After 29 years, B&H has lost my business

[View Range]

All the shippers (USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL) have been terrible lately for both domestic and international shipping. I paid a huge amount (~$200) to send rare camera parts by FedEx First Overnight. It took 6 days! And still didn't arrive with the First delivery. But then sometimes a package will arrive a day early.
Covid is no longer an excuser. We have been doing this for over 12 months. The carriers don't have enough equipment and the don't hire enough people, I assume with the strategy to keep costs as low as possible.

 

[besk]

Around here in SC Fed Ex uses independent contractors. (The trucks are marked Fed Ex but they are independent contractors.) That can explain some of the problems.
USPS has caused me all kinds of problems with slooow mail.

 

[KismetSky]

Quite honestly I’ve had issues with all the major carriers. USPS will frequently loop packages back and forth from one facility to the next. UPS will just lose a package and requires an investigation to find it. FedEx frequently marks items as delivered even though I don’t actually receive until the next day or longer. It’s hit or miss with all of them, but BH has always been good about shipping it out quick and accepting returns if there are any issues.

 

[splitimageview]

I have had my share of wacky tracking over the past year. But things seem to be settling down. Although I shipped a Nikon body to Portland a couple of weeks ago and it went to Brooklyn first...😱

Some good info posted above, including that Fedex Ground and Fedex are run as separate companies. Fedex Ground was previously known as RPS (Roadway Package Service) before Fedex bought them and entered the ground shipping market. In my experience Fedex Ground has never offered the same degree of customer service as Fedex.

My most recent Fedex experience: shipped a Speed Graphic to Hong Kong. Dropped it off at a local mail box shop that accepts shipments from all the freight companies. The shipment was a Fedex International, except the Fedex Ground driver picked up the box by mistake. The agent at the mail shop told me this, but no one at Fedex knew what to do with the information. They simply can't do a thing if the tracking doesn't show up on their computer.

As a result it never entered the Fedex tracking system as Fedex ground uses a completely different tracking number than Fedex. I tried every possible way to get some sort of action from their customer service people on their 800 number. Lots of promises, but no action. Finally just decided to drive to both the local hubs and pay them a personal visit, figuring in-person might be more productive. This involved about 150 miles of driving...

First went to the Fedex hub, and the agent there was very helpful, although she came up with nothing.

Then drove to the Fedex Ground hub, and showed them the air way bill.

The agent walked across the huge warehouse and picked the box off the shelf where it had been sitting for two weeks. Apparently boxes go there to die...

 

[Timmyjoe]

It's well past the "End of Day" that FedEx claimed the package would be delivered by (see earlier post) and as expected, nothing has shown up. From what I can tell from the FedEx site, the package is still at the Chicago hub, where it has been since Sunday morning.

Such B.S. And B&H is fine with it.

Best,
-Tim

 

[kiemchacsu]

Freestyle also utilize FEDEX for their shipping service .

The frustration level with B&H Photo has finally hit the breaking point. Ever since they changed their main shipper from UPS to FedEx, reliable delivery has gone down the toilet.

After twenty nine years, and giving them tens of thousands of dollars for equipment, they've finally driven me away. In the last two years, there have been so many packages shipped from them via FedEx that have been delayed, and the tracking information on the FedEx site has been wildly inaccurate, that I can no longer trust when I will receive an item from them.

It's a shame, as I really like a lot of the folks that work there, but they refuse to address the FedEx issue (I have contacted them about numerous orders), so I'm going to have to take my business elsewhere.

Besides Freestyle, what do folks here use?

Best,
-Tim

 

[Mooshoepork]

Can practically guarantee B&H don’t care, as you’ve probably already realised.

When you’re as cheap/convenient as B&H is, they’re not exactly short of customers

 

[neal3k]

If just buying film, chemicals, and similar, I use Film Photography Project. Great guys there and they give shipping choices. For equipment, I use Adorama and B&H and fortunately, I am rarely in a rush.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

It's well past the "End of Day" that FedEx claimed the package would be delivered by (see earlier post) and as expected, nothing has shown up. From what I can tell from the FedEx site, the package is still at the Chicago hub, where it has been since Sunday morning.

Such B.S. And B&H is fine with it.

Best,
-Tim

Tim,

This is probably a slightly different, though related, subject, but, since you live in Chicago, which has a variety of large camera stores, why are you resorting to mail order anyway? I am not trying to make a point, just curious as to the reasons. Most of us likely have no, or little, access to buying things locally. Dodd, Tamarkin, and several others are there in Chicago.
Even with local access, B&H has more things? Local alternatives even worse service? Again, just curious, as to the larger picture of what drives us to B&H. I don’t have any choice other than to mail order, but would rather buy local if I had the choice. Faster for one thing, and supportive of my neighbors for another. I just don’t have any neighbors who sell anything I need.

BTW, I only just now saw your Route 66 videos and really enjoyed those. Recommended.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the kind words on the videos. What I'm waiting for from B&H is a replacement microphone so I can complete the next video in the series.

I list my location as Chicago, but am actually in a far northwest suburb of the Windy City. I regularly travel into the city via the Metra Train line, which I've not been able to do during the pandemic (as I'm high risk with co-morbidities). I have now received my second vaccine, so will be able to ride public transit in the near future. I've bought a number of items from Tamarkin over the years, but for much of what I need, B&H had always been my go-to, since my days living in NYC and visiting them down on 17th, back in the day.

