Digital BW, The Print

At 8:33 am -0700 9/11/04, D. Hill wrote:

>B&H may be inexpensive, but less than reputable.

I'd like to know the specific details behind this assertion.

We have always known B&H as reputable. They have certainly been 
honest in all of their dealings with us. They are not the most 
inexpensive; you get what you pay for in this case.

My business partner and I have each placed several dozen 
multiple-item orders a year with B&H for a number of years. Neither 
of us has ever had a problem with any product that was caused by B&H, 
nor had any difficulty with returns.

Product fulfillment has always been exact and packaging adequate. 
Shipping has always been quick and returns have always been credited 
promptly. If I have any complaint it is that they charge your card 
when you place your order rather than when it ships (as do most other 
photo suppliers I've dealt with).

Photo-product mail/phone/(and now) net ordering started to become so 
predatory beginning in the early 70s that we had to adopt a 
"buy-little-lose-little" strategy to sample dealers and see who would 
try to burn us. We got burned more that once and winnowed our 
suppliers down accordingly. I've stuck with B&H, and a few others, 
because I've never gotten burned by them.

>You may have grey market paper, but they won't tell you.

It would truly astound me if that were true.

B&H have always been very up-front about grey market on anything I've 
looked at. They even have a page that describes the difference 
between direct-import and grey-market.

The difference between having a real beef with a company and blowing 
slanderous smoke is in a recitation of the details. A detailed 
description of any problems you had would be a welcome way of 
uncovering the veracity of your claim; a failure to provide them 
might indicate your own reliability and repute.


-=-Dennis


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