KEH.COM - total disregard for the customer

[akptc]

Yes, I am royally pissed at KEH.COM.

I bought a black 35-70mm G) Vario-Sonnar from them thru a phone transaction. They sent a silver one. I called and was forced to listen to some condescending jerk who took 10 minutes to explain to me how the silver lens got into the wrong box. Did not offer to pay for my shipping of the wrong lens back to them ($28). Today I received the "correct" lens - it's SILVER(!!!), actually I think it's the same one I sent back to them. Can you believe this stuff?

Sure, I had a couple of good transactions with them in the past. But this kind of a careless error is just not acceptable in my books. Don’t mean to pollute the forum with my frustrations but thought folks should know.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Call during the day and ask to talk to the manager or something. They should fix this error.

 

[raid]

This kind of error by KEH is surprising as I have only had positive buying experiences so far. I agree with Stephaine's tip; ask for the top management.

Raid

 

[wlewisiii]

I've never heard of anything quite like that from them. Definitely speak to the highest level management you can.

And then be sure to let us know the outcome.

William

 

[jky]

Andy, hope the situation gets rectified... our transaction was one of the smoothest I've had so it bites to hear this has happened.
Cheers, j

 

[Bill58]

I've had good luck w/ them. Maybe you just got a mentally- challenged "salesperson".

Think about how little they must pay those poor guys. About like McDonalds.

 

[Chris Lynch]

i've done MANY dealings with KEH, and they're usually very smooth and fast- but the one or two times things went awry, Dennis helped me out totally- even shipped the "correct" item to me overnight express on THEIR dollar, and they let me keep the "incorrect" item that i originally recieved, w/o any additional charge haha....

 

[colyn]

I've dealt with KEH since they first opened their Dallas store and never had this kind of problem. I just wish they still had the Dallas store.

You might try calling King Grant or Jason..

 

[BillBingham2]

Andy,

I've had problem with different shops and found that I just kept asking for a manager till I got it resolved. Make sure you ask if the person you get sent to is the manager. Often when you get sent to managers these days, it's another lower level person who does not say they are the manager, but are never asked.

The key is that you need to ask the person who has the power to make things better. Having them refund you shipping should not be an issue. Stand your ground and do not accept what is not fare.

Do not write off KEH. Find the manager who makes it better and deal directly with only them from now on.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

B2 (;->

 

[PlantedTao]

I had this issue with them...
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26298

I got my full refund, but they never refunded the cost of shipping it back 🙁 Every other transaction has been top notch and I will continue to deal with them in the future (unless I hear of more things like this happening).
Keep us posted.

Cheers. Jason

 

[aad]

Sounds inconvenient, and I hope they fix things and pay for the shipping-as they should-but the title to the thread seems a bit harsh.

 

[akptc]

Thank you everyone for your kind words and advice. I will certainly try to get a KEH manager to rectify this. Perhaps the title to this thread was harsh, but that's really how I feel. I've been a consultant all my adult life and learned that you treat your clients well or starve. This incident just blew my top off because I took pains to explain to at least two separate people at KEH the importance of my timeline for receiving the correct item... Anyway, here is hoping for the best; I will post an update (and pics once my scanner arrives) once this is over. Thank you all again for allowing me to vent, I truly appreciate it.

 

[kevino]

Wrong Lens

Wrong Lens

I ordered a 35mm Summicron over the phone from them a couple of months ago. I SPECIFICALLY asked if this was a fourth version Summicron and was told YES. I also purchased the rectangular hood to go along with it. What showed up was a 2nd or 3rd version Summi (I'm really not sure - it was the one with the little tab for the aperture). I called back to ask "WTF". They only told me "sorry" send it back, it will take approx TWO WEEKS from the time we receive it before we refund your money. And another thing....we're not refunding ANY of the shipping costs.

Whatever! Won't be dealing with them again.

 

[Jon Perry]

Shops that don't refund shipping on errors they have made should be avoided. In this day and age of distance internet shopping, forums like this are the only way that potential customers can find out about poor customer service (apart from first hand 🙁 ).

I for one would like to know the outcome of your dispute with them. It may well effect my future purchasing decisions.

Jon

 

[akptc]

Resolution (such as it is)

Resolution (such as it is)

Well, I just spoke with Ken at KEH.COM. Appaprently, Bill – their sales manager – is on vacation. Ken told me they did not actually have a black 35-70 VS to send me (that's the lens they "sold" me originally); and added that these are "very hard to come by", etc, etc, and that he was very sorry. Ken seemed like a nice guy but did not go looking through the inventory to find the lens I purchased, even though I asked. He offered a refund and I will be shipping the 2nd wrong lens back to KEH on their UPS account. The best that Ken would do to try and get me a refund of my 1st return shipping expense was to suggest I ask for it again in a note.

In summary, this is the way I see what happened:

1. KEH sold me a lens they did not have
2. KEH sent me the wrong lens twice
3. KEH made me waste my time and effort to figure it out all for them
4. Based on the above, I have little confidence the actual refund will be processed smoothly. I certainly do not expect to receive the shipping refund.

I am very dissapointed in that store and it will be a long while before I buy anything else from KEH.COM.

 

[Uncle Bill]

Let me get this straight, they missrepresented the lens they sold you even though it is a cosmetic black vs silver. When I buy from an online retailer, usually it is assumed what you see in the picture is what you will get, unless there is the fineprint at the bottom of the screen.

Being north of the border, I am in no rush to use KEH as they UPS ground as their shipping choice and this makes me wonder in this day in age with the world being as small as it is, they are not the only camera dealer out there. You can't afford to annoy customers.

Bill

 

[flashover]

Andy your experience with KEH shows they realy don't care about your business and they will not be getting any of mine.

 

[RObert Budding]

I've only had one problem with KEH in many transactions. They sent me a Mamiya back that had problems. I did pay shippin back - much less than $28. More like $6 FedEx Ground. They paid shipping back.

 

[KoNickon]

Are the pictures KEH shows in their listings, pictures of the actual item? I don't think I've ever seen anything that's got a cosmetic flaw -- which of course can't be the case.

 

[akptc]

Let me get this straight, they missrepresented the lens they sold you even though it is a cosmetic black vs silver.

– yep, I don’t see any other logical way to look at it right now.

Andy your experience with KEH shows they realy don't care about your business and they will not be getting any of mine. .

– John, you bring up what I think is an important point. As companies get larger / more successful, some seem to tolerate the attitude of being able to “afford” mistakes and risk loosing customers. I think that in most cases this not-so-smart attitude bites them back pretty quickly and they either get it right or start loosing business.

I am certainly not on a one-man crusade to punish KEH, but decided to share this with the RFF folks here because I have personally benefited many times from similar (good and not so good) feedback on vendors. I must say it does make me feel better to get this whole incident off my chest. Btw, the silver lens is on its way back to the vendor.