B&H help

I'm leaving for a trip to England on Tuesday morning, and I need a few bits and pieces like a camera backpack to get my photo gear and laptop in one piece of carry-on (current Heathrow rules).

I was extremely busy all week, so I checked when the Thursday cut-off for next day shipping is (4PM) and give B&H a call just before then. While I was placing the order, the guy I was talking to said he would not ship in next day because it was 4:02. No exceptions. I told him it probably wasn't worth placing the order then, and he immediately hung up on me.

I placed the order online on Friday at noon, but it was not shipped. It will presumably be "shipped" today, but because there is no Sunday UPS pick-up, it won't go out until Monday morning. So, everything will arrive while I'm somewhere over the Atlantic.

I'm going to have to go buy the backpack at a local store, or I won't even be able to take my photo gear on the plane. There was also some film I'll have to replace if they can't work something out. The crappy thing is that I'll end up losing $40-50 in Visa currency exchange fees if I have to completely cancel the order. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if they didn't have an extremely odd practice of charging credit cards the moment an order is placed, instead of when it's shipped.

My proposal is to ask them to remove the backpack and ship the remainder of the order to the house I'll be staying at in England, then refund the difference. I am quite concerned I'll get the same level of customer service the guy I spoke to on Thursday provided. I know their general policy is to not ship to anywhere other than the billing address unless the shipping address is in the US. I've sent an e-mail to Henry Posner asking him to look into it for me, but I'm not sure he will get back to me in time.

Is it likely they'll be willing to accommodate this plan? Am I right about the Sunday UPS pick-up thing?

Ok I won't lecture you on waiting to the last minute. Or the fact that if you let you order be at 4:02 on Thursday, it would have shipped on Friday to arrive on Monday. Nope, I won't lecture.

I am sure you got caught up in their closing Friday afternoon before sundown for the Sabbath which is why they are closed on Saturday. Even though they are open on Sunday and you may get a "Your package has shipped" e-mail from them today. UPS will not pick up until tomorrow and next-day would be Tuesday. Sorry!

As far as shipping to a third party address out of country, I can't answer.

P.S. For what it is worth, I have never had a negative customer service experience with B&H.Even just last week when I called for a Domke Insert and another item. They did not have the insert in stock (turns out nobody does) so I said I would wait and check around. The call was ended very matter-of-factly. No hang up, no rush.

And while I am at it. There were some complaints here on POTN re: packaging from B&H. I know Mr. Posner responded. Has anyone else noted that packaging seems to have improved. I got two packages from B&H in the past week. More bubble wrap and more air pillows with the item packaged more securely. Thank you for listening even though I wasn't one of the complainers!

Yes, leaving it to the last minute definitely wasn't a good idea, but I was cramming three weeks of work into a few days while battling through a disgusting cold, so I do have a reasonable excuse

I was not impressed with their hard, no excuse cut-off. They shouldn't be doing that to customers on the phone placing orders, or at the very least they should be able to make small exceptions. I also wasn't too impressed with being hung up on. I didn't actually leave it as late as possible -- 2 day would have been fine on Thursday, but I was willing to pay for next day to give me some padding.

I understand about the early closing time on Friday, which is why I placed my order 4-1/2 hours before closing, which is before their normal internet order cutoff for next day shipping.

My last order arrived with the typical packaging, and a big dent in a lens box (100-400). It was over a month ago, though.

My 24-70L cam packed ina decent size box with bubble wrap and paper....no complaints here..

As for the original question...my guess is your order is already packed up and it will be difficult for them to get it intercepted by the warehouse before UPS picks it up. It may be worth a call but I am guessing you will just need to return the backpack when you get back...

I forgot to mention that I live in Canada (hence the currency exchange), which further complicates returns.

Once the product is shipped, the company can't do anything - it's in the hands of UPS or FedEx or whoever the carrier is. Usually electronics can't be shoipped to a different address, especially out of the country. To someone in customer service, it may sound like a scam.

Do you have a trusted friend who can sign for the package then reship to you?

This order has NOT been shipped yet. It looks like I'm going to have to cancel it and take the exchange rate hit on the refund. Having the order re-shipped to me in the UK would be silly. I'd have to pay Canadian sales tax and VAT in addition to both sets of shipping charges. Plus, I've already paid extra for next day shipping from B&H, which is now useless to me.

Well, the guy I spoke to on the phone was extremely helpful, and made every effort to change the shipping address to where I'll be staying in England. Unfortunately, their verification department stopped the procedure at the last moment, so I had to have him cancel the entire order.

tsk-tsk-tsk..... there's always first for everything. go to bestbuy or ritz. just get something that will protect you gear.(canon bags, etc.)