If You Need Anything Photographic, They're Your Men
Written: Jun 23 '03
| Ease of Ordering: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Selection: |
|
|
| On-Time Delivery: |
|
|
|
| Full Review |
It's one thing to order online from a brick-and-mortar store. It's quite another to actually experience the store from inside.
If you are anywhere near New York City, or you have more than a passing interest in photography[*], you've at least heard of B&H Photo Video Pro Audio. They've been around now, what, thirty years? That block-long building, constant deliveries hosing traffic on 33rd Street, busfuls of Hasidim coming to work and leaving work. It's one of the few quirky only-in-New-York stores left.
[*] I have yet to really check out the non-photography elements of the store. I do realize, however, that they sell an excellent selection of home theater, Macintosh and PC editing-quality workstations, and other electronic audio and video peripherals within the confines, but I won't speculate further.
Online
I did most of my research online at their website, so technically I can still use this category, right? The search engine is quite good, and doesn't bring in lots of useless information when you type, say, "Canon Powershot". Or, type "Canon" and search in "Digital Photography" and you are presented with the Canon Online Store at B&H. It's quite useful.
Full details on every camera they sell are presented online in an easy-to-use interface. If you have the ability to move your fingers and operate a mouse, it's likely you can navigate through the B&H system.
B&H are licensed dealers, online and off, of so many different camera manufacturers, that you'll notice every active camera model you could hope for available for sale on the website (and in the store). They also carry all the bleeding-edge digital cameras, with prices upwards of $3,000 frequently showcased. These behemoths are of course not for the average Joe, but they certainly have the clientele to entertain thoughts of taking these top-of-the-line cameras home. It's one of the many things I like about a B&H over a Best Buy--every level of consumer is represented and welcome.
I've never ordered online from B&H, 'tis true, but I work a few blocks from the store, and it's much more fun to wander through the B&H maze!
Bricks, Mortar
The store is broken down into several cramped departments, all seemingly connected by the ancient-looking (but actually rather high-tech) conveyor system. Walking to the Digital Photography department takes you past telescopes and camera accessories and lots of other goods for sale. The photographer's wet-dream Used Camera Equipment floor is upstairs, and from all accounts is pure heaven for the not-rich photophiliac.
Digital photography has obviously taken off, so it's no surprise that there is a line stretching down and back on most days in front of the camera section. A floor sales guy will usually come by with a copy of the catalog to help you decide what you want to compare once you make it to the front and find one of the 20 or so stations open. If the wait is long enough, they'll come by with a dish of candy as well. I guess the camera crew doesn't much appreciate bad breath from potential customers.
If you already know what you want, you can simply go to the Express line, which as you expect is shorter. There are still a good ten salesmen waiting to take your order. No professionals are there to discuss the merits of the camera you've chosen since that's the whole point of having an Express ordering area.
This past weekend, the digital line was about 15 customers long, customers both tourist and local. We made it to the front in about 15 minutes. In the meantime, we'd decided on a few models from the catalog to test. We also had the opportunity within the catalog to compare a lot of other models against the Canon products; the catalog is laid out so that similar cameras from a wide assortment of manufacturers are displayed near each other.
Back to our salesperson. He was very helpful, and had a rather beat-up, but working, floor model of each of the three cameras I came to check out. Well, that's not completely true; by the time I'd gotten to the front, I'd decided on models a bit more powerful that when I originally walked in. Oh well, early Christmas present!
Pricing Surprises (in a good way)
Prices in the catalog and online are usually the price you will pay. However, B&H has a habit of lowering the lowest manufacturer's street price to a level where the manufacturer would rather not have it disclosed out in the wide open. Online, B&H has a feature where you can type in your e-mail address, and the site will send you the actual price. At the store, they're happy to quote the price directly to you. In this manner, I learned the $499.95 camera I was willing to purchase was really only $459.95. Bonus!
The Buying Experience
We discussed the pluses and minuses, patiently on his part, for a good ten minutes before we decided on the Canon PowerShot S400 Digital Elph, a tiny little bugger with 4-megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, and a bunch of features closer to the A70 I was also considering. It's also ridiculously small, and only an inch thick. Pocket-sized.
I did purchase the five-year parts and labor plan they offer (third-party, from a camera store in New Jersey), for two reasons: it was just $50, and my previous digital camera died last month after a robust 15 months of service. Given that the repair company wouldn't even look at that camera for under $150, I figure it's money well-spent. And the salesman wasn't hard-selling it, either; as I said, a very patient guy. I also picked up an extra lithium battery--they sell a compatible one with more power than the Canon-labeled spare for $35, $15 cheaper than Canon's--and a camera case, which for some reason isn't included with the camera. Canon's decision, I guess, and the $15 just would have been added to the camera cost anyway.
Checkout
All the shopping-cart information was entered by this salesman, who then pointed me to the cashiers, more toward the front of the store. After navigating our way through the slightly confused people around us, we handed our clerk--one of at least ten, naturally--our bill, he ran it through, made certain that we were the same people our credit card said we were--electronic and photographic equipment are frequent marks for people with stolen credit cards, after all--and it was on to the pickup station.
Once you've paid, you walk to the pickup area with your papers and slips, and wait in that quickly-moving line. In the five or ten minutes since we'd purchased the product, our order was assembled at the camera salesman's station, sent on the conveyor system, labeled, tagged and bagged, and hung on a pegboard awaiting my arrival at the pickup station. It's obviously a little more clumsy than simply wheeling a cart around the store, but in its own way it's rather charming. At pickup, there might be twenty workers milling about grabbing packages and swiping barcodes, matching up buyer with package. It looks like a mess, but really is quite efficient. Like the stock market floor on a small scale, perhaps.
B&H employs literally hundreds of people, and I think they're all men (not that there's anything wrong with that). Since they're an observant sect, they close up shop on Fridays by 2:00 pm during Daylight Savings Time (1:00 otherwise), opening again at 10:00 Sunday. They also take all major and minor Jewish holidays off, some even my Jewish friends had forgotten about.
Bottom Line
B&H shows that a heavy emphasis on customer service goes a long way in the retail business. They're known the world over, they are well-respected by professionals in the industry, and yet they still don't gouge their customers, either online or in person. It's the kind of place that has worked hard to get your business and fortunately, won't settle for anything but the highest level of service. Is it any question I won't go anywhere else?
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Canon PowerShot S400 Digital Elph
|
|
|
|
|
B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 