My name is Marco, and I'm from Brazil. I made an international purchase on the B&H website on 11/26/24, with delivery scheduled for 11/27/24. I work in content creation and recording for the internet, and I purchased an SSL2 interface. The delivery address was in Kissimmee, FL. This order was to be brought to me by a friend. I tracked the delivery on the B&H website, and the package arrived on 11/27/24. I contacted my friend to confirm if everything was correct. To my surprise, the product didn't arrive. I checked the FedEx website and saw that the package had been sent to 166 Bristol Ave, Hyannis, MA *******, *******503.

I contacted B&H to report the issue, and their response was that the product had been delivered and that nothing could be done. They said their website confirms delivery data before completing the purchase, which didn't happen in my case, as no such confirmation appeared for me.

I double-checked the Kissimmee, FL address before completing the order. It's important to mention that earlier this year, I made another purchase through B&H to the same address, and everything went smoothly. However, this situation is much more serious.

Outraged by this delivery error, I started researching online and found other serious reports of customers facing similar issues, and it seems that these occurrences are being completely ignored. In my opinion, there are signs of a scheme where criminals are compromising B&H's website, possibly using USB devices in places with internet access that prevent IP identification. These intruders interfere with the purchase process, redirect products to alternate addresses, and no one notices, not even B&H. I wrote to the company asking them not to ignore my report, as they have a great reputation, and this is jeopardizing their legacy.

Please consider the following:

How could I have specifically directed the shipment to 166 Bristol Ave, Hyannis, MA *******, *******503?
I wouldn't have known how to detail that address.
I have no personal or professional connections to anyone in that region.
If I had received any notification about a different address, I would have noticed the error and corrected it immediately before completing the purchase.
Why was this address concealed, and why wasn't I notified?
I only discovered this Massachusetts address on FedEx's website, as it was never shown to me.
This situation clearly indicates a serious problem.

Please understand that I am facing both a financial loss and a serious impact on my work. I am a digital content creator who depends on this equipment and trusted your store.

As an American company, I believe B&H should value consumer rights. I've asked them not to ignore this issue. There are clear signs of fraud that will continue unless addressed. Finally, considering the clear security failure in B&H's online transaction system, I understand that B&H holds co-responsibility for completing this compromised transaction. I should not be penalized for the vulnerability of B&H's system.

I have requested a solution beyond the responses of "we can't do anything" or "you wrote the wrong address." I need this product to continue my work. I've provided my phone number here in Brazil in the hope of a real solution to this issue. Thank you for your attention, and I eagerly await a satisfactory response from B&H.

This company is ridiculous. Instead of doing the right thing, they continue to try an argue a moot point about what they did to me. They have probably spent over $1,000 arguing against my complaint at this point instead of doing the right thing when you consider Yaakov's, Angelica, Hershey, Henry, and now Brian's time.

Here is there latest attempt to explain why they should not refund my money. Now they are saying that Yaakov never mentioned I should go to Canon. So I just came up with that idea on my own. Unbelievable.

Hi Jeffrey,

You recently completed a B&H Customer Satisfaction Survey and gave us valuable feedback concerning your shopping experience. I apologize that you felt you were given bad information from our customer service agent which you feel will result in a loss of $2,500 to you. What you describe is contrary to B&H's standards of excellence. We expect our employees and our business partners like Canon to keep to the same high standards that we have. We want every customer to be happy and have the best solution possible.

B&H has been in business for 50 years, and we believe our commitment to honesty with our customers resonates in everything we do. We would never intentionally mislead a customer, blame, or make a customer feel they were at fault. My role is to advocate for our customers and not to try and spin things to protect our company. At any point if you would like to discuss this on the telephone I would be glad to speak with you. When there is a situation such as the one you brought to our attention I do all of my due diligence to find out exactly what happened. There is no winner in these situations and as the customer you have the ability to spend your money where you think you should. If I find what our customer is telling us is correct I will do what is right and not worry about any possible financial loss to our company.

I reviewed your comments and Henry Posner's responses in SiteJabber. I also reviewed this at length with Hershie R who is the customer service supervisor you are dealing with and have had telephone conversations. We record our calls for quality assurance and training purposes. I reviewed the call you had on the morning of August 7th when you initially contacted us about the defect in the printer. The following is a summary of what was said on the call.

You explained that the scanner was defective, you had already contacted Canon spent an hour with them as they tried to troubleshoot the issue who stated there was a problem with the scanner and it would need to be replaced. The agent said we can set up a simple exchange as we have more in stock. You then said you do not have the packaging material and the agent responded that you could send it back in another box and we will keep the other box and send the replacement scanner to you. You asked how long it would take and he said you should have it by the end of the week. You said I cannot do that as I am a week behind. He then said to make this go faster, make a fresh order now, we will have to charge you for it and then refund it when the defective scanner comes back to us. You said I cannot do that buddy, I am a small business and that again you are a week behind and said you would have to go through Canon. You also said they cannot do anything for you until Wednesday. Our agent still said he would set up the exchange paperwork as he had a hunch setting up the exchange through us would be faster than going through Canon. He tried to discourage you from going through Canon. He offered and provided the two phone numbers for Canon.

