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Experience with BH

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kino13

junior member
Joined: Oct '10
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Hello,

sorry for the offtopic, but I would like to compare experiences with BH a little.

I, as many others, had ordered the new D7000 in BH early past month. After not having any consistent update, and considering the huge taxes for my country (I am not in the US), I finally decided to cancel the order and look for the camera locally.

Here is the thing, I canceled the order 4 days ago, and then I received an email saying bla bla bla, we will give you back your money in up to 10 business days!!!

They took the money the second I made the order, but now they will not give it back for two weeks???

The shop has been more than correct, albeit a little slow on responses, but is this the normal procedure?

Regards

Posted 2 years ago #
studio460

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Joined: May '10
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I don't know, but I would guess so. All I know is that both B+H and Adorama are two of the most reputable dealers in the mail-order business, here in the US. Brooklyn, NY is typically a haven for unscrupulous online photo dealers (regardless of how many "positive" reviews have been "authored" in resellerratings, or their claimed BBB status). B+H and Adorama are the only two NY online vendors I trust.

Posted 2 years ago #
tcole1983

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I would say that sounds pretty standard. Some places don't take the money until the item is sent, some do. Either way it usually takes a little while to get the funds deposited back. I doubt it will take 10 days, but I don't recall ever getting my money back right away even when personally returning something to a store...especially on credit cards and things because it just takes longer to process and clear.

Posted 2 years ago #
kithic

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Joined: Oct '10
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Someone else posted in one of the threads that their BH refund was taking a long time. I want to say 17 days at their post, but not 100% sure.. That's the only thing that keeps me from canceling and getting the kit. The kit may be sold out by the time I got a refund.

Posted 2 years ago #
JJump

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I make it a point to never preorder anything, and only order from places that show items in stock.

Posted 2 years ago #
Fargo911

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Joined: May '09
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JJump said:
I make it a point to never preorder anything, and only order from places that show items in stock.

I try not to pre-order either, but if I do, I normally do so from a place that doesn't charge you up front. I do a lot of buying from Adorama and BH, but am not a fan of their up front pay policy on pre-orders.

Posted 2 years ago #
kithic

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Joined: Oct '10
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On dpr, it was posted that they plan on stopping the pay-up-front pre-orders sometime in 2011.

Posted 2 years ago #
JJump

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Most places will do a pre-authorization only, where they charge like $1-$2 just to test the card, then when the item is ready to ship, they charge the rest. Not sure why B&H and Adorama can't adopt this policy. If the card is declined when the item comes into stock, they can just charge the next person in the pre-order line. This is especially crucial in situations if you have to later file a claim. Your credit card company has limits on when you can enter certain claims. I wouldn't let my money sit in limbo on a 1-2 month wait, that's for sure.

Posted 2 years ago #
jonnyapple

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Joined: May '09
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That's not true about the $1-2 authorization, JJump. That's for fuel or some other purchase where the final amount isn't known when making the authorization. I completely agree with you, though, that B&H and Adorama should be satisfied with the authorization, because it means the CC company has reduced the person's spending ability by that much and promised to pay the amount when the charge comes through. It looks greedy for them to take the money before the product is shipping.

That said, I've never had any problems with B&H, but I've never preordered anything from them for the reasons you're discussing here. Amazon is a good place to preorder because if the price goes down from the time you order to the time you ship you get the lower price charged to you. I've saved a few dollars on some wii games that way.

Posted 2 years ago #
smarterchild

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Joined: Jan '10
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Im having a rough expierence with B&H with their preorders next time i will go with amazon or locally But they dont keep you posted and give you expected shipping dates. Seems like they take your money, say tough luck and ignore you till they finally get it in stock.

Posted 2 years ago #
kithic

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Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 40
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I'm not happy about BH taking money up front either, but anyone who pre-ordered from BH likely did so knowing they would charge. And if you didn't realize it, you should have paid better attention.

BH pre-order + pay up front = bad.
Consider it a lesson learned.

I'm also unhappy with the lack of care and information shown by them.
But no one else seems much better off. People from amazon got a discount and are getting some emails, but they are getting different information from the actual customer service reps. But it is what it is. Either we will get the body in the next couple weeks, or we won't. It seems like BH might not even be getting the information from Nikon as to when they will receive their body only shipment. Obviously not BH's fault.

I'm tempted to cancel and get a kit from BB.. but what if BH is able to start shipping by the end of the month?

Posted 2 years ago #
kithic

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Joined: Oct '10
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Someone on dpreview posted that their kit order from BH is in warehouse preparing to ship.
ETA: as well as someone on the estimated ship date thread on here. Both are kits.

Posted 2 years ago #
kino13

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Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 9
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I understand they take the money up front, but I have been surprised about the cancellation. In my country it is normal to get an instant refund.

And to be honest, anything over 48h seems like stealing. I will be paying more attention next time for sure, I lost an excellent second hand D700 because of this.

Posted 2 years ago #
kithic

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Joined: Oct '10
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Yes, I completely understand. I think we all seem to be stressed out about this. I've never pre-ordered from BH nor been involved in a nikon pre-order. I didn't know that this is how it goes.
I'm disappointed in the refund time too, it's the only reason I still have a pre-order at BH. I could have gotten a kit with the 12% coupon had I not paid upfront with a preorder. Disappointing, but it is what it is at this point.

