What is up at Paul C Buff?

I had always heard good stories in the past about PCB. I placed an order last wednesday and just heard from them today re my order. They are telling me my in laws house is a freight forwarding address. In order to have them ship the order they want me to now send a wire transfer. More delays and costs for no reason. I just get a round in circles explanation.

"this isnt a freight forwarding address- it is a home"
"Well my system says otherwise"
"Can you have someone correct this as it is a house"
"Sorry, my system says otherwise"

As someone who will be outfitting my new studio this year I was planning on four einsteins with a number of modifiers. Now I will be ordering from another company. I am shocked businesses are this casual about losing brand new customers especially with the onslaught of cheaper chinese gear flooding the market. Is this a new development at PCB? I am very disappointed with them and how I was treated.

Buff has always had an uncomfortable relationship with non USA markets. It's unfortunate that you can't seem to get past the address hangup.

I am actually shipping it to my inlaws in NY. The problem is their "system" says it is a freight forwarding address. It is a house. They have lived there since it was built over forty years ago. I explained that they receive shipments they from B&H, adorama, think geek, amazon, etc all the time. Many are orders I placed. I offered to send them a photo of the address and receipts from other companies that have shipped there. No dice- "My system says it is a freight forwarding address"

It's like a slap in the face- I always buy Canadian or US when the option is available. Even at a much higher price point. I tried to support this US company and get my time wasted instead. Guess I will be purchasing Chinese or European now. Quite sad...

European. Try B3K Digital in Toronto. Great service.

I also considered PCB when I was exploring my options for a monolight system. What with NAFTA and all one would think buying from them would be a cinch, wouldn't it? Think again. I never contacted them myself, but I heard quite a few stories about duties being not inexpensive: I was shocked—isn't their stuff USA-made? Well, can't fight the legalese of the customs office, so I looked elsewhere.

Ship it to a local UPS store and go pick it up.
Their system tells them something and it is against their policy to go against their policy.

It sucks, but you're going to have to live with it.

Alveric wrote in post #17827187
European. Try B3K Digital in Toronto. Great service.

I also considered PCB when I was exploring my options for a monolight system. What with NAFTA and all one would think buying from them would be a cinch, wouldn't it? Think again. I never contacted them myself, but I heard quite a few stories about duties being not inexpensive: I was shocked—isn't their stuff USA-made? Well, can't fight the legalese of the customs office, so I looked elsewhere.

There should be no duties under NAFTA but taxes, brokerage can be silly expensive.

I was just shocked at the way a first time customer (and I would have been one heck of a good repeat customer) was treated. Basically reality doesnt matter. Made me worry what would happen if I needed help or a warranty claim. I wonder if businesses realise how much they lose due to less than stellar service by a phone rep. I mean they will litterally be losing over $8000 of my business this year. And I did all the leg work. It was an EASY sale.

Why arent you having it shipped to you?

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #17827195
Ship it to a local UPS store and go pick it up.
Their system tells them something and it is against their policy to go against their policy.

It sucks, but you're going to have to live with it.

Yup, and they will have to live without my business...

gonzogolf wrote in post #17827203
Why arent you having it shipped to you?

I will be at my inlaws over xmas. I was going to use it for family photos. They bought me some modifiers for it too. They will be returned now.

The really annoying thing is I called them when my mother in law had a problem with her order. The person I spoke with said I shouldnt have a problem with mine. Well...

Alveric wrote in post #17827187
European. Try B3K Digital in Toronto. Great.

I will check them out. Drag they dont list prices on their site.

Forgiving me ignorance. What's special about Paul C Buff. It's a US store, why it's getting picky about US orders? Strange behavior and countering the normal practice and business sense.

I hear ya with the warranties. I've had to send stuff in for repair and it's a bit of a hassle.

When I finally decided on a lighting system, I ordered it from B&H as they had a very affordable Hensel 2-light kit with stands, brolly and a softbox and case. Now, the units were an older model, I of course knew this, but the brand is top quality and I really wanted the older model too, so I went ahead. About 3 months later one of the lights blew a capacitor. I contacted B&H and they said they couldn't do the warranty and referred me to the Hensel authorised service centre in the US. We have two centres here in Canada –B3K Digital being one of them, I rang them up, but because the kit was imported from the US, the person I spoke with said that yes, I had to send it back to the US service centre. At the same time, I contacted Hensel in Germany, via E-mail. This was on a Friday. The guys in Germany never replied to me but they sent the request to B3K Digital and on the following Monday morning, the owner phoned me to tell me they'd do the warranty, even though the unit had not been purchased in Canada. I did have to pay for the shipping, but that was OK and inexpensive via Fedex Ground. Excellent service from both manufacturer and dealer: been doing business with B3K ever since, now I am even given a discount some times.

l89kip wrote in post #17827221
Forgiving me ignorance. What's special about Paul C Buff. It's a US store, why it's getting picky about US orders? Strange behavior and countering the normal practice and business sense.

I must say I find it ironic that I, Mr. socialist Canadian am so upset about the failure of capitalism in this instance

RandallB wrote in post #17827129
I had always heard good stories in the past about PCB. I placed an order last wednesday and just heard from them today re my order. They are telling me my in laws house is a freight forwarding address. In order to have them ship the order they want me to now send a wire transfer. More delays and costs for no reason. I just get a round in circles explanation.

"this isnt a freight forwarding address- it is a home"
"Well my system says otherwise"
"Can you have someone correct this as it is a house"
"Sorry, my system says otherwise"

As someone who will be outfitting my new studio this year I was planning on four einsteins with a number of modifiers. Now I will be ordering from another company. I am shocked businesses are this casual about losing brand new customers especially with the onslaught of cheaper chinese gear flooding the market. Is this a new development at PCB? I am very disappointed with them and how I was treated.

Keep in mind that many vendors are trying to PROTECT YOU from credit card fraud...like someone gets your credit card number, tries to charge things and have them sent to any address which is other than the credit card billing address.

Wilt wrote in post #17827231
Keep in mind that many vendors are trying to PROTECT YOU from credit card fraud...like someone gets your credit card number, tries to charge things and have them sent to an address which is other than the credit card billing address.

But in this instance they have spoken with the card holder (me) and verified it isnt fraud through CC verification. I even called beforehand to make sure I could do this. The problem is their "system" says one thing and real life says another.

In the old days, like fifteen years ago, people relied on brains and could solve/fix problems. Now if the computer is wrong- well, good luck getting anything done.