gessman Loc: Colorado

There has been a rep from B&H who monitors what gets posted here as it pertains to B&H customer service and relations. His name is Hershel. Send him a private message and I'm convinced you'll see some results.

henryp Loc: New York, NY

I am very concerned about this situation and want to know more so we can determine if it can be amicably resolved. Please email me with the original B&H order number. TIA

henryp Loc: New York, NY

As a courtesy we are sending the OP a new set of Apple AirPods Pro with Wireless Charging Case at no charge.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Nice! We all know what "they" say about opinions so semantically speaking, it's probably a "toss-up" but I might have used the word "obligation" as opposed to "courtesy" but the outcome remains the same - the customer finally got what he paid for irrespective of when, how, or why it occurred or was discovered - the right thing has been done assuming the details of the complaint are valid. Faith restored.

What would really be impressive would be to learn that everyone who bought those airpods was looked up in sales records and contacted to correct the problem rather than leave it up to a chance discovery process and just let "sleeping dogs lie." It might "smart" some in the short term but could pay big dividends down the road. Maybe track down the supply source and seek restitution - at least identify the source of the problem for future use.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Yes, that is how I feel. They should take the lead on this even if it is not their fault. Fault is not in the equation, only that the customer was duped by buying a fake product, sold by B&H and it is up to them to make it right. I get that B&H may have been duped as well. I recall a speaker at a conference I attended talking about Apple i-phones. He worked for Apple and was in China for a meeting. While there he walked into a store selling i-phones for much less than in the US. He believed them to be knock offs and bought one to bring back to the Apple company and see how they were able to duplicate the phones so closely. When he returned and took the phone to the engineers at Apple, they were surprised to find it wasn't a knock off, but a genuine i-phone! They began looking into the matter and found out how this was possible. Apple might order 250,000 of model xy.... At the factory they might make an overrun of say 20,000 (on purpose). These they sell off to dealers like the one who sold the Apple manager a phone in China. While it may be a genuine i-phone it will not have a warranty should anything go wrong with it since as far as Apple is concerned the phone never existed and could not be traced back to it's production because it was never listed on the production manifest. B&H might have had a salesperson from a brokerage company sell the earbuds as genuine products. Like I said, they may have been duped as well but that shouldn't disqualify them from taking care of the customer. I have first hand knowledge of this kind of operation. A few years back I purchased a copy of Photoshop 6 for 200.00 from an individual. They were selling at Staples for 499.95. The package was genuine, had the right factory sealed box with holograms -- the whole nine yards! I took it home, loaded it, registered it, and used it for a year. Then due to a computer crash, I had to reinstall it on a new computer. It would not install. I called Adobe and asked why. When I gave the serial #, I was told it was not an Adobe product. I'm sure it was, it had all the features that to me made it genuine. My guess was that it was part of a batch of stolen programs and the serial #s were flagged and rendered inoperative. That, or as stated earlier, it was part of an overrun that was sold for pennies on the dollar. Why it activated the first time, I'm not sure. If it was part of a batch of stolen goods, the theft may not have been discovered right away and the serial #s weren't flagged until later. If B&H wasn't aware they bought fake product, I can give them a pass on that. If they don't make it right with the customer, I couldn't give them a pass on that.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Well done B&H! I give credit where credit is due.

Domtom999

The latest update

B and H is sending me a new pair of airpods pro to replace the broken ones. Even after I offered to pay a fee I would have had to pay for out of warranty service, they decided to send them, no charge! I was really surprised, but I shouldn’t have been. This is why I’ve shopped with them for over 40 years and why I will continue to.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Nicely done B&H, replacement and investigation....all who have read this thread will now know of B&H's resolve!!!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

There were even cases of knock off tires appearing here in So Cal - the tire stores were being sold the counterfeits by new middlemen who took advantage of a shortage to suddenly offer tires that were hard to get.

clickety

That response is why you are so highly regarded by me. I look forward to reading the Original poster’s response. (As the egg drips off many other respondent’s faces).

Rick from NY Loc: Sarasota FL

WHAT? Let me be sure I understand this. You paid an stranger $200 for a piece of sophisticated software that “looked real” and sold in Staples for $500 and have the balls to bitch that you got screwed when you discovered it was bootleg? You posted this with a straight face? P.T. Barnum has been dead for more than 100 yrs, yet his marketing strategy is just as sound today as it was when he first uttered it!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I expected Henry would come through on this. B&H are ethical people, and market realists, too.

This proves the power of stating your case politely, providing evidence, and making appeals to higher ideals. The OP finally received what he should have had from day 1. And B&H gained a measure of respect for doing the right thing.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I’m not surprised at all that B&H did the right thing - exactly what I expected. However, I do think the word “courtesy” was unfortunate. I would have thought a more appropriate phrase might have been something like: “honoring our original description of the merchandise…”

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

It might have been real, sorta! Some years back people figured out that if they bought an app with a bunch of downloads allowed as if they were a big company with multiple computers at different locations to use the product they could sell copies-most sent it digitally but some went to the trouble of getting counterfeit disks and boxes made. So someone bought a copy for a big discount and installed it and the registration worked and so did the software.=Happy customer-for a while. But then when the software companies caught on to what was going on they started to classify those copies as not being real and blocked updates, reinstalls etc.
One article in a computer magazine did say that at least one software company also felt sorry for the victims that bought the copies and for a fee would give them a new activation number, register them as a customer and allow them to keep using the software.

For a while that is how some of the "Student and Educator" versions of software worked. Each teacher or student paid a reduced fee and got to download and register the software through the school or by providing proof they were a teacher or student at a school/school district that purchased the app for use in classes. I paid for a few apps for our daughter to use when she took some computer classes that came that way. Then they went over to separate disks and activation numbers mailed to the students because they found some students were letting their friends install the software on their computers. The new versions were for two computers only, one desktop and one laptop.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Thank you Henry, for watching over us for B&H. The store should "Stand Tall"