A Letter ...

Here is a letter that I recently wrote to the Customer Service department of B&H

To (name withheld),

I appreciate there is very little chance that this letter will ever reach you, however remote that chance is I still feel the need to explain my recent experience with B&H PhotoVideo.

I've always enjoyed the subtle art that is photography and recently felt the need to make the jump from a simple point and click (Canon PowerShot A720IS) to something with a bit more customization and control, I've always liked the Canon brand and felt they offer a really good quality product albeit at a premium so going with an EOS was an easy decision. I narrowed this down to the 550D and the 60D and after physically holding both of these the 60D with its superior ergonomics won me over.

Now it just came down to where I should buy it from and after much deliberation and a few recommendations from friends, it seemed B&H could offer me the camera I wanted with a very nice lens and at a price that was definitely within my budget.

As this was quite a large (expensive) online purchase, I was understandably very anxious about the whole process and would have loaded the track-n-trace site nearly 100 times before it arrived here in Perth. Due to some terrible customer service practices from Fed-Ex the package was delayed by 12 hours unnecessarily and so I took it upon myself to lodge a complaint with their CS team and was offered a refund of the P&H to give me some reassurance in the Fed-Ex brand.

Then; disaster struck, as the very expensive camera I had purchased (with the intention of using it for some great Christmas happy snaps amongst other things) was defective and for some reason was producing very terrible images and so begun the RMA process.

Now I should point out that every customer service rep I have spoken with, has been excellent, friendly and knowledgeable even if they cannot directly 'fix' the problem I was experiencing.

Part of the RMA process one of the representatives mentioned to send the package back to B&H as cheaply as possible with tracking and to include a receipt of the costs so that this could be covered, I was quite pleasantly surprised as the information on your website regarding the RMA process didn't mention this anywhere.

Today I received my replacement camera, after having to pay yet another hidden fee (Australian Customs are thieves!) and I'm really wondering why I bothered with all of this in the first place. That $1399 Camera + Lens which looked like an amazing deal didn't include:

- the $193 in P&H (which I was later offered to be refunded but then Fed-Ex global reneged on)

- the $243 in Import Duty and Tax (which I am happy to admit is my own fault for not investigating more, but still comes as a bit of a shock when added to everything else)

- the $163 in P&H to send it back (defective return, which was promised to be covered by B&H but doesn't seem like it will)

- finally the $55 to re-import something I had already paid import duties on.

Would I buy from B&H again, maybe ... if the item is under $1000 and warranty isn't likely to be an issue (e.g. camera bags, memory cards, etc) but with all the drama's I've had with this purchase it certainly makes you pause for consideration.

In summary, I appreciate that it is unrealistic for B&H to test every single camera body that it sells and that I am the one in a 1,000,000 case where a camera is DoA (defective on arrival), but hopefully you can take some of this feedback on-board to ensure a better experience for international buyers (perhaps a step in the buying process that could alert the buyer to some of these issues and to check before proceeding).

Finally I am really in love with this new camera now that it is working and can't wait to really get into the amazing/challenging fun that is DSLR photography,

I honestly thank-you for taking the time to read this far (if you do) and hope you can appreciate just how frustrating this entire ordeal has been,

Kind regards,

(me)

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At some points there I really wanted to break down and cry, especially when I had to send back my new camera to be replaced as I knew there was next to no chance I'd have it for Christmas.

Would I recommend buying a camera online, mmm probably not after what I went through but I would honestly happily buy again from B&H just keep the order under $1000 so you don't get stung with Import Duty + GST and also use USPS as your postage option!

I'd be interested to hear others experience with online purchases regarding semi-expensive consumer gear?