In defense of B&H!

["Editor - P.O.V. Image Service" <editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I spend thousands of dollars every year on film purchases alone (let's
not even start on equipment purchases...) at B&H.  I am in the store at
least once monthly and have never had a problem with a single item I
purchased there which might be attributed to failures in stock care or
customer service.

Their staff has been consistently friendly and helpful even when
periodically overwhelmed with shoppers. The staff recognizes me when I
visit almost as if I were in a small local camera shop and their
congeniality is an important part of my B&H shopping experiences.

Can I say that every item has been perfect? Certainly not.  But none of
the problems I have had, have ever been attributable, even in part, to
any failure upon the part of B&H...

Sometimes, certainly, high demand items (particularly if newly released)
have not been in stock when I needed them. In those instances I have,
quite reluctantly, turned to other outlets to supply a needed item or
items.

My one complaint in the past had been that their 17th Street Location in
Manhattan would become exceedingly cramped during high customer volume
periods, and the same cramped location did not lend itself to easy
product evaluation and demos.  However, their new showroom on 9th Avenue
is modern, spacious, open, airy, and even (sometimes amazingly)
inviting.  The product areas are well laid out and evaluating new
equipment at B&H is no longer the chore it was in the old location.

The hustle and bustle of constant activity remains an integral part of
the B&H experience and can even be frenetic at times, but they have
always provided me with products in appropriate condition at the prices
advertised. In my experience, and that of colleagues whom I know utilize
B&H, they always deal with their customers in a manner reminiscent of
the kind of integral honesty one finds in New York City's closely knit
diamond market.

I for one am glad there is a B&H photo.  Whether or not one chooses to
purchase products from them is an individual choice, but, by it's simple
existence alone, B&H brings enhanced competition to the photographic
equipment and supplies market.

Keith Krebs

--

{       The views expressed in the preceding are those of the        }
{       author, alone, and  are neither the responsibility of,        }
{          nor, should they be understood to represent the            }
{            official viewpoint of  P.O.V. Image Service.             }


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