It is very unfortunate for what happened here although as Hershie and others explained we cannot take back the scanner that Canon provided to you as the serial number does not match. Most likely it is refurbished and we do not have any agreement with Canon to take back stock that was not originally sold to us. I know you may not recall the conversation verbatim although this is what actually occurred. The agent never said that you should contact Canon as they would get the scanner to you faster. Again, he tried to discourage you from going that route.

I would like to thank you for considering us for your purchases. I would appreciate if you could reply to this email or I can be reached at the telephone number below.

Best Regards,
Brian

Brian Markman
Senior Manager Marketing Customer Advocacy
B&H

For years, B&H Photo has been a trusted name in the photography and videography world, but their recent partnership with Comenity Capital Bank has raised serious concerns about their commitment to customers' well-being.

Questionable Partnerships: B&H's decision to partner with Comenity Capital Bank for the Payboo Card has exposed their loyal customers to questionable financial practices. This bank's history of what many, including myself, deem predatory behavior is widely documented. Such an association is surprising and deeply disappointing from a brand that holds such a reputable position in the market.

Shared Responsibility: By choosing to do business with a bank with a contentious reputation, B&H Photo is indirectly subjecting its patrons to potentially deceptive and harmful financial practices. While B&H might argue that the responsibility lies with Comenity, it's essential to acknowledge that B&H's endorsement of the Payboo Card makes them complicit. They cannot turn a blind eye to the experiences their customers face due to this partnership.

Reputation at Stake: B&H's association with Comenity Capital Bank has already begun to tarnish their otherwise stellar reputation. It's a classic case of a company's actions speaking louder than their words. B&H Photo needs to seriously reconsider this partnership if they wish to maintain the trust and loyalty of their vast customer base.

In conclusion, while B&H Photo has always been a reliable source for high-quality photography and videography equipment, their business decisions, particularly their association with Comenity Capital Bank, have cast a shadow of doubt. I urge potential customers to be cautious and make informed decisions when considering financial products associated with B&H. And to B&H Photo - your customers deserve better.

I would like to give an update to my review today is September 6th, 2023
After painstaking weeks, finally the case was resolved, I sincerely appreciate the effort made by B&H, especially from Brian, Thank you Brian. In this case B&H proved to me that they take customer satisfaction as their number one priority. But meanwhile my recommendation of B&H wisely choose partners remain, because they can really cause the pain and damaging your reputation.

Let me begin by saying I am a long-time customer of B&H, going back to the days of film cameras.

I recently tried to use ApplePay, but it wanted less than 30 characters and my address, with every possible abbreviation was 34 characters. This may be an ApplePay issue. I can't say. Then I went to PayPal and had more address issues. (In fact, the last time I ordered from B&H, I had so many problems that I had to call, to complete the order.)

I think this second issue may have been a B&H problem. When I reviewed my order, I was fortunate enough to look at it in detail. Although there was no popup, overlaying the rest of the screen, or bold text in a red box or other obvious signal that something had been changed, it turned out that MY SHIPPING ADDRESS HAD BEEN MODIFIED! Sure, there was a notice that the address had been changed. But the notice was styled in such a way as to make it quite easy to overlook. Had I not been paying close attention and accepted the order, with the automatic change, MY PURCHASE WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST!

What kind of incompetent addlepated moron would even think of arbitrarily changing a shipping address?! THAT'S INSANE! They just chose to arbitrarily leave out a very critical part of the shipping address. I've run IT departments and hired programmers and if one of my programmers had come to me with such a totally insane idea, I would not only have shut down the idea instantly, but I would have counseled him and notated his file and he would not have received a raise at his next review. Modifying a shipping address is the ultimate in stupidity. At least Apple just limited the address to 30 characters, which I personally think is a little short. But at least they didn't just arbitrarily change the address, to fit within the 30 characters. (FYI, If your shipping address happened to be something as simple as "123 4th St", but you were in the real town of "Chickasawhatchee, GA", you would be over the 30 character limit. But I digress.)

That said, if you are stuck on stupid and really want to make such a change, you should notify the user with bold high contrast text, in a box overlaying the rest of the screen and not allow the user to proceed without accepting or rejecting the change. But that's only if you're stuck on stupid. No retailer should NEVER, under ANY circumstance, make an arbitrary change to a shipping address. Ask the user if he would like to make a suggested change and explain why. But don't make the change for him, until he has agreed.

