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23rd of April 2009 (Thu), 10:10
I purchased some impact swivel brackets from B&H only a few months ago, plus some others last July, and three of them have broken in recent months, including at least one or two of the newest ones. So I'm dissatisfied with the product because it breaks, and I place another order from B&H for a different model of bracket that doesn't have the same weak grip/handle that would snap off like the impact brackets.
Then I send B&H an email showing photos of the broken brackets, and a request for some kind of partial reimbursement for the existing order or perhaps refund for the previous order of the brackets. I tell them I do NOT want more impact brackets because they will obviously break. They send me a response telling me to call customer service.
So this morning I call customer service. They agreed to do the following: "As a gesture to me, they will refund the shipping on the current order not yet fulfilled..." But they will not give any kind of compensation for the brackets. They will replace them IF I send them in, and I must pay the return shipping to send them in.
They didn't really care that I was dissatisfied with the product. They said they understand that I'm not completely happy with the options presented, but that they are fulfilling their obligation to me of replacing the item.
I find it quite stupid that I have to pay return shipping to send them back, but they refund my shipping on my other order. It's like "okay, we'll do a 'gesture' of refunding shipping, but require you to pay return shipping of the defective items"...to me, their gesture looks an awful lot like a hip thrusting motion.
I also find it unsatisfactory that they are sending me more brackets that I know are fragile and will break. What am I supposed to do with them? Sell them? Then I'm just selling someone else a piece of cheap equipment. Plus I'm paying return shipping to send them the defective items. It feels like adding insult to injury. And get this: They didn't even confirm that they would replace them! For instance if I couldn't find all the handles, etc., which were BROKEN off, and send the broken everything, they can't say for sure that they will replace them.
The end result: I have to pay to ship defective items back so they can decide whether or not to replace them. As a gesture of good will, they refund my $6.55 shipping for the latest purchase still unfulfilled, but then I have to pay $10 for postage back to them for the broken items, unless I can somehow manage to cram all their junk brackets into a small priority box, which would only be about $5. If they replace them, then great I have three more impact brackets that will break if I use them, so I obviously am NOT going to use them...therefore they're only worth whatever I happen to sell them for, minus the cost of my shipping the original defective ones back.
So this was my latest experience with B&H.
****Update 5-20-09****
About two weeks after I sent in the broken units, I got an email from b&h stating that they were going to just refund my money. The email didn't look official, but I was interested. A few days after that, I got a more official email from them stating that they had issued the refund. I checked my CC account, and sure enough they refunded it. This is better than having replacement brackets and I'm glad for that, but I still had to pay over $10 in return shipping, over 25% of the original cost of the items, so technically the refund was only about 75%. But still, I am more satisfied with that than if I had just gotten more impact brackets.
Then I send B&H an email showing photos of the broken brackets, and a request for some kind of partial reimbursement for the existing order or perhaps refund for the previous order of the brackets. I tell them I do NOT want more impact brackets because they will obviously break. They send me a response telling me to call customer service.
So this morning I call customer service. They agreed to do the following: "As a gesture to me, they will refund the shipping on the current order not yet fulfilled..." But they will not give any kind of compensation for the brackets. They will replace them IF I send them in, and I must pay the return shipping to send them in.
They didn't really care that I was dissatisfied with the product. They said they understand that I'm not completely happy with the options presented, but that they are fulfilling their obligation to me of replacing the item.
I find it quite stupid that I have to pay return shipping to send them back, but they refund my shipping on my other order. It's like "okay, we'll do a 'gesture' of refunding shipping, but require you to pay return shipping of the defective items"...to me, their gesture looks an awful lot like a hip thrusting motion.
I also find it unsatisfactory that they are sending me more brackets that I know are fragile and will break. What am I supposed to do with them? Sell them? Then I'm just selling someone else a piece of cheap equipment. Plus I'm paying return shipping to send them the defective items. It feels like adding insult to injury. And get this: They didn't even confirm that they would replace them! For instance if I couldn't find all the handles, etc., which were BROKEN off, and send the broken everything, they can't say for sure that they will replace them.
The end result: I have to pay to ship defective items back so they can decide whether or not to replace them. As a gesture of good will, they refund my $6.55 shipping for the latest purchase still unfulfilled, but then I have to pay $10 for postage back to them for the broken items, unless I can somehow manage to cram all their junk brackets into a small priority box, which would only be about $5. If they replace them, then great I have three more impact brackets that will break if I use them, so I obviously am NOT going to use them...therefore they're only worth whatever I happen to sell them for, minus the cost of my shipping the original defective ones back.
So this was my latest experience with B&H.
****Update 5-20-09****
About two weeks after I sent in the broken units, I got an email from b&h stating that they were going to just refund my money. The email didn't look official, but I was interested. A few days after that, I got a more official email from them stating that they had issued the refund. I checked my CC account, and sure enough they refunded it. This is better than having replacement brackets and I'm glad for that, but I still had to pay over $10 in return shipping, over 25% of the original cost of the items, so technically the refund was only about 75%. But still, I am more satisfied with that than if I had just gotten more impact brackets.