We were not engaged in a statistical study of B&H transaction history. We were provided with one, and only one, example of *how B&H resolves disputes*. One that they were responsible for.
That *one example of dispute resolution* was not promising from the customer point of view. Counter-example: I recently purchased a 30 year old Kenwood stereo amplifier for $40 from a private eBay seller. The listing read something like "Excellent condition - Like new, in perfect working order", "No returns after 5 days". Well it took me almost two weeks to get around to opening the box. When I hooked it up, it clearly had a noisy volume control pot, with scratchiness on the left channel. I then noticed that the case had been opened because one screw had not been fully screwed back in. I contacted the seller, explaining that I had just gotten around to inspecting the item, that I was disappointed on the two counts above, and that I don't just leave negative feedback without first seeing if there'a a chance of a resolution. He responded immediately, explaining that he opens items and inspects them to clean out any dust, bugs, etc., that accumulate over the years, and must have not fully reinserted the screw, and that he had not experienced the noise issue. He said the 5-day return policy was for customers who simply change their minds. He offered me a $5 credit for the purchase of a can of contact cleaner which I accepted. Paul's statement regarding B&H is that "They're businessmen who have set specific policies and adhere to them without exception". I suppose that if I had been dealing with B&H on the above item, they would have told me 'Sorry, no returns after 5 days. And BTW, it doesn't matter how we described the item now. That's our policy'. That $5 credit represented a FAR LARGER hit to that private eBay seller, than a $250 piece of merchandise does to a vendor with a transaction volume in the millions. What it tells me about B&H is that they likely do not view the customer, as a person. They view customers as profit centers and they're more interested in every $ coming in, than they are in making a happy customer in just this one case. In other words, so what if we described the item inaccurately, took your order, and then cancelled it. We're not going to be out the $250 and furthermore we're so big that whether you purchase from us ever again is of little consequence. I find that attitude rather disturbing and it does not make me want to send my money in that direction. Tom C. On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 10:30 AM, Mark Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > Tom C wrote: > >>Clearly Mark, both you and Paul are cherry-picking as I've explicitly >>acknowledged that the majority of most B&H transactions go smoothly. >> >>We just had a similar topic on the justice system. It works most of >>the time, but when it doesn't then what? >> >>This was never about 'B&H - Millions of Good Transactions', it was >>about 'B&H - How Do They Handle Disputes and Errors? (One Case >>Study)'. > > Talk about cherry-picking. A sample size of "one" isn't very useful. > > I would expect, given their overall volume, the time they've been in > business and the devious nature of some customers (I've done some time > working retail myself - I could tell you stories), that B*H's > problematic transactions number in the tens of thousands. The only > ones anyone hears about are the very few like this one that aren't > resolved to the satisfaction of the customer. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
