Incredible answer of bhphotovideo

I am a client of bh and have the intention of continuing being, as the

products are at a good price and the service has been good.

 

In the last order I asked for a 580 EX and several items. After checking them

I wrote to them on November 22nd :

 

Dear Gentlemen,

 

I have received the attached order in perfect conditions. Nevertheless there

is a slight problem. I cannot use the items

 

HADDA13 1 DD-A13 BOUNCE DIFFUSER f/CANON 580EX

 

HADDA3 1 DD-A3 FLASH ADAPTER f/CANON 580EX

 

As no one of the adapters fits in the flash. It is a question of less than 1

mm but it has been impossible to place the adapters. I was afraid of breaking

the flash and I abandoned.

 

What can I do?

 

The rest of the diffusers and items fit perfectly well.

 

Kind regards.

 

-----

 

After several emails asking for an answer, I have just received the following

message:

 

''Our Answer: I called our store and Harbor Digital Design product are a very

tight fit. Many customers find they cannot remove the products from their

flashes once they are attached. They suggested squeezing the products to try

and bend out the rims to fit over your flash. This should give you the play to

attach the items to your flash.''

It appears to be a legitimate response. Based on this information and you trying the product there may not be a fit for you. B&H has excellent customer service from my experience and would refund or credit you to another item.

 

Also, I have found calling them for customer services is the fastest turnaround.

 

Good luck, and I understand your frustration...

 

I have used the Sto-fen with my 580EX with good results, I notice for some reason they do not have on in while. But it looks identical to the SBM #0104 Supreme Flash Diffuser for Canon 580EX & 580EX II Flash. Plus it is less expensive!

Thanks, John, for the information. I am not worried about the items. They costs just a few dollars and I meant to throw them away and not worry about them any more. But I wanted to know the reaction of BH. It could have been a very expensive item. Imagine that they tell you that apply some glue to a broken 1Ds Mark III! This is similar. I have an idea: I am going to give the adapters to my children and in one week they may fit in the flash!

Why don't you take a razor blade to the inside of the item? Just cut enough away so you

can get it on and off easily.

Stofen diffusers also need to be "stretched" a bit to provide a comfortable (still secure) fit to the flash. Otherwise the fit is very tight. I found out this with both 550EX and 580EX flashes - so I suppose it is the norm.

You need to try this DIY: http://abetterbouncecard.com/

My experience goes along with what Leszek stated. I have the exact combination - 550 and 580 flashes both with Stofen diffusers. They go on but require a little effort. This is probably so they don't fall off since the flash head has no notches or threads to fasten a diffuser. Since this was a low dollar item the B&H answer was basically appropriate. If you had a problem with an expensive item I think B&H's response would (or should) have been different. Steve

I bought the Ultimate light box and it is supposed to be snug. It's one of their selling points that you don't need to use velcro. I like it and it doesn't fall off even with the full complement of softbox and bounce diffuser.

Thanks to all of you! I did not answer yesterday because in Europe was very late and went to sleep before you left your comments. I'll have to look for time to watch the interested videos appointed by Fred.

 

What I continue considering weird in a competitive world where image is so important is that BH do not offer alternatively the solution of changing the items, specially considering that I have more that a thousand dollars order in my basket waiting to see if we could take advantage of the shipping to solve the problem. Furthermore, if many customers complaint that they cannot remove the products from their flashes once they are attached, I don't know how they continue selling them . I bought more bouncers and adapters and all of them fit well and stay firmly. Only the Habor Digital Design ones do not.

The problem is not with B&H, but with the way you asked for action:

 

"What can I do?"

 

I would interpret this as a tech-support question, equivalent to saying: "How can I make this work?" or "Do you know a workaround?".

 

If you asked plainly "May I return the products?", then I'm sure their response would have been different.

I received the answer 8 days later, and after severals emails. In one of the I said:

 

"In case it could be useful to solve the problem, I have a new order pending at BH in my basket. If you had new adapters tested to fit in the flash, you could include them in the parcel. (Probably it is a problem of manufacturing)."

i think Vanderburg is correct and I think you've again asked not for a replacement, but to purchase an additional item.

 

You said,"If you had new adapters tested to fit in the flash, you could include them in the parcel. (Probably it is a problem of manufacturing)."

 

To me that would incline to a new additional purpose, especially since you haven't returned the old one yet.

Do I have to spend 40 dollars in sending 2 defective adapters that cost 12 $ each?. It is not the money, it is the fact. And without the adapters, I cannot use the bouncers.

 

You see? This is a case for me, as I am management teacher, apart of being CEO of a company. And I want to explain to my students WHAT SHOULD NOT BE DONE. As an organization, we are starting buying in USA, Honk Kong and many others countries of the dollar influence because of the rate of exchange. And I started buying in BH (thanks to photo.net)for me and for the Christmas gifts for the same reason.(Except cameras, that I continue buying in pixmania-pro). As we don?t pay VAT, the 40 D costs to us 839 euros with the rebate (cheaper than in USA). We have ordered ten for special clients and employees. The flash and the bouncers are for my secretary. And I have to buy a few lenses that are much cheaper in USA.

 

So, we are talking about 24 dollars or 16 euros (four coffees).

 

Did you know that in this week I have bought 3700 US $ to another seller in USA instead that in BH?