I have bought a lot from B&H in the past and have liked their service. But this kind of stupidity in the order process is getting close to making me go to Amazon or some other dealer who realizes that I know my how my address has to be structured, in order to insure that I get what I order. I hope this changes before the next time I need to order something computer or camera related. Otherwise I may have to start looking elsewhere, since such insanity in the order process suggests that the problems could go way deeper and that B&H may no longer be the B&H that I valued in the past.

UPDATE

After asking B+W a second time for a reply, I received the following from them, hence 5 stars to B+W who recognized unit was defective and acted on it, and zero star if possible to B&H who didn't do anything but stating warranty was no longer valid, hence letting a customer do all the work to have a fair treatment.

Hi xxx

Authorization has been given to replace your polarizer.
As your version has been discontinued, we are sending the replacement under part # 66-*******. This is an 82mm MASTER HTC C-POL MRC NANO.
I am sorry for the delay. Please confirm the address on the receipt is still valid, and we will ship.

Original review follows:

Living in Canada, I bought from B&H Photo Video a B+W 82mm XS-Pro MRC Nano Polarizing Filter which with the time developed 2 issues. It is systematically falling apart every few hours of usage or so and there is a "delamination of the polarizing foil from the glass surface" as diagnostic says that now progressed enough to shows on pix when I shoot at F22. This filter at 150 $USD should have never pass quality control. I didn't returned the filter in the 30 days as I was in the field and then the 1 year warranty period for various reasons (pandemic meant much less usage and I kind of resigned myself to re-screw the filter regularly as needed). Not sure this filter was used for more than 8 weeks total. Rep in Canada who did diagnostic told me "we suggest you take up this problem with them" aka B&H. Yet B&H refused to do anything saying B+W warranty is 1 year. So I wrote to B+W USA and got the following as a reply: "we do not warranty B+W product sold by B&H, as they choose to buy from a source other than Schneider Optics. Any resolve on this matter must be handled through B&H"

So
B+W rep in Canada says B&H shall address this
B&H says on the phone nope more than a year sooooorry and no further support…
B+W rep in USA says "this matter must be handled through B&H"
What a bunch of complementing crooks! Both B&H and B+W are accountable in this.
This is what I wrote at B+W in Germany in a last attempt.
"This address www.schneiderkreuznach.com appears on the filter box and it appears in the email I have received down below, I'm sorry but that seems your company is not taking their responsibility seriously. Is there anything that can be done? You cannot sell faulty products that shouldn't pass quality control and wash your hands and walk away like this passing the ball to one another saying cowardly "not my problem".
That's nonsense!
Conclusion, AVOID B+W overpriced filters that delaminate and fell apart and avoid buying from B&H as if you have any problem and don't send everything back immediately (hence forbidding you to shoot) you'll lose your money and end with degraded quality of pix eventually. It's just a matter of time.

Be careful with B&H because if your return rate is too high they will refuse to let you return or exchange anything even if it is defective. I returned quite a few binoculars, but the reason was a lot of them were returns from other customers. You can tell when the box has been opened and the strap is just laying loose in the box. Recently I purchased a $2200 Vespera Telescope at B&H because they had the best price on it and with the Payboo Card I didn't have to pay any tax. I planned on keeping it, and I figured if it was defective they would at least EXCHANGE it. Well unfortunately the scope turned out to be defective, so I tried to exchange it, and then I get this email that because my return rate was high in the past they wouldn't even EXCHANGE the scope. I have returned a lot of stuff at other websites, and I have NEVER been banned from returning items. I have filed a dispute with the BBB just because I think what they are doing is unfair. After all, they could just return the scope to the seller and get reimbursed. If I had paid with PayPal, I am sure I could have won a dispute with B&H because it is not right to have to pay for a defective item and if the seller doesn't stand behind their products, I am sorry, but I don't respect them very much. This practice of refusing to allow customers to return items will come back to bite them because if they screw too many customers in this way it will get around the internet and people will think twice before they buy at B&H. Be forewarned when buying at B&H make sure you are not going to return the item and hope that it is not defective. If you go through these reviews of B&H you will see several one-star reviews where the customer complains about receiving used and returned items and many cases where B&H was reluctant to allow returns and exchanges. B&H likes to sell, but they don't like to take returns, regardless of what their BS Return Policy says!

SO EASY TO USE AND SAVE MONEY RIGHT... bhphotovideo.com Thanks for existing. Your service is out of this world.

I was always told B&H Photo-Video was THE go-to store for camera equipment. WRONG. Throughout my very 1st major buy from B&H, I experienced one of the most frustrating, screwed up, incompetence-riddled, drawn out experiences of my life.

