B&H Customer Service

Today I had the opportunity to visit B&H. I've never seen so much camera gear in my life. My "want one" meter pegged out pretty quickly and i nearly needed a defibrillator to bring me back to reality.

My mission was to find a bag to take on a photography trip to Yellowstone in September. I was met by a customer service representative name Isaac. I told him what i was interested in. He asked what camera bodies and lenses i plan to carry and if I wanted a roller bag or a backpack style bag. Back pack style please, and I told him, 5D3, 7D2, 100-400 II, 24-70 II, Sigma 150-600 mm C and possibility a 100 MM L. To my surprise, he confirmed airline carry-on luggage size via the internet, grabbed a bag and said, "let get some gear and see how it fits". We went to the counter, he grabbed one of each of the items I listed and started putting them in the bag. WOW. As we looked at the bag and gear I mentioned that I will have a flight on a CRJ and may need to keep the bag as small as possible. He agreed and grabbed a smaller bag and we transferred the lenses. Perfect. Can you ship it for me, i'm already traveling with a full load of luggage, i asked. Absolutely and for free.

I'm sure there are other businesses out there that have an Isaac working for them, but as someone who has been pleased with my online shopping experiences with B&H and Adorama, I wanted to share my "in person" experience. I was impressed.

Maybe next trip I can visit some other camera stores.

Good to hear.. sidenote... What bag did you end up with? That's very similar to what I am looking for. I bought a lowero flipside 400 and it's not even close to being big enough. Comfortable, but too small. I have a 7D2 with a 100-400 MkII on it and then a sigma 150-600 and that's pretty much it for room on the inside.

carpenter wrote in post #18079321
Good to hear.. sidenote... What bag did you end up with? That's very similar to what I am looking for. I bought a lowero flipside 400 and it's not eve close to being big enough. Comfortable, but too small. I have a 7D2 with a 100-400 MkII on it and then a sigma 150-600 and that's pretty much it for room on the inside.

We ended up with a Think Tank Airport Essentials. I looked at the Flipside 500, but it was big.

Very nice! I love reading stories like this...both the customer service perspective and the excitement of being new gear! Congrats on the ThinkTank...they make great gear!

Cheers,
Bryan

Awesome. Nice to hear about a great customer experience!

B&H has always been good to me also. I've heard nothing but good things from many people about their customer service.

There have been issues posted before and Henry used to have to answer to those claims on the boards.

Awesome deal. I have nearly that same setup, except I have a 70-200 instead of the 100-400. Good to know what will fit.

BTW, can you take a photo with your gear after you get settled. I'd like to see how it is all arrainged. that 150-600 C is pretty damn big.

mikeinctown wrote in post #18080340
Awesome deal. I have nearly that same setup, except I have a 70-200 instead of the 100-400. Good to know what will fit.

BTW, can you take a photo with your gear after you get settled. I'd like to see how it is all arrainged. that 150-600 C is pretty damn big.

I'll see what I can do. Hopefully the new bag will arrive tomorrow.

Overtime I have needed help in the store, the staff is always very helpful.

Stefan

Nice to hear.

Why not tweet it to @BHPhotoVideo

You will need edit your OP of course.

I've never been to the actual store, but have always had good experiences when ordering online from B&H.

On a side note, why take both the 100-400L II and Sigma 150-600? Seems redundant -- especially if you'll be flying there. FYI, when we went to Yellowstone last year, I brought along a 7D2, 5D3, 16-35L f/4, 24-105L, 100-400L II, 1.4x TC III, EOS M, EF-M 22mm pancake, and EF-M 18-55mm. All this fit in a Flipside 400AW.

B&H is top notch and their store is amazing. You can put your hands on just about anything they carry before you buy it and get great recommendations if what you were looking for didn't quite work out for you.

If you're at all into photography and visiting NYC it's well worth the trip.

Here you go. Note: If you want to see how dusty your equipment is, take a picture of it.

Anyway, I've packed all the listed gear in here (Sigma 150-600 C, 100-400 II, 24-70 II, 100 L, 7DII, 5DII), but I'm not completely happy with it as i currently have it. As you can see, my gripped 7DII sits a bit higher than the padded partition which causes me some concern in that my MS Surface will be in the outside pouch above it. I may have to remove the battery grip and carry that in a separate bag with extra batteries, GPS for 5DIII, cleaning equipment, a toolkit and other incidentals.