Posted 2 years ago #
shivaswrath

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Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 841
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i only pre-order with Amazon or JR.com because they ONLY charge when they have the product and ship. . .BH is sketchy like that, don't like it for the reason the OP mentioned . .

With that said, BH and Adorama are HIGHLY reputable and usually provide the most competitive $$$

Posted 2 years ago #
adamz

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Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 3,461
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in my country, sometimes it takes more than 10 days to get the credit card cancellation, the worst experienced I had when I was renting car in US, and the car company pre-authorized certain amount of money (+/- $500) and then when I returned the car they charged some smaller amount for the rental period. it took more than a month to clear the card, up to that point of time they locked both amounts. as for BH... I disagree with their policy, but it's only Your choice where You preorder items, noone is putting a gun in Your head to preorder from BH or Adorama. Why they are taking the whole amount at the beginning, for me the answer is simple - they allocate the product You want to buy, and trust me that way the number of cancellation is much lower than when You order but You don't pay and cancel. Also, in case of D7000 there's no problem with getting another customer for Your product, which might be a problem when You order a 10 grant lens.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Joined: May '09
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B&H only recently started doing pre-orders. You would have to just wait until their website said "In Stock" and hope it didn't sell out before you could add it to your virtual shopping cart. People would complain that they could never get a hot item and demanded that they do pre-orders.

I guess they should just go back to not taking pre-orders.

Posted 2 years ago #
JJump

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jonnyapple said:
That's not true about the $1-2 authorization, JJump. That's for fuel or some other purchase where the final amount isn't known when making the authorization.

It is true, even with known and set amount purchases. I ordered something on Amazon.fr a few weeks back with a credit card, and it was something that was listed as "usually ships within 1-2 weeks" and the day I ordered it, a tiny amount (roughly around $1.30) was actually charged to my CC. I finally canceled the order as the product was delayed, and I actually don't think I ever went back to see if that $1.30 was reversed, but I think if the full order doesn't go through in xxx amount of days, it won't post to your credit card. It may be a way of websites making sure that your backordered item won't tie them up for 6 weeks, only to find out your CC is invalid when it's time to ship it. They want to know right away, but at least it's not for the whole amount.

Posted 2 years ago #
Scubabubbles

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Joined: Apr '10
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Dude, you should have been a little more patient....B & H started shipping today (Wednesday Oct. 20) They have always been upfront and prompt with me on orders and delayed shipments. I rate them 100% on all my dealings.

Posted 2 years ago #
kithic

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Joined: Oct '10
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Scubabubbles said:
Dude, you should have been a little more patient....B & H started shipping today (Wednesday Oct. 20) They have always been upfront and prompt with me on orders and delayed shipments. I rate them 100% on all my dealings.

They started shipping KITS only. We still don't know when bodies will be shipped.
But I agree, I still rate BH highly. I knew they took money upfront and still chose them over other companies.

Posted 2 years ago #
kino13

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Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 9
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Scubabubbles I don't care about that. They are shipping the 300$ rip off kit with the trash lens. Sorry, but not interested, and my reasons were not about that. It is a risk for me to order something from the US, they can really kill me with taxes in my country, that's the problem, it is not a sure thing. But right now, I have already started to see some D7000 around and the difference in price is not worth the risk. I prefer to go (almost) local with another little neighbor country with less taxes than my own. I will go personally for the camera.

Before someone starts saying I am a bad citizen and bla bla bla, please ask yourself why we have to pay 1$ to 1€ for our products. I am not a rich person, and with the exception of stolen items I will go to any resource I find to get my equipment cheaper.

Posted 2 years ago #
Super Shooter

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Joined: Jun '10
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It's not B&H, Amazons or Best Buys fault they are only shipping kits. They sell what Nikon sends them. Blaming them for ripping you off is too simplistic. If you want cheap gear then buy it used or refurbrished.

Posted 2 years ago #
kino13

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Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 9
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He, he, believe me, I already do that. Half my equipment is second hand. And I am not saying the delays in delivery are BH fault, just saying that if you can take my money in two minutes, you could return it in two days, not much to ask.

And again, I will say that I trust BH completely, I wouldn't have gone with them otherwise.

Regards

Posted 2 years ago #
jonnyapple

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JJump said:
It is true, even with known and set amount purchases. I ordered something on Amazon.fr a few weeks back with a credit card, and it was something that was listed as "usually ships within 1-2 weeks" and the day I ordered it, a tiny amount (roughly around $1.30) was actually charged to my CC.

We may both be right, JJump. I'm basing my statement on having worked for a credit card company here in the United States. There may be different rules for how they can operate in France.

Posted 2 years ago #
HelenOster

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Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 29
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I don't know if everyone on here is aware, but at Adorama we ONLY charge your card when your order ships, not a moment before.
So you can place a pre-order without paying a cent until it is actually on its way out to you.

If you then find the item you are looking for elsewhere, faster than we can get it in - provided it hasn't already shipped - simply drop me a quick email and I'll make sure that your Adorama order is cancelled!

BTW, the Adorama returns period for online purchases has recently increased. You now get a full 30 days to examine your purchase, and if it is not functioning correctly, you may return it to us.

If you ever need advice or after-sales support with an order from Adorama, you are most welcome to contact me directly: HelenO@adorama.com

Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

Posted 2 years ago #