B & H Customer Service

KalebA wrote in post #16540173
Lets all make general statements and not have individual opinions....

I've had positive/negative experiences with them, same with big box store

yep. they're about the same as other retailors I've dealt with.

MDJAK wrote in post #16540134
They are the flat out BEST in the business.

^^This x 2^^

jwm9289 wrote in post #16540261
Me too and they have always been fair. thats the reason i purchased a Nexus 7 and Ipad from them. Customer service, price match, free shipping and no tax.

I like free tax!!! Its a deal breaking here locally when supporting local shops in California.

I don't work for b&h nor I'm affiliated but if was and someone compared b&h to walmart I would be pissed!!

Call walmart (junkmart imo) "family owed" but when I stopped going to walmart years ago I never got the same custumer support or knowledge. They are a small busineas killers that's why detest them.

I've unfortunately not had good experiences with their sales team. This has happened more than once, which made me regret paying them my $$$s.

4more wrote in post #16540383
I've unfortunately not had good experiences with their sales team. This has happened more than once, which made me regret paying them my $$$s.

Hmm. No one is perfect I guess. On another note, I have not dealt with adorama one of these days I will!

forcefed wrote in post #16540393
Hmm. No one is perfect I guess. On another note, I have not dealt with adorama one of these days I will!

I've only bought a few of things from them and I feel terrible about it because I watch so many of those free Mark Wallace videos. They just never seem to be competitive with Amazon and B&H with stuff I'm looking for.

jptsr1 wrote in post #16540503
I've only bought a few of things from them and I feel terrible about it because I watch so many of those free Mark Wallace videos. They just never seem to be competitive with Amazon and B&H with stuff I'm looking for.

I've had great experiences with both B&H and Adorama. Rarely do I have a problem, but when I do, both have been very quick to respond and resolve. Great customer service.

jptsr1 wrote in post #16540503
I've only bought a few of things from them and I feel terrible about it because I watch so many of those free Mark Wallace videos. They just never seem to be competitive with Amazon and B&H with stuff I'm looking for.

You know that we always make every effort to price match to equally reputable retailers? You only need drop me an email! Heleno@adoramacamera.c​om

Although price matching to Amazon is a bit harder we will always see what might be possible; even though to do so we are trying to compete with the world's largest Internet retailer, with fulfilment centers in 12 US States, PLUS, 3 locations in Canada, 4 locations in Scotland, 5 in England, 3 in Wales, 5 in France, 4 in each of Germany and Japan, 3 in China, and 1 in each of Slovakia and Italy.
Adorama is a family business in NYC, with a single distribution center in New Jersey.....

Maybe you saw the latest reports on Amazon ongoing losses a couple of weeks ago?

http://www.nytimes.com …t-no-profit-in-sight.html

http://www.nytimes.com …-missing-is-a-profit.html

Amazon operations are subsidized by investors who care only about growth and who are in it for the long-term. Because they can pay for things by selling stock they can provide twice the service for half the price; I once read that if the market ever catches on Amazon would 'fold like a paper castle on a rainy day'!

As a specialist photography business, many Adorama representatives are actually professional photographers as well as being experts in their field; we do our best to offer far more than Amazon in terms of specialist customer support and product information, for example, as you noted, Adorama TV and the Adorama Learning Center.

Also, if you follow us on Twitter and Facebook, you will have access to many exclusive deals and offers which might be useful to you - and you might also be interested in signing up for our special offer emails which you will find on our website.

And Adorama is also excellent and Helen a great asset to them and us.

MDJAK wrote in post #16544932
And Adorama is also excellent and Helen a great asset to them and us.

I have one experience with Adorama and it was less than desirable.

jwm9289 wrote in post #16545253
I have one experience with Adorama and it was less than desirable.

There's a famous steak restaurant in NY called Peter Lugers. Ever heard of it? I've been fortunate to have enjoyed their fine food probably close to a hundred times over the past 30+ years. Out of those times, it's been excellent or better 98% of the time. That's a basis and track record with which to judge something.

One time? Did you complain? Did they address it? They've done in excess of a million sales and have a great rep. One time as a blanket statement with no backup or explanation is worthless.

HelenOster wrote in post #16544867
...Maybe you saw the latest reports on Amazon ongoing losses a couple of weeks ago?

http://www.nytimes.com …t-no-profit-in-sight.html

I noticed in that article that they increase the minimum for free shipping to $35. I hope Adorama stay it's course.

I've been buying photo gear from B&H Photo since the 1970's and have never, ever been disappointed with their price or service. It's only recently, the past 3 or so years, that Amazon has been consistently competitive with B&H prices. But there's no way that Amazon will ever be able to meet B&H's customer service; they don't employ anyone with any knowledge of anything they sell. On top of that, the B&H rewards points winds up saving me a little extra at the end of the year, and I'm fortunate enough to get most orders in 1 to 2 days using standard shipping, since I live so close to their store.

There used to be dozens of camera stores in NYC, Brooklyn and the Bronx that sold mail-order. Most of these outfits were sketchy, selling grey-market products without warning the customer, pulling accessories out of the box and trying to sell them separately at inflated prices, using bait-and-switch tactics to avoid honoring below-cost advertisements. Most of those places were run out of business or folded due to poor reputation, others changed their tune and have become more legitimate. But there are still outfits that will put the screws to you if you're not careful, and they're not all located in NY anymore. I've never had to worry about that with B&H.

Amazon has almost zero customer service, and unless you spend the extra $80 on an Amazon Prime membership and only buy eligible items, their "free shipping" is horrible. It takes Amazon 3 to 7 days to ship out an order, versus every other reseller manages to ship same day or next business day. Then there are the Amazon resellers who don't fulfill via Amazon, some of which are shipping their merchandise from China, Taiwan, India, etc., although falsely claiming the item is in-stock in the USA. Amazon doesn't even give you an estimated delivery date until after you place your order and pay, often does not allow cancellation of an order placed with a third-party, and will not intervene or even accept negative reviews when a third-party seller doesn't deliver in a reasonable amount of time. In fact I've been very disturbed recently that Amazon has been rejecting negative seller and product reviews.

As for Adorama, I've bought a few items from them, but frankly I usually get better price from B&H without calling and haggling, and have such a good track record with B&H that there's really no incentive for me to look elsewhere unless there's a big difference in price. Also, the Adorama site is much more difficult to use since it lacks the ability to filter products as effectively as B&H's site.

Customer Service

bumpintheroad wrote in post #16546411
....the Adorama site is much more difficult to use since it lacks the ability to filter products as effectively as B&H's site.

If you could please spare a moment to email me with even the briefest clarification I'd be extremely grateful.
[BTW, price matching only involves sending me an email with a link to the item on a competitor's website]

I have dealt with both Adorama and B/H on multiple occasions. The few times with Adorama I did not feel I received the best support from their phone personnel that I thought I should have. Not that it was bad, but the gentlemen I spoke with was somewhat flippant with me. Answered my questions but was short and almost ill tempered.
On the other hand, B/H has never been that way and I've never had an issue with anyone there. Hence over the past 5 years that is why 99% of my business has been given to them. The odd occasion where they don't have what I need I check Adorama for it or Amazon.
My rule on price matching is this. If I look at two sites for the same product and site B is cheaper than site A then I order from site B unless I just don't like site B. I don't play the game of emailing site A asking for a cheaper price. Not worth my time if I'm indifferent about the two sites.