gmanfsu1973

Thank you Henry. Honestly, you guys really dropped the ball in how you treated me. My claim should never have simply been summarily denied. If B&H was still investigating, I should have been informed of such investigation. I requested the video used to deny my claim on 3/15. Not only did I never receive the video (which is moot now), my request was never even acknowledged. I know this is a drop in the bucket of what B&H sells each day, but I'd imagine this sale was well in excess of the median sale, and it was made only 2 weeks after a $4,100+ order. I'd imagine $7200+ spent in the last 2 weeks on a non-commercial account would put me in the top 1% for winter 2023, and I had a few other orders over the winter as well. I imagine I will be making at least one more purchase since I need 2 RRS PG-01 with lever clamps for the summer vacay to Great Sand Dunes and Moab, and everyone is out of stock, but only B&H had a stock notification offer. But beyond that, it's a long road to earn my trust back after that.

While I'd like to respond individually, I'm not going to. I'll try to address most of the points. The issue with Spectrum had no bearing on B&H, but does have a bearing as insight in to my psyche. I will not tolerate theft or bad actions by large companies and will act in my own detriment if I'm in the right. Everyone is missing the part where B&H emailed me several hours after I reported the missing lens to let me know the investigation was concluded and they were not refunding or sending the lens. I then presented them with proof whereby Fed Ex had weighed the package and it was only 2 lbs, so it obviously could not have held a 1.87lb lens, both lens caps, a case, the Sony packaging, bubble wrap and a 7.1 oz box. The response I got was that the package weighed 3.38 lbs when it was sent (yet the shipping label said 3.34lbs). The next communication I received was the following Monday morning when I received an email approving my claim. At no point after the initial video review, when I was informed the investigation was closed, was I ever informed they were still investigating (and honestly, I don't think they were). I couldn't care less if someone thinks the Saturday comment was bigoted. It wasn't how it was meant, and personally, I'm an atheist and think anyone that believes in a god is delusional. Yet at the same time, have to admit I'm jealous of people with moderate faith. Seems pretty freeing to be able to blame every bad thing that happens to you on a larger plan of some supreme being rather than your own bad luck or short comings. And even more so to think that every good thing is due to some supreme being looking out for you specifically. And if I paid $3000 for a lens and took an $80 discount instead of a $150 amazon credit just to have it by Tuesday instead of Wednesday, why on earth would receiving the lens the following Monday (or thereabouts) be ok with me without at least an additional discount to match what I would have gotten (and ultimately did get) from Adorama through Amazon? Just my willingness to work out a deal with B&H after being sent crapola instead of my $3000 lens is evidence that I understand things happen. The reason for my post is how poorly I was treated from the minute I reported the incident to B&H. And I've been spending money like a drunken sailor there so far this year! As for returning the light strip, I won't pay for it, but will gladly return it if B&H wants to send me a return shipping label. You act like I'm getting over on them. Incidentally, I bought 4 of these things last mas - 2 for my oldest son and 2 for my youngest son. The oldest hung his up and it's the only light he uses so I get a headache every dang time I walk in his room. The 2 for my oldest are still factory packed in their boxes and sitting on the floor under his dresser. I didn't want or need another set! Honestly, I don't even think someone stole the lens, with the possible exception of whoever purchased the light strip but received a $3,000 camera lens instead. I think that within the last month or so, B&H has begun outsourcing their warehouse/shipping operations. I believe the third party now in charge of that function screwed up and mixed up two orders for different sellers. It's the only thing that really makes any sense, considering everyone's on camera, I received an item they don't even sell, the package weight was off, etc. Lastly, I will say that I arbitrarily chose B&H over Adorama back in like 2006. Probably mostly due to the cleanliness of their website. They were never my exclusive store, but always preferred. I don't know if I will buy from them again, but it'll be tough to pass up the automatic 5% credits through Amazon. Plus, I ordered the lens from Adorama on Wednesday, 3/15 through Amazon. That was the same day that I received the light strip. The lens was supposed to arrive on Friday. It came on Thursday, allowing me to capture the attached on Friday while spending all day out with my sons.

