I highly recommend B&H to anyone as I use them exclusively for my needs.
Written: Jan 15 '07
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B&H has been my store of choice for photographic equipment and supplies for about 20 years. I also have ordered some computer needs from them.
Anyone that has ever spent a great amount of time looking for cameras and equipment on line will tell you there are many stores out there that boast low cost but have shady practices. The two most used are the "bait and switch" and the "grey market". In the bait and switch a brand name product ie, Canon lens is advertised at an unbelievable low price. When you call to order guess what? They are out of stock but, they have another item (unknown name brand) that the "specs" and suggested retail price are even higher than what you were looking for! Better yet, they will send this to you for even less money that the product you wanted to begin with! Great savings? No, you are being had! If you fall for it you get some junk that is far below the quality of what you wanted. Gray market is equipment that was not made to be sold in the US. Again using Canon as an example that company makes equipment to be sold in the US and that equipment comes to Canon here in the US where it is inspected, a US warranty is applied and then packaged for sale here. They also make equipment that is shipped all over the world (sometimes not exactly as the US model) and the warranty is in Japan. Understand if you get a gray market model it may not be exactly what you wanted and if you do have a problem and you want warranty work, you are sending your item to Japan. It is not going to be back at your home for a very long time and shipping cost are going to be higher. If you are willing to take the chance on this item and the dealer plainly tells you it is gray market fine. Many stores out there do not! B&H has never pulled a bait and switch on me. On occasion they have not had what I was looking for in stock and they plainly told me so. They would offer at times a competitive quality/priced product or offer what I wanted on a back order status. They would leave that up to me and not push either way. B&H does offer some gray market but it is plain to tell if it is or not. You will see the product you are looking for for a price and then you will see the same product at a price just a little higher. The higher price will state USA warranty. The lower will state B&H warranty. I have no experience
with the B&H warranty as I never buy gray market myself. Bottom line here is B&H has highly competitive prices and fast delivery on in stock items. If you see it somewhere else at a greatly reduced price, I would smell a rat. I would call the other place, make sure what you want is in stock, that it is not gray market and there are no hidden fees such as a much higher shipping cost. And of course I would be on the look out for the bait and switch. If they do that, hang up. If all seems well at this point I would still go one step further. I would check the place out through the BBB and look at reviews for that store.
On customer service B&H is as good or better than any other on line discounted store. They are somewhat helpful but they make there money selling in huge numbers on line and not by taking a lot of time with the customer as you would find in your local camera store. They will however take more time with your questions than most of the on line stores will. But at your local store you are going to pay much more because you have to pay the salary of the person helping you. If you are new to the products and don't really know what you want or need, or how to operate the product it may be better to pay more, learn more, find out what you need and buy locally. Eye to eye with a knowledgeable sales person can save you in the end by you getting what you really need and the education on how to operate it rather than paying a good price on something that is not exactly what you want/need. But if you know exactly what you want, B&H can save you a bundle. It is somewhat shady on your part but you can always opt to go to the local camera store, take up the sales persons time and get the education that person will give you and find out the product you want. Then you can go home, get on line and price it at B&H. If there is a huge savings, then you can order. But, in fairness to the local store if I did see a savings I would go back to that store and quote the price you got from B&H. They may not be able to match but they may come close. And of course you will be paying sales tax. But if they come close you should consider rewarding them for their time by making the purchase there. That is up to you.
I read one bad review on B&H. It had to do with a product that B&H had drop shipped from the company that made the product. With B&H as well as many on line stores many large and costly items are not in stock and drop shipping is the norm. Any time you are getting an item drop shipped you can expect the item to take more time to get to your home. And because there is yet one more person in line dealing with the product there is one more chance for a mistake to be made by the store or the manufacturer on your order. I myself have had an item drop shipped by B&H and it did take longer as I expected but the item came just as ordered.
Lastly, B&H has always been very prompt in getting my orders out. If I ordered early in the day I often received tracking info on the item the same day or the next business day. Every item I have ever received from B&H was well packed and in brand new condition. Unless you buy something they have plainly stated as an "open box" sale item, expect your item to be brand new, off the shelf and unopened. I did order an open box lens once and it came in fine shape although you could tell it had been out of the box for display (just as advertised). However the warranty card was not in the box. I called B&H about this and in a few days the warranty card came to me in the mail.
B&H is closed on Saturday but open on Sundays. They observe all or most Jewish holidays and some Christian holidays such a Christmas day.
I use and have used B&H exclusively for my needs because the are up front, honest and deliver a product very timely and in the condition you would expect. All at most of the time a huge savings over local buying. Add to this, if you are outside NY state no sales tax and you are not hit with a hidden fee of a greatly inflated shipping charge. Speaking of shipping charges, the site will allow you to put in your zip code and it will compute the charges item by item at what ever level and type shipping you choose.
Bottom line, as far as on line shopping goes, B&H rates 5 stars.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Camera''s, camera equipment, lens, and lighting, dark room equipment
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Epinions.com ID:
charliecr
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Reviews written: 12
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