It started when I made a fairly large purchase of about $2,000. Two of the cameras seemed like they had been opened, so I returned them: 2 Olympus TG-6 waterproof cameras—1 black & 1 red.

The refund to my credit card for the purchase of the black one went off w/o a problem…. However, regarding the red one, as of today (date 9/2/21), the money for that camera has YET to be refunded to my credit card—although it was received by B&H nearly three weeks ago (8/16/21).

I have made about 20 phone calls to B&H. And each time I've been told: "there's a problem of some kind, I'll have to check" (no callback), "It should be coming soon," "Definitely within the next 48 hours," "that's still in process," etc. etc. Etc. Etc.

For nearly 2 wks, the camera wasn't even showing as having been returned. I called multiple times & no one knew what was going on. Finally, I found out that although FedEx had indeed delivered it (signed for), B&H apparently LOST the camera/package somewhere between the shipping dept. & the returns dept. And I only found this out after 2 wks when they FINALLY informed me that I needed to sign an "Affidavit" to be emailed to me, which would declare that I had indeed returned the camera (even though FedEx was showing that it had been delivered).

Then came the comedic farce involving me actually receiving (or rather, never receiving) the "Affidavit" via email.

• When I called on Fri. 8/27, I was told it would be sent by Sun 8/29.
—never came.
• When I called on Monday 8/30, I was told it would be sent by the end of the day.
—never came.
• When I called on Wednesday 9/1, I was told by the CS rep that no one knew why the "Affidavit" hadn't been sent out to me, but that it would "definitely" be sent to me by the end of the day because that CS rep was going to personally walk over to that dept. & have them send it.
—never came.
• When I called on Thursday 9/2, I was told that there had been some confusion over the RED camera vs the BLACK camera. They saw that the BLACK camera had been refunded, so no one bothered to send me any Affidavit for the other camera. I was then told FOR SURE that it would be taken care…… But it'd still take another 48-hours (or "maybe just 24-hours"), to get the Affidavit sent to me. Then, once they received that back & had reviewed it, the refund process would be started. But actually getting the refund credited would take another 7-10 business days…….

ARE YOU #@^#%# kidding me? SO, now I've had to file a "stop payment" fraud investigation "payment dispute" with my credit card company! Now B&H can deal with them. I'm done. What's really shocking is that I TOLD the CS rep that I was going to do file such a complaint with my credit card company and if they didn't want that to happen, then a manager could call me back to resolve it ASAP.
—no one has called.

GET YOUR CAMERA EQUIPMENT SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN B&H, which apparently, I now know, stands for Bull****&Hassle. I'M NEVER BUYING FROM THEM AGAIN (But at least I've been getting 3-4 email marketing/advertising announcements from them every day).

Smooth transaction. Nice to shop with you. Good service. No credit card problem. 100 % recomended

B&H review
I've never ripped a company before like I am now. I understand the world is a mess right now but my issue has nothing to do with that!
1. opened live chat to get a recommendation for an external battery for Astro photo with my Nikon D850 purchased at BandH. I ordered the battery and it showed up w/ NO charger and the CoreSWX regulator. After waiting another week the charger showed up. Charged the battery and tried to use the product that was suggested by the B&H employee, but it is either defective or the incorrect product that was recommended by the B&H employee(yes I know that's twice). So after waiting in the tech support que for over two hrs I was told that he was unable to troubleshoot and suggested I contact the OEM. I did so via email for a couple days and was told I need to return it. Waiting another two hrs for "ClayZ to open my chat. This is where the water starts to boil! I told him very clearly by pasting the order number and product I needed the rma for. He then asked if I wanted to talk to a product specialist. I said no, it doesn't work(third time) and that I simply wanted a credit as I had already ordered the CORRECT part by doing my own research. He said it wasn't eligible for a return. I again(second or third time) told him to look up the chat log and see that this was an order placed by a specialist that said the part would work. I again was asked if I wanted a product specialist. Finally he agreed to return. But told me I would be charged for return shipping! I again(4th time) explained that wouldn't work. He then agreed to make a one-time "exception" and not charge me the shipping. Trouble is he started the RMA for the battery not the regulator that was pasted into the chat at the beginning with the order number. After asking me again if I wanted to be connected to a product specialist(5th time) It was suggested that I call the CS number as I couldn't speak to a manager via chat... I of course did so during the chat and received the message that customer service is not available. And why not, I mean it is Friday around 10:30 am PST. So now I have the correct part on it's way and will see if it works and never and I mean never visit this site/store ever again. I will also, do my very best and spend the time and energy to warn others of this horrible business practice. I guess the old saying "buyer beware" is spot on when it comes to B&H. Oh and yes, I'm a professional that has spent approx. 15-20K on gear over the years. But that is over as there are many, many choices out there.