PRS-950 Has Anyone Received their $199 PRS-950 from B&H

[bandhphoto]

Originally Posted by krish

Suggested improvement for B&H service - deduct the money on the card once you are ready to deliver and not when placing the order.

We have plans to implement this during the first quarter of 2011. Thank you.

I'm not a customer, and NEVER will be. Geez, these guys charge your credit card account when they don't even have the item in stock?! What a bunch of jerks. There is no guarantee they will ever have any more stock, or if so how long before they get it. The industry standard is to charge the credit card only when the item is processed for actual shipping. Anything else is just plain unethical. If I was a customer I would call my credit card company and complain. I would also complain often and loudly to Sony who in return might revoke their license to sell Sony items.

[Pregasviel]

I agree that this policy is very doubtfull, and that it would be better if B&H charged their customers only when they have products in stock, and able to ship them. I am also not very familiar with such practices as i used to order on amazon who has a very great customer policy.

I ordered on B&H website from France and hope to receive my device as soon as possible, i received an e-mail which said that B&H will probably have the prs 950 in stock on next monday, it appears far to me as I feel impatient to read on it.

[Lilly]

Originally Posted by OddsRatio

This is the email sent to me by B&H below; is the CSR's estimate legitimate? I had asked them about the switch in status from "waiting in stock" to the current backorder status.

Thank you for at least posting a status Oddsratio. I've been checking every 2 days to see if it's ship and I'm getting a little antsy. I hope the estimate is correct!

[db100]

Greedy, isn't it?

Originally Posted by bandhphoto

We have plans to implement this during the first quarter of 2011. Thank you.

[bandhphoto]

Originally Posted by db100

Greedy, isn't it?

No, it's not. You may disaprove of this, which is certainly your right, but greed has nothing to do with it. For 99% of all such orders it speeds out-the-door time by 24 hours or more.

Sites which charge your card when the order is shipped usually place a lien on your credit card at the time you submit the order. Usually the lien is for more than the transaction total and the retailer does so with no notice to the customer at all.

[db100]

Well, maybe you are new but I still remember how photo.net reviewed NYC photopraphy retailers. With dominating of internet orders the old tricks are hard to see and most of them are better. But, why J&R will be able to charge credit card upon shipping and B&H cann't? How difficulty is difficulty to change a line of code?

Originally Posted by bandhphoto

No, it's not. You may disaprove of this, which is certainly your right, but greed has nothing to do with it. For 99% of all such orders it speeds out-the-door time by 24 hours or more.

Sites which charge your card when the order is shipped usually place a lien on your credit card at the time you submit the order. Usually the lien is for more than the transaction total and the retailer does so with no notice to the customer at all.

[Waba]

Why is everyone so up in arms over the immediate c.card payment? ... That's about $2 in interest you could earn on that in one year at current CD rates!

On the other hand, if you're paying 20% interest, I can understand the grief... But I'd focus on not paying exorbitant interest, rather than $200 in escrow.

... I think it's awesome BH is honoring such an excellent price... I'd say most online retailers wouldn't.

Originally Posted by Waba

Why is everyone so up in arms over the immediate c.card payment? ... That's about $2 in interest you could earn on that in one year at current CD rates!

On the other hand, if you're paying 20% interest, I can understand the grief... But I'd focus on not paying exorbitant interest, rather than $200 in escrow.

... I think it's awesome BH is honoring such an excellent price... I'd say most online retailers wouldn't.

That's a rather naive statement. What if someone paid via a debit card? Then the money is out of their account immediately and to recover it would take a while. Also, it might push someone's credit limit on a credit card to the limit. It is a much better business practice to wait until the product is being processed for shipping then charge the card and lock the order. Until such time there should be no charges incurred and the customer should be free to cancel or change the order without monetary penalty. To do otherwise looks dishonest, even if it is not dishonest by intent. However, in this particular case I think it is dishonest to take money for an item which you do not even possess and might never possess!

[Waba]

I agree it is not ideal and the retailer is making a good choice by fixing it. And I agree from less reputable retailers it would even be somewhat alarming... Not greatly alarming because every credit card I've ever dealt with would reverse the charge... Along those lines, I'm not overly concerned even if BH never sees another 950. Although, I'm confident they will (even sonystyle is OOS right now).

Debit or credit (or cash) it's still $200, held for a few months max. IMO if you're approaching credit limits (and can't pay them down) you have bigger problems.

But in finance the loss of investment opportunity is almost completely negligible.

[Ken401]

Originally Posted by jswinden

However, in this particular case I think it is dishonest to take money for an item which you do not even possess and might never possess!

While I agree it would be better to not charge a credit card for an order until time of shipment, I would strongly disagree with anyone even suggesting dishonesty on the part of B&H Photo.

I have personally purchased from them numerous times over the years and have complete confidence in their service and quality of merchandise. I am sure if anyone wants to cancel their backorder for a $199 PRS-950, they would be obliging.

[paulak39]

I, too, have always been very satisfied with purchases made from B&H Photo, and would have no hesitation buying from them in the future. I do agree, however, that credit card charges should be added at time of shipment.

[meerkat]

As long time photographer, my experience is BH photo is top trusted reseller.

If you go to their website, they do not allow you to place order if it is out of order (so ther won't be charge before shipping), not sure why in this case it is possible.

But overall, BH photo service rocks

[Thrasher]

I have to agree. I have had nothing but excellent experience with BHphoto.

[bandhphoto]

Originally Posted by db100

Well, maybe you are new but I still remember how photo.net reviewed NYC photopraphy retailers.

I do too and as far as I recall neither photo.net nor its founder, Philip Greenspun, ever had a bad word to say about us. Right now they're skewed towards one of our NYC competitors because that competitor has paid for favored store status, which is certainly by no means improper, but I think you'll find both photo.net's managers and those who frequent the site review us favorable in the main.

BTW, I'm nothing like "new." I've been online for B&H here and there for more than a decade.

Ken401, paulak39, meerkat, Thrasher -- thank you.