I disagree. I don't tolerate people stealing from me. And I don't cowtow to large businesses taking advantage of customers. As an example, I closed a Spectrum account last year. The account was nearly 3 years old, well past the 1 year early termination penalty phase. I closed the account 1 day after the billing date. My monthly bill was $69.99, with everything included. I had the paperwork to show that I had paid the previous month's balance in full, so at most, my final bill should have been $72.32 (When services went out over the 3 years I had the service, which was often, the statement credit I would receive was always 1/30 of my monthly bill, even in 28 and 31 day months). Spectrum never sent me a final bill, but a month later I received a bill showing my outstanding bill from the month before was $100 and I still owed them $100. I called them dozens of time requesting an accounting of how my account went from $0 to $100 when the monthly rate was $70. They refused and said they would just send me a copy of my bill, again and again. The same bill that showed an opening balance of $100 for some time frame after the account was closed. I refused to pay. For $30 I let it hit my credit report. It caused my score to drop by 15 points. But I was in the right. I fought the credit report listing and sued Spectrum in small claims court under the FDCPA and won a $500 judgement against them 2 months ago and the credit report listing was removed last month. As I stated in my response to the original commenter, B&H emailed me this morning approving my claim. They were unresponsive last week. Wouldn't send me the video they said showed the lens being sealed in a box, just stated they were denying my claim. By keeping on them, filing claims with BBB and FedEx, and threatening them with legal claims as well, that's what kept them investigating and deciding to approve my claim. Personally arguing with them, even when I showed them the tracking info that the box that FedEx picked up weighed 2lbs, according to FedEx, got me nowhere.

The name mention was inadvertent. I don't care about naming them. In fact, I would have preferred to name them throughout my post, but was trying to avoid having the post moderated and deleted. But it was a long post and I forgot to switch the name to "the seller" in one sentence. The mention of closed Saturdays was relevant because it identified the store as one of the 2 big NYC stores, both with excellent reputations. If I was dealing with Abe's or some fly by night store, I'd say I got what I deserved trying to get a "too good to be true" price from an irreputable seller. But I went to probably the #1 place that would have been recommended to me by most on this, or any other discussion forum. So yes, it was relevant to identify the seller as one of the two with the best reputations. Quite frankly, I resent your insinuation that my description was antisemitic. Would you feel the same if I identified a fast food chicken place I was having an issue with as the one closed on Sundays? Or the arts/crafts/hobby store that's closed on Sundays?

I was too. First bad experience, but it was a doozie. Both price-wise and the customer service level. And I had just made a $3,000+ purchase from them 2 weeks prior. Up over $7,000 in purchases since early December, not counting this $3,000 lens! I did just get notification this morning that they have approved my claim and also received an affidavit for them to file a claim with their insurance company affirming I never received the lens, but honestly, with how they treated me during this whole process, I don't think I can ever, in good conscience, make another purchase from them again. Between how this went down and the automatic 5% effective discount from Adorama if I purchase through Amazon...

I shoot for my own enjoyment. Just getting back in to photography after a 10+ year hiatus when my wife passed and left me an only parent to 3 boys, then 1, 3 & 5. Got my 15 year old a decent mirrorless camera for Christmas and teaching him photography as I relearn. Happy to say he has a natural eye for catching interesting compositions and perspectives. In a few months, I plan on taking down the movie posters that decorate one wall of my living room and replacing them with either high quality prints of our best photos, or maybe putting up a ~50" flat screen running slide shows of our best shots. We mostly shoot landscapes and some wildlife. He wants to get in to ruins/abandoned buildings, but I'm too old for climbing fences, lol, so he may have to wait until he has a license to really get in to that. But I also want to learn, and teach him, real estate photography. I've also bought an introductory drone (DJI Mavic Mini) for his two older brothers. Maybe I can teach them enough to run a successful real estate photography business, including drone work. From what I've seen, the competition isn't all that great. Yes, there are some excellent ones out there, but most I've seen look like the counterparts of the "wedding photographers" that advertised on Craigslist for $500 for an 8 hour day like 17 years ago.