Will need to come up with a different solution, because this FedEx thing drives me crazy.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the kind words on the videos. What I'm waiting for from B&H is a replacement microphone so I can complete the next video in the series.

I list my location as Chicago, but am actually in a far northwest suburb of the Windy City. I regularly travel into the city via the Metra Train line, which I've not been able to do during the pandemic (as I'm high risk with co-morbidities). I have now received my second vaccine, so will be able to ride public transit in the near future. I've bought a number of items from Tamarkin over the years, but for much of what I need, B&H had always been my go-to, since my days living in NYC and visiting them down on 17th, back in the day.

Will need to come up with a different solution, because this FedEx thing drives me crazy.

Best,
-Tim

Thanks, Tim, that makes sense.

 

[35photo]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the kind words on the videos. What I'm waiting for from B&H is a replacement microphone so I can complete the next video in the series.

I list my location as Chicago, but am actually in a far northwest suburb of the Windy City. I regularly travel into the city via the Metra Train line, which I've not been able to do during the pandemic (as I'm high risk with co-morbidities). I have now received my second vaccine, so will be able to ride public transit in the near future. I've bought a number of items from Tamarkin over the years, but for much of what I need, B&H had always been my go-to, since my days living in NYC and visiting them down on 17th, back in the day.

Will need to come up with a different solution, because this FedEx thing drives me crazy.

Best,
-Tim

This to me is more a FedEx problem then a B&H problem.... I've had issues with FedEx in the past no matter who I purchased from.... This solution isn't the greatest but it works.... Have then drop ship it to a FedEx store.... and you can go pick it up there.... Yes I know this is a pain, but it works

 

[Timmyjoe]

I see this as a B&H problem because B&H has been made aware of this situation with FedEx on numerous occasions yet refuses to address the issue and consider doing anything about it.

I know that what Mooshoepork says above is true, even though I've been a loyal customer and given B&H tens of thousands of dollars in business over the last 29 years, I'm just one of millions so they're not particularly concerned if I take my business elsewhere, and I accept that.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Godfrey]

I've not had problems specific to B&H Photo, but I've had service irregularities with every carrier (FedEx, UPS, DHL, you name it...). Most of the time things show up expediently and as expected. Every so often ... it's a day and a half of wrangling to find where a package has gotten to. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

What I do to minimize this irregularity is to mark it for pick up at a drop station near by. I'm lucky in that there are both UPS and FedEx stores within a mile of my home, and that if those cannot be chosen, the UPS, FedEx, and DHL dispatcher points can also be used and they're all conveniently only about 20 minutes away.

Most of the time, when the option is available, I use USPS as the carrier. Despite all their problems of the past year, and the misery of the politics associated, they have been very reliable and the carriers who service my neighborhood are good folks, watch out for my packages.

All the carriers have had their problems this past year. The pandemic and Shelter At Home mandates have boosted shopping online with carrier delivery by a huge huge bump and their systems are being pushed beyond any limits they had once considered the max. My brother works for UPS and he tells me how much work they've had to do to reengineer all the systems for the increased load.

I'm just glad they've been available at all.

G

 

[oldwino]

I know this doesn’t help you get your package delivered, but I will mention that every FedEx package that I’ve had shipped, including one from B&H, that has gone through the Chicago hub has been significantly delayed. As in, it takes an extra week. That hub must be a mess of disorganization.
Other routes across the US (I’m in CA) have been pretty good.

 

[Beemermark]

Shipping for the last year from UPS, USPS & FedEx have been horrible. things are getting back to normal but we're not there yet. I try not to read these posts moaning about shipping, but drawn in like a moth to the flame. Have people been in living in a vacuum for the last year?

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Perhaps we have grown a bit spoiled?

Perhaps we have grown a bit spoiled?

20 years ago I ordered a replacement handle for my daughter's Radio Flyer wagon.

The company shipped only by Roadway Package System.
The part took several months to arrive.
There was no such thing as tracking then.

RPS later became FedEx Ground.

Chris

 

[mpaniagua]

Two weeks ago I placed an order to restock some film. Shipped using DHL to Mexico, took about 3 days to arrive with no problems at all. Pretty satisfied. Shipping have been down the toiled for most companies due to Covid19 so cutting some slack to companies is ok to me.

On the other hand, ordered from Freestyle about 6 months ago. It took 2 months for order to arrive to same address.

 

[Ronald M]

Fed Ex is the poorest delivery service around. I ordered a monitor 2 day delivery, tracked it every day , day 3 promise moved to day , day 4 prom moved to day 5, Day 6 on truck for delivery, later day 6 delivery lost, later day 6 was delivered.

I used my Payboo card first time and did not have security code so order was placed by store. Very nice for $2500.

From now on I will use my local UPS distribution point -hold for pick up like I normally do.

 

[Beemermark]

Fed Ex is the poorest delivery service around. I ordered a monitor 2 day delivery, tracked it every day , day 3 promise moved to day , day 4 prom moved to day 5, Day 6 on truck for delivery, later day 6 delivery lost, later day 6 was delivered.

Lack of local drivers