Drop (Ship) B&H Photo Video
I (not so) recently order an amplifier from B&H Photo Video. But to this day, I have not received the item, and I am quite annoyed with the whole experience, and I wish to share this with you because I will never order another item listed as “Drop Ship” from them (if I ever order anything from them again).
I recognize the fact that B&H are quite wise to say:
Items that are not regularly stocked can not be held to the expected delivery dates.
However, I find it quite disingenuous to list a product as “usually ships in 7-10 days,” when it will not. Now I gave them the benefit of doubt that when I ordered they probably were unaware of an issue. However, I ordered on Jan. 11th, and at no point in the last 28 days has that status been changed to reflect the information I have been fed via email and by phone (I called them).
On Jan. 11th, I ordered the amplifier. On Jan. 16th, I received an email from Elliott Gordon I received the following email:
The vendor who is drop shipping this to you informed us that it will be available for shipping during the last week of January.
We apologize for this unforeseen delay. Thank you for your order.
At that point, they knew it was more than 7-10 days to deliver the item to any other potential purchasers. On Feb. 3rd, I requested an update on the status because the month had ended. And I received this reply from Elliott:
I just spoke to the vendor.
He tells me that they were indeed back ordered, but he expects them in tomorrow, and will ship them out Thursday.I apologize for the delay.
So we come to today (Friday, Feb. 6th) around 10:30 AM whereupon I called Elliott to ask him what the status was on this item. He had to put me on hold and then came back to tell me he needed to call the vendor to find out what was going on. He gave me the option of holding or being called back, I opted for being called back.
Slightly over two hours later, I received a call back from Elliott stating that there was “some issue” at the vendor and it “didn’t go out,” but that it would today. I asked him if there was any tracking information and he told me he wouldn’t be able to provide it until Monday (he had told me he usually gets it within 24 hours in a previous email). I laughed a bit on the phone, because it is laughable. I have been told on 4 separate occasions to expect the package to be shipped by a certain date, and so far 3 of those times have gone by.
There is a subtly irony here in that I ordered from B&H partly based on a perceived reputation for taking care of their customers. I had a number of other stores to choose from who have a better price (the best being $15 cheaper after shipping). That company very honestly says it is back ordered, though, so I went with the more well-known business that claimed to have it right-damn-now.
I debated canceling and switching my order, but I am afraid of having to wait around again with a different company and B&H keep telling me “it’s on it’s way, seriously.” My patience is wearing, and I am not a greyhound chasing the bunny.. I paid for the bunny, give me the bunny. (I realize that the delays are the fault of the vendor, however I am not doing business with Pyle.) I feel like at the end of January when their original ship date elapsed, they should have either found another way to get me a unit or remedied the situation by some other means.
I’ll update as I get new info; I told Elliott I would call him on Monday if I hadn’t heard anything, he seemed thrilled by the prospect.
UPDATE (03/01/08): I received the unit shortly after posting this. I received an email similar to the comment below from Henry Posner. I replied to Mr. Posner as such:
I believe you have taken [my use of disingenuous] out of context, because my critique was not about the delay. I said:
(A quote of the paragraph above that contains “disingenuous”)
Even if I assume that you were unaware of the back order at the time of my order, every other potential customer of the aforementioned product received the same “7-10 days” estimate from the product page. As of Jan 16, it was known that this product was not available from the vendor until “the end of January.” Given that knowledge, you cannot honestly say that it would take “7-10 days.” I’m sorry that you feel insulted, but that is the definition of “disingenuous.”
I also offered to post a response from him, and he declined.
In the end, there were various problems and issues with the Pyle Pro P1001AT unit that ended with me sending it back for a refund. I ended up getting a H&K 3390 unit from J&R without any drama.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
We regret your dissatisfaction and any inconvenience you experienced. We initially advised you that, “Estimated delivery time is 7-10 days,” based on assurances we’d received from our supplier and from past experience with them. We are as disappointed as you that they were not able to live up to this but I must admit I take umbrage at your suggestion this was in any way, “disingenuous.” You yourself wrote, “I realize that the delays are the fault of the vendor…” In fact, they are and we have been in regular contact with them on your behalf.
A UPS package tracking number has been sent to you via e-mail.
–
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video
October 31st, 2009 at 11:44 am
I appreciate this is on old post but I have seen numerous blog posts like this where customers of online stores are disgruntled at delivery times and quality of goods that they have recieved from retailers who are using dropship suppliers, so I thought I would post a comment.
For many online retailers or mail order catalogues for that matter dropshipping is definately a way of increasing the size of their catalogue of available goods with minimal risk or cash outlay.
Due to incidents like the one that you suffered any online retailer interested in going down the dropshipping route needs to do as much research as possible to establish how good their dropshipping supplier is to avoid letting down their retail customers as you were.
The great thing about the internet is that there is all the information you need at your fingertips and informative sites like this to help you on your way.
July 18th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
the dropshipping business is also great as long as you can find a great supplier.**;