 

But I see that the system of customer attention in USA is going to be beaten soon by the Asian countries. The same that happened with Japan when Demis was there, it is going to happen soon with Asia. They are starting being more kind and more reliable, in one word, more competitive than Europe or America. We are committing a serious mistake. To leave the customer attention to inexperienced, unskilled and unmotivated people that are making lose business to the corporation. I am convinced that front line clerks are more important than executives. If you train, motivate and reward them well, they get more involved in the organization vision and mission and brings more and more business. The future is: less executives and more sellers receiving a percentage of what they sale. You have to convince them that they are the face of the organization, and make feel them important. The role of the bosses has to be train, coach, motivate, solve problems (even personal ones) and provided our people with all the means that they may need.

 

I have prepared the head lines of Monday's lecture.<div></div>

If as much time and thought were put into your e-mails to B&H as your posts here, you'd get the answer you want.

 

Most people can only read words and not minds, regardless of what country they live in.

Fred, your post sounds enigmatic. It may have many interpretations. But I'll tell you something. I am not looking for the refund of 24 $. I am doing an experiment. Nobody would expend such a lot of time for that. Nobody would make this considerations. People just complaint and continue or stop being a customer of a firm. I am trying to tell to myself and to the people who want to hear me that we must pay attention to the customers, that we must guess what they want, without having to open a thread in a forum like photo.net. But to achieve that we have to reorganize our organizations and make that its objectives run in a parallel way with the interest of its members.

 

I like to write here because it is the best tool of knowledge management I know. I am writing for a certain number of selected people that I respect a lot. Do you thing I would bother to put it in an answering machine like the ''customer attention system'' of these companies?

While I have no particular problem with the contents of the replies you've received I am asking customer service to issue store credit in the amount of the purchase price for the two Harbor products. <p>Henry Posner<br><b>B&H Photo-Video</b>

It is true. I have just come from the airport and have found an email of Bhphotovideo and another from Mr. Posner where they announces that a refund of 32.90 $ has been done.

 

Today is December the 4th.

On November 21th I had reported the problem.

 

On November 25th I wrote:

 

Dear gentlemen,

 

In case it could be useful to solve the problem, I have a new order pending at BH in my basket. If you had new adapters tested to fit in the flash, you could include them in the parcel. (Probably it is a problem of manufacturing).

 

Kind regards.

 

 

 

(I just wanted the adapters, not the bouncer)

 

 

On November 29 I wrote:

 

Why don't you solve or give an answer about this problem?

 

If you don't have the proper adapters, please let me know. As I told you, I am waiting to send another order to you. Shall I wait?

 

 

 

On November 30th I received the published answer. I told them:

 

Sorry but I have no intention of squeezing anything bought brand new. I suggest you to reimburse the cost of the items in the next order I do, as they are defective. I have to inform you that I have published your answer in photo.net in EOS forum as the post of ''Incredible answer of bhphotovideo'' and have the intention of continuing the story until the end.

 

Yours very truly.

 

I. Flores

 

 

 

I want to declare that I never doubted of the integrity of BH photovideo. The proof is that last night, not having had any news yet, I told my son I. Flores to sent another order to BH to buy a few lenses. But what I consider the BEST photo store on line in the world, in my opinion should revise its customer attention policy. If the same answer had come from a non so prestigious organization, I wouldn't have bothered. But coming from BH photovideo, I considered it ''incredible'', as I said.

 

This is the end of the story.

By the way, today I have spoken in front of a hundred businessmen. I have talked about photo.net and the way how the knowledge flows here. It is an example of KM. I do not know any other place like this. I have also spoken of BH, a very reliable company that I suppose is overburden these days. We have discuss about our problem with the strength of the euro and the opportunities that are having the dollar area countries. Some photo gear seller have told me they are suffering an important decrease of the business. You have to take advantage of the situation as nobody knows how long it is going to last.

Antonio,

We are sorry to hear of the problem you had with our diffuser and adapter.

We are a small company and do not have the ability to monitor all of the different forums and photo sites so we were

unaware of your problem.

 

Our adapter for the Canon 580Ex is a computer designed and molded product that is produced to very close tolerances.

Random samples are taken and checked for size and fit on all production runs to assure that they fit the flash properly.

While we have had products that were too large and rejected we have not experienced the problem of having adapters

that were undersized.

We strive to make sure our products are packaged correctly but it is possible that your package was miss boxed.

Although you purchased our product from B&H we consider you to be our customer as well. Had you contacted us

directly we would have been happy to assist you in solving the problem you were experiencing.

 

We take great pride in the quality of our products and also in our customer service. Should you explore our web site you

will see that we offer an unconditional refund on all of our products.

While it has been quite a while since you had your problem we are available to assist you if we can.

 

Please accept our apology for the difficulty you have had.

 

 

Michael J Capozzi

President

 

Harbor Digital Design LLC

P O Box 1216

Gig Harbor, WA 98332

 

(253) 851-6117

www.harbordigitaldesign.com

Thanks, Michael, for your reply. Nobody doubts that Harbor Digital Design is a very reliable firm. The problem was promptly resolved by BH Photovideo. I understand things like that happen in every organization. I only found strange the first answer of BH. But I continued buying things to them until the Euro dropped against the dollar.