B&H Photo in NY Times

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Seven Steps to Managing Your Online Reputation is about B&H Photo, which has often been recommended here.

That sort of no-nonsense, no-hard-sell advice is one reason the store, B&H Photo in New York, is to the cameraphile what L.L. Bean’s Freeport, Me., store is to the outdoor crowd. Of course, if you’re not close enough to New York to make that pilgrimage, you’ll have to settle for the company’s Web site — but maybe that’s not so terrible. B&H’s online sales arm gets mostly great reviews in forums and rating sites.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Thanks for posting, Mohamed. That is an excellent read on how this very well run photo store operates and maintains its high standing reputation. It is also quite refreshing to read that B&H does not buy into the PC attitude that "The customer is always right". A good salesman and store should keep their customers from making mistakes in their purchases; and B&H indeed tries to do that.

I make almost all of my photographic purchases from B&H; mostly by the website when I am absolutely sure that I know what I want, or by phone when I have questions -- which have always been professionally and honestly answered. Adorama is another very well run photo store which I can also recommend. However, I have found that B&H consistently delivers their goods to me within 1-2 days while Adorama takes closer to 1 week. So B&H is always my first choice in photo stores.

 

[MichaelJ]

B&H has taken a lot of my money, but given me a ton of value in return. In fact, when I had to exchange a brand-new malfunctioning camera body, it was completely painless and they even took care of the return shipping (emailing me a label to print) and I had the replacement in just a couple days.

Living where we do, their standard shipping takes only 2 days at most. Don't bother paying for premium shipping, you don't need it.

They do observe the Jewish Sabbath and holy days, at which time they not only don't fulfill orders but don't even accept them on the website, so plan accordingly if you need something on a timeline.

Despite not being that far from several fine camera shops (Hunts, Calumet, Zeff) I don't hesitate to order from B&H online.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

I shop a lot of places but almost always end up buying from B&H. But my wife and I have found that you need to know what you want before you go there, which is why we shop first.

I also ditto Mark's suggestion about Adorama, which is funkier but still great.