Just need to vent a little.

Hey all,

I think I've pin pointed a new trend in the customer service industry. Companies have figured out that it's allot more cost effective to hire someone to prevent you from getting any customer service than it is to actually PROVIDE said service. Simple when you think about it. And it can lead to some really surreal post-modern conversations that are kind of funny if... Well, if there not happing to you. Case in point:

I finally was able to order a housing, ports, strobes, the whole shmear, on December 20th hoping to use it on a trip January 10th. Thus began my ordeal that would be tedious to relate, but not half as tedious as it was to undergo. Let's just say, I won't be taking my shiny new housing and strobes. No, my shiny new housing and strobes will be sitting on the tarmac in Omaha as I zip up my dry suit in Monterey. Why you ask? The conversation this morning went something like this.

B&H: "It shipped today."

ME: "First of all, that's what you've been saying for two weeks. Second, no it didn't. It's Sunday. UPS doesn't pick up on Sunday. It's sitting in your warehouse isn't it?"

A long pause.

B&H: "Um... Yes."

ME: "Great, you can still change the shipping on it so I can get it by Tuesday night, right?"

B&H: "Um... No."

ME: "Why not? Your probably less than a hundred yards from my box right now aren't you?"

B&H: "Yes."

ME: "But you can't change the shipping label on it?"

B&H: "No."

ME: "Why not?"

B&H: "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."

ME: "Yes there is. You can print a new label and put it on the box."

B&H: "I'm sorry. It's physically impossible."

ME: "Physically impossible?"

B&H: "Yes."

ME: "You have the box. You have a printer. The intervening space is not filled with zombies or anything is it?"

B&H: "No."

ME: "Killer bees?"

B&H: "No."

ME: "Then I... Why not just... &^%$ it."

B&H: "Thank you for calling B&H."

Click.

Physically impossible? If your going to go to these lengths of mess with me, at least make it entertaining. Tell me that my YS-110's have been sitting in the warehouse so long that they mated and had a litter of YS-27's. Tell me a radioactive chimp is swinging my Ultralite arms around his head wildly, clubbing anyone who gets near him with a clipboard. Come up with something that actually IS physically impossible instead of implying that, due to a combination of laziness and lack of job satisfaction, getting out of your chair to solve a problem that's entirely your fault has become "physically impossible."

Grrrr... If anybody needs me, I'll be in the Angry Dome.

sorry to hear about the troubles!!

But an entertaining post nonetheless..

Sorry to here of your troubles. A few thoughts. I have ordered items from B&H before. If I have any sort of a deadline I check to make sure they say it is in stock. You can call them and talk to a person before ordering.

I get most of my stuff from local dealers when possible. The extra service I have gotten over the years makes up for any price difference. If not you can use dedicated UW photo dealers. Backscatter and Reef Photo & video are sponsors of this site which I have had nothing but good luck with. Once again you can call and talk to a person.

Welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear about your ordeal.

I second Dave's recommendation to use our sponsors whenever possible. They are small outfits compared to B&H, and will give you personal attention, getting out of their way to get gear to you in time.

Luiz

Welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear about your ordeal.

 

I second Dave's recommendation to use our sponsors whenever possible. They are small outfits compared to B&H, and will give you personal attention, getting out of their way to get gear to you in time.

 

Luiz

Lessoned learned. The guys at Backscatter are awesome, I bought a video housing from them a while back and Dave and Jeff went way out of their way to make sure I didn't flood it on the first dive. There's allot to be said for community. Even without my cameras, I can't wait to feel that early morning cold water smack again. Better than espresso!

I've ordered TONS of camera gear over the years from them and from our Wetpixel affiliates and my local dive shop.

With B&H, I've always had better luck with things getting shipped promptly by calling them and ordering over the phone rather than on the web.

Another thing that I've learned is to order before noon EST on Thursday durring the week. If you order later than that, it won't be touched until monday. They say they ship out on Fridays, but I've yet to see it happen. Its frustrating to pay for overnight shipping when it doesn't get shipped for 4 days......

Everytime I've ordered something in stock on Monday, Red Label, it's been on my desk by 10am the next day.

[rant on]

It's also been my experience, the bigger the 'customer service' sign is in a store, the less customer SERVICE they offer, most just give you a refund which IS NOT what customer service means.... [/rant off]

always get the persons name that you are talking to and go over their heads and talk to the supervisor, escalate to the manager, president, gm or owner!

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

I think it truly sucks when companies are very willing to take your euros/dollars but give shit service in return.

I've ordered equipment & books with European companies and one Japanese store. Although Japan is about halfway around the world for me, Mr Yuzo Kanda (from NaturePhoto) has been able to provide superb and fast service. Whenever I ordered something he kept me up to date of the progress. And until now, orders were delivered within 7 to 10 days, a service that was not matched by the European companies.

And now for New Year I got sent a very nice calendar (which the local postman very persuavily squeezed into my mailbox so it got nicely creased )

Ah, "service" just seem to be absent in many people's dictionary nowadays.

Heh...now I'm a little nervous. I just ordered some stuff through them that said 1-2 weeks. My trip isn't until February 2nd but this makes me wonder a bit.

I would call to confirm. I never buy from them when it is not in stock...

And now for New Year I got sent a very nice calendar (which the local postman very persuavily squeezed into my mailbox so it got nicely creased )

What....you don't tip your mailman? ........

Just joking, love ya dude!