bh photo video customer service at DVinfo.net

Phil Bloom · March 2nd, 2007, 10:16 AM

As one of the sponsors of this site I was wondering what people's experiences have been with their customer service?

I have had nothing but problems when things aren't right. They often give very curt replies and often just ignore. I have been waiting for a month for a missing french flag and a few screws. I have emailed them a dozen times and get fobbed off every time, one line replies or like now completely ignored.

Pretty poor considering I have spent close to 30 grand with them in the past six months.

Phil

Mike Teutsch · March 2nd, 2007, 10:20 AM

I have had nothing but good service from them. Please remember that they are New Yorkers and sometimes the way New Yorkers communicate with themselves and others seems curt. It generally is not meant that way. It is just a different way of communicating. Nothing meant by it.

Mike

Robert M Wright · March 2nd, 2007, 10:26 AM

I've had good experiences with them.

C.S. Michael · March 2nd, 2007, 11:23 AM

Something has changed with B&H online ordering fulfillment. They once offered a very fast turnaround, but now it takes a couple days of "processing" time before the product ships.

Geoff Dills · March 2nd, 2007, 11:46 AM

That may have been your experience, but in the past month I've placed two orders that were shipped the same day of the order....which is also the same experience I've had over ten years of using this vendor.

Brian Mills · March 2nd, 2007, 02:44 PM

I've ordered dozens of times from them over the past 3 years and have had nothing but positive experiences with them.

Andy Tejral · March 2nd, 2007, 03:18 PM

I've ordered plenty of stuff from them with no problems. And most of the time, every one else has the same experience.

I have heard about horror stories though. It seems like either things go well or they tend to go very poorly. Not sure if there is any common thread among the problems.

The worst I had was an order being held up for credit card verification. It was a delay of about a day and I'm still not sure exactly why there was a problem.

I'll still order from them.

Phil Bloom · March 2nd, 2007, 05:51 PM

its really frustrating. They can be great but when things go wrong it's so hard to sort out. their email customer service is appaling

Kevin Wild · March 3rd, 2007, 01:26 AM

I'm with you, Phil. I've done about $80k in business with them the past year or two. They are a FABULOUS company when all goes well. They are extremely reliable and rarely have delayed any shipments or gotten anything wrong on any of my orders.

HOWEVER, if something goes wrong you are in deep stuff. :-) Last I remember, they didn't even have a phone menu for customer services, which is odd for a company that size. The couple times I needed to change an order after it had been submitted were horrible...

Good luck with it. Not much else to say...

Mark Bournes · March 3rd, 2007, 08:04 AM

I buy from them all the time and ALWAYS recommend them on this site. Understand when dealing with any company's customer service that there may be issues from time to time. If you ever go there and buy in person (which I highly recommend) they are great to deal with. They were very helpful in my last purchase.

Benjamin Hill · March 3rd, 2007, 09:23 AM

I agree B&H reps are somewhat curt on the phone but I just take it for East coast personality :)

Otherwise they have been pretty ideal to work with; in regards to ordering, returns, and even instances where the screw-up was my fault, they have always resolved it.

Dennis Khaye · March 3rd, 2007, 02:52 PM

I'm with Ben: "I just take it for East coast personality." I've ordered from them three times in 2006. First two went off without a hitch but the third item, Jeesh what a headache.

Kevin Randolph · March 3rd, 2007, 07:23 PM

I had an order issue with them once, and they way I found to have it resolved was to call, have a specific goal of resolution in mind, and explain to them that it was costing them more to put me off (cost of operator's time, expense of 1-800#, cost of manager's time, etc.) than to resolve my issue. It still took two days, and quite a few phone calls, but they did resolve it. I just wish that the, "How can I solve your problem?" attitude had been there to start with. In my opinion, a little understanding goes a long way.

Liam Hall · March 4th, 2007, 02:21 PM

Love them. Best store in the world for anoraks like me. My father in-law lives on W43rd & 9th so it's very handy when I need to disappear from all that family stuff. In fact he normally comes with me as he's a retired features DOP.

Greg Quinn · March 5th, 2007, 12:41 AM

I think the comment above about being located in New York, and being somewhat blunt is true, and it's just a regional thing (they're really OK!).

That said, I've had major issues dealing with Customer Service for the past few orders, after getting great service from them up until then, and my sense is that they be having growing pains. But they really do have very good prices and a very wide selection of items.

