Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 28 Oct 1998 22:34:39 -0500, Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net> wrote: > I quit doing business with B&H about three years ago when they simply > failed to ship three separate orders. [...] I've used B&H extensively for about ten years. I only had trouble two times: once, the wrong filter was in a B+W box (immediately exchanged); once, there was an interminable delay and much confusion when I special-ordered something. I took this as a lesson: only buy things which are in stock and can be carried away from the store that day. They do huge volume; apparently, some things fall through the cracks. But I've never once seen them do anything dishonest or dishonorable. The secret may be to deal with them only on a walk-in basis; then, there's very little which can go wrong. This is by dramatic contrast with dealing with several other NYC discounters, where a naive customer without a printed ad in hand is looked on as an opportunity for price-maximization. B&H, on the other hand, has stacks of printed price lists available at the door. The only real reason not to shop at B&H is if you're buying some sort of carriage-trade merchandise which is not traditionally discounted (cough, "Leica"), and wish to chat for a half-hour about the state of the marque with ye olde shopkeeper. I tend to do my Leica shopping in lower-volume stores. The folk at B&H are too busy to welcome a lack of shopping focus... -Jeff Moore <jbm@jbm.org>