You all know the store. One of the ones that's closed every Saturday. On Monday, 3/13, I ordered a Sony 12-24 F2.8 GM lens. I called ahead of time to see if I could get an improved price since I could order from Amazon and get a 5% statement credit on my Amazon credit card. They only offered $80, but they were offering next day shipping, giving me the lens on Tuesday so I didn't have to sit home on Wednesday for delivery signature. The other big store, which sells on Amazon, only offered 2 day shipping through Amazon. Since I took off Wed-Fri to spend time with my sons for spring break, it was worth the $70 difference to get the lens on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. So I get a shipping update that the lens was picked up from the seller's NJ warehouse at 5:56pm Monday night. It then proceeds to disappear in FedEx's system until 11:41pm Tuesday night, so I had to sit around on Wednesday anyway. First fail. The box arrives at 12:30 on Wednesday, in the first 5 minutes of the delivery window, so I was still in the shower and my 17 yr old signed for it. I notice the box feels a little light and open it. Instead of my $3k lens, there's a $20 Govee LED light strip. An item the store doesn't even sell. I call them immediately and they say they have cameras in the warehouse and need to start an investigation. I ask, hypothetically, if the footage shows it wasn't packed correctly, because how could it have been?!?, what they would do. I was looking for an additional discount since it was already Wednesday and there was only an outside shot I'd receive the actual lens by Friday (which would require sitting around on another off day waiting to sign for a delivery). They said they would only offer to "re"send the lens. Well, that wasn't good enough for me, so I told them I'd rather just have a refund and ordered the lense from the other store through Amazon as soon as I hung up. Incidentally, the lens was supposed to arrive Friday from the other store, it came Thursday. So, later that day, they send an email that the camera shows that the lens was loaded in the box and the box was sealed, and remained sealed when I got it, so they were denying my claim. I confirmed with a family member who was worked for FedEx almost 35 years now that the shipping box definitely didn't come from FedEx and I can confirm from the several orders I've placed over the last couple of months that the store had just switched from a plain cardboard box with branded tape (which they'd been using since at least 2006 when I first got in to photography), to a plain, perforated but sealed cardboard box with no branding whatsoever within the last 3 weeks or so. But in checking my tracking info, FedEx had the package weight as 2 lbs. Yet the shipping label said 3.34lbs. The whole package, on my kitchen scale, with the LED light strip in the package, weighed in at 1lb 9oz. And I know that FedEx/UPS/USPS all round up. 1.xlbs = 2 lbs. 2.xoz = 3oz. 8.1" = 9". That's how they bill. In fact, Sony has the lens (without front and rear caps, without the case it comes with, without the Sony box, without the bubble wrap and instructions) listed as 1.87lbs. So it's impossible that the lens and all of its packaging were in a 2lb box. Especially considering the box and packing material weigh 7.1oz by themselves. Even after providing all this information to the store, their story is the package weighed 3.38lbs when it left their warehouse. I've already filed a complaint with the NY BBB, disputed the charge with my bank and filed a claim with FedEx. I've informed B&H that I will be filing a report with the NYPD at noon tomorrow (which I will). I will also file a mail fraud claim with the USPS (private shipping still counts as mail fraud, my retired cop neighbor let me know). Has anyone else had a similar experience? Were you successful in getting your funds refunded? Is there anything else I could be doing? It really is a beautiful lens though...

Circle B Bar Reserve, Lakeland, FL SOny a7IV, SEL70200GM2, 200mm, 1/1250s f/2.8 ISO 400

A7IV, SEL70200GM2, 151mm 1/125 @ f/4

Sony a7IV Tamron E 17-28mm F2.8 ISO 800 10.0s at f/16

Sony a7IV FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSSII ISO400 1/800s at f/8

As far as asking him, this is a surprise gift for him, so asking is out of the question. He has no idea or expectation of this magnitude of gift. I bought an a7iv last year and the few times I've been able to get out, he enjoyed it and soaked up all I could teach (which was limited as I'm still learning the camera and hadn't shot seriously in over a decade). So if he sticks with it and takes care of his but the older model winds up limiting him, he will have the ability to use my a7iv. As for FF vs APS-C, I've heard that the image quality isn't as big of a deal as it was 10 years or so ago, but I always wished for easier wide angle when I had my D200 and I've always heard that you get much smoother bokeh from a FF sensor. Is that no longer true? I just kind of feel that the a6400 kinda looks like a P&S instead of a real camera. Psychologically, I think the more real camera feel of the a7ii would give him a greater sense of accomplishment/advancement than the a6400. I know that was how I felt when I went from my N65 to my F100...

I'm down to a Sony a7ii vs the a6400 as a Xmas gift for my son who wants to get in to photography. I'm already in Sony E mount, so think he should stick with the same. Should I go with the a7ii, which is older, not as many AF points, and I'm sure slower AF, or the APS sensor a6400 with way more AF points and, I'm sure, lightning fast AF? I don't envision he will be using the camera for videos, just still life/landscape/abstract type stuff. He has a good eye for composition and contrast and shapes.

I used to be heavily in to photography as a hobby around a decade ago. Earlier this year, now that my kids are older and I can get away to go take photos, I bought myself an a7iv with a few nice lenses, but haven't had the time to really get back yet. But my 15 year old really wants to learn. He definitely has a natural eye for abstract and capturing interesting lighting and shapes on his phone. I don't quite trust him with the iv yet (he lost one of his month-old airpod pros at the gym), but want to get him started with a better camera. Obviously, I'd like to stick with the E mount lenses so he can use my lenses. So I'm down to with the a6400 or an a7ii. Both are going for $1k with a 20something-70something (effective) zoom lens. What's the best choice? I'm leaning towards the a6400 as it's 5 years newer and has better AF points and tracking, and can shoot 4k if he decides to do any video stuff. But kinda torn due to that full size sensor on the ii. I'd feel more confident in the decision if I was fully back in the hobby, but I've gone out photographing exactly one time since 2010 or so... Thoughts?