March 2nd, 2007, 10:16 AM	#1
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	bh photo video customer service As one of the sponsors of this site I was wondering what people's experiences have been with their customer service? I have had nothing but problems when things aren't right. They often give very curt replies and often just ignore. I have been waiting for a month for a missing french flag and a few screws. I have emailed them a dozen times and get fobbed off every time, one line replies or like now completely ignored. Pretty poor considering I have spent close to 30 grand with them in the past six months. Phil __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 2nd, 2007, 10:20 AM	#2
Mike Teutsch Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Port St. Lucie, Florida Posts: 2,614	I have had nothing but good service from them. Please remember that they are New Yorkers and sometimes the way New Yorkers communicate with themselves and others seems curt. It generally is not meant that way. It is just a different way of communicating. Nothing meant by it. Mike __________________ Chapter one, line one. The BH.

March 2nd, 2007, 03:18 PM	#7
Andy Tejral Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New York City Posts: 523	I've ordered plenty of stuff from them with no problems. And most of the time, every one else has the same experience. I have heard about horror stories though. It seems like either things go well or they tend to go very poorly. Not sure if there is any common thread among the problems. The worst I had was an order being held up for credit card verification. It was a delay of about a day and I'm still not sure exactly why there was a problem. I'll still order from them. __________________ Andy Tejral Railroad Videographer

March 2nd, 2007, 05:51 PM	#8
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	its really frustrating. They can be great but when things go wrong it's so hard to sort out. their email customer service is appaling __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 3rd, 2007, 08:04 AM	#10
Mark Bournes Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Jupiter, FL Posts: 565	I buy from them all the time and ALWAYS recommend them on this site. Understand when dealing with any company's customer service that there may be issues from time to time. If you ever go there and buy in person (which I highly recommend) they are great to deal with. They were very helpful in my last purchase. __________________ Mark www.sharkvp.com

March 2nd, 2007, 10:26 AM	#3
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	I've had good experiences with them.

March 2nd, 2007, 11:23 AM	#4
C.S. Michael Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Birmingham, AL Posts: 197	Something has changed with B&H online ordering fulfillment. They once offered a very fast turnaround, but now it takes a couple days of "processing" time before the product ships.

March 2nd, 2007, 11:46 AM	#5
Geoff Dills Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 85	That may have been your experience, but in the past month I've placed two orders that were shipped the same day of the order....which is also the same experience I've had over ten years of using this vendor.

March 2nd, 2007, 02:44 PM	#6
Brian Mills Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 126	I've ordered dozens of times from them over the past 3 years and have had nothing but positive experiences with them.

March 3rd, 2007, 01:26 AM	#9
Kevin Wild Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 540	I'm with you, Phil. I've done about $80k in business with them the past year or two. They are a FABULOUS company when all goes well. They are extremely reliable and rarely have delayed any shipments or gotten anything wrong on any of my orders. HOWEVER, if something goes wrong you are in deep stuff. :-) Last I remember, they didn't even have a phone menu for customer services, which is odd for a company that size. The couple times I needed to change an order after it had been submitted were horrible... Good luck with it. Not much else to say...

March 3rd, 2007, 09:23 AM	#11
Benjamin Hill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Iowa City, Iowa Posts: 670	I agree B&H reps are somewhat curt on the phone but I just take it for East coast personality :) Otherwise they have been pretty ideal to work with; in regards to ordering, returns, and even instances where the screw-up was my fault, they have always resolved it. __________________ youtube.com/benhillmedia linkedin.com/in/benhillmedia

March 3rd, 2007, 02:52 PM	#12
Dennis Khaye Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 255	I'm with Ben: "I just take it for East coast personality." I've ordered from them three times in 2006. First two went off without a hitch but the third item, Jeesh what a headache.

March 3rd, 2007, 07:23 PM	#13
Kevin Randolph Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 423	I had an order issue with them once, and they way I found to have it resolved was to call, have a specific goal of resolution in mind, and explain to them that it was costing them more to put me off (cost of operator's time, expense of 1-800#, cost of manager's time, etc.) than to resolve my issue. It still took two days, and quite a few phone calls, but they did resolve it. I just wish that the, "How can I solve your problem?" attitude had been there to start with. In my opinion, a little understanding goes a long way. __________________ "... the drama is on your doorstep..." - John Grierson www.grvideo.net

March 4th, 2007, 02:21 PM	#14
Liam Hall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 969	Love them. Best store in the world for anoraks like me. My father in-law lives on W43rd & 9th so it's very handy when I need to disappear from all that family stuff. In fact he normally comes with me as he's a retired features DOP.

March 5th, 2007, 12:41 AM	#15
Greg Quinn Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 505	I think the comment above about being located in New York, and being somewhat blunt is true, and it's just a regional thing (they're really OK!). That said, I've had major issues dealing with Customer Service for the past few orders, after getting great service from them up until then, and my sense is that they be having growing pains. But they really do have very good prices and a very wide selection of items.