abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

A colleague ordered a Tasco red-dot sight from B&H which came on Friday. Unfortunately, they shipped what was probably a returned and damaged unit. My colleague called them this morning to request an exchange. Since she was leaving on an assignment Wednesday, she needed an immediate replacement. The customer service representative cheerfully and generously said he would ship out a new unit to arrive by Wednesday.

While B&H clearly will lose money on this transaction, it will more than make it back by having earned my colleague as a customer for life. Thank you B&H.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

The net abounds with similar stories. B&H is simply the best. ;)

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

ABC, the flip side to that is that had your friend been a little less savvy, she would be using much less than she paid for.
The question that begs an answer is, why did she get that first unit at all? Maybe so they could be heroes afterward!? Just saying.
SS

JustLinda Loc: California

B&H is great. I Agree , their customer service
Is hard to beat.

Nikon_DonB Loc: Chicago

Ditto. Voice of experience.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I have learned that almost all vendors make mistakes. However, what matters is what they do about it.

Hershel Loc: New York City

ABC1234,

Please express our sincere regrets to your colleague for this inconvenience. I'm glad that it worked out in the and we were able to make it right for her.

HERSHEL

Hershel Loc: New York City

Thank you.

Hershel Loc: New York City

Thank you.

HERSHEL

Hershel Loc: New York City

Thank you Don. As for SharpShooters comment, it is the height of absurdity and I can't bring myself to dignify it with a response. I'm rather surprised at him for making it.

Thanks again.

HERSHEL

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Hershel, first, let me say that I too am a long time B&H customer. Also I appreciate the work and help that you provide here on the Hog.
Second, I too have a retail business and personally deal with customers every day, seven days a week.
And yes, I screw up too. And like B&H I try to resolve any issues at the first complaint. We do no mail order, being a local business. But we sell merchandise and perform labor, and no, it's not always perfect. So when I've sold a customer a $50 item and they are not happy, we immediately fix any issues. And for a $50 item and equal labor($100), I will almost always routinely give a customer a $20 gift certificate good on any future purchase for their time and patience. It costs me very little and it doesn't happen very often.
We all know that it costs 10x as much to get a new customer than to keep an existing customer, so it's important to take care of the issue immediately.
But a customer can go anywhere, whether it's Best Buy, Costco or Walmart and receive either an immediate refund or exchange. That's merely ROUTINE.
So when I see that a person receives an immediate replacement, that is NOT going above and beyond. Hershel, If I were selling multi-thousand dollar cameras,(and I'm not), I would go a step above Walmart!
So I was not thinking like ABC's friend, I was thinking like the owner of the company. I'm sure that shipping clerk has shipped tens of thousands of packages. He knows what a sealed untampered packaging looks like. An open box should have been suspect and immediately inspected.
And, if it was a return, how did it get back to the area where new items are stocked. Was a return NOT inspected and shelved as new? THAT is the conversations I'd be having with my employees.
It's too bad that businesses today don't feel a customers time is worth anything. My customers don't ask for compensation, I just feel it's the right thing to do since their time is worth just as much as mine. It's the right thing to do and they are always all smiles and very appreciative!
Again, thank you for all you do. ;-)
SS

Leitz Loc: Solms

Might not that indicate some experience with the practice suggested? Just saying ...

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I agree with SS except that management cannot watch every move every employee makes. They train, delegate and supervise. People make mistakes, intentionally and unintentionally. Management's job is to fix that: retrain or replace.

If I really understood SS's original post, then I might understand Hershel's retort. The important thing is that B&H did the right thing and two buyers have become loyal customers.

Leitz Loc: Solms

"The question that begs an answer is, why did she get that first unit at all? Maybe so they could be heroes afterward!?"

Hershel Loc: New York City

Sorry for the late reply but it gets pretty busy this time of year in retail and Mondays in particular are pretty frenzied. Let's chalk this one up as friendly misunderstanding and we will remain fast friends. My parents may they rest in peace were in retail and had a store so I can understand where small to medium size store owners might harbor some resentment towards a large internet concern and feel that you just can't deliver that personal touch on the web as you can in person. To a certain extent and for many internet giants, that holds true. But B&H Photo also has a brick and mortar business that is the envy of most companies in our niche by virtue of inventory and level of service and constantly strives to mirror that with our web customers.

We are keenly aware of the cost of attracting a customer versus the cost of keeping a customer an would be thrilled if we could give every customer a Gift Card, sadly it's not always practical. Using the OP's friend's red dot sight as an example, we might have offered a Gift Card if she purchased our $6,299.00 red dot site but would you as a retailer offer a card if her order was for the $19.95 sight? I think not. Each individual case of course is different and must be evaluated on its own merits.

Additionally, we must keep a very vigilant eye out for all manner of internet fraud which as you know is quite prevalent and drives up the costs for all of us.

We at B&H spend many millions of dollars per year in giving back to our devoted customers by providing them with fresh and timely content with over a thousand educational and product related videos on our YouTube Channel as well as insightful articles and comprehensive product reviews via our Explora Forum. We also have dozens of experts in photo, video, audio, computers who will research and respond to questions submitted to askbh@bhphoto.com. All this in addition to our Event Space which is considered by most to be the "Broadway" of speaking and teaching venues for all things photographic. I could go on and on but you see what I mean.

All of the above is absolutely free of charge to all. The bottom line is that we view our cost to both attract new and keep existing customers both in our store and on the net as one and the same: Great pricing, massive inventory, world class knowledge base, courteous professional staff to offer guidance and super fast shipping. All in all we seek to provide a pleasant and stress free shopping experience both before and after the sale.

We ship many thousands of orders per week. As much as we'd like to, can we satisfy all of the customers all of the time and never make a mistake? The answer is clearly no. But if we do occasionally make one, at the end of the day, most reasonable customers, the customers we keep, the ones who trust and have been buying at B&H for over 30 years, much prefer the ongoing availability of the services I have mentioned above than a $25 gift certificate.

SharpShooter, I extend to you in friendship the same invitation that I do exclusively to our fellow UHH'rs that if you plan on visiting NYC, please let me know in advance and it will be my pleasure to show you the B&H Photo that very few get to see, a birds eye view of honesty, integrity and commitment to the customer personified.

P.S. If you do plan a visit, make sure it does'nt coincide with one of our infamous holiday closing periods. :)

All the best to you and yours.

HERSHEL