P.M deadline then they should honor it, otherwise why even have it?

I wanted to make the order earlier but I belong to a film group and it's actually the group's money so I had to wait for the matter to be put to a vote before I'm authorized to buy anything. And well...democracy sucks sometimes.
 
Their timezone is East Coast, which is 2 hours fast than in California. I actually ordered about 15 min earlier than nine, which should have placed in on time. But the technicality doesn't really matter now. I'm hoping to just be able to cancel the order and place it again with a another credit card, but as they refused to conduct business unless I call from a certain phone #, I'm rather stuck.
 
jade8472 said:
Whoops, my bad. But yeah, that's not really the problem anymore.
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But it was at the time.
Maybe this justifies the mods to slightly modify the title of this thread? Seems a little harsh; I think that's why you are not getting too many sympathy responses.
 
I thought this was going to be another B&H sold me a gray market camera. Bad customer service... ehh. Not to be unsympathetic.... but, I just ordered a bunch of stuff from them as well. I had to wait a little, because of a Holiday, and one of my orders exceeded whatever their designated maximum was. I had to call and verify my address. It may be a nuisance, yes. But you should be glad it's there, in case someone jacks your info, and tries to order thousands of dollars of stuff from b&h. At least, they may not get away with it.

Jason
 
dude it was Yom Kippur last week, thatmeans B&H is closed for liek 13 days straight. Sorry.
 
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