B&H Photo Shipping To Europe?

[Jonathan Bland]

Hi Folks,

Sorry but I think I remember hearing that B&H Photo in New York DOES NOT ship to Europe.
Is this true?

Big thanks :)

[Bruce Rawlings]

Surely they must as they have a stand at the Earls Court show.

[Jonathan Bland]

Thanks Bruce!

Can anyone second this?

[Brian Cassar]

I've bought many items from B&H. The only problem is that by the time you pay shipping costs, import duty and VAT, the price would have shot up considerably...!!!

[Craig Seeman]

I believe it may be that certain items may not be shipped to Europe. I was under the impression that was the case with EX cameras for example.

[Jonathan Bland]

Yes got the word through live chat that they ship to Europe :)
Good point Brian.... thanks.
No EX1 Craig..... just grip stuff this time.

Thanks again guys! :)

[Chris Hurd]

Not EX related, therefore moved from XDCAM EX to Sponsors.

[Liam Hall]

I've bought loads of stuff from them. Great company...

[Mike Beckett]

I just posted in the B&H thread recently... you can even pre-pay all the excise and duties to speed up delivery. And they only took 3 working days to deliver to me.

I'm really pleased with their service - highly recommended.

[Henry Posner]

We will ship anything to Europe our manufacturer and distributor agreements permit us to. That's the majority of what we sell, but there are exceptions. One which comes immediately to mind since it's been a busy topic on Twitter is that Nikon USA won't permit any US authorized retailer to send a Nikon digital SLR anywhere outside the USA.

Usually an item with a geographic restriction is coded so our site tells you when you enter your location during the checkout process.

[Trond Saetre]

B&H made a very quick delivery to Norway when I ordered from them a while ago.

[Nigel Barker]

B&H made a very quick delivery to me in the UK (less than 48 hours). However I was less pleased that they shipped me the wrong item albeit in the correct box & then expected me to return it before they sent the correct item. As it was their mistake I think they should have shipped the correct item as soon as I informed them of their mistake & organised collection & return shipping for the wrong item.

I won't bother to order from them again as it's easier to work with a local supplier. It's a shame that their service isn't better as they have a great range plus an excellent website & catalogue. They are actively promoting their sales worldwide so should pay a bit more attention to after-sales service when they screw up

[Henry Posner]

Nigel:

We regret and apologize for both your inconvenience and your dissatisfaction. We believe the error originated with our supplier as this was shipped to you as received, and was not opened before shipping.

I understand that your inconvenience and dissatisfaction are not lessened by this. We are obliged to formulate and adhere to basic rules for all customers and all transactions for our protection and to keep our costs under control, which helps keep our prices low. We've been the target too often for people who think they can get two for one by having us ship a second and "forgetting" to return the first. I am NOT saying this was your intent, but we have to be prudent and as with most rules and laws it sometimes means good people are inconvenienced due to the nefarious nature of others.

I understand you've asked for a refund, not a replacement. As soon as your package gets here and is processed we will issue a refund for the merchandise, the original s&h fee and your cost to return ship to us.

I've also escalated this in two ways:
- to our buyer to discuss with our supplier so we're more certain that what's in the box is what's supposed to be in the box, and
- to our customer service and internat'l business initiatives managers to review if there's an equally prudent but less inconvenient way to handle matter of this sort. We could, for example, place a lien on a customer's credit card for the value of the merchandise and apply a 2nd charge if the to-be returned item isn't returned.

As I said, I've asked for their consideration for the future based on your experience. I did so because customer experience is important to us and customer satisfaction is paramount.

[Nigel Barker]

Henry, thank you for addressing this after I raised my concern in this Forum. It is a pity that you didn't address my concerns by an email when I complained to your customer service people. I had to provide photographs before your CS people would even acknowledge that there was a problem. What happened to "the customer is always right"? I would have accepted a replacement by the correct product if you had handled this issue properly. However I elected for a full refund including return shipping because I was unhappy about all the delay with me having to return the wrong item before you would even send out the correct one. I would have had no problem with a charge hanging over my credit card until you received the original item back.

By way of comparison I just had a screw up with an order from Amazon where I accidentally ordered three BluRay players instead of the one that I wanted. I explained the situation to Amazon & their returns procedure provided me with a return shipping label & a link to a personalised page to arrange a date for DHL to collect the package. I didn't have to take it down the post office, figure out the best way to send it back (tracked, adequately insured etc) & pay out yet more money just to return the unwanted items. That is good customer service & it wasn't even Amazon's screw up.

The package is now in transit back to you but I am currently about $450 out of pocket until you receive the package & issue the refund.

[Chris Hurd]

That's a curious way of saying thank you to Henry Posner's detailed response.

I can't believe I have to point this out, but standard practice should be to always
include images in the initial email contact with any customer service department
in a situation like this. Also, in one statement you claim that you wouldn't mind a
pending cc charge, but you complain in another about being "out of pocket" until
the refund is issued.

I'm confident that there's really nothing Henry could have said in his reply that
would have statisfied you, but the bigger issue at stake here is that his words
should allay any concerns for other Europeans worried about the possibility of
a similar circumstance.